Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

of gods, beliefs, and art
Images of the Deities
The deities of the upper ranges of the pantheon, Tabiti,
Papaeus, and Api, do not seem to have been anthropomorphized,
or at least no certain depictions of them are
known, but persistent in Scythian iconography from
the seventh century onwards are images of a goddess
displaying a variety of characteristics but all probably
representing different aspects of Argimpasa (Aphrodite
Ourania). The images can be divided into four groups.
Most closely related to the mythological foremother of
the Scythians is the Anguiped goddess displayed as half
woman but with snake legs, sometimes with distinct
serpents’ heads, sometimes morphing into tendrils.
The general form in which she is presented is reminiscent
of the tree of life (ficus mundi), a basic notion shared
throughout the Indo-Iranian region. She is often shown
as clutching tendrils of vegetation and sometimes with
legs splayed in a birth-giving position. Occasionally she
is associated with severed heads implying a relationship
with human sacrifice. In her second form the goddess is
shown with raised hands in a position of prayer and is
frequently flanked by animals. In this incarnation she is
the Mistress of the Beasts (Potnia theron) but is still very
close to the tendril-legged goddess. The different depictions
are stressing different aspects of the same deity.
She presides over plants and animals, displaying her
control of the natural world, while at the same time her
fecundity ensures the well-being of the human race. She
is the idealized mother of the Scythian tribes.
In the third manifestation she appears as a winged
figure. The earliest examples of this are on the rhyton
and silver-gilt mirror from the Kelermes kurgan dating
10.6 Gold bridle decoration, covering the front of the horses’ faces,
from the kurgan of Tsimbalka. It depicts a goddess whose lower body
resolves itself into serpent heads. She grasps the horns of the upper
pair of serpents.
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