The Velestino Hoard: Casting Light on the Byzantine 'Dark Ages' (New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture)

"This book examines the remarkable Velestino hoard, found in Thessaly in the 1920s, and analyses the light that this collection of artifacts sheds on a poorly studied period of Byzantine history, and on largely neglected aspects of Byzantine civilization. Many collections of Byzantine gold- and silverware, such as Vrap and Seuso, have been surrounded by controversy. None, however, has been under more suspicion than the Velestino hoard, particularly with regards to its authenticity. The hoard contains no gold and no silver, and is in fact a collection of bronze and leaden plaques, some with human, and others with animal or geometric representations. The authors examine three distinct aspects of the hoard: the iconography of its components, the method of its production, and the function of those components. The conclusions that they reached provide valuable new insights into eighth-century Byzantine culture. The book explores the Byzantine cultural and political context of the Velestino hoard and will appeal to historians and art historians of early Byzantium, as well as archaeologists and historians of early medieval technologies."-- Provided by publisher MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 9 Chapter 1 Introduction 14 References 22 Chapter 2 Forgery or Genuine? 27 References 48 Chapter 3 Humans or Human-Like Figures 51 References 99 Chapter 4 Real and Fantastic Animals 108 References 141 Chapter 5 Ornaments 146 References 157 Chapter 6 Style and Chronology 159 References 166 Chapter 7 Production 170 References 185 Chapter 8 Function: Dies or Models? 191 References 200 Chapter 9 Historical Context 205 References 214 Chapter 10 Conclusion 219 References 223 Catalogue 225 Appendix 1 236 Appendix 2 238 Index 239