Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

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the scythians as others saw themevents and observations of native behaviour merged with fanciful tales and speculations:it was an enticing mix. When, in the mid seventh century, the Greek city statesencircling the Aegean began to experience social tensions caused by demographicgrowth, the Black Sea offered attractive prospects for entrepreneurial colonization.The nomads of the misty shores were soon to become close neighbours.Crossing the CaucasusHerodotus adds one further observation on the Kimmerians: that they fled into AsiaMinor keeping to ‘a route that led along the sea shore’, the implication being that atleast some of the survivors of the internal conflict made their way eastwards, at firstalong the Black Sea coast following the coastal route into Asia Minor, the intentionbeing to seize new land to settle or to find gainful employment as mercenaries in theinternecine struggles now being played out in the region. En route, Herodotus says,they settled on the peninsula of Sinope. In the same section (Hist. iv. 12) he adds that‘the Scythians followed them but missing their route poured into Media. For … theScythians held the Caucasus on their right …’. That northern nomads were active inthe territory of the Medes at this time is confirmed by other sources which refer tothe intruders as Scythians. What is less convincing is that they did so in pursuit of theKimmerians. A more likely reading of the events of the second half of the eighth centuryis that the advance of horse-riding nomads coming from Central Asia involvedmany groups of varying allegiances driven by different aspirations: one group movedwestwards into the Pontic steppe; others skirted the western shore of the CaspianSea to establish themselves in the territory of the Medes, roughly modern Kurdistan.Thereafter, those identified as Kimmerian and Scythians remained active in AsiaMinor until about 630 bc, but they kept to separate spheres and there is no record ofthem ever coming into confrontation.The last twenty years of the eighth century saw the Assyrian empire at its strongestand most extensive. Under Sargon II (r. 721–705) it had expanded from its originalfocus in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys northwards into the fringes of the mountainranges of Anatolia, westwards to the Taurus Mountains, and south-westwardsto include the lands between the coast of the Mediterranean and the Syrian Desert.The Medes and Mannaeans occupied the mountain region to the east; the kingdomof Urartu, with its capital of Tushpa on Lake Van, flanked the north, centred in whatis now Armenia; while further west in Asia Minor were the kingdoms of Phrygia andLydia. It was a time of tension with Urartu and the Assyrians contesting their borderregion. For the steppe nomads the rivalries of the powerful polities and the consequentsocial disruption created tempting opportunities.31
the scythians as others saw themScythiansKimmeriansNKingdom of Urartu in the mid eighth centry BCMaximum extent of Assyrian EmpireDonVolgaUralDniesterBugDnieperDonetsKubanDanube?BlackSeaSinopeKuraL. SevanAraxesCaspian SeaGordionLYDIASardisEphesusPHRYGIAL. VanTushpaL. UrmiaMANNAEANSMEDESMediterranean SeaOronte sEuphratesTigrisBabylonBABYLONIAELAMPERSIANSNile0 500 miles0 500kmPersianGulf2.1 Historical sources record the movements of Kimmerians and Scythians in the eighth and seventhcenturies bc. Some of these peoples crossed the Caucasus and played a significant part in the conflictbetween the kingdom of Urartu and the Assyrians.Some sense of the uncertainties of the time can be gathered from events recordedin contemporary Assyrian cuneiform tablets augmented by Greek sources compiledtwo centuries later. The first mention of the Kimmerians in Asia Minor comes in 714,when an Assyrian spy reported that Kimmerians were on the northern frontier ofUrartu. Another report records their success in 707 in a conflict with the Urartian32
Page 2: the scythians
Page 5 and 6: Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2
Page 7 and 8: prefacehistory exploring, with undi
Page 9 and 10: contentsviii
Page 11 and 12: discovering the scythiansinterest i
Page 13 and 14: discovering the scythians1.3 Peter
Page 15 and 16: discovering the scythiansmounds to
Page 17 and 18: discovering the scythiansÂantiquit
Page 19 and 20: discovering the scythians1.7 The ex
Page 22 and 23: discovering the scythians1.9 (Oppos
Page 24 and 25: discovering the scythiansKuban regi
Page 26 and 27: discovering the scythiansNChulymKur
Page 28 and 29: discovering the scythians1.16 The e
Page 30 and 31: After the Revolutiondiscovering the
Page 32 and 33: discovering the scythiansLate Bronz
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Page 36: discovering the scythiansin 1986-90
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Page 65 and 66: the scythians as others saw them2.1
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Page 71 and 72: landscapes with people3.1 The lands
Page 73 and 74: landscapes with peopleThe steppe zo
Page 75 and 76: landscapes with peopletwo severe wi
Page 77 and 78: SeretBugDnieperlandscapes with peop
Page 79 and 80: landscapes with peopleSufficient wi
Page 81 and 82: landscapes with peopleMore direct e
Page 83 and 84: landscapes with peopleSrubnayaAndro
Page 85 and 86: landscapes with peopleskeletons fro
Page 87 and 88: landscapes with peopleAlongside the
Page 89 and 90: landscapes with people3.11 The elab
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landscapes with peopleBroadly conte
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predatory nomadshave tended to be i
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predatory nomads0Relative temperatu
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predatory nomads4.4 Tagar period br
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predatory nomads4.8 Bronze plaque i
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Deer stones (Olenniye Kami)Nsna iEl
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4.13 Plan and section of the Arzhan
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predatory nomads4.16 Bronze plaque
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predatory nomadsThe astonishing dis
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predatory nomadsan isolated later i
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Dnieperpredatory nomadssion no surp
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predatory nomadsbecoming the domina
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predatory nomadsies which concentra
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5THE RISE OF THE PONTICSTEPPE SCYTH
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the rise of the pontic steppe scyth
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crossing the carpathians6.1 Satelli
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crossing the carpathianslar materia
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crossing the carpathiansTransylvani
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DanubeOdercrossing the carpathiansB
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crossing the carpathiansnomads woul
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crossing the carpathians6.8 Large g
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crossing the carpathiansIt is not s
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crossing the carpathiansin its pred
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crossing the carpathians6.14 Detail
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crossing the carpathians6.16 Wooden
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scythians in central asiaThere is,
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scythians in central asiaAchaemenid
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7.4 Carpet made from knotted woolle
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scythians in central asiaIn another
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scythians in central asiawere proba
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scythians in central asiaAncient ri
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scythians in central asiaCemeteries
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scythians in central asia7.11 Recon
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A l tscythians in central asiaOb’
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7.16 Kurgan 5 at Pazyryk as it now
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scythians in central asiaby several
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scythians in central asia7.20 Recon
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scythians in central asiafrom the t
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scythians in central asiaChina duri
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8BODIES CLOTHEDIN SKINSDifferent ob
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bodies clothed in skinsmuch we can
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bodies clothed in skins8.2 Silver v
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bodies clothed in skinsleather, ano
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bodies clothed in skinsfelt legging
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bodies clothed in skinstight-fittin
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bodies clothed in skins8.10 Petrogl
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bodies clothed in skins8.12 Bronze
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bodies clothed in skinsits delicacy
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bodies clothed in skins8.15 Plaque
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bodies clothed in skinsThis usually
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bodies clothed in skinsThe large he
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bodies clothed in skins8.20 Man pla
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9BENDING THE BOWOne of the characte
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bending the bowtheir bodies with a
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bending the bow9.1a/b Two scenes fr
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bending the bow9.4 Saddle cover fro
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bending the bowA Pazyryk horse comp
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bending the bow9.9 The Scythian bow
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bending the bowParthians—the Part
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bending the bow9.15 (Right) The sil
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bending the bow9.18 Iron battleaxe
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bending the bowon the Gaymanova mog
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bending the bowof such intricacy wo
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bending the bowmake them more comfo
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bending the bowThe burial is remark
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bending the bowbare-headed foot sol
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bending the bowRealizing at the out
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bending the bowtime to time with th
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bending the bow9.28 Detail from a g
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bending the bowthe introduction of
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of gods, beliefs, and artof the sch
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of gods, beliefs, and arthearth. Th
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of gods, beliefs, and artwould have
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of gods, beliefs, and artsacred gol
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.2 (Left
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of gods, beliefs, and artImages of
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.8 Gilde
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.10 Deta
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.13 Gold
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.14 Petr
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.20 Deta
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.22 Leat
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11THE WAY OF DEATHDuring the human
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the way of deathtism. Another backw
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the way of deaththis is clearly not
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the way of deathThe ProcessionsIn t
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the way of death11.3 (Right) Kurgan
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the way of death11.5 Kurgan 4 at Pa
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shaft 1the way of deathTOLSTAYA MOG
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the way of death11.8 The Elizavetin
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the way of deathIn relishing the de
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the way of deathThe Massagetae had
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scythians in the longue duréetion
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A l176 -160 bcYuezhi 140 -135 bcSak
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scythians in the longue durée12.2
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scythians in the longue duréeBospo
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scythians in the longue duréeOn tw
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scythians in the longue duréeAs th
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scythians in the longue duréeunend
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SNVolgaUralAlans c.370Hun area of s
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gallery of objects
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1 The Kul’-Oba gold beakergallery
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2 Chastye Kurgany beakergallery of
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3 Gaymonova mogila cupgallery of ob
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4 Solokha cupgallery of objects(Sta
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5 Solokha combgallery of objects(St
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6 Perederiieva mogila helmetgallery
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7 Solokha gorytosgallery of objects
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8 Sachnovka diademgallery of object
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9 Tolstaya mogila pectoralgallery o
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10 The Chertomlÿk amphoragallery o
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timeline
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Asia Minor Central Asia Altai-Sayan
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scythian kings and dynastiesDynasti
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further readingClassical TextsIn th
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further reading116-47. The creation
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further readingArchaeology’, Worl
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further readingwriters as ‘noble
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further readingThe impact of horse-
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further reading7 (2001), 307-39 he
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further reading2007), 135-44 and in
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further reading(pp. 368-70). These
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further reading‘Tuva during the S
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further reading(Cambridge, 2011), 7
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further readingScythes (Hérodote 4
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further readingobryadnost’ nasele
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illustr ation sourcesMaps were prod
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illustration sources5.7 Author: mul
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illustration sourcesКаталог
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INDEXNote: numbers in bold refer to
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coiled feline motif, Scythian 284-5
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bone cheek pieces, Karasukperiod 77
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wall hanging 213, 243, 280, 280wool
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horse burials, Arzhan 1 95-8horse g
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Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

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