Zoomorphic Sculpture from Georgia (South Caucasus) c.800-650 BCE: this sculpture was originally equipped with multiple heads on opposite ends of a four-legged body
This sculpture was unearthed from the central terrace at Vani, which is an archaeological site located in what is now western Georgia (the country, not the state). It was created roughly 2,800 years ago, when Vani served as the religious, cultural, and administrative center for the ancient Kingdom of Colchis.
Above: the full-sized sculpture
The figure was originally designed with three heads on each end of its body, but only two of the original heads remain. Each head is depicted with a crown and an assortment of zoomorphic features.
Several other sculptures with a similar design have also been unearthed at Vani, at the nearby site of Nokalakevi, and at other Colchian sites throughout the region.
Above: a remarkably similar sculpture that was also discovered at Vani
As this article explains:
Terracotta figurines of various animals occur at Vani, but particularly interesting are four-footed figures with multiple heads on opposite ends. The protomes of two-headed and three-headed fantastical creatures with characteristic post-like legs apparently belong to figures of this type.
Above: a two-headed protome from the same site
This design also appears in some Greek sculptures from the same period:
Such figures, also common in the Greek world, have been found in 8th-7th century BCE contexts at Olympia, Delphi, Athens, Crete, Rhodes, Samos, and elsewhere. In Italy, these figures frequently appear in 7th-6th century contexts. Although at present a firm decision on which culture influenced the Vani figures (four-footed with two heads on opposite ends) is difficult to discern, the earlier emergence and wide distribution of such representations in the Greek world suggest a link with Hellenic culture.
Perhaps these new elements in Colchian culture c.800-650 BCE resulted from Greek contacts (still intermittent) in the precolonial era, which were reflected in the great popularity of stories of the Argonauts in the 8th-7th centuries and in the first geographical and ethno-political reports of Colchis. Regular Greek contacts began only c.550 BCE, after the establishment of Greek settlements on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.
Above: another two-headed protome from Vani
Sources & More Info:
The Georgian National Museum: Figurine of a Fantastical Beast
Journal of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies: Vani: an Ancient City of Colchis (PDF)
Phasis: New Discoveries in Colchis (PDF)
