BRONZE FLAGON from PONTES with an INSCRIPTION from the 29Th PSALM of DAVID*

IVANA POPOVI] Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade

BRONZE FLAGON FROM PONTES WITH AN INSCRIPTION FROM THE 29th PSALM OF DAVID*

UDK: 904:739.5(497.11)"05/06" e-mail: [email protected] 904:003.071=14'06(497.11)"05/06" Received: February 4, 2015 DOI: 10.2298/STA1565121P Accepted: May 7, 2015 Original research article

Abstract. – During the campaign which took place in 1983 at the site of Pontes – Trajan’s Bridge near Kostol, in the layer between a house from the second half of the 9th century and a house from the 11th century, a treasury consisting of medieval iron tools placed around, or inserted into, a bronze flagon was discovered in a shallow pit. The whole find was named Treasury B. At first, the flagon itself was dated into the period between the 6th and the 8th centuries, however, we have recently dated it into the 6th–7th century. The inscription on the neck of the vessel is a paraphrase of the 3rd verse from the 29th Psalm of David. This is proof that the flagon was a liturgical vessel. In this text we are trying to show that this flagon was analogous to the specimen from the treasury from Vrap in Albania, whose deposition during the third part of the 7th century is connected with the activity of Bulgarian Khan Kuber. The Byzantine vessel was a part of treasure plundered from the Avars, and the production of this flagon, just as of that one from Pontes, can be dated into the period between the 6th century and the first half or the middle of the 7th century.

Key words. – Pontes, flagon, Early Byzantine Period, David’s 29th Psalm, Vrap, Avars, Bulgarians.

n the framework of the scientific research project director of the excavations of medieval layers in Pontes \erdap II, realized due to the construction of the dated this object to the period between the 6th and the I hydro-electric power plant on the Danube, bearing 8th centuries.4 However, in a later text dedicated to the the same name, at the site Pontes – Trajan’s Bridge, analysis of Treasury B, and especially to the flagon, the near Kostol, the remains of medieval settlements origi- same author, inspired by the context of the inscription nating from the period between the 9th and the 15th engraved on its neck, defined the flagon as a liturgical century were excavated.1 During this campaign, which took place in 1983, in the layer between a house from th th the second half of the 9 century and one from the 11 1 2 Gara{anin, Vasi}, Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Gara{anin, Vasi}, century, in one shallow pit, a treasury of medieval iron Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1984, 44–47. tools was discovered, placed around, or inserted into, a 2 Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1987 a, 119; 122. 3 bronze flagon. This whole find was named Treasury B. 3 Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1987 b, 136–142. When the flagon was published for the first time, the 4 Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1983, 117, kat. 98.

* This article is the result of the projects: Romanisation, urbanisation and transformation of urban centres of civil, military and residential character in Roman provinces in the territory of Serbia (no. 177007) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

121 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015

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Fig. 1 a–c. The flagon made of bronze, view and details, Pontes, National Museum in Belgrade (photo: N. Bori}) Sl. 1 a–c. Kr~ag od bronze, izgled i detaqi, Pontes, Narodni muzej u Beogradu (foto: N. Bori}) vessel, produced in the 8th–9th century.5 Soon after, the The flagon from Treasury B in Pontes is cast in flagon from Pontes was mentioned in the text of anoth- bronze (height 20.30 cm, base diameter 9.50 cm and er author as a vessel used for the purpose of baptism, rim diameter 6.50 cm). On the hollow, profiled, ring- or for keeping holy water in, without any indication of shaped foot there is an egg-like shaped recipient with its dating.6 A few decades later, this flagon was defined an elongated conical neck, with a modelled rim (Fig. as a find from a house from the second half of the 9th 1a–c; 2a–d). The handle is bow-shaped and divided into century,7 or as an order from the Christian East for the segments. It exceeds the height of the rim, with which needs of the Slavonic population and was dated into the it is connected by the wide open jaws of the head of a 11th century.8 At the same time this vessel was defined panther. The handle is connected to the belly of the as a Byzantine product9 and we have included it in the vessel by a thin spear-shaped shield, above which there catalogue of the exhibition about Constantine the Great and The Edict of Milan, dating into the period of the 6th–7th century.10 Bearing in mind the character of this publication, we did not engage ourselves in the 5 Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1987 b, 136; 138. analysis of such a chronological definition. Owing to 6 Nikolajevi} 1989, 2454. this, our opinion is that something more should be said 7 Bálint 2010 a, 276, n. 841, 842. about the time, the conditions of origin and deposition 8 Ze~evi} 2013, 232–233. of this extraordinary vessel, which is today housed in 9 Bugarski, Ivani{evi} 2013, 143–144. the National Museum in Belgrade. 10 Popovi} 2013, 352, kat. 180; Popovi} 2013, 352, cat. 180.

122 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015 is a graphically modelled head of a ram. Behind the head on the belly of the vessel from Vrap are more realisti- of the panther, which connects the handle and the rim, cally executed (Fig. 3).15 On the lower side of the ring- there is a representation of a bird, made in relief (Fig. 1c; like base of this vessel there are Byzantine stamps with 2d). The surface of the vessel is decorated with friezes five cross-like monograms, with the Greek inscription: of incised and punched ornaments. Under the rim there Kyrie – boçthei – t÷ – d÷l÷ (the middle part is not clear) is a frieze containing a stylised vine in two segments, – amçn (God, help Your servant, amen!).16 and under it there is a frieze with an inscription in Greek. The flagon from Vrap is analogous to the one from On the lower part of the neck there is a frieze with a Pontes by virtue of its typological and decorative cha- stylised ivy-leaf, and the belly is covered with three racteristics, as well as by the content of the engraved friezes of unequal width. The upper and lower parts are inscription. Because of this, it is exceptionally impor- filled with zigzag lines, and the middle one, which is tant to explain the time and conditions of depositing of also the widest, is decorated with a row of stylized lilies. the treasury to which it belonged, just as the time of its At the bottom of the belly the frieze with the zigzag production, which also throws light on the chronology lines is repeated, and on the foot there are two incised and origin of the vessel from Pontes. Namely, even from lines. The free surfaces of the friezes with the engraved 1901, when it was discovered, the treasury from Vrap, vine, ivy-leaf and lilies are partly filled with punched with its heterogeneous contents, has been throwing ornaments (Fig. 1b; 2b). The inscription in Greek, in- archaeologists into doubt, because it contains the ear- cised on the neck of the vessel with letters of different liest cast belt garniture made of gold and silver and sizes (Fig. 1c; 2c), reads as follows: FONH KUREIOU vessels of nomadic character, similar to gold and silver EPEI TON UDATON (The voice of the Lord is upon the Byzantine vessels. Such a find in the North of Albania waters), which is a variation of the 3rd verse of the 29th could hardly be explained by the existence of Avars in Psalm of King David. The whole text of this verse reads that region, although the existence of luxurious Byzan- thus: “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God tine vessels, as the liturgical ones, in an Avaric find is of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters”11 not unusual, bearing in mind the composition of the and it is a verse read on the day of Epiphany. The con- graves of the Avaric Khagans in Hungary and on the texts of the inscription justify the explanation according edge of the Ukrainian plains.17 During the last two de- to which the flagon is a liturgical vessel, being used cades of the 20th century, this find was explained, with during a church service.12 The same inscription was valid arguments, as a consequence of the settling of the incised on a flagon from Corinth, dated not earlier than Bulgarians in Macedonia, under the leadership of Kuber, the 9th century. Another similar vessel from the same and of the Christian population, whom he led in 679/80 site has not been more precisely determined, other than and, finally, of their defeat by Byzantium at the end of as a product from the Byzantine period.13 688 or 689. A few decades before that, after the siege of According to its typological characteristics, the Thessalonike by the Avars and Slavs in 617, in 619, the system of decoration and the inscription, the closest Khagan made a truce with Byzantium, after which the analogy to the flagon from Pontes is a vessel which be- Avars deported large numbers of the Roman population longed to the treasury of heterogeneous contents, to Pannonia, settling them at first, probably, in the terri- deposited in the town of Vrap on the right bank of the tory of Pannonia Sirmiensis. Afterwards, they moved river Shkumbi in Albania, in the vicinity of the Roman this population across the Danube into the region of the station Clodiana, the place where branches of the Via Egnatia from Dyrrachion and from Apollonia inter- sected.14 The flagon from this treasury, of almost the 11 After the English translation of the Bible authorized by King same shape and dimensions as the one from Pontes James. (height 20.70 cm), is made of silver, and the decorative 12 Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1987 b, 136; motifs and the inscription are gold-plated. The handle of 138. this vessel is of the same shape as the one on the flagon 13 Davidson 1952, 73–74, no. 557, 558. 14 from Pontes, but smoothly cast, without any decora- Werner 1986, 9–10. 15 tions at the point of connection with the recipient and Strzygowsky 1917, 19–22, Abb. 19–20; Werner 1986, 14, Nr. 11, Taf. 11. with a conical protrusion instead of a bird on its upper 16 Cruikshank Dodd 1961, 276, no. 103; Werner 1986, 14, part. The engraved inscription in Greek on both ves- Nr. 11, Taf. 12, 3. sels has the same content, while the lilies on the frieze 17 Werner 1986, 16–17.

123 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015

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Fig. 2 a–d. The view, details, ornamental friezes and the inscription on the surface of the flagon from Pontes (drawing: B. Popovi}) Sl. 2 a–d. Izgled, detaqi, ornamentalni frizovi i natpis na povr{ini kr~aga iz Pontesa (crte`: B. Popovi})

124 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015 middle and lower parts of the Tisa Valley. This Christian Roman population, called Sermesians (Sermhsi£noi) after their first settlement in Pannonia, whose centre was Sirmium (Serme‹on), lived together with the Avars, Bulgarians and other nations. Later, the Khagan of the Avars proclaimed as their leader Kuber, the fourth son of the Bulgarian Khan Kuvrat. Kuber’s Bulgarians and Sermienses had, on few occasions, defeated the Avars, which were settled to the north of them. Later, they cros- sed the Danube and, in 679/80, settled in the Keramesios Kampos near Prilep, between Stobi and Heraclea. They stayed in this place until 688/89, when the Byzantine emperor Justinian II defeated them. Kuber deposited the treasure robbed from the Avars into two treasuries in the territory of modern day Albania, in Vrap and Erseke.18 These historical facts point to the circum- stances and to the possible time of deposition of these two treasuries. In addition, the stamps and inscriptions on Byzantine vessels which, beside the Avaric belt garnitures and vessels of nomadic character, were a part of these finds, can, in rough terms, define the time of their production. On two silver plates from Erseke there were the stamps of Emperor Constans II from 641 or 659, which define the terminus post quem. On the silver liturgical vessel from Vrap there is a stamp from the 6th century, while on the gold cup from the same treasury Fig. 3. The flagon with gold-plated ornaments, Vrap, Metropolitan Museum, New York there are modelled busts of the personifications of cities. (after: Werner 1986, Taf. 11) One of them is designated as Cyprus, which means that the vessel was made after 647, when the local Sl. 3. Kr~ag od srebra sa pozla}enim ornamentima, Christian population organizationally separated itself Vrap, Metropoliten muzej, Wujork from the Greek mainland. Consequently, the stamps (prema: Werner 1986, Taf. 11) and inscriptions on the Byzantine vessels show that they could have been made during the 6th and the first half or the middle of the 7th century, and the historical century. However, the question remains as to whether evidence points to the fact that the treasuries to which both of these vessels were made in one artistic centre or they belonged were deposited during the last third of in two artistic centres which were in mutual contact, i.e. the 7th century.19 In recent scientific literature, the belt they produced vessels using the same model or sketch. garnitures from Vrap are treated as products from a Namely, although typologically and by the concept of workshop in the Balkans which imitate, based on the their ornamental system they are connected, on these Byzantine roots, the Avaric type of belt segments,20 last two vessels some different stylistic solutions have while the whole treasure is not defined as a part of the also been used. In contrast to the smooth handle of the Avar Khagans treasury, but as a product of Byzantine flagon from Pontes, the handle is divided into segments, provincial culture in the Balkans.21 On the other hand, the deposition of the Vrap treasure is dated into the first third of the 8th century.22 18 According to the shape and system of decoration, Werner 1986, 16–23; Popovi} / Popovi} 1986, 126; 129–133. and to the content of the engraved inscription, it can, 19 Werner 1986, 14, 18–19. with great probability, be supposed that they were pro- 20 Bálint 2003, 58. duced almost at the same time, i.e. in the period between 21 Bálint 2002, 71. the 6th century and the first half or the middle of the 7th 22 Daim 2003, 510.

125 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015 as on the handles on some of the flagons from the find Pontes. Consequently, the difference in the material from in Nagyszentmiklós, today in Romanian Erdel. This is which they were made, partly gold-plated silver and a treasury which contains 23 gold vessels, made in an bronze, is not the only difference between the flagon Oriental society whose aristocracy possessed luxurious from Vrap and the flagon from Pontes, because the se- objects with strong Byzantine influences, but also with cond one displays elements of more rustic decoration, connections with the goldsmithing of the Avars in the while the specimen from Vrap is a product of higher 7th and 8th centuries.23 On the handle of the flagon from quality and marked with a control-stamp. However, the Pontes, behind its connection with the rim, there is a question remains as to whether these elements point to graphically modelled bird, while on the vessel from the difference in time and the place of production of these Vrap, in this position, there is a conical protrusion with vessels, or that they are as a consequence of the means a spherically modelled top. A similarly modelled proof payment by their orderer. In any case, because the trusion is the tail of a bird on a flagon with a fasciated vessel from Malaja Per{~epina, with which the vessel surface, dated by a stamp of Emperor Mauricius from Pontes could be brought into connection by virtue (582–602), discovered in the grave of the Bulgarian of some ornamental solutions, has on its bottom a stamp Khan Kuvrat in Malaja Per{~epina,24 not far from the from the end of the 6th or from the first two years of the town of Poltava, on the northern edge of the Ukrainian 7th century, we are inclined to conclude that both these plain. On the handle of the flagon from the Khagan’s vessels, from Pontes and Vrap, were produced during grave, just as on the handle of the vessel from Pontes, that period. To such a dating point also belong the finds there was a representation of a bird, while on the flagon of some ewers from northern Syria, of a similar shape to from Vrap there is a protrusion in the shape of a bird’s those from Pontes and Vrap, but with a longer, thinner tail, which could be proof of the simplification of the neck and a recipient which is of a spherical rather than primary motif. The handle of the flagon from Pontes is an ovoid shape, and with a linear, profiled protrusion on connected to the rim by the head of a panther, i.e. by its their handles; some of which are marked with the stamps wide open mouth, while on the flagon from Vrap, at the of Emperor Mauricius.27 The same chronological de- point where these two elements are connected, there is termination is also confirmed by some flagons of a simi- no figural decoration. However, on the above mentioned lar type to the vessels from Pontes and Vrap, found in flagon from Malaja Per{~epina, the handle is, at the Greece, Sicily (Plemmyrion) and Spain (Bovalar, un- point of its connection, widened into two animal por- known site), dated into the 6th and 7th centuries.28 Jud- traits with their necks placed one next to the other, while connected to the belly is a mask of a man with a beard, modelled in relief.25 The attachment modelled in a similar way from the handle to the belly of the flagon 23 Gschwantler 2002, 19–24, Cat. 3–7; Bálint 2010 a, 457–460, from Vrap is missing, while on the vessel from Pontes Nr. 3–7; Bálint 2010 b, 153–155, Pl. 39. For the detailed analysis of it is made in the shape of a shield, above which there is relations between Nagyszentmiklós find and the Oriental and Byzan- tine metal vessels, cf. Balint 2002, 69–71; Bálint 2010 a, 153–259; the head of a ram, modelled in relief. These decorative 263–273. 26 motifs in some ways separate the flagon from Pontes 24 Werner 1984, 16, Taf. 4, 6 a–r. from the vessel from Vrap, and they bring it into con- 25 Werner 1984, Taf. 4, 6 b, v. nection with the one from Malaja Per{~epina, which 26 The handles, whose connection to the rim of the vessel is could also point to their chronological proximity. It has solved by modelling different animals and birds and to the belly with human masks, follow the traditions of the Alexandrinian toreutics already been mentioned that the lilies on the frieze of of late Hellenism, and were used during the Early Roman period, the belly of the flagon from Vrap are realistically exe- mostly on jugs, while the rams’ heads appear most often at the ends cuted, while the motif on the frieze of the vessel from of bronze paterae (Radnóti 1938). Since the second half of the 4th Pontes is extremely simplified. The friezes with vine century, this decorative system comes again into use, but to a lesser degree, and only on certain amphorae, as on those from the find in and ivy-leafs on this vessel are also very stylized, almost Porto Baratti (Arias 1986) and Coneºti (Weitzmann 1979, no. 149) linearly executed. These decorative elements, including or from the Sevso Treasure (Mango, Benett 1994, no. 9) Traprain the friezes with zigzag lines and punched motifs, are (Curtle 1923, no. 123) and Hoxne (Bland, Johns 1993, 24) where lacking on the flagon from Vrap. The frieze with egg- the whole handles are modelled in the shape of a panther, leopard, tiger or centaur. and-dart-moulding above the foot, and the twisted ring 27 Weitzmann 1979, no. 535. at the point between the body and the neck of the vessel, 28 Bálint 2010 a, 276–277, Abb. 104, 105.1; Dalton 1901, also separate the flagon from Vrap from the one from 108–109, no. 541.

126 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015 ging by one fragmented flagon from Krivina (Iatrus) tools from the same period. The oldest horizon of habi- in Bulgaria, this type of vessel had already appeared in tation of a Slavonic population in Pontes has been con- the 5th century.29 nected to the end of the 8th (?) and the first half of the The flagon from Pontes could, like the more luxuri- 9th century,34 and the return of Byzantine administration ous one from Vrap, be a part of the booty which Kuber’s to the territories on the right bank of the Danube, which Bulgarians and Sermesians plundered from the Avars, took place at the beginning of the 11th century. The if we accept the historical explanation of the conditions flagon is a liturgical vessel which, most probably, soon of the Vrap treasure’s deposition, as presented in the after its production, became the private property of some first publication of this treasure.30 It could have come people of different ethnic and religious commitment, into the region of Pontes during the migrations of and was kept as a valuable object, likewise the iron tools, Kuver’s Bulgarians and Sermesians from the region of so they could be quickly hidden in a moment of danger, the middle and lower part of the river Tisa valley and possibly at the time of the wars between Byzantium and their movement along the Danube on their way to Bulgaria at the end of the 10th and the beginning of the Macedonia. However, this could also have happened 11th century.35 This opinion is also accepted in modern sometime later. When Kuber’s closest co-operator, scientific texts, but with a note about a possible earlier Mauros, at the end of the 7th or at the very beginning date for the hoard’s deposition.36 of the 8th century, joined Justinian II, he received the Although the exact moment of deposition of the titles of patricius and archont of the Sermesians and treasury in Pontes can not be defined with precision, it Bulgarians. The Byzantine emperor settled this popu- is clear that it contained a flagon made at a time which lation’s borders in the upper regions of the rivers preceded this event, most probably at the end of the 6th Hebros, Nestos and Strymon, to face the Bulgarians of or at the beginning of the 7th century. According to cer- Khan Asparuch, who occupied the areas around the tain details of ornamental approach, it is possible that Lower Danube and Thrace and Lower Moesia. It can- it was made in some toreutical centre on the Black Sea. not be established if Mauros himself was an archont of However, this is just one of the possibilities, bearing in the border region in the Thracian theme, or outside it.31 mind that this vessel could also have been made in These tumultuous events, clashes and, of course, plun- Constantinople, in some artistic workshop, which pro- derings, which preceded the destruction of the Byzan- duced objects dedicated to the surrounding nations, con- tine Limes in the Serbian part of the Danube Valley in sidering the specific style of decoration. Of course, the 615 and, later on, the settlement of Slavs on these terri- opinion that the flagon from Pontes is a product of some tories, could explain the appearance of the bronze flagon Balkan toreutical centre, working under Byzantine in- in the region of Pontes. Although the renovation of fluences,37 should not be rejected. Pontes, in the time of Justinian I (527–565), is mentioned in written sources (Procopius, De aedificiis, IV, 4), the results of the archaeological excavations concerning the Byzantine period at this site are modest (some pot- tery fragments inside the Northern wall, one dry stone wall, one mortar floor and some litter pits behind the Eastern fortification gates),32 and there is no evidence of 29 Bálint 2010 a, Abb. 104. any Christian church where the flagon may have been 30 Werner 1986, 16–23. used as a liturgical vessel. The final conclusions about 31 Lemerle 1981, 151–153; Popovi} / Popovi} 1986, 121–123. the conditions under which this Byzantine flagon came 32 Gara{anin, Vasi}, Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Gara{anin, Va- si}, Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1984, 43, 73; Gara{anin, Vasi} / Gara- to Pontes remain in the domain of hypothesis, but it is {anin, Vasi} 1987, 81, 94. undisputable that this vessel was, most probably, made 33 Cf. notes 16, 17; for the different opinions concerning the at the end of the 6th or the beginning of the 7th century inerpretation and datation of the Vrap treasure, cf. notes 20, 21 and or, when observed in the framework of the origin of all Bálint 2010 a, 270–300. 34 Byzantine vessels from the treasuries of Vrap and Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1987 a, 119; 122. Erseke, in the period from the 6th to the first half or the 35 Marjanovi}-Vujovi} / Marjanovi}-Vujovi} 1987 b, 136; th 33 middle of the 7 century, and that it was discovered 138–139. in the treasury between a house from the first half of 36 Bugarski, Ivani{evi} 2013, 147, nap. 104. the 9th and a house from the 11th century, together with 37 Bálint 2010 a, 276.

127 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015

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Popovi} 2013 – I. Popovi}, Jug, in: Constantine the Werner 1984 – J. Werner, Der Grabfund von Malaja Great and the Edict of Milan 313. The Birth of Christi- Pere{~epina und Kuvrat, Kagan der Bulgaren, Mün- anity in the Roman Provinces on the Soil of Serbia (eds. chen 1984. I. Popovi}, B. Bori}-Bre{kovi}), Beograd 2013, 352, Werner 1986 – J. Werner, Der Schatzfund von Vrap cat. 180. in Albanien, Studien zur Archäologie der Awaren 2, Radnóti 1938 – A. Radnóti, Die römischen Bronze- Wien 1986. gefässe von Pannonien, Dissertationes Pannonicae 2/6, Ze~evi} 2013 – E. Ze~evi}, Srbija i Vizantija. Budapest 1938. „Glas Gospodwi nad vodama vaskrsnu}e“, u: A. Staro- Strzygowski 1917 – J. Strzygowski, Altai-Iran und vi}, B. Bori}-Bre{kovi}, T. Cvjeti}anin, E. Ze~e- Volkerwanderung, Lepzig 1917. vi}, Narodni muzej. Zlatni presek, Beograd 2013, Weitzmann 1979 – K. Wetzmann, ed., The Age of 232–233. Spiritiality. Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, New York 1979.

129 Ivana POPOVI], Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David (121–130) STARINAR LXV/2015

Rezime: IVANA POPOVI], Arheolo{ki institut, Beograd

BRONZANI KR^AG IZ PONTESA (PONTES) SA NATPISOM IZ 29. PSALMA DAVIDOVOG

Kqu~ne re~i. – Pontes, kr~ag, ranovizantijski period, 29. psalm Davidov, Vrap, Avari, Bugari.

U okviru nau~noistraìva~kog projekta \erdap II, realizo- idnog oblika i koni~nog izduènog vrata sa plasti~no na- vanog povodom gradwe istoimene hidroelektrane na Dunavu, gla{enim obodom. Dr{ka je lu~no izvedena i ~lankovita, na lokalitetu Pontes (Pontes) – Trajanov most kod Kosto- prelazi visinu oboda, s kojim je spojena razjapqenim ~equ- la, istraèni su ostaci sredwovekovnog naseqa iz IX–XV stima glave pantera, a sa trbuhom suda povezana je preko veka. U kampawi sprovedenoj 1983. godine, u sloju izme|u tankog kopqastog {tita iznad koga je plasti~no modelovana ku}e iz druge polovine IX i ku}e iz XI veka, u jednoj pli}oj glava ovna. Iza glave pantera, koja spaja dr{ku sa otvorom, jami otkrivena je ostava gvozdenog sredwovekovnog alata, nalazi se reqefno izvedena predstava ptice (Sl. 1–2). Po- sloènog oko jednog bronzanog kr~aga ili umetnutog u we- vr{ina posude je ukra{ena frizovima sa urezanim i punk- ga. Ceo nalaz je nazvan ostava V. tiranim ornamentima (Sl. 2b–c). Na drugom frizu je odozgo Prilikom prvobitnog publikovawa ovog kr~aga, ruko- urezan natpis FONH KUREIOU EPEI TON UDATON („Glas vodilac iskopavawa sredwovekovnih slojeva na Pontesu Gospodwi je nad vodama“), {to je varijanta 3. stiha 29. Psal- datovala je kr~ag u period od VI do VIII veka. Me|utim, u ma Davidovog. kasnijem tekstu, posve}enom analizi ostave V i posebno Po svom obliku, veli~ini, dekorativnom sistemu i sa- kr~aga, ista autorka, rukovode}i se sadràjem natpisa ure- drìni natpisa, najbliù analogiju kr~agu iz Pontesa pred- zanog na vratu, opredelila je kr~ag kao crkvenu posudu, na- stavqa posuda iz nalaza u mestu Vrap, u severnoj Albaniji mewenu bogosluèwu, nastalu u VIII–IX veku. Ubrzo zatim, (Sl. 3). Ovaj nalaz je sadràvao, pored zlatnih i srebrnih kr~ag iz Pontesa je pomenut u tekstu drugog autora kao po- livenih pojasnih garnitura, i vizantijsko i nomadsko posu- suda namewena za kr{tavawe ili ~uvawe svete vodice, bez |e od dragocenih metala. Te predmete su od Avara opqa~ka- naznaka o wenom hronolo{kom opredeqewu. Nekoliko de- li Bugari i deportovani hri{}ani – Sermezijanci, koji su cenija kasnije, ovaj kr~ag je opredeqen kao naruxbina sa se, sa bugarskim hanom Kuverom na ~elu, naselili na Kerme- hri{}anskog Istoka za potrebe slovenskog stanovni{tva zijanskom poqu kod Prilepa u Makedoniji 679/80. godine. i datovan je u XI vek. Istovremeno, mi smo ga uvrstili u ka- Kuverove Bugare i Sermezijance porazio je 688/89. godine talog izlo`be o Konstantinu Velikom i Milanskom edik- vizantijski car Justinijan II, a Kuver je blago, opqa~kano tu i datovali ga u period VI–VII veka, ali, imaju}i u vidu od Avara, sakrio u severnoj Albaniji, u mestima Vrap i karakter publikacije, nismo se upu{tali u analizu ovakvog Erzeke. Sude}i po natpisima i pe~atima na vizantijskim hronolo{kog opredeqewa. Stoga smo mi{qewa da treba ne- posudama iz ovih nalaza, one su izra|ene u periodu od VI {to vi{e re}i o vremenu, uslovima nastanka i pohrawiva- do prve polovine/sredine VII veka. Kako kr~ag iz Pontesa wa ove izuzetne posude, koja se ~uva u Narodnom muzeju u pokazuje brojne analogije sa kr~agom iz Vrapa, ali i neke de- Beogradu. korativne sli~nosti sa kr~agom iz kaganskog groba iz Male Kr~ag iz ostave V na Pontesu liven je u bronzi (vis. Pere{~epine u Ukrajini, datovanim ìgom cara Mavriki- 20,3 cm, pre~. dna 9,5 cm, pre~. otvora 6,5 cm). Na {upqoj, ja (582–602), moè se pretpostaviti da je sud iz Pontesa profilisanoj prstenastoj stopi nalazi se recipijent ovo- nastao krajem VI ili na samom po~etku VII veka.

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