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

io6 THE SCYTHIANS IN THE
Poroina rhyton are ornamented with figures in relief. We see the
same goddess seated on a stool, holding the round vase in her right
hand, and in her left a rhyton of the same shape as the Poroina rhyton
itself. Facing the goddess is a priestess or worshipper raising her
right hand in the gesture of adoration. The scene is given twice, on
the upper part of each side. It is not possible to date the rhyton :
it is unquestionably the work of a native artist, and consequently
barbarous in style. One would be inclined to consider it much later
than the Merdjany rhyton, which can be dated, by the objects found
along with it, in the third century B.C.; but the style of the representations
on the Merdjany rhyton, if one can speak of style in such
uncouth works, does not differ from that of the Poroina rhyton. It
must also be noticed, that the goddess who adorns the centre of the
famous Petrossa phiale seems to be closely akin to the Great Goddess
worshipped by the Scythians of South Russia.
This whole series of religious representations shows the sacred
character of the vases which are regularly found in Scythian tombs of
our period : the round vase and the rhyton, two very primitive forms
which go back to the earliest stages of civilized life. The two
Scythians on the girdle or diadem from the barrow of Kul-Oba,
one of whom bears the rhyton, the other the round vase, must be
devotees of the supreme goddess.
We are now in a position to understand the ceremony of the
sacred oath, described by Herodotus (iv. 70) :
' When the Scythians
make a treaty, they pour wine into a great clay cup, and the parties
prick themselves with a needle or cut themselves with a sword, and
and they dip into the cup a scimitar,
mingle their blood with the wine ;
and arrows, and a battle-axe, and a javelin. Then they pronounce
a long curse, and they drink, the parties, and their principal followers.'
This is the same ceremony of holy communion. It was reproduced
on the clasp (?) of the Kul-Oba girdle or diadem, mentioned above
(pi. XXIII, 3) : the representation included the figures of Scythians
with round vase and rhyton, taking part in the ceremony described
by Herodotus. Many such figures have been found and are to be
seen in museums : they were set to left and right of the central
group, the Holy Communion, on the girdle or diadem. The same
subject occurs in the Solokha tumulus, on gold plaques attached to
the clothing of the king.
In Scythian religion the great god has been almost totally eclipsed
by the Great Goddess. It is she who is the great divinity, the
divinity above all others. It is she who presides at oath-taking, who
administers the holy communion, and who initiates the royal Scythians