PREHISTORIC
PART
4 –
Ch.XXVIII
Prehistoric
monuments of metallurgic art in
The
Arimaspian or Hyperborean treasure from Petrosa
(TN –
the so-called “Hen and chicks”)
XXVIII.
1. The village Petrosa (TN – today Pietroasa) and its archaeological
importance.
The discovery of the treasure.
In the district of
Buzeu, where the southern chain of the Carpathians begins to arch towards
north, soars in the shape of a vast amphitheatre the mountain Istrita, with its steep stone cliffs
and its secular forests, and on a small terrace on the foothills of this
mountain is situated the village Petrosa.
The mountain
Istrita, which dominates far into the distance the ancient communication line
between
On the highest peak
of this mountain could still be distinguished before 1847 the vestiges of a
circular earthwork, with a diameter of 6.32m, which had the enigmatic name of “The barn of gold” (TN – Sura de aur).
With the occasion of the digs made here during the past century, had been
discovered inside this earthwork a stone pavement, and around it foundations of
buildings, thin tablets of marble and fragments of glasswork. It is probable
that we have here the ruins of an ancient temple which also served at need as
fortress (Neigebaur, Dacien, 1851,
p. 122).
A rock on Istrita
mountain still conserves to our days the shape of a white horse, and the ridge
on which this symbolic figure rises is called by the people “The Peak of the white horse” (TN - Piscul calului
alb). Without doubt we have here a votive monument consecrated to the divinity
of the Sun, to Apollo, the hyperborean god, even at the time when the simulacra
and attributes of divinities were cut in live rock on the peaks of the
mountains, often of colossal proportions.
Another two rocks
on Istrita mountain bear each the name of “The Rock of the Falcon” (TN – Petra Soimului). In one of these there is carved a
little house “from times long gone”, or from “the giants”, as the folk say,
high and large of 1,89m each. And in the vicinity there is a “huge footprint of
a giant” (Answers to Chestionariul archeologic, jud. Buzeu, p. 344, 367, 556,
Bibl. Acad. Rom).
Another height on
Istrita mountain is called “The Nest of the Raven (vulture)” (TN – Cuibul Corbului), a spring is called “the
Fountain of the Vulture” and close
by is the “
The remains of
another antique defensive construction are on the foothills of Istrita
mountain, but its foundations are today mostly covered by the houses of the
villagers of Petrosa. The shape of this fortification is quadrangular, and the
length of its sides is 226m and 180m. (The plan of this fortification, surveyed
in 1866, is reproduced by Odobescu
in: “Le tresor de Petrossa”, III. p. 20. On this plan the width of the walls is
indicated as 2.00m).
The distinguished
archaeologist Bock, who had visited
around 1861 this locality, tells us that the walls of this strong fortification
from Petrosa had a Cyclopean width (Mittheilungen der k. k. Central-Commission
zur Erhaltund der Baudenkmale. XII. Jhrgg. 1868, p. 128), and that the sides of
this little fortress were defended by 4 huge towers. Around 1866 though, these
towers were destroyed, and on their location could be seen only huge mounds of
ruins.
But also the plains
present here a particular archaeological interest.
Below the foothills
of Istrita mountain stretch like rays, long lines of mounds, some towards the
lower parts of
Not only Istrita
mountain with its hills, valleys and plains, but the entire region of Buzeu
forms a very important district for archaeological study. There is almost no
village in this interesting district of Romania where can’t be found a huge
number of fragments of primitive ceramic, large and thick pieces of broken
vases, urns with ashes, rounded tiles for bringing water from the slopes of the
mountains, metal weapons, bronze ornaments, earrings, torques, beads, chains
and finally, vestiges of fortifications and antique buildings, most of them, as
the folk people say, from the times of the
great Tatars, or the giants [1].
[1. From the answers to Cestionariul istoric: “There are still
found on the estate Aliceni, at a
place called “the Bridge Tatarani”,
some large and small pieces of broken vases and thick fragments of pottery.
Especially astonishing are some big handles of
vases, thick as a man’s hand
and between 30 and 40cm long, and the fragments are two fingers thick and it is
clear that they belonged to quite large
vases. Some are covered with all sorts of figures and letters. The people wonder, as they cannot plough the place because of these
fragments of pottery”].
These are precious
archaeological remains from remote times, to which has not been given the
deserved attention to this day, but which make us think very seriously about
the remote past of the countries from the lower
Among the most
interesting antiquities which characterize this region, we shall reproduce here
a small bronze statuette discovered in the village Naieni, close to Petrosa,
and which is distinguished by its truly remarkable forms. This statuette
represents Cybele or the Great Mother, astride on a lion, and
near her right side is seen standing young Attis,
the son of Calaus, called in
Romanian traditions Caloian.
From these ruins of
fortifications of various types, from these enormous quantity of remains of an
antique industry, varied in technique and varied in forms, can be ascertained
without doubt that here are reflected two different epochs of civilization, one
prehistoric or Pelasgian, and another which corresponds to the Roman times.
The Great Mother (Cybele), astride on a lion.
Near the goddess is the youth Attis (the son of Calaus) or Caloian in
Romanian legends.
Bronze statuette 15cm high and 12cm
long,
discovered on the territory of the
village Naieni, near Petrosa.
(The National
[2. This statuette shows the Great Mother or Cybele as a divinity of
war. The goddess wears on her head a helmet and is dressed with a tight tunic
and tight trousers. The helmet had had initially a crest. With her left hand
the goddess grabs the mane of the lion, and with the right hand she grabs the
tail of the lion, in order to control it. The youth Attis, favorite of the goddess, holds with his right hand on to the
mane of the lion, and he holds his left hand around the body of the goddess. He
wears his hair in two long tresses
falling on his shoulders and a third on his back. The covering of his head
cannot be made out, the figure being quite worn out on this side. It seems
though that he had been shown with a cap
bent towards left. On ancient monuments of sculpture and painting, Attis
was always represented with a cap
(Phrygian) on his head. Another figure
had been on the left side of the statuette, but it had been broken or
separated, probably by the orthodox priests of Cybele. Only a fragment from the
palm and fingers of a right hand, holding onto the mane of the lion can be
seen].
We arrive now to
the matter of the famous gold objects which have been discovered in the past
century on the eastern flanks of Istrita mountain, which today are known in
archaeological literature under the name of the “Treasure of Petrosa”, objects whose age, provenience and historical
importance have remained obscure to this day. (Arneth, Die antiken Gold und Silber monumente des k. k. Munz und
Antiken Cabinettes in Wien, 1850; Charles
de Linas, Histoire du travail a l’exposition universelle de 1867, Paris,
1868; Odobescu, Le tresor de
Petrossa, Paris, 1889; Fr. Bock,
Mittheilungen der k. k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der
Baudenkmale, Wien, 1868).
In the year 1837,
two Romanian peasants from the village Petrosa, with the names Ion Lemnariul
and Stan Avram, while working on the slopes of Istrita mountain, extracting
stone needed for the building of a bridge, discovered under a rock boulder, at
a small depth into the ground, a very precious collection of various gold vases
and ornaments.
In the beginning,
the two peasants tried to hide the objects found. Later on though, the most
significant part of this treasure passed into the hands of an Albanian
speculator, called Anastase Verussi, who broke with a hammer and axe almost all
of these priceless objects, so that he could change their shape and escape the
prescriptions of Romanian laws regarding treasures. Some of these objects were
decorated with fine stones and crystals of various colors, red, blue, green,
yellow and white; but because these gems were considered of little value, they were
mostly removed from the objects which they adorned.
Only in the year
1838 the government of the country, informed of the discovery of this treasure,
ordered an inspection. But notwithstanding all the searches, and all the really
severe measures taken, only a fraction of this monumental archaeological
treasure could be saved. Almost half, if not more, of these antique objects,
had disappeared.
The trial of Ion
Lemnariul and Stan Avram, who had discovered, divided and sold the treasure, as
well as that of the Albanian Anastase Verussi and his accomplices, who had
intended to hide, break and estrange the purchased items, continued until 1842.
From the various depositions of the accused and the witnesses, which are
preserved in a thick file stored in the state archives at
But despite the
zeal of the commission which had been instituted, despite all the extremely
rigorously measures which had been taken, the place where the objects had been
discovered could not be precisely established. All that could be established in
this regard was that the treasure from Petrosa had been discovered on the
eastern slopes of Istrita mountain, at the south-western corner of the place
then called the “Vineyard of the
Ardeleni”.
Finally, around
1842, Prince M. Ghica, at that time Minister for Internal Affairs of the
country, deposited in the national museum at
We shall enumerate
here these objects, not by their exterior aspect – of plain gold and of gold with
precious stones – as has been done so far, but by the value which can be
attributed today to these antiquities, as historical monuments. They are the
following:
I. One
disc (discus sive lanx) in the shape of a large round dish, 560mm diameter.
II. One polished platter
(patera, ecuelle circulaire), with a statuette at the center, and on the edges
with a series of figures and symbols
representing the feast of the Hyperboreans in honor of the Great Mother. Its
diameter is 257mm.
III. One large fibula (fibula major) in the shape of the sacred bird phoenix, adorned on the surface with
various precious stones of various colors. Its length without pendants is
270mm, and the width of the body is 105mm.
IV. V. Two medium fibulae (fibulae utriusque humeri), ornamented with
garnets and representing the figure of an unknown sacred bird. Their sizes are: the length of the body without
pendants, 250mm and 235mm, the width 80mm and 65mm respectively.
VI. One smaller fibula (fibula minor), having the shape of the sacred
bird ibis, and decorated with precious stones of various colors. Its length is
175mm, its width, 55mm.
VII. One
large plain collar of solid gold (torques), having an inscription. Diameter
153mm.
VIII. One large plain torc (torques) much thinner than the previous one,
without inscription and with a diameter of 170mm.
IX. One beaker or cup (capis) for the use of antique temples, decorated
on the median part with vertical undulated lines and imitating the shape of a
column. Its height is 360mm, and the diameter in its widest part is 100mm.
X. One torc or neck ornament (collare), decorated with precious
stones, with the diameters of 200mm and 150mm.
XI. XII. Two basket like objects, each with two
handles (calathus), one with 8 sides, the other with 12. The first has a diameter between 185mm - 165mm. The
diameter of the second is 175mm [3].
[3. Odobescu in his publication “Le tresor de Petrossa” characterize
these basket like objects with the name cantharos.
But the ancient cantharos were drinking
cups for the use of men, while the two objects from the treasure of Petrosa
have a shape typical for holding womanly things, or for fruit. We also note
here that these objects, with their perforated sides, although with the holes
filled with precious stones, could in no way be destined to contain liquids.
The vanished objects from the treasure of Petrosa:
As results from the confessions of
Ion Lemnariul, as well as from other acts of the trial, the treasure discovered
at Petrosa was composed at the beginning of 22-26 gold objects. Of these the
following have been estranged for ever:
XIII. One
plain torc of gold (torques), as large as the bottom of a hat and as thick
as the thickness of two goose feathers
(the pair of no. VIII)
XIV. One
plain torc (torques) with a thickness of two fingers, on which were letters
which could not be read
(the pair of no. VII).
XV.
One plain torc (torques) with a diameter as a bottom of a hat,
thicker in the middle and thinner at extremities.
XVI. XVII. Two torcs (torques) of the size of the bottom of a hat, one having
a width of two fingers, the other as thick,
but
round, thinning towards the middle. Both were decorated at extremities
with very small precious stones.
XVIII. XIX.Two arm bracelets (armillae), having in the middle a round
projection destined to bear a precious stone,
around which were small red stones
the size of a grain of millet.
XX. One
small beaker or cup (capis), with a capacity of around 6 pints of water
(the pair of no. IX).
XXI. One
fibula in the shape of a smaller bird (fibula minor), decorated with
precious stones (the pair of no. VI).
XXII. One
simple platter, or round plate, of the same size of that of no. II.
XXIII. One
gold chain, around two hand widths long and a little thicker than a goose
feather.
Ion Lemnariul, the discoverer of the
treasure, had declared during the trial that the two medium clasps had been
connected with a gold chain. It seems to be just that chain. But from this
chain, as Odobescu writes, only a
small piece around 11cm long still exists today.
According to the report of Kyr Iacov, the land agent of the
monastery St. George-nou from
XXIV. XXV. Two gold plates (patellae) in the shape of typical tin plates,
and
XXVI. A third small beaker
(capis) of a size similar to that of no’s.IX. XX.
If we compared now, by their number
and use, the objects which could be recovered and those which have remained
estranged, it seems to result that the important treasure from Petrosa had been
divided in two almost equal halves, out of which only one part could be found
during the trial, while the other half has remained estranged for ever.
Iorgulescu
is of the same opinion when he writes (Dict. jud. Buzeu, p. 389) “the tenant of
the estate, Frunza-Verde, hearing of
the find, comes and divides together with the discoverers, the objects
presented to him ….then quickly sells some objects, hiding the rest”].
We shall examine
now the age, the origin and the historical value of the most important objects
of this treasure.