During the excavations of the Takhti-Sangin hillfort with its Oxa temple (Bactria), which were carried out by the South Tajik Archaeological Expedition of the Republic's Academy of Sciences

Tajikistan and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (head of the expedition-B. A. Litvinsky, the head of the detachment-I. R. Pichikyan), numerous art monuments belonging to the Achaemenid, Hellenistic and Kushan periods were discovered. Some of them have been published in Russian and foreign publications, but some have not yet been published. Among the unreleased items is a rectangular silver plate with the image of Helios (found in the northern part of corridor 6, inv. N 1091/5070). In the center of the plate, in a strongly protruding relief, a young head is transmitted (full-face, with a slight deviation to the right) with schematically generalized curls. Her curls fall just below her ears, covering them. The eyes are rendered generically, without detailing the eyelids. Full lips protrude above a rounded chin. Twelve rays are depicted around the head (one is lost, the other is visible only in the cleavage of the plate), in the form of arrows (long and short alternate), directed with their points in a circle in different directions. The roundness of the face, the character of the curls of the hair, the full neck and the sketchily rendered rays indicate the early Hellenistic period. The lower part of the plate with the high-relief bust is lost. The entire head, neck, and radiant halo were preserved. The upper, right and left edges of the plate reached the original rounded-smoothed shape, the lower part was broken off. There are three nail holes in the top corners and center. The plate is gilded (gilding is preserved at the left ear and on the solar halo). Sizes: The height of the preserved part is 61 mm, the width is 50-70 mm, the thickness is 15 mm, and the relief height is 10 mm (Fig.

Fig. 1 Silver plate from the temple of Oxus

As you know, in Greece the cult of Helios was widespread everywhere, but the most significant places of this cult were in the Peloponnese and Rhodes. So, in Corinth, Helios was worshipped as the supreme god, and the whole city was called ' Nliov polis. The same can be said about nearby Sikion. The cult of Helios was also widespread in Athens, Apollonia (Southern Illyria), Crete and other places. Rhodes was known as the true center of the Helios cult, and its own cycle of tales related to Helios was created here. He was regarded as the ruler of the entire island, which is how Rhodes was designated in the inscriptions, which was called the sacred island (or city) of Helios. Evidence of the cult of Helios is also known from a number of other places.

The cult of Helios also existed in the non-Greek environment in the form of veneration of either Helios himself or non-Greek deities, and it is not always possible to distinguish between them with certainty. Herodotus speaks of a solar cult among the Massagetae (I. 212, 216), the Persians (I. 131; VII. 54), the Egyptians (n. 58, 73), the inhabitants of Libya (IV. 188), the Ethiopians (III. 17, 18, 23), and others. From Mauretania to India, there are mountains, springs and towns with the word "Helios"in their names. In many cases, the old names of local gods became epithets of these solar deities (1).

(1) The image of Helios and his cult are described in detail in general works on Greek religion. See also Rapp.

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It should also be noted that in Hellenistic times, according to M. P. Wilson, Helios was not perceived exclusively as a deity, because he was "too closely connected with the physical appearance of the sun." Further, the researcher writes that the statement that the worship of the sun was primarily the religion of scientists and rulers is correct, and cites many evidences of this(2).

Iconographic type " head (or face) Helios in a radiant halo " appears in Greece quite late: in the IV century BC it is recorded on coins. However, in Greek art, this type has no predecessors. According to K. Schauenberg, who devoted a special study to the iconography of Helios, this iconographic type probably originates from Mesopotamia and Achaemenid Iran, where it is represented on seals. The solar or lunar deity has a radiant halo there. The appearance of this motif in Etruscan art, in his opinion, is due not to Greek influence, but to the origin of the Etruscans from Asia Minor. Actually, the Greek type "Helios on a quadriga or sitting on a throne" is completely different from the type represented by the head(face) in a radiant halo (3).

The time of occurrence of this last type is determined as follows. After Rhodes defended its independence in 304 BC, the head of Helios, the patron saint of the city, was depicted in a halo of rays. This was also facilitated by the fact that the giant quadriga with Helios, made by Lysippus in honor of the victory of the city, obviously had just such a halo(4).

According to B. W. Head, coins with the head of Helios in a radiant halo appear in Rhodes in 333-304, and later coins with a radiant halo are widely distributed[5]. They show a head with a slight turn to the left shoulder, with wavy strands of hair. Usually (but not always) short radial strokes extend directly from the hair (Fig. 2, 1-3). It is believed that these images are associated with a colossal statue erected in 283 BC. Thus, this type was most likely formed at the end of the IV century BC.

Helios with a radiant halo is known in various monuments of ancient art (6). Thus, in the temple of Helios in Ilium, built under Lysimachus (305-281 BC), there is an image similar to that of Takhtisangi on the metope. It contains a relief image of Helios on a quadriga. Behind the god's head is a disk, and from its edge extend long prongs-rays, each of which begins with an elongated oval, turning into a triangular prong. 2, 4). The temple is dated to 290-280 BC, wider-to the third century BC (which is very likely), but this dating has not become generally accepted[7].

Helios // Ausfiihrliches Lexicon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie / Hrsg. von W.H. Roscher. Bd I. Abt. 2. Lpz, 1886-1890. Sp. 1993-2026; Jessen. Helios //RE. Bd 8(1). 1912. Sp. 58-93; Sichtermann N. Helios / / Enciclo-pedia dell'arte antiqua. Classica e orientate. V. III. Roma, 1960. P. 1140-1142; Cesare Lena. Helios // Lexicon iconographicum mythologie classicae. V. IV/1. Zurich - Munchen, 1988. S. 592-595; Yalouris N.. Visser-Choitz T. Helios // Lexicon Iconographicum mythologie classicae. V. V/l. Zurich - Munchen, 1990. S. 1005-1007, 1034. A detailed study of the iconography of Helios: Schauenberg K. Helios. Archaologisch- mythologische Studien liber den antiken Sonnengotter. В., 1955.

(2) Nilsson М.P. Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Bd II. Munchen, 1950. S. 494 f.

(3) Schauenberg. Op. cit. S. 12-14.

(4) Holden В.М. The Metopes of the Temple of Athena at Ilion. Northampton, Mass., 1964. P. 6-16. PI. I; XI, 18; XIII, 24. 26, 27; XV, 29.

(5) Head B.V. Historia Nummorum. A Manual of Greek Numismatics. Oxf., 1911. P. 639. Fig. 309; idem. Catalogue of the Greek Coins ofCaria, Cos, Rhodes. Bologna, 1964. PI. XXXVIII.

(6) Cesare Letta. Op. cit. V. IV, 1. 1988. P. 506-623; V. IV, 2. 1988. PI. 365-384; Yalouris. Visser-Choitz. Op. cit. V. V, 1. 1990. P. 1007-1034; V. V, 2. 1990. PI. 631- 647.

(7) Fuchs W. Skulptur der Griechen. Miinchen, 1962; Reinsberg C. Studien zur hellenistischen Toreutik. Die antiken Gipsabgusse aus Memphis. Hildesheim, 1980. S. 77. For the date, see Linfert A. Kunstzentren hellenischer Zeit. Studien an weiblichen Gewandfiguren. Wiesbaden, 1976. S. 16. Anm. 11; Sussenbach U. von. Die Fruhhellenismus im griechischen Kapmfrelief. Bonn, 1971. S. 38 ff. (see also Kdhler N. / / Gnomon. 1964. 36. S. 79 ff:, Yucker N. II AA. 1969. S. 248 ff.; Hoepfner 11 AM. 1969. 84. S. 165 ff.) Cf. Yaylali A. Der Fries aus Artemisions von

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2. Hellenistic images of Helios in a radiant halo: 1-3-coins minted in Rhodes; 4-metope from the temple of Helios in Ilion; 5 - helmet cover-plaster cast from Memphis; 6-terracotta disk from the "Tomb of Eros". Athens Museum; 7-silver disk from Ai-Khanum; 8-terracotta disk from "Tomb of Eros". Boston Museum of Fine Arts; 9-Mullet Earrings

In a complex of antique plaster casts found in Memphis and stored in the Pelizaeus-Museum (Hildesheim, Germany), there is a fragmentary plaster cast of a helmet cover with a height of 7 cm and a width of 6.3 cm. It shows a bust of Helios. The god's head is turned to the left and slightly tilted to the left shoulder. The head is surrounded by a halo of short rays, with alternating rays, the base of which is located close to the head or touches it, and other rays, somewhat distant from the head - a total of 16 rays. Each of them has the shape of a narrow, pointed oval outside (Fig. 2,5) (8).

Magnesia am Maander. Tubingen, 1976. S. 167-169; Goetheri F.W., SchleifH. Der Athena-Tempel von Ilion // DAI. Denkmaler antiker Architektur. 1932. 10. S. 34 ff.

(8) Rubensohn 0. Hellenistisches Silbergerat in antiken Gipsabgilssen. В., 1911. S. 53 f. Taf. VI, 38; Reinsberg. Op. cit. S. 309. Abb. 45.

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On one Roman alabaster cast from a Greek bronze dish with a ringed Amazonachy scene in the center is a medallion with a relief image of the head of Helios in a radiant halo. Frequent rays of triangular outlines with a rounded base radiate from the head, and a shorter ray of the same shape is placed between each pair. The head with a halo is inscribed in a raised circle. A high headdress, reaching up to the rim of the circle, divides the halo into two parts. G. Richter dated the scene of the Amazonomachy to the fifth century BC, allowing for the possibility that the medallion with the head of Helios was made separately(9) (and, I will add, much later), and then attached to the dish.

The image of Helios in a radiant halo is often found on extant objects of toreutics. So, for example, from the territory of the Bosporus (the exact location of the find is unknown) there are two round golden plaques with a full-face image of the face of Helios, from which short rays radiate in all directions(10).

The Hermitage contains 93 round gold plates that were found in the burial of the priestess Demeter in the Bolshaya Bliznitsa mound in Taman. They depict the head of Helios in a radiant halo. Judging by the coins of Alexander the Great found here and iconographic data, the mound dates back to the middle or rather the second half of the IV century BC (11).

Two more gold plates from the Hellenistic period with the head of Helios in a radiant halo are in the Louvre(12). There are similar plates in the Medal Cabinet of the French National Library(13). On the Early Hellenistic pendants kept in the British Museum (earrings made of Mullet) there are images of the heads of Helios in a radiant halo with rays in the form of triangles. Rays surround the head not only from above and on the sides, but also from below, so that the halo is annular (Fig. 2, 9) (14). Helios was depicted in a radiant halo and on Hellenistic ceramics. Examples are known, in particular, on ceramics from Chersonesos(15).

We also point out a small bronze statue of Helios from the British Museum. Radially extending pin beams are attached to the deity's hairstyle from behind. The sculpture is made in the tradition of Praxiteles and should be Hellenistic (16).

Images of Helios in a radiant halo are also found on Hellenistic terracotta objects. Of great interest in this regard are the items from the "Tomb of the Erotovs" in Eretria, where at the end of the XIX century several dozens of small terracotta disks were found reproducing two types of Greek shields. Even in the first studies, they were identified as "votive shields" [17]. Some of them ended up in the Athens Museum; 28 copies and many fragments not related to these copies were purchased by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Berlin Museum, etc. (18) Some of them were round, others oval. The size of circles is from 8 to 8.7 cm in diameter, ovals-9-9. 5 cm. From the copies that got into the Boston Museum

(9) Richter G.М.A. Ancient Plaster Casts of Greek Metalware // AJA. 1958. 62/4. P. 374 f. Not. 64. PI. 95. Fig. 37.

(10) Antiquities of the Cimmerian Bosporus, Vol. I. St. Petersburg, 1854, p. 150, vol. III. Table XXI, 20.

(11) Kondakov N.. Tolstoi J., Reinach S. Antiquites de la Russie Meridionale. P., 1891. P. 114; Artamonov M. I. Treasures of Scythian mounds in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. L., 1966. pp. 70, 74. Fig. 150 (left).

(12) De Ridder A.D. Catalogue sommaire des bijoux antiques. P., 1924. P. 23 suiv. PI. 5, 962.

(13) Schauenberg. Op. cit. S. 20.

(14) Marshall F.H. Catalogue of the Jewellery Greek, Etruscan and Roman in the Department of Antiquities, British Museum. L., 1911 (reprint 1969). PI. 32, 1847- 1848.

(15) Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich K. K. Extraction from the report on excavations in Chersonese Tauride in 1900 / / IAK. 1902. 2. P. 22. Fig. 21; Borisova V. V. Excavations in the citadel in 1958-1959 (Short message) / / Messages of the Chersonese Museum. III. Simferopol, 1963. pp. 51-52. Fig. 5 (indicated by D. S. Raevsky).

(16) Walters H.W. Catalogue of the Bronzes Greek, Roman, and Etruscan in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum. L., 1899. P. 183 (N 1- 15). PI. XXVIII.

(17) Vollmoeller K.G. Uber zwei euborsche Kammergraber mit Totenbetten // Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaolo-gischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung. Bd XXVI. Athen, 1901. S. 360.

(18) Robinson Е. Boston-Acquisitions of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1897 // AJA. Sec. ser. V. II. 1898. P. 147-148; The Search for Alexander, an Exhibition. N.Y., 1980 (далее - The Search...) P. 153; Chase G.Н. Greek and Roman Antiquities. A Guide to the Classical Collection. Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, 1950. P. 120.

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half are round and half are oval. Apparently, both the disks themselves and the images on them were made by squeezing them into a mold. In this way, a raised, slightly convex central circle (or oval) was obtained with a slight indentation from the edge, so that a rim was formed. On the surface of the relief part of the circle (shaft), various images were obtained: Helios and a young man similar to Helios (but instead of rays with a star on each side of the face), as well as other youthful heads (in a flat headdress, with a star-emblem of the Macedonian dynasty, etc.). only the rim, the hair, and the rays of the sun were gilded here. The spikes were painted bright red, pink, light blue, greenish blue, purple, and white. There are no holes or other devices for attaching: if the disks were attached to any of the burial utensils or parts of the chamber, it was only by gluing them. The assumption made at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries that these miniature shields that reproduce real ones are votive remains valid[19].

Dating of burial chambers in Eretria is difficult due to their repeated use. G. Kleiner dated these miniature shields to the second half of the 3rd century BC or its end(20). An earlier date, the beginning of the third century BC, is now proposed(21).

Among the miniature discs that went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, six had "the head of Helios surrounded by rays" (22). One such miniature disk went to the Athens Museum and was described as having "the head of Helios surrounded by rays in the middle". Traces of gilding have been preserved(23).

Published one of the six Boston miniature shields with the head of Helios. According to A. Herrmann, an employee of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the actual head of Alexander Helios is reproduced on it. The image is made in high relief. This is a bust of a young man with a rather broad face and hair in the form of large curls falling on both sides and almost reaching his shoulders. Around the head - a halo of radial alternating (long and short) rays, there are thirteen of them. They look like long and thin cones with a rounded base. Along the axis of the head is a vertical central beam, located on the hairstyle, like all long beams. The next short beam, like the other short beams, is made at some distance from the hairstyle. The outer ends of the beams are arranged in a circle. Hair and rays are gilded (Fig. 2, 8) (24).

The above-mentioned miniature disk of the Athens Museum, which I know not from a photograph, but from a drawing(25), is almost identical to the one described above. The bust is completely intact (Fig. 2, b). Apparently, these images (if you believe in the absolute accuracy of the drawing) were made in various forms. On the Boston copy, the base of the bust is convex in the lower part, on the Athenian-straight, a different pattern of curls, the oval of the face is more elongated. Other details, on the contrary, coincide. Before posting photos, therefore, it is better to leave the question open. For the same reason, we compare the bust on the copy from the Temple of Ochs with the published Boston copy.

As already mentioned, dates have been proposed for the second half or end of the third century BC (G. Kleiner) or the beginning of the third century BC (A. Herrmann). The date of the beginning of the third century BC is supported by the close similarity of votive shields (disks) with the Medusa relief on the Tarentine relief round medallion, which is determined chronologically

(19) Vollmoeller. Op. cit. S. 360.

(20) Kleiner G. Tanagrafiguren. Untersuchungen zur hellenistischen Kunst und Geschichte. В., 1942. S. 20.

(21) The Search... P. 193.

(22) Robinson. Op. cit. S. 147.

(23) Vollmoeller. Op. cit. S. 360.

(24) The Search... P. 153. Fig. 95.

(25) Vollmoeller. Op. cit. Fig. 8.

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Their similarity to the Takhtisangi bust is very great, but there are differences, although minor. The head on the disk from the tomb is strictly frontal, takhtisanginskaya slightly turned to the left (however, the head of Medusa from the tomb is also slightly turned to the left). The face of the head of the temple of Oxus is narrower and more elongated. There are also differences in the interpretation of hair: on the head from the temple of Oxus, they are shorter, and the rays do not start directly from the hairstyle, but with a significant deviation from it. But in general, the similarity is so significant that we can talk about a high degree of closeness.

The finds in Derveni (Central Macedonia) are very close to the disks from Eretria. Here, in the burial chambers of the IV century BC, terracotta and silver disks of the same shape as the Eretrian ones were found, and some silver disks were gilded. They are even smaller in size: the diameter is from 2.3 to 3.5 cm. Various images are stamped on the convex surface: Athena, winged Nike, Nereid riding on the hippocampus, star-emblem of the Macedonian dynasty, etc. Dating -the second half of the IV century BC(27)

The analogies collected above allow us to approach the question of the dating of the image of Helios from the temple of Oxus. It can be assumed that this is the third century BC, most likely its first half. Thus, even before the emergence of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom or in the first half of its existence, works of Hellenistic Toreutics with the image of Helios in a radiant halo came to Bactria.

Monuments of art and epigraphy attest to the spread of images of Greek deities in the East. It is well known that Helios was identified with the Egyptian Serapis (28).

There is a report from ancient sources about the veneration of" Zeus Helios " in Hatra. The temple of this solar deity has been excavated, and its local name is Shamash. A statue dedicated to the sun god (Sol Invictus) was erected in one of the temples by the Romans in the third century AD (29). The cult of the solar deity was widespread in Palmyra (30). Helios and the local solar deity (Mithras) are mentioned and depicted in Nimrud(31). A fresco of the temple of Zeus Theos in Dura Europos shows the solar god with a halo standing on a quadriga(32). There are other evidences, but their interpretation is not simple and depends on the general religious situation in a particular area (33). In some cases, you can think of various degrees of syncretism, in others-about calculating the names of Greek deities with the names of the corresponding local deities.

For Bactria, the information is rather sparse (34).

A silver and gilded disk with the image of Cybele riding on a chariot drawn by lions was found in Ai Khanum. Above the chariot is a bust of Helios with a radiant halo (Figs. 2, 7), next to it - a crescent moon and the sun emitting rays. The publication and brilliant analysis of this disk belong to A.-P. Frankfort, who established the Syriac origin of the disk and dated it to the first half of the third century.

(26) Herdenjurgen Н. Gutter, Menschen und Damonen. Terrakoten aus Unteritalien. Basel, 1978. S. 65. Abb. A-69.

(27) Treasures of Ancient Macedonia. Athens, 1978. PI. 28, 181; 62, 180-183; 68, 131.

(28) Weber W. Drei Untersuchungen zur agyptisch-griechischen Religion. Heidelberg, 1911. S. 8 ff.

(29) Lenzen A. Ausgrabungen in Hatra //AA. 1956. Bd 70. Sp. 361 ff.; Downey S.B. Mesopotamian Religious Architecture. Alexander through the Parthians. Princeton, 1988. P. 162 f.

(30) Fevrier I. La religion des palmyreniens. P., 1911, passim; Ingholt N., Seyrig N., Starcky J. Recueil des tesseres de Palmyre. P., 1955 passim.

(31) Ghirschman R. Iran. Parthians and Sassanians. L., 1962. P. 57; Waldmann Н. Die kommagenischen Kult-reformen unter Konig Mithridates I. Kallinikos und seinem Sohne Antiochos I. Leiden, 1973.

(32) RostovtzeffM. Dura and Problem of Parthian Art. New Haven, 1935. P. 58 ff. PI. XIII.

(33) Pichikyan I. R., Shelov-Kovedyaev F. V. Greek deities in Hellenistic epigraphy and fine arts of Western and Eastern Iran // Historical and Philological Journal. Yerevan, 1989, issue 125/3.

(34) In connection with the discovery from the temple of Oxus, we focus only on the evidence from Bactria, leaving aside the materials on Parthia.

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35 It should be noted that fragments of a plate or disk with the image of a chariot drawn by lions were also found in the temple of Oxus (in another part of the same corridor 6), which I. R. Pichikyan compared with the Aykhanum disk and decided that a similar plot was used in the temple of Oxus, but the plate with Helios was published by us Probably, it was not part of this disk, but was an independent product (this was the opinion of both expedition leaders), but the first assumption cannot be excluded.

The images of Helios on the plate from the temple of Oxus and on the Aykhanum disk are close, but not identical. On the disk, the head is slightly turned to the left, on the plate-to the right, on the disk, the rays are more elongated and identical in length.

The coins of the Greco-Bactrian king Plato (145-140 BC), the successor of Eucratides I in Bactria, depict Helios standing on a quadriga. God's head in a radiant halo (36). This is the only image of Helios on a quadriga in the Greco-Bactrian coinage(37). V. V. Tarn points out that on some coins Antiochus IV (175-164?) is depicted in a radiant halo(38).

On the reverse of the coins of the Indo-Greek ruler Telephus (c. 75-70 BC) there are images of Helios and Selene, and Helios has a radiant halo(39). The image of Helios in a chariot is known on the coins of the Indo-Scythian ruler Maues (c. 90-80 BC) (40). The reverse of some coins of Kanishka I (c. 110-123) depicts a male figure with a radiant halo. The inscription says that this is Helios (41), but on later coins it is replaced by a character with the inscription MI YPO, MI RO-Mithra, i.e. at this time there was a correlation between the Greek and Bactrian-Zoro-Astrian solar deities(42).

Many scholars believed that the Hellenic deities in the iconography of Kushan coins reflected their entry into the Kushan pantheon. However, those scholars who believed that the Greek elements in this iconography were "purely nominally reflected in the images themselves"(43) were right. The recently discovered Rabotak inscription (44)fully confirmed this statement. As for the image of Helios on early coins, it reproduced the statuesque type of Apollo.

At the same time, it is obvious that Hellenistic images of Helios in a radiant halo, as well as on a quadriga, had a significant impact on the origin and development of the city.

(35) Francfort A.-P. Fouilles d'A'i Khanoum, III. Le sanctuaire du temple b niches indentees, 2. Les trouvailles. P., 1984. P. 93-104. PI. XLI.

(36) Gardner P. The Coins of the Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum. L., 1886 (reprint 1966). PI. VI, //; Curiel R.. Fussman G. La tresor monetaire de Qunduz. P., 1965. PI. XXXII, 378-387; XXXIII, 388-389; Bopearachchi 0. Monnaies greco-bactriennes et indo-grecques. Catalogue raisonne. P., 1991. PI. 24/PIaton. Ser. 1-t.

(37) For possible reasons for the absence of such an image on the coins of later kings, see Narain A. K. The Indo-Greeks. Oxf., 1957, p. 72.

(38) Tarn, W. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambr., 1951. P. 188; Rostovtzeff М. Seleucid Babylonia: Bullae and Seals of Clay with Greek Inscriptions // Yale Classical Studies. 1932. III. P. 26, 28.

(39) Bopearachchi. Op. cit. PI. 60. Ser. 1; Mitchiner М. Indo-Greek and Indo- Scythian Coinage. V. 3. The Decline of the Indo-Greeks. L., 1975. P. 269. N 451.

(40) Mitchiner М. Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage. V. 5. Establishment of the Scythians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. L., 1976. P. 471. N 712; Bopearachchi. Op. cit. P. 135.

(41) Rosenfield.f.M. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1967. P. 77.

(42) Carter M.I. Trifunctional Pharro // Studia Iranica, 1986. XV/1. P. 92; Tanabe K. Iranian Xvarnah and the Treasure of Shosoin at Nara in Japan // Iranica Antiqua. 1988. XXIII; idem. Earliest Aspect of Kaniska I's Religious Ideology. A Numismatic Approach // In the Land of the Gryphons. Papers on Central Asian Archaeology in Antiquity / Ed. A. Invemizzi. Firenze, 1995. P. 203.

(43) См. The Crossroads of Asia. Transformation in Image and Symbol in the Art of Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan / Ed. Е. Errington, J. Cribb, М. Claringbull. Cambr., 1992. P. 68 (point of view of D. Cribb and O. Bopearacchi).

(44) Sims-Williams N.. Crihh J. A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great // Silk Road Art and Archaeology, 4. Kamakara, 1995/96. P. 78 f., 85, 107-111.

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images of the Indian solar deity Surya and other "fiery" characters with a radiant halo in the art of Central Asia (45), as well as in Buddhist art in India and beyond(46).

Materials from the temple of Oxus show that the W-N centuries BC were marked by Bactrian-Hellenic religious syncretism(47). We do not yet know whether this process affected the image of Helios at such an early time, but, in all probability, certain correspondences with the images of Bactrian Zoroastrian deities (in particular with Mithras) should have already emerged.

HELIOS IN THE TEMPLE OF OXUS

B.A. Litvinsky

During the excavation of the temple of Oxus in the site of Takhti-Sangin in the place where the river Vakhs falls into the Pyanj in South-western Tajikistan (ancient Bactria) numerous objects of art of Achaemenidian, Hellenistic and Kushan periods were found. The Hellenistic series includes a silver plaque (with remains of gilding) 51 x 50-70 mm in size with a relief of a youth's head in a radiant nimbus. The nimbus consisted of twelve arrows (long alternating with short ones). In the upper comers and in the centre there are holes for nails. This is undoubtedly a Hellenistic image of Helios.

The article gives an account of the expansion of Helios' cult in Greece and beyond its limits. Helios in radiant nimbus is known from various art objects and coins. The author analyses the image on a metope from Athena's temple in Ilion, on a helmet plaque found in Egypt in ancient gypsum copies, on thoreutic objects (the Hermitage, the Louvre, the British Museum), etc. A detailed iconographical analysis revealed a great proximity of Helios' image in the temple of Oxus to his images on miniature terracota "votive shields" from the Eretrian "Tomb of Erotes", dated back to early or late 3rd с. ВС. The iconographical analysis brings the author to the conclusion that the image from the temple of Oxus should be dated back to the 3rd с. ВС, rather to its 1st half.

The paper gives necessary data on Helios' images coming from the East of the Hellenistic world, particularly from Central Asia.

(45) For images of the Kushan period with a radiant halo originating in Central Asia, see Francfort. Op. cit. P.97.

(46) Their typology and history are elaborated in detail. See Callinet-Guerin M. Histoire du nimbe. P., 1961 (general picture). India and Central Asia: Drouin E. Le nimbe et les signes de divinisation sur les monnaies des rois Indo-Scythes / / Revue numismatique. V. ser. 1901. T. V. (English translation-Indian Antiquary. 1903. XXXII); Lohuizen-de L'eeuw van. Y.E. The "Scythian" period. An Approach to the History, Art, Epigraphy, and Paleography of North India from the 1st Century B.C. to the 3rd Century A.D. Leiden, 1949, passim; Rosenfield. Op. cit. P. 189-200; Bautze-Picron C. The Nimbus in India up to the Gupta Period // Silk Road Art and Archaeology, 1. Kamakura, 1980. P. 81-94.

(47) See, in particular: Litvinsky B. A., Vinogradov Yu. G., Pichikyan I. R. Votiv Atrosoka iz khrama Oksa [Votiv Atrosoka iz khrama Oksa] / / VDI. 1985. N4. pp. 84-110.

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