Mask of Agamemnon

Mask of Agamemnon

ca. 1500 BCE

unknown

Beaten gold (repousse)

30.5 cm high

Shaft grave V, Circle A, Royal Palace, Mycenae, Greece. Found in association with one of the bodies located in the grave

National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

The attribution of this Bronze Age sculpture to the Homeric king Agamemnon by Schliemann, the finding archaeologist, is highly fanciful. There is no inscription or other evidence that would support such an attribution. The chronology also casts doubt, as the mask appears to have been made considerably earlier than the historical Trojan War (12th century BCE).

Description:
This life-size image of a middle-aged man's face is embossed on a gold membrane, with finer features (beard, eyebrows) chased into the gold. The face has a long narrow nose and high cheekbones. The large mouth is closed with thin lips. The almond-shaped eyes are curiously worked. Some scholars have concluded that the eyes were originally depicted as open (with lid folds surrounding each eye), and were subsequently "closed." The anatomy of the closed eyes is botched, with lids meeting in the middle of the eyes instead of closing from top to bottom. A beard appears along the chin, jaw and neck. Also depicted is an elegant handlebar moustache, and a small wisp of beard just below the lower lip. The presentation of the ears is curious: they are shown flattened out into the same plane as the front of the face. Perhaps the mask wrapped around the face of the deceased, which would have resulted in correct anatomical placement. The small holes in front of each ear are thought by scholars to have been bored for strings to hold the mask in place.

Significance:
Though found on the face of the deceased, this is not a true desk mask (a sculpture molded to the features of the corpse). Rather, it is a gold sheet that had hammered onto a mold, then worked in detail. Even in death, the face has a regal bearing, well captured by the artist. If not the Homeric Agamemnon, this is a Mycenaean prince of high status. Unlike the other, presumably earlier, death masks found in grave circles at Mycenae, the "Agamemnon" mask shows an advanced degree of character and individuation. The handling of facial hair is remarkably different from the other masks found at the grave site, this being the only one depicting a full mustache.  These pronounced stylistic differences, coupled with Schliemann's reputation for playing fast and loose with the truth, have led some scholars to conclude the "Agamemnon" mask is a forgery, though the matter is by no means settled. Previous to the time of the Mycenaean tombs gold was extremely scarce on the Greek mainland. Its use in Mycenaean grave masks has been taken as an indicator of commercial interactions with Egypt. 

Arentzen, Wouk. "An Examination of the 'Mask of
    Agamemnon'." L'Antiquite Classique, vol. 70, 2001,
    pp. 189-192.

Blegen, Carl. "Early Greek Portraits," American Journal of
    Archaeology, vol  66, no. 3, 1962, pp. 245-247.

Calder, William. "Is the Mask a Hoax?" Archaeology, vol. 52,
     no. 4, 1999, pp.53-55.

Gardner's Art Through the Ages. 6th ed., Harcourt Brace
    Jovanovich, 1975, p.20. 

Gere, Cathy. The Tomb of Agamemnon, Harvard University
    Press, 2011.

Karouzou, Semni. National Museum: Illustrated Guide to the
    Museum, Ekdoke Athenon, 1977, pp. 23-27.

Mark Weadon