In this paper we discuss spiral-shaped fringes and locks on the heads of Aegean emissaries represented in Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tombs. Such elements initially appear in Aegean iconography, even before the first depiction of Aegean emissaries in the Theban tomb of Senenmut (TT 71; reign of Hatshepsut). In Egyptian iconography this element of the coiffure first appears in the tomb of Useramun (TT 131; reign of Thutmose III). However, similar spiral-shaped features appear on the heads of griffin-shaped rhyta depicted as gifts brought by Aegean emissaries in Theban tombs. We provide Late Bronze Age Aegean iconographic parallels to Egyptian representations of spiral-shaped fringes and locks in Theban tombs and point to the similarity of this element of the coiffure to the spiral-shaped features on the heads of Aegean- type griffins in Egyptian and Aegean iconographies.
Late bronze Age, Aegean, emissaries, coiffure, griffins
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