The Galloping Goldsmiths
Minerva|September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5

Everyone has heard of the Scythians but where did they come from, how did they live and what was it that helped them to rise to power?

The Galloping Goldsmiths

The Scythians were horse-rearing nomads who flourished between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC and dominated a vast swathe of fertile grassy steppe from the edge of China across Kazakhstan and southern Russia and as far west as the northern Black Sea. They raided through the mountain passes of the Caucasus into large areas of the Middle East in the 7th century BC.

Late Assyrian histories tell us that they threatened the northern borders of Assyria but how, in 676 BC, their king Esarhaddon (r 680–669 BC) ‘put to the sword Ishpaka, a Scythian, an ally who could not save himself’.

Then, in 519 BC, the Achaemenid ruler Darius I (r 522–486 BC) relates how he crushed internal opposition to his accession and campaigned against the ‘Pointed Hat Scythians’, killing one of their chiefs and leading another called Skunkha into captivity. Skunkha,who is shown on Darius’ rock-cut relief at Bisitun, which overlooks a major pass connecting western Iran with Mesopotamia, wears trousers, jacket and a tall conical hat.

Other Achaemenid reliefs and sculptures show Scythian men (some wearing conical hats) in their typical dress of belted trousers and longsleeved gowns, carrying pointed battle-axes and short swords, and bringing horses.

Persian sources distinguish between three types of Scythian, whom they called Saka. First, there are the Saka haumavarga or ‘haoma-drinking Saka’ (the juice from a sacred plant, the haoma), who may be the same as the ‘Amyrgian Scythians’, referred to by the 5th-century BC Greek writer Herodotus, who devoted almost an entire Book in his Histories to describing their customs. Next come the Saka tigraxauda (‘Saka with pointed caps’), and, finally, the seemingly western Saka tayai paradraya (‘Saka beyond the sea’).

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5-Ausgabe von Minerva.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5-Ausgabe von Minerva.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS MINERVAAlle anzeigen
ROMAN DISCOVERIES AT ANCIENT AUGUSTODUNUM
Minerva

ROMAN DISCOVERIES AT ANCIENT AUGUSTODUNUM

More than 230 graves have been uncovered at a necropolis in the French city of Autun, revealing a diverse mix in burial practices over a period of nearly 200 years, as well as luxury grave goods from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD that highlight the wealth of some of its ancient inhabitants.

time-read
2 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
SHAPING THE WORLD: SCULPTURE FROM PREHISTORY TO NOW
Minerva

SHAPING THE WORLD: SCULPTURE FROM PREHISTORY TO NOW

The sculptor Antony Gormley and the art historian and critic Martin Gayford have been talking about sculpture with each other for 20 years.

time-read
3 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
Amelia Edwards (1831-1892)
Minerva

Amelia Edwards (1831-1892)

“I am essentially a worker, and a hard worker, and this I have been since my early girlhood.”

time-read
2 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
THE GREAT BEYOND
Minerva

THE GREAT BEYOND

The ancient Greeks thought much about the dead – how their remains should be disposed of, how their spirits might be summoned, how malignant they could be if unavenged. Classicist David Stuttard brings us face to face with the Greek dead.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
January/February 2021
INTO THE VALLEY OF THE QUEENS
Minerva

INTO THE VALLEY OF THE QUEENS

The Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II, Nefertari, was buried in one of the most spectacular tombs of Egypt’s Valley of the Queens. Well-educated and well-travelled, Nefertari played a crucial part in the political life of the pharaoh, and her importance was reflected through her magnificently decorated tomb. Lucia Marchini speaks to Jennifer Casler Price to find out more.

time-read
10 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
DEIR EL-BAHRI, 1894
Minerva

DEIR EL-BAHRI, 1894

Tensions were already high among the archaeologists, surveyors, and artists of the Archaeological Survey of Egypt in 1891 when an eventful dispute arose on Christmas Eve.

time-read
2 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
Minerva

PUSHING BOUNDARIES

When the Etruscans expanded to the south and the vast plains of Campania, they found a land of cultural connections and confrontations, as luxurious grave goods found across the region reveal. An exhibition at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples sheds light on these ancient Italians at the frontier. Paolo Giulierini, director of the museum, is our guide.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
January/February 2021
CUZCO 'CENTRE AND HEAD OF ALL THE LAND'
Minerva

CUZCO 'CENTRE AND HEAD OF ALL THE LAND'

Cuzco was the heart of the vast Inca empire, but all changed in the 16th century when the capital was conquered by Spanish invaders. Michael J Schreffler investigates the Inca city, and how it went from the centre of one empire to the periphery of another.

time-read
9 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
A STUDY IN PURPLE
Minerva

A STUDY IN PURPLE

A tiny speck of purple paint from the 2nd century AD may yield clues to how ancient artists created the extraordinary portrait panels that accompanied mummified bodies into the afterlife.

time-read
3 Minuten  |
January/February 2021
Rome In The 8th Century: A History In Art
Minerva

Rome In The 8th Century: A History In Art

John Osborne CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, £75 HARDBACK - ISBN 978-1108834582

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November/December 2020