Architectural Terracotta From Olbia According to Excavations of the 1920-ies

Abstract

The article is devoted to the introduction into scientific circulation of a collection of terracotta architectural details from the excavations of the Upper City of Olbia in the second half of the 1920-ies. Archaeological research was conducted by the Scientific Council of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences according to the plan proposed by B. V. Farmakovskyi after the resumption of excavations in Olbia in 1924. Two of the details, fragments of polychrome simas of the Late Archaic period, most likely were related to the cult monumental structures of the Western Temenos and were found in the layer of its destruction. The remaining details were found during excavations of residential houses in the central (excavation sites A, H, D) and north-eastern part of the city (excavation site I). These are fragments of eaves tiles, the facades of which are decorated with embossed ornaments of two variants — Ionian cyma with pearls and meander, in the metopes of which are placed letters or four- and eight-petalled palmettes. The tile category includes a pentagonal antefix with a relief image of an Athena mask in a helmet and half lotus flowers on the sides. Fragments of gutters (simas) — a facade with a Satire mask and a water-supply decorated in the shape of a lion’s head with an open mouth were also found. Ceramic architectural details, which served as decoration and were an integral part of the roof of residential buildings, became widespread in Olbia in the second half of the IV—III c. BC. Such details are also known in almost all ancient centers of the Western Black Sea coast. Modern ceramic studies of similar architectural terracotta from Messambria and Apollonia Pontica have determined its local production. The obtained data allowed correcting not only the information on handicraft production in Olbia, as such a tile is traditionally, after the opinion of I. B. Brashynskyi, belonged to the local ceramic production, but also to offer a new direction of the Black Sea trade in ceramic building materials. Another important area for Olbia was the tiles import from Sinop.