The Pereshchepina Treasure (russian: Перещепинский клад, uk, Перещепинський скарб) is a major deposit of

Bulgar Bulgar may refer to: *Bulgars, extinct people of Central Asia *Bulgar language, the extinct language of the Bulgars * Oghur languages Bulgar may also refer to: *Bolghar, the capital city of Volga Bulgaria *Bulgur, a wheat product * Bulgar, an Ash ...

Sassanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

, Sogdian, Turkic and Avarian objects from the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...

. The most valuable items are the ''sword of Kubrat'', a gift from Emperor

Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...

and the ring with the monogram of the ruler, as a "

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

", that is, as the savior of the New (Christian) Rome. The sword is valuable as an artifact № 1 of the Hermitage and for the first time leaves the borders of Russia on May 24, 2019. It is presented in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

by Boyko Borisov to

Audrey Azoulay Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French civil servant and politician who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2017, becoming the second female le ...

. The deposit was discovered in 1912 in the village of Mala Pereshchepina (20 km from

Poltava Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administratively ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) by a shepherd boy who stumbled over a golden vessel and fell into what is sometimes believed to be the grave of

Kubrat Kubrat ( el, Κοβρᾶτος, Kούβρατος; bg, Кубрат ) was the ruler of the Onogur–Bulgars, credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in ca. 632. His name derived from the Turkic words ''qobrat'' — ...

, the founder of

Great Bulgaria Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' ("Onoğurs, Onogur land"), w ...

and father of

Asparuh Asparuh (also ''Ispor''; bg, Аспарух, Asparuh or (rarely) bg, Исперих, Isperih) was а ruler of Bulgars in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. Early life ...

, the founder of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europ ...

. The hoard, first described by Makarenko, was extracted under the supervision of Count

Aleksey Bobrinsky The Counts Bobrinsky or Bobrinskoy (''Бобринские'') are a Russian noble family descending from Count Aleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762–1813), who was Catherine the Great's natural son by Count Grigory Orlov. The first Count Bo ...

, a renowned

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, who published its description in 1914.Бобринский А.А. Перещепинский клад. // Материалы по археологии России, №34. Petrograd, 1914. The hoard contains more than 800 pieces, now preserved in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. There are 19 silver vessels and 16 gold vessels, including a striking

rhyton A rhyton (plural rhytons or, following the Greek plural, rhyta) is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table. A rhyton is typically formed in t ...

and remains of another. Th
official website
of the museum speaks about

a staff with gold facing, a well-preserved iron sword with an end in the form of a ring and gold facing on the hilt and scabbard… gold jewellery — a
torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
, an earring, seven bracelets and seven rings with inlays of precious stones (amethysts, sapphires, tiger-eyes, garnets, rock crystal, and emeralds)… and square gold plaques for the facing of a wooden funeral construction".Pereshchepina Treasure
at the Hermitage Museum.

The total weight of gold from the deposit exceeds 21 kilograms, that of silver objects 50 kilograms. Among the most interesting finds is a necklace of gold Byzantine

gold coins A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22 karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Bu ...

, dating from the reign of

Emperor Maurice Maurice ( la, Mauricius or ''Mauritius''; ; 539 – 27 November 602) was Eastern Roman emperor from 582 to 602 and the last member of the Justinian dynasty. A successful general, Maurice was chosen as heir and son-in-law by his predecessor Tib ...

(582–602 AD) to that of

Constans II Constans II ( grc-gre, Κώνστας, Kōnstas; 7 November 630 – 15 July 668), nicknamed "the Bearded" ( la, Pogonatus; grc-gre, ὁ Πωγωνᾶτος, ho Pōgōnãtos), was the Eastern Roman emperor from 641 to 668. Constans was the last ...

(641–668 AD), precisely down to 646 AD, which have often been taken to set the ''

terminus post quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

'' for the site. There is also a Sassanian dish bearing an image of

Shapur the Great Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned f ...

(309–379 AD), and a Byzantine dish with an inscription of the early 6th-century bishop of Tomis. Other finds must probably be dated to as late as the 670s. File:Mala-Pereshchepina-treasure-1.jpg , File:Mala-Pereshchepina-treasure-2.jpg , Golden jug File:Mala-Pereshchepina-treasure-3.jpg , Golden cup File:Mala-Pereshchepina-treasure-4.jpg , One of the rings with monogram File:Mala-Pereshchepina-treasure-5.jpg , One of the small belt buckles Although the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopaedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya en ...

'' was keen to ascribe the hoard to a "Slavic chieftain" who supposedly pillaged the objects during "a raid against Byzantium," and while, more recently, some scholars attempt to attribute it to the

Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

, many agree that the hoard represents, at least in its earlier phase, the treasure of Kubrat, the first attested khan of the

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

.Andras Rona-Tas. ''Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages''. Central European University Press, 1999. Page 217.Alexander Aibabin, Early Khazar Archaeological Monuments in Crimea and to the North of the Black Sea, in : C. ZUCKERMANN (ed.), La Crimée entre Byzance et le Khaganat Khazar. CHCB, Monographies, 25. Paris 2006, 31–65, at 53 f. The treasure would have fallen to the hands of later,

Khazar The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

or Turkic rulers as Bulgars left the region. The Pereshchepina hoard ranks among the most vivid manifestations of the typical ancient material culture of

Old Great Bulgaria Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th- ...

References

External links

Khan Kuvrat's grave
(with illustrations). {{Authority control Treasure troves in Ukraine Treasure troves of late antiquity Treasure troves of Medieval Europe Bulgars History of Poltava Oblast Archaeological sites in Ukraine Archaeological collections of the Hermitage Museum 7th century in Europe Byzantine Empire-related inscriptions Gold objects Russia–Ukraine relations

See also

References

External links