Szabó Miklós, Petres F. Éva: Decorated weapons on the La Tene Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 5; Budapest, 1992)

III. THE HUNGARIAN SWORD STYLE - The classification of the material

The scabbard from Tapolca-Szentkút (Cat. no. 71; Pl. 75,2) illustrates the formation of the Hungarian Sword Style from a different perspective.

226 Its decoration incorporate both Waldalgesheim tendril and the distinctive, diagonal design of the Hungarian Sword Style. The plaited pattern on the uppermost edge of the scabbard mouth and the tendril made up of triskeles in the horizontal panel underneath it occur in reverse order on a fragmentary scabbard from Sanzeno (Fig. 21) ;

227 both motifs figure prominently in the Waldalgesheim repertory.

228 In this sense, the Tapolca scabbard can be regarded as a type fossil endorsing Jacobsthal's concept that the craftsmen who created the Hungarian Sword Style must have had an intimate knowledge of the artistic language of the Waldalgesheim Style. A more precise interpretation of the diagonal main motif of the Tapolca sword is offered by the analysis of the Batina/Kiskőszeg scabbard (Cat.no. 102; PI. 99). Compared to the former, this justifiably renowned piece illustrates a more tradition-bound phase of the Waldalgesheimderived, schematized ornament: the lotus flowers attached to the tendrils can sometimes be recognised for what they are,

229 whereas on the Tapolca scabbard they have been decomposed into S-spirals and tendril shoots filling the voids formed by the tendrils,

230 and are only very slightly reminiscent of flowers. What is to be clearly seen is that the past few decades have seen not only a multiplication of the number of the known and published objects decorated in the Waldalgesheim Style and the Hungarian Sword Style from the eastern Celtic zone, but also that these new finds have greatly contributed to our knowledge of the process leading to the emergence of the Hungarian Sword Style in the Carpathian Basin. It has been mentioned in the above that the Liter 1 scabbard (Cat.no. 39; Pis 43, 44) decorated with Waldalgesheim tendrils and a zoomorphic lyre, and the Rezi-Rezicser scabbard (Cat.no. 56; Suppl. 3) covered with a vegetal pattern composed around a diagonal swastika-meander can be seen as products of the same workshop.

231 A scabbard from Kosd (Cat.no. 37; Pis 4041) whose ornamentation is characteristic of the early phase of the Hungarian Sword Style was probably also manufactured in the same workshop.

232 Unfortunately the find association of the Kosd scabbard can no longer be reconstructed, and the chronological framework outlined in the above — which is supported by the analysis of the whole of the Kosd cemetery — suggest that the scabbard cannot be dated earlier than the La Tène B2 period, implying that the emergence of the Hungarian Sword Style can be placed around the beginning of the 3rd century B. C.

233 The Waldalgesheim Style was apparently a living tradition in the common workshop of the aforementioned three scabbards, whilst experimentation with new artistic ideas led, beside eclectic solutions (such as the ReziRezicser scabbard), to the emergence of the Hungarian Sword Style which can indeed be regarded as a radically new artistic concept. However, in the light of our present knowledge it would be unwise to regard the workshop in question as the creator of the style,

234 even if it is fairly clear that the armourers of this workshop were conversant with several artistic traditions and that they drew their inspiration from various sources. It should at this point perhaps be recalled that the decoration of tores from the Marne region include some pieces which reflect a similar transformation of the Waldalgesheimbased vegetal patterns as can be observed on Hungarian sword scabbards. It is worthwhile comparing the tore from Beine-Argentelle (Fig. 22) with the scabbard from Batina/Kiskőszeg (Cat.no. 102; Pl. 99): the "flowers" appearing between the tendrils and the other filler motifs reflect a similar concept.

235 It must also be borne in mind that the relevant finds from the Marne area are certainly earlier than any of the presently-known examples of the Hungarian Sword Style.

236 In conclusion, it would be mistaken to regard the Hungarian Sword Style, whose emergence can be linked to a historically very eventful period,

237 as a "domestic affair" of the Celtic swordsmiths of the Carpathian Basin, implying that it should be seen as an entirely local development. The style is the product of the period of the Balkanic invasions, reflecting the historical complexities of that age, as well as the activity of a generation of craftsmen who could boast not only an excellent command of the Waldalgesheim Style, but also a vivid imagery for transforming it into something entirely new. The classification of the material While it has proved possible to outline the formation of the Hungarian Sword Style on the basis of recent finds, as well as from scabbard designs that have been known since long but have been newly restored and/or freshly interpreted, the chronological and stylistic