Iranians and Greeks in South Russia - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

INTHEROMANPERIOD 177
Kerch tombs to the Gothic epoch. But there cannot be the least
doubt that they are pre- Gothic, that the first belongs to the period
A.D. 212-29, and the two others to a.d. 229, the date of the death
of Rhescuporis II : that is, some decades before the appearance of
the Goths.
The furniture of these tombs is astonishingly similar to that of the
Sarmatian tombs on the Kuban. The funerary ritual is the same, the
bridle occurs in both, and the objects have the same shapes. Look at
the gold bottle, which recurs at Ust-Labinskaya, at Novocherkassk
and at Olbia (fig. 19, 1-2 from the Kuban ; 3, from the grave of the
Queen) ; the characteristic gold garment plaques, regular in Sarmatian
tombs (fig. ; 17) the bracelets and tores, of the same type as the
Sarmatian ; the distinctive armour of the king, with the great spear
predominating ; the shape and decoration of the dagger. The clasp
of the necklace, in the form of a ram ornamented with false filigree,
reappears in many of the tombs on the Kuban : the type of bridle,
with rings, is the same ; the monogram devices also ; the same
technical processes are used, embossing, and pseudo-granulation combined
with inlaid stones. Finally, a highly developed style of polychrome
jewellery. I must also notice the striking resemblance between
the funeral crown of the lady in the tumulus of 1841, and the crown
from Novocherkassk. The plaque in front of the lady's crown is
divided into nine compartments, which are decorated with embossed
geometrical patterns, very primitive and very characteristic of Sarmatian
art as a whole ; seven of the compartments are embellished with
inlaid precious stones, three of which are chalcedony cameos of the
first century A. d. The Syriam garnet, with a female head, which
forms the centre-piece of the lady's necklace, may belong to the third
century and may represent the deceased herself.
Let us now examine the polychrome style of the gold objects found
in these tombs. It is much richer and much more highly developed
than in the Kuban finds, and vies with the polychrome style at
Novocherkassk and in Siberia. Stones are inlaid everywhere, even in
the funeral crowns. Compare the gold bottle of the Queen with the
Mask and the gold bottle from Ust-Labinskaya : the Queen's bottle
is thickly studded with precious stones. Look at the two bridles :
embossed work like that on the crown described above, and precious
stones inlaid all over it.
But there are two other features to which I would draw attention.
The king's dagger was richly ornamented, like the knife in the same
tomb and the dagger of the queen. The hilt is coated with gold foil,
and bears the same monogram device as the bridle : it is studded
2353
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