Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the rise of the pontic steppe scythians
5.17 The central chamber in the kurgan of Great Bliznitsa with a painting of Demeter in the middle of
the vault. The structure of the vault and the painting betray strong Greek influence, probably the actual
involvement of Greek craftsmen in the planning and construction.
Eleusinian cult then popular in Greece. It is tempting to see the great mound as the
tomb of a family who were in thrall to the Eleusinian mysteries. In many respects the
monument compares with the great mound at Vergina in Macedonia in which Philip
II and other members of the royal dynasty were buried. It is a reminder that Macedonian
and Thracian ideas and beliefs as well as Greek ones were part of the cultural
mix which made up the Bosporan kingdom in the second half of the fourth century.
The distribution of the Scythian royal burials presents an interesting pattern. The
earliest burials of the seventh and sixth centuries were concentrated in the Kuban
region, with others scattered around the forest steppe, while in the fifth and fourth
centuries there is a considerable concentration in the Dnieper valley within a radius
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