Ancient Greek Jewellery

This paper extends one published in 2006 where I addressed the question: can we estimate the proportion of coined gold and silver in Hellenistic times out of the total amount of available precious metals? There a rather coherent answer emerged from different approaches to the problem: only a small proportion (not more than 25%) of all the available precious metals was monetized. In this paper, on the other hand, I try to estimate the amount of gold in ancient Greece that was not converted in coins. Such an enquiry clearly entails large uncertainties. My focus is on the weights of extant Greek gold jewellery, the total sum of which I estimate to be c. 70kg (+/- 30kg?). When compared with the total weight of the great treasures of the period (Vergina, Thracian royal tombs, Georgia [Vani]: c. 25kg), this estimate seems reasonable. Other avenues for research are presented (providing still other estimates) for what appears to be a stimulating new perspective on the problem of metal availability and coinage, which will further help us to build a better and narrower framework for our speculations.

Course Description: This course looks at jewelry throughout history and from around the world. We will explore aesthetics, design, materials, and production techniques across cultures. We will investigate the role of adornment in conveying gender and identity, and also consider cultural perspectives of jewelry as sacred and magical. Prerequisite(s): N/A Co-requisite(s): N/A Learning Goals: Students who successfully complete this course will develop the visual skills and critical vocabulary for identifying, describing, and contextualizing works of jewelry representative of diverse world cultures. Students will develop a critical, interdisciplinary approach to jewelry, incorporating art historical, anthropological, fashion, and identity theory. We will study jewelry, itself, as a primary resource, considering individual elements of jewelry and their incorporation into dress ensembles. In addition, we will consider the representation of jewelry elements and ensembles in art, literature, and contemporary media to better understand its roles in various culture.

В монографии рассматриваются древние способы изготовления различных предметов из золота, серебра, меди и железа: литье, холодная обработка, пайка. Исследуются методы нанесения на изделия покрытий из инородных металлов. Особое внимание уделяется инструментарию и оборудованию, которые применяли на территории Евразии начиная с эпохи металла до первых веков 2-го тысячеле- тия н. э. Древние технические приемы реконструированы на основе данных, которые получены в про- цессе обследования вещей разработанным автором трасологическим методом, с учетом физических законов деформации металлов.

The Ancient City of Parion is located in the village of Kemer, in the Biga district of Çanakkale province, north
of Troas Region. Parion, which had its golden age during the Roman Empire period, has been a center of
religious and cultural attraction for centuries. Although there is no clear information about the establishment
of Parion, it is stated in ancient literature that the city was colonized by Paros, Miletos and Erythrai in 709 B.C.
The first scientific excavations in Parion were started in 2005 and still continue today. Excavation works are
currently being carried out at eight sectors. Those eight sectors are South Necropolis, Slope Bath, Hellenistic
Theatre, Roman Bath, Roman Odeion, Hellenistic Tower, Acropolis and Roman Chamber Tombs. As a result
of the works carried out since 2005, jewelleries made from many precious and semi-precious metals were
found. A large number of jewellery objects made from various metals were found, especially in the Southern
Necropolis of Parion. The jewelleries found were made of various materials such as gold, silver, bronze, lead,
terracotta, glass and bone. The jewellery unearthed in the Southern Necropolis is dated to the Late Classical-Early Hellenistic period (4-3th Century BC) and to the Roman period (1st-3rd Century AD). It is observed that
jewelleries were ornamented by applying different techniques. Ornamentation techniques have been applied
to the jewelleries according to the types of materials they were made of. ornamentation techniques such as
filigree, ajoure, plaque, incise, amalgam and gilding were observed in the jewelleries discovered in the Parion.
In this study, ornamentation techniques seen in finds will be examined chronologicaly. However, some wrong
definitions used in ornament techniques terminology will be discussed.

Among all the hoards consisting the ceremonial akinakai, defining swords and daggers of Iranian origin), the assemblage of items discovered in 1882 near the Vettersfelde village (Poland) is the most reliable. Judging by the plots presented on the richly decorated golden objects in the animal style like a fish-shaped plaque, a clover-shaped phalera and a scabbard of a sword, they make up a unified ensemble, most likely made simultaneously in one workshop. The manufacture of treasure items from Vettersfelde is usually associated with the Milesian colonies of the Pontic region, while certain bilingualism is documented, allowing to use both Greek and barbaric expressive means. Most likely, the choice of metaphors for the narrative was not accidental and was recognized both by its performer and the recipient. If the localization of the treasure production is moved beyond the northern or western coast of the Black Sea, then it can be noted that the Milesian colonies of Eastern Greece can also claim the role of a workshop for Vettersfelde hoard. In particular, according to many parameters, Cyzicus is suitable.

Greek Gold Earrings – a Celtic Armlet? On the Gold Objects of Grave 115 from Mannersdorf on the Leitha (Bez. Bruck a. d. Leitha / A)
Celtic pillages in Greece are an often cited topos of La Tène archaeology, but material culture gives close to no evidence to this. The cemetery of Mannersdorf stands out in this respect, since it already contains a penannular needle from a warrior grave which came from West Greece or Bosnia and Herzegovina. This essay discusses a pair of gold earrings made of real pearl wire and peripheral simple wire as well as a decorative area with loop decoration and a large granule which has thus far been interpreted as an armlet. This gold object clearly goes back to Macedonian models and may present us with a variant of such Taenia earrings. In Lower Austria, the pair was given a different use as a armlet. A corresponding pair was produced of simple wave shaped and welded gold wire. This pair of earrings thus furnishes proof for personal contact of Celtic people from Lower Austria with Greece, a contact which can be put in historical context.

The paper is devoted to burial no. 19/2015 of Vinogradnyi 7 necropolis in the Taman peninsula. Its contents allow to attribute it to the time not later than the first decades of the 1st century BC.
        A special attention attracts a silver medallion, which was found upon the body of a woman aged 45–50. In the center of the plaque there is a bust of a goddess in calathus. Her veil is pressed to the chest with her right hand, in her left she holds a branch with a leaf, embossed in a high relief. Along the border 10 signs of the Zodiac are arranged executed in a lower relief. The closest parallel to the medallion is a piece in the Kerch Museum, which disappeared during the World War II. Only its photograph is available. The medallions depicting the bust of the goddess, her hand pressed to her chest belong to the well-known type popular the Bosporan kingdom as early as the 2nd century BC. Images of the goddess holding a leaf are found on brooches from the Kuban region and South-Western Crimea of the 1st–2nd centuries AD. The closest parallel to the pattern decorating the border is a silver phalera from the vicinity of Cossack village Kurchanskaya. In the centre it has the image of Aphrodite galloping on a goat and of Hermes standing in front of her. The medallion under discussion has a double loop soldered to the rear. This construction feature finds parallels on gold medallions with busts of Aphrodite and Eros from the Artyukhov burial mound.
          The signs arranged around the bust of the goddess are the signs of the Zodiac, among them symbols of Cancer, Gemini, Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius and Scorpio are easily recognizable. Noteworthy, that there are 10, not 12 signs. Their arrangement does not correspond to the usual order of the signs of the Zodiac. The terracotta disc from Brindisi, regarded as the earliest depiction of the Zodiac signs in South Italy and Greece, deserves special attention in this regard. The medallion from the Taman peninsula and the disc from Brindisi have much in common. Both not only display less than 12 signs, both do not contain the Libra sign, some of the signs occupy not 30, but 60 degrees of the circumference, the signs are arranged not in the usual sequence.
        Silver medallions found in the Cimmerian Bosporos represent one of the oldest, if not the oldest, images of the signs of the Zodiac in ancient Greek art. Most likely, being arranged around the bust of the goddess in calathus with a leaf in her hand, they express the heavenly hypostasis of the goddess, most likely Aphrodite Urania. Whether the unusual number of signs and their order was a reflection of someone’s individual horoscope is problematic. The fact that we know at least two images of this kind, testifies against such attribution.
          The analysis of the burial inventory, taking into account the location of this burial within the necropolis, suggests that it was a separate area owed by some local family, and that the religious beliefs of those people were associated with Aphrodite Urania.

K. Tzanavari, Ancient Lete. The city and its cemeteries.
Rescue excavations and epigraphic evidence that refer to ancient Lete have shown that the city was located on the hills and the plain that spread after the Derveni pass, on the western edge of the Langadas basin. The first archaeological research took place during the Ottoman era and carried on after the liberation of Macedonia and during World War I, as part of the archaeological campaign of the Armée d’Orient.
The structural remains, the pottery collected from both excavations and field surveys, as well as the burial data revealed recently in the area, testify that the city was founded around the middle of the 6th c. BC. Depositional fills argue for the continuation of habitation in the 5th c. BC. Few structural remnants survive from the 4th century; the burial evidence however are more representative of the era, with characteristic grave goods, such as clay vessels and terracotta figurines from Attic workshops, as well as their local imitations. It has been attested through inscriptions that the city had an urban organization, while its impressive development at the time is associated with king Cassander, who paid attention to his motherland after 316 BC. A small part of the city wall, at its northern edge, was revealed, dating to that era, and the sanctuary of Demeter flourished at the same time, enriched by cult and votive marble statuettes. The organized cemeteries of the city were located around its periphery. The unlooted graves found at Derveni also belong to the cemeteries of Lete, dating to the late 4th and early 3rd c. BC, with a variety of unique grave goods and metal vessels, whose representations reflect the beliefs in the afterlife. The most important find was the Derveni Papyrus, whose theological-cosmogonic text proved the initiation of the deceased and functioned as a passport for him, to secure eternal bliss for him in the underworld.
The flourishing economic environment that developed after Alexander’s Asian Campaign favored the creation of workshops. These workshops dealt with sculpture, metallurgy, goldsmithing, pottery and coroplastic production, sometimes imitating Attic prototypes. Particularly regarding the sculpture workshops, it is evident that their distinctive artistic character has been influenced by Athenian artists. This prosperity continued in the reign of Antigonos Gonatas (272-239 BC), an era of stability and affluence, and partly as further in time as the dissolution of the Macedonian kingdom by the Romans in 148 BC. Via Egnatia, which crossed Lete as it connected the Adriatic with the Black Sea, contributed to its economic development and created favorable conditions for the installation of Roman settlers.
However, the Roman civil wars that were fought in Macedonia between the armies of Caesar and Pompey (49-48 BC) and later among the legions of the Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian and Lepidus against the armies of Brutus (42 BC) left their marks on the city, as the abandonment and destruction of houses and villas indicate. A group of lavish villas was founded in the city’s region in the late Hellenistic and Roman times, which span as far as the late 4th c. AD. They probably belonged to the Roman elite, which owned vast properties, as is also attested in the region of Langadas via inscriptions. Finally, the fact that one of the gates on the western city walls of Thessaloniki that led to Mygdonia was named Letaia, attests the city’s importance even during the Byzantine era.

Eleven pieces of gold jewellery were found in tomb Z at Derveni in 1962, and these differ from those which were found in the other six tombs rescued at the same site. The tomb is dated to 300 – 280 BC, and the finds are now preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Though this group of jewellery was published 20 years ago, now it is presented from a new approach. Due to the thorough examination of the technical details, the comparative technical analysis and the documentation of use-wear traces, it is possible to prove that all these pieces were made before the date of the burial, and it is highly probable that some pieces have local and some of them have not Macedonian origin. This technical-based complex method can also contribute to a more precise definition of the owners’ social and financial status. Moreover, gold jewellery of tomb Z can provide a good starting point for
uncovering the relationship of the Macedonian goldsmith’s craft with other regions, like with the Black Sea region and Thessaly.

Ancient hydriai made from bronze or other precious materials occupy an important place within the field of toreutic studies. These vessels, in addition to their principal purpose of holding liquids, were also preferred as containers for the ashes of the deceased, and so were placed in the graves of ancient Greeks in significant quantities mostly in the Archaic but also in the Classical period.
Present-day Turkey, ancient Asia Minor, has supplied a vast assemblage of a range of toreutic vessels from various eras of antiquity. In 2012 a new addition was made to this assemblage with the discovery of an exceptional bronze hydria in the necropolis of the ancient Aeolian city of Kyme. Carefully produced and richly adorned with a relief plaquette of Dionysos and Silenus, this vessel was first published several years after its discovery. However, it has yet to receive a full treatment, including a detailed comparison with other examples. This paper aims to rectify this situation by “re-identifying” the Kyme hydria through a wide-ranging study. Firstly, the vessel will be re-evaluated in terms of its find context, including assessment of the other finds recovered from the same tomb. There follows a detailed typological analysis in which analogies are drawn with contemporary metal vessels. This will help both to challenge the previously suggested use, production technique and date and to identify the possible origin of this vessel. Last but not least, comments are made on how this exceptional hydria might have found its way to Kyme and the significance of this within the wider world of Greek toreutics.

Keywords: Kyme; hydria; Dionysos; Silenus; late 4th century BC

Die Picadoras sind eine Allegorie auf das Zusammenspiel von Weiblichkeit und Männlichkeit. Die symbolische Kombination des weiblichen Torsos mit dem Horn als Verkörperung der Männlichkeit ist nicht beliebig. Jeder Torso passt auf ein Horn. Die feminisierte Tauromaquia (nach Picasso) der Picadoras vermittelt zwischen Stierkampf und Tanz, Zerstörungskraft und Lebensfreude, früher und heute, Spanien und Deutschland, Guernica und der freien Welt – eine vollständige Realität.
Die abnehmbaren und tanzenden Torsi mit ihren entblößten Brüsten zwingen zum Hinschauen und zur Ehrlichkeit. Es gibt kein Verstecken und kein Täuschen. Wie schon in der Renaissance ist die Nacktheit eine Metapher und spiegelt die Seele wider.
Die tanzenden Picadoras huldigen mit ihren sieben Tanzbewegungen dem Leben. Sie bringen ihr Glück zum Ausdruck – ganz nach Friedrich Hölderlin: „Das Herz schlägt in der Brust wie ein Funke der Göttlichen.“ Die Picadoras leben ihre farbigen und wertvollen Emotionen im Augenblick. Sie versuchen nicht, sie für immer festzuhalten, sondern lassen ihren Schatz los und teilen ihn mit uns. Wiederkehrendes Glück empfindet, wer loslässt und Platz für Neues lässt.

Αντικείμενο μελέτης της παρούσας ανακοίνωσης αποτελεί ένας τάφος από το δυτικό νεκροταφείο της Αμβρακίας, ο τάφος Χ, που ήρθε στο φως κατά τη διενέργεια σωστικών ανασκαφών το 1995 στο οικόπεδο Θεοδώρου, στην οδό Κομμένου στην Άρτα. Πρόκειται για έναν κιβωτιόσχημο τάφο, όπου είχε ταφεί ένα μικρό στην ηλικία κορίτσι, και που με βάση την κεραμική που βρέθηκε σε αυτόν (39 στον αριθμό αγγεία) χρονολογείται στα μέσα ή το γ΄ τέταρτο του 2ου αι. π.Χ. Πέραν της αξιόλογης κεραμικής, ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζουν τα κοσμήματα που επέλεξαν οι οικείοι του μικρού κοριτσιού για να εναποθέσουν στον τάφο του, τόσο λόγω του ασυνήθιστα μεγάλου αριθμού τους όσο και της ποικιλίας τους, τα οποία και θα μας απασχολήσουν ειδικότερα. Καταρχήν, θα συζητηθούν τα διαφορετικά υλικά κατασκευής και οι ποικίλες τεχνικές επεξεργασίας τους, η τυπολογία τους, τα επιμέρους διακοσμητικά μοτίβα και οι συμβολικές τους προεκτάσεις. Στη συνέχεια θα επιχειρήσουμε να προσεγγίσουμε το νεκρό παιδί και την κοινωνική θέση της οικογένειάς του, αναζητώντας ατομικές και συλλογικές ταυτότητες της κοινωνίας, στην οποία ανήκε.

The subject matter of this study is a grave in the west cemetery of Ambracia, the so-called grave X, which came to light during rescue excavations in 1995 held in the plot belonging to I. Theodorou, on Kommenou Street in the modern city of Arta. It is about a cist grave with walls of stone belonging to a little girl. On the basis of the pottery found in it (a total of 39 vases), the grave can be dated to the middle or to the third quarter of the 2nd century B.C. Apart from the remarkable pottery found, the jewelry pieces chosen by the little girl’s relatives to place in her grave are of particular interest -due to their unusual large number and variety, which will be presented in this work. Firstly, we will discuss the various techniques employed for their production, their typology, the individual decorative patterns, and their symbolic meaning. Subsequently, we will try to approach the dead child as a person along with the social status of its family, searching for individual and collective identities of the society, to which it belonged.

Parion which is in the borders of Antique Troad Region in the west of the line stretching to Adramytteion (Edremit) Bay in the south of Mount İda (Kazdağı) where River Aisepos spring from is located in the region where Dardanelles Strait and Marmara Sea (Propontis) meet. Today, the antique city is located in the borders of Çanakkale province, Biga town, Kemer village. The gold appliqués which generate the topic of this study have been unearthed in Parion Tavşandere and Eğrekbaşı Necropolis. There are coin-appliques, diadems, necklaces, rings and needles among the unearthed gold jewelery. Almost all golden artifacts unearthed
in Tavşandere and Eğrekbaşı Necropolis which is rich in the context of findings, were obtained in the rock cist tombs and sarcophaguses belonging to BC 4th century. The discovery of the gold jewelery in graves belonging to Late Classical-Early Hellenistic period is of great importance because it shows the welfare of the Parion antique city in this period. Furthermore, the finding of gold jewelery frequently in Parion makes us think that whether there were gold jewelery workshops or production in Parion. Since the city Lampsakos which was one of the most prominent gold jewelery and gold mines centers as well as being a neighboring city of Parion reveal two possibilities. First, Parion might have imported gold jewelery from Lampsakos because they were very close neighbors. Second, gold jewelery were producted in Parion’s workshops. Because of being an important coastal town in antique period, Parion must have played a significant role in sea trade. Therefore, production
for exporting is possible in Parion. In this study, the gold appliqués unearthed in Parion are going to be made analogies and catalogues with the help of their equivalents. Furthermore, the question whether there was production in Parion in antique period will be searched for an answer.

The article presents a new approach to the analysis
of representative gold jewellery with polychrome
decoration found in 1975 in the rich barrow grave of a
Thracian noblewoman from the city of Anchialos, on
the west coast of the Black Sea, dated to the Ist century
BC/Ist century AD. The jewellery comprises two sets of
earrings and necklaces belonging to two different trends
in the development of the art of the Middle and Late
Hellenistic period.

Soloi, situated in the Morphou/Güzelyurt region, is known as one of the most important Iron Age polities of ancient Cyprus. Named after the Athenian lawmaker Solon, Soloi pledged loyalty to the Assyrian kings, resisted a fierce Achaemenid siege and stood against Euagoras I, the ambitious king of Salamis, when he wanted to be the sole ruler of the island with the Persian support. The importance of Soloi continued until the end of the Hellenistic Period as it established a long lasting alliance with the Ptolemaic rulers of Alexandria.

The archaeological investigation of Soloi was undertaken by the University of Laval-Quebec between the years 1964 and 1974. However, in the aftermath of the conflicts in 1974, Soloi was neglected until recently, when a rescue excavation was carried out in 2005/2006. This rescue excavation known as “Soli Rescue Excavations” (SRE hereafter) was conducted in the necropolis of the city by the Department of Antiquities and Museums of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The rich "treasures" found in the burial chambers 4A and 4B of the tomb complex “SRE Tomb 4” and a group of other newly discovered tombs from the necropolis are important for shedding light on the Cypro-Classical Period of Soloi. Among the rich finds in both chambers of Tomb 4 are pottery, lamps, figurines, weapons and metal vessels, but the gold and silver jewelry stands out for its material and artistic value.

This article will focus on the precious metal objects from Chamber 4A and 4B, namely the golden and silver jewelry. It aims to present the material, classify and contextualize different jewelry types by style and date, and finally to draw conclusions about the wealthy aristocracy in Soloi.

The large repertory of the jewelry found in Tomb 4 suggests that it derives from the possession of several persons, possibly the members of the same family, buried successively in both chambers.

Qu’elles soient propitiatoires ou gratulatoires, les offrandes racontent la vie des donateurs, parfois célèbres mais le plus souvent anonymes, qui sont venus exprimer leurs craintes, leurs maux, leurs joies, leurs espoirs par le dépôt d’un objet qui les reliait à la divinité. Le sanctuaire de Délos est le terrain privilégié par cette étude qui, à la loupe de l’épigraphiste, du philologue et de l’archéologue, scrute les mots décrivant les parures et l’ornementation inventoriés par les administrateurs de l'île. Bien plus qu’un simple dictionnaire, cet ouvrage dévoile tout un pan de l’histoire des modes dédicatoires de l’antiquité et atteste le formidable creuset d’expérimentation sémantique que sont les inventaires déliens.

In this paper concentration will be given to intaglio and cameo from the Museums of Izmir. A total of 140 engraved gems as well as some other decorated stones from Archaic to Late Roman period were studied. The largest group is gems with intaglio decoration most of which date to the Early Roman period. The most popular themes and personalities are, as expected, mythological ones, such as Hermes, Athena, Zeus, Tyche, Apollo, Demeter, Pan, Nike, Asclepeius, Hygeia and Hercules. Hermes is the most represented one and he has a large variety of types whereas Athena, a very popular goddess in Classical Ionia, appears in two major types. A local deity, Artemis Ephesia as well as bee as her symbol are also common. Late Roman period is represented by a sole gem with an inscription attested to a Georgios. In Izmir collections there is only one cameo that is from the first century A.D. 
The Izmir collections of gems are established by acquisitions by local salesmen and only a few them were brought from the excavations in the surroundings of Izmir. Based on their similar engraving techniques, stone arts as well as Ionic themes a local character is noticeable.

The Griffin Warrior Ring No. 2 is a gold Minoan-style engraved signet ring from Pylos dating to the Late Helladic IIA (1580–1490 BCE). The ring’s bezel depicts a seascape with a columnar tree shrine flanked by palm trees situated on a rocky outcrop. Five elaborately dressed female figures stand on either side of the shrine. The tree shrine features a net pattern in the space between its stone or brick piers. It is proposed that this represents a fishing net and that the structure is a sea altar dedicated to an unnamed Minoan tree goddess. The ring’s hoop is decorated with cockle shells, further emphasising its marine theme. It will be argued that the iconography alludes to marine food resources, practical and luxury textile fibres, sea trade, transculturality and cult, and is testament to the importance of the sea in the Aegean Bronze Age.

Girls or Boys? Meanings and Interpretations of the Grave Goods in Greek Infant Burials

Because of their transitional biological and social state, infants are highly dependent on the other members of the Greek society, which implies important methodological questions relating to burial practices. This paper examines grave goods found with the infants, often used as sex-indicating like jewelries, to explore the plurality of meanings and messages (gender, social, economic, cultural…) formed by the same objects or group of objects. Analyzing young child burials allows a better understanding of the different logics organizing the funerary rituals that reveal not only the manifold identities of the deceased (children and adults), but of his family and relatives as well.

Par leur jeune âge et l’état de forte dépendance qui en découle, les enfants en bas âge constituent une catégorie d’individus particulièrement intéressante pour l’archéologie funéraire. À partir de l’exemple du matériel retrouvé dans les tombes infantiles et plus spécifiquement des parures – artefacts  fréquemment utilisés comme « sex-indicating » –  cet article propose de s’interroger sur la pluralité des discours (sexué, social, économique, culturel …) que peut révéler un même objet ou ensemble d’objets. L’étude des sépultures d’enfants en  bas âge est ainsi utilisée comme un moyen d’aborder les différentes logiques que pouvaient exprimer le choix des dépôts funéraires, reflétant les nombreuses composantes de l’identité des défunts (enfants et adultes), mais également de leurs proches.