Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This bridle or snaffle bit is made of iron; large iron rings are suspended from each end of the jointed mouthpiece. The two mouthpiece sections each have a loop at one end, where they are joined; these loops are followed by a narrower section that expands into a second loop, through which the large rings pass. The second loops end with a large circular disc on each side to which a thin brass medallion is attached. The brass medallions bear identical scenes showing Bellerophon mounted on Pegasus, riding to the right, with the Chimera below. Bellerophon wears a cloak, flaring out behind him, and grasps a spear in his right hand, which emerges below the legs of Pegasus to stab at the Chimera. Pegasus wears a bridle, with the reins faintly visible; his legs are shown running forward, tail streaming behind him, and his folded wing partially covers the body of Bellerophon. The Chimera is also shown running to the right, his lion-, goat-, and snakeheads all turned to look back at the hero and his mount. The scene is surrounded by a border of dots.
It is not clear if the brass medallions were made specifically to decorate this horse bit or if they were repurposed. The scene on the brass medallions closely resembles copper alloy contorniates of the fourth to early fifth centuries CE, the main difference being the borders (1). Representations even more similar to the Harvard medallions appear on thin, repoussé copper alloy casket covers that have been found particularly in Hungary (2). It is possible that Harvard’s medallions might have come from such a casket cover and were later used to decorate this bridle bit (3).
NOTES:
1. The contorniates have solid borders, rather than borders of dots; see Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae Pegasos no. 180.a-b. For a discussion of the scene and its symbolism, see A. Alföldi and E. Alföldi, Die Kontorniat-Medaillons, Antike Münzen und geschnittene Steine 6 (Berlin, 1976-1990) 133-36.
2. See LIMC Pegasos no. 176; and D. Gáspár, Spätrömische Kästchenbeschläge in Pannonien, Acta Antiqua et Archaeologica 15 (Szeged, 1971) 14-15,18, and 22, nos. 2, 15, and 48-49, figs. 37, 52, and 85-86; all are noted from findspots in a relatively circumscribed area of Hungary between northern Lake Balaton and Budapest (north eastern Pannonia): Balatonlovas near Alsóörs, Dunaújváros (ancient Intercisa), Királyszentistván, and Árpás (Kisárpás, ancient Mursella). An example from France can be added to the list above; see H. Buschhausen, Die Spätrömischen Metallscrinia und frühchristlichen Reliquiare, Wiener Byzantinistische Studien 9 (Vienna, 1971) 28-29, no. A4, pl. 7 (from Mandeure). Buschhausen also publishes the examples from Dunaújváros, Kisárpás, Balatonlovas, and Királyszentistván (as Veszprém); ibid., 34-38, 52-54, 93-95, and 138-39; nos. A9, A21, A45, and A67; pls. 9-11, 23-24, 48-49, and 85.
3. Although jointed snaffle bits date at least back to the Iron Age and the form is still in use today, this example may not be an antiquity. Compare simple, undecorated copper alloy examples in W. M. Werner, Eisenzeitliche Trensen an der unteren und mittleren Donau, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 16.4 (Munich, 1988) 61-73, nos. 208-44, pls. 28-33.
Lisa M. Anderson
