Twenty-one contributions, written by friends and colleagues, reflect the wide interests of Professor Michael Vickers; from the Aegean Bronze Age to the use made of archaeology by dictators in the modern age. Seven contributions relate to Georgia, where the Professor has worked most recently, and made his home.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Contents Page
• Preface
• Early Cycladic? Lead model boats in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
  • Susan Sherratt
    • All illustrations courtesy of the Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum.
    • Figure 1. Ashmolean Museum 1929.26, gift of R.M. Dawkins.
    • Figure 2. Ashmolean Museum 1938.725, gift of A.J. Evans.
    • Figure 3. Ashmolean Museum 1938.726, gift of A.J. Evans.
    • Figure 4. Ashmolean Museum 1929.26. Drawing by Keith Bennett.
    • Figure 5. Ashmolean Museum 1938.725. Drawing by Keith Bennett.
• New ‘discoveries’ in the Aegean collection at the Ashmolean
  • Two Cushions, a Bes, a boar and a bead
  • Helen Hughes-Brock
    • Figure 1 a and b Loop or stalk signet AN1952.107. Black steatite. Possibly Bes
    • Figure 2 a, b and c. Cushion- shaped seal AN2014.1. Agate. Boar.
    • Figure 3. Bead AE 312g. Transparent quartz.
    • Figure 4. Entries in the Ashmolean register for AE 306 and AE 308-311; two pots and three terracotta figurines found together with AE 312a-g in a chamber tomb at Kará on Mt Hymettus.
    • Figure 5. Entry in the register for AE 312a-g
• Ancient Colchis and the origins of iron:
• interim results from recent field survey work in Guria, Western Georgia
• interim results from recent field survey work in Guria, Western Georgia
  • Brian Gilmour, Marc Cox, Nathaniel Erb-Satullo, Nana Khakhutaishvili and Mark Pollard
    • Figure 1. Location map showing the approximate extent of ancient Colchis, with the location of the survey.
    • Figure 2. Location map of known/suspected prehistoric smelting sites in western Georgia and north eastern Turkey (reproduced from Khakhutaishvili 2009 [1987]: 20).
    • Figure 3. Google earth view southwestern Georgia with the field survey area outlined in red, lying just south of the Supsa River. Note the position of the survey area in an intermediate zone between the Colchian lowlands and the large Rioni river basin to
    • Figure 4. Map of the Supsa-Gubazeuli copper smelting sites area overlaid onto the 1:50,000 Soviet military map of this area. One site (Site 34/Vakijvari I) was located about 10 km to the south of the main cluster and is not shown on this map.
    • Figure 5. View looking north-west across the abandoned tea plantations south-west of Mziani village. Site 5/Askana V occupies the centre of the low hill in the middle distance, towards the left. The partially exposed site of Site 1/Askana I is just out of
    • Figure 6. Magnetic susceptibility contour map of the area to the north-west of the nearby village Mziani (but still mainly within the district of Askana) showing the areas of two smelting sites as concentrations of magnetically active particles in the top
    • Figure 7. Overall results of the magnetometry survey over the first three areas covered, showing (a) a relatively featureless (except for a modern land-drain) meadow to the west and two former iron smelting areas to the north-east (a and b) and south-east
    • Figure 8. Site 5/Askana V (a) Remains of the furnace after the removal of the brown silty accumulation (visible in the top section here looking east) over the abandoned furnace. (b) Detail of the same view showing the remains of two periods of furnace use
    • Figure 9. Site 46/Askana XXVII, two views of the furnace after removal of post-abandonment backfill debris showing the largely intact (possibly primary) sandstone packing of the lower shaft, plus some surviving clay packing, uppermost here, of a secondary
    • Table 1
• The structure and function of ancient metrology
  • John Neal
    • Table 1
    • Figure 1. A probable market trading standard from Tlemcen dated AD 1328. Said to be 47cm, its calculated value would be 47.026cm
    • Figure 2. Main bar of the George and Pilgrim Hotel, Glastonbury
    • Figure 3. Station stone rectangle based upon Petrie’s inner sarsen measurement. Note that there are three plethra lengths in one design
    • Figure 4. Geoid radius lengths and their ratios from the structure of metrology Polar 63,356.45kmmean 6,370.9kmequatorial 6,378.12km
    • Figure 5. Diagram showing the increases in the geographic feet towards the north and the fractions by which they increase
    • Figure 6. Boundary stele of Sesostris from Semna located at 21.5º N. (Altes Museum, Berlin)
• The second stage of the Grakliani Culture
  • Vakhtang Licheli
    • Figure 1. Location of Grakliani Gora: aerial photo.
    • Figure 2. Grakliani Gora. Damaged Temple, plan and section.
    • Figure 3. Limestone capital.
    • Figure 4. Oven on the 3rd terrace, in Room III A.
    • Figure 5. Masterplan of the 3rd and 4th terraces
    • Figure 6. A Zoroastrian open fire altar discovered on the 4th terrace.
    • Figure 7. A kiln on the 2nd terrace.
    • Figure 9. Zoroastrian altar, 3rd terrace, BIII-C.
    • Figure 10. The ‘family mill’ in the building N IV-6 (5th-4th centuries BC)
    • Figure 8. Boat-shaped grinding stones.
    • Figure 11. Oven in the building N IV -1 with pottery in situ.
    • Figure 12. Shrine of the 10th century BC.
    • Figure 13. Inscription in the 10th century BC shrine.
• Owl skyphoi around the Adriatic
  • Branko Kirigin
    • (numbers correspond with site numbers in the list of sites)
    • Figure 1. Map of the Adriatic from Google Earth with sites where owls have been found
    • Figure 2. Palagruža. Sherd with legs of a bird. (Photo B. Kirigin).
    • Figure 3. Vilina špilja. Painted pottery sherds (after Perkić 2010)
    • Figure 4. Čitluci. Front side (left) and handle side (right) of the Attic owl skyphos (photos by Ivo Dragičević)
    • Figure 5. Pharos. Owl skyphoi (after Katić 1999/2000)
    • Figure 6. Issa. Detail from the front side (left) and handle side (right) of Gnathia style oinochoe (photos T. Sesar)
    • Figure 10. Palagruža. Sherds of owl skyphoi. Inv. No. 72352, 72340 and 72341. (Photo B. Kirigin).
    • Figure 11. Palagruža. Seven sherds of owl skyphoi. From left to right. Upper row: Inv. Nos. 72350, 72345, 72346, 72351; lower row: 72347 (seemingly a palmette), 72348, 72349 (Photo B. Kirigin).
    • Figure 7. Palagruža. Sherd of an owl skyphos. Inv. No. 40216. (Photo B. Kirigin)
    • Figure 8. Palagruža. Two sherds of an owl skyphos. Inv. Nos. 72344 and 72343. (Photo B. Kirigin)
    • Figure 9. Palagruža. Sherd of an owl skyphos. Inv. No. 64509. (Photo B. Kirigin)
    • Figure 12. Nesactium. Reconstruction drawing of the owl skyphos (after Mihovilić 2004) and the
    • sherd showing a part of an owl shown on the left (Photo courtesy of Kristina Mihovilić).
    • Figure 13. Most na Soči. Attic owl skyphos. (After Mlinar 2002)
• Gyenus on stage: civic foundation and the comedy of Aristophanes’ Birds
  • David Braund
• New archaeological finds at Pichvnari (November-December 2010)
  • Amiran Kakhidze
    • Figure 1. Sand dunes, an overview
    • Figure 2. Terracotta dog’s head
    • Figure 3. Altar fragments with horn-shaped finials
    • Figure 4. Tile fragments
    • Figure 5. Spout-handled jug
    • Figure 6. Jug decorated with sun disc and moon
    • Figures 7-8. Attic ‘West Slope’ phiale
    • Figure 10. Silver earring
    • Figure 9. Gold and glass earrings
    • Figure 11. Polychrome glass head beads
    • Figure 12. Bronze fish hooks
• A double-sided glass relief pinhead from ancient Colchis
• – the Pichvnari ‘Heracles’
  • Sujatha Chandrasekaran
    • Figure 1. The Hellenistic necropolis of Pichvnari. (Photograph S. Chandrasekaran)
    • Figure 2, a-c. A decorative pinhead from Pichvnari with double-sided relief depiction of ‘Heracles’. (After photographs by M. Vickers and T. Vashakidze)
    • Figure 3. Map with find sites of double-sided relief pendants and ornamental pinheads. (S. Chandrasekaran using AMWC Map Tiles – www.amwc.unc.edu [© CC BY-NC 3.0])
    • Figure 4. A glass face mask from Carthage, 350-200 BC. Warsaw National Museum, Inv. no. 142640. (After Filarska 1962, pl. 1.3)
• Gold jewellery from Kavtiskhevi
  • Darejan Kacharava
• Gold jewellery from Kavtiskhevi
  • Darejan Kacharava
    • Figure 1. Pendant from Kavtiskhevi, Georgian National Museum, inv. no. 103-984:6.
    • Figure 2. Earrings from Kavtiskhevi, Georgian National Museum, inv. no. 103-984:5.
• (including the earliest silk in Georgia)
  • Eliso Kvavadze and Maia Chichinadze
• Palynological analysis of organic materials from Pichvnari
• (including the earliest silk in Georgia)
  • Eliso Kvavadze and Maia Chichinadze
    • Figure 1. Pichvnari, Tomb. Large iron nail with wooden remains and textile attached.
    • Figure 2. Textile remains were found on a small bronze bell.
    • Figure 3. Pichvnari, Tomb. Arboreal pollen found in the organic remains of wood attached to the nail: 1, 2: Pinus; 3: Pterocarya pterocarpa; 4: Juglans regia; 5: Carpinus caucasica; 6: Alnus; 7: Polypodiaceae.
    • Figure 4. Pichvnari, Tomb. Pollen of cultivated landscapes found in the organic remains of wood attached to the nail, 1-6: Vitis vinifera; 7: Triticum; 8: undiff. Cerealia; 9: Artemisia; 10: Xanthium
    • Figure 5. Pichvnari, Tomb. Fibres of flax textile (Linum) taken from organic remains of the nail.
    • Figure 6. Pichvnari, Tomb. 1: fibre of wool textile; 2-6: fibre of silk from the organic remains of the nail.
    • Figure 7. Pichvnari, Tomb.1: twisted flax fibre; 2, 3: fibre of cotton (Gossipium).
    • Figure 8. Pichvnari. Funerary platform. Tracheal cells of pine wood (Pinus).
    • Figure 9. Pichvnari. Funerary platform. 1-4: bone salt crystals: 5-feather of bird.
    • Figure 10. Pichvnari. Bronze bell. Pollen taken from organic remains: 1: Abies nordmanniana; 2, 3: Pinus; 4: Picea; 5: Juglans regia; 6: Alnus; 7: Ulmus; 8: Carpinus caucasica; 9: Pteridium aquilinum; 10: Poaceae.
    • Figure 11. Pichvnari. Bronze bell. Flax fibres taken from organic remains of the bell.
• Palynological analysis of organic materials from Pichvnari
• Mercurial metrics
  • Kenneth Lapatin
    • Figure 1. The entire Berthouville Treasure
    • Figure 2. Dedications of Quintus Domitius Tutus
    • Figure 3. X-ray of skyphos BnF 56.6 revealing inscription
    • Figure 4. Hunting plate BnF 56.15
    • Figure 5. Hunting plate BnF 56.15, weight inscription on reverse
    • Figure 6. Large Mercury statue BnF 56.1
    • Figure 7. Germanissa plate BnF 56.24
    • Figure 8. Germanissa bowl BnF 56.25
    • Figure 10. Bowl with satyr head BnF 56.31
    • Figure 9. Dedications of Creticus BnF 56.226-28
    • Figure 11. Dichterbecher BnF 56.13
    • Figure 12. Dichterbecher BnF 56.14
• The Erechtheion glass gems: classical innovation or Roman addition?
  • Despina Ignatiadou
    • Figure 1. Drawing of the Erechtheion guilloche and gems by von Hallerstein 1811 (after Stern 1985, pl. 96.2).
    • Figure 2. Ionic capital from the North Portico, Erechtheion, late 5th century BC (after Brouskari 1996, fig. 122).
    • Figure 3. Glass gems of the Graeco-Roman period (after Arveiller-Dulong, Nenna 2011, cat. no. 558).
    • Figure 4. Ceramic flask with glass gems, 2nd century AD (Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no 17.194.1891).
    • Figure 5. Polychrome capital in the Macedonian Tomb of Euridice, third quarter of the 4th century BC (after Drougou, Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 2006, 185).
    • Figure 6. Faience pyxis from Thessaloniki with gold studded guilloche, third quarter of the 4th century BC.
    • Figure 7. Ionic capital from the temple of Rome and Augustus, late 1st century BC.
    • Figure 8. Door of the North Portico, Erechtheion; the door jambs are late 5th century BC, the lintel is late 1st century BC (after Brouskari 1996, fig. 125).
• Carp from the Danube delta? Notes on an unusual gold-glass in the Wilshere Collection
  • Susan Walker
    • Figure 1. AN2007.23. The gold-leaf decoration seen from below, with the letters reversed. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
    • Figure 2. AN2007.23. The weathered upper surface of the fragment, with repair (right). Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
    • Figure 3. Backlit view of the fragment from above, showing triple layers of glass and the gold-leaf net appearing lower left. Dana Norris, Department of Conservation, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
    • Figure 4. Manganese (horizontal axis) and antimony XRF readings for AN2007.23, shown as blue lozenges within red circles. Andrew Shortland, Cranfield University.
    • Figure 5. Cyprinus carpio (carp) recorded in 1879, compared with the fish depicted on AN2007.23. Wikimedia Commons and Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
    • Figure 6. Detail of the fishing contest, right end of the third mosaic panel from the bath suite of the Villa of the Nile (Tripoli Museum). Photo: Philip Kenrick.
    • Figure 7. AN2007.39: two fish swim around a text. Department of Antiquities archive, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
    • Figure 8. AN2007.40. Fragment of the base of a large, oval dish: four fish swim in a pool below the feet of people probably shown at prayer. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
• Mediterranean drinking habits in Roman Britain:
• celery-flavoured wine prepared in an Iron Age bronze strainer
  • Eberhard W. Sauer, Mark Robinson and Graham Morgan1
    • Figure 1. Alchester in the military era.
    • Figure 2. Trench 32 with military-period features and the findspot of the wine strainer.
    • Figure 3. The fish-head spout.
    • Figure 4. The fish-head spout in profile.
    • Figure 5. Side view of the strainer with position of potential lid, drawn by Vanda Morton (scale: 1:2).
    • Figure 6. Front view of the strainer, drawn by Vanda Morton (scale: 1:2).
    • Figure 7. Back view of the spout with fragments of the sieve that would have covered all of the spout, drawn by Vanda Morton (scale: 1:2).
    • Figure 8. The strainer seen from above, drawn by Vanda Morton (scale: 1:2).
    • Figure 9. The strainer seen from below, drawn by Vanda Morton (scale: 1:2). Note that the one of the three pelta-shaped feet has been lost in antiquity prior to deposition, but traces of solder used to attach it to the bowl and the incised lines have enab
    • Figure 10. Waterlogged celery seeds from the wine strainer, near the sieve, photo by Mark Robinson.
• From an offshore island: classical art and the Britons in Late Antiquity
  • Martin Henig
    • Figure 1. Love and Duty: the love-making of Dido and Aeneas. Mosaic from Low Ham, Somerset.
    • Figure 2. Aeneas plucks the Golden Bough. Mosaic from Frampton, Dorset. (engraving in S. Lysons, Reliquiae Britannico-Romanae 1, 1813).
    • Figure 3. Frieze of wild animals from the Orpheus mosaic at Woodchester, Gloucestershire.
    • Figure 4. Dedication to Mars Nodens and sea monsters on the cella mosaic in the temple at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire (engraving from W.H. Bathurst, Roman Antiquities at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire 1879).
    • Figure 5. Hermes Trismegistos with bird head, protecting the soul from evil forces. Mosaic from Brading Roman Villa, Isle of Wight.
    • Figure 6. Aratus, the astronomer. Mosaic from Brading Roman Villa.
    • Figure 7. Fluted bowl for hand-washing, from the villa at Blunsdon Ridge, Swindon, Wiltshire.
• The siege-drill (trypanon): new archaeological evidence from Georgia
  • Nicholas Sekunda
    • Figure 1. Illustration accompanying the Parangelmata Poliorcetica (Vat. Gr. 1605, folio 14v) showing two variants of the siege-drill in operation (Sullivan 2000: pl. 9).
    • Figure 2. Manuscript illustration in Athenaeus Mechanicus illustrating the drill of Diades (after Schneider 1912: pl. 1).
    • Fig. 3: The Vani Drill-Head (after Lordkipanidzé 1986: Figure 224).
• An emphatic statement: the Undley-A gold bracteate
• and its message in fifth-century East Anglia
  • Daphne Nash Briggs
    • Figure 1. 1.1–3 Undley bracteate rotated to view Roman and runic halves; 1.5 Bronze nummus, house of Constantine I, AD 324–330, Trier mint, first officina, Urbs Roma type (Priv.coll.). 1.6, 8–9, Iceni silver units, c.50 BC–AD 10 (ABC 1498, 1501, 1495). 1.
    • Photos: 1.5 © Lynda Sayce. 1.6, 8–9 © Chris Rudd (66.44, 60.41, 100.25). Line drawings © D Nash Briggs.
    • Figure 2. 2.1 The Undley bracteate; 2.2 bird detail from helmet in ‘Roman’ position; 2.3 Wading bird silver toothpick, Hoxne treasure 146, AD 408+ (after Johns 2010: 136); 2.4 Iceni ‘Norfolk Wolf’ gold stater c. 56–50 BC (ABC 1396: arrow indicates composi
    • Photos © Chris Rudd (58.33, 50.39, 78.37, 53.51, 126.34, 82.33, 50.31). Line drawings © D Nash Briggs.
    • Figure 3. 3.2 Gold finger ring 10, Thetford treasure, c. AD 380–412 (after Johns and Potter 1983: 87); 3.3 Gold finger ring 8, Hoxne treasure, c. AD 408+, found with ring 9 (similar) threaded on a gold chain (after Johns 2010: 213); 3.4 Adjustable bronze
    • Line drawings © D Nash Briggs; photo 3.5 © Lynda Sayce.
• The Levant Company and British collecting
  • Arthur MacGregor
    • Figure 1. Sir Thomas Roe, Kt., the frontispiece to Roe’s Negotiations of Sir T. Roe in his Embassy to the Ottoman Porte from the year 1621 to 1628 (1741). Engraving by George Vertue, perhaps after Michiel Janszoon Mierevelt. © Trustees of the British Muse
    • Figure 2. The Parian Marble, third-century BC; height 56.5 cm, width 81.2 cm. The inscribed slab – the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table – was acquired in Smyrna by William Petty in 1626. A smaller fragment of it was discovered on Par
    • Figure 3. Edward Pocock, D.D., Professor of ye Hebrew & Arabick Tongues in ye University of Oxford & Canon of Christ Church, the frontispiece to his Works (1740). Engraving by 
François Morellon de la Cave, after W. Green. © Trustees of the British Museum
    • Figure 4. Alexander Russell, MD, FRS, author of the Natural History of Aleppo (1756); illustration from an unidentified publication. The vignette of flowers is labelled ‘Scammonia’. Etching by Thomas Trotter after Nathaniel Dance. © Trustees of the Britis
    • Figure 5. Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin. Etching by Stephen James Ferris after a drawing by George Perfect Harding from a painting by Anton Graff. © Trustees of the British Museum. Inv. no. 1893,0315.5.
    • Figure 6. Remains of the Parthenon, or Temple of Minerva at Athens, with some of the fragments brought over to England by Lord Elgin. Etching by Thomas Dixon after a painting by William Marshall Craig. © Trustees of the British Museum. Inv. no. 1871,0812.
    • Figure 7. Screen-shot of the front page of the Burgon Archive Project, established 2004 by Michael Vickers. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. http://www.ashmolean.org/ash/amulets/burgonarchive/
• Cryptography and vasology: J.D. Beazley and Winifred Lamb in Room 40
  • David W.J. Gill
    • Figure 1. Athenian black-figured amphora depicting Theseus and the Minotaur. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum inv. AN 1918.64. Courtesy: The Ashmolean Museum.
• Dictators and Antiquity
  • Clive Foss
    • Figure 1. A Roman temple for the glory of the Grand Army
    • Figure 2. Napoleon and Friends. The Emperor, wearing correct Roman dress, is flanked by History recording his deeds and Victory who crowns him, while Paris and a bound captive kneel at his feet and Fame flies above.
    • Figure 3. What the Führer Saw. Mosaic pavement of Rome’s Ostiense station of Augustus with the map of the Roman Empire in the background.
    • Figure 4. It All Leads to Mussolini. The building history of Rome from Romulus and Augustus culminates in the Duce on horseback.
    • Figure 5. A World Capital. The grandiose boulevard of Hitler’s Berlin/Germania as designed by Albert Speer.
    • Figure 6. Modern Persia in Ancient Dress. Reza Shah’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rich in Achaemenid motifs.
    • Figure 7: The world watches the glory of Iran as Cyrus’s army marches to celebrate the 2500th birthday of the monarchy.
    • Figure 8: When Turks Civilized the World. The rays radiating from Central Asia represent the migrations of the Turks as they brought higher culture to Eurasia.
• Back cover