Step 5 of 7

Hanging by a thread... or three

Our eyes have followed the gold threads from the beam to this disc. If you take a close look, you see that the threads are attached to these discs by being folded through the three proportionally separated perforated holes near the edges of the disc. These discs are also made of the same wafer-thin material, indicated by the small dents visible at the edges. The discs themselves are perfectly round, which would indicate that a mold was used to cut them out this way.

The image of the butterfly presented on the discs looks very intricate and detailed, so also for this part the craftsman would probably have used something to imprint the butterfly on the discs. Schliemann, the excavator of the gold balance, said the following about this: “It is difficult to say how the Mycenaean goldsmiths executed the repoussé work.” Probably “they laid the gold-plate on a block of lead and hammered and pressed the ornamentation into it.” Schliemann, H. (1878). “The First, Second, and Third Tombs in the Acropolis.”, Mycenae: A Narrative of Research and Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 165. In the next step we explore what is depicted on these discs, and what the meaning of this image could be!