PART
4 –
Ch.XXVIII.3
Prehistoric
monuments of metallurgic art in
(The
Arimaspian or Hyperborean treasure from Petrosa)
XXVIII.
3. The platter (II. Patera, Phiale)
decorated with figures, representing the festival of the Hyperboreans in honor
of the Great Mother (Mammes vindemia).
Ianus
(‘Iaon, ‘Ion) figured on the platter from Petrosa, as the first king of the
Hyperboreans.
This platter forms
one of the most venerable relics of the treasure from Petrosa, not only because
of the art with which it is worked, but also because of the subject represented
by its ornaments.
Of all the objects
which constitute the inventory of the treasure from Petrosa, this platter has
suffered less. It is even today in an almost perfect state of conservation. It
would seem that those who destructed this monumental treasure had some
religious respect for the special beauty of this piece.
The shape of the
platter is circular. Its height together with its support is 112mm, and its
diameter is 257mm. The entire decoration of this piece presents a great
religious feast in honor of the divinity Gaea, Terra Mater, which makes the
earth bear fruit.
The principal
figure in this decoration is formed by a gold statuette of the divinity Gaea,
75mm high, which rises in the center of this beautiful platter.
Gold statuette representing Gaea or Terra Mater, enthroned
at the center of the platter from Petrosa.
The goddess is shown
sitting. She wears a long sleeveless tunic, is girdled around her waist and
holds close to her breast, with both hands, a cup in a conical shape. Her
throne is round, without a back, and ornamented with a gold vine, laden with
leaves and grapes. The goddess is distinguished by a noble figure, majestic and
full of kindness. Her type is neither Greek, nor Gothic. By its characteristic
traits it represents a physiognomy from the
Around this
statuette are seen sculpted in the body of the platter a series of symbolical
figures: a shepherd lying down on the ground, who awakens in front of the
divine majesty and, supporting himself on his hands, tries to get up; near the
shepherd is a dog, then a foal of an ass, a lion, two asses fronting each other,
and a leopard [1].
[1. The hero Perseus when traveling
to the Hyperboreans, as the poet Pindar
tells us (Pyth. X. 30), had found them sacrificing to the god Apollo hecatombs
of asses. And Clemens of
The Romanian shepherds from the
Carpathians keep even today by their great flocks a certain number of asses.
This animal is never separated from the flocks and is used by the shepherds for
the transport of the objects needed during the day].
In the ancient cult
of the Pelasgian race, Gaea or Terra Mater, Magna deum Mater, was at the same
time the particular divinity of the mountains,
mater
orea, mother of the shepherds,
mater
nomeia, and the mistress of the wild animals, Mater ferarum (Apollonius
Rhodius,
On the most ancient
monuments of sculpture and painting, Gaea was represented sitting, as a matron,
as queen and mistress, or as Varro
says “she was shown sitting because, while everything moves around her, she
alone is not moving (at Augustin, De
civitate Dei, VI. 24).
On the territory of
ancient
During Roman times,
Gaea was venerated in
Traces of her
ancient cult are still found today in the lands from the Istru and the
Carpathians. In traditional spells of the Romanian people, the ancient Mother of gods is venerated as the Mother of God. She sits on a gold chair
(throne), helps the sick and has the same attribute, a gold or silver cup, as
shown by the statuette from the platter of Petrosa [2].
[2. …is
a gold chair, but who sits on the
chair?
The
Mother of God sits… with cup in her left hand.
The
greatest queen, with silver cup in her lap…
(Teodorescu,
Poesii pop. p. 386)]
The second part of
the ornamentation of the platter from Petrosa is composed of a series of 16 figures
of gods and goddesses, which form a solemn circle on the inner edge of the
vase, paying homage to the supreme Pelasgian divinity Gaea, who is enthroned at
the center of the platter. And above this fine series of figures stretch on the
edge of the vase, like a decoration, four grape vines, laden with leaves and
with grapes.
Part of these
archaic divinities can still be easily recognized from the type, the attitude,
the place and their symbols, and we can even specify their religious importance
at the
The first figure
which dominates in this sacramental decoration is Apollo. His place of honor is in front of the divinity Gaea. He is
shown sitting, clothed in antique style with a loose vestment, which covers
only the lower part of the body. In his left hand this national god of the
Hyperboreans holds the Getic lyre (Statius, Silv. III. 1. 17) on his knee, and
in his right hand he holds a small rod, plectrum, used at making the chords of
the instrument vibrate. At the feet of the great god of light is seen figured a
gryphon, at rest but vigilant. It symbolizes the gold mountains of the
Arimaspians and Hyperboreans, and characterizes in particular Apollo the
Hyperborean.
The religion of
Apollo, as god of physical and intellectual light, is originated with the
Pelasgian nation. The first center of his cult was with the Hyperboreans from
the Carpathians and the
Here, near the
Segment of the platter
from Petrosa. Apollo, the god of
light, of shepherds and of harmony, assists to the feast of the Hyperboreans in honor of the divinity Terra Mater. Near the god is figured Ianus, the king of the Hyperboreans,
having on his head Arimaspian ornaments,
in his right hand a regal diadem, as a mark of dignity, in his left hand a bow
with its string wound up, and down, behind his feet, a dolphin, emblem of his
rule over the seas. Near Ianus, a child,
personification of the new year, brings as gift a basket with a large ear
of wheat, while in his left hand he holds a palm frond, symbol of every king of
success.
(After the phototype
reproduction made by Soden Smith,
The Treasure of Petrossa, London, 1869, Pl.I).
Each year, or
according to other legends, every nineteen years, Apollo came to the
Hyperboreans, to his favorite worshippers. And according to another legend,
Apollo, angry with Jove, left the
From the
Carpathians and from the Istru the religion of Apollo, taken with them by the
Pelasgian pastoral tribes, has propagated and extended over Hellada,
Apollo is a
tutelary god of the region from the Carpathians and the
On a great number
of coins minted in
During the Roman
epoch, Apollo has in Dacia the epithet “Deus
Bonus” (C. I. L. vol. III, nr. 1133; Ibid. vol. VIII, nr. 2665), and the
carols which remind us of the ancient Apollinic cult of the Romanian people
still sing the name of “Good God”.
The second divinity
which can be easily recognized in this series of figures (no.6) is Ops or Opis, or
The 8th
divinity figured on the edges of the vase from Petrosa is the god Mars (Marte), a robust figure, holding a regal diadem in his hand. Near
him appears Venus, the youngest and
most beautiful among the goddesses represented on this platter. She has an expression
so lively and attractive, that we are compelled to contemplate long her figure
and admire how talented was the artist who had executed the decoration of this
sacred platter.
The 11th
figure is Hercules. He sits on the
head of the Erymanthian boar and has in his right hand the mace. Castor and Pollux (no. 13, 14) follow, each with a whip in his hand, symbol of
domestication of the wild horses. On the coins of the city Istros are often represented two youthful heads believed to be the Dioscurii. They had a particular cult
in the cities of the Pontos (Eckhel,
Doctr. Num. P. I. vol. II. pag.14). The other 9 figures, places in between the
others, represented without doubt some ancient Pelasgian divinities. According
to the severe religious ideas of the Pelasgian people, on a sacrificial platter
could not be represented but gods.
We find here though
a different system of divinities, than that formed by Greek mythology.
Their iconographic
forms and their attributes differ. That’s why it is more difficult to recognize
these latter divinities.
As we know, a large
part of the ancient divinities of the Pelasgian race were ex ordine avorum, ancient ancestors, who, for their good deeds and
their everlasting glory, had been accorded a religious cult.
Among these figures
of gods and goddesses which decorate the sacred platter from Petrosa, a Hyperborean king stands out, because
of his heroic type, his warlike garb and his majestic attitude.
His place of honor
is immediately after Apollo. He appears therefore in a more exalted position,
and yielding a greater power, than all the other divinities represented on the
platter from Petrosa, Opis, Mars, Venus, Hercules, Dioscurii, etc, with the
exception of Gaea and Apollo.
As for his image,
this venerated king of the Hyperboreans is figured as a bearded man, dressed in
a fine mail tunic of a Getic type, and girdled around the waist; over the tunic
he wears a floating cape which covers only his back; he has tight trousers and
a sort of boots of a Dacian shape, which cover only his feet. A dolphin is
figured down, near his feet. As principal symbol, the Hyperborean king has in
his left hand a strong bow, with the string twisted around the wood, and in his
right hand he holds his regal diadem, certainly as a token of veneration for
Gaea and Apollo. On his left is figured a small boy (puer), with only a small cape on his back, wearing on his head
a basket with a large ear of wheat, and in his left hand a palm frond.
This glorious king,
figured on the sacred platter from Petrosa, represents without doubt some
ancestor of the Hyperborean nation, to whom had been accorded for his merits
the honors of an apotheosis and primacy among most of the national divinities
of the Hyperboreans.
The historical
traditions left to us about the most distinguished kings of the Pelasgian
nation, and on another hand, the reminiscences of the archaic religion, which
echo even today in Romanian carols, ease our task of recognizing even this
enigmatic figure.
One of the most
illustrious ancestors of the Pelasgian nation, contemporary with Saturn, was Ianus, the first king of
Plutarch writes about him: “As the historians tell
us, Ianus had come from Perrhaebia and passing into Italy, he settled among the barbarians
there, changed their language and mode of living, taught them to live together,
and to work the land (Quaest. Rom. c. 22). Perrhaebia, about which spoke in
antiquity the historical sources to which Plutarch refers, is none other than
the region of the Hyperboreans from the Carpathians and the
Regarding this we
also have other important historical data.
One of the ancient
Roman pontiffs, Praetextatus, who had taken part together with Constantine the
Great to the founding of
As for his
genealogy, Ianus was according to ancient traditions a son of Apollo (Duruy,
Histoire des Romains, I, 1870, p. 83), the Hyperborean god par excellence from
near the Istru.
We have arrived now
to the religious history of Ianus.
As Macrobius writes, during the reign of
Ianus, all the houses were ruled by religion and noble sentiments – an epoch with
blessed mores – for which he had received divine honors. Ianus was the first to
found temples in
Ianus was the
guardian of the gates of the sky, closed and opened the seas and was the father
of sources and rivers (Ovid, Fast.
The principal
symbol of the Pelasgian king Ianus was the bow,
as also the bow is the attribute of the king figured on the platter from
Petrosa. On a medallion of the emperor Commodus, Ianus is figured holding in
his right hand a bow, under which pass four Horae, personifications of the four
seasons (Roscher, Lexicon d. griech.
u. rom. Mythologie, p. 51; Deecke,
Etr. Forschungen, II; Janus in classical Latin language had also the meaning of
arch, arcade, vault). On the
same medallion, on the left of the god Ianus is shown a naked boy (puer),
bearing on his head a basket full with fruit. We have here a symbol of the new year, which is also represented
in the same way on the platter from Petrosa.
Another symbol of
king Ianus was the dolphin (Eckhel, Doctr. Num. vet.
Ianus was a
primordial divinity of the seas. The dolphin is also a principal attribute of
the Hyperborean king represented on the platter from Petrosa, an allegory whose
meaning is that the empire of this divine king extended also over the seas.
Ianus was at the
same time the god of the successful wars. His temple at
The Romans
consecrated the month of January in honor of Ianus. His principal feast day was
on 7 January (C. I. L. I. p. 334). And after the introduction of Christianity,
the fathers of the church substituted the folk festivity of Ianus with the
adoration of St. Ion the Baptist.
It results
therefore, from the ancient traditions and from the religious legends of the
Romans, that Ianus, the first king of Italy, had an eastern Pelasgian origin;
he was a son of Apollo, the god of light, venerated with particular piety and
with a magnificent cult by the holy nation of the Hyperboreans; that this Ianus
had migrated to Italy from the region situated under the two Ursae, where,
according to ancient geographical and astronomical ideas, the pole of the sky
turned, namely the country of the Hyperboreans or the Getae; that Ianus was
considered by the Latin tribes as father of gods and ancestor of the entire
human race (Pelasgian); that he was invoked first in prayers addressed to Roman
divinities, even before Jove; that Ianus was a personification of the sun, the
seasons and at the same time a warlike god; that his principal attributes were
the bow and the dolphin; that in his ancient images he was figured with a child
next to him, bearing a basket of fruit on his head, symbol of the new year with
all its gifts.
The king of the
Hyperboreans is represented on the platter from Petrosa in exactly the same
way.
We spoke so far
about the legends and the religious cult of Ianus with the Pelasgian tribes
which had migrated to
Here he appears as
a venerated ancestor of some
Hyperborean tribes which had migrated from the Carpathians towards Hellada.
Settled first in
[3. In the commentaries of Eustathius on Dionysius Periegetus (v.
92), Ianus appears under the name of ‘Iaon, man from
In
The great national
festival of these maritime Ioni or Iaoni was celebrated in ancient times in the
Homer says the following in a hymn of his about
this festival in honor of the great god Apollo: “You (Apollo) have many temples
and gardens planted with trees ….but you enjoy yourself more at Delos, where
the Iaonii gather, dressed in long
clothes, bringing with them their children and chaste wives, and where they
celebrate you with fights, dances and songs. When Iaonii gather there, one
could say that one meets only divine figures, people who never grow old, as
they all are full of grace, so that the soul and heart of one take delight in
looking at the men and their wives finely girdled (Hymn. in Apoll. v. 134
seqq).
According to Virgil (Aen. Lib. IV. v. 152 seqq), the
Agathyrsii from the Carpathians also
took part at these Ionian festivities, dressed in clothes embroidered with flowers.
It seems that Ianus
had been also venerated in
We arrive now at
the historical reminiscences about Ianus or ‘Ion in his native
country from the Carpathians and the
In Romanian folk
carols which belong to the Apollinic cycle, ancient Ianus appears even today as
on of the most sacred and most popular figures, invested with all his ancient
characteristics. In these religious songs he is celebrated under the name of Ion Sant-Ion. His place of honor in
some of these songs is in front of
the “Good God”, or the god of light (Apollo), and in others he sits near “Good God”. His attribute is the bow, like that of Ianus on the
platter from Petrosa. He also has the epithet “great archer” [4].
[4. Near
good God (Apollo), sits Saint Ion (Ianus).
Near
Saint Ion, sits old Craciun (Saturn;
TN – Christmas)
Near
old Craciun, sits Maica Precesta
(Ops; TN – Most pure Mother) ….
(Sezatoarea,
Falticeni, An. IV. 1896, p. 7)
In Romanian traditions Ion Sant-Ion was a stepbrother of Mos-Craciun (TN - Old Christmas).
Oh,
Ioane, great archer, draw back your
bow, I am not who you think I am …
(Reteganu,
Datinele Craciunului, p. 201)
With
D’Iuon, with Sant-Iuon, took his drawn
bow, on that long hill ….
(Daul, Colinzi,
p. 35)]
The Romanian people
have identical religious traditions about Ion Sant-Ion, with those which the
ancient Latins had about Janus pater and Janus Junonius. Namely it is said and
it is sung about Ion Sant-Ion: that as long as he lived on earth he taught the
people to do only good, and after he ascended to the sky, of after his
apotheosis, he pleads with God to forgive the sins of men; that he is of great
help to God in the increase of the earth produce; that he had built down in the
country a monastery with 9 altars towards east; that he is the one who watches
over the waters, calms the winds and the seas; finally, that he is the patron
of children (Marian, Sarb.
[5. Down
to the country he descended, a monastery he built,
Towards
sunrise, with nine doors, with nine altars ….
Down
to the country I shall go, keys in
hand I shall take,
Monasteries I shall open …. Holy masses I shall hold …
(Marian,
Sarbatorile la Romani, I. p. 223)
The Mother of God towards Ion
Sant-Ion, in a carol from Zarand:
Iuane, Iuane, why didn’t you come, when I ordered you.
Why,
because I couldn’t. Because I could see
Three
men in a boat, perishing on the sea …
They
prayed to me, the wind to calm, the sea to appease.
Wind I calmed, sea I appeased, on the shores I threw them …
(Reteganul,
Datinile Craciunului)
We also note here that during the
Roman epoch old copper coins (aera vetusta. Ovid. Fast. IV. 216) were also brought as gifts, or sacrifices, to
Ianus. Romanians throw even today a few copper coins in the little bucket with
holy water, when the priest makes the round of his parish with the cross, on
the eve of Boboteaza (TN – 6
January, the Baptism day)].
Regarding Ianus,
the great figure of the Pelasgian nation, the Romanian people from the
In the same way in which
the ancient Pelasgian tribes, settled in the islands of the Aegean Sea, and on
the shores of Asia Minor, had considered ‘Ion as an illustrious ancestor of
theirs, and had called themselves Ionieni,
the name ‘Ion had been religiously preserved to our days in the official
titles of the Domni of the Romanian Country and Moldova, as symbol of a
hereditary, legitimate succession, of the ancient, glorious and holy dynasty of
‘Ion.
The political and
religious significance of this name had become in Romanian traditions so great,
that the predicate “Ion”, as a sacramental title and genealogical name was
always placed before the names of the great Voevozi (TN – Domni, Princes). So,
in the Romanian Country: Ion Dan Voevod (1385), Ion Mircea the Great Voevod (1399),
Ion Michail Voevod (1599), etc, in Moldova: Ion Roman Voevod (1392), Ion
Alexandru Voevod (1428), Ion Stefan Voevod (1485), etc.
Prince Cantemir writes in this regard: “There
is a constant tradition here, that Dragos drew his origin from the royal dynasty
of
Here Cantemir makes
an error though, otherwise excusable for his times. He thought that the traditional Ion, the venerated head of
the royal dynasty of
A similar tradition
seems to have existed also with the Pelasgian tribes from
The Roman emperors,
as we know, all called themselves Cesars,
after the name of Iulius Caesar, who had put the foundations of the new Roman
monarchy. On another hand, Suetonius
tells us that at the time when the Roman Senate had conferred to the emperor
Octavianus the sacramental title of Augustus,
there were some who maintained the Octavianus should be named Romulus, because he too could be
considered a founder of Rome (Oct. Augustus, c. 7).
As the name of
Ianus or Ion, this worshipped king from the Lower Danube, had been made eternal
in the official titles of the Domni of the Romanian Country and Moldova,
similarly particular traditional uses of the religious cult with which the
Pelasgian tribes from the Danube once venerated Ianus, or ‘Ion, have been preserved in
these countries.
The most solemn national feast day of the Romanian
Country and Moldova has been up to the 1830s the day of 6 January, called in
church books “Baptism of God through Ion”, a festivity which, according to the
old, religious ideas of the Romanian people, was only a feast day in remembrance
and praise of Ion. (As results from a number of Romanian carols sung on that
day).
The archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, who around the middle
of the 17th century had accompanied the patriarch Macarios of
Antioch in his travel through
“On the Baptism Day (TN – Boboteaza)” writes he, “gather here from all parts of the Romanian
Country and from the neighboring countries, thousands of clerics, priests,
monks, deacons and the patriarch of
Ternova, who on this occasion serves together with other patriarchs … The ceremony unfolds as such: At evening, after
the prayer over the water, the clerics fill with it their ewers and pails, and
dressing themselves with phelonia, take the crosses in their
hands and go firstly to the palace of
the prince, whom they spray, each on his turn and separately …. then they
go to the local archbishop, and from there to the houses of all the ministers
and wealthier citizens, in order to spray them … In the same way the musicians’
band, with drums, with flutes, with lighted torches, wander through the city
during the night, and the following night, serenading the boyars …. The great number and the joy of the crowd
at Boboteaza in the Romanian Country surpasses everything that takes place at
the courts of the greatest princes of Christendom … On the morning of the
feast day ….we departed (for the mass) with great pomp, the troupes being
aligned on the right and left, from the monastery to the palace … waving their
standards with crosses. Each time their muskets went off, the smoke rose above
our heads. The total number of the troupes, as we found out afterwards, was of
around 100,000 …. We then entered the church …. When the prince kissed the
cross, the troupes were signaled, and let off their muskets, so that the air
thundered, and we feared that the church will fall on us, while our ears went
deaf, etc” (Hasdeu, Arch. ist. II.
92 seqq).
At the same time,
another church superior, Marcus Bandinus,
the archbishop of Marcianopolis, undertook a travel through
“After a
traditional custom, on the eve of Boboteaza gather at Iasi, the capital and
residence of the Voivod, all the schismatic bishops of this country, in number
of four together with the Archbishop, holding the holy mass for the Voivod with
incense, with holy water, with the kissing of the cross, and with other
ceremonies, wishing him through songs: happy reign, happy years, prosperity and
successes in all things” (Visitatio generalis a. 1647, Codex Bandinus, Ed. Acad. Rom. Bucuresci, 1895, p. 141).
It is doubtless
that the deep, religious character of this solemn festivity, which by the
brilliance of its ceremonies, religious, official and military, surpassed all
the religious customs of the Birth and Ressurection of God, did not belong to
Christian rites and traditions. The thousands of clerics, monks and deacons,
with the patriarch of Ternova and with other patriarchs, as well as the
multitude of the crowds gathered from the entire Romanian Country at Tergovisce
on the day of 6 January, finally, the same imposing character of this feast day
at Iasi, the other Romanian capital, evoke in our memory the great assemblies
and annual solemnities of the Ionieni, and the Hyperboreans, at the temples of
Apollo.
For the
extraordinary splendor with which this day was celebrated in both the Romanian
Principalities, for the official wishes of a good, favorable, happy and
fortunate year, addressed on this occasion to the Domni – called Ion, the day of 6 January appears at
the Romanian people as a religious and political solemnity with the occasion of
the beginning of the new year, as a great
traditional festival in honor of Ianus or ‘Ion, who begins the new year, who
brings prosperity and abundance in everything, and happiness to all [6].
[6. The day of 7 January (septimo Idus Ianuarii) had a traditional
significance also with the Romans. It was a day of good omens, the true beginning of the political new year.
On that day, consecrated to Ianus, had taken Cesar the fasciae of power, and also on the day of 7 January his
nephew Octavianus had taken the helm
of the
This national feast
day of
The Christian feast
days had replaced, as we know, others, more ancient. But the popular character
of the festivities had remained the same everywhere, only the names had been
changed. The day of 7 January had therefore, at the Carpathians and the
As we see, the
political beginnings of the Pelasgian race are connected with the name of
Ianus, not only in the western parts, but also in the eastern parts of
We return now to
the platter from Petrosa.
This important
relic opens in front of us a vast field of opinions, research and meditation.
We shall examine
now this precious item also from the point of view of its ethnographic
particularities.
The costumes worn
by the divinities represented on this fine platter are neither Greek, nor
Asian. On the contrary, they have an archaic northern Pelasgian character. The
attributes of the divinities: the bow, mace, whip, raven, torches, platters and
baskets of fruit, also have the same character. We notice especially that the
Hyperborean king Ianus, as well as other six divinities figured on this
platter, wear precious ornaments in their hair, some above the forehead, others
on top of the head. Similarly, Ianus is shown also with a round decoration
above the forehead on an ancient Romanian coin.
We have here
without doubt the characteristic ornaments of the Hyperboreans and Arimaspii.
The Hyperboreans,
as the Greeks called them, constituted a Pelasgian people very extended on the
northern parts of the Thracian peninsula (Apollonius
Rhodius, Argon. II. v. 675). Part of these Hyperboreans, those who excelled
especially in their piety and peaceful life, had their dwellings near the
mouths of the
[7. In Orpheu’s Argonautics (v. 1063), Arimaspii are mentioned close to the Getae, and dwelling near Maeotis
(to be understood as Matoas, the
ancient name of Istru - Stephanos
Byzanthinos, see Danoubis).
Regarding the dwellings of the Arimaspi in the northern parts of Istru, we also
find the following data in Strabo’s
geography (lib. XI, 6. 2): “The first who had described the various regions,
told that above the Euxine Pontos, Istru
and Adria (Ardel), dwelt the Hperboreans, Sauromatii and Arimaspii”. Mela (II. 1) also mentions the Arimaspi
among the first peoples of European
Scythia, and following them were Essedonii,
settled up to Meotida. Tomaschek
though, disregarding the ancient geographical sources, and wanting to bring
light to prehistoric ethnography only on the basis of some totally arbitrary
etymologies, strays, looking for Hyperboreans
and Arimaspi through the most remote
regions of central Asia (Sitzungsberichte, Akad. D. Wiss. Hist.-phil. Classe,
CXVI B. p.757 seqq)].
Dionysius Periegetus mentions these Arimaspi from near
Oceanos potamos with the characteristic epithet areimanioi (Orb. Descr.
v. 31; cf. Eustathius, Commentarium
v.31).
This epithet of Arimani is in essence only a term
synonymous with Arimaspi, a form altered
by the Greek authors from Arimasci,
which corresponds from a geographical and ethnographical point of view to Arimii of Homer’s Iliad (II. v. 783) and of Hesiodus’ Theogony (v. 304) [8].
[8. The antique Pelasgian suffix ascus, asci, which corresponds to the
Romanian escu, esci, was still used
during the Roman epoch by the Ligurii
of upper Italy, and has been preserved to this day in a big number of
localities from those lands, for ex. Rimasco,
Romagnasco, etc (Cf. Jubainville,
Les premiers habitants, II. 46)].
From an ethnical
point of view, the Arimaspii formed with their neighbors, the Hyperboreans,
only one and the same great Pelasgian nation. Arimaspii, Stephanos
Byzanthinos tells us, were a people of the nation of the Hyperboreans.
But the political power over the peaceful Hyperboreans from the
The epic poet Pherenicos of Heraclea describes the
Hyperboreans as follows (at Boeckhius
Pindari opera,
[9. In Romanian folk traditions, the
ancient Titans appear under the name
of the great Tatari, or giants. It is said about them that they
might have once also dwelt on the territory of the village Petrosa.
“The old people say that in this locality
(Petrosa) might have once dwelt Tatari,
and that they had even their church at
the center of the village, where today is a stone wall, an inn. At this
inn, when the cellar had been dug, many bones had been found, bigger than the
natural size of a man, and it is said that those were bones of Tatari” (Answers to the Historical
Questionnaire). Usually old remains of constructions, bronze urns, prehistoric
ceramic shards and stone tools are found in all these places where the folk
people tell that the Tatari had once
dwelt].
The Hyperboreans
from near the mouths of Istru, as well as the Arimaspii, their neighbors, had
become famous before the Greeks, for their huge riches in flocks, cattle herds
and precious metals, but especially in gold. According to the poet Pindar (Pyth. X. 30) the Hyperboreans
wore on their heads gilded crowns of laurel, and the Arimaspii tied their locks
with gold threads (Lucanus, Phars.
Lib. III. v. 295), and wore above the forehead shining ornaments in shape of
stars or flowers.
This national
luxury by which especially the Arimaspii rich in gold distinguished themselves,
had induced the Greek poets to characterize the Arimaspi in a satirical or
mythological way, saying about them that they wore an eye on their forehead.
So the poet and
historian Aristeas, who had lived
before Herodotus, describes the Arimaspi in the following way: “Many and strong
warriors, rich in herds of horses, of cattle and flocks of sheep, men with
bushy locks which flutter in the air, the most robust of all peoples, each
having an eye on his fine forehead” (at Tomaschek,
Kritik d. altesten Nachrichten uber den scythischen Norden, CXVI B. 758).
On the ancient art
monuments, the Arimaspii were shown as a people with heroic character, but
violent. They wear on the head a shepherd’s cap with its top bent forward; have
a long shirt which falls over the knees and a sort of tight trousers
(anaxyrides, bracae - Daremberg,
Dictionnaire des antiquites). But they are never figured on these old monuments
with an eye on the forehead.
Finally, we also
note here that in the Apollinic Romanian carols have been preserved to this day
some reminiscences about the fact that in the lands of the Carpathians and the
[10. On
his head has a cap, and the cap is of value
And
underneath the value, there’s a faceted
stone
The
whole world is seen in it …
(Sezatoarea,
Falticeni, An. I. p. 148)
…..
a priceless stone, on his crowned forehead.
(Teodorescu,
Poesii pop. p. 21)
Ornaments in
the form of little stars above the
forehead are also seen on some types represented on the ancient coins of
The ancient Domni of the Romanian Country also wore on their fur
cap, above the forehead or on the right, round medallions, ornamented with
precious stones].
As we have seen
above, the platter from Petrosa describes with its hieratic decorations the
great festival of the Hyperboreans and Arimaspians in honor of the divinity Terra Mater, the productive earth, the
fecund mother of every being.
The time of this
important annual festivity is indicated on the platter in quite an expressive
way.
A fine grape vine
decorates the gold throne of the Great Mother; other four vines, laden with
ripe grapes surround the holy platter; finally, near king Ianus is shown a
small boy bringing as gift an ear of wheat of a huge size. So we have here a
great annual festivity in praise and honor of Terra Mater, after the end of
harvesting and the beginning of grape picking in the vineyards.
In the official
calendar from the latter times of the
The fact that the
main religious festival of the Hyperboreans, in honor of the divinity Terra
Mater, was celebrated in the month of September, after the harvest, and the
fact that we also see among the divinities who took part in this great
solemnity the personification of the new year, lead us to presume that the
Hyperboreans and Arimaspii, who venerated Terra Mater and Apollo, as divinity
of the sun, had an agricultural and
pastoral calendar; that they considered the start of the new year in the
month of September, as the new year also began in September with the
Hyperboreans of Delphi, the Pelasgian tribes of Crete, of Cyprus, of Asia
Minor, and in a remote epoch with the Romans and Volsinii (Livy, R. R. lib. VIII. 3).
By ending here this
examination of the platter from Petrosa, which with its hieratical figures
presents an ancient Pelasgian festivity called in the calendar of the
On the western
parts of the
The Romanian
countries from the Istru have been always renowned in historical times for the
excellent quality of their cereals and wines. The old district called Sacuieni,
today annulled, on the territory of which was the village Petrosa, had as
emblem a bunch of grapes (Grecianu,
Eraldica romana, p. 149; Iorgulescu,
Dict. geogr. buzeu, p. 89).
We can therefore
suppose that this magnificent platter had been destined from the beginning as a
sacred vase for an unknown temple, in the agricultural and wine growing region
of the Getae, or the ancient Hyperboreans, from the