Treasure of the kaper Koraon
The Treasure of Kaper Koraon is the name of a group of archaeological finds from around the 6th and 7th centuries, all of which were discovered in northern Syria between 1908 and 1910. The treasure consists of four treasure complexes, which are individually called "Stuma", "Riha", "Hama" and "Antioch". The treasure comprises a total of 56 silver objects. The summary under the name Kaper Koraon turns out to be difficult, as the history and locations of the individual complexes are partly unclear. The togetherness of the treasure complexes as a whole cannot therefore be precisely determined.
The so-called Kaper Koraon treasure complex
A total of 56 detectable pieces of silver are assumed. The Stuma and Riha treasures each comprise five, the Hama treasure 29 and the Antioch treasure 17 silver items. Of the 56 pieces, 14 have control stamps, 13 of which have the regular five-stamp set. These stamps are helpful in dating the silver items. There are also inscriptions by donors on 15 pieces of silver.
The silver treasure complexes consist of goblets and paten , crosses, fans, jugs, spoons and lamps. Based on these items, it is likely that it was one or more church treasures.
Find area
The discovery of the treasure complex probably took place between 1908 and 1910. It is believed that all four treasures were found in the same narrow geographic area where they were buried underground. In northern Syria, an old trade route runs from Aleppo to Latakia . The city of Idlib , located in the central part of the area, could have been the location for at least one of the four treasure complexes.
Some of the silver objects from the "Hama treasure" are provided with inscriptions that provide information about the recipient of the donated treasure. These inscriptions say that they are dedicated to St. Sergios of Kaper Koraon. The place Kaper Koraon was under the jurisdiction of Antioch in early Byzantine times , where the archbishop also resided. Today the historical kaper Koraon is identified with the northern Syrian town of Kurin. This place, even if it is not historically secure, gave its name to the entire treasure complex. The division into the four complexes "Stuma", "Riha", "Hama" and "Antiochia" has meanwhile been advocated because the assumption that these four treasure complexes form a unit is only traced back to the inscriptions that refer to the "Hama “Objects can be found.
Donor problem
Research, including Marlia Mundell Mango in particular , has tried to establish a family tree through the donor inscriptions on the silver objects with the family members mentioned and the people identified on the stamps. This is intended to support and prove the connection between the individual complexes. Some historical persons could be identified, such as Megas, who appears on some objects of the Stuma treasure as a stamp official and on objects of the Riha treasure again as the donor; Furthermore, on objects that are assigned to the Hama treasure, five siblings named Daniel, Sergios, Bakchos, Thomas and Symeonios, who are said to have been the sons of a Maximinos from the village of Kaper Koraon. The family groups work well in the individual treasure complexes. If, however, connections between individual treasure complexes are to be proven with the help of the family trees, the structure collapses. For example, sibling / name pairs were formed to create a connection between Sergios and Sergia or between Megas and Megale. These assumptions are likely to lead too far, since only the names serve as evidence.
The Stuma treasure
The Stuma treasure consists of five silver objects: a fan, three godparents and a lamp. The fan and the godparents arrived in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul in February 1908, where they are still located today. Since these parts were confiscated by Ottoman officials at the time, the date of discovery of the four treasure complexes is considered to be the most secure. The fifth item, the lamp, was purchased by the Swiss Abegg Foundation , Bern , in 1964 and is still there today.
"A field near Stuma" is named as the place where the treasure was found. The place Stuma is very close to the city of Idlib and thus further delimits the geographical find area.
The godfather of the Stuma treasure
The diameter of the silver paten is 36.5–36.8 cm, the height varies between 2.8 and 3.1 cm and the weight is 836.6 grams. In the narrow outer edge there is an inscription carved out with niello . The paten could be dated to the time between 574 and 576/78 by means of control stamps on the floor. The condition can generally be described as good. The edge is slightly broken off at the top right and has somewhat destroyed the inscription and the niello. In addition, there is a pressure point in this area, which can be found similarly on the other paten from the Stuma treasure, which is why it can be assumed that this pressure point was caused by storage underground. The paten has high, outwardly shaped sides that end with a narrow edge. The edge is decorated alternately with large kyma and palmettes . The plate has no foot, but is flat on the underside.
The center of the plate is dominated by the motif of the Holy Communion. You can see two groups of people who are in a room. An altar table covered with cloth takes up the largest area. In the background you can see the sky of a ciborium in which a lamp hangs. Christ stands in duplicate behind the altar and gives wine to Peter on his right hand . On the left side, Christ bows down to a person and hands him bread. It is difficult to say whether it is Paul according to the pictorial tradition , since Paul can also be the person who is just in front of the altar to get to the other side.
The whole scene is gilded, as is the border with the kyma and the palm branches. The motifs were driven in and the eyes were carved out with hallmarks .
The fan of the Stuma treasure
The fan, also known as the flabellum, has a diameter of 25.2 to 25.5 cm and weighs 480.4 grams. The silver disc is edged with curved waves and a handle is attached to the bottom. Based on the stamps, the fan is dated to the year 577.
You can see a seraph , which is surrounded by peacock feathers. This was formerly gilded, the gilding is no longer preserved today. The condition of the fan is generally not very good. Pieces of the edge have broken off on the right side.
The riha treasure
Five objects are also assigned to this treasure: a fan, a paten, a goblet and two jugs. The two jugs are in the Swiss Abegg Foundation and the other silver items are in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC
This treasure was first mentioned in 1909, exactly one year after the four parts of the Stuma treasure entered the Istanbul Museum. The treasure pieces are said to have been in the possession of a Georg Marcopoli, who belonged to a large family of art dealers from Aleppo. The location is not exactly certain, but Marcopoli claimed that the treasure was found in the west of the city of Aleppo between Idlib and Riha.
The godfather of the Riha treasure
The diameter of this paten is 35 cm, the height 2.5 cm. It weighs 904 grams.
There is not much to add to the external features compared to the Stuma-Patene. The sides are similarly shaped outward and end with a narrow edge. An inscription with niello is also embedded in this edge. The plate is also flat without a foot. Only the sides are not decorated, as is the case with the Stuma-Patene. The condition of the paten is very good, only a few dents and scratches can be seen. The paten is also stamped and can therefore be dated to the year 577.
The motif of the apostle communion can also be found on the Riha paten. However, this differs in the details of the presentation and in the quality of the execution. The architectural environment is presented differently than with the Stuma-Patene. The group of people is now framed by a templon at the back . In addition, two columns on the left and right support a crossbeam and each end with a lamp. A shell is carried by the beam in the middle. The scene of the communion of the apostles is more clearly divided into two groups, and the altar table is not so dominant on this paten. Liturgical objects, such as a chalice and a jug, are distributed in front of the altar.
The people, objects and architecture are gilded like on the Stuma paten. The technique used and the hallmarks appear to have been the same as for the sister paten from Stuma, which suggests that the Stuma paten and the Riha paten were made in the same workshop, but apparently by different craftsmen.
The fan of the Riha treasure
The diameter of this fan is 25.5 cm, it weighs 485 grams. The picture motif is a cherub , which, like the stuma fan, is surrounded by peacock feathers. The date was also based on the stamp to the year 577.
Due to the identical stamps, the almost identical size and the striking similarity in motif and design, it can be assumed that the Stuma and the Riha fan together make a pair.
The Tyler goblet
This object is considered to be the oldest of the Kaper Koraon Treasure Complex and is located in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC The chalice measures 17.5 cm in height, the top diameter is 15.9 cm and that of the base is 10 cm. The weight is 527.7 grams. The stamp can be dated to the year 542.
The name for the Tyler goblet comes from its alleged first owner Royall Tyler. This chalice, composed of a bulbous bowl and a conical base, has an inscription in the upper edge. This inscription, which was carved out with niello, is separated by a narrow, engraved border. The chalice is made of two parts, but the same material was used. The condition is fine except for a few scratches and a broken niello in the inscription. Due to the early dating it is questionable whether this chalice actually belongs to the Riha complex. Rather, it is now associated with the St. Anne's chalice from the Hama treasure.
The togetherness of the Stuma and the Riha treasure complex
Not only the fans and the godparents with the motif of the Apostle Communion of both treasures show parallels in design and stamps. The other two simple godfathers, the two jugs and the lamps all have similar damage, which suggests that the two treasures were buried together. It can therefore be assumed that the Stuma and Riha treasures actually form a treasure that consists of nine parts. Why the silver objects were separated, there are different find-stories and why the Riha pieces did not appear until a year later than the Stuma silver objects can probably be explained by the fear of confiscation by the Ottoman officials.
The Hama treasure
Find history
There are two different stories about the discovery of the Hama treasure. The first version says that the treasure was found around 1909 in Krah , a village 15 miles north of Hama . The silver objects were on the bottom of a cistern in the said village. How exactly this find came about is nowhere mentioned. The first photograph and the listing of the objects are said to have been given to father Constantine Bacha by a nephew of the Bishop of Krah in 1910.
In the second version it is said that the treasure itself was only buried in 1830, the reasons for this are not known. Before 1830 the pieces had been in the possession of the Church of Hama. When the treasure was finally rediscovered in 1909, this church claimed it back for itself. The clergy argued that the items found were the inheritance of their ancestors and the government should not claim them.
To this day it is not possible to reconstruct how this find actually came about or where the actual site was. Whether one of the specified versions of the find corresponds to the facts or whether everything happened completely differently has not yet been proven.
The composition of the Hama treasure
After the treasure was sold by Hama Church in 1910, it passed into the hands of Tawfic Abucasem, director of Hama’s Ottoman Bank. When he was transferred to Port Said , he took the silver objects with him. Between 1927 and 1929 he sold the pieces to the dealer Joseph Brummer in Paris. In 1929 the treasure was finally sold to Henry Walters of the Walters Art Gallery , where most of the treasure is still located today.
The first photograph of the treasure showed 24 objects, but the list Father Constantine Bacha received in 1910 only counted 23. Between 1910 and 1929 a spoon and colander disappeared while a box was added to the treasure.
Spoon that has disappeared from the treasure
Sieve disappeared from the treasure
Box added to the treasure
Today a total of 29 objects are assigned to the Hama treasure, but when the other four pieces found their way into the treasure complex cannot be said with certainty. The actual number of pieces, which has fluctuated again and again in recent years, is just as unclear.
The Walters Art Gallery today owns the majority of the silver objects that are included in this treasure. These include: three goblets, three godparents, two large and two small crosses, two candlesticks, a lamp, a vase, a bottle, a bowl and the box. There are also four large spoons, a small spoon and a sieve. Another chalice and sieve can be found in St. Anne's Monastery in Jerusalem. The Eagleton Collection in Washington, DC and one the British Museum in London belong to their possession.
Paten from the treasure
Altar cross from the treasure
Pair of candlesticks from the treasure
Bowl from the treasure
The Antioch treasure
Find history
Similar to the Hama treasure, there is also no concrete and verifiable history of the discovery of the Antioch treasure. There are only possible versions, the extent to which they correspond to the truth cannot be said.
In one version it is said that an Arab worker found the treasure in a chamber. This chamber was several meters below Antioch . The treasure included three plates, two goblets, a long and a small cross and a sack full of silver pieces.
The second version tells of a find near Ma'aret en-Noman. A treasure made up of 30 silver objects was found in a mountain. It is not known who is said to have made the find. It only says that they sold the found pieces to the collector Salim Kouchakji.
The last version tells that workers are said to have made the find in the village of Krah. While digging between two pillars, the men found 27 silver objects at a depth of 33 to 34 feet.
The composition of the Antioch treasure
As already shown in the history of the find, there is a certain problem with the exact number of objects that should belong to the Antioch treasure. The research to date can only assign 19 or 17 objects to this treasure complex. The Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC houses the eight-part spoon collection. The Louvre in Paris has a fragment of a panel and two medallions that show identical depictions of Christ. These medallions are seen as part of the long cross, which is located with a mirror, two goblets and three book plates in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A small cross is said to have belonged to the complex once, but it was lost at some point.
The Chalice of Antioch
The Antioch chalice is certainly the most famous piece of this treasure complex. For a while it was even referred to as the holy grail. Now and then the chalice is also called a lamp. The chalice has a height of 19.5 cm. The diameter is 7.3 cm at the foot and 18.0 cm at the top. Before the reconstruction, the chalice is said to have consisted of three parts: the base, the decorative outer chalice and the simple inner chalice.
The outer chalice bears the motifs of twelve seated figures surrounded by animals and connected to one another by vine branches. The figures shown are Jesus and his disciples. Christ, who is shown frontally, represents the teaching doctor. His disciples are shown only to the side and represent his students who are tied to their chairs by his stories. The entire outer representation is also gilded so that it can clearly stand out from the inner chalice.
There is an association that this chalice was originally a lamp. The inner chalice was not made of silver, but of glass. The shadow cast by the lighting should bring the viewer closer to Christ and his teachings.
Research situation and prognosis
Since the detailed exhibition catalog on the Kaper Koraon treasure complex by Marlia Mundell Mango in 1986 and the commentary by Arne Effenberger that appeared in 1991, there have been no other publications that deal so intensively with the topic, although there is still a need for research. The problem is certainly also due to the great dispersion of the individual silver objects all over the world, which does not allow extensive research work so easily. Thus, based on the researched evidence, there is good reason to assume that the Stuma and Riha treasures actually form a complex and the Hama and Antioch treasures are to be viewed autonomously, even if the sites were all close to one another. The donor inscriptions and the family trees created for them would have to be researched more thoroughly in order to allow for a togetherness.
literature
- Marlia Mundell Mango : Silver from early Byzantium. The Kaper Koraon and related treasures , Baltimore 1986 full text .
- Arne Effenberger : Comments on the Kaper Koraon Schatz , in: Tesserae. Festschrift for Josef Engemann , Münster 1991, pp. 241–277.
- Marlia Mundell Mango: The Monetary Value of Silver Revetments and Objects Belonging to Churches, AD 300-700 , in: Susan Boyd, Marlia Mundell Mango (Eds.): Ecclesiastical Silver Plate in 6th Century Byzantium , Washington, DC 1993, p. 123 -136.
- Carol E. Snow: From Ingot to Object: Fabrication Techniques Used in the Manufacture of the Hama Silver , in: Susan Boyd, Marlia Mundell Mango (Eds.): Ecclesiastical Silver Plate in 6th Century Byzantium , Washington, DC 1993, p. 197 -201.
Web links
Web links for images
- The godfather with the apostle communion in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, Portfolio of the website Image
- A chalice from the Hama treasure picture
- The Antioch chalice image
- A cross from the Antioch treasure picture
- A hand mirror from the Antioch treasure picture
- A small goblet from the Antioch treasure picture
Web links to the museums
- http://www.abegg-stiftung.ch/
- http://www.britishmuseum.org/
- http://www.doaks.org/
- http://www.istanbularkeoloji.gov.tr/main_page
- http://www.louvre.fr/
- http://www.metmuseum.org/
- http://thewalters.org/