Double-Bladed Axe

€750 per piece · Made to order

A broad double-bladed head on a long haft, accented with red wrapping and a hanging strap. This Archaeopolis design draws its visual strength from the balance of its two opposing blades.

Design concept and aesthetic direction: Georgios Katsos and Archaeopolis. Handcrafted by Dimitris Katsikis. The price is for one double-bladed axe, as shown in the product photograph.

Your commission

Material specification, overall dimensions, weight, surface finish and production schedule are agreed with the workshop before production. Please discuss your requirements before ordering if the object must meet a particular display or production brief. This piece is made to order; dispatch is scheduled for your commission.

Shipping: complimentary within Greece; €19 internationally under the shop's current shipping rates. Dispatch timing is confirmed for your commission. Photographs record existing workshop pieces; natural surface and hand-finishing differences are part of the individual making process.

Archaeological comparison

The museum object below is a comparison of visible form. It is separate from the contemporary Archaeopolis piece offered here.

The Aegean double axe

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's bronze double axe 26.31.483 is catalogued as Minoan, Late Minoan III, approximately 1400–1050 BCE. Double axes belonged to both practical and ceremonial settings in Minoan culture; miniature examples could be votive offerings. The museum also notes that their precise religious meaning remains uncertain. The comparison concerns the two opposing blades and the waisted outline of the head. The Archaeopolis piece has different proportions and its own haft and red bindings; the museum object does not establish those modern details. Museum record.

Archaeological comparison: Minoan bronze double axe, 26.31.483. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Richard B. Seager, 1926. Open Access / public domain (CC0).

The Odyssey: twelve axes, one enduring question

In Homer's Odyssey, Book 21, Penelope sets the challenge of stringing Odysseus' bow and sending an arrow through twelve axes. Telemachus arranges the axes, and Odysseus ultimately completes the shot. The passage connects these objects with recognition, skill and the recovery of the household. See especially 21.75–79, 120–123 and 419–423 in the Perseus text.

The physical arrangement has generated scholarly debate. Denys L. Page's A Problem in Homer's Odyssey, for example, explores an interpretation involving openings at the ends of axe handles. A modern openwork head may suggest a visual way to imagine the episode, but it does not settle the meaning of the poem or identify Odysseus' axes archaeologically. Read Page's discussion.

From Homer to Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is a cinematic adaptation of Homer's epic, as described by Universal Pictures. It offers a contemporary point of entry into the poem and its material world. The reference here is cultural context: these Archaeopolis objects are independently designed commissions and are not presented as props used in the film, licensed film replicas or merchandise endorsed by its production.

Sources

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, bronze double axe, 26.31.483, Minoan, c.1400–1050 BCE.
• Homer, Odyssey, Book 21, especially 21.75–79, 120–123 and 419–423; A. T. Murray translation.
• Denys L. Page, A Problem in Homer's Odyssey, University of Athens digital repository.
• Universal Pictures: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, cited solely for the film reference.
• Museum photograph: Met Open Access, public domain / CC0.

Explore the other axe designs or discuss your commission.