By this author

Golden Face Covers from the North Pontic Region: Analysis of the Archaeological Material

Issue 4 from 14.12.2021

This paper discusses golden covers that appear in funerary contexts concerning both Greek and non-Greek elites during the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods in the North Pontic region. The symbolic meaning behind this cultural trend and how it spread appears to be complex and multi-layered, as it seems to have been inter-twined with the regional elite network that allowed for cultural emulation and the use of covers to become more popular and widespread. This study aims to gather and analyse the published archaeological material that relates to this subject. The focus is placed on the specific context in which the material has been found and its often-difficult chronology. Aspects such as the gender and age of the deceased who were equipped with gold covers is also taken into consideration in this study, in order to better understand the relationship between status and a given social role applied by ancient society. A possible direction in which this mortuary custom spread is discussed in relation to the opposition: polis – steppe/non-Greek world, which reveals that cultural trends among elites may have originated in a non-Greek environment.

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