Bronze vessel with bacchic representations (oinochoe)

Cup with narrow mouth and arched overflow, narrow neck, body with maximum diameter in the shoulder area and raised pedestal. The handle, raised, shows in the upper part a figurative group, which depicts a satyr with a cheerful face holding in his arms the child Bacchus, and in the lower part a figurine representing a young Bacchus. In length, the handle was decorated with embossed bacchic symbols (kantharos, garlands, leaf and flower vines, a syrinx). The figures and ornaments were made of bronze and are inlaid with silver. Mugs of this type were usually part of a handwashing service, used in the sacred environment before the sacrificial officer and in the profane environment during the meal.

Dimensions: Height = 24 cm; Maximum diameter = 12.8 cm. It has small damaged surfaces.

Place of discovery: Kallatis - Mangalia (Constanța County, Romania); tumulus, in an incineration tomb. Collection of the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța; Inv. no. 4186.

Dating: second half of the 1^st century AD - 2^nd century AD.

Bibliography: Mihai Irimia, Bronzuri figurate [Figured bronzes], Constanța, Muzeul Regional de Arheologie Dobrogea,1966, p. 27-29; Liviu Petculescu (ed.), Antique Bronzes in Romania. Exhibition Catalogue, Bucharest, The National History Museum of Romania, 2003, p.145, no. 212.