Wani

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wani
ვანი
State : GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia
Region : Imereti
Municipality : Wani
Coordinates : 42 ° 5 '  N , 42 ° 31'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 5 '  N , 42 ° 31'  E
 
Residents : 3,744 (2014)
 
Time zone : Georgian Time (UTC + 4)
Telephone code : (+995) 432
 
Community type: city
Wani (Georgia)
Wani
Wani

Wani ( Georgian ვანი ), common German transcription Vani , is a small town in the western Georgia in the region Imeretien .

It is located on the plateau of Atschwledianebis on the Sulori river , just before its confluence with the Rioni , about 60 km from the Black Sea coast. Wani is known for its rock tombs richly furnished with gold finds. As early as 1876, individual finds had washed ashore in the surrounding fields. From 1896 Taqaishvili was systematically dug by Ekwtime . But it was not until 1960 that the major excavation campaigns began under the direction of N. Khoschtaria and were continued from 1966 by Otar Lordkipanidze . Today Daredzhan Kacharava directs the excavations .

Scope and importance of the system

A real temple city with richly decorated rock tombs with additions made of precious metal from the 8th to 4th centuries was found. Century BC Above all, the gold work is evidence of an enormous high culture, which in style and execution only with works from Persia of the 4th century BC. Chr. Are to be compared. They are independent of Scythian, Greek or other known works so early on. Only in the 4th century BC The influence of the Hellenistic culture increases. Macedonian coins are now often found in the graves .

The settlement

Today's location from the hill of the Archaeological Museum

The earliest settlement site is on the outskirts of the city on the slope of a hill that is divided into three natural terraces. The settlement near the graves, which Georgian colleagues quickly equated with the ancient Colchis , was associated with the Surium mentioned by Pliny (Nat. Hist. 6, 13) by N. Koshtwaria . And in fact, during the excavations, Greek inscriptions were found with the mention of Surium. It had its heyday from the 3rd to the 1st century BC. The assignment of Lordkipanidses the temple city to the sanctuary of Artemis Leukothea is disputed . The city consisted of a castle-like citadel with enclosing walls and a settlement at the foot with craft dwellings, storage and residential buildings on the right bank of the Sulori River. This settlement is called Saqanchia . The excavations have also shown that the place was in the course of the entire 1st millennium BC. Was inhabited.

history

The excavators today differentiate between four historical phases of settlement in the city of Wani. The earliest is in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. A 90 m² sacrificial place on the central terrace suggests that the place was an important place of worship even then. The finds testify to lively sacrificial activity: clay miniature altars, various animal idols, numerous animal bones, smashed clay dishes, ashes scattered everywhere.

The second period is the heyday of the state of Colchis . It lasts from the 6th to the first half of the 4th century BC. In addition to the high-quality local metalworking, Greek imported ceramics are now also appearing.

From the middle of the 4th century to the 3rd century BC The third phase of settlement extends to Wani. It is characterized by extensive renovations, especially in stone architecture. The place of sacrifice is paved and furnished in a very unusual way. A large building made of white alabaster and a temple hall with half-columns could be made out. In addition to wooden burial chambers, sarcophagi with tile roofs and stone coverings came to light. During this period the Greek influence grew stronger and Greek funeral customs were adopted. Until now, however, the ritual of burial of votive figures made of bronze or iron, which were sewn into garments and buried face down in special depressions, was completely unknown.

In the 3rd to 1st century BC BC Wani becomes a typical temple town of provincial Asia Minor. During this period, major structural changes take place, the old systems are razed and new ones are built. The city gate and the fortifications belong here. A large temple complex, the so-called Temple Propylaea with a total area of ​​800 m², a long processional street, right-angled new sacrificial niches, a 22 m deep shaft, which perhaps represented a well, or a cistern and other urban buildings characterize this period Hellenistic influence. The “round temple” and the “holy depot”, an altar with twelve steps and the associated “treasure chamber” represent the special features in addition to a magnificent bronze torso of youth, which is rare for the Hellenistic Black Sea finds.

In the 1st century there is twice a horizon of destruction. Lordkipanidze assumed that this destruction was in connection with the attack of the Pontic king Pharnakes II on Colchis in 49 BC. . AD stand. The second event of destruction, however, with the incursion of King Mithridates VII around 47 BC. Related . Then stagnation set in. In the Middle Ages, the place seems to have been of minor importance.

The grave equipment

Nike , Greek goddess of victory, from Wani

In addition to the rich gold offerings, tiaras, chains, ear pendants, bracelets and finger rings, the prince graves contained burials of animals and servants, idol figures made of bronze and iron, as well as silver and bronze bowls and Greek ceramics, with the help of which the finds could be dated. The metalwork was of fine filigree, the finest metal wires, tiny spheres, thin sheets of gold and tassels, as well as textile fabrics made of gold threads. Abstract patterns, lion heads and animal scenes, horse manes and bird feathers form the stylistic repertoire. Greek and Persian imports were also found in the graves from the 5th to 4th centuries. Some works are reminiscent of Egypt , others of Persian and Oriental gems.

We owe the extraordinarily good preservation of the grave goods to the tomb architecture. The graves were not placed under burial mounds, but in pits that were driven into the rock. Wooden fixtures were set into these pits, in which the dead were buried. The whole thing was then filled with soil, so that the graves could not be found from the outside and thus safe from robbers.

cult

Religious ideas are based on the worship of chthonic deities and a fertility cult. The simultaneously widespread Greek cults show Dionysus and Heracles .

Others

The excavation campaign from 2006 to 2007 was financed by the German Gerda Henkel Foundation .

In 2007 the exhibition “Medeas Gold” of the Georgian National Museum Tbilisi ran in the Altes Museum in Berlin from March 15 to July 3, with numerous gold finds that have not yet been exhibited outside of Georgia.

Twin cities

literature

Web links

Commons : Wani  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Vani (with older reference)