December 1976

29th year
2.80 French LUÍ
francs

THE SCYTHIAN 31 HÜ

nomad goldsmiths
of the open
steppes

u iil
<J
I *~ "i

]\

mfr
 The saint with a dog's head
TREASURES There are many legends about St. Christopher, including one that he once carried Christ across a
river, thus earning his name (Christofàros in Greek, meaning ''bearer of Christ"). According to some
OF accounts he was a giant with a dog's face, only receiving human features at baptism. Other stories
relate that St. Christopher, an exceptionally good-looking man who lived in the 3rd century,
WORLD ART 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 face
saw only the head of a dog. St. Christopher was thus often depicted with a dog's head, as in
this fresco painted in 1779 by a Greek artist in a 13th-century Byzantine church at Lindos, on
the island of Rhodes.
Greece
Photo O Hannibal Slides. Athens
 Page

Courier THE SCYTHIAN WORLD

A dynamic culture on the steppes of. Eurasia 2,500 years ago

By Boris B. Piotrovsky

DECEMBER 1976 29TH YEAR ANTIQUITY'S GREAT REPORTER-HISTORIAN

AMONG THE SCYTHIANS
PUBLISHED IN 15 LANGUAGES
Modern archaeology confirms the stories of Herodotus
English Arabic Hebrew By Yaroslav V. Domansky
French Japanese Persian
15 THREE VASES RECOUNT THE LEGEND
Spanish Italian Dutch
OF KING TARGITAUS
Russian Hindi Portuguese By Dimitri S. Raevsky
German Tamil Turkish
17 FOUR UKRAINIAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS
PRESENT THEIR LATEST FINDS
Published monthly by UNESCO By Ivan Artemenko
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Educational, Scientific 17 THE GOLDEN CUP OF GAÏMANOV
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Sales and Distribution Offices
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21 A HORSE'S FINERY CAPPED
BY A GODDESS OF THE CHASE
The UNESCO COURIER is published monthly, except in
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Individual articles' and photographs not copyrighted may
be reprinted providing the credit line reads "Reprinted from 22 SPLENDOURS OF SCYTHIAN ART
the UNESCO COURIER," plus date of issue, and three
voucher copies are sent to the editor. Signed articles re¬ Eight pages in full colour
printed must bear author's name. Non-copyright photos
will be supplied on request. Unsolicited manuscripts
cannot be returned unless accompanied by an interna¬ 31 PAZYRYK
tional reply coupon covering postage. Signed articles
express the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily A nomad way of life "deep-frozen" for 25 centuries
represent the opinions of UNESCO or those of the editors in Siberian mountain tombs
of the UNESCO COURIER. Photo captions and head¬
lines are written by the Unesco Courier staff. - By Man'ya P. Zavitukhina
The Unesco Courier is produced in microform (micro¬
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The Unesco Courier is indexed monthly in the 38 HORSES FOR THE HEREAFTER
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, published by
Seven score stallions in the grave of a mountain king
H. W. Wilson Co., New York, and in. Current Con¬
tents - Education, Philadelphia, U.S.A. By Mikhail P. Gryaznov

42 SHAMANS AND SHAMANISM:

Editorial Office
EPIC JOURNEYS TO A LEGENDARY LAND
Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris - France
By Grigory M. Bongard-Levin and Edvin A. Grantovsky
Editor-in-Chief

Sandy Koffler
48 THE OSSETES: SCYTHIANS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Assistant Editors-in-Chief
René Caloz By Vasily ,1. Abaev
Olga Rodel
50 UNESCO NEWSROOM
Managing Editors
English Edition Ronald Fenton (Paris)
French Edition Jane Albert Hesse (Paris) 2 TREASURES OF WORLD ART
Spanish Edition Francisco Fernandez-Santos (Paris)
Russian Edition
GREECE: The saint with the dog's head
Victor Goliachkov (Paris)
German Edition Werner Merkli (Berne)
Arabic Edition Abdel Moneim El Sawi (Cairo)
Japanese Edition Kazuo Akao (Tokyo)
Italian Edition Maria Remiddi (Rome)
Hindi Edition Krishna Gopal (Delhi)
Tamil Edition M. Mohammed Mustafa (Madras)
Hebrew Edition Alexander Broido (Tel Aviv)
Persian Edition Fereydoun Ardalan (Teheran)
Dutch Edition Paul Morren (Antwerp)
Portuguese Edition Benedicto Silva (Rio de Janeiro)
Turkish Edition Mefra Telci (Istanbul)

Cover
Assistant Editors ;
English Edition : Roy Malkin ' < Horsemen repose in the shade of a leafy tree. One holds the bridle
French Edition : Philippe Ouannès ! of their two mounts while the other lies outstretched with his head
Spanish Edition : Jorge Enrique Adoum ÑU in the lap of a seated woman. This scene from the life of the nomads
Illustrations : Anne-Marie Maillard t
of the steppes is depicted on a symmetrical pair of gold plaques once
v4> "^
worn on a sword-belt and preserved among the treasures of the art
oí
Research : Christiane Boucher o 7 collection of Tsar Peter the Great. They are one of the myriad ex¬
amples of the Creative genius of the artists of the steppes, homelands
Layout and Design : Robert Jacquemin
of Scythian and Siberian horsemen 2,500 years ago. This issue of
All correspondence should be addressed the Unesco Courier is entirely devoted to this cultural universe which
to the Editor-in-Chief in Paris flourished in Antiquity at the crossroads of Asia and Europe.
This golden stag (see detail in
colour, page 23) is a superb
example of typical Scythian
animal art. Discovered in a
tomb in the Kuban region,
north-east of the Black Sea, it
was made by a master-goldsmith
of the steppes early in the 6th
century B.C. In the words of
the Soviet archaeologist,
SCYTHIAN WORLD
Aleksandr Shkurko, an authority
on early Scythian art, "The artist
was not unduly concerned with
modelling the animal's body or
adding precise detail. What
held his attention was its inner
qualities its strength, speed and
essential wildness. The
decorative treatment of the horns
and the compactness of the
composition confer on the image
an almost heraldic appearance."
The stag was a favourite theme
in the art of the Scythians.

by
Boris B. Piotrovsky

BORIS BORISOVICH PIOTROVSKY, THE sweep and substance of The flatlands north of the Black
Soviet archaeologist, is an Internationally the Scythian world have only Sea, home of the Scythians who
known authority on the history and art of
recently been fully revealed, caught Herodotus' attention when
the Scythians. A member of the Academies
of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and the Arme¬
although the existence of the Scy¬ they came down to do business in
nian S.S.R., he is Director of the Hermitage thians was recorded long ago, and the Greek trading-colonies on the
Museum (Leningrad) which has a priceless they should not be regarded as one coast, are studded with kurgans.
collection of Scythian artifacts. He is also of the forgotten peoples of history. These burial mounds of earth, erected
professor of Ancient Oriental History at the Herodotus, writing about them in by the various nomadic tribes which
Leningrad State University. The author of the fifth century B.C., included in his roamed across the steppes, were
important studies on the history, culture themselves the subject of many a
detailed account a number of Scythian
and art of the ancient Orient and the Cau¬
or Greek legends concerning their legend, and the treasure-seekers who
casus, Prof. Piotrovsky is a corresponding
fellow of the British Academy, the French origins, and stated that the lands plundered them in the past were
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, which they occupied had previously certainly rewarded on more than one
and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. belonged to the Cimmerians. occasion.
a dynamic culture on thi steppes
of Eurasia 2500 years ago

Many of them had been built by silver objects, including an iron aki- been found in Siberian kurgans and
the Scythians, and it was here that nakes (the short dagger of the Scy¬ sent as gifts to Peter the Great in
the first archaeologists unearthed thians) the scabbard and hilt of which 1715 and 1716 by Nikita Demidov,
outstanding examples of an art form were decorated in the ancient Eastern the owner of mines and metalworks
characteristic of Scythian culture and style with fantastic animals and in the Urals, and by the Governor of
dating mainly from the fifth to the anthropomorphic deities, gathered Tobolsk, Prince Gagarin. In 1718, a
third centuries B.C. Since then, hard¬ round a sacred tree. These inte¬ special government decree ordered
ly a year has passed without the de¬ resting finds were placed in the "the collecting from earth and water
light of fresh discoveries by Ukrainian Kunstkammer, Russia's first real of old inscriptions, ancient weapons,
archaeologists. museum, which had been founded dishes and everything old and
by Peter the Great in 1714. unusual."
Excavations began a considerable
time ago. In 1763, a rich burial
mound of the early Scythian period The Kunstkammer already con¬ The Kunstkammer's "marvellous

near Elizavetgrad (now Kirovograd) tained a number of gold objects- and mysterious collection of Siberians
yielded a large number of gold and later identified as Scythianwhich had antiquities", as it was still called byr
early nineteenth-century archaeolo¬ and highly mobile horse-soldiers, Blur, near Erivan) and in the central
gists, was only explained and iden¬ whose rapidly moving war-parties, region of ancient Urartu, near Lake
tified when archaeological investiga¬ according to Herodotus, penetrated Van (in present-day Turkey), have
tions over a wide area gradually revea¬ deep into Asia Minor. brought to light a number of items of
led a considerable degree of cultural Herodotus' accounts have since
horse gear, iron weapons and beads
unity in the wide belt of steppe-land, similar to objects found in ancient
been confirmed by ancient Eastern
foothills and upland pastures which Scythian burials of the Black Sea
sources, and by documentary and
stretched between the 40th and 50th region.
archaeological evidence from Assyria
parallels of latitude, from the Danube
in particular. Reports by scouts of The Scythian connexion with Asia
in the west all the way to the Great
the Assyrian king contained in the Minor is clearly reflected in the so-
Wall of China in the easta distance
archive of clay tablets found in the called "Ziwiyeh treasure" from Saq-
of more than 7,000 kilometres.
Assyrian capital, Nineveh, refer to qez, in Iranian Kurdistan, discovered
From one end to the other of this
the appearance of Cimmerians in during the Second World War.
territory, archaeologists have unear¬ Asia Minor as early as the middle of Among the objects found here, which
thed identical pieces of horse gear, the 8th century B.C. were subsequently proved to have
iron swords, triangular arrowheads come not from a treasure hoard but
and ornaments, all dating from the The participation of Scythians in
from a tomb constructed in the
Scythian period, while cultural simi¬ a devastating attack on Assyria a
seventh century B.C., is an outstand¬
larities between different regions century later is mentioned in a
ing group of artifacts in which images
are reflected in the widespread use chronicle of the Babylonian king
characteristic of both ancient Near
of imagery in the so-called "Scytho- Nabopolassar which relates events
Eastern and Scythian art are
Siberian animal style." in 616-609 B.C., and in a 5th
combined.
century account of the sack of Nin¬
But these links existed even ear¬
eveh, by the Armenian historian The golden objects in Scythian
lier, and can certainly be clearly Movses Horenatsi.
detected in the pre-Scythian, Cim¬ style found at Ziwiyeh are similar to
merian period (i.e. the eighth century Excavations in seventh-century for¬ finds from Scythian burial mounds,
B.C.). Convincing evidence of this tresses in Transcaucasia (at Karmir- such as the sword with a gold-covered
is provided by the objects found in
the Arzhan kurgan in the Tuva S.S.R., MY KINGDOM
far to the east (see article page 38). FOR A HORSE
This ruined tomb of a military leader
yielded not only a number of items Some Scythian jewels
similar to finds from the Ukraine and reveal numerous details

Bulgaria, but also scraps of woven of the dress, way of life

and customs of these
cloth of Iranian origin, pre-dating
nomads of the steppes.
by almost 200 years the famous The two bearded Scythian
Iranian carpet discovered during exca¬ riders decorating the
vations of the Pazyryk kurgans of the ends of this torque, or
Altai (see article page 31). open necklace, of twisted
gold are one example.
Thus, in Cimmerian times, the con¬
The figures wear
ditions already existed for the esta¬ ankle-length caftans tied
blishment of contacts between widely at the waist and long
separated territories, and for the trousers held by a strap
creation of a generalized, semi-noma¬ beneath the boot.

dic and stock-raising economy, in They ride bareback and

which the dominance of horse- without stirrups. Their
mounts emerge from
breeding permitted mobility over long
the ends of the torque,
distances.
woven of six gold strands
The network of relationships bet¬ bound in an intricately
ween different tribes made up for the decorated sheath inlaid
lack of natural resources, and of with enamel. The
horses' manes and the
metal deposits in particular, in diffe¬
harnesses and bridle bits
rent regions. The vast area covered
are rendered with great
by Scythian culture, where the most
precision. The torque,
outstanding artifacts were made of of Greco-Scythian style
gold, silver or high-quality bronze, and weighing over
contained few enough localities 260 grammes, was found
where the first two of these metals in 1830. It encircled
could be found, while tin, without the neck of a chieftain

which copper could not be transfor¬ in a 4th century B.C.

med into bronze "and which existed grave in the Crimea.

in Central Europe and Bohemia, was

totally absent in the lands stretching
from the Danube as far as eastern
Kazakhstan.

Of course, there was no direct or

permanent contact between the no¬
madic tribes inhabiting the western
and eastern extremities of this world;
the elements which composed their
common culture were, so to speak,
"shuttled" from tribe to tribe, often
losing their stamp of origin in the
process.

We should also remember that

these breeders of cattle and horses,
whether Cimmerians or Scythians,
werefirst and foremostwell-armed
hilt and scabbard unearthed in 1763 applied to a large number of ethni¬ Kazakhstan, whose own culture is
in the Elizavetgrad (Kirovograd) kur- cally unrelated tribes, characterized brilliantly represented by a series of
gan in the Ukraine, and the gold- by a strong Iranian influence in their gold plaques depicting reclining deer,
handled sword and axe from the personal and place-names. Its appli¬ found in the sixth-century Chilik-
Kelermes kurgans in the Kuban re¬ cation is frequently limited to the tinsky kurgan.
gion, excavated in 1902. tribes inhabiting the coastal flatlands These links stretched beyond the
of the Black Sea region.
steppes of Kazakhstan still further,
All these objects combine Scythian
But archaeologists have shown to the High Altai, whose frozen
motifs (reclining deer) with ancient
that the early Scythian monuments burial mounds have yielded perfectly
Eastern imagery (the holy tree with
its attendant divinities and fantastic of this region are related to ancient preserved collections of objects made
steppe cultures which go back as far of wood, bone, felt and metal, in
animals), and it is probably correct
as the middle of the second millen¬ which Chinese, Iranian and Scythian
to consider that they are imitations of
nium B.C. In this article the term influences are clearly apparent.
Urartean artifacts, modified by the
addition of elements in purely Scy¬ is used in a broader sense, including
The development of Scythian cul¬
thian style. in the "Scythian" world a vast mass
ture in the lands north of the Black
of tribes sharing the same economic
Sea was certainly affected by the
Attempts have been made to re¬ and cultural existence and spread
trading colonies which the Greeks
late the birth of Scythian art to the over a much wider area.
had established on the coast at the
period of Scythian campaigns in
From the sixth to the third centu¬ end of the seventh century B.C., but
Asia Minor, but this theory is dispro¬
ries B.C., the steppelands between the Greeks themselves had already
ved by the examples of Scythian and
the Don, the Volga and the Urals encountered Scythians whose culture
pre-Scythian art discovered in Si¬
were the home of a culture similar owed nothing to outside influences,
beria, which pre-date those from
to that of the Black Sea Scythians. and the objects which their gold¬
Ziwiyeh (i. e. 7th century B.C.), but
The bearers of this culture, whom the smiths made specially for Scythian
are also decorated in the animal style.
Greeks called Sarmatians, were in customers can be easily distinguished
The term "Scythian" is nowadays turn linked with the tribes of Eastern from purely Scythian artifacts. Ob¬
jects of both types are now familiar
to us, as a result of excavations.

antiquities took place at the Kul Oba

kurgan near Kerch, on the straits
connecting the Black Sea to the Sea
of Azov, in 1830. A stone vault
under the mound proved to contain
a rich burial of the fourth century
B.C. with an outstanding collection
of Greek-made jewellery. Some of
the pieces, including a gold torque
decorated with figures of Scythian
horsemen, had obviously been made
specially for Scythian customers.
Of particular interest is a spheri¬
cally-shaped vase made of electrum
a natural gold-silver alloy), the body
of which is decorated with four
groups of figures illustrating a Greek
legend of the founding of the Scy¬
thian dynasty, which Herodotus also
recorded.

The scenes on the vase (analysed

in detail in an article on pages 1 5 and
16) depict the efforts of the three
sons of Heracles (the Scythian Tar
gitaus) and a strange serpent-woma rñr
 med bridle found in the Khomina
Mogila kurgan in 1970, whose de-'
corations include intricately engrav¬
ed plaques depicting animal heads.
The contents of the Chertomlyk
kurgan, excavated by I.E. Zabelin,
included a silver vase later to become
famous decorated in relief with
figures of Scythian horse-breeders,
and an iron sword whose gold hilt,
depicting two calves' heads and a
hunting scene, is a splendid example
of Iranian decoration of the fifth cen¬
tury B.C.
This sword, which was possibly a
trophy from the Greco-Persian or
Scytho-Persian wars, was in a gold
scabbard of Greek manufacture depic¬
ting a battle with the Persians, simi¬
lar in composition to the scenes of
the Battle of Marathon which
decorate Greek temples of the fifth
and fourth centuries B.C.

Iranian (Achaemenid) objects were

no rarity in Scythian burial mounds.
One of the several burial crypts of
the Great Bliznitsa kurgan on the
Taman peninsula, excavated between
1864 and 1868, contained two in¬
teresting objects of Near Eastern
origin : an Achaemenid seal-ring of
gold showing a king wrestling with
a lion; and an Egyptian amulet in
faience depicting the head of the
god Besa diminutive figure with
the face of a monster and a head¬
dress of feathers or palm-fronds.
This amulet could have arrived via
Iran, like the Egyptian alabaster ves¬
sel with hieroglyphic and cuneiform
inscriptions mentioning the name
of the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes
discovered in the southern Urals.

Scythian culture thus reflects the

WARRIORS AND LIONS figure goddess to decide which of them relations with neighbouring and dis¬
on this splendid 4th century B.C. tant lands which contributed to the
shall lead the tribe, by being the
gold comb from a Scythian tomb first to bend a bow left with their establishment of the link between
at Solokha, on the lower Dnieper, Eastern Europe and the Far East,
mother by their father. Two of the
in the Ukraine. The group of the wide east-west corridor which
combatants and the five brothers fail the test, collecting in
the process nasty injuries typical of was already open in the middle of
crouching lions beneath them
are worked in relief on both clumsy bowmanship, but Scythes, the last millennium of the pre-Chris¬
sides giving the illusion of being the youngest, succeeds. tian era and which, until the sixteenth
sculptured in the round. One century A.D., would form the famous
warrior has been unhorsed and
Excavations of a great number of
Silk Route leading from the eastern
his mount lies helpless on the kurgans in the coastal steppes around shores of the Mediterranean, through
ground. The three bearded the Black Sea, in the Crimea and in
Iran, Central Asia and Chinese Tur¬
warriors are Scythians, but the Northern Caucasus, during the
kestan to the banks of the Hwang Ho
the Greek goldsmith who made last half of the nineteenth century,
river. The world of the Scythians
the four-inch wide comb added
brought to light a number of magni¬
Greek elements to the work, fully deserves its place in ancient
ficent examples of specifically Scy¬
including the helmets and the history.
thian art, and of Greek craftsman¬
armour (see also article page 1 5). Boris B. Piotrovsky
ship commissioned by the Scythians.
Typical Scythian motifs s were the
reclining deer with branch-like antlers
and the panther, which possibly ser¬
ved as tribal symbols. These ani¬
mals decorate the solid gold plaques
on shields found in sixth-century
kurgans in the Kuban region; they
were also regularly depicted in the
decorations on quivers.
Links between the Scythians and
their western and southern neigh¬
bours are clearly reflected in the finds
from the kurgans. Scythian burials
in the Ukraine have yielded a number
of Thracian objects, an outstanding
example of which is the silver-trim

8
ANTIQUITY'S GREAT modern archaeology
confirms the stories
REPORTER HISTORIAN of Herodotus

AMONG THE SCYTHIANS

by
Yaroslav V. Domansky

AROUND the middle of the 5th

century B.C., a young man

named Herodotus left his
native city of Halicarnassus in Asia
Minor, and began the travels that
were to take him from the western
Mediterranean to Mesopotamia.
Vast distances lay ahead of him,
separating many different lands and
peoples : through the Aegean to the
islands of the Archipelago and the
towns of the Peloponnesus; east¬
wards to Babylon; westwards as far
as Sicily; southwards to Egypt and
the banks of the Nile; northwards
through the Balkan peninsula to
Thrace. And one day Herodotus
arrived in Olbia, one of the most
northerly of the Greek city-colonies,
on the shores of the Black Sea.

Founded a century-and-a-half
earlier on the estuary of the river
Bug, Olbia was thriving, and fully
living up to its name ("olbia", in
Greek, meant "prosperous").
But although he was usually
curious about everything, neither
Olbia's present nor its past parti¬
cularly interested the young man
from Halicarnassus as he stood on
the city walls. He was looking
outwards, over the vast plain which
stretched away into the distance.

Somewhere out there, beyond

the horizon, lived the Scythians,
the people who, after an exhausting
war, had finally humiliated Darius,
king of the Persians.
The Greeks themselves had resis-i
ted 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 authority

on the antiquities of the region north of
the Black Sea, about which he has written
a number of works, he has excavated many
sites along the lower reaches of the river Bug
in the Ukraine.
L years, and it was Herodotus' ambi-' A PLEDGE
' tion to write the history of that war. OF BROTHERHOOD
Obviously, the Scythians must come
into the story. Like many pieces of Scythian
There were a great number of jewellery, this gold
ornamental plaque for
people in Olbia who had spent their
clothing reveals a custom
lives in the steppes, who had tra¬
among the nomads of the
velled the length and breadth of the steppes. It shows two
lands north of the Black Sea, and Scythians making a pledge
who had many a tale to tell about of everlasting brotherhood in
the world of the Scythians, so dif¬ a ritual also described by
ferent from that of the Greeks. Herodotus. They kneel nose
to nose, their profiles joined
Herodotus was an attentive listen¬
together, and hold a single
er, and the contrasts with the way horn-shaped vessel in which
of life which he had known at home they have mingled drops of
fascinated him. He wanted to their blood with wine.

write about all things unusual, The symbolism whereby two

become one is also reflected
leaving nothing out, and so he col¬
in the conception of the
lected all these talesincluding the
plaque: when the two
unlikely onesfrom his Greek and
profiles are viewed in
Scythian informants, one of whom, close-up (see enlarged detail,
a certain Tymnes, had actually been opposite page) .they form a
a man of confidence of the Scythian single face. This technique
king Ariapeithes. of "split representation" is
relatively common in
What Herodotus saw for himself
Scythian animal art (see
in Olbia, and what he heard, formed colour photo page 28) but
a colourful patchwork picture of the is rarely found applied to
Scythian world and Scythian ways, the human face. A

in which the past and the present, remarkable example of the

the important and the insignificant, Scythian goldsmiths'
the possible and the highly improb¬ virtuosity, this 4th century
B.C. plaque is less than
able jostled for space, and which
4 cms. high.
he would incorporate in the pages
of his History.
Thus, the first record of its kind,
by the man who has been called the
"Father of History", would contain
an account of one of the first peoples
identifiable by name to have inhabi¬
ted what is now part of the Soviet
Union.

Herodotus was in Olbia in or

about the year 450 B.C. Five years
later, he was reading parts of his
manuscript to the citizens of Athens,
who were so impressed that they
offered him a grant of money to
continue with his project.
Let us listen with them now to
the words of the narrator: "Their land
is level, well-watered, and abound¬
ing in pasture"... "Having neither
cities nor forts, and carrying their
dwellings with them wherever they
go; accustomed, moreover, one and
all of them, to shoot from horse¬
back; and living not by husbandry
but their cattle, their waggons the
only homes that they possess..."
Thus Herodotus describes the
nomadic life of the Scythians,
roaming in hordes over the "vastness
of the great plain" between the
Danube and the Don, women and
children in the waggons and the men
on horseback, ready at any moment
to defend their families and their
herds with their spears and with the
bows and arrows which they handled
with such skill.

Being "entirely bare of trees", the

land of the Scythians was "utterly
barren of firewood." They stuffed
their meat, haggis-wise, into the
stomach of the animal, and cooked
it in cauldrons over a fire made
with the animal's own bones. In

10
 this way comments Herodotus, "the
ox is made to boil himself, and other
victims also do the like."

Drinkers of mare's milk, the Scy¬

thians were also copious quarters of
imported wine, which they never
diluted with water. "Serve us in
Scythian style !" called the Greeks,
when the drink was flowing merrily.

True children of the steppe, the

Scythians were born herdsmen, al¬
though like their ancestors they also
hunted wild animals. Herodotus
was mainly concerned with the no¬
mads, but he also noted that some
Scythians were "engaged in hus¬
bandry".
"Abundantly provided with the
most important necessaries", they
were favoured with a land watered

by many rivers, including the Borys-

thenes (the Dnieper) which, he tells
us, "has upon its banks the loveliest
and most excellent pasturage for
cattle; it contains abundance of the
most delicious fish; its water is most
pleasant to the taste; its stream is
limpid... the richest harvests spring
up along its course."
This sounds idyllic, but the life of
the Scythians was in reality a hard
one. Their manners and customs
reflected a cruel age, and the "Father
of History" has left a detailed des¬
Mountain goats and rams frisking between flowers and palmettes
bordered by two twisted cords of gold (below) evoke the pastoral cription of the Scythians at war.
life of nomad herdsmen who roamed the steppes 2,500 years ago in As pitiless with their enemies as
an endless quest for water and pastureland. Detail shown here is they were loyal to their friends, they
the central motif of a gold pectoral (breast ornament) unearthed
set great store by ritual oath-taking.
in 1868 in a burial crypt of the Great Bliznitsa tomb near the Sea
Parties to a treaty shed some of their
of Azov. This masterpiece was considered a matchless example of
blood into a bowl filled with wine, and
Scythian jewellery until 1971, when an even more splendid
princely pectoral of similar style was discovered (see page 19). then plunged into the mixture "a
sword, some arrows, a battle-axe and
a spear, all the while repeating
prayers", after which the allies each
drank from the bowl.

Herodotus noted with particular in¬

terest that the Scythians were not
much given to the use of "¡mages,
altars or temples", but he listed their
gods, identifying them with their
Greek equivalents and mentioning
their role in the order of things.
Tahiti, whom the Greeks knew as
Hestia, protected the household. Pa-
paeus (Zeus) was "very properly, in
my judgement", comments Herodo¬
tus charge of celestial affairs,
while his wife Apia dealt with more
earthly matters. The Greek god
Heracles, known to the Scythians as
Targitaus, was believed to have been
the first man ever to live in their
country, the father of their people.
The Scythians sacrificed domestic
animals, and horses in particular, to
all these gods, as well as to Ares,
the god of war, the only divinity in
whose honour they erected altars, in
the form of huge piles of brushwood
topped with antique iron swords.
The sacrificial victims included not
only cattle and horses, but also one
out of every hundred of their prisoners
of war.

Scythia had "an abundance of |

soothsayers, who foretell the future I

11
i by means of bundles of willow protect the burial mound. to the "Father or History" for its
; wands". When the king fell sick, it knowledge of the ancient world and,
Every Scythian was bound to res¬
was their task to identify the traitor more particularly, of the structure of
pect his gods, and betrayal was
whose false oath by the king's hearth Scythian society.
severely punished. In Olbia, Herodo¬
had caused the illness, and who was
tus heard the cautionary tale of Scy- Herodotus could obviously not
promptly beheaded. In doubtful las, son and heir of the Scythian king have been expected to foresee that
cases, the king sought a second opi¬ this subject would be of such interest
Ariapeithes, who "disliked the Scythie
nion; if the accused man was ac¬
mode of life, and was attached, by to future historians, and to give the
quitted, the unfortunate soothsayers his up-bringing, to the manners of the matter more than a passing glance,
lost their own heads.
Greeks." Scylas had installed one of but his casual approach has it must
The Scythians were convinced his wives, "who was a native of the be admitted placed his successors
that there was a life beyond the grave, place", in a large house in Olbia, and in a very difficult position.
picturing it as a continuation of what when he visited the city, as he did So much of what he wrote about
had gone before. Herodotus gives frequently, he dressed in Greek clothes the Scythians remains open to diffe¬
us a detailed description of the royal and followed the Greek customs and
rent interpretations, and controversy
funerals, when elaborate prepara-, rites, even joining in the Bacchanalian continues to bedevil any attempt by
tions were made to ensure that the revels, which the Scythians consid¬ modern scholars to understand his
king lacked nothing in his after-life. ered offensive.
writings and to relate them to other
After digging a deep, rectangular Seeing him the worse for wear, sources.

grave, the Scythians placed the em¬ some kinsmen of Scylas told tales at According to Herodotus, the struc¬
balmed body of their king on a home, and the ensuing indignation ture of Scythian society was tribal,
waggon, and took it on a royal pro¬ led to a revolt against Scylas, who and it is clear that ancient tribal links
gress from tribe to tribe. The was obliged to decamp to Thrace. could, on occasion, provoke united
mourners mutilated their own ears, But he soon fell into the hands of action by all the kinsmen. But this
cropped their hair, lacerated their his successor on the throne, and was bond had lost its earlier, all-embracing
arms, forehead and nose, and thrust
beheaded without further delay. significance, and the patriarchal fa¬
an arrow through their left hands. mily had become the basic social unit.
"Thus rigidly do the Scythians main¬
Returning to the grave, they lower¬ tain their own customs," wrote Hero¬ The customs of the Scythians reveal
ed the king into the ground on a dotus, "and thus severely do they a male-dominated society, under the
litter, which they surrounded with punish such as adopt foreign usages." authority of the chief, with women
a fence of spears. Then they built a in a position of dependence.
The Scythians fascinated Herodo¬
ceiling of beams over the tomb, and Scythian society was not egalita¬
tus in many ways, but there was one
thatched it with a roof of twigs.
matter in particular, to which he rian, but on the contrary, relatively
In the open space around the king, frequently referred, in which they had, class-ridden. Although most Scy¬
they buried one of his concubines, he considered, "shown themselves thians were free men, irrespective of
first killing her by strangling, "together wiser than any nation upon the face personal power or wealth, there was
with« his cup-bearer, his cook, his of the earth... The one thing of also a slave class, whose existence
groom, his lackey, his messenger, which I speak, is the contrivance and activities are described by Hero¬
some of his horses, firstlings of all whereby they make it impossible for dotus, as well as a property-owning
his other possessions, and some the enemy who invades them to and aristocratic minority, composed
golden cups..." Finally, says Hero¬ escape destruction, while they them¬ of the leaders of the richest families,
dotus, "they set to work, and raise selves are entirely out of his reach, the royal entourage and the warrior
a vast mound over the grave, all of unless it please them to engage with chieftains, all under the supreme
them vying with each other and seek¬ him." authority of the king.
ing to make it as tall as possible." Herodotus' tale of the Scythians Scythia was ruled by tribal alliances.
But this was not the end of the contains a wealth of historical, geo¬ At the time of the Persian invasion
affair. A year later, fifty of the late graphical and ethnographical material. under Darius, at the end of the sixth
king's attendants were strangled and His colourful account of the campaign century B.C., it was divided into
impaled on the backs of fifty slaught¬ of Darius is embellished with digres¬ three kingdoms, under the overall
ered horses. Firmly attached to sions which are irrelevant to the command of Idanthyrsus who had vir¬
stakes and arranged in a circle, this main theme, but which reveal the tually unlimited power, whether in the
ghostly guard of honour was left to extent to which posterity is indebted conduct of military affairs, the distri-

ELEGANT

HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS

Photo L Tarassova
Aurora Art Publishers,
Leningrad
Photos A. Bulgakov
O Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

12
 WHAT THE WELL-DRESSED HORSEMAN WORE
How Scythian horsemen of 2,500 years ago
dressed and the kind of equipment they used
is now known to the last detail (drawing right).
This knowledge came with the discovery of a
remarkably preserved set of accoutrements buried
with a 5th-century-B. C. warrior in a Ukraine
tomb (below). The conical helmet complete
with earflaps, the leather back-piece covered
with metal scales, the sword-belt of bronze
plaques and the breast-plate had all survived.
Some of this equipment is depicted on a stone
stele of the same period (left) as well as a long
sword, a sheathed dagger, a rhyton (horn-shaped
drinking cup) and a gorytus (quiver for bow and
arrows). The warrior's outfit also included
leg armour laced to trousers which were tucked
into flat-soled felt boots.

y "WV: i
i ..unir /.

K|

bution of booty or the destiny of anticipation of the king's own demise, their imprint on all that came after¬
individual Scythians, who could be a substantial stock of sacrificial wards.

pressed into service at will and whose material, including slaves as well as Altogether, the Scythians occupied
disobedience was punishable by horses and precious objects, was kept the stage of history for some thousand
death. handy. years, about as long as Ancient Rome,
We have already seen the fate The Scythian king was above all a living through a series of experiences
reserved for those who betrayed their military leader. War, as a source of which left no trace behind them.

oath at the hearth of the king. In But the little that we do know reflects
prosperity, enabling the aristocrats to
acquire riches and wealth, was a a dramatic destiny, full of variety and
conflict.
regular activity, and the life of the
Scythians, who were constantly' in There is no doubt that in the
arms, was permeated with martial seventh century B.C., the Scythians
arts, traditions and customs. were the scourge of the East. In
The technical mastery with which 612 B.C., they had joined in sacking
This mass of warriors was capable
the Scythians embellished even their the Assyrian capital, Nineveh. Three
of bending the sovereign's will. A
everyday objects is seen in their
primitive form of democracy from hundred years later they were to
cauldrons, knives, perfume braziers,
earlier times survived, for example, in suffer defeat at the hands of Philip of
lamps, amphoras, jars, stools and a
Macedón.
variety of other elegantly wrought the assemblies which united all the
utensils. The three objects shown men-at-arms in discussion of matters In the sixth century, they had
at left are about 2,500 years old : of importance and which as was pro¬ confirmed their independence by
bably the case of the unfortunate routing Darius and his Persian army;
1 Bronze lamp to hold six wicks
Scylas could decide the fate of the at the end of the second century, the
(11 cms. high).
Greeks were to rout them in battle
king himself.
2 Bronze mirror (18 cms. diameter) after battle in the Crimea.
with fluted handle topped by a Scythian society was full of contra¬
dictions. With the exception of one At the dawn of their history, they
panther.
had mounted almost unbelievable
or two excursions into the past, Hero¬
3 Bronze meat-strainer or sieve
dotus was writing about events in the raids as far as Egypt; as the sun set,
used for lifting boiling meat from they would be confined to a small
the pot. A wooden stick was middle of the fifth century B.C., a
chapter of Scythian history which was area of the Crimean steppe, the
inserted in the hollow handle.
to be followed by many others. It horses on which they had ridden so
was a period of change in all respects, proudly throughout their history ex¬
but the old ways of life had not been changed for the tools of farmers. w
entirely abandoned, and would leave Originally rejecting everything that f

13
reflected Hellas, they were finally to they found quantities of wood-ash,
mingle with the crowds in the Greek ashes from the hearths of at least one
trading-cities of the Black Sea coast. settlement indicate that bones did on
occasion replace firewood.
Warriors who had smashed every¬
thing that lay in their path, they In 1830, a new page was turned in
would value artistic creation, and the history of the study of Scythian
become outstanding craftsmen them¬ antiquities when excavations began
selves. at the Kul Oba kurgan near Kerch, on
the straits between the Black Sea
And when, in the third century
and the Sea of Azov. Among the
A.D., Scythia and the ancient Scy¬
thians had ceased to exist, the once- many objects brought to light was a
terrible name remained, and was unique collection of articles which
have attracted the attention of scho¬
adopted by those who occupied their
lars ever since.
former territories, including the early
Slavs. Under the mound was a stone

Silence fell over the Scythians for crypt containing three bodies, buried
fifteen hundred years. And then, at in the fourth century B.C., together
the turn of the eighteenth-nineteenth with a quantity of gold artifacts dec¬
orated in a manner never seen before
centuries, the past became the future,
as their monuments began to speak. and depicting scenes in the life of a
All manner of Scythian relics awaited warrior people whose clothes, head¬
the spades of the archaeologists; the gear and general appearance in no
time was rapidly approaching when' way resembled those of the Greeks.
the truth of Herodotus' tales could be
put to the test.
A solid gold torque was decorated
with figures of horsemen, and gold Three vases
The study of Scythian antiquities ornaments sewn to the clothing of the
began soon after the lands north of dead people were embossed with
the Black Sea became Russian terri¬ figures of bowmen firing arrows,
tory. Since then, a great number of riders brandishing spears and soldiers recount
monuments have been investigated, with quivers and bow-cases attached
among the most important of which to their belts.

are the famous burial mounds, or

kurgans.

Many of these mounds marked the

in
Who were the warriors portrayed
these scenes? The
opinion of the archaeologists who had
immediate the legend
last resting-place of chieftains or unearthed these objects was correct.
kings, and proved to be complex
constructions in the form of crypts or
catacombs, containing a great variety
They were Scythians, drawn, as it
were, "from life". of King
For the first time, scholars whose
of objects. Some of them had been only acquaintance with an ancient
plundered long ago, but what the
robbers had rejected was of the great¬
est interest to the archaeologists.
people had come through the pages
of Herodotus and other writers found
Targitaus
themselves face-to-face with Scy¬
The inventory of everyday objects thian realities. What did they look
is a long one, and includes bronze like ? How did they arm themselves?
cauldrons and earthenware utensils; What did they wear? How did they
gold rings, bracelets, necklaces, pen¬ behave? The answers were there,
dants and ornaments for the head; before their very eyes.
costume jewellery in metalware Kul Oba was only the first in a
(usually stitched to the garment); series of burial mounds to yield metal
swords, battle-axes, spears, arrows,
objects portraying the Scythians. In
quivers, scabbards and armour; har¬ 1 862, excavations began in the extra¬
ness for horses and ritual articles.
ordinary Chertomlyk kurgan near the
Various materials were used in Dnieper, which produced a gold and
their production, ranging from gold, silver vase decorated with a frieze of
bronze and clay to iron, silver, bone sculptured human figures and horses
and stone. The objects themselves similar to those found on objects from
came from a variety of sources, some Kul Oba, and which is generally consi¬
of them being of local manufacture dered to depict the horse-breeders by
and others imported from abroad and horse-breakers of the Scythian
honestly purchased, looted by raiding- steppes.
Dimitri S. Raevsky
parties or obtained through trade In 1912-1913, the neighbouring
with other tribes.
Solokha kurgan, which was also a
Excavation on the whole confirmed royal tomb, produced further objects
Herodotus' account of life in the decorated with scenes from Scythian
steppes, at least as far as its material life, including a golden comb portray¬
aspects were concerned, and justified ing Scythian warriors in battle. DIMITRI SERGEEVICH RAEVSKY,
his claim to be considered as the Soviet archaeologist, is engaged on re¬
founder of historical science.
We have mentioned only a few of search at the Oriental Institute of the
the most significant discoveries made Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.
With one or two inaccuracies or in the late nineteenth and early- in Moscow. He has written many stu¬
omissions, what the archaeologists twentieth centuries and illustrating dies on the history and culture of the
discovered in the royal tombs matches the "Scythian theme" in ancient art. Scythians and is the author of a book on

his descriptions of the funerals of The most immediate impression Scythian mythology, as it has been
which they leave is one of artistic and recreated on the basis of archaeological
kings. The bronze cauldrons which
data and descriptions by authors of
they unearthed correspond to those in technical perfection. The golden
Antiquity, to be published in 1977.
which, according to Herodotus, the comb referred to above, for example,
Scythians boiled their meat, and if is composed of a number of finely-
CONTINUED PAGE 48

14
IN the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.,
Scythian artists and Greek artists
who had settled in the Scythian
territories began to provide the local
Scythian nobility with beautiful pieces
of craftsmanship made according to
the tastes of their patrons and incor¬
porating many subjects and motifs.

Did these motifs merely depict

scenes from everyday life or were
they themes of greater significance?
Professor Boris N. Grakov, a leading
Soviet authority on Scythian culture,

v K h. KS2***
has affirmed that the content and
style of these scenes are too specific %&smio
for them to be merely representa¬
tions of everyday situations. He
sees them as possible representations The story of the first Scythian king, Targitaus, and his three sons depicted

of Scythian myths. on a frieze encircling a silver vessel (drawing no. 1, opposite page)
discovered in the north of Kuban. The old king converses with
his eldest son (4) and bids farewell to his second son (5) who, holding
By comparing these portrayals with two spears in his right hand, is about to set off on a journey. To his
the information given us by Classical beardless youngest son Targitaus proffers his bow, symbol of authority (6).
authors, we should be able to recon¬
struct Scythian mythology. Photos © Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.. Moscow

6
/ZJX'

Photo L Tarassova © Kiev State Historical Museum

Herodotus relates the Scythian the youngest of the brothers. Scythes, All the details of this composition
legend of the first hero, who was succeeded. According to the legend seem to indicate that it is a represen¬
known to the Scythians as Targitaus, he then became the first ruler of the tation of Targitaus and his three sons.
but whom the Greek colonists of the Scythians and his two older brothers Two of them he is exiling from his
Black Sea region, and Herodotus also, were sent into exile. realm. Targitaus even holds up
referred to as Heracles, the famous three fingers to the departing warrior,
This subject is depicted in an
hero of Greek myth. as if to remind him that all the bro¬
astonishing number of works of
thers had been subjected to the test.
At the beginning of the 1950s, Scythian art. At the beginning of
Meanwhile he proffers his bow to
Professor Grakov put forward the this century a small ritual silver ves¬
the third and youngest son as a
interesting hypothesis that the num¬ sel (drawing 1) which clearly origi¬
nated from the Black Sea area, was symbol of his victory and as an
erous Scythian representations of a
emblem of his power.
man fighting with a fantastic beast all found in a tomb along the course of
depict the exploits of Targitaus. the Don. A few years ago, during the exca¬
Six male figures are represented on vations at Gaimanova Mogila in the
Professor Grakov also claimed that
this vessel, grouped in three paired Ukraine, a vessel (drawing 2, page 14
such works were popular among the
scenes. One of the figures reappears and photo page 17) was found
Scythians because Targitaus, accor¬
in all three scenes. He is an elderly showing another young Scythian
ding to Herodotus, was considered
Scythian with long hair and a beard. taking an oblong object from the
to be the direct ancestor of the
hands of an older man. Unfortunate¬
Scythian kings. Is it possible, then, In one of the scenes (4) he is repre¬
ly that part of the vessel (drawing 7,
to identify features in Scythian art sented in conversation with another
page 1 6) was seriously damaged and
which directly relate to the myth of Scythian. Another scene (5) is more
the object cannot be made out.
Targitaus ? important: the same character bids
farewell to a warrior who holds a But the content of the scene and
According to one version of this
spear in each hand and may be the appearance of the characters
legend, Targitaus-Heracles had three
setting off on an expedition to distant make it possible for us to see here
sons. In order to determine which
lands. the very moment at which Targitaus
of them was the most worthy of
hands his . bow to his youngest
becoming the ruler of the Scythians, ¡' But it is the third scene (6) which
son. On the opposite side of the
he decided to put them to a test. seems to be the most significant of
vessel are two other Scythians, who
Each had to attempt to string his all: the same hero proffers his bow
may well be the victor's exiled
father's bow and strap on the belt to his companion, who is clearly the
brothers.
which he wore in battle. This trial youngest person in the group he has
required, as may well be imagined, not yet even grown the customary Now let us turn to the most re-w

great strength and skill, and only Scythian beard. nowned Scythian ritual vessel (3). r

15
 Drawing of circular frieze (left)
embellishing a gilded silver cup less
than 10 cms high (drawing n° 2,
I page 14, and photo opposite.
I Unearthed at Gaimanov (Ukraine),
y it dates from the 4th century
I B.C. At far right of drawing are
I two long-haired, bearded men
I dressed in Scythian fashion. At
centre left an old man is offering
something to a younger one. This
I scene may be a variant of the legend
I 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 was back violently, wounding him by a persons who represent, according
found almost a century and a half blow either on the left leg or the to our interpretation, the elderbrothers
ago in the Kul Oba kurgan on the lower jaw. are heavily armed, while the youngest
Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea. brother and the father have only
The force of the backlash is such
bows. Has the artist not por¬
A frieze encircles the vase, repre¬ that it may be capable of breaking trayed here the precise moment
senting seven Scythians, busy at dif¬ a bone and could certainly dislodge a when the two brothers hatch their
ferent occupations. One of them tooth. Perhaps Targitaus's older murderous plot against their vic¬
is kneeling on his right knee, his sons received these wounds, through torious rival ?
left leg over a bow, stretching it, not being able to carry out their
while he strings it with the right hand father's test. Is this what we see on Another renowned Scythian trea¬
and holds it steady with the left. the vessel from Kul Oba ? sure is the gold comb (4th century
This may be a representation of the B.C.) from the Solokha kurgan, in
What did the Scythians imaginé
feat that Targitaus asked of his sons. the lower Dnieper River region (see
happened to Targitaus's older sons?
photo page 8). Two Scythian war¬
Herodotus does not tell us, but
If this is so how can we interpret riors, one on foot and the other on
world folklore recounts numerous
what is happening in the other scenes horseback, are attacking and van¬
on the vase? One Scythian is ban¬ versions of the rivalry between three
quishing a third one. Could these
daging the wounded leg of another. brothers, in which the youngest is
victorious. These versions differ in
also be the sons of Targitaus?
Beside him, another Scythian is
many details but usually have the A Roman poet, Caius Valerius
probing for something with his
same ending: the older brothers, Flaccus (Ist century A. D.) confirms
thumb and forefinger in the mouth
of his companion. The explanation enraged by the younger's success, this theory in his poem "The Argo-
slay him. nautica!'
of this somewhat unexpected scene
is as follows.
This is how the story ends in the In the midst of items which have
narrative of the three sons of Ferey-
When unstrung, the Scythian bow nothing to do with the myth, he
dun, the hero of an ancient Iranian
is curved at both ends in the opposite suddenly mentions a combat between
epic, whose general characteristics,
direction from the bow-string (in the two individuals whose names are very
resemble those of the Scythian
form of a cursive letter "w" with a similar in sound to those of Targitaus-
Targitaus.
hook on each end). If the archer Heracles' sons. His description of
attempts to draw it tight in the The scene shown on the Gaimanova the combat also evokes that represen¬
manner indicated on the vase, but Mogila vase described above sug¬ ted on the comb: the warrior's horse

does not have the necessary strength gests that the end of the Scythian is dead, he himself is wounded, death
and dexterity, the wood can spring myth may be very similar. The two will soon overtake him...

Thus, such artistic representations

make it possible to link together the
fragments of Scythian myths preser¬
From right to left: a Scythian wearing a pointed helmet ved by different authors and to
bandages his comrade's leg. Another seems to be acting reconstruct on this basis a single
as a dentist, probing in the mouth of his companion. Yet connected narrative.
another is stringing his bow, a task said to have
been given to the sons of Targitaus. Two more The popularity of the legend of
figures seem to be gossiping while they lean on their Targitaus and his sons and the fre¬
spears. The drawing depicts a frieze decorating an electrum quent enactment of this subject on
(gold and silver alloy) vase discovered at Kul Oba ritual objects should not surprise us.
in the Crimea (drawing n° 3, page 14).
After all, this was a dynastic myth,
which supported the Scythian kings'
claim to the throne.

However, it must be admitted that

these interpretations are still not
unanimously accepted, and that
there are other possible explana¬
tions and approaches to this subject.
Meanwhile the search for the truth
continues...

Dimitri S. Raevsky
 Four Ukrainian archaeologists
present their latest finds
IN the steppes of Eastern Europe though they were first excavated in regions of the Ukraine. The famous
large earthen mounds mark the the 19th and at the start of the 20th kurgan of Kul Oba, near Kerch, in the
burial places of ancient Scythian century, and had been pillaged in Crimea, can also be included among
rulers. These royal "kurgans" were ancient times, the tombs were still these tombs by virtue of the wealth
in most cases plundered in antiquity found to contain an astonishing wealth of objects it contained.
by thieves in search of the hoards of of treasures.
On the following pages, Ukrainian
gold hidden within the tombs. The many objects unearthed include archaeologists present a few of their
For the first time, during the past remarkable pieces of jewellery, orna¬ most recent discoveries.
six or seven years, systematic exca¬ tely decorated weapons, gold and
vations of Scythian kurgans have silver vessels and other outstanding Ivan Artemenko
been carried out on a large scale, works of ancient art. They have now Director of the Institute

using the latest scientific methods, become part of the world's cultural of Archaeology of the
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
by expeditions from the Institute of heritage.
Archaeology of the Academy of
Among the best known of the royal
Sciences of the Ukrainian S. S. R.
kurgans dating from the 4th and 3rd
Undertaken in connexion with centuries B.C. are those of Chertom-
extensive land improvement projects lyk, Solokha, Oguz, Alexandropol',
in the south of the Ukraine, the Kozel, Bol'shaia Tsymbalka and
research on the royal tombs has Chmyrev, all situated in the Dnepro¬
aroused tremendous interest. Al petrovsk, Zaprozhye or Kherson

2 - the golden cup of Gaimanov

DURING 1969-70, the Gaima- remarkable for its size over 8 metres royal power, cups, horns for wine, a
nova Mogila kurgan, which high and about 80 metres in diameter. drinking bowl, a pitcher, and the bo¬
occupies a central position Its enormous size, its sharp outlines dies of those servants who, according
among more than 50 burials of Scy¬ against the flat steppe landscape and to Herodotus, were buried with a king.
thian warriors, was excavated and its gleaming white stone facing However, Gaimanova Mogila's
studied by an expedition from the emphasized the exceptional impor¬ fame as one of the most valuable
Institute of Archaeology of the Aca¬ tance of the individual buried in it. historical monuments of Scythia is
demy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Gaimanova Mogila served as a not solely due to the extremely rich
S.S.R. Gaimanova Mogila is s¡tu-¡ burial vault for Scythian royalty, and finds of eating and cooking utensils
ated near the village of Balka in the the funeral objects discovered in it and the several thousand excellent
Vasil'ievska district of the Zaporozhye correspond in many details to the pieces of jewellery. The most impor¬
region. customs associated with the burial of tant discoveries were the objects
In comparison with the other Scythian kings as described by Hero¬ buried in the cache of the northern

kurgans, which are about 1 to 1.5 dotus. We found golden and silver tomb. These included golden and
metres high, Gaimanova Mogila is vessels, the attributes of Scythian silver ritual vessels, as well as three

17
 UKTEST UKRAINIAN FINDS (Continued)

wooden cups with rolled gold discs other by their involvement in com¬ Their clothing is just as luxurious,
along the rim; also in the cache were mon activities. They are superbly their weapons just as costly, but
a flat silver drinking cup and two integrated into the form of the vessel. their poses are somewhat different.
drinking horns, with silver bases and The four major figures are displayed The young Scythian holds in his right
golden mouths and tips in the forms in pairs on the surface of the cup; the hand a ritual drinking-bowl, and his
of the head of a ram and a lion. other two kneel under the cup's left hand is outstretched, like that
These objects were accompanied by handles. [For an interpretation of of the elderly warrior. Under one
silver pitchers and a round drinking- these figures on the golden cup of handle of the vessel, a youth on his
bowl placed in a gilded silver vessel. Gaimanov see article page 15]. knees is prostrating himself before a
With the exception of the large wineskin, while the kneeling figure
On one side of the cup stand two
drinking horn and the wooden cups under the other handle is an elderly
elderly warriors, engaged in conversa¬
which are the work of a local Scythian warrior, with his gorytus (the combi¬
tion. Long-haired and bearded, they
craftsman, the remaining objects in nation quiver and bow-case typical
are dressed in rich clothing and carry
the cache are made in the style of of the Scythians) beside him. He
ceremonial precious weaponry. Their
Greek art of the 4th century B.C. has one hand stretched up to his
long kaftans, with triangular gussets,
and show clear links with the jewel¬ are trimmed with fur and embroidered forehead and is gripping something
with the other.
lery workshops of the Bosphorus. on the shoulders and chest with

The most outstanding work of fantastical designs. Their hairstyles All the figures are gilded, and only
are highly distinctive, and their the faces and hands are silver. Each
Scytho-Classical art found in the
Gaimanova Mogila kurgan is a small weapons in particular betoken the image is individual in style. It is
spherical gilded silver cup, with two highest authority. The mace of the worth emphasizing that this is the
flat horizontal handles decorated with warrior on the right and the two- first known example of Scythian
rams' heads. The central design thonged whip held by the one on the décorative art depicting Scythian
on the cup is a wide frieze in high left, suggest that the two men belon¬ leaders of the highest rank.
relief, depicting Scythian warriors. ged to the elite of Scythian leaders.
Vasily Bidzilia
The warriors stand against a On the opposite side of the cup Institute of Archaeology
background showing an open, stony an elderly bearded warrior and a of the Ukrainian Academy
area and are connected with each young Scythian are conversing. of Sciences

Photo © Art Publishers, Moscow

18
Scythian idyll
on a royal
breastplate

On this gold pectoral or breast¬

plate (right) the artist has
depicted scenes in minute detail
making this masterpiece of the
goldsmith's art (30 cm. in diameter)
a vivid portrayal of Scythian
pastoral life. At centre of upper
frieze of the pectoral (detail left)
two men on their knees are holding
and sewing a sheepskin tunic.
They wear the typical trousers
and boots of the nomad horsemen
of the steppes. This 4th century
B.C. Greco-Scythian pectoral
was wrought near the Black Sea
and was discovered in the Ukraine
in 1971 in a Scythian ruler's tomb.
Photo O APN, Moscow

THE excavations in 1971 of in it were found the objects which and upper bands and gives the whole
Tolstaya Mogila, one of the were to make Tolstaya Mogila world- work its unity as a great symphonic
most magnificent royal tombs famous. These were the most pre¬ poem about Scythian life and ideas.
of Scythia, turned out to be a momen¬ cious of the king's ceremonial
In the upper band, four Scythians
tous event for archaeology. In thé emblems of authority: a sword cov¬
go about their peaceful tasks sur¬
centre of the tomb was the burial ered in gold, a gold-wrapped whip,
rounded by domestic animals. In
of the ruler himself, with beside him and, most spectacular of all, a golden
the centre two men, stripped to the
two pits for the burial of horses and pectoral, or breastplate.
waist, their quivers and bows close
the three tombs of his leading grooms.
The pectoral weighs 1,150 gram¬ at hand, are sewing a sheepskin
In the south-western part of the
mes. Its crescent-shaped surface is tunic. To the left and right of them
kurgan two dark patches marked the
divided into three bands by broad a cow and a mare suckle their young
entrances to a side tomb, which had
elegant twisted cords of gold. and further on two youths are milk¬
escaped plunder.
In the centre of the lowest band ing ewes. Birds in flight complete
In this tomb lay the skeleton of a the composition, communicating an
three scenes show a horse being
young Scythian woman, probably the impression of the infinity of the world.
attacked and pulled down by griffins.
wife of the ruler. All her clothes her
Beyond them are depicted the com¬ With its perfect proportions and the
dresses, veils and sandals were
bats of a wild boar and a deer with a outstanding beauty and naturalness
embroidered with ornamental golden
leopard and a lion, and at each end of its movements, each figure is a
discs. Her jewellery was of gold. of this band a hound chases after a sculptural masterpiece. An extra¬
Beside the woman was an alabaster hare. In front of each hare two ordinary composition, the work as a
sarcophagus containing the body of a grasshoppers face each other eternal whole undoubtedly has a complex
child who had died later and had symbols of peace and tranquility. symbolic meaning. But, quite apart
been carried into the grave through The middle band is decorated with from its true significance, it seems
a separate entrance. The whole of plant motifs and among the wonder¬ clear that in this work the artist was
its tiny skeleton was also covered in fully interwoven flowers, shoots, striving, directly or indirectly, to
golden plaques, rings, bracelets and palmleaves, rosettes and leaves, five convey a philosophical picture of his
neck ornaments. lifelike figures of birds evoke the world, with all its aspirations and its
atmosphere of a quiet sunny morning. dreams.
Everything was in a perfect state of
preservation when, 2,300 years after Linked with the lower band into a For the first time, we see on a
the burial, the first archaeologists single picture, the middle band forms ritual royal object neither battle '
entered the grave. But although the a kind of interlude between the large- scenes nor noble warriors, but a vistas
central grave had been plundered, scale sculptural figures on the lower of earthly life in all its harmony. f

19
 LATEST UKRAINIAN FINDS (Continued)

Such a find was unprecedented in

the field of Scythian studies. It
reflected, as a drop of dew does the
sun, the full brilliance and radiance
of rpyal Scythian gold, much more of
which has been found at Tolstaya
Mogila than in Kul Oba, previously
the richest Scythian tomb ever
excavated.

Yet the importance of these finds

lies not in the gold, butin the priceless
historical-revelations that come from
every object in the Tolstaya tomb
and the imperishable artistic value
of its most exquisite works.

Boris Mozolevsky
Institute of Archaeology
of the Ukrainian Academy
of Sciences

DEER-STALKING LIONS. Each end of this solid gold neck-ring is decorated

with seven lions stalking a deer whose hindquarters merge
into the decorative pattern on the neck-ring. This ornament belonged
to 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 pectoral
shown on page 19. The tomb was robbed but both objects were missed
by 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 tusks

may have been the base of a wine-cup. The wild boar
was a cult animal for the Celts and this work
was probably made by a Celtic craftsman in Central Europe
in the 4th century B.C. Its discovery in the Ukraine
is 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. long
and weighs less than 20 grammes.

Photo L Tarassova 'O Kiev State Historical Museum.

SCYTHIAN PANOPLY. Carved in limestone 2,500 years ago, this statue is
the full-length portrayal of a Scythian warrior in helmet and armour (see also a horse's finery
box 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 have
capped
topped a burial mound. It was found near the Black Sea in 1975 by
archaeologists of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine.
by a goddess
Photo O V. Kloshko. Kiev
of the chase

A 2, 400-year-old Scythian or¬

nament of singular beauty
and originality was recently
unearthed in the Ukraine (the first
photo of this, work ever published
appears on the centre colour pages of
this issue).

The ornament, a horse's gold bridle

piece, came to light when the undis¬
turbed grave of a man and two horses
was uncovered at the end of a corri¬
dor. The discovery was made by
two specialists in the archaeology of
Early Iron Age cultures, I. P. Savovsky
and Yu. V. Boltrik, who were directing
excavations at the village of Giunovko
in the Kamenskoye-Dnieper district
of the Zaporozhye region.
A man of about 25 lay by the wall
of the passageway. The small num¬
ber and modest nature of the objects
near him (a gold ear-ring, an iron bra¬
celet, glass beads and a bunch of
arrows) showed his subordinate po¬
sition in society: he was most pro¬
bably a groom. The horse buried by
the opposite wall was also modestly
decorated: the archaeologists found
an iron bit and the fastenings of a
bridle.

In comparison, the decoration of

the second horse, lying in the middle,
was striking in its magnificence. It
consisted of a bridle frontlet in the
form of a lion, two cheekplates show¬
ing a lion pulling down a deer, four
phaleras, 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 was
painted blue, with a leather base, and
had a delicate segment-shaped gold
plaque (33 cm by 20 cm) stuck to it.
The decoration on this "diadem for
a horse" is new for Scythian art. A
woman rider is firing arrows at a stag
under a tree which is crowned by two
enormous stylized flowers with red-
coloured outer petals.

Plant shoots are visible under the

feet of the horse and the stag, and
plant motifs dominate the scene.
The antlers of the stag are intertwined
with the branches of the tree and a
wide border of plant ornamentation i
wavy shoots with whorls sprouting I

21
 Page 23 Colour pages
LATEST UKRAINIAN FINDS Golden stag's head (detail
of photo on page 4) which
(Continued) once adorned an iron shield.

Measuring 31 cms. long

SPLENDOURS
and 19 cms. high, the
from them frames the perimeter of whole object weighs no OF SCYTHIAN ART
less than 634 grammes.
the ornament. The top-piece is a
The stag was one of the
miniature decorative panel in which most popular motifs of
Page 24
the colourful effect is achieved by a Scythian art.
Golden diadem, or kalathos
combined use of gold, blue and red. (basket-shaped headdress)
The skilled craftsmanship has given discovered in steppe-land
the work an appearance of delicate near the river Dnieper
Page 25
some 200 km. north of the
gold lace. This small bone horse
Black Sea. Its Greco-
(11 cms. long) is a typical
The realism of the details in the Scythian style is evidence
product of the ancient art
of the close links between
costume of the horsewoman and her of Tuva, a region in central
Greeks and Scythians in the
Siberia near Mongolia
pose should not be allowed toobscure 4th century B.C. The
where horses, reindeer and
the mythological nature of the subject openwork plaques, origi¬
even wild camels once
as a whole. The theme of the death nally sewn onto a cloth
abounded. Perforations enabled this ornament
carved between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C.
backing, are decorated with scenes of animal
of a stag is repeated three times in combata characteristic feature of Scythian art.
the decoration of the buried horse. to be sewn onto a garment.
Ornamental pendants hang from two of the
On the cheekplates the stag is shown plaques.
Three carnivorous beasts
being eaten by a lion, on the gold discs are locked in combat over
it is being pulled down by a griffin, their prey on this gold Pages 28-29
and in the top-piece it is being killed plaque which formed part The Scythians lavished the utmost care on
of the Siberian gold trea¬
by a human. the details of their equipment, which was
sure assembled by Tsar
embellished by sculptors and goldsmiths
The hunt takes place in a sacred Peter the Great in the early
with sumptuous ornaments such as those
18th century. His collection consisted of solid
grove in which trees and plants are shown here.
gold objects that had escaped the plunderers of
highly stylized, and the whole recalls many ancient tombs.
the legend of the virgin huntress of
the GreeksArtemis. This relates Page 28
Fabulous beast attacking Bridle frontlet carved from
how the hunter Actaeon strayed by a horse. The two sec¬
a stag's antler in the 5th
mistake into the sacred forest of the tions of the work were
century B.C. by an artist

goddess in the valley of Cithaeron,

originally
copper
joined
plaque
by a
riveted
from the
(Siberia).
Altai
About
mountains
20 cms.
r '
where he caught sight of her bathing. with silver. This 2,500-
high, it joins the head of a
As a punishment, Artemis turned year-old sword-belt buckle wild beast to the gracefully
was once encrusted with
Actaeon into a stag, which then curving necks of two
multicoloured gems. geese. Necks, ears and
became itself the prey of hunters. curious claw-like feet are

The image of the divine huntress symmetrically rendered in 10

Curled-up panther, a
this "split representation"
would naturally attract the Scythians, masterwork of Scytho-
of two motifs, which is a specific feature of
Siberian art of the 7th or
whose religion, as Herodotus tells us, Scythian art.
6th century B.C., may
underwent an intensive process of have been a shield decora¬
anthropomorphisation of divinities tion (see also photo page
40). Solid gold, it weighs Page 29
during the 5th and 4th centuries
more than 220 grammes. Half griffin, half bird of
B.C. But the discovery of this hunt¬ The small central circles prey, this gold-plated silver
ing scene is still too recent for defi¬ probably once held coloured inlays. (Collection bridle trinket (4th century
nitive conclusions to be drawn about of Peter the Great). B.C.) was discovered in the
Sea of Azov region.
its exact significance.
Wrought in hammered
Vitaly Otroshchenko gold with enamel and
Institute of Archaeology amber inlays, this famous
panther from Kelermes,
of the Ukrainian Academy,
north of the Caucasus,
of Sciences
may have decorated a
breastplate or shield. It Head of a griffin in en¬
is one of the oldest examples of the animal graved cast gold (4th cen¬
art of the steppes (7th or 6th centuries B.C.). tury B.C.). A harness
Weight: 735 grammes; length: 33 cms. decoration, 3.5 cms. high,
it weighs 50 grammes.

This elaborate gold and

amber work (19 cms.
long) incorporates the
heads of lions and rams

on an intricately-wrought
openwork structure. Dat¬
ing from the 7th or 6th
decorated a Bronze silhouette of the
century B.C., it may have
throne. head of a bird of prey (6th
or 5th century B.C.) found
in the Kuban once topped
a ceremonial pole. Two
Pages 26-27 of the three bells originally
Our centre colour pages present attached to the 26-cm.-
a photo, published for the first time, high head have survived.
of a gold bridle top-piece, recently A mountain goat cowers
unearthed in the Ukraine. It adorned beneath the looming bird.
the head of a horse of the steppes
some 2,400 years ago. This orna¬
ment is a striking example of the
finery with which the Scythiannomads
decked out their steeds. Intricate

decoration of top-piece, which is

attached to a coloured leather base,
shows a goddess of the chase Although stylized in
hunting a stag (see article page 21). form, this 4th-century-
This remarkable work is now in the B.C. bronze reindeer
Kiev State Museum (Ukrainian conveys a realistic im¬
S.S.R.). pression of movement.

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

22
 I

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24
25
 r '

if J

r r*o
*>>-*?
\^#u*f

imt

u ju
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§Pà±L
28
 PAZYRYK
a nomad way of life
"deep-frozen" for 25 centuries
in Siberian mountain tombs

by Manya THE High Altai in Siberia is inside the burial places, they had to
severe, majestic country. lay aside their trowels, knives and
P. Zavitukhina
Over its steppes and moun¬ brushes, and pour in vast quantities
tain pastures, in the middle of hot water to melt the ice.
of the last millennium B.C., roamed
the nomadic tribes which scholars The Altaians organized excep¬
tionally splendid burials, following
have associated with the gold-guard¬
customs and rituals similar to those of
ing griffins of legend. Following
their vast herds of cattle and horses, their kindred people the Scythians.
they left behind them, in the upland At the bottom of a deep and roomy
hollows, innumerable cairn-covered hole, they built a log-lined chamber
barrows known as kurgans or burial- with walls and ceiling of double
mounds. thickness. On the floor they laid the
coffins which would receive the em¬
In 1 929, two scholars from Lenin¬
balmed bodies of the dead. They
grad, S.I. Rudenko and M.P. Gryaznov, decorated the walls of the tomb with
began excavations in an ancient burial felt hangings, and furnished it with
ground in a place called Pazyryk, the personal possessions of the men
1.600 metres above sea-level in the
and women they were burying, adding
remote Ulagan Valley, in Siberia. tableware, food and drink.
The explorations of the first kurgan,
which proved to be frozen solid and Outside the burial chamber they
to contain goods which would nor¬
placed richly caparisoned horses,
mally be called "perishable", aroused killed on the day of the funeral. They
even left behind them some of the
unprecedented interest.
tools used in preparing the tomb:
Rudenko's return in 1947-1949, at wooden shovels, picks and mallets, as
MARIYA PAVLOVNA ZAVITUKHINA, the head of an expedition which well as trolleys and ladders. Then
Soviet archaeologist, is executive secretary investigated four other frozen barrows, they carefully covered over the tomb
of the Department of History of Prehistoric produced sensational results. When with layers of birch bark and the fo¬
Cultures and curator of Siberian antiquities
the "refrigerated" tombs yielded up liage of the "smoky tea" shrub, and
at the State Hermitage Museum (Leningrad).
carpets, clothing and footwear, a roofed it up to ground level with
For many years she has directed excavations
ceremonial chariot, the mummified
of monuments from the Scythian period larch logs. They heaped soil on the
bodies of men and women, horses in
in the Krasnoyarsk region and is the author top and then, finally, raised a cairn of
of many studies on Siberian archaeology. rich trappings, utensils of all kinds, stones over the mound.
musical instruments and other objects
Objects found
in the tombs and
of them almost 2,500 years old
the little known name of Pazyryk be¬ data from radiocarbon analysis, indi¬
cate that these burial mounds were
came world famous.
constructed in the fifth or fourth
The hollows where the barrows are centuries B.C.
situated are outside the area in which
The excellent pastures and almost
the ground is permanently frozen, but
snow-free winters provided the Al¬
the climate of the High Altai, with its
Colour page opposite: taian nomads with year-round grazing
low mean annual temperatures, its
for their herds of horses and for the
long and almost snow-free winters
In the tombs of Pazyryk (Siberia) and its short summers, when the herds of cattle, sheep and goats
archaeologists have discovered nights are still cold, led to the forma¬ which furnished all their everyday
clothing, wall hangings and carpets requirements food, clothes and
tion of merzlota, or permafrost, under
perfectly preserved for over shelter.
the cairns themselves. Their stones
2,000 years beneath the frozen earth.
Above left, detail of a felt saddle
protected the earth from heat in the For these nomadic peoples, the
cover from Pazyryk; the entire cover summer, and permitted refrigeration horse was the principal means of lo¬
is shown in lower photo. Its design, to a depth of seven metres, where the comotion. In addition to their small,
in coloured felt appliqué outlined temperature never rose above freezing locally-bred draught-horses, they
with cords, shows a mountain goat point. Water turned into ice as it possessed highly-prized and swift-
attacked by a griffin; its tassels are filtered into the tombs, whose con¬ footed thoroughbred fliers, gold and
fringed with horsehair and fur. tents, thus "deep-frozen", . were in chestnut in colouring, of Central Asian
Saddle covers cushioned the riders'
ideal conditions of preservation. origin. They even took these riding-
thighs and were often embellished
The archaeologists were faced with
horses with them into the grave.
with brightly coloured animal forms
or animal combats. an unusual problem. In order to see Thanks to the excavations, we now r

31
 know how the ancient Altaians sad¬
dled up. The saddle itself consisted
of two soft felt cushions, stuffed with
deer hair and secured by breast- and
crupper-straps which prevented it
from sliding forwards or backwards.
Stirrups were still unknown; they
were not to come into use for another
thousand years. The bridle was
formed by a headstall strap attached
to the bit, with side-straps, a throat-
lash and a single noseband strap.

The nomads of the Altai probably

lived in light, portable tents, or yurty,
in covered wagons when they were
on the move and if the skill with
which they built their burial chambers
is a guide in log houses. They
used wooden and earthenware
TREASURES SAVED BY FROST AND LOOTERS
vessels, as well as leather pouches
and flasks.
Rich stores of normally perishable objects, yielding priceless information
about the steppe nomads, have been found almost perfectly Their clothing consisted of skirts
preserved in the extraordinary frozen tombs of the Altai mountains in woven from kendyr or hemp fibres,
Siberia (6th-4th centuries B.C.). Below, cross-section of an Altai caftans of fur or felt, and patchwork
tomb in the highland valley of Pazyryk, where graves were first excavated breeches made of soft, pliable leather.
by Soviet archaeologists in 1929. Tomb chamber shown, walled Their footwear consisted of felt
and roofed with logs, was at bottom of a pit 5 metres deep.- At ground
stockings and high leather boots
level earth from the pit was formed into a low mound topped by piles
with soft soles. This costume was
of boulders (see view of Pazyryk tombs in photo above). Cold winter air
settled between the stones and eventually a lens-shaped section of completed by a head-dress in the
ground around the burial chamber became perpetually frozen. Every form of a tall cap with ear-flaps, and
human burial chamber at Pazyryk was looted by robbers who dug down and a silver-buckled leather belt.
chopped through the logs (note disturbed v-shaped area of rocks Women's clothing included coats
and soil in cross-section). Water seeped through the opening and froze, of squirrel skin, fur inwards, with
preserving for all time the bodies of chieftains, their women, horses
narrow, decorative sleeves, and short,
and possessions of fur, fabric, leather and wood, left behind by
fur-lined bootees, also with soft soles.
the looters. Drawing at bottom shows a Pazyryk horse burial, including
trappings and wheels and frame of a 4-horse carriage. The nomads went to war with
bronze battle-axes, iron daggers and
bows and arrows, sheltering behind
shields made from whittled sticks
pleated through thin leather.
The ancient Altaians lived together
in clans or tribes, with distinct classes
of chieftains and property-owning
nobles. The patriarch, who bore the
double responsibility of stock-breeder
and warrior, played a leading role in
Drawing C Aurora Ad Publisher* Leningrad
the family unit, although the matriarch
was also held in high esteem. Concu¬
bines figured among the womenfolk,
but probably only at the upper, pro¬
perty-owning levels of society, where
custom demanded that the favourite,
after the death of her lord and master,
;-y:vO be strangled so that she might follow
him beyond the grave.
Although the people of the High
Altai lived in out-of-the-way places,
mmsmm :
far from the ancient centres of civili¬
zation, many of the objects found in
their burial mounds reveal a broad
network of trade and relations with
other peoples, from whom they
acquired precious goods: carpets,
richly-woven textiles and ornaments,
and the well-bred Central Asian riding-
horses which they prized above all
else.

The Altaians probably offered

cattle and horses from their own
herds, as well as furs, gold and sil¬
ver, in exchange for these goods.
Valuable pile carpets and woollen
cloth of a distinctive style from Iran
found their way through Central
Asia to the Altai, whose inhabitants
also obtained from their Eastern
neighbours embroidered silks which
Drawing © Scientific American, New York CONTINUED PAGE 36

32
 FABULOUS BESTIARIES

ON TAPESTRY AND SADDLE

Many elegant and richly worked textiles,

some imported from faraway Iran and China,
were found in the Pazyryk tombs, their
colours still unfaded. Tapestries and felt
hangings which adorned the tents of the
horsemen of the steppes were dyed in
vivid reds, blues, yellows and greens and
often covered with elaborate designs
depicting men and real or mythical creatures.
A prancing winged and antlered figure,
half-lion, half-human, decorates this
fragment of a felt wall-hanging from
Pazyryk (1). Horses had been decked out
with magnificent finery before being buried
with their masters. Felt saddle covers were
lavishly decorated with ornaments, mostly
depicting exuberant scenes of animal
combat. (See also colour photos page 30.)
Drawings below show four animal motifs
embellishing Pazyryk saddle covers; the
silhouettes were all cut from leather, partly
coloured and covered with gold leaf or
tinfoil: (2) Lion with massive head and
fanged open jaws; (3) Eagle-griffin pecks
fiercely into the neck of a lion-griffin; (4) A
griffin grips an elk in its talons; (5) Mountain
ram with tiger tearing at its throat has
collapsed onto its forelegs with its crupper
twisted round. (See also pages 34 and 35.)
Its body is slashed with stops, commas
and half-horseshoes, a technique vividly
used by the Altai artists to indicate the
principal muscles and ribs.

Photo A. Bulgakov © Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad . Drawings

from Frozen Tombs of Siberia by Sergei I. Rudenko © J. M. Dent
and Sons, London 1970.

4 5

33
Cavorting
creatures

on the

tattooed man

of Pazyryk
One of the most exciting and puzzling
discoveries made at Pazyryk was that
of the embalmed body of an elderly
chieftain who had been covered in
intricate tattooing long before his death,
A mass of real and imaginary beasts
pouncing, galloping,
prancing and kickingtumble
helter-skelter down both arms and
cover parts of one leg, chest and back.
The designs, preserved by the freezing
temperature, were formed by first
pricking the skin and then rubbing soot
in the perforations. On this double page
we show drawings of nine cavorting gaping fanged jaws (9) and a horned
creatures on the tattooed man and a
mountain ram (7). Notice the
photo (4) of an enlarged detail from extraordinary way in which the ram's
his right arm, depicting a prancing hindquarters are twisted right round
deer with an eagle's beak and long like those of fantastic beast (3) on
antlers that turn into bird heads.
back of right arm. Animals were
Numbers on drawing 11, a front view often depicted in this way by Altai
of the chieftain, indicate the position artists, usually when being attacked
of some of the creatures on his body. by stronger beasts. Among the motifs
Running from his left breast to his on the left arm are an animal with
shoulder is a griffin, its curling tail tucked-in forelegs, possibly a mountain
tipped by the head of a bird or
ram (2) and a fabulous beast combining
snake (1). A fish (10) and a row of
features of deer, eagle and feline
mountain sheep run up one leg. carnivore (8). What was the purpose
Fantastic procession winding up right of this tattooing? In his book
arm from hand to shoulder includes
Frozen Tombs of Siberia, Sergei I.
a donkey (5), a winged monster with Rudenko, the Soviet archaeologist
a feline body (6), a carnivore with who excavated the Pazyryk burial
mounds, suggests that it may have
"signified noble birth or was a mark of
manhood or both", while the whirling
monsters "had some magic significance
not yet understood". The tattooed
chieftain remains an enigmatic figure.
rcsl

ï<m\

Photo L Tarassova © Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad

Drawings from Frozen Tombs of Siberia by Sergei

Rudenko © J. M. Dent and Sons, London 1970.

35
Photo © Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad Photo L Tarassova © Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32

must have been considered price¬ cally pleasing objects. Indeed, decked out in ceremonial
less, even in China. trappings, it must have been a fan¬
Art was indeed in the people's
Amid all the treasures unearthed tastic sight. Its head was enclosed
blood. And the images of animals
in a decorated leather mask; its
at Pazyryk pride of place must go to and birds, whether wild or domesti¬
bridle had carved wooden cheek-
a multicoloured pile carpet, woven cated, real or fantastic, which
by a special knotted technique, pieces, pasted over with gold leaf.
figured in their decorations were
The felt saddle-cushions and the
whose almost square surface (ap¬ more than brightly coloured orna¬
shabrack (saddle-cover) were trim¬
proximately 2 m. by 2 m.) depicts ments. They revealed the spirit of
horses and riders, grazing deer, med with multi-coloured appliqué
the people, their beliefs, the way
work, while leather covers and
griffins and stylized vegetation. they looked at things.
sheaths were stitched to the horse's
This carpet, the oldest of its kind in
In their travels abroad, the ancient mane and tail.
the world, is a tribute to the work¬
Altaians absorbed what was best in
manship of its Iranian weavers. The clothing and footwear of
their neighbours' art, and then
the Altaians were decorated with
Close contacts with their neigh¬ added their own local colour and
bours led the nomads of the High patches of coloured felt, fur and
interpretations. Thus, they found
Altai into mixed marriages, and leather, and embroidered with pat¬
place in their own creations for
terns in wool or sinew threads bound
although the physical features of griffins and sphinxes borrowed from
the men and women buried in the round with strips of tinfoil. Their felt
Western Asia, and for patterns of
tombs are mainly European, traces carpets and wall-hangings, also exe¬
lotus flowers, ornamental palm-trees'
of Indo-European and Mongoloid cuted in appliqué work, were colour¬
and geometrical designs whose
may also be detected. The Altaians, ful masterpieces, decorating the walls
origins were in the countries of
and floors of their mobile homes, and
like the Scythians, are presumed to the near East and in Egypt.
have spoken a number of different even the wooden legs of their low,
It is possible that the artistic collapsible tables were carved in the
dialects of Iranian type.
leanings of the people of the High shape of tigers.
The art of the ancient tribes of Altai were stimulated by the abun¬
the High Altai is astonishing in its dance of materials which lay close Colours also figured in the leather
abundance and unique in its variety. at hand. Stock-raising provided and fur pouches in which they stored
It constitutes an excellent corrective them with a source of excellent cheese and other produce, and in
to the one-sided notion that felt. They fashioned high-quality their purses containing hempseeds
Scythian art was a matter merely leathers and furs. Their forests pro¬ and imported coriander seeds. Their
of artifacts fashioned from metal, duced the cedar-wood and larch arrow-shafts and shields were painted,
bone or clay. from which the finest carvings could too. One may well ask whether the
be made, while the plant world Altaians had a single object un¬
In their choice of images and
placed henna, indigo and madder at touched by the hand of an artist.
subjects, the Altaian artists followed
the so-called "animal style" of their disposal, and the ground under _Among their images, the favour¬
Scythian art. The outstanding qua- their feet yielded ochre, colcothar ites were beasts of prey (tigers and
Jity of the many everyday articles and cinnabar as mineral dyes, as wolves), and other wild animals (elk,
found in their tombs, of their clothes well as virtually limitless quantities deer and mountain goats and rams),
and of the trappings of their horses, of gold, silver and other metals, which whose lively and realistic portraits
indicates that artistic creation mat¬ they used widely for decorative pur¬ reveal the Altaians' great familiarity
tered to the nomads to an unusual poses. with their habits and movements.

degree, and that they spent their As we have seen the riding-horse But no less impressive are the ima¬
whole lives surrounded by aestheti was the subject of lavish attentions. ginary creatures, devised out of

36
GAGGLE OF GRIFFINS

A griffin slaying a deer is a theme

widely used by the nomad artists
of the steppes (see back cover).
Example from Pazyryk at far
left was carved in wood in the 5th
century B.C. and is 35 cms
high. It shows an abbreviated
form of the subject, with the head
of each animal symbolizing the
entire beast. The comb, ears and
wings of the griffin are made
from thick leather, as also are the
ears and antlers of the deer.
Points of antlers consist of cocks'
heads on long necks. Left, two
griffins coil round a frontal piece from
a horse's bridle decoration found
in a tomb at Tuekta in the Altai
mountains. Right, astonishingly
well-preserved leather griffin's
head with curving beak and large
ears and antlers was unearthed
at Pazyryk.

Photo © Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

elements of living animals and An outstanding feature of Altaian possibly reflect a period when the
birdsthe griffins and winged tigers, art is the manner in which the exe¬ pastoral tribes were at war with
to which the Altaians returned more cution of a single piece of work each other. This age of men in
frequently than the Scythians. involved all these techniques of arms produced its breeds of heroes,
The skills which the Altaian artists sculpture, as well as the use of in whose honour epic tales and
different materials, in which an songs must have been composed.
applied in so many creative ways
have survived until today, transmit¬ object could be simultaneously pain¬ It is not surprising, therefore, that
ted in bright colours and pasted the burial chambers also contained
ted by succeeding generations from
over with strips of gold, tinfoil or musical instruments, in the form of
the mainspring of an art which was
silver. multi-stringed harps and drums.
truly popular and never the jealously
guarded secret of a few masters. This complexity is particularly The excavation of the frozen

The Altaian artist always excelled evident in a carved wooden crest, tombs of the High Altai revealed the
in composition. With admirable representing a griffin holding a ancient, original culture of the Altai
deer's head in its beak (see back nomads, which doubtless had a great
ease and virtuosity, the sculptors
in wood, bone and horn fitted their cover) while figures made of soft ma¬ influence on Scythian art as a whole.
terials, such as leather and felt, are Now, the works of the Altaian masters
subjects into the shape of the object
they were decorating, lengthening or particularly well represented by the have found another resting-place,
shortening the body of the animal, swans, composed of pieces of col¬ among the collected treasures of
oured felt, which may have adorn¬ world art.
enlarging its head, bending its
fore- and hind- quarters into curves. ed the canopy of a burial carriage (see
Mariya P. Zavitukhina
The ancient Altaian sculptors passed page 47).
unconcernedly from one technique Altaian art often contains scenes
to another, from shallow relief to in which beasts of prey and griffins
excised designs, and then to sculp¬ are falling upon deer, elk, and moun¬
ture in the round. tain rams and goats. These ¡mages

DISANTLED ELK

Wooden elk's heads (each just

under 10 cms. long) from Pazyryk
were used as bridle ornaments.
Their antlers have not survived.
The elk figures prominently in
the art of the northern nomads.

Photo © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York

37
HORSES
FOR THE HEREAFTER
by Mikhail P. Gryaznov

FOR many centuries, the immense

expanse of the steppes from
the river Danube to the Great
Wall of China formed a single vast
cultural-historical region. The nu¬
merous tribes of this region, who
lived in constant contact with each
other, differed in their historical past,
as well as in their ethnographic
heritage, but created for themselves
a culture which was uniform in its

general outlines.
This broad uniformity resulted from
the fact that the culture had taken
shape through a series of identical
stages of development, which unfol¬
ded simultaneously across the whole
belt of the steppes. This process
began in the Aeneolithic period, the
time of transition from the Stone
Age to the era of metals. In the
steppes of Eurasia this transition
coincided with that from the system
of acquisitive economy (hunting,
fishing and food-gathering) to the
productive economy, which in this problems of the origin of those tribes in Scythia itself. They were created
case centred on cattle-breeding. which may properly be called and flourished at the same time and
The uniformity in the historical Scythian. Discussion centres on parallel with that culture which was
development of all. the steppe tribes the question of the origin of the properly Scythian.
became particularly evident in the Scythians and the composition of
the Scythian animal style.
Many Scythian specialists were
time of the Scythians, when the
surprised by the discovery in 1971,
population of the steppes went over Until recently, the only undisputed
at different points in the Scytho-
to the nomadic way of life, became premise in these arguments was that Siberian lands, of three remarkable
highly mobile and developed under Scythian culture and art came into
monumentsthe royal kurgan of
conditions of extensive inter-tribal being in the 7th century B.C. and
Ptichata Mogila in Bulgaria, near
cultural exchanges. that the attainments of Scythian the town of Varna, two rich burials in
In recent years, terms such as culture with its presumed pre-Asiatic
the Vysokaya Mogila on the Dnieper
"cultures of Scytho-Siberian type" sources slowly spread to the East in
and the royal kurgan of Arzhan
somewhat modified forms.
and "the Scytho-Siberian animal in the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Repu¬
style" have begun to be used more However, it is also true to say that blic. All of these are dated to the
and more frequently. However, scholars have for long been study¬ 8th-7th centuries B.C., a time which
there has still been very little study ing some remarkable monuments
precedes the early Scythian period,
of the Asian part of the Scytho- of the culture of the early nomads and the first two monuments are
Siberian cultural world. Specialists of Siberia, magnificent specimens of
accepted by the majority of scholars
in Scythian history tend to focus their original art. Among these are
as being pre-Scythian or Cimmerian
their attention pn the monuments of the amazing gold collection of in culture.
the northern Black Sea area and the Peter I, the Pazyryk kurgans (burial
mounds) in the Altai (see page 31), Unlike them, the kurgan of Arzhan
and the bronze objects and megalithic belongs to the fully developed cul¬
enclosures of the kurgans of the ture of Scytho-Siberian type. It too,
MIKHAIL PETROVICH GRYAZNOV,
member of the Archaeological Institute of
Tagar culture on the river Yenisey. however, belongs not to its "early
the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. in During the last 20 years, monu¬ Scythian" stage, but to another,
Leningrad, has directed excavations of the ments of the early Scythian period even earlier one. In order to under¬
tomb-complex of Arzhan (Autonomous Soviet have been discovered in Central stand the exceptional significance
Republic of Tuva) and of tombs at Pazyryk and Southern Kazakhstan, as well as of these monuments in explaining
in the Altai mountains (Siberia). Professor
in the western foothills of the Altai the origin and composition of cul¬
of Siberian archaeology at the university of
and in Tuva. It has become clear tures of the Scytho-Siberian type,
Leningrad, he is the author of many published
works including a study on the first burial that cultures of Scythian type came we need to look at the kurgan of
mound excavated at Pazyryk. into being in the East no later than Arzhan in somewhat greater detail.

38
 Nomad chieftains were often buried
with their horses in some cases
scores of them, as in the great
8th- 7th-century B.C. tomb-complex
at Arzhan in the Sayan mountains
(Autonomous Soviet Republic of Tuva).
Opposite page: remains of Arzhan's
vast circular wooden structure,
120 metres in diameter. Left, plan of
Arzhan showing the honeycomb-like
network of its chambers. Tiny horse-
figures indicate where horses were
buried up to 30 in each chamber.
In the central chamber the nomad
chieftain and his queen were buried
with magnificent ceremony. No less
than 6,000 trees were felled to build
the tomb and over 10,000 persons
are thought to have attended
the funeral. Below left, bronze plaque
of a coiled wild beast by a nomad
artist. Unearthed at Arzhan it is
one of the biggest of its kind
ever found.

Arzhan is a vast stone tomb, the

biggest in the Sayan Mountains
120 metres in diameter. Under its

stone mound, a unique wooden

structure of enormous dimensions

has been splendidly preserved. A

large square wooden framework,
with an area of more than 65 square
metres, is placed directly on the
ground. Seventy other such frame¬
works are arranged around it in
radial lines and circles. These toge¬
ther form a round wooden platform,
about three metres high, which were
covered by a ceiling.

Excavations of the kurgan under

my direction went on for four years.
Although the monument had been
more than once ransacked and
plundered even in very ancient times,
we discovered a large number of
objects and were able to recreate a
fairly detailed picture of the magni¬
ficent royal funeral.
Thousands of people gathered at
the place of burial in the month of
September. In seven to eight days
they felled more than 6,000 tree-
trunks and used them to build the
huge multi-chambered platform.
The central chamber contained, on
a soft litter made of horses' manes
and tails, a small framework with
double walls and a ceiling, in which
the bodies of the king and his queen
were placed in separate sarcophagi
made of hollowed logs. They were
dressed in rich clothing made of
multicoloured imported fabrics and
costly furs (sable and others).
The tomb was plundered. Vir¬
tually nothing of importance has
remained, out of what must have
been a mass of valuable ornaments:
only one small golden plaque and
pieces of golden leaves, some tur¬
quoise beads and a bead necklace,
and 20 small turquoise discs, which
were probably the inlay of massive
golden plaques depicting animals.
These plaques were stolen by thei
grave-robbers. I
Photo L Tarassova © Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

39
 On three sides around the royal An ancient Turkic epitaph, for Drawing shows design on the
example, informs us that at the four sides of a "deer stone" (c. 8th
framework were placed eight hol¬
funeral of the first Turkic kagan or century B.C.) unearthed in the
lowed logs in which were buried im¬
Mongolian steppe. Although named
portant personages who accompanied leader, there gathered "weeping
from the figures of deer inscribed on
the king. All except one were old and groaning people" from all the them, such stones are in fact stylized
or indeed very old, and all were dres¬ ends of the earth, including some portrayals of nomad warriors.
sed in rich fur or woollen clothes. from tribes and peoples not subject This one wears a neck-ring and
Only in some of the logs had objects to the Turks, i.e. from the coasts of ear-rings. Weapons, including a
been preserved: these included orna¬ the Pacific, the Siberian taiga and dagger and a hatchet, hang from
Central Asia. Even "Avars" and his belt and deer run slantwise round
ments of gold and turquoise, bronze
his body. Many such stones, ranging
arrows, a dagger and some other "Rum", envoys from the Black Sea
in height from half a metre to 3 metres,
items. Another five similar person¬ steppes and from faraway Byzan¬
have been found in Mongolia, the
ages were buried in .neighbouring tium, are said to have been present. Tuva Autonomous Republic of the
chambers. U.S.S.R. and, in a slightly different
One can judge the numbers of
On the fourth side of the royal form, in the Urals.
participants in the funeral by the
framework were stacked six saddle remains of the funeral feast. Around
horses. Of their rich and magni¬ the kurgan of Arzhan the ruins of
ficent harness there remain a few small round stone enclosures stand
ornaments from the bridle and in a semi-circle. There are more
saddle straps, some gold and silver, than 300 of them. In the ruins of
and some made of coloured stone each were found the bones of a
or boar tusks. These horses were horse, but only fragments of the
obviously the personal property of skull and bones of the lower part of
the king. the legs.
One must suppose that numerous These are evidently remains of the
representative groups of nomads sacrificial horses, placed on the site
from all the tribes subject to the of the funeral celebrations after
kingthose who peopled the moun¬ the horses' flesh had been eaten
tainous steppes of what is now and the funeral feast had finished.

Tuvagathered for his funeral. They Such a ritual was widespread among
arrived with gifts which befitted the the nomads from the most ancient

occasion. In seven chambers, posi¬ times onwards. If one horse was

tioned to the east of the central one, eaten on the site of each enclosure,
they buried 138 horses30 saddle the total number of those present
horses in each of three chambers, at the funeral feast must have
15 horses in each of three other exceeded 10,000.
chambers and three horses in the
The tomb of Arzhan is clear evi¬
last one. dence that the cultures of the so-
The horses in each chamber all called early Scythian period were
came from the same tribe. All of preceded by cultures of an already
them were buried with their bridles fully formed Scytho-Siberian type.
and saddles. All were old stallions.
Some scholars may hesitate to attribute
There are few harness ornaments,
such monuments in the Black Seat
but there are wonderful examples of steppes to an early stage of Scythian'
the Scytho-Siberian animal style no representations of deer on the
culture, but there is no doubt about
stone.
art an enormous bronze figure of the monuments of the Sayano-Altai
a beast of prey rolled into the form of region in this regard. Other monu¬ Most deer stones have been found
a ring, and an ivory head of a ments of this period, of a fully Scy¬ in the steppes of Mongolia, and also
bridled horse. tho-Siberian type, are also known many in Tuva. They have also been
We may also take it that delega¬ in the Sayano-Altai region. Of unearthed in the adjoining lands
tions from neighbouring countries these, the most interesting by far beyond Lake Baikal and in the moun¬
are the so-called deer stones. tainous Altai. Further west, only
took part in the royal funeral. They
placed their gifts to the deceased in A few deer stones were discovered
isolated examples occur as far as the
southern Urals. In the Urals, these
six chambers, positioned to the in the 19th century not far from
north and north-east of the central stone representations of a warrior
Arzhan. We also found a fragment
chamber. In each of these chambers
are still more conventionalthe flat
of such a stone in the Arzhan tomb
from two to ten horses were buried. side of the stone bears representa¬
on the ceiling of one of its cham¬
bers. The deer stones have the
tions of only a hatchet and a dagger,
The bridle plates of each group of with sometimes a belt.
horses belong to a particular type, appearance of a round or rectan¬
and differ from the harness dress of gular pillar or a slab-shape,d stone, It is true that the steles of the

all the other groups; the ornaments representing a warrior with his Northern Caucasus are very close
of the bridles are also different. weapons in conventionalized form. in type to deer stones, but they
There are five remarkable bronze They range in height from half a represent a somewhat individual
metre to three metres. variant of conventional warrior repre¬
top-pieces (perhaps from battle stan¬
sentations. Yet another variant of
dards), with monumental figures of The lower part of the stone is
mountain rams on them. such sculptures existed further to the
"belted" with a thong, which has a
west. One of these has been found
In one case, .the horses were bow, a dagger, a hatchet and other
in Romania, and another in Bulgaria
accompanied by two distinguished weapons suspended from it. At the
in the mound of the Ptichata Mogila
elders, buried beside them in hol¬ top, where the face of the warrior
kurgan mentioned above.
lowed logs. They had come, obviously - should be, there are usually three
from some distance, in order to fol¬ small parallel oblique lines. On the The monumental sculpture of the
low the king, who was honoured sides are ear-rings and lower down Asian and Black Sea steppes, inclu¬
not only in his own country, but a necklace or pendant. On the ding its conventional image of the
also beyond its borders. The par¬ smooth surface of the stone the warrior, emerged and developed at
ticipation of foreign representatives figures of a noble deer and some¬ the very beginning of the formation
in the funerals of great nomad times other animals are often repre¬ of the early Scytho-Siberian nomad
leaders probably occurred quite fre¬ sented. Thus the name of deer culture. The consecutive stages in
quently in the past. stone, although very often there are the evolution of this warrior image

40
followed similar lines across the wide
expanse of the steppes. Similarly,
the Scytho-Siberian animal style,
despite all its variety, developed
uniformly across the vast territory
stretching from the Danube to the
Great Wall of China.

Monuments known to belong to

the initial period of Scythian culture
are still very few in number in the
steppes both of Asia and the Black
Sea area. It is still impossible, on
the basis of the finds in the Arzhan
tomb and some less significant monu¬
ments of the Altai, to give a full
picture of the origin and composition
of the Scytho-Siberian type cultures,
altough some important conclusions
can now be drawn.

It can no longer be said that the

Scytho-Siberian cultures formed in
the 7th century B.C. or later spread
from a single centre in different di¬
rections, including the East. Secon¬
dly, it is clear that the determining
factor in the development of the
steppe population at that time was
the transition to a new economy
based on nomadic cattle-breeding.
This stimulated the development of
new farming methods and cultural
forms.

It is difficult to be precise about

the movements and practices of par¬
ticular tribes, but it is clear that from
the 8th century B.C. onwards, similar
cultures of Scytho-Siberian type
emerged and developed simul¬
taneously. Extensive inter-tribal ex¬
changes which occurred both peace¬
fully and by means of wars and
plundering raids meant that the cul¬
tural acquisitions of one tribe became
widely distributed among the other
tribes.

The ancient tribes of the Asian

steppes were obviously creators and
constructors of cultures of Scytho-
Siberian type to as great an extent
as their contemporaries, the Scy¬
thians. It is even possible that the
contribution which Asian tribes such
as the Altaians and Tuvinians made
to the formation of Scytho-Siberian
art and culture was sometimes more
significant than that made by the
Scythians themselves.
Indeed one might well question
whether European Scythia was, as
many people have hitherto believed,
a centre or focus of the Scytho-
Siberian territory. After all, it was
situated on the far periphery of the
Scytho-Siberian territory and its
proximity to and close contacts with
Mediterranean civilization may to
some extent have repressed the
creative originality of the Scythians.

Mikhail P. Gryaznov

41
 SHAMANS

The art of the steppes portrays the griffin in an infinite variety

AND
of forms that vividly convey the force and ferocity of this
mythical beast. With its powerful eagle's beak and sharp
eye, this head of a griffin embellishes the handle of a
5th-century B.C. Scythian sword, unearthed in the Kuban
region, to the east of the Black Sea. SHAMANISM
Photo © "Miysl" Publishing House. Moscow

42
epic journeys
to a legendary land
by Grigory M. Bongard-Levin and Edvin A. Grantovsky

THE highly original culture of the griffins which guarded a hoard region and the Volga-Kama forests
the Scythians was influenced of gold. These accounts attested is confirmed by archaeological finds
by other peoples and in its the existence among the Scythians in these regions of "imported" objects
turn exerted a considerable influence of complex mythological and religious from the northern Black Sea area.
not only on classical societies and conceptions and of a richly developed The contacts between the Scy¬
the Ancient East, but, to an even epic.
thians and the forested Volga-Ural
greater extent, on the vast tribal
Certain Scythian ¡mages worked regions from which the Finno-Ugric
world of Europe and northern Asia.
their way into the subjects of Hellenic languages spread explain the many
The Scythians possessed a vast mythology, while some characters of word borrowings from the steppe
collection of epic tales in which their Greek myth share the attributes of peoples which have been found in
spiritual culture was reflected. And similar figures in Scythian mythology the Finno-Ugric languages, borrow¬
although the Scythian epic itself has and have "moved" from the places ings connected with both the mate¬
not come down to us, the search for they inhabited in more ancient Greek rial and spiritual culture and religious
traces of it is quite feasible. tradition to the Scythian North. and mythological conceptions.

This search is made possible by It is fortunately possible to find These borrowings include the pas¬
the ethnic links between the tribes confirmation of the Scythian origin sage of the name of the Wind God
and peoples who lived in the south of the motifs mentioned above among ("Vata") among the Eastern Indo-
Russian steppes during the Scythian the peoples of north-eastern Europe Europeans and Scythians into the
epoch and by the extensive contact and Siberia, far from the regions name of the North Wind ("Vat") used
between the Scythians and their of Scytho-Hellenic contact. by the Ugrians beyond the Urals.
neighbours. The latter ranged from In addition, stories about "old man
The folklore of these peoples fea¬
the population of the forest zone in North Wind" are very close to what
tures conceptions of one-eyed people
the north of Eurasia, whose descen¬ ancient literature tells us about
similar to the Arimaspeans, and
dants preserved their old folklore the "Boreas" who brought icy cold
of winged monsters like the gold-
traditions until recent times, to the into Scythia. Both of them find a
guarding griffins. These images
Hellenes (ancient Greeks) in the south, traveller, envelop him in their furious
included some which are close to
with their rich ancient literature. breath and are capable of sweeping
the Greek and are endowed with
him off his feet, carrying him away
The Scythians also visited Greece. similar traits, such as the death-
or destroying him.
Ancient writers and philosophers bearing flying maidens, similar to the
gorgons, the winged daughters of a There can be no doubt that this
often made use of the image of
Anacharsis, a Scythian whom the Titan and also the cold wind whose "Boreas", a character of purely Scy¬
Greeks included among the Seven abode, like that of Boreas, god of thian mythology, was identified by
Wise Men of Antiquity. the north wind in later Greek tradi¬ the Greeks with their North Wind,
tion, is a cave. the Boreas.
The varied accounts of the Scy¬
thians found in ancient literature Can such coincidences be acci¬ What do we learn from archaelo-

make particular mention of epic dental when they occur in the legends gical evidence? In the area round
of countries as remote from each the Kama River, for example, archaeo¬
kings, heroes of Scythian legends,
the gods of the Scythian pantheon other as Hellas and the forest regions logists have found cult figures of
and fantastical beings, such as the in the north of Eurasia, in legends creatures which are half-bird, half-
one-eyed Arimaspean warriors and rooted in ancient literary traditions as beast, with the head of a wolf or a
well as in those which have only dog. Winged beasts or "griffins" are
been recorded by modern folklorists also a frequent subject of Scythian
and anthropologists? art, in which they usually combine
GRIGORY MAXIMOVICH BONGARD-
the features of an eagle and a lion
LEVIN, Vice-President of the International The Volga-Ural steppes, as far as
Association for Sanskrit studies, is engaged the Ural mountains, and the land (or some other "feline" beast of prey).
on research at the Institute of Oriental
beyond the Urals were inhabited by However, several early Scythian
Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the the Issedones and were known to the artifacts from the Black Sea area (of
U. S. S. R. A Unesco consultant and a
Hellenes through the stories of the the 6th-5th centuries B.C.) combine
winner of the . Jawaharlal Nehru prize, for
Scythians and the Greek Aristeas, the image of a bird-beast with the
the promotion of international understanding
he is an authority on the cultural problems and who had been in Scythia in the 7th features of a dog. And it is no acci¬
history of Central Asia and India. A book century and had obviously reached dent that Aeschylus (6th-5th centu¬
he has written jointly, with Edvin A. Gran¬ the Issedones. ries B.C.) in his Prometheus Bound
tovsky, From Scythia to India (Moscow, The forests near the Ural moun¬ calls the bird-like griffins "silent" or
1974) gives a fuller treatment of the subject "unbarking" dogs (unlike the tradi¬
of this article.
tains, evidently those along the Kama
tional ancient description of griffins
and Volga rivers, were inhabited by
EDVIN ARVIDOVICH GRANTOVSKY, as being like lions).
the Argippeans. Herodotus recounts
a specialist in the ancient history of Iran, in this connexion that "those of the Ancient literature offers us signi¬
Central Asia and the Scythians, is engaged
In research at the Institute of Oriental Studies
Scythians who go to them (the Argip¬ ficant information regarding the "geo¬
of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.
peans) have to employ seven trans¬ graphical" description of Scythia and
Among his many published works is his study. lators and seven languages". The the lands beyond it if we base our¬
The Early History of the Iranian Tribes of existence in the Scythian epoch of a selves on the work of various authors k
Near Asia (Moscow, 1970). trade route as far as the south Ural of Antiquity. f

43
, From south to north lay regions thian language and its dialects, and All this leads to the conclusion that
inhabited by peoples who really existed, the nature of the Gods in the Scythian there is a common origin to the Indo-
such as the Argippeans and the pantheon. lranian legends about countries in
Issedones. Beyond them, however, The details of some Indian and the Far North and the tradition about
and as far as the great northern Iranian epics and traditions also remote regions lying beyond the
mountains, usually called the Ripas, correspond precisely to Scythian Scythians. This whole cycle of
there lived fabulous tribes and fan¬ conceptions about the North. In interrelated concepts has a single
tastical creatures, including the now the two great epics of India, the archaic religious basis.
familiar Arimaspeans, griffins and Mahabharata and the Rämäyana, for In each of the three traditions,
others. Here also lay the abode of example, we find a geographical Indian, Iranian and Scythian, the
"Boreas". These regions had been foundation in the form of a "northern
whole panorama is arranged in the
abandoned by nature, were swathed panorama". same order, proceeding from real
in darkness and covered in snow;
They relate how far away to the geographical areas in the south to
this was the kingdom of deepest north of India, beyond the real moun¬ the legendary lands by the Northern
winter.
tains and deserts, countries and Ocean. In each tradition, this ocean
But even further north, in the peoples, and beyond fabulous king¬ is inaccessible to mortals and their
direction of the Ripas, the golden doms and tribes, stand the sacred attempts to make their way there end
peaks of which reached the sky, and mountains of Meru. Their golden either in failure or in the death of a
around which turned the sun and the peaks thrust into the sky and around bold hero, whose route takes him
stars, on the mountainous heights them revolve the heavenly bodies. through the territory of fabulous
and the shore of the Northern Sea tribes and supernatural creatures.
Beyond the mountains of Meru lies
beyond them lay a country with a the Northern Sea, identified with the At this point we have a clearer idea
warm climate, free from the cold
White, or Milky Sea. On its shores of the "geographical" distribution of
winds and infinitely fertile. and on the northern slopes of the those characters whom the Scythians,
In its woods and forests lived a Meru live a fabulous, blessed people, and after them the Greeks, located
blessed and holy people, the "Hyper¬ "divorced from all evil, indifferent to between Scythia and the northern
boreans" of ancient tradition. The all concepts of honour and dishonour, mountainsthe death-bearing mai¬
sun here rose and set only once a wonderful in appearance and abound¬ dens who lived in darkness, the
year: the day lasted six months, and ing in vitality." Arimaspeans, the griffins and others.
the night the six remaining months. There, beyond the mountains of
During the day the inhabitants sowed The Indian story-tellers, for exam¬
Meru, over whose summits "the
crops in the morning, cut them in the ple, warned that in the foothills of
golden haired sun rises for half a
afternoon and in the evening gath¬ the Meru there lay a deserted region
year"... "the day lasts half a year and
ered fruit from the trees. of gloom, which filled mortals with
the night as long", and "one night fear of the dark. Monsters, vam¬
Whose creation is this "geographi¬ and one day together equal a year".
The stationary polar star is mentioned
pires, female cannibals and evil giants
cal" picture? That of the Greeks or inhabited this dreadful place.
the Scythians? Or, to put it another as also are the position of constella¬
tions which can only be observed in But the ¡mage of the "winter"
way, which elements of it belong to
which people? the Far North, above the latitude of barrier has practically disappeared
55 North. These descriptions of the from the stories of torrid India. The
The Ripa mountains might corres¬ legends of the Iranians, however, a
same inaccessible northern country
pond to the Urals, while the legends people geographically and ethnically
are "communicated" by the sacred
about their gold and the griffins who bird Garuda to the hermit Galava closer to the Scythians, mention the
guard it certainly reflect notions about fatal hard frost of winter, which
before carrying him off to this far¬
the mining of gold in regions round comes from the great northern moun¬
away "land of blessedness".
the Urals, a notion which is borne tains. They also refer to the death
out by ancient workings in these It is important to note that the
in the foothills of heroes who freeze
regions. But the Urals range runs information about "polar phenomena"
in the snow carried by the hostile
from south to north, whereas the in Indian epic tales goes back to a
time when it could not have been wind. This role is obviously played
Ripa mountains extend in latitude in Scythian legends by the North
right across the land to the north of influenced by Indian astronomy.
Wind, which blows from the slopes
the Scythian world. Therefore, the "polar" motifs in the
tales of India must be seen as "infor¬ of the Ripas and destroys the traveller.
The Northern Sea which stretched mation" gained from the north. It is notable that Herodotus also
beyond them may be an echo of mentions several times that it is
The whole epic and mythological
what the Scythians knew about the impossible to penetrate the northern
setting in which these polar allusions
Arctic Ocean, although the existence
appear in early Indian tradition indi¬ regions beyond Scythia because of
there of a bountiful country with a the excessive snows and the coid.
cates that they belong to the legends
warm climate is a piece of fantasy. He also held the view that in general
which the ancestors of Indian tribes
Yet day and night last a half-year each people did not live there. But the
had preserved since the time when
in this country, and it is difficult or north of Europe, as far as the Arctic
they were neighbours of related tribes
indeed impossible to treat this as Ocean, was inhabited long before
living to the north.
anything but the reflection of a real the pre-Scythian and the Scythian
fact, namely the rotation of the Polar In the ancient Iranian Avesta (or
epochs. Even the Scythians referred
day and night (although, of course, Zend Avesta) together with its affi¬
liated works of Zoroastrian literature,
to several "peoples" as living there,
they do not last "uninterruptedly" for although they endowed them with
half a year each). similar mythological motifs have also
unusual features.
been preserved. These include men¬
The ancestors of the ancient Ira¬
tion of the blessed abode of a fabu¬ We find in the Indian and Iranian
nian and Indian tribes who lived
lous people who see the sun rise and stories that there is a direct link
beside the ancestors of the Scythians set only once a year and for whom a between this theme and one of the
had much in common with them in
day and a night last a year. Their epic cycles, which concludes with
terms of economy, social structure, benevolent land is situated near cold the victorious king (Yudhisthira in
culture' and religion. countries, where the winter lasts for the Mahabharata, and Khosrow in
On the basis of the remaining 10 months and there are two months Iranian epic) leaving his kingdom
fragmentary evidence about the of cold summer, beside great nor¬ and arriving alive in the blessed land
Scythians and their language, as well thern mountains. These mountains, of the northern mountains. At the
as the parallels within the Indo-lranian which reach the heavens, play the same time, the heroes who accom¬
language system, scholars have estab¬ same "astronomical" role as in Indian pany him perish in the snow, which
lished the basic features of the Scy and Scythian tradition. according to Iranian legend, and

44
 CYCLOPS Vs.

WINGED

SENTINELS

Far beyond Scythia,

according to legend,
lived fabulous creatures
such as the Arimaspeans
and the griffins. The
winged griffins guarded
a store of gold from
the giant one-eyed
Arimaspeans who were
always trying to steal it.
Legends of their struggles
entered the mythology
of many peoples, as is
shown by these strikingly
similar scenes of combats
between the giant
Cyclops and the griffins,
found in two distant

places. The one above

adorns a gold ritual
headdress from a burial
mound at Great Blisnitza,
in the region east of the
Black Sea; the other
comes from a relief on
a tomb in southern Italy.
Both works date from the
4th century B.C.

Photos © "Miysl" Publishers,

Moscow

also to Herodotus, makes the route legends about him obviously emerged talks about the tribes which inhabit
to the north from the Scythian king¬ independently. Herodotus also knew it, their life and their customs.
dom impassable. about the "journeys" of Abaris and The author of the poem was also
Other chosen heroes and righteous related that "he did not take any¬ familiar with the subjects of the myths
thing for food". But Herodotus pre¬ and the epic which were current
men could only reach this land on
their death. However, there existed ferred to give a more detailed account
among the Scythians and their neigh¬
of that other legendary figure, Ari- bours. The "flight" of Aristeas to
another "means" of getting there, for
a limited time, and this means was steas, relating how, while the body the land of the blessed Northern
available only to certain renowned of Aristeas lay in one place, he
people is considered by several scho¬
himself appeared in another, or how, lars to reflect conceptions about the
sages, priests and hermits. These
miraculous "journeys" also formed while following Apollo, Aristeas took "journeys" of the soul. These con¬
on the form of a raven.
the subjects of Indian, Iranian and ceptions had undoubtedly been bor¬
Scythian legends. Such, for example, The basis of the legends about rowed from cults of a shamanic type.
were the exploits of Galava, Narada Aristeas were traditions formed in "During ceremonies", writes the
and Shuka in the Mahabharata and
the time of the earliest contact eminent Soviet anthropologist Sergei
of Arda-Viraz in Zoroastrian tradition.
between Greeks and Scythians. There Tokarev, "the shaman frequently falls
In the ancient world there was a was a definite similarity between unconscious; this is bound to make
story about the Scythian, Abaris, several aspects of Scythian religious the spectators think of the flight of
who "arrived" from the land of the beliefs and practice and the Greek his 'soul'; the delirium and the hallu¬
Hyperboreans. He had "made his cult of Apollo, of which Aristeas was cinations of the shaman often consist
an initiate. And it was this simila¬
way across rivers, seas and impas¬ in his seeing far-away countries and
sable places, as if he were travelling rity that led to the widespread talking loudly about hisjourneyings."
through air" and during this time had dissemination of the legends about A particular role was played by the
Aristeas. cult of birds: the shaman or his soul
performed purifications, had driven
out pestilent diseases, predicted "set off" on their distant travels in
The poem Arimaspea, reputed to
earthquakes, calmed the winds the form of a bird (most often, a
have been written by Aristeas, also
and soothed the waves of the sea. raven), "flying over" familiar or mythi¬
mentioned the journey to the land
cal countries.
The "information" about Abaris of "the blessed people" lying beyond
was basically preserved by the Pytha¬ Scythia and the great mountains on Shamanism was widespread in
gorean brotherhood, who included it the shore of the Northern Ocean. Antiquity among the peoples of the
among their conceptions about the The poem is in fact concerned with north, in Asia and in Europe. Butw
migration of the soul. But the a real journey through Scythia and the religions of the ancient Indians, t

45
Jranians and Scythians belong as a
whole to another type despite some
similarities in their epic and myth to
the images of "northern mythology".
However, a good many Iranian and
Indian specialists consider that the
religious practice of the Indians,
Iranians and Scythians had features
that were similar to northern shama¬
nism, especially that of the Finno-
Ugrians.

Historians know something about

the earliest connexions between the
ancestors of the ancient Indians,
Iranians and Scythian tribes and the
ancestors of the Finno-Ugrians. They
know, for instance, of many simila¬
rities between the languages of these
peoples. Among these is the name
of the ecstatic medium with the aid
of which the shamans and priests
put themselves into a state of ritual
possession.

Various plants were used for this

purpose, including hemp. The Scy¬
thians also were aware of these pro¬
perties of hemp and used it in cult
ceremonies. The Greek lexicogra¬
pher Hesychius informs us that hemp
is "the Scythian smoking plant" and
is so powerful that it makes all parti¬
cipants in this ritual sweat. The
Western neighbours of the Scythians,
the inhabitants of Thracia, used
hemp in preparing a sacred libation.

This is what Herodotus has to tell

us about the practice: the Scythians
"place three poles leaning towards
each other, and pull onto them strips
of woollen felt, stretching these to
fit as tightly as possible. They then
throw red-hot stones into
standing between these poles and the
a vessel On wings
woollen strips.

"In their land grows hemp a plant

of ecstasy
very like flax, but much coarser and
taller; it grows wild there and is also
sown by the people... The Scythians
According to Scythian mythology a fabulous
take the seeds of the hemp, crawl land where day and night each lasted half
under the felt strips and there throw a year lay far to the north in the polar
the seeds onto the heated stones; regions. It was a bountiful country that
these seeds give out such a vapour could be reached only by heroes and sages.
as no Grecian steam-bath can exceed. This belief, recorded by many Greek and
The Scythians enjoy this and howl Roman authors of antiquity, closely
resembles those found in ancient Indian
loudly..."
and Persian mythologies and epics, which
This probably reflects a ritual cere¬ describe an earthly paradise lying beyond
towering mountains towards the north.
mony which is reminiscent of shama-
How were the priests, sages and heroes
nic practices. If this is the case, to reach this reputedly inaccessible land?
then the "howl" represents the song According to the Shamanic traditions of
of the servant of the cult, in a state the Asian steppes the journey could be
of ecstasy which is attained by the accomplished by entering into an ecstatic
stupefying effect of the smoke from state, the secret of which was known to the

roasting hemp seeds. Herodotus' shaman. Soothsayer and healer, the

account and the ritual nature of the shaman could transform himself into a bird
(Siberian shaman in drawing at left wears
custom he describes are confirmed by
costume with sleeves representing wings).
the excavations of the famous Soviet
archaeologist Sergei Rudenko, in the
Altai mountains of Siberia (see p. 34).

In the burial mounds of the Altai

(5th-4th centuries B.C.) the perma¬
frost layer has preserved some small
huts made of poles lashed together
at the top (two of the huts had
covers on them, one of woollen felt
and the other of hide). In one of
these graves copper vessels were Photo and drawings © "Miysl" Publishers. Moscow.

46
 found under such a structure: they
contained stones which had been
in a fire and partially charred hemp
seeds; in addition, a leather bag,
containing hemp seeds, was tied to
one of the hut poles. Similar sha-
manic ceremonies, performed in
yurts or chums (conical pole-huts
used by the Asian nomads) have been
described by anthropologists.

Facts are also known about the

use of other plants as a means of
achieving ecstasy during cult cere¬
monies and Indian and Iranian reli¬
gious texts record a legend derived
from a common source about the
theft of a cult plant, the soma-plant, .
from the great mountains by the
sacred bird Garuda, also called Sh'ena
in the Rgveda, a collection of Vedic
hymns to the deities. Iranian tradi¬
tion calls the same creature Saena,
and later Simurg.

Legends similar to those which

were told about Garuda in ancient
India and Simurg in Iran were cur¬
rent among the Scythians. This
huge "wonder-bird" was also one
of the mythological images used
by the forest tribes of north-eastern
Europe, the Urals and the land
beyond the Urals.
The same creature is also depicted
on the large number of metal plaques
Photos L. Tarassova © Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad.
portraying birds and bird-like crea¬
tures, on the bodies of which the face
or the standing figure of a man is
often represented. Excavations have
shown that such subjects were quite
common even in the Scythian epoch.

This mythology and epic reflects

not just legendary conceptions and
the products of fantasy but also
real facts about the surrounding
world. The mythology of the Scy¬
thians, as much ' as that of other
peoples, was a characteristic combi¬
And his soul, leaving his body, took flight.
nation of fantasy and the rudiments
One way in which the shaman attained a
of scientific thought.
state of ecstasy was by inhaling the fumes
of hemp. The remains of a "hemp" tent
(seen at left) were found in a tomb at
Not only did the Greeks expand
Pazyryk. They consist of the tent poles their geographical horizon through
and a receptacle for burning hemp seeds. their contacts with the Scythians
In Indian legends the journey to the mythical but, as a result of their familiarity
country was accomplished on the back of with Scythian epic, myth and cosmo¬
sacred birds such as Garuda (above left logy, even in semi-legendary form,
in a 19th-century Indian miniature). In they acquired new information about
northern Europe and the Urals, the legendary
the geography of the remote forest
bird was depicted on metal plaques (drawings
zone, the northern Arctic Ocean, and
opposite page). These plaques shaped as
bird-like creatures often bore representations the "polar phenomena".
of the face or standing figure of a man.
Above, felt swans from a tomb at The "Scythian source" may be
Pazyryk. They were used as carriage viewed as the first stage in the his¬
decorations 2,400 years ago. tory of European science's know¬
ledge of the Far North. And although
new information was added to this
store later in Antiquity, Greek and
Latin authors, in describing the
northern countries, continued for
many centuries to refer to the tradi¬
tion which went back to the 7th-6th
centuries B.C. and was based on
information acquired from the Scy¬
thian world of the time.

G.M. Bongard-Levin
and E.A. Grantovsky

47
 THE OSSETES .SCYTHIANS
by Vasily
Ivanovich Abaev OF THE 20TH CENTURY
THE Scythian people did not disap¬ the Caucasus, where they established Caucasian "mountains.
pear from the face of the earth what was for the times a powerful Two priceless treasures of their remote
without leaving a trace. If we look at an feudal state. They were converted past have, nevertheless, survivedtheir
ethnographic map of the Caucasus, to Christianity in the tenth century, and language and their folklore.
which is a patchwork of more than during the Middle Ages they main¬
The Scythians themselves left no
forty different nationalities, we find in tained active relations with Byzantium,
Georgia and Russia. written texts.' But Greek epigraphic
the" central part a small group of people,
inscriptions dating from the period
known as the Ossetes, whose popula¬ The Mongol invasion and the cam¬
when the Scythians occupied the lands
tion numbers 400,000. paigns of Tamerlane were a disaster for north of the Black Sea contain hun¬
the Alani: one part of the population
It was established long ago that the dreds of Scythian and Sarmatian com¬
was annihilated in the incessant wars;
Ossetes are in no way related to their mon nouns.
another fled to Hungary, where they
Caucasian neighbours. Immigrants from As eminent an authority as the Russian
were known as the 'As" and retained
the steppes of south Russia, they are philologist Vsevolod Miller and also spe¬
their ethnic individuality for another
descendants of the Alani who, according cialists from other countries have convin¬
several hundred years. A third part
to Josephus a Jewish scholar and his¬ cingly demonstrated that knowledge of
torian of the first century A.D.were a
joined in the expeditions of the maraud¬
ing Mongolians and was dispersed in the Ossetic tongue makes interpretation
Scythian tribe living in the vicinity of the of these inscriptions easier and that
Don and the Sea of Azov.
foreign lands.
The Alani who remained in the Cau¬ they can in fact be considered as
During the great migrations of the examples of the language of the ancient
casus took refuge in the narrow passes
fourth and fifth centuries A.D., some Ossetes.
of the central regions.
of the Alani moved across Europe as A number of words still used by the
One cannot help comparing the vast
far as France and Spain. The French Ossetes, such as "farn" (paradise), "hsar"
territory between the Altai in the east
name Alain and the English Alan date (military prowess), "andon" (iron), "aldar"
and the Danube in the west, which
from that period. had been the home of the Scytho- or "ardar" (master), "liman" (friend),
The remaining Alani made their way Sarmatian tribes during the last millen¬ ^'furt" (son), "fida" (father), "sag" (stag)
from Eastern Europe to the foothills of nium of the pre-Christian period, with "sar" (head), "stur" (big), are easily
the handful of narrow ravines which recognized in these inscriptions.
was all that was left to the Ossetes Modern Ossetic also provides the
in the 18th century A.D. key to the meaning of many names on
VASILY IVANOVICH ABAEV, a well-
the map of the region between the
known Soviet scholar and orientalist, is a spe¬ Here, indeed is food for thought
Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The
cialist in Iranian civilization and in the lan¬ about the reverses of fortune ! At
Pitsunda, on the Black Sea coast, a names of the Don, the Dnieper and
guage and folklore of the Ossetes. He is
the Dniester are easier to understand,
scientific adviser to the Institute of Linguistic little grove of pine trees is all that
for example, when we know that in
Studies of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences remains of a once-enormous forest.
Ossetic and in this language alonethe
and is the author of 250 studies Including a Fate dealt similarly with the ancient
word for "river" is "don".
monograph on Scytho-European linguistic Scythian world, which is now reduced
geography. to a tiny group of Ossetes, lost in the Traces of the Scythian world as evident

HERODOTUS AMONG THE SCYTHIANS ¡continued from page w

detailed elements cast separately, sol¬ being used, and thus provide a fasci¬ time and almost unanimously been
dered together in a composite article, nating glimpse of the Scythians as considered by scholars familiar with
and then carefully polished. they really were, at different moments the history of the region north of the
of their existence. Black Sea to represent the Scythians
The battle scene, which is depicted
themselves.
in relief, is treated with meticulous There can be no doubt that all
attention to detail: the decorations on these objects had their origins in an The Scythians were certainly
the weapons and clothing of the ancient culture and, more specifically, warriors, and many images show
warriors, and even the curls of their jn Greek craftsmanship. In style and them in battle or resting in the middle
hair and beards, are engraved with tradition, they were classically Greek, of their campaigns. But the artists
extreme accuracy. and they could only have been pro¬ also depicted more peaceful times,
duced in a context of Hellenic notions and the Chertomlyk vase shows them
Similar virtuosity is to be found in
and capacities, which conditioned all engaged in what may well have been
the execution of the Chertomlyk vase,
stages of their production. Even a typical nomad activity, roping and
the frieze in particular. All the fig¬
their secondary details, such as the hobbling their horses.
urines, of men and horses were
moulded separately and only arranged ornamental motifs of palms, acanthus- Hunting scenes were also depicted.
in a composition when they were plants and wattled designs, were A silver vessel from Solokha shows a
soldered to the vessel. essentially Greek. group of Scythian horsemen, accom¬
The chief interest of the objects pro¬ Many of the objects in metalware panied by their dogs, at grips with a
were, however, Greek neither in form fantastic lion-like creature with horns,
duced by the jewellers of the northern
Black Sea coast lies in the themes nor in function. The spherical vessels which has seized a horse by the leg.^
which they represent, and in the light found at Kul Oba closely resemble the One hunter brandishes a spear, ano¬
which they throw on this or that earthenware vessels of the earliest ther is taking aim with his bow and
aspect of Scythian life. Scythian culture, and were doubtless arrow, while their two companions,
used in religious ceremonies, while similarly armed, join in the fray.
Finds from the burial mounds
the torques and the plaques used as Some of the small gold plaques
teach us much about Scythian wea¬
ornaments on clothing had Scythian, used as decoration for clothing and
pons, clothes and ornaments, but the
and not Greek significance. found in the kurgans of Kul Oba,
picture isso to speak unfinished
and lacking in depth. On the other Thus, the majority of these articles Solokha and Chertomlyk represent
hand, the scenes in relief portrayed by were Greek in execution, but Scythian scenes of a completely different kind,
the metal-workers show the objects in form, while the ¡mages with which doubtless related to religious cere¬
found by archaeologists actually they were decorated have for a long monies.

48
 as those found in the language of the tells us. Satána thus joins the ranks of
Ossetes are also to be found in their the Scythian, Saka and Massagete
folklore, and more particularly in the queens and warrior-maidens, to stand
heroic epics which, like other peoples beside Zarina, Amaga and Tomiris,
of the Caucasus, they still relate. The whose names have also been handed
heroes of these epics are a race of down by tradition. She is a product of
warriors known as the Narts. the steppe and not of the Caucasus.

Vsevolod Miller and the French Nor do the natural surroundings in

scholar Georges Dumézil have con¬ which the Epic of the Narts unfolds bear
cluded after careful comparative ana¬ any resemblance to the mountainfastness
lysis that much of what happens in the of present-day Ossetia. Broad expanses
tales of their adventures corresponds of sea and steppe are the usual setting
for the adventures of the Narts. The
very closely to the Scythian customs
and way of life described by Herodotus wind of the steppes lashes through the
and other ancient authors. All these narrative. We feel the endlessness of

sources mention, for example, an the Scythian plains and hear the
enchanted cup from which only the stampeding of horses, as a herd of
most valiant warriors may drink, sword- stags appears, pursued by tireless
hunters.
worship, and very similar burial cere¬
monies. The Narts had the closest of rela¬

Comparison of the Epic of the Narts tionships with the watery element.
with similar narratives from other cul¬ The founder of their people was a
tures immediately reveals one salient daughter of Don Bettyr, the ruler of
feature the central character is a the depths. Here, the similarity with
woman. It would be difficult to find in ancient Scythia is remarkable. The
other epic poems of the world a female favourite animal of Narts and Scythians
personality of such stature and strength. alike was the stag. In the Epic the
stag is often referred to as "Astassion"
Satána, as she is called, is the essence, (the Eighteen Horned One). Curiously
the centre through whom all things enough, the famous golden stags of
flow. She is the mother of the people, the Scythian animal style have exactly
the provider and mentor of the principal eighteen branches on their horns.
heroes, Soslan and Batradz. She is the
THE MOUNTAIN REMEMBERS In the absence of chronicles or docu¬
wise counsellor, the omnipotent sorceress ments, the language and folklore of a
THE STEPPE and the guiding force without whose small settlement in the Caucasus have
intervention nothing worthy of mention
bridged the gap of over 2,000 years,
Much of the folklore and tales of the can be accomplished. None of the
bringing to us the sounds and images
Ossetes, a small group of mountain heroes is indispensable to the Epic of of the inimitably individualistic world
people in the Caucasus, originates in the Narts. Without Satána, there is
of the ancient Scythians and Sarmatians.
the epics of the ancient Scythians of no Epic.
the steppes. Here, Dris Tautiev, an
Obviously so imposing a figure could Vasily I. Abaev
honoured bard of the Northern Osse¬
only emerge from a society where
tian Republic (U.S.S.R.) and one of the
women occupied a dominant position.
400,000 descendants of the Scythians, And such, according to the unanimous
sings to the strains of the "kiatmancha". testimony of ancient authors, was the
society of the Sarmatians and the Mas¬
sagètes. "The Sarmatians are governed
by their women", one of these authors

One of them shows what appears length hair and in the majority of which have also yielded many
to be a goddess (women rarely figured cases beards and moustaches. examples of the precious metalware
in the imagery of the northern Black objects which wealthy Scythians
Their double-breasted jackets, or
Sea metal-workers) seated on a commissioned from Greek craftsmen,
caftans, are trimmed with what
throne, with a mirror in her hand. specifying that they should be execu¬
appears to be fur and embroidered
In front of her sits a Scythian drinking designs. They wear soft, short ted "in the Scythian style".
what is probably a magic potion from
boots, strapped at the ankle, and A final group of metal objects
a horn-shaped cup.
pointed, hood-like caps. They are appears to depict some of the Scy¬
frequently portrayed bearing arms: thian divinities encountered in the
Other plaques feature a similar
short swords, bows and arrows pages of Herodotus. Thus, for
drinking-horn, from which two
carried in a case suspended from their example, one gold plaque (a horse's
kneeling Scythians are drinking simul¬
belts, spears, battle-axes and shields. decorated frontlet or forehead orna¬
taneously, in what is generally
In a number of cases, they wear metal ment) from the Tsymbalka kurgan
believed to be a ritual oath-taking
helmets and armour. shows what appears to be the goddess
such as that described by Herodotus.
Apia in the form of a serpent-woman;
The Greek craftsmen responsible
By no means all the scenes which while the legendary hero Targitaus
for these portraits were extremely
is shown in combat with a monster
decorate the metal objects found in familiar with their subjects, and this on a bronze crest found in the Bliz-
the Scythian burial mounds can be knovyledge is reflected in the smallest
so easily interpreted. More than a nitsa Slopovskaya kurgan.
details of the figures, scenes and
few of them probably reflect preoccu¬ compositions. The outstanding discoveries which
pations which lay at a deeper level marked the dawn of Russian archaeo¬
All the objects we have mentioned
than the affairs of everyday life, and logy were followed by others. In
were produced largely in the fourth
it has been suggested they are ideo¬ very recent years, excavations in the
century B.C., when the Scythians
logical or mythological in content, kurgans of the Ukrainian steppes have
occupied the whole of the area
illustrating the epics which nourished yielded jewellery similar to that found
around the northern coast of the
Scythian society (see page 15). at Kul Oba, Chertomlyk and Solokha.
Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and
Will there be more finds? It is hard
when their kings were at the zenith of
But let us turn again to the outward to say but it is more than likely that
their power and wealth.
appearance of the Scythians, as they the earth still hides the key to further
are portrayed in these images. They This was the period when they built episodes in the history of the ancient
have regular features, and frequently the impressive royal tombs discovered Scythians.
severe expressions, long, shoulder- in the vicinity of the Dnieper rapids. Yaroslav V. Domansky

49
 P
BOOKSHELF

UNESCO BOOKS AND

El UD
PERIODICALS

Planning for Satellite Broad¬ The big 'Unesco Courier'

casting: The Indian Instructio¬ language family
nal Television Experiment, by
Romesh Chander and Kiran Kar-
We have pleasure in recalling to rea¬
nik. ("Reports and papers on ders that the Russian language edition
mass communication" series,
of the "Unesco Courier", published in
No. 78) 1976, 71 pp. (8 F). Moscow, celebrates its 20th anniver¬
Youth Participation in the sary at the end of December 1976. The
Development Process: a case first edition to be published outside
study in Panama, by Luis A. Go¬ Unesco's headquarters (in January 1957)
mez de Souza and Lucia Ribeiro. the Russian language edition has since
(No. 18 in the International Bureau been followed by eleven other editions:
of Education's "Experiments and German (Berne, September 1960) Arabic
innovations in education" series) (Cairo, November 1960) Japanese (To¬
1976, 101 pp. (12 F). kyo, April 1961) Italian (Rome, January
1963) Hindi (New Delhi) and Tamil (Ma¬
Some Aspects of Cultural Po¬ dras July 1967) Hebrew (Jerusa¬
licy in Togo, by K.M. Aithnard. lem, September 1968) Persian (Teheran,
1976, 101 pp. (12 F); Cultural May 1969) Dutch (Antwerp) and Portu¬
Policy in the Republic of Zaire,
guese (Rio de Janeiro both October
a study prepared under the direc¬
1972) and Turkish (Istanbul, May 1973).
tion of Dr. Bokonga Ekanga Bo- Two new editions Urdu (Karachi, Pakis¬
tombele. 1976, 119 pp. (14 F).
tan) and Catalan (Barcelona, Spain) will
(Both published in Unesco's
begin publication early in 1977, thus
"Studies and Documents on
bringing the total number" of language
Cultural Policies" series). editions in which the "Unesco Courier" is
The Use of Socio-economic published monthly to 1 7. The possibility
Indicators in Development Plan¬ of launching a Kiswahili language edition
ning. Eight papers discussed at in Kenya or Tanzania is at present under Death of Alexander Calder
2 Unesco meetings (at University study.
of Sussex, U.K. and in Bangkok, The American sculptor Alexander
Thailand) 1976, 282 pp. (40 F). Calder, one of the great figures of
What do you know 20th-century art, died in New York on
Schooling in the mother ton¬
11 November 1976 at the age of 78.
gue in a multilingual environ¬ about Unesco? He was world-famous for the moving
ment is the major theme of Pros¬
sculptures, or mobiles, which he began
pects, Unesco's quarterly review to create in 1932 and for the monu¬
Why not visit Unesco at its headquar¬
of education (Vol. VI, No. 3, 1976). ters in Paris and learn more about its mental motionless "stabiles" he began
Each issue 9.50 F; annual subs¬
history and its wide range of activities in to make in the late 1950s. His works
cription 32 F. education, culture, science and commun¬ now stand in public buildings and open '
A Bold New Architecture in ications? Free information programmes spaces throughout the world. A
the Historical Site of the Vatican consisting of general or specialized talks, 32-foot-high steel mobile called "Spi¬
and Three Museums Cope with a discussion period and film projections rale" (see photo) by Alexander Calder
Tourism are the themes of Mu¬ are offered in most languages to young has been an outstanding feature of the
seum, Unesco's quarterly on mu- people, adults and professional, cultural piazza at Unesco's Paris headquarters
seography (Vol. XXVIII, N° *2, and social groups. Further details are since 1958.
1976). Each issue 17.50 F; annual available from the Unesco Visitors'
subscription 60 F. Centre, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75700
Paris, France; telephone 577-16-10, Flashes
extension 22.14.

OTHER BOOKS The World Health Organization

received about $ 83 million to eradicate
The Diploma Disease: Educa¬ smallpox ¡n the world while the cost of
tion, Qualification and Develop¬ a single strategic bomber is $ 88 million
ment, by Ronald Dore. Allen and
says the U.N. "Development Forum"
Unwin Ltd., London, 1976, 214 pp. in an article pointing out the current
(£ 5.95). Imbalance in the allocation of world
Ecological Consequences of resources.

the Second Indochina War. Pu¬

The Unesco Institute for Education
blished by Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in
¡n Hamburg (Fed. Rep. of Germany)
Unesco medal currently studying problems of lifelong
collaboration with Almqvist and
education, celebrates Its 25th anniver¬
Wiksell International, Stockholm.
1976, 119 pp. (Sw. kr. 76.50).
for Carthage sary this year.

Reaping the Green Revolu¬ Unesco has issued a medal to comme¬ Ghana recently launched Its first
tion: Food and Jobs for All and morate its programme for the preser¬ rural newspaper, a fortnightly published
A Richer Harvest: New Horizons vation of Carthage and to enable people in the Ewe language, as a joint project
of Unesco and the Institute of Adult
for Developing Countries, by to contribute to this international cam¬
Sudhir Sen. Orbis Books, Mary- Education of the University of Ghana.
paign. Featuring the face of the "Lady
knoll, New York ($ 10.95 each). of Carthage" from a Roman mosaic, An International convention prohibi¬
and, on the reverse side the "Horse¬
The Gypsies in Sweden: A ting the killing or capturing of polar bears
man of Douimes" from a Punic coin, the
Socio-Medical Study, by John (today less than 20,000 survive) has
medal is the latest in a series issued by come into effect after ratification by
Takman with the assistance of
Unesco in support of its international Canada, Denmark, Norway, U.S.A. and
Lars Lindgren. Liber Förlag, Stock¬
campaign for monuments, including U.S.S.R.
holm. 1976, 173 pp.
Venice, Moenjodaro and Philae. The
Environmentalism, by T. 0' Carthage medal, available in gold (455 47 universities now give degrees in
Riordan. Published by Pion Ltd., French francs) silver (135 F) and bronze film-making according to "The Educa¬
London; distributed by Academic (60 F), can be ordered through banks, tion of the Film-maker, an international
Press, London and New York. numismatic dealers or directly from the view", co-published by the Unesco Press
1976, 373 pp. Unesco Philatelic Service, Place de and the American Film Institute in
Fontenoy, 75700 Paris. Washington.

50
Unesco Courier Index 1976
January (J. Bain D'Souza). Housing â la carte (Y. Friedman). The uprooted. A man's
home is his castle (Photos). Hong Kong: the most urban place on earth.
OUR SPLIT BRAIN. (V. L. Deglin). The hungry brain (E. A. Shneour). The
(D. Behrman). Art treasures: Goddess of harvests (U. S. S. R.).
first 4 months of life before birth (Photos). New machines to explore the
brain (J. M. R. Delgado). Art treasures: Ritual bucket (Iraq). July
AMERICA'S SPIRIT OF 1776. (H. S. Commager). Americans as they see the
February U.S. (R. W. Winks). Nobel laureates of literature. Thomas Jefferson and
THE SEARCH FOR CULTURAL IDENTITY. The Angry Young Men of Benjamin Franklin. About the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Paine's
Oceania (A. Wendt). African art, where the hand has ears (A. Hampâté Bâ). "Common Sense" (B. Bailyn). Citizen Paine (J. Janssens) Colour pages.
African arts take the high road away from Western art (M. Wahba). Children Making of the Statue of Liberty (Photos). A living heritage of cultures and
of the whale (Y. Rytkheou). Three in one: Latin America's racial and cultural peoples (Y. L. Wong and H. C. Shore). Private philanthropy in the American
originality (A. Uslar-Pietri). Art treasures: Statuette of ancestor-spirit arts. The state as patron of the arts (N. Hanks). U.S.A.: the continuing
(Ghana). revolution (W. W. Davenport). Art treasures: Youth with a rose (U. S. A.).

March August-September
DESTINATION UNESCO: A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AROUND THE
UNESCO'S FIRST THIRTY YEARS. Unesco's early years (J. Huxley).
Julian Huxley (P. de Berrêdo Carneiro). A philosophy for Unesco (J. Huxley). WORLD. 68-page comic strip issue on some of the major problems Unesco
50-question quiz on Unesco. Unesco and the world outlook for tomorrow has tackled during the last 30 years. By J.-M. Clément and Safoura Asfia.
(A.-M. M'Bow). Roots of a growing world crisis. Art treasures: Nefertari October
(Egypt).
THE SEARCH FOR A NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER. (T. Bratteli
April and S. Amin). Arsenic and old plates (I. Selimkhanov). Brancusi (B. Bre-
THE WORLD OF HUMOUR. Humour across frontiers (G. Mikes). Gabrovo: zianu). René Maheu (P. de B. Carneiro). "La Civilisation de l'Universel"
Bulgaria's capital of humour (B. Gerasimov). "Worm Runner's Digest" (J. (R. Maheu). International cultural centre in Burgundy (P. Ouannès). Art
McConnell). Nasrudin Hodja (I. Sop). The world will never die if it dies treasures: head on the jar lid (Ethiopia).
laughing (Y. Boriev). The political and satirical cartoon (I. Tubau). Chinese
November
humour (K. M. Schipper). Art treasures: Man with a skin of clay (Ecuador).
EXPLORING THE NEW SOUNDSCAPE (R. M. Schafer). Rock, pop and rising
May
decibels (I. Bontinck and D. Mark). Tuning in to the past (D. Lowenthal).
EARTHQUAKE! Can we prevent earthquake disasters? (E. M. Fournier Insect "wings of song" (Photos). Early man goes through the speech barrier
d'Albe). Deadliest earthquakes of the century. Tragedy in Guatemala (Photos). (A. A. Leontyev). Sound sculptures. Psychoanalysis of sound (P. Ostwald)
China predicts a major earthquake (D. Behrman). Ancestor of all seismographs. Art treasures: Siren-borne candlestick (Hungary).
Earthquake in Pagan, Burma (P. Pichard). San Francisco's coming earthquake
December
(K. V. Steinbrugge). Man-made earthquakes. Earthquakes in history (Ñ. N.
Ambraseys). Earthquake "signatures". Tsunamis (R. Fenton). International THE SCYTHIANS (B. B. Piotrovsky). Horsemen of the steppes (Y. Do-
warning system. Atlantis a Mediterranean island? Art treasures: Neolithic mansky). Scythian art and myths (D. S. Raevsky). Archaeological finds
Head (Yugoslavia). in the Ukraine (I. Artemenko, V. Bidzilia, B. Mozolevsky, V. Otroshchenko).
June Splendours of Scythian art (colour pages). Frozen tombs of Pazyryk (M. P.
Zavitukhina). Graves of men and horses in the Sayan mountains (M. Griaz-
HABITAT. Habitat and the quality of life (G. Fradier). A third of the world nov). Scythian mythology and folklore (G. M. Bongard-Levin and E. A. Gran-
in shantytowns (S. Chamecki). Squatter-builders (J. F. C. Turner). The tovsky). The Ossetes, 20th century heirs of ancient Scythia (V. I. Abaev).
architect: a modern scapegoat (F. A. Novikov). The needy left out in the cold Art treasures: St. Christopher (Greece).

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International bookshops. - HONG KONG. Federal G.C.T. Van Dorp & Co. (Ned Ant.). N.V.. Willemstad. New York, N.Y. 10022. - U.S.S.R. Mezhdunarodnaya
Publications Division, Far East Publications Ltd., 5 A Curaçao. N. A. - NEW ZEALAND. Government Prin¬ Kniga, Moscow, G-200. -YUGOSLAVIA. Jugoslovenska
Evergreen Industrial . Mansion, Wong Chuk Hang Road, ting Office, Government Bookshops at: Rutland Street. Knjiga, Terazije, 27, Belgrade: Drzavna Zalozba Slovenije,
Aberdeen. Swindon Book Co., 13-15, Lock Road. CO. Box 5344, Auckland: 130, Oxford Terrace, P.O. Box Titova C 25, P.O.B. 50-1, Ljubliana.

51
Siberian art treasures

preserved in ice
for 2,500 years
Five centuries before the Christian Era, a nomad artist of the
steppes in the Altai region of Siberia (to the southwest of Lake
Baikal) sculpted this superb animal motif in wood. It depicts a
griffin a mythical winged beast of prey -with a stag's head in its
jaws. The stag's horns and ears and the griffin's crest are
fashioned from leather, and on the mythical monster's neck two
tiny griffins are shown attacking a goose. This ornament
(35 cm. high) was discovered in a frozen tomb at Pazyryk, in the
Altai mountains, in 1949 (see article page 31).

Photo C Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad