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 104.) (Sintashta and Árkaim). The importance of chariotry and well-trained domesticated horses is reflected in the occurrence of steppe types of horse gear for instance at Mycenae in the shaft grave period (MAKKAY 2000. 38^4-1.). Other northeastern (steppic) parallels include the similarities between the 'barbaric style' of Mycenaean gold metallurgy and Scythian gold (whose finest pieces were made by Greek craftsmen of the Classical period).

51 As Vermeule wrote, „many sensible archaeologists realized from the start that some finds of the Mycenaean Shaft Graves were barbarous in one sense, not yet the predictable creations of a settled civilization, but to some degree consistent with itself. Even the question can be raised, whether the people buried in the Shaft Graves were newcomers to Greece (VERMEULE 1975. 9.). As seen from the point of view of archaeology, only one piece of the A-graves points to Anatolia, the silver stag drinking cup or rhyton from Grave IV. On the other hand, the stag was very much favoured in northern nomad art. Together with the hunting scenes of the Shaft Graves, the famous Alaca stag-hunting frieze (VERMEULE 1975. Fig. 13., with literature. )

52 is a strong link between the stag-hunting world of Mycenae and the North. This suggestion can be strongly supported by the representation of the bronze bowl from Kastamonu, dating to the Hittite Imperial Period (Fig. 23), depicting a ritual hunt for deer with the help of a domesticated (!?) stag (HETHITER 2002. 232-233. Fig. 18. on p. 232., Cat. No. 101. on pp. 342-343.).

53 E. Vermeule concluded by saying that „whether we regard the people buried in the Shaft Graves as newcomers, Indo-Europeans from the north or northeast, or as a special elite group among those who had already entered Greece at the beginning of the 2

nd mill. B.C., it is clear that they are nonMediterranean people, ..." (VERMEULE 1975. 22.). I consider them Indo-Iranian newcomers coming from the north as a special elite group entering Greece independently from Proto-Greek invaders, on their own, contemporary with Indo- Aryan and Proto-Iranian invasions of Central Asia, Western India and a part of the Middle East, before and around the middle of 2

nd Mill. B.C. I think that evidence listed above can support the preliminary suggestions made by E. Vermeule three decades before.

54 To sum up, there appears to be possible connection between early steppe groups of the 2

nd Mill. B.C., and the peoples of Mainland Greece of the early 2

nd Mill. B.C. These early steppe groups probably were an Early-Iranian- (or Indo-Aryan?) speaking people who moved southward to overrun emerging townships of Hellas around the end of the Middle Helladic period (MAKKAY 2000. 60-62.). Their succesful campaigns supposedly had a role in founding the Mycenaean society, the rule over wich was based on fortified centres, organized in accordance with blood relations of Early Iranian invaders in early Mycenaean times. As a result, legendary Greek heroes were closely related in blood or by marriage. Traces of these beginnings with offshots of Early Iranian influences persisted in Greece throughout the 2

nd millennium B.C., including belief in, and narratives on, miracle hinds with golden antlers. In the 1

st millennium B.C., mythical stories appear to be a continuation of these 51 This view had been most strongly expressed by VERMEULE 1975. 23-26., 49. 52 The piece belongs to the reconstructed Sphinx-gate discovered at Alaca Höyük. See HETHITER 2002. 109. Fig. 7a-b., 220. Fig. 1. on pp. 218-219. 53 See also above! According to an account about the mythology of the Mountain Lapponians, reindeer-hunters and breeders, the Mistress of the Hinds is represented by a domesticated deer who, escorting the hunter, brings wild reindeers within bow-shot. See RÓHEIM 1917/1984. 224. 54 J. Muhly later refined this theory by claiming that although a direct contact can hardly be assumed since a thousand years separate the two gold metallurgies, a common nomadic background can be supposed. This nomadic world, as envisioned by Muhly, is rather odd, seeing that only its burials are known and that its royal burials are distributed from Maikop to Alaca Höyük and Pazyryk (although for anyone thus inclined, the distribution of the steppic nomads could be extended to include also the burials from Bab edh-Dhra and Avaris, the Egyptian capital of the Hyksos). Not only are the graves of these alleged nomadic invaders known from Mycenae, but also their palace, and they apparently also built palaces for the Achaean princes at Thebes, Orkhomenos, Tiryns, Argos, Athens, Pylos and elsewhere. The comparison with the nomadic world and the Scythians is thus virtually useless for solving the origins of the ProtoGreeks. MUHLY 1979. 317., with the obvious intent of paring down the exaggerations of the Kurgan theory. 45