A Magical Loom-Weight and the Mother of Gods in Thrace

doi: 10.2143/AWE.15.0.3167465 AWE 15 (2016) 103-112 A MaGICaL LOOm-WeIGHT aND THe MOTHeR OF GODS IN THRaCe JAN BOUZEK Abstract The loom-weight bears on its lateral faces symbols of lightning, of solar standard, stars and a female deity with a broad skirt; on the bottom, the anagram thea meter(?).The weight is analysed in the frame of other loom-weight types in Greece and the Balkans, of Thracian religion, of the religious aspects of spinning and weaving, and in relation to the ‘emancipa- tion’ of women in the early Hellenistic period. Among loom-weights, the pyramidal shape that arrived in Greece from Europe at the beginning of the Iron Age1 was the commonest variety at Pistiros (Fig. 1.4), but it was closely followed in number by the fiddle-shaped form, the second commonest class (Fig. 1.1), usual in Thrace and extremely rarely represented in the North Aegean Greek cities: in Olynthus it was entirely unrecorded;2 from Thasos only one item has been published.3 The third main type, the lunar shape (Fig. 1.2–3), also differs in the quality of individual items and in weight, though in general the lunar weights are lighter than the two preceding. The fiddle-shaped weights were apparently preferred by Thracian women main- taining their family tradition, while Greek women preferred the pyramidal and lunar shapes.4 Some pyramidal and lunar items are works of professional potters; they were made, it seems, for the rich families among the emporitai. Generally, pyramidal and lunar weights more often bear gem imprints and never traces of finger imprints. A large part of the fiddle-shaped home-made items bear imprints of female fingers, on some weights impressed clearly and carefully, on others with haste and less well organised aesthetically, thus showing the different characters of their authors. The modelling of the shape by hand also reflects the character of the individual person, of her mood while shaping the weight.5 As the shape resembles the long tradition of female idols since the Eneolithic, it might have a meaning for safeguarding protection of the weaver and her work by the patroness of textiles. The 1 Barber 1991, 302–03 for Palestine; Hood 1982. 2 Wilson 1930; Robinson 1941. 3 Grandjean 1988. 4 Bouzek 1996; 2002, 345; Matys 2013. 5 Bouzek 1996, 117–18. 104 J. BOUZeK Fig. 1: Loom-weights of type 1 (a – pyramidal), of type 2 (b – fiddle-shaped) and 3 (c – semi globular) from Pistiros (Pistiros Archive). Fig. 2: Magical loom-weight, drawings, H. 7 cm (Pistiros Archive). A MaGICaL LOOm-WeIGHT aND THe MOTHeR OF GODS IN THRaCe 105 fiddle-shaped weights were common in many sites in Macedonia,6 Serbia7 and Bulgaria.8 Of pyramidal loom-weights too, only a minority are works of professional potters; some of the best preserved of this category bear imprints of finger-rings, showing that the particular lady who ordered her loom-weights was of higher social status.9 They much differ also in the quality of exactness of shape, firing tempera- ture and treatment of the surface, which may also suggest the differences in the social status of the particular person who used them on her loom. There is also a substantial difference among the weights in their size and weight: the small items were apparently destined for fine materials such as veils and under- wear, the larger for dress and curtains, the heaviest for the carpets. For example, in the central room of the Southern House at Pistiros (living room, gynaikeion) two series of loom-weights were found, one of small fine well-burned and polished weights, and a second with poorly burned much heavier items. The first were probably those of the wife or daughter of the family, and the second of a slave servant. The concentration of loom-weights south of the Eastern Gate in sectors B 12, B 2 and B 710 can be explained in two ways. Either some small ergasterion existed there with a group of weavers, or the weights came there as small dedications to a sacred precinct with a number of clay altars (escharai). Small rectangular altars with geometric pattern, probably used for some kind of soothsaying, were revealed in the area11 besides wells and kilns. The most interesting pyramidal weight, found in Square B 21 by the British team,12 shows in deep incisions and imprints a number of subjects. It was very carefully moulded and stamped and surpasses aesthetically all other loom-weights found at the site (Fig. 2).13 The completely preserved face without hole (A) shows in the centre Zeus’ thunderbolt (lightning). The central motif is surrounded symmetrically at the base by two kerykeions, the stick used mainly by Hermes (notably when carrying a mes- sage) which, with a snail coiled around it, was also an attribute of Asclepius. If turned to right, the next face B with the suspension hole has as a central motif a square divided by St Andrew’s cross and one vertical line. Above the square there 6 Mitrevski 2005, 199, fig 28; Bitrakova-Grozdanova 1989; Shurbanoski 1987. 7 For Kruševica, see Popović 2005; Popović and Vranić 2006. 8 Lists in Bouzek 1996; 2002, 347–48; Matys 2013; cf. Langova 1981; Dimitrova 1982; Changova 1991. 9 Cf. Ondřejová 2007. 10 Bouzek 1996; Grzybalska 2010. 11 Cf. Pistiros II; Domaradzki 1994, pl. 3. 12 Archibald 2013. 13 A photograph of the weight is reproduced in AWE 13 (2014), 247. 106 J. BOUZeK is another St Andrew’s cross and the whole triangular field is outlined by a flute. The divided square has good parallels in Persian solar standards, also common on Greek Geometric vases (Fig. 3); the upper storey repeating the motif may well have similar meaning. If compared with the opposite face D with stars, the two B and D faces may also mean day and night in their opposition and alternation. On face D, the big star with five rays and raised circular centre is surrounded with three smaller stars, each of them with six linear rays. The big star may most probably represent Venus/Aphrodite, the brightest star on the sky; similar motifs are represented on late Roman gems, but it was also known much earlier in the Near East and in the Aegean. On the damaged face C, a figure in broad rock and raised arms, resembling the female dancers on Hallstatt pottery, is represented, with parallels from Sopron (Fig. 4) and elsewhere.14 The three lines preserved, one straight and two curved, may suggest three positions of the arms for prayer and blessing. The figure may represent a priestess, but her position on face C against the thunderbolt on face A speaks in favour of her being the female partner of the sky god, the goddess of the Earth. The anagram on the square base of the weight (Fig. 5) may perhaps best be read ΘΕΑ ΜΗΤΗΡ; the picture contains also two symmetrically opposed measuring rods, perhaps marking the sacred square with the anagram,15 as an analogy to lituus used by Roman priests for marking the sacred space. The weight perhaps played a role similar to the so-called figures used for magic handlings on Thracian escharai, but the fine careful decoration is of much higher quality. The Thracians also had their mysteries and oracles, and their religion was greatly admired by the Greeks, who otherwise considered them barbarians.16 The loom-weight as such must have been related to a female deity connected with textile production. On one rhyton from Panagyurishte Apollo is depicted with Hera and Artemis (all three identified by inscriptions: Fig. 6), and this may represent – in Greek translation – the main Thracian divine triad; also the Thracian Rider is usually accompanied by two goddesses – perhaps mother and sister or spouse. Artemis was related to Thracian Bendis and the Greeks often contaminated the images of both goddesses.17 The rhyton from Panagyurishte suggests that besides the huntress Bendis there was in Thracian pantheon a goddess-mother, identified with Greek Hera. Decorative 14 Cf. Bouzek 1997, figs. 240–242. 15 Cf. Archibald 2013, 171. 16 Archibald 1999; Eliade 1972; Sîrbu 1994; Bouzek 2005a, 42–50; Bogdanov 1991; Fol et al. 1986. 17 Cf. Bouzek 2005a, 42–50; 2005b; Bouzek and Ondřejová 1987. A MaGICaL LOOm-WeIGHT aND THe MOTHeR OF GODS IN THRaCe 107 Fig. 3: Persian solar standard and its use on a late Geometric Rhodian pitcher (after Bouzek 1997). Fig. 4: Spinning and weaving women, entertained by music, on a vase from Sopron (after Bouzek 1997). Fig. 5: Base of magical loom-weight, drawing (Pistiros Archive). 108 J. BOUZeK Fig. 6: Apollo, Artemis, Hera and Nike on Panagyurishte rhyton with goat protome (after Bouzek 2005). Fig. 7: Decorated loom-weights from cemetery of Locri in Calabria (after Notizie degli Scavi 1900 and Trump 1966, fig. 52; final drawings by A. Waldhauserová). A MaGICaL LOOm-WeIGHT aND THe MOTHeR OF GODS IN THRaCe 109 escharai – altars in Thracian houses at Seuthopolis and Pistiros may testify to a cult of a household deity similar to Greek Hestia. However, they may have been only varying aspects of the same goddess; Thracian religious iconography was certainly less fixed than that of the Greeks. The weight represents a specific cult object and/or offering to female deity responsible for spinning and weaving, worshipped generally during Classical antiquity, but under different names. For the Greeks it was Pallas Athena; on the Verucchio throne, the goddess organising various stages of production of cloth. As result of thoughtful discussion on the Persian court in the Paralipomena of the Old Testament (1 Esdras 3:3), women were held for the second-in-rank mightiest beings just after the Lord.

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