BRONZE CULT HANDS OF ROMAN TIME FROM THE TERRITORY OF UKRAINE: ORIGIN AND SACRED PURPOSE (ACCORDING TO HISTORIOGRAPHY)
Authors: KORCHAK Andriy 
Published: October 2022

Two bronze hands associated with the confession of oriental cults are very interesting archaeological items found on theterritoryofUkraine. The first one comes from the village Myshkiv inWestern Podillya, another – from the territory of the Ukrainian steppe. These artifacts are well studied by specialists in archeology, ancient history, theologians, but most of the works on this subject are written in German, Polish and Russian and, because of different reasons, are inaccessible to the Ukrainian reader. The main thesis of the article is an attempt to generalize diverse approaches, versions and concepts and to represent a relatively integral picture of the origin and religious purpose of these cult hands. The main idea of the article is to publish some quite new conclusions and clarifications made during the author's own research. The author examines the history of the discovery of these monuments, indicates the places of their storage, presents detailed sculptural descriptions. While speaking about the hand from Myshkiv, the text of the inscription is clearly reproduced. Three different interpretations of this inscription, offered in the works of T. Rybicki (ego), E. Bormann (a), M. Bandrivsky and O. Bandrovsky, are given, as well as their translations into Ukrainian. The approaches of various scientists on the issue of the sacred purpose of the hand from Myshkiv were analyzed in the article. T. Rybicki considered that it is the top of a Roman military standard. According to J. Zingerle, it is the hand of a contributor who has made a dedication to Jupiter Dolichenus for his military success. But D. Lusthaus thinks it is a symbol of the deity himself, which was also served as the top. J. Kolendo and J. Trynkowski defended the opinion of using of this hand only for religious purposes in the sanctuary at Orheiu Bistriței. Figures from Cătunele in Romaniaand Kavarna in Bulgariaare considered to be similar. It is important that the last one has a figure of Victoria, which is absent on the hands from Myshkiv and Cătunele. Basing on the interpretation of the sign V engraved on the hand as – miliaria (the thousandth), T. Rybicki, E. Bormann, J. Zingerle, J. Kolendo and J. Trynkowski believe that it is “cohorsprima Flavia Ulpia Hispanorum miliaria equitat civium Romanorum”. Instead, M. Bandrovsky and O. Bandrovsky interpret this sign as “equitataquingenaria” (the five hundredth cavalry) and correlate it with “prima I Hispanorum pia fidelis equitata quingenaria”. B. Farmakovsky's position about the appointment of a hand from the territory of the former Ekaterinoslav province is considered. His thought that such objects may be associated not only with Sabazios or Serapis, but also with the cults of other deities, has been proved. But there is no answer yet, whom exactly the hand from the territory of the Ukrainian steppe was dedicated. Instead, it is known that the cause of the donation was the childbirth of an unknown woman. B. Farmakovsky's characteristic of all available reliefs on the hand is presented. According to these arguments, the images of animals on the statuette had to turn away the harmful effects of the evil eye. Basing on this, the hand can be defined as a cult object that has an apotropaic character. The results of the study include detailed analysis of historiography devoted to the study of bronze cult hands found in Ukraine, the involvement of a large amount of additional literature, the presentation of a number of images of similar monuments. The votive character of the Myshkiv hand and the apotropaic character of the Ekaterinoslav one is determined. There are many strong arguments in favour of the statement that the hand from Myshkiv has a direct connection with the thousandth cohort of Spaniards.