Rare find of a bronze buckle at the ancient settlement in the town Vereya, Moscow region

Abstract

The paper publishes a rare find – a metal buckle from a caftan or yoke, discovered in 2021 during research conducted by the Moscow Region Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences at the ancient settlement of the town of Vereya (Moscow region). The shield of the buckle is decorated with a relief image of a lion in profile, standing up on its hind legs in a heraldic pose surrounded by vegetal ornamentation. On the side of the buckle is the maxim “In glory be humble, in sorrow be wise”. The original source of the inscription is the translated collection “Melissa” (“The Bee”), compiled by Anthony the Monk (Melissa) not earlier than the end of the 9th century, where the author of the saying is named the tyrant of Corinth Kypsellus. The ancient tradition attributed the authorship of the maxim to Periander, the son and successor of the latter. In the Russian translation, created no later than 1219, its author is named Alexander the Great, and in the later book tradition – King Solomon. In Russia, this maxim, which enshrined the Christian model of behaviour in opposite life situations, was most widespread on personal seals and in monuments of scribal literature of the second half of the 16th century. The buckle from Vereya is the first archaeologically documented find of a clothing element with this saying. It can be dated to the second half of the 16th century, which does not
contradict the palaeography of the inscription, is confirmed by the stratigraphy of the excavation, correlates with the historical data on the history of the Vereya settlement, as well as the degree of prevalence of sentence on seals and monuments of books.