Finger-Rings with the Image of Cross from the Second Half of Sixth and Seventh Centuries from the South-Western Crimea

Abstract

In the second half of 6 th -7 th centuries in the South-Western Crimea, finger rings imported from Byzantium and produced in the local workshops on imported patterns with a cross were popular with Goth-Alanian population. According to the peculiarities of the image, they are presented in four variants: A - with a deeply cut equal-ended cross with flared tips; Б - with a cross formed by engraved geometric figures; B - with a cross formed by thin mortise lines with cross lines at the ends; Г - with a cross-shaped flap with flared ends, the surface of which is inlaid with glass. The finger rings with the cross originating from the Crimea belonged to male warriors and young women who had a high social status. Most of the finger rings come from female burials. Women wore them on their hands, as a rule, on the right index finger and in the breast necklaces that connected fibulas. The image of the cross was not used for decorating objects. The cross, first of all, is a religious symbol, a sign of belonging to a Christian denomination. Apparently, the finger rings with the image of the cross were not a simple piece of jewellery, but in the view of the people wearing them, they were equated with the subject of personal piety, served as a kind of analogue to the cross under clothes. In addition, the cross in its very symbolism performed a protective function. The image of the cross on the shield of the ring endowed the item of jewellery with the properties of an amulet that protected the person who wore it from all misfortunes. The study of finger rings allows us not only to expand knowledge about the items of jewellery that existed in the early medieval time, but also adds to our knowledge of everyday life and the beliefs of the inhabitants of the early medieval Crimea. Findings of this kind testify to the unity of culture in the Christian world and are a good example of the close economic and cultural ties of Crimea with the Byzantine Empire in the early Middle Ages.