Ancient Greek Jewellery

The paper deals with gold jewelry found in 1999 by Phanagorian expedition from RAS Institute of Archeology that was headed by V. D. Kuznetsov. It was found in Phanagorian acropolis fi e layer dating coin hoards as far back as 63 BC. Gold jewelry set probably kept in a casket that burnt down in the fi re comprises two fi nger-rings, fragments of two earrings, a flap with casts and two Eros-shaped pendants. The jewelry composition, shape, and décor provide a direct parallel to such well-dated complexes of the Aegean sea. This is a Delos hoard found in 1964 (122 or 88 BC) and shipwreck off Antikithyra (the 60s — 70s BC). The find in Phanagoria once again shows that late Hellenistic epoch saw the circulation of jewelry that is known due to the finds in Greece, Asia Minor, and on Aegean islands. Phanagorian jewelry set together with coin finds provides more evidence of dating Phanagoria necropolis fire.

Religion and Cult in the Dodecanese during the first millennium BC | International Conference | Rhodes 2018 / 18th-22th October _ University of the Aegean

In his major 1978 study about rhodian orientalizing jewellery, Robert Laffineur linked jewels iconography with the female cult sphere. According to him, images of oriental inspiration as mistresses of animals, naked goddesses, winged deities, women at the window, women holding their breast, bee-women and even centaurs holding beasts were related to a Great Goddess of Nature and Fertility for which we have to restore, in Rhodes, a cult corresponding to these striking illustrations.
Reassessing the inaccurate religious concept of the oriental “Great Goddess” and its improper association with Greek goddesses, I suggest that if one would see in these female images any relation to a local cult, then we should do it with the archaic cult of Athena, the major deity of the island, whose shrines are devoted to the acropolis of the three main cities, in Ialysos, Lindos and Camiros. Indeed, some findings as lenses of rock-cristal found in a votive deposit at Ialysos, dated back to the 7th century BC, or a bronze from the Lindos acropolis with the image of a mistress of birds, can be understood as probable goldsmith offerings. Another interesting research track, but anachronistic, lies in the 7th Olympic of Pindar, where technical capabilities of the Rhodians, particularly in the gold work, are connected with the goddess. With these thin clues, the rhodian Athena might be seen as the protectress of rhodian goldsmiths.
Moreover, without any epigraphical proof of this archaic cult and because the adoption of an imported image does not induce in itself an assimilation of the signification (on the contrary, what characterizes the Greek Orientalizing is the ability of crafstmen and the community to integrate elements for a new purpose and functions), this hypothesis deserves to be reassessed at the light of our better understanding of the rhodian jewellery production and a renewed study of its female iconography within its archaeological contexts from which this (these)jewels belonged. We know well now jewels are first worn during life time and repaired before being buried : the last use of these images, also beyond the island, seems to be strictly related to a funerary purpose. It is therefore helpful to reconsider the way we see rhodian jewellery in rhodian archaic community’s life time and as grave goods : the wide adaptability of the iconographic repertoire allows to understand it rather for its wider apotropaic meaning than for an hypothetic aristocratic distinction.

In the article are examined golden appliqués from Steppe complexes of Early Scythian period. The regularities in the spread of burials that contain plaque in the Northern Black Sea coast are traced. Also possible variant of reconstruction of the two parts of the warrior’s ceremonial suit from the Litiy (Melgunovsky) kurhan is proposed.

The metal pendants presented here, have been found in Lete, a prominent city of ancient Mygdonia. The settlement flourished during the Hellenistic period, due to it’s location near the city of Thessaloniki and to the Via Egnatia which passed through the area.
The pendants were found in the cemetery of the city, in two different burial contexts, dating to the early 3rd cent. B.C. The golden one (no. ΜΘ 22558, Fig. 1-3) came from the tomb of a young girl, buried in a cist-grave which also contained a bronze coin of King Kassander. The silver pendant (no. ΜΘ 17639, Fig. 4-6) came from a similar grave of the same period. Both pendants are made of two metal sheets, glued together. They are hollow inside, hang from a short chain and they depict female heads, with large eyes and elaborate hairstyles.   
The depiction of human heads is rather common in ancient goldsmithery, from the 5th to the early 3rd cent. B.C. in several parts of the ancient world, where the heads were used as a decoration either of pendants or of earrings. The examples from Lete display a less elaborate version of the type, compared with other known similar examples. The female head is identified with Aphrodite, a goddess connected with the protection of the dead in the Underworld. Thus, these pendants functioned as amulets.
The prosperity attested in the years after Alexander the Great, is obvious in the lavish burial constructions and monuments, as well as in the use of luxurious pottery and jewelry. This phenomenon is certainly related, as Yannis Touratsoglou, the honorant of this volume, has suggested, with the return of veteran soldiers back from the East; and these practices are kept to a short period of time, between 320 B.C. and 280 B.C.

The author discusses some finds of the IVth-IInd century B.C. jewelry in Kuban basin in South Russia.The find of a gold stamped plaque in shape of a male head, reflecting the typical motif of Early La-Tène
art, in a tumulus near stanitsa Ivanovskaya in Kuban basin suggests the penetration of the motifs of Celtic art in distant periphery of antique world in the kingdom of Bosporus already in the IVth century
B.C., i.e. before the well known after literary and archaeological sources evidence of the Celtic penetration in North Pontic area. It was due to the fact that since the first half of the IVth century B.C. the Celts were hired as mercenaries, first by the Dionysius I, the king of Syracuse. With the broad use of mercenaries in Greek armies the soldiers, also barbarian, with their own amunition and armaments, may had found their way in distant parts of oikumene. The possibility of the Celts penetration via South Italy seems to be indirectly proved by the complex find at Sergievskaya of the helmet of Etrusco-Italic type and two small “phalerae” with the design, having prototype among the Celtic and South Italian antiquities of the IVth century B.C. It seems also that some other peculiar motifs in the Hellenistic toreutics of Kuban basin (eight-shaped fibulae) also reflect the influence of the IVth-IIIrd century B.C.
Celtic art.

In dem Vortrag wird der Bronzeschmuck aus der Grabung von André Plassart
und Gustave Blum in Orchomenos (Arkadien) im Auftrag der EFA vorgestellt. Die
Grabung fand vom Spätsommer bis Herbst 1913 statt. Der Schmuck besteht aus
Nadeln, Ringe und Fibeln. Es kam aus einem Depot in der Nähe des Artemis-Mesopolitis-Tempels ans Licht. Sinn des Vortrags ist es ebenfalls, Fragen zu der
Bestimmung, dem Kontext und der Datierung dieser Objekte anzugeben.

Les inventaires déliens contiennent de nombreux termes suffixes en -ιον, -ίσκος ou -ίδιον qui sont souvent perçus comme des diminutifs. En s' appuyant sur quelques exemples choisis, on montre que cette interprétation est erronée et qu'il faut surtout tenir compte des valeurs d'appartenance et de ressemblance de ces suffixes. Dans beaucoup de cas lexicaux, c'est donc l'idée d'imitation artistique qui prévaut sur celle de miniaturisation.
The Delian inventories contain numerous terms with suffixes in -ιον, -ίσκος or -ίδιον, which are often regarded as diminutives. Based on selected examples, this interpretation is shown to be incorrect and that one must above ail take into account the values of association and resemblance of these suffixes. In many lexicological instances, the idea of artistic imitation takes precedence over that of miniaturisation.

Talk during the Seminar DOCUMENTING ANCIENT RHODES: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AND RHODIAN ANTIQUITIES in the 19th to early 20th century, oganized by Stine Schierup.
Copenhagen - Guldbergsalen, The National Museum of Denmark, February 16-17, 2017

Abstract:
From the island of Rhodes comes one of a major production of ancient Greek Jewellery during the so-called "orientalizing period" (end 8th, mid. 6th century BC) including diadems, rosettes, pectorals of plaques, earrings or pendants. Mainly discovered in Camiros during the 19th century Salzmann and Biliotti's excavations, and then during the interwar years, Rhodian Orientalizing Jewellery has been dispersed in several museums in Europe and United States. New Researches on the rhodian production are now ongoing, but an inspection into the History of Collections and the 19th European market of Antiquities (Parisian and Londonian) has to be proposed. It leads us to rethink about the dispersion of rhodian artefacts after their rediscovering, on their reception during the 19th century and, on a more archaeological issue, reconstructing with probability some unknown contexts of the first excavations of Camiros and re-assessing the question of the rhodian jewellery workshop diffusion in Antiquity.

Les inventaires déliens dans lesquels étaient répertoriées chaque année toutes les offrandes dédiées, sont le lieu d'un intense foisonnement terminologique. Dans certains cas, les administrateurs du sanctuaire n'hésitaient pas à créer des mots ou à les détourner de leurs sens initiaux. Les néologismes et termes rares sont particulièrement bien représentés dans les descriptions de bijoux.
The Delian inventories in which the offers dedicated every year were listed, show the extraordinary richness of the terminology. In some cases the administrators of the sanctuary didn't hesitate to create some words or to change their initial senses. The neologisms and rare words are especially well represented in the descriptions of jewels.

The conference is intended to be a multi-period and multi-regional discussion of the ways in which personal adornment can be used to better understand various aspects of identity. A central concept of the conference is to encourage collaborative dialogue within the study of the archaeology of adornment, identity and the body in both the ancient and medieval worlds. This approach will allow for a greater understanding of how adornment and identity have been successfully approached by other scholars in these different periods.

M. Callewaert, C. Dumora, V. Lamy, Fr. Mathis, D. Strivay, H. Calvo del Castillo & A. Verbanck-Piérard, Technical Analysis of a Collection of Hellenistic and Roman Jewellery Items of the Musée royal de Mariemont, Belgium. Poster presented to the « 39th International Symposium on Archaeometry », University of Leuven, Belgium, in May 2012.