A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2005)

Régészet - János Makkay: The Miracle Stag in Ancient Greek mythical stories and their Indo-Iranian counterparts

The Miracle Stag of antlers on the front of its head (ARTAMONOV 1973. 81., Fig. 105.. ORO 2001. 81., 149., Cat. Fig. 44., ARUZ ET AL. 2000. 7. and No. 197. on pp. 274-275., with further literature.). The spiraloid motif can also be treated as the representation of an artistically arranged mane, indicated by rows of curving, leaflike shapes. Such plaques were possibly employed as belt buckles (Fig. 24). i. The figure of a fantastic animal ('cavallo fantastico') was recently found in the Northwestern part of China, in the province of Shannxi/Shansi, and dates to the 4

th century B.C. The golden plaque probably is of Chinese manufacture, made for Nomadic peoples living north of Chinese territories. The piece represents a characteristic horse figurine wearing a large antler on its head, topped with predatory bird's heads, and is called 'horse monster' (Fig. 25) (ORO 2001. 149., Fig. 51, with a reference to a non easily accessible catalogue. See also ARUZ ET AL. 2000. Fig. 6. on p. 8.). k. The Berel burial ground is located in the Khazakh Altai mountains at the border junction of four countries: Khazakstan, Russia, China and Mongolia. Barrow no. 11 is the largest burial mound of the kurgan cemetery, and dates to the 4

th century B.C. The partly robbed burial chamber contained a barrel-shaped tree-trunk coffin, with the remains of a man and a woman. Thirteen horses were buried near the northern wall. The horses were bridled and saddled, the heads of some were decorated with masks (Fig. 26). One of them has imitated horns of the mountain goat, made of wood, and crowned the horsemask made of different materials. The length of the horns was 725 and 735 mm (Fig. 27). In another case, a big wooden sculpture of a griffin belonged to the upper part of the head decoration of the horse. It was, presumably, fastened to the head between the ears and the wooden horns of the burial mask, in front of the mane decoration (SAMASHEV-MYLNIKOV 2004. 11-12., 7375., Figs. 27-28., 41-43., 285-305., and Fig. 306-311. -the wooden griffin). Fig. 26 26. kép 27