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

88 THE SCYTHIANS IN THE
Scythian ascendancy on the banks of the Danube. The survival of
a Scythian state in the Dobrudzha is explained by the geographical
situation of the Danube delta, which resembles the delta of the Kuban.
Have we more precise evidence as to the Scythian occupation of the
lower Danube valley, its duration, character, and vicissitudes ?
Unhappily we have not. We do not possess sufficient archaeological
data, for the archaeological exploration of Bulgaria and Rumania is
still in its infancy : and the literary tradition does not deal with these
questions. Recent finds, however, made by chance in one or two
tumuli in southern Bulgaria, give us a glimpse of the result that may
be expected from methodical investigation of the tumuli in Bulgaria
and in Rumania. I need not dwell upon these finds, which have
lately been published, with a commentary, by Filov, whose conclusions
I am unable to accept. Unfortunately, he has not taken the
trouble to make a close study of Russian archaeological material, but
has contented himself with a few superficial comparisons. Without
entering into controversy, I shall briefly indicate the nature of these
finds and the conclusions which I draw from them. The most
instructive finds are those of Brezovo and of Panagyurishte in the
department of Philippopolis : after them, of Bedniakovo in the
department of Chirpan and of Radyuvene in the department of Lovech.
The objects from the first three places were discovered in tumulary
graves. Although the graves were not regularly excavated, the
information which Filov collected locally enables us to form a notion
of the funerary ritual. It closely resembles the Scythian ritual, and
particularly that which prevailed on the Dnieper in the fourth and
third centuries B.C.: an Oriental ritual, but here attenuated and
unpretentious, compared with that of the great royal tombs by the
Kuban and the Dnieper. Characteristic, the burial of the body under
a tumulus in a stone chamber, and the interment, beside the body or
in the loose earth of the tumulus, of one or more horses with richly
ornamented bridles. We may conjecture that the bridle was sometimes
laid in the tomb with the body, and the horse slaughtered on
the half-finished mound. The tomb furniture, also, is very like that
of the Scythian graves : a group of sacred vessels—chiefly paterae
and sometimes spherical vases— , amphorae with wine and oil, and
various drinking vessels, Greek and local ; weapons ; rich garments
and diadems, loaded with gold ;
symbols of power—sceptre and ring ;
lastly, horse trappings, including a richly ornamented bridle. Just as
in the Scythian tombs, part of the furniture consists of Greek objects
imported from Greek colonies, especially Amphipolis, part of local
imitations of Greek work, and part of purely native objects. These