Horváth László szerk.: Zalai Múzeum 17. (Közlemények Zala megye múzeumaiból, Zalaegerszeg, 2008)
HORVÁTH LÁSZLÓ: Kelta pszeudo-kantharos Zalakomárból (Zala m.)
were used for drinking; the larger ones are called pseudo-cantharus and were used for storage. These vessels, and the ones which are reminiscent of Early Iron Age Hallstatt bowls and cups with hands, and also the handles (sometimes their sides) of mugs and cups showing Thraco-Scythian influence are often decorated with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, theriomorphic and other representations. These vessels were most popular during the 3 rcl-2 nd centuries BC but towards the younger La Téne periods they slowly lost their function in religious practices and gradually became part of everyday life. At present, together with the one from Zalakomár, only ten two-handed anthropomorphic vessels or jugs are known from the Carpathian Basin (Fig. 11). Their human representations can be divided into three types: 1. A human mask represented as semi-relief (the representation from Zalakomár belongs to this type). 2. Full representation of a human head. 3. The whole body is represented. Different forms of human mask representations were very popular on different objects amongst the Celts for centuries. This representation can be associated with apotropaic practices, and also with death cults and skull/head cults. It was a goal to collect and examine all the twohanded vessels and their finding circumstances in the literature from the Carpathian Basin. Unfortunately the majority of them are scattered finds and a reassuring conclusion cannot be drawn although it seems that this vessel type is found more often in warrior graves. The Celtic pseudo-cantharus from Zalakomár stands out not only with its 50 cm height from similar vessels in the Carpathian Basin, but its mask representation as well. It shows a uniquely fine grained, semigeometric - semi-plastic representation. In the formation of this representation the local Illyric-Pannonic traditions, Greek antitypes and Italian representations played a role together (koine effect of the eastern Celts), but its function corresponds to the Celtic belief system. Gods represented through human masks in that they faced towards the interior of the vessel may not only have guarded the content of the vessel used during religious rituals but through their presence they also guarded the ritual itself. Translated by Attila Kreiter
