Zmiyovyk, zmeyevyk (Serpentine; serpent moons) is metal and stone medallions, usually round, oval, sometimes octagonal in shape with the image of a Christian saint on one side and snakes (from 6 to 14) on the other; served as amulets against diseases.
The iconography of the head of the Gorgon is a characteristic feature of the popular Byzantine and ancient Russian amulets - "serpentines", where it is an image of the bottom - a disease-causing demon. V. Yu. Koval writes that in the Byzantine tradition, the ancient snake-footed goddess became a chthonic demon - "Scylla", whose image was preserved on serpentine amulets.
Having appeared in Russian culture in the 11th-12th centuries, serpentines continued to exist until the 15th-16th centuries. On the front side there was an image of some Christian plot, for example, the Mother of God, Michael the Archangel, Boris and Gleb, and a Greek prayer inscription, and on the reverse side, adjacent to the owner’s chest and invisible to others, two plots dating back to antiquity dominated: the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa with snakes growing out of it, and the serpentine progenitor of the Scythians, also surrounded by snakes.
The most famous of the ancient Russian serpentines is the Chernihiv Hryvnia of Vladimir Monomakh. Such artifacts testify to the survival of paganism in Orthodox Rus'.
The iconography of the head of the Gorgon is a characteristic feature of the popular Byzantine and ancient Russian amulets - "serpentines", where it is an image of the bottom - a disease-causing demon. V. Yu. Koval writes that in the Byzantine tradition, the ancient snake-footed goddess became a chthonic demon - "Scylla", whose image was preserved on serpentine amulets.
Having appeared in Russian culture in the 11th-12th centuries, serpentines continued to exist until the 15th-16th centuries. On the front side there was an image of some Christian plot, for example, the Mother of God, Michael the Archangel, Boris and Gleb, and a Greek prayer inscription, and on the reverse side, adjacent to the owner’s chest and invisible to others, two plots dating back to antiquity dominated: the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa with snakes growing out of it, and the serpentine progenitor of the Scythians, also surrounded by snakes.
The most famous of the ancient Russian serpentines is the Chernihiv Hryvnia of Vladimir Monomakh. Such artifacts testify to the survival of paganism in Orthodox Rus'.
A zmiyovyk is a round, richly decorated medallion, which had an image of a saint on the front side, and a braided, snake-like ornament on the back. Zmiyovykes were worn as talismans and amulets against ailments and charms. Zmiyovykes were found in Chernihiv and Belogorodka near Kyiv. The golden Chernigov zmiyovyk may have belonged to Prince Volodymyr Monomakh. The archangel Michael is depicted on its obverse, and a head similar to the ancient Gorgon Medusa is depicted on the reverse. And the bronze zmiyovyk found in Belogorodka, known as the "Belgorod hryvnia", could have belonged to his son - Mstislav.
_01_by_shakko.JPG)