Pietroasele treasure

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The Pietroasele treasure (the Petrossa treasure) found in Pietroasele, Buzău, Romania, in 1837, is a late fourth-century Gothic treasure that included some twenty-two objects of gold, among the most famous examples of the polychrome style of Migration Period art. Of the twenty-two pieces, only twelve have survived, conserved in the Muzeul National de Istorie, Bucharest: a large eagle-headed fibula and three smaller ones encrusted with semi-precious stones; a patera, or round sacrificial dish, modelled with figures of what appear to be Gothic gods in Greek dress surrounding a seated three-dimensional goddess in the center; a twelve-sided cup, a torse with a Runic inscription, a large tray, two other necklaces and a pitcher. Their style is that of the Cernjachov culture.

When Alexandru Odobescu published the hoard^[1] he considered that such magnificent work could only have belonged to Athanaric (died 381), leader of the Thervings (a Gothic people). Modern archaeologists cannot connect the hoard with such a glamorous name.

The treasure was shipped to Russia as German armies advanced through Romania in World War I, and was not returned until 1956.