THE SILVER PHIALE MESOMPHALOS FROM THE KUBAN (NORTHERN CAUCASUS)

Summary. For almost a hundred years the find of the silver phiale mesomphalos in a burial-mound in the Kuban has attracted the attention of scholars, but has never been the subject of a special study. The phiale was made and inscribed in the last quarter of the fifth century BC. The cup belonged to the temple of Apollo in Phasis, in Colchis, and it was seized in the first century BC and taken to the Northern Caucasus after the temple had been plundered. It was probably made by a local craftsman in Phasis and its decoration reflects both Greek traditions connected with the cult of Apollo and also local, Colchian ones.