(Moscow, April 15-16, 1999)

On April 14, 1999, the State Museum of Oriental Art opened the exhibition "Ancient Gems and Stones of the East", where for the first time a unique collection of works of Ancient Eastern glyptics from the museum's collections was presented. In connection with the exhibition, on April 15 and 16, a scientific seminar was held, which was attended by more than 30 specialists in the history of art of the Ancient East from the State Museum of Fine Arts, the State Hermitage Museum, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Institute of Oriental Studies. Institute of Archaeology. Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State University for the Humanities. Moscow State Pedagogical University, Stroganov Moscow State University of Art and Industry.

The work of the seminar was held in three sessions, the reports at each of which were combined according to the chronological principle: Ancient Eastern glyptia in the III-beginning of the I millennium BC, in the middle of the I millennium BC-III-IV centuries AD and in the I millennium AD (up to the VIII century inclusive). 16 reports were heard and discussed, and abstracts were published.

The morning session on April 15 was opened by T. H. Mepgaksa, First Deputy General Director of the State Museum of Fine Arts, who in her opening speech congratulated the participants and guests of the seminar on holding the first gem exhibition in the history of the museum, which became a major event in the cultural life of the capital; noted the great collecting and conservation work of the exhibition's author S. Ya.Berzina; wished fruitful work of the seminar.

E. V. Antonova (Moscow) made a presentation on "Plant motifs on the seals of Bactria and Margiana". The report was based on materials published in V. I. Sarianidi's book "Myths of Ancient Bactria and Margiana on its Seals and Amulets". The report gave a brief historical sketch of the region, described the appearance of new types of visual monuments here in the II millennium BC, the idea of V. I. Sarianidi about the Aryan origin of which the speaker considers controversial. One of the groups of images on seals is considered in detail-plants (blooming poppies, tulips and ephedra) and their combinations with images of animals and birds, as well as seals with the image of a four-pointed cross as the most abstract image of the world. The speaker reveals the connections between these motifs and concludes that the whole range of such images on seals designed to serve as amulets and talismans, regardless of their combination, is connected with the cosmogonic myth.

Answering questions about the dating of the seals and the material from which they are made, the speaker identified the complex as the end of the III-II millennium BC. materials that are easy to process, mainly steatite, were selected for stone seals; more than a third of the finds from predatory excavations are bronze seals.

E. I. Kononenko (Moscow) in his report "Plot-compositional schemes in the glyptic of the Two Rivers of the third millennium BC" pointed out that, despite all the variety of motifs on Sumerian seals, they were reduced to three schemes that reflected the most important figurative representations fixed in myth and ritual: processions, struggle and food. Food gets cosmogonic semantics through the chain "eating - a feast for the gods - a feast for the gods"; the speaker noted that researchers ignored the division of feast scenes on seals into two iconographic types. As an expression of the theme of struggle in the glyptic, the scheme "frieze of the combatants", derived from the motif "protection of the herd", was considered. The compositions of the " frieze-shaped procession "(and their" reduced " version - to 1-2 figures) appeared in the glyptic of the Two Rivers at the end of the IV millennium BC and by the end of the III millennium BC.e. they replaced all other schemes.

When discussing the report, S. Ya. Berzina noted that recently research in the field of fine arts has presented art monuments as a historical source, and in this regard, the new approach shown in E. I. Kononenko's report to the study of Mesopotamian glyptics as a source for the political history of the Two Rivers is interesting.

The report of K. N. Gavrilin (Moscow) "Monuments of the Phoenician glyptics of the VII-VI centuries BC on the territory of Etruria" notes the high role of Oriental art traditions in the Etruscan culture of the Archaic period. So, the inventory of Etruscan tombs of the VII century BC represents a variety of items of Middle Eastern and Egyptian imports. A special place is occupied by works of glyptics, which, as a rule, sealed sacred funeral equipment. The speaker paid much attention to bucchero vases, which were made using rolling stamps that mimic Phoenician cylindrical seals. A significant number of scarab-shaped gems have also been found in Etruria. According to the processing technique and subjects of these gems, the speaker highlighted the Phoenician seals; seals created by Greek craftsmen under the Phoenician style.

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Etruscan works proper, combining the experience of Phoenicia with the Greek influence that was growing towards the end of the Archaic era.

S. I. Khojash (Moscow) in her report "Foreign Glyptics in Urartian centers" presented Assyrian seals found during the Erebuni excavations in the 1950s from the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the Armenian History Museum and drew their analogies from the Near Asian Museum in Berlin. Stylistic features in the images of people on these gems allow us to date them to the VIII century BC. As it was noted, some of these works of art are closer to Transcaucasian, for example, to monuments from the territory of Georgia, rather than to Assyrian. Gemstones with symbols of fertility are interesting, among them the chalcedony seal from Teishebaini with the image of the goddess Ishtar sitting on the throne, medallions from Vani and Teishebaini with the image of the goddess consort of the supreme god of Urartu, and Egyptian scarabs that came to Urartu through Syria and the Main Caucasus Range.

M. N. Pogrebova (Moscow) in her report "Mitannian seals from Transcaucasia" spoke about the significance of seals for those historical monuments where they were found. The main area of distribution of pastoral Mitannian seals coincides with the area of the Lchashen culture, known for its magnificent monuments of bronze metallurgy. Seals from the Lchashen monuments are extremely important for establishing absolute dates of the beginning of the Late Bronze Age in Transcaucasia. 12 Transcaucasian seals, similar in style and subject matter and identified by B. B. Piotrovsky in one group, give a fairly solid date for the Lchashen culture - the XV-XIV centuries BC. As noted in the report, 3 more seals can be added to this group, which belong to the Palestinian type and survived to the XIII century BC. The golden seal from Archadzor, which dates back to the advanced Bronze Age (the turn of 11-1 thousand BC), stands out from this group of glyptic monuments.

In her speeches on the report, E. V. Antonova noted that an important area in science is the study of the cultural and historical role of seals and their combination with other objects of material culture. According to N. Z. Kunina, this problem is convincingly presented in the report.

On April 15, the afternoon session was opened by S. Ya. Berzina (Moscow) with the report "Images of constellations on the Asia Minor gems of the Achaemenid period", in which she raised the question of the possibility of distinguishing constellations in the repertoire of the Asia Minor scarabaeoids of the V-IV centuries BC On the example of a number of repeated images interpreted as the constellations of Taurus, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and Psa and Leo, she revealed the features of their iconography as constellations: a large radiant ball on the head or hump; an image in the drawing of a section of the night sky; an image accompanied by a multi-beam star; in many cases, animal figures are marked with balls-stars of the joints of the legs, the same balls are placed on the figures, in "neutral" places, not connected with the structures of bodies, but taking into account the actual location of stars.

Speaking on this report and accepting most of the evidence, O. Ya. Neverov noted that the balls in the place of marking the joints do not always form a constellation pattern, often this is a purely technical technique -for example, the balls are allocated to the knee and elbow joints in images of people. G. E. Kurtik said that in the absence of written sources on astrology V-The scheme proposed by the speaker is of fundamental importance. The panelists agreed that the question of the ethnicity of the carvers of the scarabaeoids studied is beyond the scope of the topic.

S. I. Finogenova (Moscow) in her report "A group of Hellenistic bronze rings from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts" noted that gems and bronze rings served the same purpose - they were seals, although they differed in material and technique. A small collection of rings with male and female breastplates of representatives of the Ptolemaic dynasty (Ptolemy II, Arsinoe II, Arsinoe III and Berenice II) found during the excavations of the museum's expedition in Phanagoria, Tiramba and Panticapaeum was presented; a ring from Tiramba with the image of Artemis hunting and a ring from Phanagoria with the image of a dog. Rings from the Hermitage, the Louvre, the British Museum, and the University of Göttingen are the closest to objects from the Pushkin Museum collection. The findings of about 30 copies of such rings, along with the distribution of other items of Egyptian import in the Northern Black Sea region, indicate close contacts between Hellenistic Egypt and this periphery of the ancient world, which was expressed in extensive trade relations and the spread of private Egyptian cults.

In response to K. N. Gavrilin's question about the Tiramba ring, the speaker noted that identical images of Artemis can be found, in particular, on coins.

The report of B. I. Vainberg (Moscow) "Deer in the glyptic of ancient Khorezm" was devoted to a small but unusual collection of ancient Khorezmian gems of the second half of the first millennium BC, among which simple stones (such as pebbles) with the image of a deer pierced by an arrow from Koi-Krylgan - kala stand out. The discovery of a ceramic relief with a calendar myth in the Kalala-gyr 2 cult center allowed us to say that the image on the gems is a "quote" from this myth: the sacrifice of a deer by the deity Mitra immediately after its birth on the day of the winter solstice. According to the speaker, the image on the bone scabbard from Takhti-Sangin (a lion holding a deer), which I. R. Pichikyan interprets as the struggle of the ruler of Bactria with the Sakas, also shows the preparation of the deer for sacrifice. The report included

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The article provides a detailed description of the plot related to the deer and its functions as a fertility deity, analyzes holidays in the Iranian calendar, and shows parallels of Khorezmian beliefs in Iranian, Western European, and Indian mythologies.

In her report "Colored stone and glass" by N. E. Kunina (St. Petersburg), interesting art monuments from various museums around the world and private collections were widely presented - products of master glassblowers imitating colored stone from Mesopotamia and Egypt of the XVI century BC-I century AD (beads, relief inserts in the form of a face, inlays in the form of an eye, mosaic plaques and panels), the Roman Empire and the Eastern Mediterranean I century BC-IV century AD (miniature busts of Roman imerators, faleras, images of mythological characters). The speaker highlighted the virtuoso mosaic technique of Egyptian masters brought to perfection and certain technological techniques of glassmaking in the Roman Empire, such as imitating the color and texture of stone, so that glass products sometimes cannot be distinguished from stone ones. Speaking about the production of" cameo " glass vases (the most famous of them is the "Portland Vase" from the British Museum) and plaques-panels, the speaker suggested that such products were made by master gem carvers.

O.Ya. Neverov (Moscow) in his report "Egyptian themes in magical amulets of the Roman Empire" noted the popularity of the cult of the god Serapis in the late Roman Empire, especially during the time of Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla. Inscriptions on amulets made of jasper and chalcedony next to the image of the god - pleas for victory or requests for favor to the owner. There is also a cameo and an amulet with the image of Isis, several gems with the image of Horus-Harpocrates (in the inscription on one of them - the names of Jewish archangels). In addition to the solar theme, the carvings on the amulets contain the theme of immortality (amulets with mummies of Osiris, a lion trampling the dead with its paws, a scarab-a symbol of immortality). As the speaker noted, most often such amulets served love, astronomical and medical magic, but there was also negative magic, as evidenced by an amulet with an inscription-an appeal for help against Typhon, a pest demon that threatens to disrupt order. The speaker presented amulets showing the reverse influence of the Roman world on Egyptian iconography. He cited unpublished material, in particular, a gem from the Hermitage with the image of Serapis and the Greek inscription "Great is the name of God", and also corrected the reading of the inscription on the famous gem from the Vienna Museum with the image of the seven gods associated with the seven planets and seven days of the week.

In his speech on the report, A. B. Nikitin supported the reading of the inscriptions on the gems proposed by the speaker, but noted that the name of Mithras is not included in the inscription on the Vienna Gem.

N. M. Nikulina (Moscow) in her report "On the Aegean glyptic" showed the significance of the achievements of this type of Aegean art. The monuments of the Aegean (Minoan and Mycenaean) glyptic offer an opportunity to explore the history of the Aegean world, the life of the Aegean palace centers and cultural links with the Eastern Mediterranean. According to the speaker, the Aegean glyptic as a part of the Aegean art is a phenomenon of the second millennium BC, and transferring everything that concerns it to the context of the first millennium BC just because the later Greek culture somehow correlates with it seems erroneous.

On April 16, the meeting was opened by V. N. Zalesskaya (St. Petersburg) with a report "Early Medieval (IV-VII centuries) glyptics from the Eastern Mediterranean in the Hermitage collection", in which she spoke about two groups of early medieval glyptic samples: these are monuments that follow imperial Roman traditions, from the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire (inserts in wedding rings with paired portraits of spouses; rings with the image of a handshake gesture; a number of seal rings with monograms of the owners;

an example of a glyptic with a Christian theme is a gem with Daniel in the moat and a chrysanthemum on the reverse side) and monuments of the Byzantine tradition from the Syro-Palestinian region and Egypt. Among the latter, special attention was paid to the gem with the image of an angel and two palm trees. To explain this image, the speaker draws on one of the miniatures of the so-called Cotton Bible (Egypt, late 5th century) with the composition of the third day of Creation, when God created the plant world, and believes that the angel of "fruit growth"is reproduced on the intaglio from the Hermitage. This is the first time such an image has been found on a carved stone.

A. B. Nikitin (St. Petersburg) in his report "Kushan Scheherazade" presented the Bactrian gems from the collection of J. R. R. Tolkien. Rosen (New York). These are two large carnelian seals of the fifth and first half of the sixth centuries: a seal with a breast portrait of a beardless man and a lengthy inscription, which is read for the first time by the speaker, and a seal with a breast image of a woman in an Ephthalite crown. The inscription on the seal "Noble "or" Royal family " is the Bactrian equivalent of Scheherazade's name from the Arabian Nights. The report also presents a gem in a gold clasp showing the Tocharian and Kushan conquest of Bactria, the image of the king on which coincides with the image of Sanab Gerai on coins of the first century BC-1st century AD. Until now, this ruler is known only from coins, there are no written sources about him; the speaker first presented this gem to a wide range of specialists.

The sensational material of this message was noted in the speeches. The answers to the questions on the report turned into a lively discussion about the socio-economic state of the Tocharian society, which showed insufficient knowledge of the problem. For example, according to the speaker, the idea of the Tochars as nomads is incorrect.

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The report of V. A. Gaibov and G. A. Koshelenko " Bulls of Gebekly-depe (Turkmenistan)", read by the first of the authors, describes the study of the ancient settlement of Gebekly-depe in the north-west of the Merv oasis by an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Turkmen State University. A special category of finds of the expedition are bulls of the Parthian period. The term "bulls" refers to this group of almost three thousand whole and fragmentary clay seal impressions with various subjects (geometric drawings, images of animals, birds and fantastic monsters; images of a king on horseback and a goddess sitting on a throne). The authors believe that these bulls, which sealed containers with goods, represent a reflection of some system of centralized distribution of products. Further study of the collection may provide new information about various aspects of the life of Eastern Parthian society.

During the discussion of the report, suggestions were expressed for the publication of the corpus of bulls from Gobekly-depe. As V. A. Gaibov emphasized, such scientific seminars largely contribute to carrying out serious work on systematization and analysis of accumulated materials.

The report of V. G. Shkoda (Saint Petersburg) "Treasures of Panjikent temples" was devoted to the excavations of two sanctuaries of the city temples of Panjikent, where secret rooms were found. The speaker suggested that they could be special storerooms-caches for storing dedicatory gifts: offering gifts to temples was a God-pleasing matter. This assumption is confirmed by finds in caches: bulls, coins, fragments of sculpture, a large number of various beads and pendants, fragments of gold foil. The discovery of two silver medallions with the image of the Hellenistic king in profile - a stylization of the ancient original made by a Sogdian master-was particularly noted. The destruction of the sanctuaries can be attributed to the first quarter of the VIII century AD.

According to S. Ya. Berzina, the reconstruction of these rooms as treasuries is very convincing. A comparison of the finds from the treasury with the scenes of the offering of gifts in paintings of the same time probably shows that real events and real faces are represented in the painting. The speaker replied that this idea, which was not mentioned in the report, was reflected by him in the manuscript of the book prepared for publication. Since Mkrtychev noted the consistency and methodical work of the speaker in the course of many years of studying one of the most interesting monuments of Sogd.

B. Y. Stavisky (Moscow) made a report "On the Sughd glyptic", in which he emphasized that, unlike the gems of Sasanian Iran, the pre-Muslim Sogd glyptic is practically not studied, moreover, there are no scientific criteria for distinguishing its samples from the mass of eastern gems, and the supposed samples of the Sughd glyptic do not have a single clearly defined style. But, according to the speaker, given the nature of Sughd civilization and its art, the presence of a "single style" is not necessary for all Sogd works. Further study of the archaeological material (gem seals, bullae, and ceramic impressions found on the territory of Sogd and neighboring regions), taking into account the specifics of the history, culture, and art of early medieval Sogd, is the way to solve the problem of Sughd glyptics.

The idea of the Sughd glyptic proper was supported by A. B. Nikitin.

In her closing speech, S. Ya. Berzina noted the wide thematic scope and high scientific level of the reports; thanked the museum management for supporting the idea of such meetings dedicated to the opening of exhibitions, and on behalf of all participants of the seminar expressed hope for the continuation of such cooperation.

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