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JEWELRY FROM THE LAND

OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
Many streams of water issued from the Caucasus carry

If it were not for the archaeological nds from Colchis, all

almost invisible gold-dust. The locals use sheepskins with

this would have remained but a myth of the Argonauts,

shaggy eece that they put into the stream in order to collect

which has inspired many well-known literary writings and art

the oating particles; and perhaps the Golden Fleece of

works. In the late second millennium B.C., the very period

Aeetes was of the same kind (Appian, The Mithridatic

when mythological expedition of Argonauts is supposed

Wars). This custom of obtaining gold described by Greco-

to be held, no culture with all main characteristic elements

Roman authors has survived to the present day in Georgia,

(architecture, distinctive pottery, diverse bronze items,

namely in the Svaneti region. The Golden Fleece, in quest

etc.), is archaeologically attested in any other region of the

of which the Argonauts, the celebrated heroes of Hellas,

Black Sea littoral besides the territory of western Georgia.

led by Jason on the Argo most desired by all (Homer,

The Colchian culture, embracing the second half of the 3rd

The Odyssey), made their rst distant expedition; Aeetes,

millennium B.C. and the rst half of the 1st millennium B.C.,

the king of Colchis, son of Helios and possessor of the

and more importantly, its inseparable part, the countless

Golden Fleece; the Colchian sorceress princess Medea,

gold adornments, is probably the best justication of the fact,

who became one of the most dramatic personages in the

that the Greeks referred the Golden Fleece to the country

European culture after Euripides had created a character

located in the Black See area, calling it Colchis since the

of the murderer of her own children, up to the present day.

8th century B.C.

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Gold Headdress Ornament, Vani, second half of the 4th century B.C.

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Gold Necklace, Ananauri,

second half of the 3rd millennium B.C.

Necklace (gold, agate, carnelian), Trialeti,

18th-17th centuries B.C.

Colchian gold jewelry which gained its own place alongside

course of development of Georgian goldwork from the 3rd

Greek, Achaemenid (Persian), Etruscan, and Scythian

millennium B.C. to the 4th century A.D.

goldwork in the ancient world, today has introduced Georgia

as the land of the Golden Fleece to millions of visitors due
to the exhibitions organized in leading museums worldwide.
But the Colchian gold jewelry is only one of the stages in the
history of the Georgian goldsmiths art.

Georgia is not only a country of rich traditions of goldsmiths

art. The earliest gold-mines have also been discovered
here (at Saqdrisi, the Kvemo Kartli region). In Georgia gold
mining started in the 4th-3rd millennia B.C., as attested by
stone tools and pottery discovered in the Saqdrisi mines

In 2011 at the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia

which chronologically ante-date the well-known gold mines

of the Georgian National Museum the permanent

of the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

exhibition Archaeological Treasury was opened anew,

renovated and up-dated with the recent discoveries.
The Archaeological Treasury houses the gold and
silver ornaments and other precious objects discovered
exclusively on the territory of Georgia. These specimens
of goldsmiths art, mostly of local production, represent the

A large amount of gold and silver jewelry of various functions

(necklaces, pins, bracelets, temple pendants, rings) on the
territory of Georgia appear in the second half of the 3rd
millennium B.C. They are already distinguished by the high
technical level as well as by their artistic craftsmanship.

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The jewelry is decorated with various ornaments,

close to the well-known gold jewelry from Ur, Uruk,

mostly linked to the solar symbols, while in astral

Mycenae, and Troy. However, a large part of them

religions gold itself is considered to be heliacal

have no analogues outside Georgia.

metal. The gold and silver ornaments and other

specimens of goldwork are attest to the highest
social status of the person who was buried with

The 8th-6th centuries B.C. are the renaissance of

Georgian goldsmiths art, a period when jewelry

special respect in an enormous kurgan (burial

made from precious metals is archaeologically

mound). The archaeological culture, spreading on

attested on the vast territory of Georgia.

a vast territory of Eastern Georgia from the second

Granulation is the leading technique of artistic

half of the 3rd millennium B.C. to the rst half of the

treatment of gold and silver. Typically Colchian

2nd millennium B.C., is called the Culture of Great

diadem and radial earrings originated in that period,

Barrows on the grounds of this burial rite. These

reaching the highest level of development in the

earliest specimens of Georgian goldsmithery are

Classical period.

Gold Bead, Partskhanaqanevi, 8th-7th centuries B.C.

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Gold Diadem and Temple Ornaments, Vani,

rst half of 4th century B.C.

Thousands of locally manufactured specimens of goldsmithery

have been found in the graves of the 5th-4th centuries B.C.
in the political and administrative centres of the Kingdom of
Colchis - Sairkhe and Vani. Why Colchis is referred to as rich
in gold in Greek written sources, similarly to Mycenae, Sardis,
and Babylon all famed for their wealth is made clear not
only by the quantity, but also by the artistic value of Colchian
gold jewelry.

Greco-Roman written sources, formed in the 3rd century B.C.,

All traditions on the base of which gold jewelry was created

on the Georgian territory for centuries are unied in Iberian
goldsmiths art. Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia), as it is referred to in

developed their own style of jewelry, adorning it with colorful

attained especial political and economic might in the 1st-3rd

centuries A.D. The numerous gold jewelry and other precious
objects, discovered in the burials of the local elite, reect the
advance of the Kingdom of Kartli, one of the dening features
of which was the highly developed artisanship, namely the
goldsmiths art. As a result of close cultural relations with the
outer world, especially with Iran and Rome, Iberian masters
gems, which would soon spread on the whole territory of
Georgia.