Pietroasele treasure
Encyclopedia
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, in 1837, is a late fourth-century Gothic
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
treasure that included some twenty-two objects of gold, among the most famous examples of the polychrome style of Migration Period art
Migration Period art
Migration Period art denotes the artwork of the Germanic peoples during the Migration period . It includes the Migration art of the Germanic tribes on the continent, as well the start of the Insular art or Hiberno-Saxon art of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic fusion in the British Isles...
. Of the twenty-two pieces, only twelve have survived, conserved at the National Museum of Romanian History
National Museum of Romanian History
The National Museum of Romanian History is a museum on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania, which contains Romanianhistorical artifacts from prehistoric times up to modern times....
, in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
: a large eagle-headed fibula and three smaller ones encrusted with semi-precious stones; a patera
Patera
A patera was a broad, shallow dish used for drinking, primarily in a ritual context such as a libation. These paterae were often used in Rome....
, or round sacrificial dish, modelled with Orphic figures surrounding a seated three-dimensional goddess in the center; a twelve-sided cup, a ring
Ring of Pietroassa
The Ring of Pietroassa is a gold Torc-like necklace found in a ring barrow in Pietroassa , Buzău County, southern Romania , in 1837. It formed part of a large gold Hoard dated to between 250 and 400 CE...
with a Gothic runic inscription
Gothic runic inscriptions
Very few Elder Futhark inscriptions in the Gothic language have been found in the territory historically settled by the Goths...
, a large tray, two other necklaces and a pitcher. Their multiple styles, in which Han Chinese styles have been noted in the belt buckles, Hellenistic styles in the golden bowls, Sasanian motifs in the baskets, and Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
fashions in the fibulae, are characteristic of the cosmopolitan outlook of the Cernjachov culture in a region without defined topographic
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
confines.
When Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...
published his book on the treasure, he considered that such magnificent work could only have belonged to Athanaric
Athanaric
Athanaric was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the fourth century. His name, Athanareiks, means "Year King" or "King for the Year" comes from the Gothic word Athni meaning "year" and the Gothic Reiks meaning "king."A probable rival of Fritigern, another...
(died 381), leader of the Thervings, a Gothic people. Modern archaeologists cannot connect the hoard with such a glamorous name.
The treasure was shipped to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in December 1916, as German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
armies advanced through Romania in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and was not returned until 1956.
External links
- Pietroasele treasure, at the National Museum of Romanian History
- Illustrations
- Coins depicting the treasure
- A great gold eagle brooch
- Vivid: Romania through international eyes, Tim Judy, "The treasure of the Pietroasa" Part I: December 2005 Part II: January 2006
