Guide to the permanent archeological exhibition - Museum of Gevgelija, Gevgelija 2005 (original) (raw)
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Most artefacts in prehistoric and ancient times were created for practical purposes, and therefore the term techne — craft was used for all types of art objects until late Hellenistic times. From the perspective of the aristocratic circle, the craftsmen (slaves — servi, freedmen — lib-ertini, and metoikoi) were seen as humble members of society, working for the needs of others. But the utilitarian purpose of artefacts did not prevent craftsmen from expressing their artistic perceptions, depending to a greater or lesser extent on their skill and talent. Since the roots of Classical archaeology stem from collecting ancient art objects 1 , attention of the early researchers was focused primarily on them. Even today, in a survey text on Greek and Roman art, paintings and sculptures are emphasized above all other art forms. It was common for almost every ancient artefact to be evaluated from an artistic point of view, which is an elitist approach. Therefore, the older studies favoured artefacts with greater artistic value, while objects with less significant artistic qualities found in Roman provinces were totally neglected. An excellent example of this approach is the group of gravestones whose original and primary purpose was marking the tomb, followed by a religious commemorative aim; thus different styles and types of monuments were developed. The gravestones set up on the slopes of the mountains in the valley along the middle course of the Vardar river (ancient Axios), from (Titov) Veles in the North to Demir Kapija in the South (Republic of Macedonia), have a very specific iconographic composition and style. They were therefore named the Kavadarci type stelae, after the biggest town in the region, but the name of Tikveš type stelae is much more appropriate 2. This type of stelae with non-figural and stylized motifs shown in the relief zone: both in the relief field and in the pediments are very rare in other parts of Macedonia. Apart from this unusual kind of motif, we have specific types of stelae with a relief field in the form of an arch or arched niche on the columns shown in the relief field. The stelae with two relief fields were rare in Macedonia, and always displayed figural motifs in the upper field, and non-figural ones, mostly agricultural tools, in the lower one [10, ill. II] (Fig. 1, Table of types). 1 Antiquarianism led to Archaeology as a science. 2 Registered by Nikola Vulić before World War II, therefore collected and stored in the Skopje Museum, and after the war in the local museums of (Titov) Veles, Kavadarci, Negotino, etc.
SCIENCE BEYOND BOUNDARIES II / Nauka bez granica II, medjunarodni tematski zbornik, 2019
The growing interest in the period of Late Antiquity and the place objects of applied art have gained within the framework of contemporary visual culture studies served as reasons for re-examining the role and iconographic solution on a group of Late Antique objects. These include two lamps kept at the Belgrade City Museum, a reliquary from the National Institute of Archaeology and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NIAM-BAS) in Sofia and a cameo from the collection of the National Museum in Belgrade. One of the lamps from the Belgrade City Museum is decorated with the representation of a bearded man on the disc. On other objects, we encounter a cross flanked by figures identified as St Constantine and Helen. There are no known analogies for the lamp with a bearded male portrait from the Belgrade City Museum. Judging by the craftsmanship, the lamp is of North African provenance, produced at Sidi Marzouk Tounsi in the fifth century. The figure on the disc has been identified as both Christ or the emperor Julian the Apostate, the latter version being adopted by a number of authors. Still, the provenance and date of these objects disprove both identifications. The iconographic solution does not correspond to the type of a beardless Christ appearing on the lamps of this period. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine the mass production of objects depicting the apostate emperor in the time of the anti-pagan measures of Theodosius and his successors, as well as in the spiritual climate of the North African provinces marked by the personality of Augustine of Hippo. Comparisons with other, accurately identified portraits of Julian, demonstrate that he is always shown bearing prominent imperial insignia, primarily a diadem and a fibula adorned with precious stones. However, the figure depicted on the lamp shows similarities with the description of the Neopythagorean philosopher Apollonios of Tyana and the portrait on the contourniate issued in Rome at the end of the fourth century. An ascetic, miracle worker and healer, Apollonios was the subject of controversy between Christians and pagans in Late Antiquity. Whereas pagan circles regarded him as a holy man, Christians perceived Apollonios as a threat to the authority of Christ the Miracle Worker, yet acknowledging him some qualities due to the spirituality and ascetic life he was leading. We meet the same ambivalent attitude towards Apollonios in Augustus, who mentiones him in two of his epistles. As for the objects showing figures flanking the cross, which have been thought to represent St Constantine and Helen, it turned out that in all three cases, the identification was imprecise or insufficiently substantiated. On the basis of analogies from Athens and Florence, the Egyptian provenance of the lamp from the Belgrade City Museum has been established. The iconographic details of the representation, above all the naked and accentuated breasts of a female figure, suggest that the scene depicts St Thecla and Minas. Thecla was a saint from Asia Minor, whose cult spread throughout the Mediterranean in the fourth century. It was particularly accepted in Egypt, where Thecla was associated with St Minas, a well-venerated Egyptian saint and miracle worker. The connection between the two cults and their popularity in Egypt from the forth to the seventh centuries can be confirmed by written sources and pilgrimage items depicting St Minas and Thecla, appearing individually or together, in several iconographic variants. Regarding the reliquary from Yabalkovo, we may still find sources supporting the claim that St Constantine and Helen are shown on the lid of a silver box, despite the fact that already in 1990 Vikan pointed to the analogy with the engagement and wedding rings, based on the inscription OMONOIA and a pair of busts, male and female, flanking the cross. The inscription and form of the representation speak in favour of the thesis of a married couple on a small chest that was part of the bride’s trousseau. The context of the finding indicates that the object was secondarily used as a reliquary. Intaglio of jasper, today housed at the National Museum in Belgrade, is decorated with a delicate and very stylised representation of a cross flanked by figures. There are not enough elements to determine whether the figures be male and female or two males. The formal and stylistic details point to Sassanid art production. Although we cannot completely reject the possibility that the figures show St Constantine and Helen, the existing analogies suggest two male figures, possibly the Apostles Peter and Paul. When it comes to the cultural climate of Late Antiquity, a group of seemingly unrelated objects appears illustrative enough. They reveal the simultaneous persistence of pagan and Christian traditions, the Christianisation of pagan customs, and the way secular objects gain cultic purpose by means of recontextualization. A lamp with orants is a confirmation of the widespread pilgrimage practice, while the cameo from the National Museum in Belgrade attests to the interculturality of the period.
INTERNACIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE 75 YEAR JUBILEE OF THE INSTITUTE OF ART HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, 12th – 14thOctober, 2022 Dojran, Macedonia
INTERNACIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE 75 YEAR JUBILEE OF THE INSTITUTE OF ART HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, 12th – 14thOctober, 2022 Dojran, Macedonia
METAL VASES & UTENSILS in the Vassil Bojkov Collection, vol. 2. Thrace Foundation, Sofia 2021.
2021
THIS IS A PROMO-FILE INCLUDING ONLY A FEW PAGES AS A SAMPLE OF THE BOOK. Title: Metal Vases & Utensils in the Vassil Bojkov Collection, vol.2. Author: Athanasios Sideris. Publisher: Thrace Foundation. Editor: Ruja Popova. ISBN: 978-954-92384-8-8. Sofia 2021. Pp. 428. This is the second volume dedicated to the metal vases in the Vassil Bojkov Collection in Sofia (see herein vol. 1, 2016). It comprises 152 entries (cat. 147-298) of vases and utensils issued from the Thracian, Achaemenid, Greek and Hellenistic cultural domains, 105 of which have never been published previously. They are illustrated by 403 colour pictures and 195 drawings, complemented by 193 b&w pictures of parallels in other museums and collections. The time-span covered in this volume extends from the 11th to the 1st centuries BC. The volume comprises as well an extensive bibliography, three indexes, various lists and a map. It includes several unique or very rare pieces, such as a prehistoric gold kantharos, gold and silver phialae, several vases bearing dedicatory and other inscriptions, a new silver kantharos with figurative scenes, a bronze calyx crater, several silver rhyta with some outstanding exemplars decorated with a silenus figure and caracal protomes, as well as a unique silver plate with the representation of Aphrodite's birth from the ocean. The book will be soon available in Amazon.com or by addressing directly the Thrace Foundation.
THE POTTERY COMPLEX FROM THE ROMAN VICUS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GORSKO ABLANOVO (2007-2008) 1
The remains of a Roman unfortified settlement at the village of Gorsko Ablanovo, Opaka Municipality, Targovishte District (Fig. 1), became familiar to science at the early 20 1 h century as result of the research work of K. Skorpil. According to him, the vicus is located to the northeast of the village 2 • The settlement structure consists of an inhabited zone, two mound necropolises and a sanc-tuary3. Its territory coverage is approximately 2000 decares. The discovered remains belong to spread residential complexes with yards. In terms of topography, the building occupies the first and the second floodless terraces. The main part of the settlement occupies terrains, located along the left riverbank of the Chemi Lom, but the archaeological materials, discovered along the right riverbank prove the habitation of this area as well. The huge area, the serious architectural remains and the significant quantity of accidental finds present us with the opportunity to search the place of the vicus within the qualification system, adopted by the contemporary researchers. Despite the lack so far of epigraphically resources and the name of the settlement that remains unknown as of this moment, the site can be defined as a village from the Roman period with quasi-municipal status, or as an "ordinary'' vicus 4. Within the borders of settled territory or in immediate proximity to it there has been a functioning sanctuary. Its location is not clarified precisely, but several votive plates of the Thracian Horseman 5 and a limestone altar to Apollo 6 , which originates from this area support the hypothesis for the building of a temple in the past7. Important segments of the settlement structure are the two necropolises, which have mound character and are located correspondingly to the east and to the west periphery of the vicus 8. The first (the east one) of them consists of six mounds, one of which has been robbed in the early 20 1 h The article is delivered for publishing in Bulgarian, with detailed catalogue of the discovered informative ceramic fragments (PyceB, PyceB, Bop6aHoB, no,1:1 ne'laT).