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The article focuses on the obols, tetrachalkoi and dichalkoi of the Panticapaeum and Phanagoria mints with busts of Apollo in a laurel wreath, bearded Hercules as well as Nike with six-pointed star with long rays on the obverse and with images of an arrow, lyre and palm branch, grazing Pegasus, bow with gorytos or laurel branch, intertwined with ribbon, club and lion’s skin, as well as ship’s prora on the reverse. Their generally accepted classification has not yet been developed, and their potential as a source of historical information has not been revealed. We solve this problem based on the results of iconographic analysis. In the first series, we single out obols with an arrow, lyre and palm branch and tetrachalkoi with a grazing Pegasus on the reverse, embossed on Asander’s coins. Judging by the Mithridatidic symbolism, they were minted in the time of Scribonius. After his overthrow in Panticapaeum, tetrachalkoi with gorytos and a bow and dichalkoi with club and lion’s skin on the reverse were issued. We attribute these coins to the second series of Panticapaeum. In Phanagoria during the period of the uprising, tetrachalkoi with a palm branch were minted. We select them in the second series of Phanagoria. And after the victory of the insurgents, they fired tetrachalkoi with a bow and arrow on the reverse. We attribute them to the third series of Phanagoria. Judging by the variety of coin symbols, after the death of Scribonius, the Bosporus state collapsed. At the beginning of the reign of Polemon I, in Panticapaeum and in Phanagoria, the same type of tetrachalke with a bust of Apollo on the obverse and with ship’s prora on the reverse were minted, which testifies to the restoration of the unity of the state. We attribute these coins to the third series of Panticapaeum and the fourth series of Phanagoria. As we can see, the coins that attracted our attention perfectly illustrated the events that took place in the Bosporus in the last third of the 1st century BCE.

The Addaura Cave, located on Monte Pellegrino – Palermo, Sicily, is known for its exquisite engravings dating between the end of the Epigravettian and the Mesolithic periods. The frieze shows a group of men arranged in a circle around two very controversial figures which have generated much scholarly debate. So far, the purely choreographic and musical aspect has been little investigated. From the examination of the position of legs and arms and the presence of particular ornaments it is possible to deduce that these figures are engaged in a dance whose purpose is most probably linked to the ceremonial sphere. The purpose of the present contribution is to return to the concreteness of gesture related to dance, describing the modalities and the possible rhythmic implications.

Literary testimonies for the Greek concept of Apollo’s swan chariot and the accompanying set of ideas were often discussed alongside some comparable Central and North European iconographic representations. This study approaches the problem by collating, with a help of structural analysis, a number of highly specific complex prehistoric iconographic arrangements (most notably the Dupljaja chariot), which suggest a similar concept was indeed current in the tradition of some European pre-literate societies. The principles employed here in the iconographic analysis of complex symbolic structures, offered a sound methodological basis for comparing literary with iconographic sources. It is concluded that their underlying muthos represents an account of the annual solar movement in terms of anthropomorphic causation.

Archaeology has begun to contribute to the history of spirituality in the Eastern Woodlands of North America to complement the perspectives offered by the comparative study of religions and by ethnological, folkloric, art historical, and astronomical research. Support can be found in the forms and types of ritual paraphernalia and in the associated iconography for the thesis that shamanism was a basic form of religious experience that extended back to the earliest material traces. Elaborations upon this foundation became most conspicuous during the Mississippian Period when social hierarchies developed upon an expanded, agriculturally supported population. Animal imagery changed, ancestor cults became elaborated, and cosmography took on increased importance in architecture, site layout, and mortuary rites. The canonical forms of the iconography of this period have become known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Since European contact, practices and beliefs associated with social hierarchies have disappeared or transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]