A new find of a Byzantine sword-guard and a pommel in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine Cover Image

Новая находка перекрестья и навершия рукояти византийского меча на территории Черкасского района Черкасской области Украины
A new find of a Byzantine sword-guard and a pommel in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine

Author(s): Gennady Baranov
Subject(s): Archaeology, Military history
Published by: Нижневартовский государственный университет
Keywords: sword-guard; pommel of sword; Byzantine empire; medieval arms; Byzantine arms; archaeology of Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: The article describes for the first time a new find of a Byzantine sword-guard and a pommel in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. The items are in a good state of preservation and are made of a non-ferrous metal (bronze?). The sword-guard belongs to the Garabonc type of swords proposed by the Bulgarian researcher Valery Yotov. As was found out, the sword-guard from Cherkasy Oblast is almost identical to sword-guards that are pictured on drawings in the Paris manuscript of Homilies of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. This allows to date the sword-guard to the last quarter of the 9th century. The sword-guard from Cherkasy Oblast that has almost exact analogies on Byzantine drawings is an important link between monuments of Byzantine visual arts and archeological materials which proves the Byzantine origin of this type of artifacts.