Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

of gods, beliefs, and art
on the body of the man buried in kurgan 2. There can be no doubt that the constant
battle for life ramified into every corner of nomad existence.
A World View
Communities in the past needed origin myths to give them a sense of self and a right
to existence, a pantheon of gods to offer moral support at times of adversity, and
a class of interpreters to manage the communication between mortals and the deities.
There is, as we have seen, ample evidence of all three among the Scythians and,
although there are gaps and uncertainties, a system of beliefs and behaviours can be
constructed. Yet it is difficult to get beyond mere description and into the minds of
the Scythian as he or she navigated through the world. What is clear, however, is that
reminders of the gods were always present in the symbols with which the individual
was surrounded. The meaning of these would have been readily understood, giving
reassurance: the world of the ancestors and the world of the present flowed on as ever
before. Even in the face of powerful empires and states with their own alien belief
systems, the traditional beliefs and values of the nomad remained largely unchanged.
Earth–water generating the Tree of Life sustained the world but there was always a
struggle with the predatory forces. The best that could be hoped for was that a balance
could be maintained. Crucial in this was the annual propitiation of the god of
war with animal sacrifices and the blood of enemies, and the dedication of the sacred
gold objects to Tabiti, the eternal fire, by the high king, his symbolic death through
a substitute ensuring the annual rebirth of the land and its continued productive
vitality.
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