Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 5 - The Celts (450 B.C.-turn of the millennium) (Miklós Szabó)

53. Scabbards decorated in the Hungarian Sword Style from Szob and Bölcske-Madocsahegy. Late 3rd century B.C. smiths. This immensely popular motif was believed to have magical properties protecting the weapon's owner. The reason for the wide distribution of dragon-pair swords at the time of the Celtic migration is that the warriors outfitted with these weapons were members of a supra-tribal military organisation (hetaireia), at least according to the Greek historian Polybius. A new ornamental style emerged around 300 B.C. Designs in the Hungarian Sword Style on sword scabbards and spearheads can be derived from the earlier continuous tendril patterns. Appearing to be abstract designs at first glance, the sophisticated compositions recalling arabesques were in fact highly stylised depictions of gods: the image of the gods, usually reduced to a simple mask, was often blended with the deity's various attributes (mistletoes, griffins or dragons), as on the weapons from Kosd, Szob and BölcskeMadocsahegy (Fig. 53.a-b). The weapons decorated in the Hungarian Sword Style can rightly be ranked among the most outstanding