Roman Terracottas From the Lower City of Olbia from the collection of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine

Abstract

The article introduces clay figurines of eagles and terracotta of a Roman soldier, which were found during excavations at the Lower City of Olbia in the 1930—1940-ies, and are kept in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. The iconography of the eagles is similar to the terracotta statuette of an eagle found in the praetorium building in the Upper City of Olbia. The series of rooms, in which the eagle figurines were found, belong to the Roman garrison structures, which were located in the port area of the city. Terracotta eagle figurines could be used in military sanctuaries, and imitate Roman military standards, or be associated with the worship of Jupiter. Analogies to these products are known from the Roman fortresses on the Danube and in Dacia province. The fragment of terracotta with a shield was a part of a Roman soldier figurine with hanging limbs. The warrior was depicted wearing a Roman military cloak (sagum). This indicates his higher rank, in contrast to the soldiers dressed in tunics. In his left hand he holds a shield (clipeus), which depicts a deity in armor, with rays above his head. The terracotta depicts warriors armed with gladius, and belted with a Roman military belt (cingulum militare). They depict the servicemen of the auxiliary troops of the Roman army — auxilia, or, given the non-standard shape of their shields, the sailors of the Moesian fleet (milites classiarii), whose units were stationed in Olbia, as is known from the epigraphic finds. The places of their finds mark the points of deployment of the Roman troops in the Northern Black Sea region. These terracottas could serve as votives in ritual rites associated with the cult of Mithras, which appears in Olbia as a result of the Roman garrison deployment in the city during the second half of the 2nd — first half of the 3rd c. AD.