DOI issue:
Nr. 1-2
DOI article:Janowski, Andrzej; Słowiński, Sławomir: Sceny mitologiczne na misie brązowej z Nowego Objezierza i źródła ich inspiracji: =
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.35032#0167
SCENY MITOLOGICZNE NA MISIE BRĄZOWEJ Z NOWEGO OBJEZIERZA I ŹRÓDŁA ICH INSPIRACJI
161
Nowo Œy'oziorzo onJ ^o ^onroo^ ł?o/nnJ ^/zo/r zn^pzro^on
In 1994, during the course of archaeological excava-
tions in the hamlet of Nowe Objezierze near Moryń
(Ger.: Mohrin) in Western Pomerania, a bronze bowl
was discovered dating from the 11th or 12th centuiy.
On the walls of the vessel are engraved four figurai
scenes presenting selected moments from the life of
Heracles, surrounded by inscriptions in Latin en-
graved in capital Roman letters (ills. 1-9). The poor
state of preservation of both scenes and inscriptions
has not augured well for attempts made thus far at
interpretation. The aim of this article is to propose a
fresh inteipretation.
The vessel discovered at Nowe Objezierze is a
unique historical monument, its only analogy being
a considerably better preserved example discovered
in 1824 in the British Isles and housed in the British
Museum (ills. 10-14). It differs from the object un-
der consideration in the number of scenes depicted,
although, due to the first four of these being identi-
cal, it is possible to reconstruct the scenes and in-
scriptions of the Nowe Ojezierze bowl on the basis
of the Severn Valley one. The first scene portrays the
Birth of Heracles, the second Heracles in his cradle
throttling snakes, the third scene shows the hero
fighting the dragon Ladon in the garden of
Hesperides while in the fourth Heracles is humiliat-
ing the giant-monster Geryon. The inscriptions fram-
ing the scenes ought to be read in the following
fashion: 'The greatest of Alchmene, born Alcides,
although the stepmother was infuriated, chokes the
snakes she dispatched. The club of Alcides put to
rest the irrepressible dragon, abducted Geryon's
herd, having earlier destroyed the hydra'.
The source of inspiration for the inscriptions was
the so-called Fc/ogne a text composed
in or around the 10th century which continued until
as late as the 1500s to serve as one of the more im-
portant grammar text books. The Fc/ogne's contents
comprise a dual between yf/hF/ (Truth) and /NeMVA
(Deceit), providing allegories for Christianity and
paganism (ill. 15). The former relates to happenings
in the Old Testament, while the latter recites stories
from mythology. Manuscripts of Fc/ogne... found in
late-mediaeval Poland cannot be quoted in connec-
tion with a work discovered in Western Pomerania,
which from the end of the 12th century lay well out-
side the political world of the Polish Kingdom. The
source of the inscriptions were verses 167-168 and
173-174 recited by Fs-er/VA. These verses were not
transcribed literally, although, in spite of essential
differences in relation to the original, the respective
parts of the text engraved on the two bowls are iden-
tical, with no alteration having been made to the
rhythm of the lines cited (cf. Table 1).
Heracles was a hero much beloved in the antique
world. From the (Western) European Middle Ages
are known between just a dozen and one score pres-
entations, amongst which barely several portray
more than a single scene from the mythological fig-
ure's life (i.e. the so-called Cathedra Petri, pieces in
a popular game referred to in Polish as F/Æ-r/TzÆ and
a baptismal font originating from Gotland). Copies
of Fc/ogne... preserved to the present day are not
illustrated and almost certainly served as a model for
the makers of the two bowls discussed here. Where,
in that case, did they draw their inspiration and did
there exist during the Middle Ages a canon for de-
picting Heracles upon which their design might have
been based? Or perhaps the sources need to be
drawn from antiquity?
The scene depicting Heracles' birth (ills. 2-3, 11 )
has never been portrayed in picture form; neither in
ancient nor mediaeval times. It may only be assumed
that the artist(s) involved presented the scene in ac-
cordance with a contemporaneous, mediaeval con-
vention, basing it on some scene of birth described
in the Old Testament. A similar case might be pre-
sumed for the scene of the choked snakes (ills. 4-5,
12) and confrontation with Geryon (ills. 8-9, 14),
which are in evident contrast with ancient canons,
but also from other mediaeval presentations (ills. 16,
21 ). Only the scene portraying the physical struggle
with Ladon (ills. 6-7, 13) may indicate an unambigu-
ous iconographical source. Most frequently depicted
of all moments of Heracles' life, it was also por-
trayed in mediaeval art (ills. 17-20), which resulted
from the fact that such a presentation of the celestial
constellation bearing the name in astronomical
works, and it may be assumed that one of these
proved the source of inspiration.
On the basis of the aforementioned premises, it
may be deduced that the bowl's maker was unfamil-
iar with classical portrayals of Heracles and was thus
unaware of how to depict the hero. Knowledge of
this would have still been alive in the 6th-8th centu-
ries but at the time of the so-called Carolingian Ren-
aissance it had partially disappeared, while the
subsequent illuminators of codices and creators of
other objects imagined antique heroes in the one way
known to them; i.e. that adopted during the Middle
Ages. In drawing each scene they were merely at-
tempting to express the text's contents, which were
161
Nowo Œy'oziorzo onJ ^o ^onroo^ ł?o/nnJ ^/zo/r zn^pzro^on
In 1994, during the course of archaeological excava-
tions in the hamlet of Nowe Objezierze near Moryń
(Ger.: Mohrin) in Western Pomerania, a bronze bowl
was discovered dating from the 11th or 12th centuiy.
On the walls of the vessel are engraved four figurai
scenes presenting selected moments from the life of
Heracles, surrounded by inscriptions in Latin en-
graved in capital Roman letters (ills. 1-9). The poor
state of preservation of both scenes and inscriptions
has not augured well for attempts made thus far at
interpretation. The aim of this article is to propose a
fresh inteipretation.
The vessel discovered at Nowe Objezierze is a
unique historical monument, its only analogy being
a considerably better preserved example discovered
in 1824 in the British Isles and housed in the British
Museum (ills. 10-14). It differs from the object un-
der consideration in the number of scenes depicted,
although, due to the first four of these being identi-
cal, it is possible to reconstruct the scenes and in-
scriptions of the Nowe Ojezierze bowl on the basis
of the Severn Valley one. The first scene portrays the
Birth of Heracles, the second Heracles in his cradle
throttling snakes, the third scene shows the hero
fighting the dragon Ladon in the garden of
Hesperides while in the fourth Heracles is humiliat-
ing the giant-monster Geryon. The inscriptions fram-
ing the scenes ought to be read in the following
fashion: 'The greatest of Alchmene, born Alcides,
although the stepmother was infuriated, chokes the
snakes she dispatched. The club of Alcides put to
rest the irrepressible dragon, abducted Geryon's
herd, having earlier destroyed the hydra'.
The source of inspiration for the inscriptions was
the so-called Fc/ogne a text composed
in or around the 10th century which continued until
as late as the 1500s to serve as one of the more im-
portant grammar text books. The Fc/ogne's contents
comprise a dual between yf/hF/ (Truth) and /NeMVA
(Deceit), providing allegories for Christianity and
paganism (ill. 15). The former relates to happenings
in the Old Testament, while the latter recites stories
from mythology. Manuscripts of Fc/ogne... found in
late-mediaeval Poland cannot be quoted in connec-
tion with a work discovered in Western Pomerania,
which from the end of the 12th century lay well out-
side the political world of the Polish Kingdom. The
source of the inscriptions were verses 167-168 and
173-174 recited by Fs-er/VA. These verses were not
transcribed literally, although, in spite of essential
differences in relation to the original, the respective
parts of the text engraved on the two bowls are iden-
tical, with no alteration having been made to the
rhythm of the lines cited (cf. Table 1).
Heracles was a hero much beloved in the antique
world. From the (Western) European Middle Ages
are known between just a dozen and one score pres-
entations, amongst which barely several portray
more than a single scene from the mythological fig-
ure's life (i.e. the so-called Cathedra Petri, pieces in
a popular game referred to in Polish as F/Æ-r/TzÆ and
a baptismal font originating from Gotland). Copies
of Fc/ogne... preserved to the present day are not
illustrated and almost certainly served as a model for
the makers of the two bowls discussed here. Where,
in that case, did they draw their inspiration and did
there exist during the Middle Ages a canon for de-
picting Heracles upon which their design might have
been based? Or perhaps the sources need to be
drawn from antiquity?
The scene depicting Heracles' birth (ills. 2-3, 11 )
has never been portrayed in picture form; neither in
ancient nor mediaeval times. It may only be assumed
that the artist(s) involved presented the scene in ac-
cordance with a contemporaneous, mediaeval con-
vention, basing it on some scene of birth described
in the Old Testament. A similar case might be pre-
sumed for the scene of the choked snakes (ills. 4-5,
12) and confrontation with Geryon (ills. 8-9, 14),
which are in evident contrast with ancient canons,
but also from other mediaeval presentations (ills. 16,
21 ). Only the scene portraying the physical struggle
with Ladon (ills. 6-7, 13) may indicate an unambigu-
ous iconographical source. Most frequently depicted
of all moments of Heracles' life, it was also por-
trayed in mediaeval art (ills. 17-20), which resulted
from the fact that such a presentation of the celestial
constellation bearing the name in astronomical
works, and it may be assumed that one of these
proved the source of inspiration.
On the basis of the aforementioned premises, it
may be deduced that the bowl's maker was unfamil-
iar with classical portrayals of Heracles and was thus
unaware of how to depict the hero. Knowledge of
this would have still been alive in the 6th-8th centu-
ries but at the time of the so-called Carolingian Ren-
aissance it had partially disappeared, while the
subsequent illuminators of codices and creators of
other objects imagined antique heroes in the one way
known to them; i.e. that adopted during the Middle
Ages. In drawing each scene they were merely at-
tempting to express the text's contents, which were