Silver medallion with a goddess, Sisian, Armenia, 2nd-1st C BCE [d/b]

Silver gilded medallion from Sisian, Armenia, 2nd-1st century BCE. Diameter 8.5 cm. State Museum of Armenia, inv. number 2618/13.

“Those are silver gilded medallions found in various towns of Republic of Armenia. There are four gilded medallions of Sisian made of a thin sheet of silver with the technique of stamping. There is a figure of a woman at the center of one of them. The woman wears a light dress – chiton and there are narrow ribbons coming down from her head over the shoulders. There is a branch of a palm tree, a sword, and a military outfit on the two sides of her head. The woman’s gorgeous haircut has a crescent shape. The head is depicted with the harmony of the proportions of Hellenistic art. It is assumed that this medallion depicts a goddess worshiped in the Near East. It has some association with Egyptian Isis, Sumer-Babylonian Ishtar and Greek Nike and some features typically for Athena, Tyche, Artemis or Demeter. The images of Nike, Athena and Tyche weren’t new in the Armenian art. Still the Orontid kings of Sophene and Commagene, and later on Artaxiads especially Tigranes the Great, had used the images of these gods on the reverse of their coins.” [Maria Lazareva]

Maria Lazareva [Armenia], The Hellenistic Features of Armenian Art in VI B.C. – III A.D. https://www.atiner.gr/papers/HUM2015-1415.pdf

“Two gilt silver medallions showing representations in high relief. One features an eagle looking backwards while grasping a panther in its claws, with a writhing snake beneath it. The other medallion shows the bust of a goddess of victory. Her coiffure ends in sickle shapes on her forehead.
50 BC until the beginning of the Common Era, Sisian.
History Museum of Armenia, Yerevan” [Suzanne]