Νεκρικά κοσμήματα Τα ελάσματα κάλυψης του στόματος

Abstract

Burial jewels: the custom of mouth bands. Mouth bands made of gold, or rarely of silver, appear in different types of burials mostly in the area of the south Balkans as early as the Neolithic period until the early Christian era. The custom seems to apply especially to regions under direct or indirect Mycenaean influence, such as Cyprus of the Late Bronze Age and Macedonia of the archaic and classical periods. Some of these bands are decorated with floral, geometrical or pictorial patterns whereas others bare no decoration. The few inscribed gold bands, usually in the shape of a leaf, mention either the name of the deceased or a dedication to the underworld deities and date from the fourth c. B.C. to the first c. A.D. These are associated to the gold «dionysiac-orphic» sheets and to the mystery cults of Dionysus and Persephone.