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Yahoo
30-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Monomachos Crown: The 1,000-year-old crown honoring 'the one who fights alone' found by a farmer in a field
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Name: Monomachos Crown What it is: A series of enameled gold panels Where it is from: Ivanka pri Nitre, a village in central Slovakia When it was made: Between A.D. 1042 and 1050 Related: Assyrian swimmers: 2,900-year-old carving of soldiers using inflatable goat skins to cross a river What it tells us about the past: In 1860, a farmer was tilling a field in central Slovakia when he unearthed a spectacular paneled gold Byzantine crown. For more than a century, experts have argued whether it belonged to the 11th-century ruler Constantine IX Monomachos and how the crown ended up on the far northern reaches of the Byzantine Empire. Constantine IX reigned from 1042 to 1055. His last name Monomachos — meaning "one who fights alone," or essentially "the gladiator" in Greek — distinguished him as part of an aristocratic family that was active in the politics of the Byzantine Empire. But he was not born into the royal family and ruled as emperor only because he was the spouse of Empress Zoë, and they shared the throne with Zoë's sister Theodora. The Monomachos Crown, in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, consists of seven gold plates, each with a rounded top and colorful enamel decorations. The largest of the plates is 4.5 inches (11.5 centimeters) tall and depicts Constantine IX holding a cavalry standard in his right hand and a purple silk roll in his left, which were both imperial symbols of leadership. An inscription in Greek on the central panel reads, "Constantine, Emperor of the Romans, the Monomachos." Flanking Constantine IX are panels depicting Empress Zoë on his right and Empress Theodora on his left. Both are labeled as "most pious" in Greek. Rounding out the crown are four panels decorated with dancers and the personification of two Virtues: Justice and Humility. According to the Hungarian National Museum, the symmetrical holes on the sides of the gold plates may mean they were originally attached to a fabric cap rather than fastened together into a stand-alone crown. But the meaning of the crown and the person who really owned it have been debated for decades. MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS —Tarkhan Dress: World's oldest known outfit was worn to an ancient Egyptian funeral 5,000 years ago —Sun Chariot: An ornate Bronze Age treasure that may have featured in an ancient Nordic religious ceremony —Prosciutto di Portici: A portable sundial that looks like a pork leg — and it was likely owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law before Mount Vesuvius erupted In 1994, Byzantine scholar Nikolaos Oikonomides argued that the crown was actually a 19th-century forgery, basing this claim on unusual choices in the imperial clothing, errors in the Greek inscriptions, along with the crown's discovery in present-day Slovakia, far from the seat of imperial Byzantine power in Istanbul. But art historian Etele Kiss rebutted those claims in a 2000 study, pointing out similarities between the imperial clothing and other Byzantine art, the fact that the Greek errors are largely accents that suggest a simple shift in pronunciation, and noting the crown may have ended up in Nitra as a diplomatic gift from Constantine IX to a local ruler. The Monomachos Crown is one of only three surviving Byzantine crowns, but it is currently impossible to draw final conclusions about many aspects of it, Kiss said. Additional research is needed to fully understand the significance of the gold paneled headwear.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Archaeologists discover hundreds of metal objects up to 3,400 years old on mysterious volcanic hilltop in Hungary
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Ancient people in Hungary hid at least six metal hoards around a mysterious settlement on a lone hill as early as the 15th century B.C., a new study using lasers and fieldwork finds. In just one year, researchers using metal detectors identified over 300 artifacts from the Late Bronze Age (1450 to 800 B.C.) and the Early Iron Age (800 to 450 B.C.), including jewelry, military decorations and weapons. The oldest Late Bronze Age findings date back to between 1400 and 1300 B.C., though the majority are Bronze Age artifacts from 1080 to 900 B.C., according to the study, which was published March 27 in the journal Antiquity. In addition to metal assemblages, the team uncovered amber beads, fabric and leather remains, as well as boar and domestic pig tusks. The archaeological work took place at Somló, a volcanic hill in western Hungary notable for its elevation over a relatively flat landscape. Today, the region is primarily known for its wine production. In the late 19th century, however, scholars realized it was also an important archaeological site when local farmers and wine producers began unearthing ancient artifacts, study first author Bence Soós, an archaeologist-museologist at the Hungarian National Museum, told Live Science in an email. The artifacts discovered by the farmers and viticulturists included jewelry, weapons and bronze vessels. The amount and quality of the findings indicated a significant human presence between the 13th and sixth centuries B.C. The specific locations of their discoveries, however, were not recorded, and researchers still don't know who lived in western Hungary during this period, Soós explained. Earlier finds near Somló include Early Iron Age grave goods found in monumental burial mounds, prompting some researchers to speculate that prominent landmarks such as Somló were the seats of power of an elite class of warrior leaders. As such, Soós, his colleagues and volunteers launched a new archaeological investigation. These included "extensive metal-detector and field-walking surveys" as well as lidar (light detection and ranging), in which lasers are shot from an aircraft to map the land's topography, the team wrote in the study. Related: 10th-century woman buried with weapons in Hungary is 1st of her kind, but researchers are hesitant to call her a warrior "Thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, our investigations documented the first metal hoards on Somló," Soós said. "In the first year of research, six Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age metal assemblages were discovered." As of April 2025, the team has recovered over 900 metal finds, most of which are from a plateau on the southeast part of the hill. The artifacts include many objects associated with bronze working, suggesting the metal was produced locally. The findings are particularly noteworthy because they provide insight into the transition between the region's Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages during the late ninth century B.C., which is not well understood, according to Soós. One assemblage in particular, called Hoard V, represents the first evidence of local metal deposition customs (the practice of burying metal objects, likely for a ritualistic or symbolic purpose) during this transitional period. It also features metal objects stored within a ceramic vessel — the first example of its kind in western Hungary from the end of the Late Bronze Age. RELATED STORIES —32 stunning centuries-old hoards unearthed by metal detectorists —15th-century hoard of gold and silver coins discovered in Israel near Sea of Galilee —3,600-year-old jewelry and weapon hoard found under field in Czech Republic The findings from Somló join other evidence suggesting that the people living here between the 13th and sixth century B.C. likely lived in tribal or clan-based societies led by elite warriors. Specifically, the recent discoveries indicate that Somló might have been one of their seats of power, as well as the host of a prominent community whose culture included the deposition of metal hoards, Soós said. While Soós and his colleagues were not able to confirm the presence of a metal-producing workshop, they did also uncover parts of a building. The team hopes that further investigations will shed light on the chronology of Somló Hill's habitation and its hoarding traditions, they wrote in the study.
