ADOPTING THE MEDUSA MOTIF IN SARMATIAN CONTEXTS: CULTURAL TRANSFERS AND APOTROPAIC FUNCTIONS IN BARBARICUM
ADOPTING THE MEDUSA MOTIF IN SARMATIAN CONTEXTS: CULTURAL TRANSFERS AND APOTROPAIC FUNCTIONS IN BARBARICUM

Summary/Abstract: The Medusa motif, widely known in the Greco-Roman world for its apotropaic function, is also attested in the Sarmatian milieu of the Carpathian Basin and neighbouring regions, a cultural environment strongly influenced by the Greco-Roman poleis of the Black Sea and the Roman provinces of the Lower Danube. The analysis of the archaeological contexts, however, suggests that these representations were not randomly adopted, but selectively integrated into rich funerary assemblages, particularly female burials. This study examines the corpus of discoveries (brooches with anthropomorphic intaglios and beads depicting Medusa-type imagery), discusses the origin and circulation of the motif, and proposes its interpretation as a preferred element within an apotropaic symbolic system characteristic of the “barbarian” milieu between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.

• Details
• Contents