The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

446 RUSSIA IX EUROPE.Inhabitants.Little is known of the Cimmerian Thracians who occupied the peninsula atthe dawn ofauthentic history, and who were driven thence to Asia Minor by theTumi Scythians. To them should possibly be referred the subterranean citieshere and there hollowed out of the limestone sides of the hills, and often containingthousands of chambers, at one time inhabited by generations of fugitives andanchorites. The few menhirs and the numerous dolmens also met with on theheights, especially in the south-west, and resembling those of Gaul, may perhapsFi». 236.Tomb of the Scythian Kings near Kertch.be the work of the same race, whom many have regarded as Celts, kinsmen ofthose who invaded West Europe.In the Hellenic period the dominant race, in common with all the peoples ofthe northern plains collectively known as Scythians, were certainly of Aryan stock,as is placed beyond douht by the skeletons found in the tombs. Under Hellenicinfluences these Scythians had made remarkable progress in art, and some of theirworks are not greatly inferior to the exquisite Greek objects found in the sametombs. The graves and catacombs of the Kertch hills contained vast treasures,most of which have been removed to the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.The frescoes discovered in 1871 by Stasov in a catacomb at Kertch show thatduring the time of Mithridates there was a reaction in favour of Eastern art,