Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

1 The Kul’-Oba gold beaker
gallery of objects
(State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg)
The tomb of Kul’-Oba, near Kerch, was discovered accidentally in 1850 and excavated
by Paul Du Brux. The famous gold beaker may have been held in the hands of one of
the deceased. Second half of the fourth century bc.
The vessel is 130 mm in height. It is bulbous with a tall narrow neck and a cupped
lip; the foot ring was added later. The body is divided into an upper and a lower register
by a narrow band of guilloche decoration set just below the maximum diameter.
The lower zone is decorated with long narrow petals growing from a flower head
centred on the bottom of the vessel. The upper scene shows seven Scythians, bearded
and long haired, arranged in four separate scenes.
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