MAIASK. 2015. No. 7

G.V. Baranov (Moscow, Russia)

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

Access this article (PDF File)

<< Previous page

Pages: 87-105

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.

Key words: sword-guard, pommel of sword, Byzantine empire, medieval arms, Byzantine arms, archaeology of Ukraine.

Received November 7, 2015
Accepted for publication November 30, 2015

About the author:

Baranov Gennady Valeryevich (Moscow, Russia). Member of the Problem Council of “Military archeology” at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

E-mail: co-regent@yandex.ru