The Japodian burial urns are a series of fifteen burial urns made by the

Illyrian tribe This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greeks ...

of the

Japodes The Iapydes (or Iapodes, Japodes; el, Ἰάποδες) were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the ...

around the area of

Bihać Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

. These cremation urns where the cremated remains of the dead were placed in, were beautifully decorated with figurative designs of humans and animals. The Japodian burial urn art was a unique form of art influenced to a degree by the

Situla Situla (plural ''situlae''), from the Latin word for bucket or pail, is the term in archaeology and art history for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages, usually with a handle at the top. All types ma ...

art of northern Illyria and Italy and by Greek art. The urns represent one of the best Japodian figurative art forms. The first urn was discovered in 1890 in the necropolis of Jezerina near Bihać. In this fragment the face of a warrior was presented with a helmet, a drinking horn on the right hand and with a spear on the left hand. Almost all of the scenes are linked with the cult of the dead. The urns are broken up in three phases, grouped up chronologically. The earliest date from the 5th century BC and even probably from the start of the 4th century BC and depict figures related with those of the situla art. The Japodian artists which created the early urns were inspired by the situla art and took many motives from this art, but which transformed the images in order to suit their own tastes. From this the second phase was created but with a much smaller yield. The second phase is linked with Greek art. The third group dates from the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

era and presents a highly developed form of Japodian art.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Japodian Burial Urns Illyrian art Illyrian Bosnia and Herzegovina