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Hajar | all galleries >> Viking Age Art >> Amulets > Kievan Rus' amulet of a robed individual in the round, 35 mm. Dnieper, Ukraine.
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19-JUL-2014

Kievan Rus' amulet of a robed individual in the round, 35 mm. Dnieper, Ukraine.

There is an illustration of a very similar figural pendant in Sedov (1982), PART III. GENERAL QUESTIONS OF EASTERN SLAVIAN ARCHEOLOGY, Figure LXXVII, "Pagan pendants-amulets," 8, from Kvetun mound.

The pleated garment is comparable with those seen on figurines of females, interpreted as Valkyrie, found in Denmark. It looks to me as if she may be modelled on the Roman goddess Fortuna, as discussed here: http://lifeartearth.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-speculative-connection-between.html

It's interesting that Jupiter was said to have been Fortuna's father and that Odin was the Norse equivalent of Jupiter. Odin's daughters were valkyries.

According to Price (2014), "Representations of female figures can be understood in a number of different ways, and may represent a range of supernatural forces including goddesses, valkyries, norns and disir."

A very different interpretation of this figure could be that it represents a robed saint carrying a cross, though I find this unlikely.

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