Bronze gilded medallion with Eros riding a panther. Tsembolina, burial no. 9/1991, Krasnodar territory, Northern Black Sea region. On the back side there are three loops for attaching to harness straps.
Novorossiysk Historical Museum-Reserve, НМ8358 / no. 13
M. Treister, Two-sided Glass Gems from the Sarmatian Burials of the Lower Volga Region:
“gilded brass medallion of an open vessel, most likely a bowl or phiale, reused as a phalera of a horse harness from burial No. 9 of the Tsemdolina burial ground, reliably dated no later than the first half of the 1st century CE, a panther with a thyrsus is presented (…). Additionally, it depicts Eros with a tympanum sitting on a panther, and in the background is a herm of Priapus standing on a pedestal. Judging by the high content of zinc in the alloy, the medallion can be dated no later than the turn of the Common Era.”
- M. Treister, Imported Metalware from the Tsemdolina Necropolis https://www.academia.edu/1850724/M._Treister_Imported_Metalware_from_the_Tsemdolina_Necropolis
- M. Treister, Two-sided Glass Gems from the Sarmatian Burials of the Lower Volga Region (in Russian with summary in English) https://www.academia.edu/resource/work/99108390
- S.A. Yatsenko. The Antropomorphical Images in the Art of the Iranian-speaking Peoples of Sarmatia in the II-I C BC.
https://www.academia.edu