Fragment de bas-relief représentant une bouterolle

Fragment of bas relief representing a chape

A chape is a decorative element located at the end of the scabbard of a sword or dagger and executed in bronze, bone, or ivory. On the bas reliefs from Persepolis, many guards or dignitaries, whether from Persia or some other nation, are carrying a white weapon.

One of these, cited by Herodotus [1], is called an akinakes. This is a short sword or dagger originally used by the Scythians and the Indo-Iranian nomads of The Steppes, then disseminated by the Persians. The ornamentation on its scabbard includes a metalworked chape [2].

Its animal motif is borrowed from Scythian art, consisting of a big cat or, as here, a member of the caprine family. On this relief fragment, the representation is decorative, with palmettes and fluting; the body of the buck is reduced to the minimum, though it is more realistic in its details than on the chapes of nomads. Similar exemplars are found on the bas reliefs of the Tripylon [3].

Published in: Zimmerman 1991, p. 69.

[1] Histories 7.54.

[2] The Louvre Museum possesses several exemplars, including one in bone, dating to the sixth to fourth century B.C. and decorated with a hunting scene: a lion attacking an ibex. Inv. N8336 (MN 1376).

[3] Cf. Ghirshman 1963, p. 240.