Object type
patera
Culture/period
Protohistory and Iberian world
Materials
silver
Technique
casting, embossing
Mint
Production date
-250 / -195
Current location
Exposició permanent
Archaeological site
Castellet de Banyoles
Township
Tivissa (Ribera d'Ebre)
Dimensions
37 x 170 mm
Description
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Phiale or ritual patera of silver and gilded silver with a nob in the centre in the shape of a fierce animal's head. It is dated between the years 250 / 225-195 BC and is part of the Treasure of Tivissa, a generic name covering different finds. This piece along with the other three phiales, a hemispherical decorated cup, ritual goblet vessels, a torque and a spiral bracelet with the representation of a snake was found in 1927 in the Iberian town of Castellet de Banyoles. The meaning of the whole is still under discussion with scientific debates that range from an interpretation related to the afterlife and funerary or as symbolic elements of the elites deposited in a urban sanctuary.
It presents a rich iconography that has been the cause of diferent teories since its discovery. In the central part of the piece there is the head of an animal, possibly a wolf or a bear, a scene surrounded by allegorical representation and highlighted with gilded silver plates. There are three distinct scenes, a central one above the animal's head and two sides. At the top of the story an enthroned god receives with his right hand a spherical object that gives a smaller character in an attitude of genuflection probably the aristocrat owner of a piece. To the left of the main character three small wild boars are observed and a person in front, in a squating position, very unusual. Behind the throne is the centaur Chiron, associated with medicine and accompanying the crossing to the other world, characterized by the long branch that it carries in one hand.
The scene on the left is a hunting scene where an Iberian rider with shield and spear, probably the offeror also is killing a lion while this, in turn, is attacking a boar and bites its rump (the hunter hunted). The protagonist dominates the wild.
On the right we see three characters or winged demons, the central –the largest one- is sacrificing a sheep and carries a dagger in his hand, while, in front, the other is holding a pair of purifying branches, and at the back, a third demon is holding a ritual thymiaterion. The animal represented in this scene is an eagle.
In addition to the animals mentioned there are such others as two lynx or wild cats, as well as several wild boars, filling the empty spaces.
It is difficult to define whether it is an Iberian object or, conversely, was made in an other part of the Mediterranean. The scene of the offering and the sacrifice are rare in Iberian iconography and mythology, but the elements were not entirely strange. The Iberians were outsiders who knew and adapted other cosmologies.
At the bottom exterior of the patera appears an inscription engraved in Iberian signs: tautintibaś: sani: giŕśdo: uŕketigeś. Linguists believe that it might contain the name of the offeror and who was dedicated.
BLAZQUEZ, J.M. 1955-1956, La interpretación de la pátera de Tivisa, Ampúrias 17-18, 111-139.
BLAZQUEZ, J. M. 1957-1958, Nuevas aportaciones a la interpretación de la pátera de Tivisa, Ampúrias 19-20 (ref. pàg. 241-244).
FERNÁNDEZ FUSTER, L. 1955, La phiale ibérica de Tivissa. Ensayo de interpretación, Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos LXI, nº 1, 269-282.
MARÍN CEBALLOS, M.C. 1983, Una nueva interpretación de la Patera de Tivissa, Crónica del XVI Congreso Arqueológico Nacional, 709-718.
SERRA RÀFOLS, J. C. 1941, El poblado ibérico del Castellet de Banyoles, Ampurias 3, 15-34.
Image
3D Model
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Barcelona
Omeka ID
2639