Archaeological Museum of Bologna

The pronounced elongation and sinuosity of pin and clasp, which reminds a mythical animal, indicates dragon fibulae, a later variant of the 8th century serpentine type, which were typical of males’ sepulchres.

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In contrast to customary rituals in Tyrrhenian and Campanian Etruria, in the Bologna area, the presence of particularly rich individual ornaments in males’ sepulchres belonging to the Orientalising period has never been proved. Nevertheless, the exceptionally original, sophisticated or, as in the example showed here, sizeable reshaping of certain dragon fibulae leads one to think that they were particularly distinctive items in males’ interments.

Provenance: Bologna, Arnoaldi Necropolis
Datation: 7th century B.C.
Material: Bronze
Dimensions: 17.7 cm
Inventory #: A 922