OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE Many streams of water issued from the Caucasus carry
If it were not for the archaeological nds from Colchis, all
almost invisible gold-dust. The locals use sheepskins with
this would have remained but a myth of the Argonauts,
shaggy eece that they put into the stream in order to collect
which has inspired many well-known literary writings and art
the oating particles; and perhaps the Golden Fleece of
works. In the late second millennium B.C., the very period
Aeetes was of the same kind (Appian, The Mithridatic
when mythological expedition of Argonauts is supposed
Wars). This custom of obtaining gold described by Greco-
to be held, no culture with all main characteristic elements
Roman authors has survived to the present day in Georgia,
(architecture, distinctive pottery, diverse bronze items,
namely in the Svaneti region. The Golden Fleece, in quest
etc.), is archaeologically attested in any other region of the
of which the Argonauts, the celebrated heroes of Hellas,
Black Sea littoral besides the territory of western Georgia.
led by Jason on the Argo most desired by all (Homer,
The Colchian culture, embracing the second half of the 3rd
The Odyssey), made their rst distant expedition; Aeetes,
millennium B.C. and the rst half of the 1st millennium B.C.,
the king of Colchis, son of Helios and possessor of the
and more importantly, its inseparable part, the countless
Golden Fleece; the Colchian sorceress princess Medea,
gold adornments, is probably the best justication of the fact,
who became one of the most dramatic personages in the
that the Greeks referred the Golden Fleece to the country
European culture after Euripides had created a character
located in the Black See area, calling it Colchis since the
of the murderer of her own children, up to the present day.
8th century B.C.
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Gold Headdress Ornament, Vani, second half of the 4th century B.C.
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Gold Necklace, Ananauri,
second half of the 3rd millennium B.C.
Necklace (gold, agate, carnelian), Trialeti,
18th-17th centuries B.C.
Colchian gold jewelry which gained its own place alongside
course of development of Georgian goldwork from the 3rd
Greek, Achaemenid (Persian), Etruscan, and Scythian
millennium B.C. to the 4th century A.D.
goldwork in the ancient world, today has introduced Georgia
as the land of the Golden Fleece to millions of visitors due to the exhibitions organized in leading museums worldwide. But the Colchian gold jewelry is only one of the stages in the history of the Georgian goldsmiths art.
Georgia is not only a country of rich traditions of goldsmiths
art. The earliest gold-mines have also been discovered here (at Saqdrisi, the Kvemo Kartli region). In Georgia gold mining started in the 4th-3rd millennia B.C., as attested by stone tools and pottery discovered in the Saqdrisi mines
In 2011 at the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia
which chronologically ante-date the well-known gold mines
of the Georgian National Museum the permanent
of the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
exhibition Archaeological Treasury was opened anew,
renovated and up-dated with the recent discoveries. The Archaeological Treasury houses the gold and silver ornaments and other precious objects discovered exclusively on the territory of Georgia. These specimens of goldsmiths art, mostly of local production, represent the
A large amount of gold and silver jewelry of various functions
(necklaces, pins, bracelets, temple pendants, rings) on the territory of Georgia appear in the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. They are already distinguished by the high technical level as well as by their artistic craftsmanship.
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The jewelry is decorated with various ornaments,
close to the well-known gold jewelry from Ur, Uruk,
mostly linked to the solar symbols, while in astral
Mycenae, and Troy. However, a large part of them
religions gold itself is considered to be heliacal
have no analogues outside Georgia.
metal. The gold and silver ornaments and other
specimens of goldwork are attest to the highest social status of the person who was buried with
The 8th-6th centuries B.C. are the renaissance of
Georgian goldsmiths art, a period when jewelry
special respect in an enormous kurgan (burial
made from precious metals is archaeologically
mound). The archaeological culture, spreading on
attested on the vast territory of Georgia.
a vast territory of Eastern Georgia from the second
Granulation is the leading technique of artistic
half of the 3rd millennium B.C. to the rst half of the
treatment of gold and silver. Typically Colchian
2nd millennium B.C., is called the Culture of Great
diadem and radial earrings originated in that period,
Thousands of locally manufactured specimens of goldsmithery
have been found in the graves of the 5th-4th centuries B.C. in the political and administrative centres of the Kingdom of Colchis - Sairkhe and Vani. Why Colchis is referred to as rich in gold in Greek written sources, similarly to Mycenae, Sardis, and Babylon all famed for their wealth is made clear not only by the quantity, but also by the artistic value of Colchian gold jewelry.
Greco-Roman written sources, formed in the 3rd century B.C.,
All traditions on the base of which gold jewelry was created
on the Georgian territory for centuries are unied in Iberian goldsmiths art. Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia), as it is referred to in
developed their own style of jewelry, adorning it with colorful
attained especial political and economic might in the 1st-3rd
centuries A.D. The numerous gold jewelry and other precious objects, discovered in the burials of the local elite, reect the advance of the Kingdom of Kartli, one of the dening features of which was the highly developed artisanship, namely the goldsmiths art. As a result of close cultural relations with the outer world, especially with Iran and Rome, Iberian masters gems, which would soon spread on the whole territory of Georgia.