December 1976

29th year2.80 French

francs

LU

THE SCYTHIANnomad goldsmithsof the opensteppes

31 H

I

TREASURES

OF

WORLD ART

Greece

The saint with a dog's headThere are many legends about St. Christopher, including one that he once carried Christ across ariver, thus earning his name (Christofros in Greek, meaning ''bearer of Christ"). According to someaccounts he was a giant with a dog's face, only receiving human features at baptism. Other storiesrelate that St. Christopher, an exceptionally good-looking man who lived in the 3rd century,received such frequent attentions from the fair sex that he begged God to save him from temptation.His prayer was answered by a miracle: from then on women who looked upon his handsome facesaw only the head of a dog. St. Christopher was thus often depicted with a dog's head, as inthis fresco painted in 1779 by a Greek artist in a 13th-century Byzantine church at Lindos, onthe island of Rhodes.

Photo O Hannibal Slides. Athens

CourierDECEMBER 1976 29TH YEAR

PUBLISHED IN 15 LANGUAGES

English Arabic HebrewFrench Japanese Persian

Spanish Italian DutchRussian Hindi PortugueseGerman Tamil Turkish

Published monthly by UNESCOThe United Nations

Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization

Sales and Distribution Offices

Unesco,. Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris

Annual subscription rate 28 FrenchBinder for a year's issues : 24 French

francs

francs

The UNESCO COURIER is published monthly, except inAugust and September when it is bi-monthly (1 1 issues ayear). For list of distributors see inside back cover.Individual articles' and photographs not copyrighted maybe reprinted providing the credit line reads "Reprinted fromthe UNESCO COURIER," plus date of issue, and threevoucher copies are sent to the editor. Signed articles reprinted must bear author's name. Non-copyright photoswill be supplied on request. Unsolicited manuscriptscannot be returned unless accompanied by an international reply coupon covering postage. Signed articlesexpress the opinions of the authors and do not necessarilyrepresent the opinions of UNESCO or those of the editorsof the UNESCO COURIER. Photo captions and headlines are written by the Unesco Courier staff. -

The Unesco Courier is produced in microform (microfilm and/or microfiche) by: (1) University Microfilms(Xerox), Ann Arbor. Michigan 481 00. U.S.A. ; (2) N.C.R.Microcard Edition, Indian Head, Inc., 111 West 40th

Street, New York. U.S.A.; (3) Bell and Howell Co.,

Old Mansfield Road, Wooster, Ohio 44691, U.S.A.

The Unesco Courier is indexed monthly in theReaders' Guide to Periodical Literature, published byH. W. Wilson Co., New York, and in. Current Contents - Education, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

Editorial Office

Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris - France

Editor-in-Chief

Sandy Koffler

Assistant Editors-in-Chief

Ren Caloz

Ronald Fenton (Paris)

Jane Albert Hesse (Paris)Francisco Fernandez-Santos (Paris)Victor Goliachkov (Paris)Werner Merkli (Berne)

Abdel Moneim El Sawi (Cairo)Kazuo Akao (Tokyo)Maria Remiddi (Rome)Krishna Gopal (Delhi)M. Mohammed Mustafa (Madras)Alexander Broido (Tel Aviv)

Fereydoun Ardalan (Teheran)Paul Morren (Antwerp)Benedicto Silva (Rio de Janeiro)Mefra Telci (Istanbul)

Assistant Editors ;English Edition : Roy Malkin ' "^

oo 7

Page

15

THE SCYTHIAN WORLD

A dynamic culture on the steppes of. Eurasia 2,500 years agoBy Boris B. Piotrovsky

ANTIQUITY'S GREAT REPORTER-HISTORIANAMONG THE SCYTHIANS

Modern archaeology confirms the stories of HerodotusBy Yaroslav V. Domansky

THREE VASES RECOUNT THE LEGENDOF KING TARGITAUS

By Dimitri S. Raevsky

17 FOUR UKRAINIAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS

PRESENT THEIR LATEST FINDS

By Ivan Artemenko

17 THE GOLDEN CUP OF GAMANOV

By Vasily Bidzilia

19 SCYTHIAN IDYLL ON A ROYAL BREASTPLATE

By Boris Mozolevsky

21 A HORSE'S FINERY CAPPED

BY A GODDESS OF THE CHASE

By Vitaly Otroshchenko

22 SPLENDOURS OF SCYTHIAN ART

Eight pages in full colour

31 PAZYRYK

A nomad way of life "deep-frozen" for 25 centuriesin Siberian mountain tombs

By Man'ya P. Zavitukhina

34 CAVORTING CREATURES

ON THE TATTOOED MAN OF PAZYRYK

Photo story

38 HORSES FOR THE HEREAFTER

Seven score stallions in the grave of a mountain kingBy Mikhail P. Gryaznov

42 SHAMANS AND SHAMANISM:

EPIC JOURNEYS TO A LEGENDARY LAND

By Grigory M. Bongard-Levin and Edvin A. Grantovsky

48 THE OSSETES: SCYTHIANS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

By Vasily ,1. Abaev

50 UNESCO NEWSROOM

2 TREASURES OF WORLD ART

GREECE: The saint with the dog's head

Cover

Horsemen repose in the shade of a leafy tree. One holds the bridleof their two mounts while the other lies outstretched with his headin the lap of a seated woman. This scene from the life of the nomadsof the steppes is depicted on a symmetrical pair of gold plaques onceworn on a sword-belt and preserved among the treasures of the artcollection of Tsar Peter the Great. They are one of the myriad examples of the Creative genius of the artists of the steppes, homelandsof Scythian and Siberian horsemen 2,500 years ago. This issue ofthe Unesco Courier is entirely devoted to this cultural universe whichflourished in Antiquity at the crossroads of Asia and Europe.

This golden stag (see detail incolour, page 23) is a superbexample of typical Scythiananimal art. Discovered in a

tomb in the Kuban region,north-east of the Black Sea, it

was made by a master-goldsmithof the steppes early in the 6thcentury B.C. In the words ofthe Soviet archaeologist,Aleksandr Shkurko, an authorityon early Scythian art, "The artistwas not unduly concerned withmodelling the animal's body oradding precise detail. Whatheld his attention was its inner

qualitiesits strength, speed andessential wildness. Thedecorative treatment of the horns

and the compactness of thecomposition confer on the imagean almost heraldic appearance."The stag was a favourite themein the art of the Scythians.

SCYTHIAN WORLD

byBoris B. Piotrovsky

BORIS BORISOVICH PIOTROVSKY,

Soviet archaeologist, is an Internationallyknown authority on the history and art ofthe Scythians. A member of the Academiesof Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and the Arme

nian S.S.R., he is Director of the HermitageMuseum (Leningrad) which has a pricelesscollection of Scythian artifacts. He is alsoprofessor of Ancient Oriental History at theLeningrad State University. The author ofimportant studies on the history, cultureand art of the ancient Orient and the Cau

casus, Prof. Piotrovsky is a correspondingfellow of the British Academy, the FrenchAcadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

THE sweep and substance ofthe Scythian world have onlyrecently been fully revealed,

although the existence of the Scythians was recorded long ago, andthey should not be regarded as oneof the forgotten peoples of history.

Herodotus, writing about them inthe fifth century B.C., included in hisdetailed account a number of Scythianor Greek legends concerning theirorigins, and stated that the landswhich they occupied had previouslybelonged to the Cimmerians.

The flatlands north of the Black

Sea, home of the Scythians whocaught Herodotus' attention whenthey came down to do business inthe Greek trading-colonies on thecoast, are studded with kurgans.These burial mounds of earth, erected

by the various nomadic tribes whichroamed across the steppes, werethemselves the subject of many alegend, and the treasure-seekers whoplundered them in the past werecertainly rewarded on more than oneoccasion.

a dynamic culture on thiof Eurasia 2500 years ago

steppes

Many of them had been built bythe Scythians, and it was here thatthe first archaeologists unearthedoutstanding examples of an art formcharacteristic of Scythian culture anddating mainly from the fifth to thethird centuries B.C. Since then, hardly a year has passed without the delight of fresh discoveries by Ukrainianarchaeologists.

Excavations began a considerabletime ago. In 1763, a rich burialmound of the early Scythian periodnear Elizavetgrad (now Kirovograd)yielded a large number of gold and

silver objects, including an iron aki-nakes (the short dagger of the Scythians) the scabbard and hilt of whichwere decorated in the ancient Eastern

style with fantastic animals andanthropomorphic deities, gatheredround a sacred tree. These inte

resting finds were placed in theKunstkammer, Russia's first realmuseum, which had been foundedby Peter the Great in 1714.

The Kunstkammer already contained a number of gold objects-later identified as Scythianwhich had

been found in Siberian kurgans andsent as gifts to Peter the Great in1715 and 1716 by Nikita Demidov,the owner of mines and metalworks

in the Urals, and by the Governor ofTobolsk, Prince Gagarin. In 1718, aspecial government decree ordered"the collecting from earth and waterof old inscriptions, ancient weapons,dishes and everything old andunusual."

The Kunstkammer's "marvellous

and mysterious collection of Siberiansantiquities", as it was still called byr

early nineteenth-century archaeologists, was only explained and identified when archaeological investigations over a wide area gradually revealed a considerable degree of culturalunity in the wide belt of steppe-land,foothills and upland pastures whichstretched between the 40th and 50th

parallels of latitude, from the Danubein the west all the way to the GreatWall of China in the easta distance

of more than 7,000 kilometres.

From one end to the other of this

territory, archaeologists have unearthed identical pieces of horse gear,iron swords, triangular arrowheadsand ornaments, all dating from theScythian period, while cultural similarities between different regionsare reflected in the widespread useof imagery in the so-called "Scytho-Siberian animal style."

But these links existed even ear

lier, and can certainly be clearlydetected in the pre-Scythian, Cimmerian period (i.e. the eighth centuryB.C.). Convincing evidence of thisis provided by the objects found inthe Arzhan kurgan in the Tuva S.S.R.,far to the east (see article page 38).This ruined tomb of a military leaderyielded not only a number of itemssimilar to finds from the Ukraine and

Bulgaria, but also scraps of wovencloth of Iranian origin, pre-datingby almost 200 years the famousIranian carpet discovered during excavations of the Pazyryk kurgans of theAltai (see article page 31).

Thus, in Cimmerian times, the conditions already existed for the establishment of contacts between widelyseparated territories, and for thecreation of a generalized, semi-nomadic and stock-raising economy, inwhich the dominance of horse-

breeding permitted mobility over longdistances.

The network of relationships between different tribes made up for thelack of natural resources, and of

metal deposits in particular, in different regions. The vast area coveredby Scythian culture, where the mostoutstanding artifacts were made ofgold, silver or high-quality bronze,contained few enough localitieswhere the first two of these metals

could be found, while tin, withoutwhich copper could not be transformed into bronze "and which existed

in Central Europe and Bohemia, wastotally absent in the lands stretchingfrom the Danube as far as eastern

Kazakhstan.

Of course, there was no direct orpermanent contact between the nomadic tribes inhabiting the westernand eastern extremities of this world;the elements which composed theircommon culture were, so to speak,"shuttled" from tribe to tribe, oftenlosing their stamp of origin in theprocess.

We should also remember that

these breeders of cattle and horses,whether Cimmerians or Scythians,werefirst and foremostwell-armed

and highly mobile horse-soldiers,whose rapidly moving war-parties,according to Herodotus, penetrateddeep into Asia Minor.

Herodotus' accounts have since

been confirmed by ancient Easternsources, and by documentary andarchaeological evidence from Assyriain particular. Reports by scouts ofthe Assyrian king contained in thearchive of clay tablets found in theAssyrian capital, Nineveh, refer tothe appearance of Cimmerians inAsia Minor as early as the middle ofthe 8th century B.C.

The participation of Scythians ina devastating attack on Assyria acentury later is mentioned in achronicle of the Babylonian kingNabopolassar which relates eventsin 616-609 B.C., and in a 5thcentury account of the sack of Nineveh, by the Armenian historianMovses Horenatsi.

Excavations in seventh-century fortresses in Transcaucasia (at Karmir-

MY KINGDOM

FOR A HORSE

Some Scythian jewelsreveal numerous details

of the dress, way of lifeand customs of these

nomads of the steppes.The two bearded Scythianriders decorating theends of this torque, oropen necklace, of twistedgold are one example.The figures wearankle-length caftans tiedat the waist and longtrousers held by a strapbeneath the boot.

They ride bareback andwithout stirrups. Theirmounts emerge fromthe ends of the torque,woven of six gold strandsbound in an intricatelydecorated sheath inlaid

with enamel. The

horses' manes and theharnesses and bridle bits

are rendered with greatprecision. The torque,of Greco-Scythian styleand weighing over260 grammes, was foundin 1830. It encircledthe neck of a chieftain

in a 4th century B.C.grave in the Crimea.

Blur, near Erivan) and in the centralregion of ancient Urartu, near LakeVan (in present-day Turkey), havebrought to light a number of items ofhorse gear, iron weapons and beadssimilar to objects found in ancientScythian burials of the Black Searegion.

The Scythian connexion with AsiaMinor is clearly reflected in the so-called "Ziwiyeh treasure" from Saq-qez, in Iranian Kurdistan, discoveredduring the Second World War.Among the objects found here, whichwere subsequently proved to havecome not from a treasure hoard but

from a tomb constructed in the

seventh century B.C., is an outstanding group of artifacts in which imagescharacteristic of both ancient Near

Eastern and Scythian art arecombined.

The golden objects in Scythianstyle found at Ziwiyeh are similar tofinds from Scythian burial mounds,such as the sword with a gold-covered

hilt and scabbard unearthed in 1763

in the Elizavetgrad (Kirovograd) kur-gan in the Ukraine, and the gold-handled sword and axe from the

Kelermes kurgans in the Kuban region, excavated in 1902.

All these objects combine Scythianmotifs (reclining deer) with ancientEastern imagery (the holy tree withits attendant divinities and fantastic

animals), and it is probably correctto consider that they are imitations ofUrartean artifacts, modified by theaddition of elements in purely Scythian style.

Attempts have been made to relate the birth of Scythian art to theperiod of Scythian campaigns inAsia Minor, but this theory is disproved by the examples of Scythian andpre-Scythian art discovered in Siberia, which pre-date those fromZiwiyeh (i. e. 7th century B.C.), butare also decorated in the animal style.

The term "Scythian" is nowadays

applied to a large number of ethnically unrelated tribes, characterizedby a strong Iranian influence in theirpersonal and place-names. Its application is frequently limited to thetribes inhabiting the coastal flatlandsof the Black Sea region.

But archaeologists have shownthat the early Scythian monumentsof this region are related to ancientsteppe cultures which go back as faras the middle of the second millen

nium B.C. In this article the term

is used in a broader sense, includingin the "Scythian" world a vast massof tribes sharing the same economicand cultural existence and spreadover a much wider area.

From the sixth to the third centu

ries B.C., the steppelands betweenthe Don, the Volga and the Uralswere the home of a culture similar

to that of the Black Sea Scythians.The bearers of this culture, whom theGreeks called Sarmatians, were inturn linked with the tribes of Eastern

Kazakhstan, whose own culture isbrilliantly represented by a series ofgold plaques depicting reclining deer,found in the sixth-century Chilik-tinsky kurgan.

These links stretched beyond thesteppes of Kazakhstan still further,to the High Altai, whose frozenburial mounds have yielded perfectlypreserved collections of objects madeof wood, bone, felt and metal, inwhich Chinese, Iranian and Scythianinfluences are clearly apparent.

The development of Scythian culture in the lands north of the Black

Sea was certainly affected by thetrading colonies which the Greekshad established on the coast at the

end of the seventh century B.C., butthe Greeks themselves had alreadyencountered Scythians whose cultureowed nothing to outside influences,and the objects which their goldsmiths made specially for Scythiancustomers can be easily distinguishedfrom purely Scythian artifacts. Objects of both types are now familiarto us, as a result of excavations.

antiquities took place at the Kul Obakurgan near Kerch, on the straitsconnecting the Black Sea to the Seaof Azov, in 1830. A stone vault

under the mound proved to containa rich burial of the fourth centuryB.C. with an outstanding collectionof Greek-made jewellery. Some ofthe pieces, including a gold torquedecorated with figures of Scythianhorsemen, had obviously been madespecially for Scythian customers.

Of particular interest is a spherically-shaped vase made of electruma natural gold-silver alloy), the body

of which is decorated with four

groups of figures illustrating a Greeklegend of the founding of the Scythian dynasty, which Herodotus alsorecorded.

The scenes on the vase (analysedin detail in an article on pages 1 5 and16) depict the efforts of the threesons of Heracles (the Scythian Targitaus) and a strange serpent-womarr

WARRIORS AND LIONS figureon this splendid 4th century B.C.gold comb from a Scythian tombat Solokha, on the lower Dnieper,in the Ukraine. The group ofcombatants and the five

crouching lions beneath themare worked in relief on both

sides giving the illusion of beingsculptured in the round. Onewarrior has been unhorsed and

his mount lies helpless on theground. The three beardedwarriors are Scythians, butthe Greek goldsmith who madethe four-inch wide comb addedGreek elements to the work,

including the helmets and thearmour (see also article page 1 5).

goddess to decide which of themshall lead the tribe, by being thefirst to bend a bow left with their

mother by their father. Two of thebrothers fail the test, collecting inthe process nasty injuries typical ofclumsy bowmanship, but Scythes,the youngest, succeeds.

Excavations of a great number ofkurgans in the coastal steppes aroundthe Black Sea, in the Crimea and inthe Northern Caucasus, during thelast half of the nineteenth century,brought to light a number of magnificent examples of specifically Scythian art, and of Greek craftsmanship commissioned by the Scythians.

Typical Scythian motifs s were thereclining deer with branch-like antlersand the panther, which possibly served as tribal symbols. These animals decorate the solid gold plaqueson shields found in sixth-centurykurgans in the Kuban region; theywere also regularly depicted in thedecorations on quivers.

Links between the Scythians andtheir western and southern neighbours are clearly reflected in the findsfrom the kurgans. Scythian burialsin the Ukraine have yielded a numberof Thracian objects, an outstandingexample of which is the silver-trim

med bridle found in the Khomina

Mogila kurgan in 1970, whose de-'corations include intricately engraved plaques depicting animal heads.

The contents of the Chertomlykkurgan, excavated by I.E. Zabelin,included a silver vaselater to becomefamousdecorated in relief with

figures of Scythian horse-breeders,and an iron sword whose gold hilt,depicting two calves' heads and ahunting scene, is a splendid exampleof Iranian decoration of the fifth cen

tury B.C.This sword, which was possibly a

trophy from the Greco-Persian orScytho-Persian wars, was in a goldscabbard of Greek manufacture depicting a battle with the Persians, similar in composition to the scenes ofthe Battle of Marathon which

decorate Greek temples of the fifthand fourth centuries B.C.

Iranian (Achaemenid) objects wereno rarity in Scythian burial mounds.One of the several burial crypts ofthe Great Bliznitsa kurgan on theTaman peninsula, excavated between1864 and 1868, contained two interesting objects of Near Easternorigin : an Achaemenid seal-ring ofgold showing a king wrestling witha lion; and an Egyptian amulet infaience depicting the head of thegod Besa diminutive figure withthe face of a monster and a head

dress of feathers or palm-fronds.This amulet could have arrived via

Iran, like the Egyptian alabaster vessel with hieroglyphic and cuneiforminscriptions mentioning the nameof the Achaemenid king Artaxerxesdiscovered in the southern Urals.

Scythian culture thus reflects therelations with neighbouring and distant lands which contributed to the

establishment of the link between

Eastern Europe and the Far East,the wide east-west corridor which

was already open in the middle ofthe last millennium of the pre-Christian era and which, until the sixteenthcentury A.D., would form the famousSilk Route leading from the easternshores of the Mediterranean, throughIran, Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan to the banks of the Hwang Horiver. The world of the Scythiansfully deserves its place in ancienthistory.

Boris B. Piotrovsky

8

ANTIQUITY'S GREAT

REPORTER HISTORIAN

AMONG THE SCYTHIANS

modern archaeologyconfirms the stories

of Herodotus

by

Yaroslav V. Domansky

AROUND the middle of the 5th

century B.C., a young mannamed Herodotus left his

native city of Halicarnassus in AsiaMinor, and began the travels thatwere to take him from the western

Mediterranean to Mesopotamia.

Vast distances lay ahead of him,separating many different lands andpeoples : through the Aegean to theislands of the Archipelago and thetowns of the Peloponnesus; eastwards to Babylon; westwards as faras Sicily; southwards to Egypt andthe banks of the Nile; northwardsthrough the Balkan peninsula toThrace. And one day Herodotusarrived in Olbia, one of the mostnortherly of the Greek city-colonies,on the shores of the Black Sea.

Founded a century-and-a-halfearlier on the estuary of the riverBug, Olbia was thriving, and fullyliving up to its name ("olbia", inGreek, meant "prosperous").

But although he was usuallycurious about everything, neitherOlbia's present nor its past particularly interested the young manfrom Halicarnassus as he stood on

the city walls. He was lookingoutwards, over the vast plain whichstretched away into the distance.

Somewhere out there, beyondthe horizon, lived the Scythians,the people who, after an exhaustingwar, had finally humiliated Darius,king of the Persians.

The Greeks themselves had resis-ited the Persian invaders for many!

YAROSLAV VITAL'EVICH DOMANSKY,

a leading Soviet historian and archaeologist,is a senior member of the staff of the Her

mitage Museum in Leningrad. An authorityon the antiquities of the region north ofthe Black Sea, about which he has written

a number of works, he has excavated manysites along the lower reaches of the river Bugin the Ukraine.

L years, and it was Herodotus' ambi-'' tion to write the history of that war.

Obviously, the Scythians must comeinto the story.

There were a great number ofpeople in Olbia who had spent theirlives in the steppes, who had travelled the length and breadth of thelands north of the Black Sea, andwho had many a tale to tell aboutthe world of the Scythians, so different from that of the Greeks.

Herodotus was an attentive listen

er, and the contrasts with the wayof life which he had known at home

fascinated him. He wanted to

write about all things unusual,leaving nothing out, and so he collected all these talesincluding theunlikely onesfrom his Greek andScythian informants, one of whom,a certain Tymnes, had actually beena man of confidence of the Scythianking Ariapeithes.

What Herodotus saw for himself

in Olbia, and what he heard, formeda colourful patchwork picture of theScythian world and Scythian ways,in which the past and the present,the important and the insignificant,the possible and the highly improbable jostled for space, and whichhe would incorporate in the pagesof his History.

Thus, the first record of its kind,by the man who has been called the"Father of History", would containan account of one of the first peoplesidentifiable by name to have inhabited what is now part of the SovietUnion.

Herodotus was in Olbia in or

about the year 450 B.C. Five yearslater, he was reading parts of hismanuscript to the citizens of Athens,who were so impressed that theyoffered him a grant of money tocontinue with his project.

Let us listen with them now to

the words of the narrator: "Their land

is level, well-watered, and abounding in pasture"... "Having neithercities nor forts, and carrying theirdwellings with them wherever theygo; accustomed, moreover, one andall of them, to shoot from horseback; and living not by husbandrybut their cattle, their waggons theonly homes that they possess..."

Thus Herodotus describes the

nomadic life of the Scythians,roaming in hordes over the "vastnessof the great plain" between theDanube and the Don, women andchildren in the waggons and the menon horseback, ready at any momentto defend their families and their

herds with their spears and with thebows and arrows which they handledwith such skill.

Being "entirely bare of trees", theland of the Scythians was "utterlybarren of firewood." They stuffedtheir meat, haggis-wise, into thestomach of the animal, and cookedit in cauldrons over a fire madewith the animal's own bones. In

A PLEDGE

OF BROTHERHOOD

Like many pieces of Scythianjewellery, this goldornamental plaque forclothing reveals a customamong the nomads of thesteppes. It shows twoScythians making a pledgeof everlasting brotherhood ina ritual also described byHerodotus. They kneel noseto nose, their profiles joinedtogether, and hold a singlehorn-shaped vessel in whichthey have mingled drops oftheir blood with wine.

The symbolism whereby twobecome one is also reflected

in the conception of theplaque: when the twoprofiles are viewed inclose-up (see enlarged detail,opposite page) .they form asingle face. This techniqueof "split representation" isrelatively common inScythian animal art (seecolour photo page 28) butis rarely found applied tothe human face. A

remarkable example of theScythian goldsmiths'virtuosity, this 4th centuryB.C. plaque is less than4 cms. high.

10

Mountain goats and rams frisking between flowers and palmettesbordered by two twisted cords of gold (below) evoke the pastorallife of nomad herdsmen who roamed the steppes 2,500 years ago inan endless quest for water and pastureland. Detail shown here isthe central motif of a gold pectoral (breast ornament) unearthedin 1868 in a burial crypt of the Great Bliznitsa tomb near the Seaof Azov. This masterpiece was considered a matchless example ofScythian jewellery until 1971, when an even more splendidprincely pectoral of similar style was discovered (see page 19).

this way comments Herodotus, "theox is made to boil himself, and othervictims also do the like."

Drinkers of mare's milk, the Scythians were also copious quarters ofimported wine, which they neverdiluted with water. "Serve us in

Scythian style !" called the Greeks,when the drink was flowing merrily.

True children of the steppe, theScythians were born herdsmen, although like their ancestors they alsohunted wild animals. Herodotus

was mainly concerned with the nomads, but he also noted that some

Scythians were "engaged in husbandry".

"Abundantly provided with themost important necessaries", theywere favoured with a land watered

by many rivers, including the Borys-thenes (the Dnieper) which, he tellsus, "has upon its banks the loveliestand most excellent pasturage forcattle; it contains abundance of themost delicious fish; its water is mostpleasant to the taste; its stream islimpid... the richest harvests springup along its course."

This sounds idyllic, but the life ofthe Scythians was in reality a hardone. Their manners and customs

reflected a cruel age, and the "Fatherof History" has left a detailed description of the Scythians at war.

As pitiless with their enemies asthey were loyal to their friends, theyset great store by ritual oath-taking.Parties to a treaty shed some of theirblood into a bowl filled with wine, and

then plunged into the mixture "asword, some arrows, a battle-axe anda spear, all the while repeatingprayers", after which the allies eachdrank from the bowl.

Herodotus noted with particular interest that the Scythians were notmuch given to the use of "mages,altars or temples", but he listed theirgods, identifying them with theirGreek equivalents and mentioningtheir role in the order of things.

Tahiti, whom the Greeks knew asHestia, protected the household. Pa-paeus (Zeus) was"very properly, inmy judgement", comments Herodotus charge of celestial affairs,while his wife Apia dealt with moreearthly matters. The Greek godHeracles, known to the Scythians asTargitaus, was believed to have beenthe first man ever to live in their

country, the father of their people.

The Scythians sacrificed domesticanimals, and horses in particular, toall these gods, as well as to Ares,the god of war, the only divinity inwhose honour they erected altars, inthe form of huge piles of brushwoodtopped with antique iron swords.The sacrificial victims included not

only cattle and horses, but also oneout of every hundred of their prisonersof war.

Scythia had "an abundance of |soothsayers, who foretell the future I

11

i by means of bundles of willow; wands". When the king fell sick, itwas their task to identify the traitorwhose false oath by the king's hearthhad caused the illness, and who was

promptly beheaded. In doubtfulcases, the king sought a second opinion; if the accused man was acquitted, the unfortunate soothsayerslost their own heads.

The Scythians were convincedthat there was a life beyond the grave,picturing it as a continuation of whathad gone before. Herodotus givesus a detailed description of the royalfunerals, when elaborate prepara-,tions were made to ensure that the

king lacked nothing in his after-life.

After digging a deep, rectangulargrave, the Scythians placed the embalmed body of their king on awaggon, and took it on a royal progress from tribe to tribe. Themourners mutilated their own ears,cropped their hair, lacerated theirarms, forehead and nose, and thrustan arrow through their left hands.

Returning to the grave, they lowered the king into the ground on alitter, which they surrounded witha fence of spears. Then they built aceiling of beams over the tomb, andthatched it with a roof of twigs.

In the open space around the king,they buried one of his concubines,first killing her by strangling, "togetherwith his cup-bearer, his cook, hisgroom, his lackey, his messenger,some of his horses, firstlings of allhis other possessions, and somegolden cups..." Finally, says Herodotus, "they set to work, and raisea vast mound over the grave, all ofthem vying with each other and seeking to make it as tall as possible."

But this was not the end of the

affair. A year later, fifty of the lateking's attendants were strangled andimpaled on the backs of fifty slaughtered horses. Firmly attached tostakes and arranged in a circle, thisghostly guard of honour was left to

protect the burial mound.

Every Scythian was bound to respect his gods, and betrayal wasseverely punished. In Olbia, Herodotus heard the cautionary tale of Scy-las, son and heir of the Scythian kingAriapeithes, who "disliked the Scythiemode of life, and was attached, byhis up-bringing, to the manners of theGreeks." Scylas had installed one ofhis wives, "who was a native of theplace", in a large house in Olbia, andwhen he visited the city, as he didfrequently, he dressed in Greek clothesand followed the Greek customs and

rites, even joining in the Bacchanalianrevels, which the Scythians considered offensive.

Seeing him the worse for wear,some kinsmen of Scylas told tales athome, and the ensuing indignationled to a revolt against Scylas, whowas obliged to decamp to Thrace.

But he soon fell into the hands of

his successor on the throne, and wasbeheaded without further delay."Thus rigidly do the Scythians maintain their own customs," wrote Herodotus, "and thus severely do theypunish such as adopt foreign usages."

The Scythians fascinated Herodotus in many ways, but there was onematter in particular, to which hefrequently referred, in which they had,he considered, "shown themselveswiser than any nation upon the faceof the earth... The one thing ofwhich I speak, is the contrivancewhereby they make it impossible forthe enemy who invades them toescape destruction, while they themselves are entirely out of his reach,unless it please them to engage withhim."

Herodotus' tale of the Scythianscontains a wealth of historical, geographical and ethnographical material.His colourful account of the campaignof Darius is embellished with digressions which are irrelevant to the

main theme, but which reveal theextent to which posterity is indebted

to the "Father or History" for itsknowledge of the ancient world and,more particularly, of the structure ofScythian society.

Herodotus could obviously nothave been expected to foresee thatthis subject would be of such interestto future historians, and to give thematter more than a passing glance,but his casual approach hasit mustbe admittedplaced his successorsin a very difficult position.

So much of what he wrote about

the Scythians remains open to different interpretations, and controversycontinues to bedevil any attempt bymodern scholars to understand his

writings and to relate them to othersources.

According to Herodotus, the structure of Scythian society was tribal,and it is clear that ancient tribal links

could, on occasion, provoke unitedaction by all the kinsmen. But thisbond had lost its earlier, all-embracingsignificance, and the patriarchal family had become the basic social unit.The customs of the Scythians reveala male-dominated society, under theauthority of the chief, with womenin a position of dependence.

Scythian society was not egalitarian, but on the contrary, relativelyclass-ridden. Although most Scythians were free men, irrespective ofpersonal power or wealth, there wasalso a slave class, whose existence

and activities are described by Herodotus, as well as a property-owningand aristocratic minority, composedof the leaders of the richest families,the royal entourage and the warriorchieftains, all under the supremeauthority of the king.

Scythia was ruled by tribal alliances.At the time of the Persian invasion

under Darius, at the end of the sixthcentury B.C., it was divided intothree kingdoms, under the overallcommand of Idanthyrsus who had virtually unlimited power, whether in theconduct of military affairs, the distri-

ELEGANT

HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS

Photo L Tarassova

Aurora Art Publishers,

LeningradPhotos A. BulgakovO Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

12

WHAT THE WELL-DRESSED HORSEMAN WORE

How Scythian horsemen of 2,500 years agodressed and the kind of equipment they usedis now known to the last detail (drawing right).This knowledge came with the discovery of aremarkably preserved set of accoutrements buriedwith a 5th-century-B. C. warrior in a Ukrainetomb (below). The conical helmet completewith earflaps, the leather back-piece coveredwith metal scales, the sword-belt of bronzeplaques and the breast-plate had all survived.Some of this equipment is depicted on a stonestele of the same period (left) as well as a longsword, a sheathed dagger, a rhyton (horn-shapeddrinking cup) and a gorytus (quiver for bow andarrows). The warrior's outfit also includedleg armour laced to trousers which were tuckedinto flat-soled felt boots.

y "WV: ii ..unir /.

K|

bution of booty or the destiny ofindividual Scythians, who could bepressed into service at will and whosedisobedience was punishable bydeath.

We have already seen the fatereserved for those who betrayed theiroath at the hearth of the king. In

The technical mastery with whichthe Scythians embellished even theireveryday objects is seen in theircauldrons, knives, perfume braziers,lamps, amphoras, jars, stools and avariety of other elegantly wroughtutensils. The three objects shownat left are about 2,500 years old :

1 Bronze lamp to hold six wicks(11 cms. high).

2 Bronze mirror (18 cms. diameter)with fluted handle topped by apanther.

3 Bronze meat-strainer or sieve

used for lifting boiling meat fromthe pot. A wooden stick wasinserted in the hollow handle.

anticipation of the king's own demise,a substantial stock of sacrificial

material, including slaves as well ashorses and precious objects, was kepthandy.

The Scythian king was above all amilitary leader. War, as a source ofprosperity, enabling the aristocrats toacquire riches and wealth, was aregular activity, and the life of theScythians, who were constantly' inarms, was permeated with martialarts, traditions and customs.

This mass of warriors was capableof bending the sovereign's will. Aprimitive form of democracy fromearlier times survived, for example, inthe assemblies which united all the

men-at-arms in discussion of matters

of importance and whichas was probably the case of the unfortunateScylascould decide the fate of theking himself.

Scythian society was full of contradictions. With the exception of oneor two excursions into the past, Herodotus was writing about events in themiddle of the fifth century B.C., achapter of Scythian history which wasto be followed by many others. Itwas a period of change in all respects,but the old ways of life had not beenentirely abandoned, and would leave

their imprint on all that came afterwards.

Altogether, the Scythians occupiedthe stage of history for some thousandyears, about as long as Ancient Rome,living through a series of experienceswhich left no trace behind them.

But the little that we do know reflects

a dramatic destiny, full of variety andconflict.

There is no doubt that in the

seventh century B.C., the Scythianswere the scourge of the East. In612 B.C., they had joined in sackingthe Assyrian capital, Nineveh. Threehundred years later they were tosuffer defeat at the hands of Philip ofMacedn.

In the sixth century, they hadconfirmed their independence byrouting Darius and his Persian army;at the end of the second century, theGreeks were to rout them in battleafter battle in the Crimea.

At the dawn of their history, theyhad mounted almost unbelievable

raids as far as Egypt; as the sun set,they would be confined to a smallarea of the Crimean steppe, thehorses on which they had ridden soproudly throughout their history exchanged for the tools of farmers. w

Originally rejecting everything that f

13

reflected Hellas, they were finally tomingle with the crowds in the Greektrading-cities of the Black Sea coast.

Warriors who had smashed everything that lay in their path, theywould value artistic creation, andbecome outstanding craftsmen themselves.

And when, in the third centuryA.D., Scythia and the ancient Scythians had ceased to exist, the once-terrible name remained, and wasadopted by those who occupied theirformer territories, including the earlySlavs.

Silence fell over the Scythians forfifteen hundred years. And then, atthe turn of the eighteenth-nineteenthcenturies, the past became the future,as their monuments began to speak.All manner of Scythian relics awaitedthe spades of the archaeologists; thetime was rapidly approaching when'the truth of Herodotus' tales could be

put to the test.

The study of Scythian antiquitiesbegan soon after the lands north ofthe Black Sea became Russian terri

tory. Since then, a great number ofmonuments have been investigated,among the most important of whichare the famous burial mounds, orkurgans.

Many of these mounds marked thelast resting-place of chieftains orkings, and proved to be complexconstructions in the form of crypts orcatacombs, containing a great varietyof objects. Some of them had beenplundered long ago, but what therobbers had rejected was of the greatest interest to the archaeologists.

The inventory of everyday objectsis a long one, and includes bronzecauldrons and earthenware utensils;gold rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants and ornaments for the head;costume jewellery in metalware(usually stitched to the garment);swords, battle-axes, spears, arrows,quivers, scabbards and armour; harness for horses and ritual articles.

Various materials were used in

their production, ranging from gold,bronze and clay to iron, silver, boneand stone. The objects themselvescame from a variety of sources, someof them being of local manufactureand others imported from abroadhonestly purchased, looted by raiding-parties or obtained through tradewith other tribes.

Excavation on the whole confirmed

Herodotus' account of life in the

steppes, at least as far as its materialaspects were concerned, and justifiedhis claim to be considered as the

founder of historical science.

With one or two inaccuracies or

omissions, what the archaeologistsdiscovered in the royal tombs matcheshis descriptions of the funerals ofkings. The bronze cauldrons whichthey unearthed correspond to those inwhich, according to Herodotus, theScythians boiled their meat, and if

14

they found quantities of wood-ash,ashes from the hearths of at least one

settlement indicate that bones did on

occasion replace firewood.

In 1830, a new page was turned inthe history of the study of Scythianantiquities when excavations beganat the Kul Oba kurgan near Kerch, onthe straits between the Black Sea

and the Sea of Azov. Among themany objects brought to light was aunique collection of articles whichhave attracted the attention of scho

lars ever since.

Under the mound was a stone

crypt containing three bodies, buriedin the fourth century B.C., togetherwith a quantity of gold artifacts decorated in a manner never seen before

and depicting scenes in the life of awarrior people whose clothes, headgear and general appearance in noway resembled those of the Greeks.

A solid gold torque was decoratedwith figures of horsemen, and goldornaments sewn to the clothing of thedead people were embossed withfigures of bowmen firing arrows,riders brandishing spears and soldierswith quivers and bow-cases attachedto their belts.

Who were the warriors portrayedin these scenes? The immediate

opinion of the archaeologists who hadunearthed these objects was correct.They were Scythians, drawn, as itwere, "from life".

For the first time, scholars whoseonly acquaintance with an ancientpeople had come through the pagesof Herodotus and other writers found

themselves face-to-face with Scythian realities. What did they looklike ? How did they arm themselves?What did they wear? How did theybehave? The answers were there,

before their very eyes.

Kul Oba was only the first in aseries of burial mounds to yield metalobjects portraying the Scythians. In1 862, excavations began in the extraordinary Chertomlyk kurgan near theDnieper, which produced a gold andsilver vase decorated with a frieze of

sculptured human figures and horsessimilar to those found on objects fromKul Oba, and which is generally considered to depict the horse-breedersand horse-breakers of the Scythiansteppes.

In 1912-1913, the neighbouringSolokha kurgan, which was also aroyal tomb, produced further objectsdecorated with scenes from Scythianlife, including a golden comb portraying Scythian warriors in battle.

We have mentioned only a few ofthe most significant discoveries madein the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and illustratingthe "Scythian theme" in ancient art.The most immediate impressionwhich they leave is one of artistic andtechnical perfection. The goldencomb referred to above, for example,is composed of a number of finely-

CONTINUED PAGE 48

Three vases

recount

the legendof KingTargitaus

by

Dimitri S. Raevsky

DIMITRI SERGEEVICH RAEVSKY,Soviet archaeologist, is engaged on research at the Oriental Institute of the

Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.in Moscow. He has written many studies on the history and culture of theScythians and is the author of a book onScythian mythology, as it has beenrecreated on the basis of archaeologicaldata and descriptions by authors ofAntiquity, to be published in 1977.

IN the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.,Scythian artists and Greek artistswho had settled in the Scythian

territories began to provide the localScythian nobility with beautiful piecesof craftsmanship made according tothe tastes of their patrons and incorporating many subjects and motifs.

Did these motifs merely depictscenes from everyday life or werethey themes of greater significance?Professor Boris N. Grakov, a leadingSoviet authority on Scythian culture,has affirmed that the content and

style of these scenes are too specificfor them to be merely representations of everyday situations. Hesees them as possible representationsof Scythian myths.

By comparing these portrayals withthe information given us by Classicalauthors, we should be able to reconstruct Scythian mythology.

%&smio v K h.KS2***

The story of the first Scythian king, Targitaus, and his three sons depictedon a frieze encircling a silver vessel (drawing no. 1, opposite page)discovered in the north of Kuban. The old king converses withhis eldest son (4) and bids farewell to his second son (5) who, holdingtwo spears in his right hand, is about to set off on a journey. To hisbeardless youngest son Targitaus proffers his bow, symbol of authority (6).

Photos Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.. Moscow

Photo L Tarassova Kiev State Historical Museum

6

Herodotus relates the Scythianlegend of the first hero, who wasknown to the Scythians as Targitaus,but whom the Greek colonists of the

Black Sea region, and Herodotus also,referred to as Heracles, the famoushero of Greek myth.

At the beginning of the 1950s,Professor Grakov put forward theinteresting hypothesis that the numerous Scythian representations of aman fighting with a fantastic beast alldepict the exploits of Targitaus.

Professor Grakov also claimed that

such works were popular among theScythians because Targitaus, according to Herodotus, was consideredto be the direct ancestor of the

Scythian kings. Is it possible, then,to identify features in Scythian artwhich directly relate to the myth ofTargitaus ?

According to one version of thislegend, Targitaus-Heracles had threesons. In order to determine which

of them was the most worthy ofbecoming the ruler of the Scythians, 'he decided to put them to a test.Each had to attempt to string hisfather's bow and strap on the beltwhich he wore in battle. This trial

required, as may well be imagined,great strength and skill, and only

the youngest of the brothers. Scythes,succeeded. According to the legendhe then became the first ruler of the

Scythians and his two older brotherswere sent into exile.

This subject is depicted in anastonishing number of works ofScythian art. At the beginning ofthis century a small ritual silver vessel (drawing 1) which clearly originated from the Black Sea area, was

found in a tomb along the course ofthe Don.

Six male figures are represented onthis vessel, grouped in three pairedscenes. One of the figures reappearsin all three scenes. He is an elderlyScythian with long hair and a beard.

In one of the scenes (4) he is represented in conversation with another

Scythian. Another scene (5) is moreimportant: the same character bidsfarewell to a warrior who holds a

spear in each hand and may besetting off on an expedition to distantlands.

But it is the third scene (6) whichseems to be the most significant ofall: the same hero proffers his bowto his companion, who is clearly theyoungest person in the grouphe hasnot yet even grown the customaryScythian beard.

/ZJX'

All the details of this compositionseem to indicate that it is a representation of Targitaus and his three sons.Two of them he is exiling from hisrealm. Targitaus even holds upthree fingers to the departing warrior,as if to remind him that all the bro

thers had been subjected to the test.Meanwhile he proffers his bow tothe third and youngest son as asymbol of his victory and as anemblem of his power.

A few years ago, during the excavations at Gaimanova Mogila in theUkraine, a vessel (drawing 2, page 14and photo page 17) was foundshowing another young Scythiantaking an oblong object from thehands of an older man. Unfortunate

ly that part of the vessel (drawing 7,page 1 6) was seriously damaged andthe object cannot be made out.

But the content of the scene and

the appearance of the charactersmake it possible for us to see herethe very moment at which Targitaushands his . bow to his youngestson. On the opposite side of thevessel are two other Scythians, whomay well be the victor's exiledbrothers.

Now let us turn to the most re-w

nowned Scythian ritual vessel (3). r

15

Drawing of circular frieze (left)embellishing a gilded silver cup lessthan 10 cms high (drawing n 2,

I page 14, and photo opposite.I Unearthed at Gaimanov (Ukraine),y it dates from the 4th centuryI B.C. At far right of drawing areI two long-haired, bearded menI dressed in Scythian fashion. At

centre left an old man is offeringsomething to a younger one. This

I scene may be a variant of the legendI of the Scythian king Targitaus.

Photos Institute of Oriental Studies

of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.; Moscow

, Made of gold and 1 3 cm high, it wasfound almost a century and a halfago in the Kul Oba kurgan on theKerch Peninsula in the Crimea.

A frieze encircles the vase, representing seven Scythians, busy at different occupations. One of themis kneeling on his right knee, hisleft leg over a bow, stretching it,while he strings it with the right handand holds it steady with the left.This may be a representation of thefeat that Targitaus asked of his sons.

If this is so how can we interpretwhat is happening in the other sceneson the vase? One Scythian is bandaging the wounded leg of another.Beside him, another Scythian isprobing for something with histhumb and forefinger in the mouthof his companion. The explanationof this somewhat unexpected sceneis as follows.

When unstrung, the Scythian bowis curved at both ends in the oppositedirection from the bow-string (in theform of a cursive letter "w" with a

hook on each end). If the archerattempts to draw it tight in themanner indicated on the vase, butdoes not have the necessary strengthand dexterity, the wood can spring

back violently, wounding him by ablow either on the left leg or thelower jaw.

The force of the backlash is such

that it may be capable of breakinga bone and could certainly dislodge atooth. Perhaps Targitaus's oldersons received these wounds, throughnot being able to carry out theirfather's test. Is this what we see onthe vessel from Kul Oba ?

What did the Scythians imaginhappened to Targitaus's older sons?Herodotus does not tell us, butworld folklore recounts numerous

versions of the rivalry between threebrothers, in which the youngest isvictorious. These versions differ in

many details but usually have thesame ending: the older brothers,enraged by the younger's success,slay him.

This is how the story ends in thenarrative of the three sons of Ferey-dun, the hero of an ancient Iranian

epic, whose general characteristics,resemble those of the ScythianTargitaus.

The scene shown on the Gaimanova

Mogila vase described above suggests that the end of the Scythianmyth may be very similar. The two

From right to left: a Scythian wearing a pointed helmetbandages his comrade's leg. Another seems to be actingas a dentist, probing in the mouth of his companion. Yetanother is stringing his bow, a task said to havebeen given to the sons of Targitaus. Two morefigures seem to be gossiping while they lean on theirspears. The drawing depicts a frieze decorating an electrum(gold and silver alloy) vase discovered at Kul Obain the Crimea (drawing n 3, page 14).

persons who represent, accordingto our interpretation, the elderbrothersare heavily armed, while the youngestbrother and the father have onlybows. Has the artist not portrayed here the precise momentwhen the two brothers hatch their

murderous plot against their victorious rival ?

Another renowned Scythian treasure is the gold comb (4th centuryB.C.) from the Solokha kurgan, inthe lower Dnieper River region (seephoto page 8). Two Scythian warriors, one on foot and the other onhorseback, are attacking and vanquishing a third one. Could thesealso be the sons of Targitaus?

A Roman poet, Caius ValeriusFlaccus (Ist century A. D.) confirmsthis theory in his poem "The Argo-nautica!'

In the midst of items which have

nothing to do with the myth, hesuddenly mentions a combat betweentwo individuals whose names are verysimilar in sound to those of Targitaus-Heracles' sons. His description ofthe combat also evokes that represented on the comb: the warrior's horse

is dead, he himself is wounded, deathwill soon overtake him...

Thus, such artistic representationsmake it possible to link together thefragments of Scythian myths preserved by different authors and toreconstruct on this basis a singleconnected narrative.

The popularity of the legend ofTargitaus and his sons and the frequent enactment of this subject onritual objects should not surprise us.After all, this was a dynastic myth,which supported the Scythian kings'claim to the throne.

However, it must be admitted thatthese interpretations are still notunanimously accepted, and thatthere are other possible explanations and approaches to this subject.Meanwhile the search for the truth

continues...

Dimitri S. Raevsky

Four Ukrainian archaeologistspresent their latest finds

IN the steppes of Eastern Europelarge earthen mounds mark theburial places of ancient Scythian

rulers. These royal "kurgans" werein most cases plundered in antiquityby thieves in search of the hoards ofgold hidden within the tombs.

For the first time, during the pastsix or seven years, systematic excavations of Scythian kurgans havebeen carried out on a large scale,using the latest scientific methods,by expeditions from the Institute ofArchaeology of the Academy ofSciences of the Ukrainian S. S. R.

Undertaken in connexion with

extensive land improvement projectsin the south of the Ukraine, the

research on the royal tombs hasaroused tremendous interest. Al

though they were first excavated inthe 19th and at the start of the 20th

century, and had been pillaged inancient times, the tombs were stillfound to contain an astonishing wealthof treasures.

The many objects unearthed includeremarkable pieces of jewellery, ornately decorated weapons, gold andsilver vessels and other outstandingworks of ancient art. They have nowbecome part of the world's culturalheritage.

Among the best known of the royalkurgans dating from the 4th and 3rdcenturies B.C. are those of Chertom-

lyk, Solokha, Oguz, Alexandropol',Kozel, Bol'shaia Tsymbalka andChmyrev, all situated in the Dnepropetrovsk, Zaprozhye or Kherson

regions of the Ukraine. The famouskurgan of Kul Oba, near Kerch, in theCrimea, can also be included amongthese tombs by virtue of the wealthof objects it contained.

On the following pages, Ukrainianarchaeologists present a few of theirmost recent discoveries.

Ivan ArtemenkoDirector of the Institute

of Archaeology of theUkrainian Academy of Sciences

2 - the golden cup of GaimanovDURING 1969-70, the Gaima-

nova Mogila kurgan, whichoccupies a central position

among more than 50 burials of Scythian warriors, was excavated andstudied by an expedition from theInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the UkrainianS.S.R. Gaimanova Mogila is stu-ated near the village of Balka in theVasil'ievska district of the Zaporozhyeregion.

In comparison with the otherkurgans, which are about 1 to 1.5metres high, Gaimanova Mogila is

remarkable for its sizeover 8 metres

high and about 80 metres in diameter.Its enormous size, its sharp outlinesagainst the flat steppe landscape andits gleaming white stone facingemphasized the exceptional importance of the individual buried in it.

Gaimanova Mogila served as aburial vault for Scythian royalty, andthe funeral objects discovered in itcorrespond in many details to thecustoms associated with the burial of

Scythian kings as described by Herodotus. We found golden and silvervessels, the attributes of Scythian

royal power, cups, horns for wine, adrinking bowl, a pitcher, and the bodies of those servants who, accordingto Herodotus, were buried with a king.

However, Gaimanova Mogila'sfame as one of the most valuable

historical monuments of Scythia isnot solely due to the extremely richfinds of eating and cooking utensilsand the several thousand excellent

pieces of jewellery. The most important discoveries were the objectsburied in the cache of the northern

tomb. These included golden andsilver ritual vessels, as well as three

17

UKTEST UKRAINIAN FINDS (Continued)

wooden cups with rolled gold discsalong the rim; also in the cache werea flat silver drinking cup and twodrinking horns, with silver bases andgolden mouths and tips in the formsof the head of a ram and a lion.

These objects were accompanied bysilver pitchers and a round drinking-bowl placed in a gilded silver vessel.

With the exception of the largedrinking horn and the wooden cupswhich are the work of a local Scythiancraftsman, the remaining objects inthe cache are made in the style ofGreek art of the 4th century B.C.and show clear links with the jewellery workshops of the Bosphorus.

The most outstanding work ofScytho-Classical art found in theGaimanova Mogila kurgan is a smallspherical gilded silver cup, with twoflat horizontal handles decorated with

rams' heads. The central designon the cup is a wide frieze in highrelief, depicting Scythian warriors.

The warriors stand against abackground showing an open, stonyarea and are connected with each

other by their involvement in common activities. They are superblyintegrated into the form of the vessel.The four major figures are displayedin pairs on the surface of the cup; theother two kneel under the cup'shandles. [For an interpretation ofthese figures on the golden cup ofGaimanov see article page 15].

On one side of the cup stand twoelderly warriors, engaged in conversation. Long-haired and bearded, theyare dressed in rich clothing and carryceremonial precious weaponry. Theirlong kaftans, with triangular gussets,are trimmed with fur and embroidered

on the shoulders and chest with

fantastical designs. Their hairstylesare highly distinctive, and theirweapons in particular betoken thehighest authority. The mace of thewarrior on the right and the two-thonged whip held by the one on theleft, suggest that the two men belonged to the elite of Scythian leaders.

On the opposite side of the cupan elderly bearded warrior and ayoung Scythian are conversing.

Their clothing is just as luxurious,their weapons just as costly, buttheir poses are somewhat different.The young Scythian holds in his righthand a ritual drinking-bowl, and hisleft hand is outstretched, like that

of the elderly warrior. Under onehandle of the vessel, a youth on hisknees is prostrating himself before awineskin, while the kneeling figureunder the other handle is an elderlywarrior, with his gorytus (the combination quiver and bow-case typicalof the Scythians) beside him. Hehas one hand stretched up to hisforehead and is gripping somethingwith the other.

All the figures are gilded, and onlythe faces and hands are silver. Each

image is individual in style. It isworth emphasizing that this is thefirst known example of Scythiandcorative art depicting Scythianleaders of the highest rank.

Vasily BidziliaInstitute of Archaeologyof the Ukrainian Academyof Sciences

Photo Art Publishers, Moscow

18

Scythian idyllon a royalbreastplate

On this gold pectoral or breastplate (right) the artist hasdepicted scenes in minute detailmaking this masterpiece of thegoldsmith's art (30 cm. in diameter)a vivid portrayal of Scythianpastoral life. At centre of upperfrieze of the pectoral (detail left)two men on their knees are holdingand sewing a sheepskin tunic.They wear the typical trousersand boots of the nomad horsemen

of the steppes. This 4th centuryB.C. Greco-Scythian pectoralwas wrought near the Black Seaand was discovered in the Ukraine

in 1971 in a Scythian ruler's tomb.Photo O APN, Moscow

THE excavations in 1971 of

Tolstaya Mogila, one of themost magnificent royal tombs

of Scythia, turned out to be a momentous event for archaeology. In thcentre of the tomb was the burial

of the ruler himself, with beside himtwo pits for the burial of horses andthe three tombs of his leading grooms.In the south-western part of thekurgan two dark patches marked theentrances to a side tomb, which hadescaped plunder.

In this tomb lay the skeleton of ayoung Scythian woman, probably thewife of the ruler. All her clothesher

dresses, veils and sandalswere

embroidered with ornamental goldendiscs. Her jewellery was of gold.

Beside the woman was an alabaster

sarcophagus containing the body of achild who had died later and had

been carried into the grave througha separate entrance. The whole ofits tiny skeleton was also covered ingolden plaques, rings, bracelets andneck ornaments.

Everything was in a perfect state ofpreservation when, 2,300 years afterthe burial, the first archaeologistsentered the grave. But although thecentral grave had been plundered,

in it were found the objects whichwere to make Tolstaya Mogila world-famous. These were the most precious of the king's ceremonialemblems of authority: a sword covered in gold, a gold-wrapped whip,and, most spectacular of all, a goldenpectoral, or breastplate.

The pectoral weighs 1,150 grammes. Its crescent-shaped surface isdivided into three bands by broadelegant twisted cords of gold.

In the centre of the lowest band

three scenes show a horse beingattacked and pulled down by griffins.Beyond them are depicted the combats of a wild boar and a deer with a

leopard and a lion, and at each endof this band a hound chases after a

hare. In front of each hare two

grasshoppers face each othereternalsymbols of peace and tranquility.

The middle band is decorated with

plant motifs and among the wonderfully interwoven flowers, shoots,palmleaves, rosettes and leaves, fivelifelike figures of birds evoke theatmosphere of a quiet sunny morning.

Linked with the lower band into a

single picture, the middle band formsa kind of interlude between the large-scale sculptural figures on the lower

and upper bands and gives the wholework its unity as a great symphonicpoem about Scythian life and ideas.

In the upper band, four Scythiansgo about their peaceful tasks surrounded by domestic animals. Inthe centre two men, stripped to thewaist, their quivers and bows closeat hand, are sewing a sheepskintunic. To the left and right of thema cow and a mare suckle their youngand further on two youths are milking ewes. Birds in flight completethe composition, communicating animpression of the infinity of the world.

With its perfect proportions and theoutstanding beauty and naturalnessof its movements, each figure is asculptural masterpiece. An extraordinary composition, the work as awhole undoubtedly has a complexsymbolic meaning. But, quite apartfrom its true significance, it seemsclear that in this work the artist was

striving, directly or indirectly, toconvey a philosophical picture of hisworld, with all its aspirations and itsdreams.

For the first time, we see on a

ritual royal object neither battle 'scenes nor noble warriors, but a vistasof earthly life in all its harmony. f

19

LATEST UKRAINIAN FINDS (Continued)

Such a find was unprecedented inthe field of Scythian studies. Itreflected, as a drop of dew does thesun, the full brilliance and radianceof rpyal Scythian gold, much more ofwhich has been found at TolstayaMogila than in Kul Oba, previouslythe richest Scythian tomb everexcavated.

Yet the importance of these findslies not in the gold, butin the pricelesshistorical-revelations that come from

every object in the Tolstaya tomband the imperishable artistic valueof its most exquisite works.

Boris MozolevskyInstitute of Archaeologyof the Ukrainian Academyof Sciences

DEER-STALKING LIONS. Each end of this solid gold neck-ring is decoratedwith seven lions stalking a deer whose hindquarters mergeinto the decorative pattern on the neck-ring. This ornament belongedto a Scythian noblewoman buried 2,300 years ago with all her jewels.It came to light in 1971 in the same tomb as the magnificent pectoralshown on page 19. The tomb was robbed but both objects were missedby the plunderers.

Photo L Tarassova O Kiev State Historical Museum.

ENIGMATIC GRIFFIN. Bronze ornament (left) in the form

of a stylized griffin may have surmounted a staff,a ceremonial standard or the decoration of a catafalque.Discovered in 1971, it dates from the 4th century B.C.and is only 5 cms. high.

WELL-TRAVELLED BOAR. This gold boar with silver tusksmay have been the base of a wine-cup. The wild boarwas a cult animal for the Celts and this work

was probably made by a Celtic craftsman in Central Europein the 4th century B.C. Its discovery in the Ukraineis evidence of the trade links that existed in ancient times

between the Scythian world and its Western neighbours.Unearthed in 1970, the boar is 5 cms. longand weighs less than 20 grammes.

Photo L Tarassova 'O Kiev State Historical Museum.

SCYTHIAN PANOPLY. Carved in limestone 2,500 years ago, this statue isthe full-length portrayal of a Scythian warrior in helmet and armour (see alsobox page 13). From his belt hang the typical short Scythian sword (the akinakes)a quiver for bow and arrows (the gorytus), a battle-axe and a sheathed dagger.He is wearing a neck-ring and in his right hand he grips to his breast a rhyton,a horn-shaped drinking cup. The 2-metre-high statue may originally havetopped a burial mound. It was found near the Black Sea in 1975 byarchaeologists of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine.

Photo O V. Kloshko. Kiev

a horse's finerycapped

by a goddessof the chase

A 2,400-year-old Scythian ornament of singular beautyand originality was recently

unearthed in the Ukraine (the firstphoto of this, work ever publishedappears on the centre colour pages ofthis issue).

The ornament, a horse's gold bridlepiece, came to light when the undisturbed grave of a man and two horseswas uncovered at the end of a corri

dor. The discovery was made bytwo specialists in the archaeology ofEarly Iron Age cultures, I. P. Savovskyand Yu. V. Boltrik, who were directingexcavations at the village of Giunovkoin the Kamenskoye-Dnieper districtof the Zaporozhye region.

A man of about 25 lay by the wallof the passageway. The small number and modest nature of the objectsnear him (a gold ear-ring, an iron bracelet, glass beads and a bunch ofarrows) showed his subordinate position in society: he was most probably a groom. The horse buried bythe opposite wall was also modestlydecorated: the archaeologists foundan iron bit and the fastenings of abridle.

In comparison, the decoration ofthe second horse, lying in the middle,was striking in its magnificence. Itconsisted of a bridle frontlet in the

form of a lion, two cheekplates showing a lion pulling down a deer, fourphaleras, or discs with running spirals,and two plaques without decoration.All the objects were of gilded silver.

The horse's head was crowned

with a flat top-piece. This waspainted blue, with a leather base, andhad a delicate segment-shaped goldplaque (33 cm by 20 cm) stuck to it.

The decoration on this "diadem for

a horse" is new for Scythian art. Awoman rider is firing arrows at a stagunder a tree which is crowned by twoenormous stylized flowers with red-coloured outer petals.

Plant shoots are visible under the

feet of the horse and the stag, andplant motifs dominate the scene.The antlers of the stag are intertwinedwith the branches of the tree and a

wide border of plant ornamentation iwavy shoots with whorls sprouting I

21

LATEST UKRAINIAN FINDS

(Continued)

from themframes the perimeter ofthe ornament. The top-piece is aminiature decorative panel in whichthe colourful effect is achieved by acombined use of gold, blue and red.The skilled craftsmanship has giventhe work an appearance of delicategold lace.

The realism of the details in the

costume of the horsewoman and her

pose should not be allowed toobscurethe mythological nature of the subjectas a whole. The theme of the death

of a stag is repeated three times inthe decoration of the buried horse.

On the cheekplates the stag is shownbeing eaten by a lion, on the gold discsit is being pulled down by a griffin,and in the top-piece it is being killedby a human.

The hunt takes place in a sacredgrove in which trees and plants arehighly stylized, and the whole recallsthe legend of the virgin huntress ofthe GreeksArtemis. This relates

how the hunter Actaeon strayed bymistake into the sacred forest of the

goddess in the valley of Cithaeron,where he caught sight of her bathing.As a punishment, Artemis turnedActaeon into a stag, which thenbecame itself the prey of hunters.

The image of the divine huntresswould naturally attract the Scythians,whose religion, as Herodotus tells us,underwent an intensive process ofanthropomorphisation of divinitiesduring the 5th and 4th centuriesB.C. But the discovery of this hunting scene is still too recent for definitive conclusions to be drawn about

its exact significance.

Vitaly OtroshchenkoInstitute of Archaeologyof the Ukrainian Academy,of Sciences

Page 23Golden stag's head (detailof photo on page 4) whichonce adorned an iron shield.

Measuring 31 cms. longand 19 cms. high, thewhole object weighs noless than 634 grammes.The stag was one of themost popular motifs ofScythian art.

Page 25This small bone horse

(11 cms. long) is a typicalproduct of the ancient artof Tuva, a region in centralSiberia near Mongoliawhere horses, reindeer and

even wild camels once

abounded. Perforations enabled this ornament

carved between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C.

to be sewn onto a garment.

Three carnivorous beasts

are locked in combat over

their prey on this goldplaque which formed partof the Siberian gold treasure assembled by TsarPeter the Great in the early

18th century. His collection consisted of solidgold objects that had escaped the plunderers ofmany ancient tombs.

Fabulous beast attackinga horse. The two sec

tions of the work were

originally joined by acopper plaque rivetedwith silver. This 2,500-

year-old sword-belt bucklewas once encrusted with

multicoloured gems.

Curled-up panther, amasterwork of Scytho-Siberian art of the 7th or

6th century B.C., mayhave been a shield decora

tion (see also photo page40). Solid gold, it weighsmore than 220 grammes.The small central circles

probably once held coloured inlays. (Collectionof Peter the Great).

Wrought in hammeredgold with enamel andamber inlays, this famouspanther from Kelermes,north of the Caucasus,

may have decorated abreastplate or shield. Itis one of the oldest examples of the animalart of the steppes (7th or 6th centuries B.C.).Weight: 735 grammes; length: 33 cms.

This elaborate gold andamber work (19 cms.

long) incorporates theheads of lions and rams

on an intricately-wroughtopenwork structure. Dating from the 7th or 6thcentury B.C., it may havethrone.

Colour pages

SPLENDOURS

OF SCYTHIAN ART

Page 24Golden diadem, or kalathos

(basket-shaped headdress)discovered in steppe-landnear the river Dniepersome 200 km. north of the

Black Sea. Its Greco-

Scythian style is evidenceof the close links between

Greeks and Scythians in the4th century B.C. Theopenwork plaques, originally sewn onto a cloth

backing, are decorated with scenes of animalcombata characteristic feature of Scythian art.Ornamental pendants hang from two of theplaques.

Pages 28-29The Scythians lavished the utmost care onthe details of their equipment, which wasembellished by sculptors and goldsmithswith sumptuous ornaments such as thoseshown here.

decorated a

Pages 26-27Our centre colour pages presenta photo, published for the first time,of a gold bridle top-piece, recentlyunearthed in the Ukraine. It adorned

the head of a horse of the steppessome 2,400 years ago. This ornament is a striking example of thefinery with which the Scythiannomadsdecked out their steeds. Intricate

decoration of top-piece, which isattached to a coloured leather base,

shows a goddess of the chasehunting a stag (see article page 21).This remarkable work is now in the

Kiev State Museum (UkrainianS.S.R.).

Page 28Bridle frontlet carved from

a stag's antler in the 5thcentury B.C. by an artistfrom the Altai mountains

(Siberia). About 20 cms.

high, it joins the head of awild beast to the gracefullycurving necks of twogeese. Necks, ears andcurious claw-like feet are

symmetrically rendered inthis "split representation"of two motifs, which is a

Scythian art.

Page 29Half griffin, half bird of

prey, this gold-plated silverbridle trinket (4th centuryB.C.) was discovered in the

Sea of Azov region.

r '

10

specific feature of

Head of a griffin in engraved cast gold (4th century B.C.). A harnessdecoration, 3.5 cms. high,

it weighs 50 grammes.

Bronze silhouette of the

head of a bird of prey (6thor 5th century B.C.) foundin the Kuban once toppeda ceremonial pole. Twoof the three bells originallyattached to the 26-cm.-

high head have survived.A mountain goat cowersbeneath the looming bird.

Although stylized inform, this 4th-century-B.C. bronze reindeer

conveys a realistic impression of movement.

22

Photos n"" 1. 3. 6, 7. 8, 13 : Lee Boltin *.' The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New YorkPhotos n"s 2. 4. 5, 9, 10. 11, 12, 14 : L Tarassova Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad

I**r

24

25

r '

if J

r r*o

*>>-*?

\^#u*f

imt

u ju % ?