A group of late-Archaic terracotta roof tiles with architectural design from Olbia Pontica is being analysed in the following. It is now possible to discuss the six variants of painted façade decorations, which include meander patterns with various alternating filling elements such as quadrats, checkerboards and rosettes. These decorative systems combined three-colour palettes, being successors of the Corinthian system of decorative tiles. The comparison of the Olbian pan tiles and antefix cover tiles with the actual collections from Histria, Borysthenes, Levke island and Apollonia Pontica shows the common direction of sacred architectural design spread widely among the Milesian daughter-colonies in the Western and North-Western parts of the Pontus. The single centre of fabrication of the terracotta details, Miletus, seems to be preferable, but the involvement of Samos in this process must also be taken into account. A stylistic analysis of the late-Archaic architectural terracotta from the Pontic centres demonstrates the variety of forms and details that allows for the discussion about a specially produced cargo of terracotta building materials for every colony in South Ionia.
This article is devoted to the urban space of Pontic Olbia – to the growth of its territory, and the emergence of its early defensive system consisting of earthworks with moats, which had surrounded the city as early as the Late Archaic period. Conclusions are drawn about the role of the settlement structure in the western part of the city, which had earlier been interpreted as Herodotus’ proasteion, but which – in the light of discoveries made by a Ukrainian-German research project – has been recognised as an integral part of the city. The chronology of the mud-brick and stone fortifications erected no later than in the middle of the 4th century BC, before Olbia was besieged by Zopyrion in 331 BC, has been amended. This work has made it possible to propose a new diagram for Olbia’s spatial development in the Late Archaic and Classical periods.
In the paper architectural terracottas — facade elements of building ceramics, which were imported to Olbia from Sinope for the decorative design of the roofs of public and, presumably, residential buildings, are studied. In the Olbian collection, fragments from various structurally-different parts are selected. These are frontal antefixes in the shape of multi-pelated palmettes and gorgoneions, as well as simas with ovolos and meander motifs and zoomorphic downspouts in the shape of lion protomes. It has been established that the time of the maximum spread of the Sinopean import of construction ceramics in Olbia was in the Late Classical — Early Hellenistic period. Usually, the import of such parts did not extend to the 3rd century BC, although the duration of their usage, along with tiles, was longer, which is recorded by finds. The absolute majority of Sinopean architectural terracotta finds come from the territory of the Upper City and are probably related to public buildings. Olbia, along with Istria and Bosporan centres, especially Panticapaeum and Nymphaion, was an active consumer of these products. Olbia still lacks evidence of its own production of architectural terracottas, although the tile production imitating Sinopean types is known. This distinguishes Olbia from other centres of the Northern Black Sea region, in particular Chersonesos and Panticapaeum, which are known for their own manufacturing of such products, inspired by Sinope. A significant amount of tile decor of Sinopean origin confirms the importance of the Olbian market in the trade of ceramic building materials with this South Pontic centre.
The article is devoted to the introduction into scientific circulation of a collection of terracotta architectural details from the excavations of the Upper City of Olbia in the second half of the 1920-ies. Archaeological research was conducted by the Scientific Council of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences according to the plan proposed by B. V. Farmakovskyi after the resumption of excavations in Olbia in 1924. Two of the details, fragments of polychrome simas of the Late Archaic period, most likely were related to the cult monumental structures of the Western Temenos and were found in the layer of its destruction. The remaining details were found during excavations of residential houses in the central (excavation sites A, H, D) and north-eastern part of the city (excavation site I). These are fragments of eaves tiles, the facades of which are decorated with embossed ornaments of two variants — Ionian cyma with pearls and meander, in the metopes of which are placed letters or four- and eight-petalled palmettes. The tile category includes a pentagonal antefix with a relief image of an Athena mask in a helmet and half lotus flowers on the sides. Fragments of gutters (simas) — a facade with a Satire mask and a water-supply decorated in the shape of a lion’s head with an open mouth were also found. Ceramic architectural details, which served as decoration and were an integral part of the roof of residential buildings, became widespread in Olbia in the second half of the IV—III c. BC. Such details are also known in almost all ancient centers of the Western Black Sea coast. Modern ceramic studies of similar architectural terracotta from Messambria and Apollonia Pontica have determined its local production. The obtained data allowed correcting not only the information on handicraft production in Olbia, as such a tile is traditionally, after the opinion of I. B. Brashynskyi, belonged to the local ceramic production, but also to offer a new direction of the Black Sea trade in ceramic building materials. Another important area for Olbia was the tiles import from Sinop.
This article is devoted to the publication of two Sofa-capitals from Chersonesos, to their stylistic analysis and date. The study of the decorative motifs and compositional structure of these architectural details has made it possible to propose various ideas as to how they might have made their way into the architecture of Chersonesos – via mainland Greece and Asia Minor. Of particular interest is the Sofa-capital bearing a depiction of a Rankenfrau in relief. This decorative motif was interpreted over a long period as the "snake-legged goddess", who embodied the mythical progenitrix of the Scythians in examples of Graeco-Scythian metalwork and consequently provided the basis for conclusions regarding the anthropomorphization of Scythian art. New analysis of well-known depictions of the Rankenfrau in examples of North-Pontic metalwork – gold plaques originating from Chersonesos, the Bosporan Kingdom and the Dnieper region – enables us to agree with those authors who had called attention to the absence of "snake-like" features in these artefacts. At the present time various artefacts from the material culture of the North Pontic region have been coming to light which, while containing the decorative motif of the Rankenfrau brought in from Asia Minor in the second half of the 4th Century BC, are not linked in any way with the mythical Great Goddess of the Scythians.
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