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BRONZE ARTEFACTS IN ROMAN TIMES IN THE CENTRAL PART OF DARDANIA (PRESENT-DAY KOSOVO)

Exhlale DOBRUNA-SALIHU ; Institut za albanologiju Kosovo - 10000 Priština

Sažetak

It has been observed that demand for bronze artefacts
- statuettes in the central area of Dardania (present-day
Kosovo) - started early in the past. Of particular value
are two statuettes, Hellenistic imports, from the 6th century
discovered in Prizren: the famous female statuette of the
Runner, kept in the British Museum, and a beautiful
statuette of a lying goat, kept in the museum in Vranje.
However, this paper gives an overview of artefacts made
of bronze in this area of Dardania through time, based on
finds of small bronze statuettes from the Roman period,
more precisely from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, recovered
mainly in the area of Ulpiana, and only rarely in areas
of other antique centres (one municipium of an unknown
name and one civitas, respectively present-day Peć and
Suharek).
The items in question can be divided into three basic
groups: items with a religious and decorative meaning,
items with a decorative and symbolic meaning, and items
with a practical meaning (useful items).
Almost all the items from the group of artefacts with a
religious and decorative function are statuettes of divinities,
which are also the most numerous of all the artefacts of
this type, and are rarely representations of animals. All
the divinities come from the Roman pantheon: Minerva,
Mercury who appears both alone and in a statuette group,
Venus and Mars. There is only one animal statuette and it
represents an elephant.
Two appliqués belong to the group of artefacts with
a decorative-symbolic function. One is in the form of
Mercury’s bust and the other is in the form of a female
head whose identity is difficult to determine.
Three lamps and a spoon belong to the group of artefacts
with merely a practical function. The lamps are of wellknown
types and also bear significant traits, namely, one
lamp’s handle is decorated with a tragic female mask and
another lamp’s handle bears a crescent decoration. The
spoon is also nicely decorated.
These items, which have analogous examples observed
all over the Empire, point to Greek and Hellenistic models,
and most (Apollo, Venus, the elephant, the lamps) possess
high artistic qualities, since they were made in renowned
production centres, in contrast to Mercury’s statuary group,
which apparently belongs to local Ulpiana production.
Other artefacts (the statuettes of Mars, Minerva, Mercury,
and the two appliqués) were made by local artisans, and
represent plain provincial execution.
These items show that demand for bronze artefacts,
either imported or locally produced, was significant in the
central part of Dardania (Kosovo). Particularly important
are the lamps which were expensive and less accessible
and as such were not only luxury items, but also had
material value. Thus, the very fact that three bronze lamps
have been recovered in the territory of Ulpiana indicates a
high cultural and economic level of the inhabitants of the
centre of this region. Further archaeological investigations
of this area, and in particular of Ulpiana, will probably
contribute to the discovery of a larger number of items
of this kind.

Ključne riječi

Hrčak ID:

85451

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/85451

Datum izdavanja:

1.11.2010.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

Posjeta: 2.209 *