Window into the Bible
Mace Heads
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Alabaster Mace Head
Date: ca. 3000 BC.
Place: Egypt
Photographed at Bibleworld Museum & Discovery Centre, Rotorua, New Zealand.
The mace was a weapon used to crush the skull of an enemy soldier. The mace head was attached to a handle made from wood or metal.
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Fluted Mace Head
Date: 2900 – 2600 BC. Place: Shara Temple, Tel Agrab [Iraq]
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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Made of gypsum.
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Mace Heads (left to right)
Gypsum Date: unknown Place: Temple Oval II, Khafajah
Veined stone, Date: 2900 – 2600 BC. Place: Shara Temple, Tell Agrab [Iraq]
Gypsum Date: 2900 – 2600 BC. Place; Shara Temple, Tell Agrab [Iraq]
Green stone Date: 2900 – 2600 BC. |
Place: Shara Temple, Tell Agrab [Iraq]
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Disc Mace Head (left)
Date: 4200 - 3250 BC.
Place: Egyptian - made from steatite rock.
Mace Head (right)
Date: 3250 - 3100 BC.
Place: Egyptian - made from limestone
Photographed at the M. C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Smiting an Enemy with a Mace
Date: 1213 - 1204 BC.
Place: Gateway of the palace of Merneptah, Egypt.
Photographed at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
This relief shows Merneptah, the son of Rameses the Great, smiting his enemies with a mace.
Bronze Mace Head
Date: 1000 - 800 BC.
Place: Persian. Found in Israel
(possibly used by a soldier in the Persian auxillary wing in the Assyrian army when attacking Israel).
Photographed at Bibleworld Museum & Discovery Centre, Rotorua, New Zealand.
Before the invention of helmets, mace heads were usually made of smooth stone or metal eith as a ball or a disc. After helmets were introduced as a form of protection, mace heads began to appear with spikes like this one.
Mace Head with Inscription of Shalmaneser III
Date: 659 – 824 BC.
Place: Assyrian [Iraq]
Photographed at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.
Shalmaneser III conquered Judah during the reign of King Jehu. (for Jehu’s reign see 2 Kings 9ff)