Trade relations with the ancient cities of the Northern Black Sea region played an important role in the social and cultural life of Scythia. They accelerated the process of property stratification among the Scythians.
The wealthy Scythian nobility began to show great interest in Greek luxury goods. In exchange for slaves, grain, animal skins, salted and dried fish, the Scythians received wine, olive oil, art utensils, and articles made of non-ferrous metals - electra, gold, silver, bronze.
By the orders of the Scythians, Greek toreuttes (metalworkers) made jewelry, gold and silver vases, richly decorated weapons and battle armor. Some workshops in Greek cities worked specifically to meet the needs of the Scythian nobility. Many products were made in the traditions of the so-called Scythian animal style, but at the same time the artists inscribed their Greek motives, used traditional techniques for depicting people and animals, widely used geometric and floral ornament, palmettos. Various ornaments intertwined with images created whimsical compositions.
Scythian art developed in different ways and under the influence of different reasons. The artistic value of the works made by Scythian masters is great. They had a good command of the technique of casting, forging, embossing, embossing, engraving and created their own original style in art, a distinctive feature of which was the images on things of animals in dynamics - fighting, jumping, running. Deer, moose, boars are depicted in works of the animal style with artistic taste; scenes of their struggle with panthers, lions, leopards, lynxes are often found. This style is characterized by generalization of the image, a combination of real and fantastic features in one image. A special place was occupied by the mythological griffin - a fantastic monster with the body of a lion, wings and the head of an eagle.
A striking example of Scythian art is an openwork plate - an ornament of a horse's dress depicting a horseman shooting a deer with a bow.
Historical reference
The period from VII to III century BC, when it comes to the life of the peoples of Eastern Europe, historians usually call the "Scythian era". But who are the Scythians? There is still no clear answer to this question. Some scientists believe that these are tribes who came from the Urals and Siberia, others believe that the Scythians are the descendants of people who came from the territories of the Volga region. It has been established that their habitat is extensive: from the shores of the Baltic to the northern borders of China and from the Kama region to the Egyptian deserts. However, the main focus of their life was still the Northern Black Sea region. By the beginning of the 7th century BC. the Scythians managed to oust the Cimmerians from the territory of Ukraine, and later their war chariots and cavalry army were able to conquer Media, Syria, Palestine and dominate throughout Asia Minor. Their traces can be found in the North Caucasus and in a number of other places. Historians distinguish the Scythians - nomads, farmers,plowmen, as well as ruling tribes. This people maintained close trade relations both with each other and with neighboring states. They sold and exchanged livestock, bread, furs, slaves. The Scythians often made alliances among themselves, especially in the conduct of wars. The deified power of the Scythian kings was inherited.
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Scientists about the Scythians
Scythia ceased to exist only after the German tribes conquered their lands at the end of the 3rd century. The Scythians were partially destroyed, and some merged with the conquerors. An important feature of the Scythians is their adherence to precious stones and precious metals, especially gold. The famous Ukrainian archaeologist Grigory Borovka wrote about this: “The first thing that amazes us is the richness of the Scythian culture in gold. Nowhere else, neither before nor after the Scythians, was gold so ubiquitous in this region. No other culture of antiquity, even "gold-rich Mycenae", can compete with Scythia in the abundance of gold. " The same idea is expressed by the "father of history" Herodotus, who wrote in one of his books: "Silver and copper were not used by them at all - only gold." The great thinker was wrong. As the excavations of the royal burials of the Scythians showed, they had silver and copper, but gold still predominated.
Burial rite
The same Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC, describes in detail and colorfully the burial rite of the Scythian king. “When their tsar dies,” he writes, “in the area of Gerros (near the Dnieper rapids) they dig a large quadrangular grave. The deceased is embalmed, the entrails are removed, filling the voids with aromatic herbs and coating the corpse with wax. Then the deceased is carried on a funeral chariot to all the subordinate tribes. As a sign of mourning, the Scythians cut off a part of their ear, scratched their mouth and nose, and pierced their left hand with arrows. The Scythians believed in the afterlife, therefore, together with the king, they necessarily buried one of his wives, a cook, a servant, a cupbearer, as well as a servant who was the first to know about the death of his master. In addition, the dead bodies of horses, selected cattle, and sometimes chariots were placed in the grave. The grave was filled up, and a mound up to 20 meters high was erected above it. A year later, up to 50 stuffed royal horses were installed around the mound and killed servants were attached to them. Of course, the funeral of an ordinary Scythian was much more modest, but even in this case, a commemoration was mandatory. It is curious that a period of 40 days was set before burial.
Artistic values
What was discovered by archaeologists in the second half of the 20th century during the excavation of the Kul-Oba, Chertomlyk, Solokha, Gaymanova burial mounds can be ranked among the most remarkable finds in the history of mankind. After it was possible to excavate the Tolstaya Tomb barrow in Zaporozhye, archaeologist B. N. Mazapevsky wrote: “Having started the dismantling, we realized that we had a cache of Scythian treasures in front of us, which went unnoticed by the robbers. In a short corridor connecting the burial chamber with the entrance pit, during the funeral of the Scythian king, someone put, or perhaps deliberately hid, two of the most valuable things - a heavy silver breast ornament (pectoral) with scenes from the life of the Scythians and figures of animals, and also an iron sword in a magnificent scabbard, decorated with the figures of fantastic beasts.
In two pits lay the remains of six horses in rich harness trimmed with precious stones. Beside them in separate graves rested the murdered servants and the groom. The groom's neck was decorated with a golden hryvnia. You need to have the gift of a poet or artist in order to fully convey the beauty and expression that an unknown jeweler has given to this or that character - be it a king, a cattle breeder or any animal. It is no coincidence that images of some Scythian objects are included in history books in many countries of the world.
In the same burial mound, the Tolstaya Grave turned out to be absolutely intact the tomb of the Scythian queen and her young son. A tall, conical cap of decayed leather covered the queen's head, just like two and a half thousand years ago. It is sheathed all over with figured plaques and plates. The queen is dressed in a dress with widened sleeves at the ends. And this outer garment is adorned with expensive jewelry. Graceful leather shoes completed the woman's outfit. A lot of expensive jewelry was also found here: massive earrings with the image of a goddess sitting on a throne and praying, a torch with figures of 7 lions chasing a horse, 3 bracelets and 11 rings and beads made of semi-precious stones. Toiletries included a bronze mirror and three expensive vessels, including a rare black and lacquer vase. The queen's son - a two- or three-year-old boy - was dressed in a suit,all showered with gold ornaments. In their heads lay sacred vessels made of silver, as well as a jug with images of scenes from the life of the Scythians.
V. Kravets