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faience and glass beads from the late bronze - Department of ...

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13A religious association with <strong>beads</strong> is confirmed by <strong>the</strong>ir presence in Late BronzeAge temples in western Asia. The 15 th -century B.C. temple A at Nuzi was decoratedwith over 16,000 <strong>beads</strong>, some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m eye <strong>beads</strong>, which were set into bricks, sewn ontodecorative textiles, <strong>and</strong> strung along <strong>the</strong> walls, supported by glazed wall-nails. 75Numerous <strong>beads</strong>, possibly part <strong>of</strong> a votive <strong>of</strong>fering or <strong>the</strong> equipment <strong>of</strong> a priest, werealso found at <strong>the</strong> Late Bronze Age temple at Lachish near <strong>the</strong> Syro-Palestinian coast. 76As early as <strong>the</strong> 4 th millennium B.C., a beaded necklace was an identifying mark<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sumerian goddess Inanna (Akkadian Ishtar) <strong>and</strong> recurs on goddess figurines <strong>from</strong>western Asia to <strong>the</strong> Balkans. 77Such a necklace is instrumental in Ishtar’s oath after <strong>the</strong>flood in The Epic <strong>of</strong> Gilgamesh: “Then, at last, Ishtar also came, she lifted her necklacewith <strong>the</strong> jewels <strong>of</strong> heaven that once Anu had made to please her. ‘O you gods herepresent, by <strong>the</strong> lapis lazuli round my neck I shall remember <strong>the</strong>se days as I remember <strong>the</strong>jewels <strong>of</strong> my throat; <strong>the</strong>se last days I shall not forget.’” 78Although <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> amulets in Mycenaean contexts is not fully understood, it isclear that amulets <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Egyptian style were not prevalent in <strong>the</strong> Aegean. 79Carnelian<strong>beads</strong> appear to have held a distinct amuletic value in <strong>the</strong> Late Bronze Age Aegean <strong>and</strong>are almost always found in <strong>the</strong> graves <strong>of</strong> children; 80 <strong>the</strong>re is also a link between <strong>beads</strong> ingeneral <strong>and</strong> children’s burials. 81The presence <strong>of</strong> a belief in fascination is suggested by75 Starr 1939, 92-4.76 Tufnell et al. 1940, 74-5.77 Crawford 1956, 26-7, 59; Maxwell-Hyslop 1971, 151-7.78 S<strong>and</strong>ars 1964, 109.79 Hughes-Brock 1999, 280, 285.80 Konstantinidi 2001, 244.81 Lewartowski 2000, 35.

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