Plastika hlineného vtáčika z doby rímskej zo Žitného ostrova

• Authors: Varsik Vladimír

Title variants

EN

Roman Period earthen bird from Žitný Ostrov

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

In the Quadi settlement in Veľký Meder (south-western Slovakia, Žitný Ostrov region), in one dugout, there was found ceramics from the second half of the 2nd century and also an earthen figurine of a water bird, probably a wild duck. The sculpture was presumably originally part of a ceramic vessel, for example on the bottom of a flat bowl. Zoomorphic sculptures (either as independent pieces of art or as part of other objects) are quite rare in the environment inhabited by the Danubian Suebi. Amongst the available pieces, the most numerous ones are represented by water birds. Further examples from Lower Austria and southern Moravia show their occurrence in the 2nd and 3rd century, i.e. in an epoch characterised by formal and ornamental flourishing of manually modelled Germanic ceramics. Water birds played a significant role already in the religious mindset of people from Bronze Age and Hallstatt culture, especially with regard to the cult of the Sun and sun-boat. Under a different meaning and according to Germanic ideas, they could represent also some mediators of the will of the gods or guides of the souls of dead to the underworld.

Keywords

EN

Veľký Meder; Central Danube Barbaricum; Roman Period; clay figurine; water bird

• Publisher: Slovak National Museum – Archaeological Museum
• Journal: Zborník Slovenského národného múzea Archeológia
• Year: 2022
• Issue: 116
• Pages: 283-295

Contributors

author

Varsik Vladimír

• Trnavská univerzita v Trnave, Filozofická fakulta, Hornopotočná 23, SK – 918 43 Trnava, Slovak Republic