site.btaBronze Statuette of Hermes Exhibit of the Month for March of National Archaeological Museum

A bronze statuette of Hermes (Mercury), dated to the late Roman imperial period, is the exhibit of the month for March of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM-BAS), the museum said. 

Hermes is depicted as standing naked and barefoot on a pedestal, with his weight on his right foot and his left leg forward. His left leg is slightly bent at the knee, with the foot pointing outwards. In its right hand, bent at the elbow, the figure is holding a purse. Over its left hand, which has not been preserved, there is a caduceus (a staff carried by Hermes as a symbol of peace) whose upper end is missing. The figure’s left shoulder and arm are covered with a cloak. The bronze Hermes is wearing a winged hat and a hoop with a crescent moon around his neck.

The statuette of Hermes was discovered in 2023 during archeological investigations of one of the most famous sites of the Roman Thrace road network, the Cillae road station and settlement along Via Militaris. The site is known from the Itinerarium Burdigalense, which has located it some 45 km from Philippopolis.

The 2023 rescue excavations led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zdravko Dimitrov of NAIM-BAS were carried out along the present-day village of Cherna Gora (South Bulgaria), where Cillae was located. More than ten buildings from the ancient site were identified, as well as Via Militaris itself, one of the major "highways" of the ancient world connecting Europe and Asia.

The exhibit is part of a temporary exhibition titled Bulgarian Archeology 2023, which is on display in the NAIM-BAS Central Hall until May 26, 2024. Organized by NAIM-BAS with the support of 23 museums, the exhibition presents the most impressive discoveries from the last archaeological season. It includes 30 objects illustrating the development of cultures in the present-day Bulgarian lands from the Neolithic period (6000 BC) to the Revival (19th century). Among the exhibits are gold, silver, and bronze ornaments, ceramic anthropomorphic figures and vessels, bronze figurines, glass vessels, tools, weapons, and coins.