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Fetching coin data
The casket itself had not survived, but the coins and other items inside it were concentrated within an area measuring 22 × 13 cm, which makes it possible to envisage the approximate dimensions of the container.
This assemblage contained a round silver brooch with a depiction in low relief of a bust of Aphrodite en face with two small figures of Erotes at her sides, by her right and left shoulder. The hair of the goddess is arranged at the dges of her face in a roll with diagonal notches in it conveying her tresses. On her head there is a cloak, the edges of which come down on to her shoulders. On her neck there is a necklace with pendants. The right arm of the figure on which a bracelet has been depicted is held close up against her chest. To the right of the lower edge of the figure’s bust and arranged diagonally there is a straight staff also bearing diagonal notches. Along the edge of the brooch ribbed wire has been soldered on and its ends have been joined together. A sprung fibula of a fiddle bow-shaped type has been welded on to the reverse, and a bronze coin has stuck on to it at the side. The plate of the brooch has been stamped from a thin sheet of silver. A depiction of Aphrodite and Erotes executed on a disc, is an example of the variant which had emerged in the North Pontic region in the 1st century AD, and was particularly typical for this region: the goddess has been drawn with her right hand pressed up against her chest and holding a staff or sceptre in her left hand, which is arranged diagonally and decorated with slanting notches (another iconographic type also existed, in which the goddess was not holding a staff and which can be traced back to the iconography of the Late Hellenistic period). The brooch from Artezian was most likely produced in a Bosporan jewellery workshop: it is possible that it had been made with the help of the same stamp used for the brooch from the burials in the Gorgippia necropolis dating from between the middle of the 1st century AD and the beginning of the 2nd century. 4.33 × 4.54 cm. The thickness of the plate was 0.5 mm. Maximum height of the relief – 6 mm. Wire measuring 1.6 mm. Fibula: length – 30.1 mm, the width of the spring 8.3 mm.
Together with the other two rings, it had been wrapped in an offcut of a decomposed textile together with a silver ring, the corrosion of which had made them all fuse together. To judge from the microscopic fragments impregnated with oxides, it had been thin silk of very close weave. The bundle with precious rings had been fastened together with a small bow-shaped bronze fibula, which was completely corroded and which disintegrated when work began to clean it. The ring had been made using a technique customary for Bosporan jewelry in the 1st century AD – from two thin strips of gold leaf, soldered together and with a sulphurous mass between them. The ring belonged to the Bosporan School of Stone-Cutting. On the gem, standing Nemesis is depicted with her head shown in profile facing left, but with her body facing forward and holding palm branches. The folds of her garment at the waist are conveyed with three thin and almost parallel, vertical notches. Height 2.19 cm. Maximum width 2.14 cm – Bezel: 1.41 × 1.50 cm, thickness with the inlay 5.3 mm. – Inlay: 1.08 × 1 cm. – Hoop: in section at the bottom 1.1 × 1.5 mm, width at the top 6.5 mm, thickness 2.1 mm.
Together with the other two rings, it had been wrapped in an offcut of a decomposed textile together with a silver ring, the corrosion of which had made them all fuse together. To judge from the microscopic fragments impregnated with oxides, it had been thin silk of very close weave. The bundle with precious rings had been fastened together with a small bow-shaped bronze fibula, which was completely corroded and which disintegrated when work began to clean it. The ring had been made using a technique customary for Bosporan jewelry in the 1st century AD – from two thin strips of gold leaf, soldered together and with a sulphurous mass between them. The ring belonged to the Bosporan School of Stone-Cutting On the gem, standing Tyche/Fortuna wearing a diadem, facing left and holding cornucopia in her left hand. Her left arm is bent at the elbow, as it is the right one. Her right arm is also stretched forward. The parallel lines depicted perpendicular to the base of the diadem, are probably conveying its ‘mural crown’, another attribute of the goddess. Height 2.24 cm. Width 2.25 cm. Bezel: 1.38 × 1.70 cm, overall thickness complete with inlay 6.4mm. Inlay: 1.37 × 1.17 cm. Hoop: at the bottom in section 1.1 mm, width at the top 5.4 mm, thickness 2.8 mm.
Together with the other two rings, it had been wrapped in an offcut of a decomposed textile together with a silver ring, the corrosion of which had made them all fuse together. To judge from the microscopic fragments impregnated with oxides, it had been thin silk of very close weave. The bundle with precious rings had been fastened together with a small bow-shaped bronze fibula, which was completely corroded and which disintegrated when work began to clean it. The ring had been made using a technique customary for Bosporan jewelry in the 1st century AD – from two thin strips of gold leaf, soldered together and with a sulphurous mass between them. The ring belonged to the Bosporan School of Stone-Cutting A ring with a hollow hoop, thin at the bottom and oval in section, but broadening out towards the bezel, which is separated off from the hoop by a thin rib. The bezel is almost oval in plan, and in the centre of it there is a flat nlay also oval in plan: it is a gem with a depiction of a woman’s head facing left. The work is very delicate, and the facial features are shown in detail: the mouth, the large and slightly retroussé nose, the shape of the eye is drawn with a double line. The tresses of the woman’s hair are conveyed with thin wavy lines, drawn together in a roll, which frames the hair from below, before forming a bun at the nape of the neck. The hairstyle with a roll round the edge and a bun at the back became fashionable during the reign of Augustus85 and it was worn by Livia. Height 2.21 cm, width 2.13 cm. Bezel: 1.51 × 1.71 cm, overall thickness complete with inlay 4.3 mm. Inlay: 1.49 × 1.15 cm. Hoop: measures in section at the bottom 1.2 × 2.1 mm, width at the top 6.3 mm, thickness 2.4 mm.
Annular bracelet made of twisted silver
Some twisted and some smooth silver hairpins fused with one of them.
A string of hollow bronze beads cylindrical in shape
A thin and flat bronze mirror round in shape
A large bronze ring missing its oval inlay.
Badly corroded
Uploaded by C. Gazdac (August 2021).
