Bronze metal, alternating swastika and horse

Alternating swastika and horse design on a bronze metal. Colchian Bronze Culture. 8th - 6th Centuries B.C.

In the 8th century B.C., Urartian and Greek written sources describe "Colchis" as a distinct ethnic group, and as a separate political entity. Highly developed iron production was one of the principal economic foundations of the Colchian political entity, promoting the creation of a powerful state. This was clearly reflected in the high artistic level of their bronzework: in the employment of sophisticated engraving and inlay techniques, as well as in the application of new decorative methods. There were several innovations introduced into the artistic processing of bronze, the source of which, however, should probably be sought among influences from outside rather than in local traditions.

Similarly, the creation of the so-called Sub-Mycenean type of one-piece arched fibula, engraved animal representations (of fantastic creatures, fish, or snakes), the existence of meanders and swastikas so characteristic of Greek geometric art, and quite possible the phenomenon of hoards itself, bear witness to the existence of contacts with the Aegean world on the one hand, and with southern Eutrope on the other. These contacts were presumably maritime, but most importantly, they were bilateral and of a cultural character.

Supplementary images: