Two New Silver Shapes from Semibratny (Seven Brothers' Tumuli)

Author(s): David W. J. Gill

Source: The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 82 (1987), pp. 47-53
Published by: British School at Athens
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30103076 .
Accessed: 09/02/2015 03:04
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

British School at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Annual of
the British School at Athens.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TWO NEW SILVER SHAPES FROM SEMIBRATNY

(SEVEN BROTHERS'
TUMULI)
LITTLEsilver plate has come down to us from antiquity and much of the extant material has
been found in the lands of Thrace and Scythia. A wide range of luxury vases were in use during
the Classical period-cups, mugs, kantharoi, askoi, perfume-pots, rhyta-and to these may be
added two new shapes which may be reconstructed from silver fragments found during the
excavations at Semibratny in the Kuban and now stored in the Hermitage.1Such plate gives us
a valuable insight into the richness of both barbaric and metropolitan Greek societies.
I. Silver pyxis (SBr.II.34) (FIG. I). D. (knob) 0.02 m, (lid) 0.067, (base) 0.062. There are two
fragments:a stemmed lid and a circular floor. There are no traces of the wall or feet. The lid has
a downturned rim which must have fitted over a flange on the upper rim of the wall. The base
has a bevelled edge which indicates that it must have fitted into the lower parts of the pyxis wall.
It has a prominent central cone. It is no doubt 'le couvercle et le fond d'un vase en argent, de
petite dimension' of the original excavation report.
2. Silver stemmed dish (SBr.VI.I2)

(FIG.2). H. (stem and bowl) 0.083 m, d. (rim) 0.081.

There are two fragments:the bowl and the long, tubular stem. There are solder marks on the
base of the bowl which correspond to the diameter of the stem. The bowl is rounded with an
offset, flaring rim. The foot is missing, but would have been soldered on to the stem.
Silver cylindrical pyxides are known from the Hellenistic period and are relatively common.
However, most appear to have flat bases unlike the Semibratny one. Usually the base is an
integral part of the pyxis whereas on the Semibratnyone the base was fitted into the walls. Given
that so much has been preservedin the tomb, it would be expected to find some trace of the walls
and their complete loss may be due to the fact that they were made from a perishable material
like ivory or wood. The original appearance may be reconstructedwhatever the nature of the
walls. The body was cylindrical and the base consisted of a disc, at the centre of which was
a conical depression. Such cones are occasionally found on fifth-century fictile vases but are a
standard feature of fourth-centuryones. The cone requires the base to have been raised above
the ground. Convex bases are found on pyxides fitted with three feet, sometimes in the form of
a lion-paw. The feet would have been attached to the bottom of the walls. The lid would have
fitted over the top of the body. There may have been a lining inside to stop the cosmetic staining
I am indebted to Michael Vickers for his
Acknowledgements.
generosity in sharing his notes and sketches of the silver
fragmentsfrom Semibratny with me. In addition, I am grateful
to the Hermitage Museum, where the fragments are now
housed, for giving me permission to publish.
The following abbreviations are used:
Artamonov: M. I. Artamonov, Treasures
fromScythianTombsin
the HermitageMuseum,Leningrad(London 1969).
de la commissionimpirialearchloCompte-Rendu:
Compte-Rendu
logique(St Petersburg).
Neverov: O. Neverov, Kulturai iskusstvoantichnogo
mira(Leningrad 1981).
Rostovtzeff: M. Rostovtzeff, Iraniansand Greeksin SouthRussia
(Oxford 1922).

1 Range of shapes: D. von Bothmer, 'A Greek and Roman

Treasury', BMMA 42, I (1984); D. W.J. Gill, 'Classical Greek
Fictile Imitations of PreciousMetal Vases', in M. Vickers (ed.),
Pots andPans: PreciousMetal andCeramicsin theMuslim,Chinese
and Graeco-Roman
Worlds (Oxford Studies in Islamic Art 4,
Oxford 1986) 9-30; K. S. Gorbunova, 'Engraved Silver
Kylikes from the Semibratny Barrows', in Kulturai iskusstvo
antichnogomira (Leningrad 1971) 18-38, 123; A. Oliver, Jr,
Silverfor the Gods:8oo Yearsof Greekand RomanSilver(Toledo
1977); D. E. Strong, Greekand RomanGold and Silver Plate
in Oxford(Oxford
(London 1966); M. Vickers, ScythianTreasures
1979); M. Vickers, O. Impey, and J. Allan, From Silver to
Ceramic(Oxford 1986).

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

48

DAVID W. J. GILL

FIG.I. Silver lid and base from pyxis. Semibratny, Tumulus II.
Leningrad, Hermitage SBr.II.34

FIG. 2. Silver stemmed dish. Semibratny, Tumulus VI.

Leningrad, Hermitage SBr.VI.I2

the ivory, for instance in a silver gilt pyxis in New York. Similar stemmed lids are found on fictile
ribbon-handled lekanides through the fifth and fourth centuries BC.2
Given the richness of the tomb, ivory would have been a suitable material for the walls. Such
a combination of ivory and silver could be used on furniture, but the more usual combination
was with gold in the creation of chryselephantine statues which adorned several sanctuaries.
A section of an ivory tusk would be ideal for making a pyxis: all that would be needed would be a
base, slotted in at one end, and a lid which could slip over the other. Ivory pyxides are known.
Two elaborately carved examples were found in a Mycenaean tomb (LH IIIA) on the north
slope of the Areopagos at Athens: one was fitted with a tin lining. The detail of the carving shows
what could have been done by skilled craftsmen. Ivory pyxides are also thought to have
influenced Late Geometric Rhodian fictile pyxides. Ivory was in use at Athens in the fifth
century, for example in the great chyrselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos, and Plutarch
spoke of ivory as one of the materials in use under Pericles. Alcibiades owned a shield worked out
of ivory and gold. Ivory couches were in use at Akragas, and such a couch, inlaid with ivory and
2 Silver
pyxides:e.g. Boston 1971.47 (Oliver (n. I) 53 no. 21),
New York 03.24.6 from Bolsena (Strong (n. I) pl. 28b; Oliver
(n. I) 55 no. 22; von Bothmer (n. I) II, 61 no. Io8), New
York 1972.118.157 (von Bothmer (n. I) 49 no. 81), New
York 1982.II.IIA-C (von Bothmer (n. I) 57 no. Ioi; with
separate inner container), once Rothschild Collection (E. M.
De Juliis, Gli Ori di Tarantoin Etd Ellenistica(Milan 1984) 44,
56 no. 6). Fictile pyxides with three feet: e.g. S. Drougou and
G. Touratsoglou, HellenistikoiLaxeutoiTaphoiBeroias(Athens
98o0) pls. 5 nos. 1207-9, 25 no. 1341,71 nos. 1207-8, 72 no.

1207; Reading 26.xii.27 (CVA I (12) pl. 40 (567) 5a-b);

BrusselsA 1763 (CVA3 (3) pl. 2 (140) 9). Suspended cones are
found on the undersides of both figure decorated and plain
stemless cups from the workshop of Beazley's Amphitrite
Painter, e.g. Stuttgart KAS I 13 (CVAI (26) pl. 28 (1240) 1-3);
cf. Agoraxii. 103 and fig. 5 no. 484. Cone on fourth-century
pots: e.g. Agoraxii fig. 8 nos. 759, 763, 769, 8o6, 830, 832, 835,
837. Lids of lekanides: e.g. Agoraxii fig. 11 no. 1220; proportions similar to the silver lid are found on a toy Attic lekanis
from Athens, London 1842.7-28.876.

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TWO NEW SILVER

SHAPES

FROM

SEMIBRATNY

49

amber, has been found in the Kerameikosat Athens. The Kul Oba plaques show that ivory was
painted and the effect must have been similar to that found on fictile white-ground lekythoi
and pyxides.3
The stemmed dish is a shape familiar from extant fictile vases and a pair of such dishes have
been found in the Kuban. The profile of the dish is closely related to that of the stemmed
kantharos and this may be seen by comparing it with a kantharos from the Taman peninsula.
Two other Greek kantharoi in silver plate have been found in the Golymata mound near
Duvanli, and a fourth, reported to have been found in Greece, is now in Baltimore. A south
Italian version from Roscigno near Paestum has a silver emblema in the bottom. Unlike the
stemmed dish where the stem was soldered on to the bowl, the stem of the kantharos was more
commonly riveted. This feature may have more to do with strength than in differences of
workshops. The similarity between the silver and clay shapes is such that we may see the
fictile vases as cheap counterparts. Such imitation has been found to be the case for other
silver vessels.4
The tombs at Semibratny were extremely rich. The pyxis was found in Tumulus II
(Appendix A). This consisted of a stone chamber with one corner set apart for the man and the
rest for thirteen horsesand their trappings. The man was buried with his scale armour (part gilt
iron, part bronze) and beside him lay a spare iron cuirass, a sword, and a lance. The cuirasswas
originally decorated with a fine silver pectoral showing a horned hind suckling a fawn above an
eagle. Around his neck was a gold torque and two necklaces. As in so many Scythian burials,
gold appliques were sewn on to the clothing of the deceased; more than three hundred were
found in this tomb alone. The other funeral equipment consisted of a rhyton ending in a lion's
head, a silver phiale decorated with close-set silen heads covered in gold foil, a gold-figuresilver
cup showing Bellerophon and the Chimaera, a vertically fluted silvervessel with a cable pattern
(probably a mug), a fragmentaryalabastron (originallyfor holding expensive perfume). There
was also a triangular gold plate, pierced along the edges, showing a winged panther devouring
a goat.
The stemmed dish came from Tumulus VI (Appendix B). The tomb was divided into four
compartments:one for the dead man, the second and third for his gear, and the fourth for his
3 Ivory-workingin ClassicalGreece:R. D. Barnett, 'Ancient
Ivories in the Middle East' (QEDEM 14, Jerusalem 1982)
61-4. Ivory and silver on furniture:e.g. Penelope's chair, 'they
set a chair for her to sit on close by the fireplace. / The chair
was inlaid with ivory and silver' (Hom. Od.xix. 55-6). Chryselephantine statues:Barnett, op. cit. 6 1-4. Mycenaean pyxides
from the Areopagos: Agora BI 511 and 512 (Agoraxiii pls. 32,
33; Agora xiv pls. I 7b, 18). Other ivory pyxides include a
Mycenaean pyxis from Menidi (LH IIIB) and a Roman one
from Asia Minor (Barnett,op. cit. pls. 30f, 7oa). Rhodian fictile
pyxis: e.g. Rhodes 14749: J. N. Coldstream, GreekGeometric
Pottery(London 1968) 275 and pl. 62a. Ivory at Athens: Plut.
Per.xii. 6. Alcibiades'shield:Ath. xii. 534e. Couchesat Akragas:
Ael. VH xii. 29. Couch from the Kerameikos:Kerameikos
ix. 62
fig. 22 pls. 101-3. Kul Oba plaques: E. H. Minns, Scythiansand
Greeks (Cambridge 1913) 204A-D figs. 1oo-3; M. Vaulina and

A. Wasowicz, Boisgrecset romainsde l'Ermitage(Warsaw 1974)

pls. viii-xi. Relationship of pottery and ivory: M. Vickers, 'The
Influence of Exotic Materials on Attic White-ground Pottery',
in H. A. G. Brijder(ed.), AncientGreekandRelatedPottery(Allard
Pierson Series 5, Amsterdam 1984) 88-97. White-ground
pottery: D. C. Kurtz, AthenianWhiteLekythoi(Oxford 1975);
onShapesother
Its Development
J. R. Mertens, Attic White-Ground:

thanLekythoi(New York and London 1977).

4 Kuban dishes: AA 28 (1913) 329 fig.
io and 331 no. 6;
other pairs are known from Spina (Ferrara 2043, T.456) and
Bologna (Certosa 355). Fictile shape: Agoraxii. 141-2. Silver
kantharoi: AA 27 (1912) 187 fig. 15 (from the Taman); B. D.
bei Duvanli"in Siidbulgarien
Filow, Die Grabhiigelnekropole
(Sofia
1934) io8, III, figs. 132, 135 pl. vii (from Duvanli); Oliver
(n. 1) 28-9 no. 4 (from Greece). Roscigno kantharos: Oliver
(n. I) 29 no. 4a; R. R. Holloway and N. Nabers, 'Le Canthare
d'argent de Roscigno (Monte Pruno, Salerne)', in T. Hackens
(ed.), Etudessur l'orfivrerieantiqueAurifexi (Louvain 1980)
64-79. Imitation of metalwork: Gill (n. I); M. Vickers, 'Les
Vases peints:image ou mirage?',in F. Lissaragueand F. Thelamon (eds.), Imageet ckramique
grecque.Actesdu ColloquedeRouen
25-26novembre
1982(Rouen 1983) 29-44; id., 'Artful Crafts:the
Influence of Metalwork on Athenian Painted Pottery', JHS
105 (1985) IO8-28; id., 'Silver and Ceramics in Ancient
Athens', in Vickers, Pots andPans ... n. i) 137-51; Vickers et
al., FromSilvertoCeramic(n. I); for an opposite view, e.g. D. K.
Hill, 'The Technique of Greek Metal Vases and Its Bearing on
Vase Forms in Metal and Pottery', AJA 51 (1947) 248-56;
M. Robertson, 'Beazley and Attic Vase Painting', in D. C.
Kurtz (ed.), Beazleyand Oxford(Oxford 1986) 19-30.

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

50

DAVID

W. J. GILL

seven horses. Over the coffin was a painted woollen sheet, decorated with named figures in a
style well known from Attic vase-painting. The shroud had obviously been well used before
it was buried as it was patched and mended. The man was buried with his scale armour,
furs (perhaps boots and cap), beads, a pair of gold 'twists', and a rock crystal scaraboid
showing a sow. His clothes were decorated with gold appliques. Compartment 2 contained
an exquisite gold-figure cup showing a bearded man and two women. The whole scene is
surrounded by an ivy wreath and anthemion. The handles do not fit the bowl and this may
be evidence for a second silver cup. There was a bronze mirror, some gold buttons, sherds of
two amphorae, and a red-figure vase showing youths. Compartment 3 contained a chest with
engraved ivory panels, bronze and fictile vases, and pieces of a basket. A further silver
vase from the tumulus was a fragmentary cup-skyphos of a form similar to that found at
Nymphaion.5
Other barrows at Semibratny were equally rich. Tumulus IV (Appendix C) contained two
gold rhyta, one with a sheep's head and the other with a forepart of a dog, a large silver rhyton
with a winged ibex, five gold triangular plates (similar to those found in Tumulus II), a
gold-figure silver cup showing a Nike, and other gold jewellery. Tumulus III, although robbed
out, yielded gold plates and broken silvervessels.6If there could be such wealthy burials, one can
understandthe reluctance to import cheap Greekpottery in preferenceto expensive Greeksilver
plate, probably of Attic origin. Such a phenomenon occurs at Carthage, although in later
periods, and this led M. Fulford to make the valuable observation: 'Presumablyduring periods
of relatively low ceramic importsof all kinds the social 'lite had chosen to acquire luxuries which
do not registerso conspicuously in the archaeological record. Metalware and glass for example,
might have been more prevalent than table-ware pottery.'
The wealth of the Scythians, reflected in part by extant gold and silver objects from their
tombs, was no doubt created by the area's ability to meet the Athenian desire for grain. This
may be compared to Laurion silver, in the form of coin hoards, from Egypt which has been
explained as payment for grain and ivory. Black Sea corn was always important to Athens. In
410 Agis saw that the occupation of Decelea was useless if Athens could not be cut off from her
grain supply. Thus Clearchos was sent with fifteen ships to block the Black Sea trade route.8
Demosthenes in his speech against Leptines records Leucon's preferencefor Athenian trade (or
more likely the payment in Laurion silver), and the annual import of 4oo,ooo medimni of grain
from the Bosphoros.9The corn from the Black Sea was equal to the total amount imported from
all other places. Strabo records that Leucon once sent 2,00oo,ooo medimni of grain to Athens

from Theodisia, although this was presumablyover a period of several years.1'The annual grain
requirement at Athens lay between 2.5 and 3.25 million medimni, of which 2.0 to 2.75 million

medimni had to be imported. S. Isager and M. H. Hansen have noted that the value of grain
imports would scarcely have exceeded 7 million drachmas. If there was a shortage of grain,
Athens would not have been able to feed her slaves adequately, and this must have affected
her economy as many of them created the city's wealth by working in the silver mines at
5 I am
grateful to Michael Vickers for pointing out the
similarity between the fragmentary cup-skyphos (SBr.VI.I3)
and the one from Nymphaion (Oxford 1885.486: Oliver (n. I)
31 no. 6; Vickers, ScythianTreasures(n. I) 42 fig. 9 pl. xiiia; Gill
(n. I) 18 fig. 16).
6 Tumulus III: Minns
(n. 3) 2o6, 21o. Gold plaque
(SBr.III.2o): Exhibition Catalogue, Grand Palais, Or des
Scythes,Trdsorsdes muslessoviltiques(Paris I975) 146 no. 49.
' Lack of pottery at Carthage: M. G. Fulford, 'Pottery and
the Economy of Carthage and its Hinterland', Opus2 (1983)

12. J. Boardman (GreeksOverseas(London 1980) 259) has

noticed the lack of pottery in the Black Sea.
8
Agis's strategy: Xen. Hell. i. 35-6. Grain from the Black
Sea: cf. S. Isager and M. H. Hansen, Aspectsof AthenianSociety
in theFourthCentury
B.C. (Odense University Classical Studies 5,
Odense 1975) 21-2. Laurion silver in Egypt: Isager and
Hansen, op. cit. 23-4; Vickers, 'Early Greek Coinage, a
Reassessment', NC i45 (1985) 39-419 Dem. Lept.xx. 31-2.
10 Strabo vii. 4. 6.

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TWO NEW SILVER

SHAPES

FROM

SEMIBRATNY

51

Laurion. Payment for grain may have been balanced by the export of olive oil to the
Black Sea."1
The export of silver plate in quantity may be confirmed by a commercial graffitoon the base
of a silver mug found at Dalboki in Thrace.12 This led A. W. Johnston to make the wise
observation: 'It seems that on one occasion at least silver and clay pots left the Piraeus, or even
the Kerameikos,in a single consignment.'13Whether or not silver and clay vesselsformed mixed
consignmentsis of little importance, but the graffitoindicates that plate may have been exported
from Athens in an organized manner.
S. Isager and M. H. Hansen have recognized that the export of Athenian pottery can never
have been important to the city's economy.14Study of commercial trademarkshas shown that
the highest recorded price for a fictile vase is 3 drachmas, which pales into insignificance beside
the bullion value of silver plate. Indeed the ratio of clay to silver may be as high as I : iooo.
Despite this, pottery is given an exalted position in the study of antiquity, and the attitude that
Athens 'paid for its great imports of corn partly with pottery' is never far from the surface.'5
Some have suggested 'the corn-baronsof the Crimea soon become amateursof Attic pottery and
terracottas','6yet their graves are notable for their wealth of plate. At Kul Oba the story goes
that during the excavation of the tomb, the guards left their post and during the night the local
villagers carried off approximately 50 kg of gold.'7 The systematic robbing of tombs has
undoubtedly denied the archaeologist a valuable insight into the wealth of the Scythians. Attic
pottery by contrast has gained a prominent position because it is virtually indestructible and
appears in large quantities on most sites throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.
It is important as it can act as an isotope for trade in more valuable (and perishable)
commodities.18'Connoisseurship'of cheap pots is gaining popularity in some circles;'9yet can
it be a valid approach of study for a society which we know from literary and epigraphic sources
lived by a gold and silver standard?Pindar, who wrote 'gold ... gleameth more brightly than
all other lordly wealth',"2would have been unfamiliar, to say the least, with a ceramic standard
society. When Alcibiades raided Anytos' house, he found the tables full of gold and silver plate.21
Such distortions have occurred in other areas of study and C. R. Dodwell's comment on the
Anglo-Saxon period could be usefully applied to the study of Greek art: 'If the survival pattern
of the various crafts of the Anglo-Saxons has distorted our knowledge of their arts, it has also
11 Levels and value of grain import at Athens: Isager and
Hansen (n. 8) 19,45 n. 25. Slaves and grain: Isager and Hansen
(n. 8) 44. Olive oil as balance of payment: Isager and Hansen
(n. 8) 36-8.
12 A. W. Johnston, 'Some Non-Greek Ghosts', BICS 25
(1978) 79-80; Strong (n. 1)85 and pl. 18b;Oliver (n. 1)30 no. 5.
13 Johnston (n. 12) 79.
14 Pottery's place in the economy of Athens: Isager and
Hansen (n. 8) 41.
15 Payment for corn by pottery: C. Singer, J. Holmyard
and A. R. Hall, A Historyof Technology
i (Oxford 1954) 409;
H. Michell, The Economicsof AncientGreece(Cambridge 1957)
on GreekVases(War297. Vase prices: Johnston, Trademarks
minster 1979) 33. Ratio of clay to silver: Vickers 1984 (n. 3)
90 n. 26; Vickers 1985 (n. 4) I20 n. I17.
16 Amateur corn-barons: CAH v.
17417 Minns (n. 3) 205.
"8 Pottery as an isotope: Fulford, 'The Interpretation of
Britain's Late Roman Trade: the Scope of Medieval Historical and Archaeological Analogy', in J. Du Plat Taylor and
H. Cleere (eds.), RomanShippingand Trade:BritainandtheRhine
Provinces(CBA Research Report 24, London 1978) 59-69; id.,

'Carthage: Overseas Trade and the Political Economy, c. AD

400-700', ReadingMedievalStudies6 (I980) 68-8o; id., 'The
Long Distance Trade and Communications of Carthage, c. AD
400 to c. AD650', in M. G. Fulford and D. P. S. Peacock, The
Avenuedu PrdsidentHabib Bourguiba,Salammbo:the Potteryand
OtherCeramicObjects
from theSite (Excavations at Carthage: the
British Mission i. 2, Sheffield 1984) 255-62.
19 Connoisseurshipand the study of Greek vases: e.g. D. C.
Kurtz, 'Gorgos' Cup: an Essay in Connoisseurship',JHS 1o3
(1983) 68-86; id., 'Beazley and the Connoisseurshipof Greek
Vases', in GreekVasesin the J. Paul GettyMuseum2 (Occasional Papers on Antiquities 3, Malibu 1985) 237-50. Those
adherantsof this 'connoisseurship'would do well to heed A. M.
Snodgrass's criticisms of Classical Archaeology ('The New
Archaeologist and the Classical Archaeologist', AJA 89
(1985) 31-7; 'Greek Archaeology and Greek History', Classical
Antiquity4, 2 (California Studies in Classical Antiquity 16, 2,
1985) 193-207); cf. M. Beard, review of Kurtz 1986 (n. 4) TLS
12 Sept. 1986, 103. Athens living on a 'silverstandard':Vickers
1985 (n. 4) 112-17.
20 Pind.
Ol. i. 1-2.
21 Plut. Alc. 4.

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID W. J. GILL

52

falsified our understanding of their visual tastes . . . if categories of art have not survived, or
survived only inadequately, then the only recourse left to us is literary descriptions and
comment.'22

Our knowledge of silver and gold plate in antiquity has been aided by the unusual burial
customs of the Black Sea, Thrace, and Macedonia. It has not survived elsewhere in such large
quantities because it was rarely buried for 'the living felt their need was greater'.23 Plate could
also be melted down in times of financial hardship or to be reworked into a new vase. Much has
been lost through theft and looting. Even so, enough plate survives to show that it was in general
use during the Classical period, confirming the picture familiar from literary and epigraphic
sources. We no longer need to accept D. E. Strong's view that 'for most of the fifth century no
plate was manufactured for private domestic use in Greece'.24 Indeed the domestic shapes found
in Thrace and the Black Sea show that the range was the same as that which has been long
known from the study of pots.
DAVID W. J. GILL
APPENDIX

A: TUMULUSII

Bibliography: Compte-Rendu1875 (1878) vi-viii; Compte-Rendu1876 (1879) v; Minns (n. 3) 206, 213
fig. I I4; Artamonov pl. vii.
Pectoral: Compte-RenduAtlas 1876 (1879) pl. iv, I; Minns (n. 3) 207 fig. 105; Artamonov pl.
I13.
Gold appliques: Compte-Rendu
Atlas 1876 (1879) pl. iii, 1-22; Minns (n. 3) 208 fig. Io6 nos. 1-21;
no. 16 = Boardman (n. 7) 259 fig- 302 above; Artamonov 26 fig. 42, 27 figs. 43-5, 28 figs. 46-8,
29 figs. 49-50, 30 fig. 51, pls. 107-12; Or des Scythes (n. 6) 63 fig. 47 and 145 (SBr.II.I-5, 9, 22) =
BMMA 32, 5
no. 51(I975) pl. 9
Phiale (SBr.II.3I): Minns (n. 3) 209 fig. 107; Artamonov 31 fig. 53-

1881 (1883) pl. i, 3; Strong (n. I) pl. 15a; Gorbunova (n. I)

Gold-figure cup (SBr.II.32): Compte-Rendu
21 fig. 2, 24 fig. 6, 25 fig. 7.
Lion-head rhyton: Compte-RenduAtlas 1876 (1879) pl. iv, 8; Artamonov 3' fig. 52.

Triangular gold plate: Minns (n. 3) 209 fig. io8; Rostovtzeff pl. xiiia.
Bridle ornament: Minns (n. 3) 209 fig. og9; Or des Scythes (n. 6) 50 (SBr.II.55).
Atlas 1876 (1879) pl. iv, 2-3Silver fluted mug (SBr.II.3o): Compte-Rendu
Silver alabastron (SBr.II.33).
Bronze cup.
Strainer ending in a swan's head: Compte-RenduAtlas 1876 (1879) pl. iv, i 1.

Two scoops.
Large bronze vessel supported on a stand with three lion paws: Artamonov 31 fig. 54Alabaster goblet with lid: Compte-Rendu
Atlas 1876 (1879) pl. iv, 12; Artamonov 32 fig. 55.
Two black-glazed vases.
APPENDIX

B: TUMULUSVI

1875 (1878) x-xii; Minns (n. 3) 21o, 213 fig. I14.

Bibliography: Compte-Rendu
Woollen sheet: Compte-Rendu
1878-9 (1881) pl. iv; Minns (n. 3) 212 fig. I 13; G. M. A. Richter, A Handbook
of GreekArt (London 1969) 381 fig. 507; D. Gertsiger, 'Antique Textiles in the Hermitage', in
Leningrad, Hermitage, Articles on Ancient Applied Arts (Leningrad 1973) 71-100, 153; K. Gorbunova

and I. Saverkina, GreekandRomanAntiquitiesin theHermitage(Leningrad 1975) pl. 68 (SBr.VI.I7).

22 C. R.
Dodwell, Anglo-SaxonArt, a New Perspective(Manchester 1982) 12.

23
24

Kurtz 1975 (n. 3) 70.

Strong(n. 1)74.

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TWO NEW SILVER SHAPES FROM SEMIBRATNY

53

Scaraboid (SBr.VI.7): Minns (n. 3) 208 fig. io6 no. 33;J. Boardman, ArchaicGreekGems(London 1968)
147 no. 555; 0. Neverov, AntiqueIntagliosin theHermitageCollection(Leningrad 1976) no. 17.
Gold appliques: Compte-RenduAtlas 1876 (1879) pl. iii, 23-32; Minns (n. 3) 208 fig. io6 nos. 23-32.

1881 (1883) pl. i, 4; K. Schefold, 'Attische Silberschale',

Gold-figure cup (SBr.VI. II): Compte-Rendu
RM 46 (1931) 119 fig. I and

pl. viii.

122

fig. 2; Gorbunova (n. 1) 22 fig. 4, 30 fig. 9, 31 fig. io; Neverov

APPENDIX

C: TUMULUSIV

Bibliography: Compte-Rendu1875 (1878) viii-ix; Compte-Rendu1876 (1879) vi-vii; Minns (n. 3)

210.

1877 (188o) pl. i, 6; Rostovtzeff pl. xiib; Artamonov 33 fig. 58.

Sheep's head rhyton: Compte-Rendu
1877 (I88o) pl. i, 7; Rostovtzeff pl. xiic; Artamonov 34 fig. 59Dog rhyton: Compte-Rendu
Ibex rhyton: Compte-Rendu1877 (1880) pl. i, 5; Minns (n. 3) 211 fig. 110, 213 fig. 114; Rostovtzeff
pl. xiia; Artamonov pls. I 17, 1I19.
Triangular plates: Compte-Rendu1877 (I88o) pls. i, 8, xi, 3-6; Minns (n. 3) 211 figs. III, 112, and 213
fig. I I4; Rostovtzeff pl. xiiic-d; Artamonov pls. I16, 118, 120-2; BMMA 32, 5 (1975) pl. II no. 48

(SBr.IV.5); Or des Scythes(n. 6) 63, 144-5 no. 45 (SBr.IV.5) and 145 no. 46 (SBr.IV.8).
Gold-figure cup: Compte-Rendu
188I (1883) pl. i, 2; Rostovtzeff pl. xv, 3; Gorbunova (n. i) 20 fig. I,
Vickers
23 fig. 5;
1983 (n. 4) 43 fig. 3; Vickers 1985 (n. 4) pl. ivc; Neverov pl. ix; Vickers et al., From
Silverto Ceramic(n. I) pl. 7.
Bronze gorgoneion: Minns (n. 3) 213 fig. 14.
Bronze crescent: Minns (n. 3) 213 fig. 14.
Etruscan bronzejug (SBr.IV.28): Z. Bilimovich, 'An Etruscan BronzeJug from Seven Brothers'Barrow
masterov
izdelijaanticnych
IV', in S. P. Boriskovshaja(ed.), Chudozestvennye
(Leningrad 1982) 84-96, 127.
Gold bracelet shaped like a snake: Artamonov pl. 133Three black-glazed vessels.
Three amphorae.
Painted lekythos.

This content downloaded from 193.19.172.29 on Mon, 9 Feb 2015 03:04:50 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions