This article reassesses multisegmental helmets from the Euro-Asiatic frontier through a detailed study of the helmet from the Relka Burial Site in Siberia. Re-examination of the artefact shows that it belongs to a wider Eurasian group of spangenhelme characterised by tapering spangs, oval cut-outs, decorative rivet systems, and distinctive finial constructions. The Relka helmet, previously insufficiently analysed and inconsistently illustrated, is shown to be a key object for understanding the technological development of segmented helmets between the late 6th and early 8th centuries CE. By comparing the Relka specimen with helmets from Nineveh, Iran, Perm, Dyurso, Astrakhan, Moldavanskoe, and iconographic evidence from Afrasiab, the study proposes a refined typological sequence. It argues that these helmets developed from narrow-spanged Sasanian forms into wider-spanged variants and, ultimately, into four-part constructions known from the Caucasus and southern Russia. The article also considers the possible role of Iranian, Central Asian, Siberian, and Khazar networks in the transmission and transformation of this armour tradition. The Relka helmet thus provides important evidence for longterm technological continuity, regional adaptation, and cross-cultural exchange in arms and armour production during Late Antiquity, the Migration Period, and the Early Medieval Period
This study presents, for the first time, two funerary stelae from ancient Mendes (Dakahlia) while aiming to date and interpret them. It also compares these stelae with similar examples from Kom Abu Bellou and Roman-era sarcophagi, tracing their origins and examining the continuity of their design into the Coptic and Christian artistic contexts. The research explores the intended meaning of the raisedhand gesture of the deceased on these stelae, emphasizing the orans posture and relating it to the prevailing religious beliefs of the time. The analysis indicates that the owners of the two stelae were not necessarily Egyptian; however, they were clearly influenced by ancient Egyptian religious concepts, including the depiction of funerary deities such as Anubis. Furthermore, the study shows that the orans posture served as a visual tool, expressing the moral identity of the deceased and their successful passage through divine judgment, in line with Greco-Roman notions of pietas. This approach reflects a hybrid strategy, preserving Egyptian funerary ideology while visually adapting it to be comprehensible within a multicultural environment. In conclusion, the artistic culture in Mendes during the Roman period maintained the continuity of Egyptian funerary practices through the conscious adaptation of traditional symbols and techniques. This reflects a productive interaction between local heritage and classical influences in shaping the posthumous identity of the deceased.
The hierothesion of Antiochus I on Mount Nemrud is conventionally interpreted through the lens of political theology – as a frontier ruler's calculated synthesis of Greek and Iranian religious traditions designed to legitimise dynastic power between Rome and Parthia. The dominant scholarly tradition, spanning from Theresa Goell and Friedrich Karl Dörner to Margherita Facella, reads Nemrud primarily as an instrument of political pragmatism. This article proposes a complementary, deeper reading: behind the public façade of syncretic cosmology lies a profoundly personal project – a small kingdom’s existential response to the condition of permanent in-betweenness. Drawing on the Greek inscriptions of Nemrud and Arsameia, the funerary complex at Karakush, and classical narrative sources from Cassius Dio to Appian and Plutarch, the author argues that the Orontid rulers of Commagene constructed not merely a political theology, but a personal mythology of power, wherein narcissism, eros, and thanatos are inextricably bound to the dynastic programme. The analysis centres on two monuments: the hierothesion on Mount Nemrud, where Antiochus I enthroned himself among the gods as the living synthesis of Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Hellenistic legacies, and the tumulus of Karakush, raised by Mithridates II over the remains of his sister Laodice, the Queen of Parthia who perished at the court of Ctesiphon. These two monuments are read as the twin poles of a singular cosmological system: axis mundi and axis mortis – the defiant desire for eternity balanced against the sacred obligation of memory.
