Fig. 2.12. Celtic gold torque (430g) from Dolni Tsibur near Lom, Montana region, 3rd – 2nd c. BC. National Archaeological Museum, Sofia, no. 3242 (photo after Marazov 1998, no. 114).
Distinctive Celtic types of jewellery37 made their appearance in the region south of the Danube from the 3rd century BC. They include gold and silver torques38 (fig. 2.9), and a number of brooches (with finds of moulds for brooch-casting).39
33
– / Dimitrova – Gizdova 1975.
34
Woźniak 1974, 74-138; 1975, Woźniak 177-83; Woźniak 1976, 388-392.
35
/ Domaradzky 1984, 136-41.
36
Sîrbu – Rustoiu 1998, 77-91; Rustoiu 2005, 109-19; see also Emilov 2007b, 144-5.
37
Т / Tonkova 2002, 98-113; Tonkova 2006, 265-78; Tonkova 2011, 189-198.
38
Illustrated in Gold der Thraker (Mainz 1979), no. 249; Marazov (ed.), Ancient Gold (New York 1998), cat. no. 144.
An entire horizon of hoards with decorated silverware40 from the 2nd – 1st c. BC has been registered in the northern Thrace, possibly associated with the Danube and the regional lines of communication and commerce. More precisely, these are 14 silver-gilt phalerae from Galiche41, the silver bowl hoards from Jakimovo42, from Bohot near Pleven43 and from Gara Sindel near Varna.44 The phalera (fig. 2.14) soldered at the bottom of one of the cups from Jakimovo most likely depicts a local chieftain, but it is executed in high Late Hellenistic style.
Fig. 2.13. The Galiche hoard, mid-2nd – 1st c. BC, National Archaeological Museum, Sofia, inv. nos. 5876-5880 (Photo N. Genov).
39
Haralambieva 2000/2001; Torbov – Antonov 2000, 21-26.
40
See a review in Treister 2001, 212-4; Emilov 2007b, 145.
41
Filow – Welkow, in BSAB 7 (Sofia 1919/1920), 147-8, figs. 106-7; Venedikov – Gerassimov 1975, 138-9, figs. 351-354; Gold der Thraker (Mainz 1979), nos. 390-401.
42
/ Marazov 1979; illustrated in Gold der Thraker (Mainz 1979), nos. 412-414; Die
Thraker…(2004), cat. nos. 207a-g.
43
e / Venedikov 1961, 355-365; illustrated in Gold der Thraker (Mainz 1979), nos. 402-411.
44Ш
Fig. 2.14. Silver gilt cup from the Jakimovo hoard, Montana museum, no. 39 (Photo N. Genov).
Southern Thrace has also yielded objects of toreutic art which contribute to our knowledge of the period. Silver phalerae (round appliqués for shields, breast plates as a sign of military rank, or for the decoration of horse trappings) with animal and/or human images executed in high repoussé, are the best type known to us from the area. Examples include finds from Ivaylovgrad in the eastern Rhodopes, from Ravnogor in the central Rhodopes, and from the area of Stara Zagora. The Ivaylovgrad (fmr. Ortaköy) phalerae were first published by B. Filow in 1925 (fig. 2.15).45 The find consists of four tiny (diam. 7cm), but very elegant, silver pieces representing busts of Greek deities. On a pair of phalerae appear bearded giants facing left, Heracles wearing the lion’s skin, and a helmeted Athena on the remaining two. All four exhibit the same border decoration – framed in a stylized round wreath, with twisted fillets in four places.
45
Filow 1925, 33, fig. 22. Recently Gold der Thraker (Mainz 1979), nos. 428-430, Die Thraker…, 332, nos. 307a-c (dated wrongly to the “2nd c. AD”!).
Fig. 2.15. Two phalerae from Ivaylovgrad – with Heracles and Athena/?/, 2nd c. BC, National Archaeological Museum Sofia, inv. nos. 3748-3749 (photo after Gold der Thraker 1979, 212).
In the case of Ravnogor, this is a tumular find excavated in 1987, where all seven phalerae were attached to a horse harness set ritually buried in an empty mound.46 The largest piece (diam. 28 cm) features in high relief a syncretic deity with the attributes of both Dionysos and Nike shown together, separated with a border of dots along the rim.
Fig. 2.16. Silver harness with phalerae from Ravnogor in the Rhodopes, 2nd c. BC. Pazardzhik Regional Historical Museum (photo N. Genov).
46
К / Kitov 1988, 40-48, esp. 46; К / Kitov 1989, 28-41; illustrated in Marazov (ed), Ancient
Fig. 2.17. The large phalera from Ravnogor, Regional Historical Museum of Pazardzhik, inv. no. 4707
(photo N. Genov).
Both Ivaylovgrad and Ravnogor phalerae finds share a high artistic style in the spirit of Late Hellenistic toreutics47 and are tentatively dated to the 2nd century BC.
The two gilded phalerae from the area of Stara Zagora show a different, rather local style. This is an intriguing find, unfortunately without a clear archaeological context.48 The better preserved piece, with diameter of 17.8cm, is decorated in the centre with Heracles fighting the Nemean lion, surrounded by two panthers and four griffins, all presented in dotted pattern.49
From the stylistic features it falls into a single toreutic group with similar
phalerae from the northern Pontic region, from Anatolia, now in Leiden50, and one in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. The Paris example is inscribed on the rim in Greek, providing the name of king Mithridates Eupator:
47
К / Kitov 1988, 45-7.
48
Fist published in – – / Buyukliev – Dimitrov – Nikolov 1965, 134, no. 28.
49
Illustrated in Gold der Thraker (Mainz 1979), no. 426; / Marazov 1979, 64, fig. 39; and Die
Thraker, 332, no. 312; see also Treister 1996, 569, 580–581.
50
.51 Apparently this piece was donated by the mighty Pontic king to the temple of Artemis Tauropolos in Commana. It is attributed by Rostovtseff52 and other scholars to the Sarmatian or Parthian craftsmen53, who were influenced by Seleucid decorative art. However, the Stara Zagora phalera shows figures out of proportion and somewhat naïve style. No doubt, it also should be regarded as Mithridatic period influence, a common fashion in Thrace, being part of the late Hellenistic world between ca. 100 – 60s BC.54
Bearing in mind the fine and expensive craftsmanship of these objects, it may be suggested that they might have belonged to powerful local chieftain/s, who either resided in southern Thrace (at least in the case of Ravnogor this is certain) or conducted trade, and they arrived as a gift exchange with remote areas.
a. b.
Fig. 2.18 a-b. A phalera from Stara Zagora, Regional Historical Museum Stara Zagora, inv. no. 2-132-
7. (Photo: A. Institute of Thracology, Sofia; B. Detail from the Lessing Archive).
A preliminary numismatic observation may be made in this discussion. The mapping of the burial finds in northwestern Thrace (Vratsa / Montana and Pleven region) strikingly coincides with the distribution of the hoards of Dyrrhachium and Apollonia in Illyria (relevant map in Late Hellenistic Coinages in Thrace), and the
51
Drexel 1915, 14-5, abb. 7; Pfrommer 1993, 70-1.
52
Rostovtseff 1922, 136-7; Rostovtseff 1926, 245.
53
Treister 1999, 566-9, 580-1; Treister 2001, 212-4.
54
hoards of Republican denarii dated to the 90/80s – 50/40s BC in this region (see map fig. 5.24). This would simply mean that the Celtic-type warriors and the users of this Roman-influenced and pure Republican coinages are one and same population. Further complex research on this subject may reveal closer similarities and trends.