In 1978, a Soviet-Afghan expedition discovered a unique monument of Central Asia and in particular the Ancient Bactria, the Gold Hill, or Tillya-tepe. Six discovered burial sites -- five female ones, one male -- had been named The Treasures of Nameless Kings. By the time the archeological excavations were stopped by the military action that erupted in late seventies, about twenty thousand of gold items have been discovered. Most of them were initially known to only a narrow circle of specialists, but nearly each item could have served as a subject of a separate study. Now, during the 2008-2009, millions of fans of antiques, and jewelry art in particular, have been allowed to visit the exhibition of Bactrian gold, both in Europe and in America. The latest temple of the arts that hosted the exhibition was the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Almost immediately after the discovery of the necropolis the following articles were published: see V.Sarianidi, E. Kuzmina, G. Pugachenkova, L. Rempel, W. Hodzhaniyazov, E.Neva / Negmatullaeva / catalog - Bactrian Gold, L.1985, and later – separate chapters in Elena Neva’s “The Art of Ancient Jewelers,” "Jewelry of Central Asia," Boston, 2008.

The new catalog of the exhibition titled “Afghanistan. Hidden Treasures from the National Museum of Kabul” (National Geographic, 2008) consists of three hundred pages. Only about a hundred pages is devoted to jewelry; however, a crown from the sixth burial is shown on the cover of the catalog, and is also displayed at the exhibitions (I managed to visit two of them in Washington and New York). The lion’s share of the exposition is dedicated to the findings of Ai Khanum, conducted by the French archaeologists. We must notice that on unclear terms, the Gumee Museum in Paris owns all the rights to photographing the items (the author of the article was not allowed to photograph the jewelry for her latest book), as well as to exhibiting the treasures of Tillya-Tepe, even though the actual discovery was made under the leadership of Victor Sarianidi, who currently resides in Moscow.

While getting acquainted with the chapter of the jewelry catalog authored by Veronique Schiltz, we discovered a new attribution of the image on the disks of the belt found in the from men’s fourth burial site of Tillya-Tepe. The initial catalog published in 1985 suggests that this may have been a depiction of Cybele, or Nana(see pp. 38-39); the new 2008 catalog attributes the image to Dionysius.  However, the description of the pendants and disks displayed in the exhibit, a note states that this could be a depiction of the local goddess Nana ("the Greek Dionysius and the local goddess Nana ... the gesture of pointing to the his (?) chest is unusual for the Greek God," “Nana - Mother goddess, she may be equated with the Phrygian goddess Cybele,” M. Jordan, Encyclopedia of Gods, NY, 1993 p. 176), or “Nanaya, an Akkadian goddess of carnal love and war, whose second name is Ishtar…, in Hellenistic times was distributed outside of Mesopotamia, in Syria and Iran,” Dictionary of Mythology, p. 378.

Ms. Schiltz attempts a new attribution of this image, leading to contradictory verdicts, and concluding the entire analysis with the following statement: whoever it was supposed to be, Dionysius or not, "whatever the truth may be" (Afghanistan, p.269), does not matter. We must ask – why then was it necessary to seek a new “hero,” in this case Dionysius, if Ms. Schiltz does not consider it important after all?
We think that the image in question depicts a goddess, since even Ms. Schiltz herself detects a bust. In the 1985 catalog’s description it is indicated as a female figure, and the fact that the goddess is seated on a lion brings us closer to the image of Cybele from the Greek mythology  (“Cybele is the mistress of mountains, forests and animals, who oversees their inexhaustible fertility,”  Dictionary of Mythology, M, 1990, s.283). However, there is a possibility that two images are used in this decoration, a male and a female, just as Dionysius and Ariadne are depicted as a pair in the so-called “Wedding scene” found in the sixth female burial site. This interpretation is quite acceptable, because several of the pendants show a pronounced masculine features, and the others - the female, some even bring to our attention the image’s covered bust.

The image’s graceful pose and its photo do not convey the actual impression; the image itself allows to be interpreted as a goddess. Since the Bactrian art is a kind of symbiosis or alloy of familiar classical images and local materials, the earlier attribution of the image is fully justified. It is unclear why it was necessary to involve the French researchers, if the Tillya-Tepe catalog had already been published in 1985.

The presentation of the jewelry itself has yet to receive the well-deserved attention from the organizers of the exhibition. The archeological findings of Ai-Khanum received much more interest than the world-class masterpieces of the ancient Bactrian jewelers.

Bibliography:

• Sarianidi V., Work of the Soviet-Afghan mission: Archaeological Discoveries, 1978 - M.1979; Gold of the Nameless Kings. Discoveries in Afghanistan -Courier, 1980, January; Treasure of the Golden Hill. Science and Humanity. M, 1983; Afghanistan: Treasures of the Nameless Kings – M, Nauka, 1983, Bactria through the Darkness of Centuries. M.: Mysl, 1984.
• Kuzmina E., Sarianidi V., Two Examples of Headgear from the Burial of Tillya-Tepe and Their Semantics, Brief Communications Institute of Archeology, issue170, 1982, p.19-27;
• Sarianidi V. Koshelenko G., Coins from the Excavations of the Necropolis Located on the Site of Tilla-Tepe. Ancient India. -M: Nauka, 1982, p.302-319
• Sarianidi V., Hodzhaniyazov T., Excavations in the Royal Necropolis of ancient Bactria: Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR.Seriya public nauki.Dushanbe, 1980, â„– 4, p.41-51
• Sarianidi V. Die Schatze der Kushanen-Konige.Afghanistan journal, 1979, bd.4; idem.-Le tomb Regallo della "Collino d'ore 'Mesopotamia, XV, Firenze, 1980; idem The treasure of the Golden Mound, Archaeology, vol .33,1980; idem The treasure from the Golden Hill. American journal of Archaeology, 1980, # 2
• Neva E., Negmatullaeva. On the Question of Attribution of Two Burial Sites of Tillya-Tepe, on the example of jewelry: Topical issues to humanitarian sciences at the present stage, Dushanbe, 1987, p. 151-153
• Neva E., The Art of Ancient Goldsmiths. Boston, 2008
• Neva E. Jewelry of Central Asia, Boston, 2008
• Pugachenkova G. L. Rempel, Golden Nameless KIngs from Tillya Tepe, From the History of Cultural Relations between the Peoples of Central Asia and India, Tashkent: Fan, 1986, p.5-24
• Bactrian Gold. L.1985 Bactrian Gold Afghanistan. Hidden Treasures from the National Museum of Kabul. National Geographic, 2008
• Jordan M, Encyclopedia of Gods, N.Y., 1993
• Mythological dictionary, M.1990

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