The Seuso Treasure: Misdirection, Mayhem, and Murder Most Foul

In 1980, two magnificent pieces of Roman silver serving pieces dating from the late 4th to early 5th century CE were offered for sale in London by two antiquities' dealers from Vienna. Documentation supplied by the Lebanese embassy in Switzerland claimed a treasure hoard that included the two pieces had been found in the Tyre and Sidon regions of Lebanon. The complete hoard was subsequently acquired by a consortium headed by the 7th Marquess of Northhampton who then attempted to negotiate a sale to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles for $10 million. At that time, the Getty Museum had been recently endowed with the complete fortune of J. Paul Getty, who had died in 1976 and was aggressively expanding its collections. But when the deal fell through, the treasure was put up for sale in New York in 1990 by Sotheby's. That sale was halted when documentation was determined to be suspect. Soon the governments of Hungary, Yugoslavia and Lebanon each made claims of ownership. Hungarian authorities claim that the treasure was discovered by a young soldier, József Sümegh, in around 1975–76 near the town of Polgárdi in central Hungary. Sümegh's dead body was found in a nearby cellar in 1980. Although the official investigation at the time determined that he had committed suicide, later the police came to the conclusion that he had been murdered. (As of 2012, the murder had not been solved).

Yugoslavia's case was based on claims that the treasure had been originally found on 30 June 1960, in the village of Barbariga in Istria (present-day Croatia). The village is some 20 kilometres north of the city of Pula, an important city in Roman times. According to local witnesses, the treasure had been discovered in old trenches in a nearby Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) compound.[9] In the 1980s the JNA gave permission to local archeologists, led by Vesna Girardi-Jurkić, to further excavate the site. According to unconfirmed eyewitness reports of army excavations, the 14 known artefacts were only a small part of a much larger treasure trove as it took soldiers and police brought to the site six days to list all the items found at the site. However, very few details of the project were ever released to the public as the alleged site was entirely within a military area closed off to civilians.[9] Yugoslav archaeologists' efforts eventually failed to provide any conclusive evidence for the treasure's origin, although the soil residue found on the artefacts was proved to match the samples of soil from the area. After the breakup of Yugoslavia the newly independent Croatia pressed on with the case and included the results of the soil analysis in its formal ownership claim to a New York court.

In November 1993, the New York Court of Appeals rejected the claims, and found no case for removing it from the possession of the Marquess of Northampton. Meanwhile, the Marquess sued his solicitors for their failure to properly research the treasure's provenance and the Marquess was awarded £15 million in damages. In September 2006, London auctioneer Bonhams announced that it would exhibit the treasure privately, in a move seen as a prelude to a sale by private treaty or by auction at a future date. The Ministry of Education and Culture of Hungary, formally challenged any sale. In March 2007, The Art Newspaper reported that a further "187 silvergilt spoons, 37 silvergilt drinking cups, and 5 silver bowls", previously unknown, but part of the original hoard, were reputed to exist. Research presented in February 2008 by the Hungarian archaeologist Zsolt Visy strengthened the view that the origin of the treasure may be the Lake Balaton region of Hungary, evidenced by the presence of an inscription on the "Hunting Plate" reading "Pelso," the Roman name for Lake Balaton in Hungary, just west of the alleged place of discovery. Archaeologists also pointed to the discovery in 1873 of a Roman quadripod with very similar decoration near the lake. The similarities in workmanship and motif was so striking, archaeologists said it was very likely created by the same workshop.

The Roman occupation of what would become the Roman Province of Pannonia began under Octavian in 35-34 BCE following a series of campaigns he conducted against the Illyrians. Localized rebelliions cropped up periodically thereafter until the Dalmatian-Pannonian Revolt erupted in 6 CE, lasting for four brutal years. One of the rebel leaders, Batone the Dalmatian, captured by Tiberius, blamed the Romans for the unrest saying "You are responsible for this war, because in defense of your flocks you send wolves instead of dogs and shepherds, as custodians ." After ultimate Roman victory, the region was divided into Pannonia Inferior and Superior under the administrataion of a legatus Augusti pro praetor at the head of 3 legions: VIII Augusta , VIIII Hispana and XV Apollinaris.

Pannonia ultimately became a productive province of the Roman Empire, especially after the great forests were cleared by Probus and Galerius. Before that time, timber was one of its major exports along with oats, barley, and a kind of beer named sabaea. It was also famous for a breed of hunting dogs. Although no mention is made of its mineral wealth by the ancients, it is probable that it contained iron and silver mines, perhaps the source for the objects of the Seuso Treasure. By the late fourth century, though, the Quadi, in a coalition with the Marcomanni and Sarmatians plundered Pannonia. The initial raids were stemmed by Constantius II but another Quadi incursion in 374 CE forced Valentianian I to lead retaliatory campaigns in the region. By the beginning of the 5th century, Pannonia was no longer secure, exposed regularly to Gothic and Hun raids. The wealthy Seuso probably buried his hoard of silver during this period where it lay undiscovered for almost 1500 years.

Finally, on March 26, 2014 the Hungarian prime minister announced that seven items from the Seuso Treasure were being returned to Hungary upon the payment of €15 million. Then on July 12, 2017 Hungary announced another seven pieces would be repatriated. The Treasure is now on display at the Hungarian National Museum.

All images courtesy of the Hungarian National Museum.

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Marine archaeologists target possible Roman remains off coast of Montenegro

Marine archaeologists have begun work on a site that may prove to be a submerged Greek or Roman temple off the coast of Montenegro.

An international archaeological team has launched a search of a Montenegrin bay after a 16-year-old British schoolboy last year uncovered the submerged remains of what could be a lost, ancient temple while snorkelling in the Adriatic.

Archaeologist Charles le Quesne, conducting the first searches of the stones off Maljevik beach found last summer by his son says:

‘most likely that they are medieval, from a local quarry and possibly intended for use in the nearby Fransiscan Monastery at Ratac near Bar’. He added that the team would also look at nearby Bigovica Bay, an ancient harbour just south of Bar with a series of wrecks dating from the Second Century BC to late antiquity. - Balkan Insight

The first recorded settlers of present-day Montenegro were Illyrians, the Docleata.

Bronze plate depicting llyrian warriors in combat (280BC)
from southern Albania.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia user
Navistaulantia.

Illyria appears in Greco-Roman historiography from the 4th century BC. The Illyrians formed several kingdoms in the central Balkans, and the first known Illyrian king was Bardyllis. Illyrian kingdoms were often at war with ancient Macedonia, and the Illyrian pirates were also a significant danger to neighbouring peoples.


In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC, 219 BC and 168 BC Rome overran the Illyrian settlements and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe for Italian commerce. There were three campaigns, the first against Queen Teuta the second against Demetrius of Pharos and the third against Gentius. The initial campaign in 229 BC marks the first time that the Roman Navy crossed the Adriatic Sea to launch an invasion.

The Roman Republic subdued the Illyrians during the 2nd century BC. An Illyrian revolt was crushed under Augustus, resulting in the division of Illyria in the provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south.

The Roman province of Illyricum or Illyris Romana or Illyris Barbara or Illyria Barbara replaced most of the region of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern Albania to Istria (Croatia) in the west and to the Sava river (between Bosnia and Herzegovina and northern Croatia) in the north. Salona (Solin near modern Split in Croatia) functioned as its capital. The regions which it included changed through the centuries though a great part of ancient Illyria remained part of Illyricum as a province while south Illyria became Epirus Nova.


According to the Romans, the Illyrians were tall and well-built. Herodianus writes that "Pannonians are tall and strong always ready for a fight and to face danger but slow witted"  Remains recovered from the period indicate Illyrians were of only average height, however.


The cult of the dead played an important role in the lives of the Illyrians, which is seen in their carefully made burials and burial ceremonies, as well as the richness of the burial sites. In the northern parts of the Balkans, there existed a long tradition of cremation and burial in shallow graves, while in the southern parts, the dead were buried in large stone, or earth tumuli (natively called gromile) that in Herzegovina reached monumental sizes, more than 50 meters wide and 5 meters high. The Japodian tribe (found from Istria in Croatia to Bihać in Bosnia) had an affinity for decoration wearing heavy, oversized necklaces made out of yellow, blue or white glass paste, and large bronze fibulas, as well as spiral bracelets, diadems and helmets out of bronze. Small sculptures out of jade in form of archaic Ionian plastic are also characteristically Japodian.

Human sacrifice also played a role in the lives of the Illyrians. Arrian records the chieftain Cleitus the Illyrian as sacrificing three boys, three girls and three rams just before his battle with Alexander the Great.


The Illyrians were influenced by the Celts in many cultural and material aspects and some of them were Celticized, especially the tribes in Dalmatia and the Pannonians. Illyrian chiefs wore bronze torques around their necks much like the Celts.  The Illyrian town of Rhizon (Risan, Montenegro) had its own protector called Medauras depicted as carrying a lance and riding on horseback.


Slavs colonized the area in the 5th and 6th centuries, forming a semi-independent principality called Duklja, that was involved in Balkan medieval politics with ties to Rascia and Byzantium and to a lesser extent Bulgaria.  Duklja gained its independence from the Byzantine Empire in 1042. In the next few decades Duklja expanded its territory to the neighbouring Rascia and Bosnia and also became recognized as a Kingdom. Its power started declining at the end of the 11th century and by 1186, it was conquered by the Serbian Empire. - Compendium of Wikipedia sources

Learn more about it:

Archaeology of Roman Pannonia
Pannonia and Upper Moesia: History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire (The Provinces of the Roman Empire)

     

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