Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

gallery of objects
2. The young man in kneeling position is grasped
by the hair by the older man, who has his sword
unsheathed, ready for the kill. Meanwhile the
second young man grasps his companion’s arm,
aiming his spear at the older man. He wears a
gorytos on his left side.
All the figures wear tight fitting trousers with side
seams but without other decoration. They also wear
elaborÂately decorated thigh-length belted coats with
fur facings.
What these remarkable scenes are intended to
depict is difficult to say other than it was probably an
event in Scythian folk memory or mythology. One
possibility is that it was the confrontation, described
by Herodotus, that arose when old, hardened warriors
who had been campaigning in Asia Minor eventually
returned home and were attacked by the children
of the wives and slaves they had left behind.
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