Iranians and Greeks in South Russia - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA 73
Goddess in the peninsula of Taman is afforded by her prevalence, as
Kore or as Demeter, in the decoration of tomb-furniture from the
Taman graves : I would instance the important part played by
Demeter in the lady's tomb at Great Bliznitsa. Stephani inferred
that the lady had been a priestess of Demeter. I am more inclined
to believe that all the queens, or consorts of native kings and princes,
for example the queen buried under the barrow of Karagodeuashkh,
were priestesses of the Great Goddess, who was sometimes identified
with Demeter and sometimes with Aphrodite. The costume which
they wore on special occasions during their lifetime, and which
accompanied them into the grave, was the ritual costume ©f the
grand priestess, and as such recalled the costume of the Goddess
herself. Curiously enough, the Hellenized native queen who was
buried under the barrow of Great Bliznitsa had a number of gold
plaques sewn on to her clothing which represented the Great Goddess
herself. We shall return to them when we come to speak of the goddess
worshipped by the Scythians (see p . 107). The Great Goddess appears
in the form of the Asiatic noTVLa drjpcov : her chthonic character is
emphasized by her serpent feet. At the same time, it is shown by
certain attributes that she was conceived as the chief goddess of the
Bosphoran kingdom, the patron and guardian of the state. In the
more explicit of the plaques, her wings terminate in horned and
leonine griffin-heads ; she masters two eagle-headed griffins ; or she
holds in her right hand the silen's head which figures on Panticapaean
coins and in her left a dagger, and is accompanied by the symbol of
Bosphoran prosperity, the ear of corn (see p. 130, fig. 17, andpl. XVHI,
4, similar plaques from Kul-Oba and from Chersonesus, compare
pi. XVHI, 3—the same goddess represented as Aphrodite—and 2—
the Silen , the national god of vegetation) . As we examine these plaques
we cannot help recalling the Maeotian legend, mentioned above, of the
autochthonous goddess who slew the giants—native deities of fertility
—to please Herakles, the Greek or Iranian conquering god. We shall
see that the silens and satyrs on the coins of Panticapaeum probably
represent those same native gods of vegetation and of reproduction,
who are associated with the Great Goddess in the plaques.
The temples on the Taman peninsula, as we learn from an
inscription of Roman date, were organized like those in Asia Minor,
especially those in Pontus, Cappadocia, and Arrnenia : a college of
priests or priestesses with a grand priest or priestess at its head ;
vast domains belonging to the goddess ; and serfs working for the
goddess and for the priests.
There is the same dualism in the material life of the population,
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