Hear about a unique find - portrait of Alexander the Great

Archaeologist Freerk Oldenburg presents a unique find and talks about it. The bronze fitting from approx. year 200 with a portrait of Alexander the Great has been found at Ringsted.

Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) was the greatest military commander of antiquity, whose empire stretched from Greece to India when he died in Babylon aged just 32. Many hundreds of years after his death, he was still a legend, and he became a great role model for Roman emperors. Especially the tyrannical emperor Caracalla (emperor 198-217 AD) who saw himself as a reincarnation of Alexander the Great. During Caracalla's reign, a great battle took place at Illerup Ådal near Skanderborg, where two Germanic armies collided. Many lost their lives in the battle, and the swords, bows, arrows, lances and shields left behind were sacrificed to the gods and placed in a lake. The excavation of the lake was able to show shields that were decorated with small decorative discs with portraits of warriors. One of these decorative discs bears a portrait of Alexander the Great, which is identical to the portrait on the newly found mount from Ringsted. The fitting from Illerup is on display at Moesgård Museum.

Be sure of a seat and buy the ticket in advance.

The fitting

The bronze fitting from Ringsted is 26-28 mm in diameter and cast in a lead-containing bronze alloy. It is not known how the fitting ended up at a location near Ringsted and what it was used for.

Freerk Oldenburg has the bracket with him at Ringsted Museum and Archives, where you can take a closer look at it and get an explanation of the context in which it forms part.

There is access to see the unique find when the entrance ticket has been paid.

See feature from TV2 Øst about the find: