7 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Unique Ancient Bronze Miniature Portrait Of Alexander The Great Found In Ringsted On The Island Of Zealand, Denmark

Two amateur archaeologists have made a unique find near Ringsted in the Danish island of Zealand. A sign that one of history’s greatest warlords was known in these parts. A bronze fitting with a portrait of Alexander the Great was found.

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. He remained a legend many hundreds of years after his passing, and he served as an excellent 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.

The battle claimed many lives, and the remaining swords, bows, arrows, lances, and shields were offered as sacrifices to the gods and disposed of in a lake.  Shields adorned with tiny decorative discs featuring warrior portraits were discovered during the lake excavation. 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.

The 26-28 mm diameter (small) fitting is cast in a lead-containing bronze alloy. This represents Alexander the Great, who is easily recognized by the wavy locks of hair and ram’s horns by the ears (which he has after the god Zeus Ammon).

”This is a unique find in Scandinavia with connections to one of the most famous personalities in world history”, says Freerk Oldenburger, an archaeologist at Museum Vestsjælland.

The gilded silver fitting pictured here was found in the Illerup River valley near Skanderborg and was attached to a shield that was sacrificed around the year 200. The mount is on display at the Moesgaard Museum. Photo: Preben Dehlhom, Moesgaard Museum
The gilded silver fitting pictured here was found in the Illerup River valley near Skanderborg and was attached to a shield that was sacrificed around the year 200. The mount is on display at the Moesgaard Museum. Photo: Preben Dehlhom, Moesgaard Museum

Oldenburger explained the artifacts were produced around 200 A.D., an age called the Roman Iron Age.

The discovery was particularly thrilling for Finn Ibsen and Lars Danielsen, the two amateur archaeologists who made it. The two detectorists didn’t recognize the face with the wavy hair on top and twisted ram’s horns on the cheeks at first glance.

The two detector operators said, “Actually, it was only when we handed over the find and were later called by Freerk (Oldenburger, ed.) that the story came out. They say going back 2000 years in time creates great excitement.”

However,  bronze fitting from Ringsted raises more questions than concrete knowledge and clinical studies can answer.

Archaeologists do not know exactly the function of Ringsted’s bronze fitting: the function of the bracket – was it a decorative disc for the shield, or was it a sword (belt) bracket? Was it cast by the Romans, who used the same lead-containing alloy for casting statuettes, was it cast by the Romans from a remelted statuette or did the remelting take place on Zealand? If the bracket was cast by the Romans, how did it end up in a field near Ringsted? What was the meaning of Alexander the Great’s portrait for the Germans who lived in Denmark around the year 200? Did they think the portrait could bring luck on the battlefield?

The multiplicity of questions increases the beauty and unique value of the find and undoubtedly excites the experts to unravel the veil of mystery surrounding it.

Cover Photo: Morten Petersen, Museum Vestsjælland

Related Articles

3500-year-old menhir discovered in Mahbubabad, India

15 March 2022

15 March 2022

Six feet in height stone, also called a menhir, was found on the roadside of Ellarigudem, a hamlet of Beechrajupally...

A Nymphaeum was discovered in the ancient Thracian city of Perperikon

18 August 2023

18 August 2023

New researchs uncovered a huge monumental sanctuary of water (Nymphaeum) above the reservoir in the southern quarter of Perperikon. Professor...

Archaeologists discover complete armored 14th-century gauntlet in Switzerland

18 January 2024

18 January 2024

Excavations in Kyburg in the canton of Zürich, northeastern Switzerland have discovered a 14th-century fully preserved gauntlet of armor in...

A secret chamber has been found in the famous Gorham Cave Complex

29 September 2021

29 September 2021

A cave chamber sealed off by sand for some 40,000 years has been discovered in Vanguard Cave inside the Gorham’s...

Maltaş Temple Revealed

10 August 2021

10 August 2021

Phrygian Valley, 10 meters high monument with Phrygian scriptures inscriptions on it discovered. The unearthed Maltaş monument is actually the...

Persian plateau unveiled as crucial hub for early human migration out of Africa, study suggests

29 March 2024

29 March 2024

60,000 to 70,000 years ago, our species Homo sapiens walked out of Africa and began to find new homes around...

Detectorist Finds 2,500-Year-Old Unique Bronze Brooch

26 August 2024

26 August 2024

A metal detectorist, who chose to remain anonymous, uncovered three artifacts, including a massive fibula, i.e. a bronze brooch dating...

The University of Aberdeen is to Return a Benin Bronze

5 April 2021

5 April 2021

Since Nigeria gained independence in 1960, Nigeria has been calling for the return of stolen Benin bronzes (including brass reliefs,...

1,600-year-old Roman-era wine shop unearthed in Greece

29 January 2024

29 January 2024

A team led by Scott Gallimore of Wilfrid Laurier University and Martin Wells of Austin College discovered a 1,600-year-old Roman-era...

2,200-year-old Greek sling bullet may have been used against Jews

9 December 2022

9 December 2022

A 2,200-year-old lead sling bullet was discovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the central Israeli city of Yavne,...

A Roman Sanctuary with Inscriptions Discovered in Cova de les Dones, One of the Largest Rock Art Sites in the Iberian Peninsula

31 January 2025

31 January 2025

A team of researchers from the universities of Alicante (UA) and Zaragoza (Unizar) have discovered a Roman temple at Cova...

Italian Versailles being returned to its former glory through

17 May 2023

17 May 2023

The Italian Royal Palace of Caserta, a long-neglected near Naples, is being restored to its former glory through a vast...

Researchers Say that Neanderthals Had the Same Hearing Capacity as Humans

1 March 2021

1 March 2021

Virtual reconstructions of Neanderthal ears show that had the same physical capacity for hearing as modern humans, and by inference...

4,000-Year-Old Dilmun Temple Discovered on Failaka Island, Kuwait

12 November 2024

12 November 2024

A joint Danish-Kuwaiti excavation team led by the Mosgard Museum has uncovered a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age temple linked to the...

Ancient Egyptian Kohl recipes more diversified than previously thought

28 April 2022

28 April 2022

Researchers analyzed the contents of 11 kohl containers from the Petrie Museum collection in London and have revealed that the...