52

IMPULSE FROM THE SOUTH : EARLY NILOTIC

Minoan
shields.

Ancilia.

a form of shield with incurved sides which, though of broader proportions, is
closely related to the Saite type (Fig. 24, c, d) had a wide Western diffusion.
The Minoan shield is itself a body-shield. Perhaps it was owing to the peaceful
character of the subjects chosen by the primitive Cretan artists that few
representations of such shields can be found earlier than the closing phase of
the Middle Minoan Age. A figure-of-eight shield of the simpler type
occurs, however, on a three-sided bead-seal of steatite (Fig. 25, a) probably

a b x, 2 c d e f

a-f, Minoan 8-shaped Shields, a, On Steatite Bead-seal (E.M. Ill); b, Blue-stone
Bead, Mesara, Tholos; c, Signet-ring, Mycenae; d. Fresco, Knossos, L.M. I; e, Mycenae
Dagger ; /, L.M. I Sealing, Knossos.

j k I

g, h, Roman Ancilia ; i, Hittite ; j, ' Dipylon '; k, Boeotian ; /, Aegina Treasure.

Fjg. 25. Comparisons with Minoan Shields.
of early E.M. Ill date,1 and a blue-stone bead found by Dr. Xanthudides in
a primitive tholos of Mesara (Fig. 25, b i, 2), shows a well-executed relief
of another example. The later types are generally distinguished by an
elongated boss which, as in other parallel cases, may be thought to have
originated in a combination with a parrying stick.2 It is this composite
form that clearly supplies the source—whatever was the channel through
which it passed—of the Ancilia of the Roman Salii (Fig. 25, g, h).A It is
also seen in the hand of Juno Sospita of Lanuvium, who with her brandished
spear, goat-skin, and attendant serpent betrays affinities with Athena.
1 From Central Crete : in my Collection. Babelon, Monnaies de la Republique Romaine,

5 Among the Kaffirs the parrying stick is H, p. 139, No. 29; H. A. Grueber, Coins of the

preserved on the back of an elliptical body-
shield. In Sumatra we see it as a raised keel
in front of an oar-like shield. The practice seems
to have been widespread. (See my remarks
J.H. S., xiii (1892), p. 215, n. 44.)

3 From a denarius of P. Licinius Stole See

Roman Republic in B. M., ii, p. 81 (PI. LXVIII,
9). A decorative derivation of this type with
the inscription ancilia occurs on bronze coins
of Antoninus Pius (Cohen, Me'dailles im-
pe'riales (1882), ii, p. 273, No. 30). .