Kerch rider's bowl
The Kerch rider's bowl is an engraved , nielloed and gilded silver bowl that was found in 1891 near the port city of Kerch on the Crimean peninsula . It shows a Byzantine emperor as a triumphant on horseback. Originally the emperor was mistaken for Justinian I. Today it is widely recognized that it is Constantius II . The bowl is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg .
history
In January 1891 an old catacomb was discovered by chance near Kerch , on the northeast slope of Mount Mithridat . Although the site showed signs of looting, some significant archaeological finds have been made in the catacomb. The chairman of the Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission, Count Alexei Bobrinsky, examined the site in July 1891. In 1892 a study published by the Imperial Archaeological Commission by Josef Strzygowski from the University of Graz and Nikolai Pokrowski from the Saint Petersburg Spiritual Academy appeared on the finds, among which the silver bowl stood out.
description
The Kerch rider's bowl has a diameter of 24.8 cm and a weight of approx. 660 grams. On the concave inside, it shows a galloping rider, accompanied on the left by a soldier or bodyguard and on the right by a Nike . The upper body and the full, long face of the rider are turned towards the viewer, he has large eyes, a long nose and a pronounced chin. The emperor wears a narrow-sleeved, short, belted and magnificently decorated tunic of Persian origin, tight-fitting trousers and shoes set with precious stones. As ruler, he is indicated by a nimbus and a diadem set in the center with a gemstone . He has a lance in his right hand and a belt with a sword hanging over his right shoulder. His belt, sash and bridle of his horse are also decorated with precious stones.
The goddess of victory looks at the rider. She is holding a victory wreath in her right hand and a palm branch in her left hand . She goes ahead of the emperor and hands him the wreath back. The Nike is dressed in a sleeveless tunic and a coat thrown over the left arm. She wears an armilla on her right upper arm and a tiara in her hair.
The beardless bodyguard following the rider is similar but less splendidly dressed than the emperor. He is armed with a shield and a spear . The edge of his shield is decorated with an ornament, in the middle there is a large Christogram . Under the horse's hooves lies the shield of a defeated enemy. The bowl bears no inscription.
interpretation
The emperor was identified as Constantius II by Leonid Matzulewitsch in 1929 , an interpretation that has since been widely recognized. The depiction of a victorious, riding emperor can indicate that the piece was given away as a largition bowl after a war. The occasion could have been the victory of Constantius over the Sarmatians on the Danube in 358.
literature
- Claudia Wölfel: Myth and political allegory on silverware from the Roman Empire . Dissertation at the Department of Classical Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Berlin 1996, p. 18
Web links
- Vladimir Kulakov: Roman neck rings as decorations from Velp (Netherlands) (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e f Claudia Wölfel: Myth and political allegory on silverware from the Roman Empire. Dissertation at the Department of Classical Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Berlin 1996, p. 18
- ↑ JMC Toynbee, KS Painter: Silver Picture-Plates of Late Antiquity: AD 300-700 , Archaeologia 108, 1986, p. 15 ff.
- ^ Matthias Hardt: Gold and Rule: the treasures of European kings and princes in the first millennium. Volume 6, Europe in the Middle Ages, Akademie Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3050037636
- ^ A b Josef Strzygowski, Nikolai Pokrowski materials on the archeology of Russia. Imperial Archaeological Commission, Bibliotheca Chersonessitana, MAR No. 8, 1892