The Scythians: nomad goldsmiths of the open steppes; The ...

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