The pantheon of deities depicted on Kushan coins is rooted in the Indian and Bactrian traditions.... more The pantheon of deities depicted on Kushan coins is rooted in the Indian and Bactrian traditions. However, strong influences of Indian religion are recognizable as well. Coin types are often used as an evidence for a discussion of Kushan royal attitudes and beliefs. Nevertheless, it is important to notice that the continuity in iconography and symbolic imagery does not necessarily imply continuity in mythology. The already existing visual language of arts and coinage was used by the Kushans for recording their own messages. Many deities bear the iconographic features of deities already known in the territory ruled by the Kushans yet these gods are different. In this paper I pose the question: which of the elements of the official iconography of Kushan deities are not just a symbolic elements, but semantic markers that characterize the nature of these images in their cultural context. Moreover, I will discuss the sufficiency of applying the “kingly reading” (which was shaped, among others, by the coinage) and the “artefactual reading” approach for analyzing the relationship between the official royal religion and the beliefs of Kushan subjects. The latter can be read through the terracotta figurines, which have been chosen as archaeological indicators of their religion. Therefore, the problem of similarities in the interpretation of Kushan divine images will be approached.
Imperial Horizons of the Silk Roads. Archaeological Case Studies, 2023
The ancient Sopara port served as one of the key components in the maritime network at the beginn... more The ancient Sopara port served as one of the key components in the maritime network at the beginning of the Christian Era, covering the demand for luxury goods in many parts of the western Indian Ocean. Although its trade links were attested by the accounts of medieval Arab and Persian travelers and its Portugal rulers, the archaeological site remains understudied and the political and cultural history unclear. This chapter presents the results of a fieldwork, aimed to document the Indian port. It proposes working hypotheses on its composition and the reasons for the decline and discusses its role in the Silk Roads connections and exchange. The first systematic attempt to understand the archaeological and architectural remains also forms a basis for further research on Indian coastal settlements.
Roman aurei and solidi in India led to imitations of gold being produced there of these coins, wi... more Roman aurei and solidi in India led to imitations of gold being produced there of these coins, with a gradual infiltration of indigenous elements observed in the iconography of some examples. An imitation of a Roman aureus, now in the British Museum collection, demonstrates how the Roman coin design was renegotiated to fit an Early Historic Indian cultural landscape. Specifically, the design of the reverse of this specimen finds no prototype in Roman coinage of the times. It must have been a local development, with the Indian craftsman reworking a representation of a female deity known from issues of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and adding a temple to it. The Indian form of the building suggests that the figure should be interpreted as a Hindu goddess, possibly Lakshmi, shown in the act of blessing her temple.
Desakralizacja, adaptacja i destrukcja to metody transformacji pogańskich świątyń, które chrześci... more Desakralizacja, adaptacja i destrukcja to metody transformacji pogańskich świątyń, które chrześcijanie stosowali, aby pozbawić je sakralnego charakteru, pozbyć się demonów, czy też nadać im nową funkcję. Świątynie Mitry również nie oparły się temu zjawisku, będącemu manifestacją zwycięstwa nowej religii nad starą. Znane są co najmniej cztery przypadki mitreów, na których wzniesiono Kościoły i dwa, które na kościoły zamieniono. Przypadki celowo zniszczonych i porzuconych mitreów znane są z terenu całego Imperium Romanum. W niektórych przypadkach kult Mitry w danym miejscu zastępowano kultem Archanioła Michała, będącego patronem żołnierzy, pierwszych wyznawców Mitry. Działania te, podobnie jak w przypadku innych pogańskich religii, przyczyniły się do szybkiego wygaśnięcia kultu Mitry, chociaż okoliczności opuszczenia niektórych świątyń wciąż wzbudzają kontrowersje badaczy.Desacralisation, adaptation and destruction were the methods of transformation of pagan temples by the Christians ...
This paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on... more This paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on Roman issues while the reverses imitate Sasanian coins. These specimens are exceptional and puzzling for two reasons: the unique combination of obverse and reverse designs and the absence of genuine issues which could have been used as their reverse prototypes among finds from the territories they were made and used in. Employing the object biography paradigm for investigating the imitations provides a dynamic perspective on objects actively involved in social relationships. The role of those imitations in understanding the use of Sasanian coins in the Indian Ocean trade will be discussed as well.
In 2019, an ethnographic survey of Indian workshops and shops producing and selling putalis (Vene... more In 2019, an ethnographic survey of Indian workshops and shops producing and selling putalis (Venetian ducats and their imitations) was conducted in Nashik, Maharashtra. The study, supplemented by information from written and documentary sources, provides observations relevant to archaeologists studying the process of reinterpreting Roman coin design in Early Historic India.
This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins an... more This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins and their imitations from India with a large gold plug placed behind the head of an emperor. This phenomenon was briefly discussed by Peter Berghaus, who rightly noticed that the size of the filling on those coins suggests that the purpose for placing such material into the hole was different than simply the repair of a piercing made previously for a piece of jewellery. He considers the possibility that the holes were made in order to check whether those coins were plated or not and were later refilled with gold so that the coins could return to the money market. I would like to present a different explanation of this phenomenon. I would argue that those coins were perforated and plugged in order to adjust their weight. Such an adjustment let them be used as money in the Subcontinent. Similar phenomena from various parts of the world and time periods constitute the key to understand the pu...
The pantheon of deities depicted on Kushan coins is rooted in the Indian and Bactrian traditions.... more The pantheon of deities depicted on Kushan coins is rooted in the Indian and Bactrian traditions. However, strong influences of Indian religion are recognizable as well. Coin types are often used as an evidence for a discussion of Kushan royal attitudes and beliefs. Nevertheless, it is important to notice that the continuity in iconography and symbolic imagery does not necessarily imply continuity in mythology. The already existing visual language of arts and coinage was used by the Kushans for recording their own messages. Many deities bear the iconographic features of deities already known in the territory ruled by the Kushans yet these gods are different. In this paper I pose the question: which of the elements of the official iconography of Kushan deities are not just a symbolic elements, but semantic markers that characterize the nature of these images in their cultural context. Moreover, I will discuss the sufficiency of applying the “kingly reading” (which was shaped, among others, by the coinage) and the “artefactual reading” approach for analyzing the relationship between the official royal religion and the beliefs of Kushan subjects. The latter can be read through the terracotta figurines, which have been chosen as archaeological indicators of their religion. Therefore, the problem of similarities in the interpretation of Kushan divine images will be approached.
Imperial Horizons of the Silk Roads. Archaeological Case Studies, 2023
The ancient Sopara port served as one of the key components in the maritime network at the beginn... more The ancient Sopara port served as one of the key components in the maritime network at the beginning of the Christian Era, covering the demand for luxury goods in many parts of the western Indian Ocean. Although its trade links were attested by the accounts of medieval Arab and Persian travelers and its Portugal rulers, the archaeological site remains understudied and the political and cultural history unclear. This chapter presents the results of a fieldwork, aimed to document the Indian port. It proposes working hypotheses on its composition and the reasons for the decline and discusses its role in the Silk Roads connections and exchange. The first systematic attempt to understand the archaeological and architectural remains also forms a basis for further research on Indian coastal settlements.
Roman aurei and solidi in India led to imitations of gold being produced there of these coins, wi... more Roman aurei and solidi in India led to imitations of gold being produced there of these coins, with a gradual infiltration of indigenous elements observed in the iconography of some examples. An imitation of a Roman aureus, now in the British Museum collection, demonstrates how the Roman coin design was renegotiated to fit an Early Historic Indian cultural landscape. Specifically, the design of the reverse of this specimen finds no prototype in Roman coinage of the times. It must have been a local development, with the Indian craftsman reworking a representation of a female deity known from issues of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and adding a temple to it. The Indian form of the building suggests that the figure should be interpreted as a Hindu goddess, possibly Lakshmi, shown in the act of blessing her temple.
Desakralizacja, adaptacja i destrukcja to metody transformacji pogańskich świątyń, które chrześci... more Desakralizacja, adaptacja i destrukcja to metody transformacji pogańskich świątyń, które chrześcijanie stosowali, aby pozbawić je sakralnego charakteru, pozbyć się demonów, czy też nadać im nową funkcję. Świątynie Mitry również nie oparły się temu zjawisku, będącemu manifestacją zwycięstwa nowej religii nad starą. Znane są co najmniej cztery przypadki mitreów, na których wzniesiono Kościoły i dwa, które na kościoły zamieniono. Przypadki celowo zniszczonych i porzuconych mitreów znane są z terenu całego Imperium Romanum. W niektórych przypadkach kult Mitry w danym miejscu zastępowano kultem Archanioła Michała, będącego patronem żołnierzy, pierwszych wyznawców Mitry. Działania te, podobnie jak w przypadku innych pogańskich religii, przyczyniły się do szybkiego wygaśnięcia kultu Mitry, chociaż okoliczności opuszczenia niektórych świątyń wciąż wzbudzają kontrowersje badaczy.Desacralisation, adaptation and destruction were the methods of transformation of pagan temples by the Christians ...
This paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on... more This paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on Roman issues while the reverses imitate Sasanian coins. These specimens are exceptional and puzzling for two reasons: the unique combination of obverse and reverse designs and the absence of genuine issues which could have been used as their reverse prototypes among finds from the territories they were made and used in. Employing the object biography paradigm for investigating the imitations provides a dynamic perspective on objects actively involved in social relationships. The role of those imitations in understanding the use of Sasanian coins in the Indian Ocean trade will be discussed as well.
In 2019, an ethnographic survey of Indian workshops and shops producing and selling putalis (Vene... more In 2019, an ethnographic survey of Indian workshops and shops producing and selling putalis (Venetian ducats and their imitations) was conducted in Nashik, Maharashtra. The study, supplemented by information from written and documentary sources, provides observations relevant to archaeologists studying the process of reinterpreting Roman coin design in Early Historic India.
This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins an... more This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins and their imitations from India with a large gold plug placed behind the head of an emperor. This phenomenon was briefly discussed by Peter Berghaus, who rightly noticed that the size of the filling on those coins suggests that the purpose for placing such material into the hole was different than simply the repair of a piercing made previously for a piece of jewellery. He considers the possibility that the holes were made in order to check whether those coins were plated or not and were later refilled with gold so that the coins could return to the money market. I would like to present a different explanation of this phenomenon. I would argue that those coins were perforated and plugged in order to adjust their weight. Such an adjustment let them be used as money in the Subcontinent. Similar phenomena from various parts of the world and time periods constitute the key to understand the pu...
This paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on... more This paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on Roman issues while the reverses imitate Sasanian coins. These specimens are exceptional and puzzling for two reasons: the unique combination of obverse and reverse designs and the absence of genuine issues which could have been used as their reverse prototypes among finds from the territories they were made and used in. Employing the object biography paradigm for investigating the imitations provides a dynamic perspective on objects actively involved in social relationships. The role of those imitations in understanding the use of Sasanian coins in the Indian Ocean trade will be discussed as well.
Digital Methods and Remote Sensing in Archaeology, 2016
Since the end of the civil war twenty years ago archaeologists in Cambodia have made a substantia... more Since the end of the civil war twenty years ago archaeologists in Cambodia have made a substantial progress in the research on the medieval landscape of the urban complex of Angkor. With modern technologies of archaeological prospection, Air-Sar and LiDAR, the researchers attempted to reconstruct the cultural landscape of the biggest low density urban complex of the preindustrial world. However, on the regional level the sites are still identified based on the colonial-era archaeological reconnaissance. Such a state of affairs is unfavourable for two reasons: it hampers the understanding of settlement patterns in prehistory and history and impedes local heritage protection efforts taken against looting. Therefore a large-scale reconnaissance effort based on satellite imaginary was required to fill the gap in our understanding of the past landscapes in the region. As North-Western Cambodia is mainly an alluvial plain it is only natural for an occupied settlement to leave a recognizable mound of accumulated material. Other recognizable topographic signatures of occupation include one or more moats excavated by the site’s occupants to enclose the settlement. While many of the settlements of interest are dated back to the Neolithic period, a remarkable number of them are still inhabited today. These long occupied areas leave features on the landscape that are easily recognizable in satellite images, as well as from the ground level. Furthermore, the structure of past occupation can be deduced from the pattern of rice paddies, especially when it is radial, as contrasted with the modern pattern dominated by right angles. These features related to land use are equally visible in the satellite images. With this paper the authors aim to provide a systematic review of research routines applied to identification of anthropogenic landscape modifications.
This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins an... more This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins and their imitations from India with a large gold plug placed behind the head of an emperor. This phenomenon was briefly discussed by Peter Berghaus, who rightly noticed that the size of the filling on those coins suggests that the purpose for placing such material into the hole was different than simply the repair of a piercing made previously for a piece of jewellery. He considers the possibility that the holes were made in order to check whether those coins were plated or not and were later refilled with gold so that the coins could return to the money market. I would like to present a different explanation of this phenomenon. I would argue that those coins were perforated and plugged in order to adjust their weight. Such an adjustment let them be used as money in the Subcontinent. Similar phenomena from various parts of the world and time periods constitute the key to understand the purpose of plugging those coins and those analogies are examined in this paper as well.
The main aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the potential of the research ... more The main aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the potential of the research on clay bullae imitating Roman coins for investigating the complexity of roles and meanings of foreign monetary objects in Indian societies. Ornaments made of genuine coins or coin-like objects could have been employed as a powerful communication tools. In the Early Historic period Roman coins played an active role in creating new symbols of wealth, prosperity and abundance. Bullae imitating those coins at archaeological sites in Deccan are found in layers dated to the Satavahana period. Those finds provide us with a better understanding of the context in which they were produced, used and deposited. The study of social context of production of clay bullae, as well as their iconography aims to explain the symbolic meaning attributed to the display of such a decoration.
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Conference Presentations by Emilia Smagur
In this paper I pose the question: which of the elements of the official iconography of Kushan deities are not just a symbolic elements, but semantic markers that characterize the nature of these images in their cultural context. Moreover, I will discuss the sufficiency of applying the “kingly reading” (which was shaped, among others, by the coinage) and the “artefactual reading” approach for analyzing the relationship between the official royal religion and the beliefs of Kushan subjects. The latter can be read through the terracotta figurines, which have been chosen as archaeological indicators of their religion. Therefore, the problem of similarities in the interpretation of Kushan divine images will be approached.
Papers by Emilia Smagur
In this paper I pose the question: which of the elements of the official iconography of Kushan deities are not just a symbolic elements, but semantic markers that characterize the nature of these images in their cultural context. Moreover, I will discuss the sufficiency of applying the “kingly reading” (which was shaped, among others, by the coinage) and the “artefactual reading” approach for analyzing the relationship between the official royal religion and the beliefs of Kushan subjects. The latter can be read through the terracotta figurines, which have been chosen as archaeological indicators of their religion. Therefore, the problem of similarities in the interpretation of Kushan divine images will be approached.
I would argue that those coins were perforated and plugged in order to adjust their weight. Such an adjustment let them be used as money in the Subcontinent. Similar phenomena from various parts of the world and time periods constitute the key to understand the purpose of plugging those coins and those analogies are examined in this paper as well.