Scythian architecture. Scythian art
... The ancient greatness of the Scythian people is evident from its great remnants ... Mikhailo Lomonosov
The Scythians... In our minds, this people is associated with endless steppes, herds of horses, wagons, nomad camps... The Scythians appeared in the Black Sea region in the 7th century. BC e. There were agricultural tribes among them ("Scythians-plowmen", "Scythians-farmers", - Herodotus called them), the majority continued to roam in the steppe expanses of the south of Ukraine and Crimea. stay of the Scythians on the peninsula from the 7th century. BC e. They were nomadic tribes engaged in cattle breeding. At the time of Herodotus, the first Scythian settlements were already beginning to appear in the Crimea. Near the village of Frontovoe (in the Leninsky district), a ground burial ground with Scythian burials of the 5th century was discovered. BC e. 1 * Somewhere nearby there was a settlement of the same time.
On the Kerch Peninsula and in the central Crimea, rich mounds of Scythian leaders and nobility (Kul-Oba, Three Brothers, Talaevsky, Golden, etc.) are known, which gave the world masterpieces ancient art- magnificent objects made of gold and electrum, made by order of the Scythians by the hands of Bosporan craftsmen. Scythian nomads gradually settle on the ground. A new, late period in the history of Scythia begins. It covers a significant period of time - from the second half of the 4th (or the beginning of the 3rd) century. BC e. until the final death of the Scythian kingdom in the III century. n. e. After the defeat of the kingdom of Atea**, the once huge power of the Scythians broke up into three parts, which still occupied a rather significant territory - in Dobruja (Romania), the Dnieper region, and the Crimea. The residence of the Scythian kings was moved to the Crimea. "This entire country (the Crimean Peninsula. - Ed.), as well as almost the entire region beyond the isthmus to Borisfen (Dnepr. - Ed.), is called Lesser Scythia," wrote Strabo 2 .
Dnieper Scythia was completely dependent on the Scythian kingdom in the Crimea. The transfer of the capital of the state is due to a number of reasons, primarily the threat on the continent from the Sarmatians, and, in addition, the desire to get closer to the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region, subdue some of them and conduct an independent trade in bread. All further policy of the Scythian leaders is aimed at the implementation of this task, which is vital for the economy of Scythia. On the territory of Crimea, by the time the kingdom of the Scythians arose, there already existed two independent Greek states - the Bosporus, located on the European and Asian sides of the Kerch Strait, and Chersonesos, whose territorial possessions, its chorus (district), were the Heracleian Peninsula and lands on the northwestern coast, with the cities of Kerkinitida (modern Evpatoria), Kalos-Limen (Beautiful harbor, modern Chernomorsk) and many small fortifications and estates. The exact boundaries of the chora have not yet been established 3, and it is hardly possible to talk about their stability. The political, economic, cultural life of the Scythian kingdom in the Crimea for over 600 years was closely connected with these states, as well as with Olbia, a large city of the Northern Black Sea region , which in the II century. BC e. and later periodically found itself subordinate to the Scythian kings. The constant communication of the Scythians with the Greek world, with many peoples of the Northern Black Sea region, especially with the Sarmatian tribes, with the local population of Taurica, led to the creation of a new, late Scythian culture, different from the Scythian culture of previous centuries.
Many rivers of the peninsula - Belbek, Alma, Kacha, Salgir, Bulganak and others originate on the slopes of the Crimean mountains. Between the orchards and vineyards that stretch along their banks, they carry their waters to the sea. The fertile lands of the river valleys have been inhabited since ancient times. In the IX-V centuries. BC e. Taurians lived here - farmers and cattle breeders. Later, from the 3rd century. BC e., along the river valleys, especially at their mouths, the Scythians begin to settle, gradually moving from nomadic pastoralism to agriculture. Their number is rapidly increasing, more and more new settlements appear. At present, about 80 Scythian settlements (fortified settlements) and settlements (open settlements) are known in the central, southwestern and southeastern Crimea 4 . Northern Crimea remained almost deserted. Scythian cattle breeders roamed for a long time on its vast steppe expanses. The borders of the Scythian state extended in the south to the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains, in the west they were limited to the coastal strip, and in the east they reached Feodosia. In Hellenistic and especially Roman times (in the first centuries of our era), Crimean Scythia was densely populated. Of course, this did not happen immediately. The earliest Scythian settlements are known in the eastern and central Crimea. The lands on the southwestern coast began to be settled especially actively in the first centuries of our era - in connection with the influx of the Sarmatians (more on them below). The time and place of the appearance of certain settlements and settlements depended on various reasons. For example, on the western coast they emerged as outposts to protect the western borders of Scythia*. Some settlements in the central Crimea were located near the most important trade routes from Naples to the Bosporus (Good), from Naples to Chersonese (Alma-Kermen), from Naples to Perekop and further to the Dnieper region (Kermen-Kyr).
Settlements are usually located on elevated places, in the central and southwestern Crimea - on the spurs of the Outer and Inner Ridges of the Crimean Mountains, near springs with drinking water. Elevated places served as a natural defense against the enemy. In addition, each settlement was protected by a stone wall or a rampart and a moat. In cases where the topography of the area did not allow the creation of a fortification on an elevated place (for example, the ancient settlement "Chaika" near Evpatoria is located on a level place), it was naturally necessary to build high and strong stone walls. Unfortunately, most of the late Scythian settlements of the Crimea were not subjected to systematic study. In the central Crimea, except for Naples, only the ancient settlement of Kermen-Kyr (on the territory of the Krasny state farm) was investigated. Small excavations of an exploratory nature were carried out at the settlements of Zalesye (on the road to Sevastopol), Dobroe (on the road to Alushta), Dzhalman 5 (Pionerskoye), Zolotoe yarmo (on one of the spurs of the Dolgorukovskaya yayla). Several burial mounds and soil burials have also been excavated. The northwestern, western, and southwestern Crimea have been studied much better. Now several settlements are being excavated here, among them Ust-Alminskoe near the village of Peschanoe, "Chaika" 6 , Popovka, Tarpanchi 7 on the northwestern coast. fortified settlements of Scythia (from 5 to 20 hectares), whose inhabitants, along with agriculture and cattle breeding, were engaged in various crafts and trade. Fortified settlements are usually small in size (from 1.2 to 2 hectares), the main occupation of the population of most of them was agriculture. Shelters - small fortifications that arose in the first centuries of our era - were intended to protect the population of a nearby village at the time of danger. At present, four Scythian cities are known in the Crimea. The largest of them is Naples, the capital of the state (the area is about 20 hectares). Three others significantly cover it in size - the settlement of Kermen-Kyr, 4 kilometers from Simferopol (about 4 hectares), Ust-Alminskoe (6 hectares), Bulganakskoe (2.5 hectares), located on the left bank of the Bulganak River, between the villages of Pozharsky and Demyanovka*, and possibly Dobroe, near the modern village of the same name.
If the time of occurrence of many settlements, which were excavated, has not been established, then the time of their death is determined by the so-called lifting material **. The latest fragments of amphoras and various utensils, collected from most of the settlements of the central and southwestern Crimea, allow us to judge that they died in the 3rd century BC. n. e. The population left their homes, and life here was no longer resumed.New capital
So, the first settlements of settled Scythians in the Crimea appear in the 5th century. BC e. One hundred - one hundred and fifty years later, when the kingdom of Athea ceased to exist, the capital of the state was transferred to the Crimea. In the central part of the peninsula, at the intersection of the most important trade routes from Chersonese, the Bosporan kingdom, the western Crimea, as well as the Dnieper region, the city of Naples *, or Neapolis (translated from Greek - "new city") arises.
The very name of the city, as it were, emphasizes the importance of the event - the emergence of a new capital instead of the old one. Naples arose on a hill, well protected by nature itself: from the east and northeast by impregnable cliffs of Petrovsky rocks, from the north and west - by a rather deep Petrovsky beam. And only from the south and southeast side the city remained accessible to the enemy. A powerful fortress wall was built here. There are different opinions about the time of the emergence of the new Scythian capital. Some scholars believe that Naples appeared in the III century. BC e. 8, others call a later date - I c. BC e. 9 A comprehensive study of the material allows us to express another point of view: as the capital of the late Scythian state, Naples was founded in the 4th century. BC e. This is confirmed by the fragments of black-glazed pottery and branded tiles found at the settlement. Before the appearance of the Scythians, Taurians lived on the plateau now occupied by the settlement: archaeologists discovered a small cultural layer with finds of Taurian ceramics of the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. Naples was discovered in 1827, when, while selecting a stone for construction, they accidentally found a relief depicting a Scythian horseman and three marble slabs with inscriptions - the name of King Skilur, dedications to Zeus and Athena on behalf of Posideus son of Posideev. These slabs were bought by a local lover of antiquities A.I. Sultan-Krym-Girey from a Tatar who was carrying a stone from the settlement 10 . In the same year, a hoard of Roman coins was discovered in Naples*, and during excavations carried out by the director of the Odessa Museum, I. P. Blaramberg, a slab with a relief image of two horsemen, an old and a young one, was found.
The finds immediately aroused general interest in Naples, which did not fade away for the second century. They attracted the attention of not only historians, but also art historians, numismatists, and epigraphists. Many scientists have visited the settlement and carried out small excavations on it. The idea that Naples was a Greek city, which was born at first, was held in science for a long time 11 . It was finally dispelled only as a result of systematic excavations at the settlement, which began after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The organizer of systematic research in Naples and the permanent leader of the work was P. N. Shults for a long time. With his active participation, the Taurus-Scythian expedition was created, which carried out excavations at the site from 1945 to 1960 (with short breaks). P. N. Shults, A. N. Karasev and other members of the expedition discovered and published the most interesting materials 12, thanks to which it became quite obvious that we were facing the capital of a “barbarian” (non-Greek) state. As a result of the excavations, defensive structures were discovered: the southern city wall, central gate, mausoleum and eastern tower, sections of the city adjacent to the defensive walls, residential buildings in the central and northern regions of Naples, economic and religious buildings. It was possible to trace the main periods of the construction history of the Scythian capital, to open a necropolis to the southeast of Naples. As we have already said, the plateau of the settlement is most accessible from the south and southeast. Having started the construction of the city, the Scythians had to take care of the construction of the southern fortress wall. During the excavations, during which 57 linear meters of the defensive wall were discovered, it was possible to trace several stages or construction periods of its construction. The first, earliest defensive wall was erected in the 3rd century BC. BC e. It was built of large stone blocks, between which there was a backfill of rock crust. The thickness of the wall did not exceed 2.5 m, the maximum height was 5 m. In the area of the gate - the most vulnerable place in defense - the upper part of the wall was lined with mud bricks and rose even higher. BC e. the Scythians become so strong that they constantly threaten Chersonese and its possessions. The imminent war with the Chersonesites required the strengthening of their own borders. First of all, it was necessary to turn the main city of Scythia - Naples - into an impregnable fortress. Strabo writes that Skilur and his sons fortified their fortresses 13 . And we really see what grandiose fortification works are being carried out in the capital of the state. During the reign of Skilur, a number of additional belts were attached to the outer side of the ancient defensive wall. Its thickness increases from 2.5 to 6.5 m. The gates receive a kind of frame in the form of protrusions - pylons - 3.35 m long and 1.65 m thick. These protrusions, which served to protect the gate from the enemy, played the role of a kind of gate towers . The walls were not erected strictly vertically, but with a slope they narrowed by 20 cm for each meter of height from the outside and by 10 cm from the inside, that is, for every meter of height the wall became already 30 cm. retained a crude superstructure crowned with battlements, probably with loopholes. Behind it was a fairly wide battlefield for the defenders of the city. The stone belt of the wall could rise to a height of 4.5-5 m, while the adobe superstructure, 1.5 m thick, rose 3 m together with the battlements. Thus, the total height of the wall in this section apparently reached 8 m.
The gates, made of thick oak boards, were double-leafed and revolved on bearings. They were rarely opened, only on solemn occasions, but they were always guarded by guards, ready to notify the whole city at the moment of approaching danger. In addition to the central gates, N. L. Ernst opened the gates on the eastern section of the wall. Excavations of residential and public buildings provided diverse, extremely scientifically valuable material. For the construction they were invited, probably, Greek masters. One of the large stone houses is open in front of the central gate. Its area is 85 square meters. m. The house is divided into 3 rooms, the area of each of them is about 30 square meters. m. To the north of the house, apparently, there was a courtyard, from where the entrance led. Hearths were found in two rooms, the third (without a hearth) was obviously a front hall, its walls were plastered and painted with bright colors. Unfortunately, only minor fragments of frescoes have come down to us, but they testify to the special purpose of this hall, painted, probably by a visiting Greek master. This house could well have served as a dwelling for the royal family or wealthy representatives of society. It was built in the 3rd century. BC Even earlier, the so-called "house with a basement" (more precisely, a semi-basement) located nearby was erected. Insignificant remains of stone walls and a basement carved into the rock, measuring 12.10x5.65 m, have survived from it. Based on the remaining remains of the southeastern wall, 1 m thick, it is permissible to assume that the house was two-story. Its roof can be judged by numerous fragments of tiles from different centers of the Black Sea region, found in the basement. During the excavations, pieces of painted plaster were found, testifying to the richness of the decoration of the house and the prosperity of its owner. Numerous amphorae with wine and oil brought from the islands of Rhodes, Knida and Kos were stored in the basement. Fragments of black-glazed pottery, relief - the so-called "Megar" - bowls, bone lining of caskets, red-glazed pottery, a terracotta female head were also found here. The house with a basement dates back to the 4th century. BC e. In the II century. BC e. it was rebuilt and existed until the beginning of the 1st century. BC e. Subsequently, a garbage dump was arranged in its place. Similar two-chamber and three-chamber buildings were opened in different parts of Naples. The construction of raw bricks was widely practiced among the Scythians. In Hellenistic times, all the houses in Naples are built from mud. It is quite possible that this technique was adopted by the Scythians from the Greeks, who had it in great use. Raw houses are warm and durable, and the production of mud bricks does not require large expenditures and special skills. In the III-II centuries. BC e. in the city, along with the houses of the nobility, built according to all the rules of building art, small houses, dugouts and yurts of the poor appear. The remains of two yurts measuring 2.10x1.80x2.80 m and a yurt-like structure 1.80 m in diameter were found on the settlement. Primitive yurts could be used as summer dwellings or as outbuildings. Herodotus, describing the customs of the Scythians, says about the structure of the yurt: building. But yurts are gradually disappearing from the Scythians. In the first centuries of our era, there were no such structures in Naples. Dugouts were opened in different parts of the city. Their lower part is deepened into the cultural layer and the rock. The shape of the dugouts is rectangular, oval or round, the dimensions are small - from 12.5 to 4.5 square meters. m. In the center there was usually a hearth, along the walls there were benches on which they sat and slept. During the excavations of Naples in its central and northern parts, there were no signs of regular planning. Only in the area of the central city gates did the Scythians try to give the capital a grand appearance. Inside the city, in front of the gates, there was a large square sprinkled with white lime chips. The area was framed by the so-called "building with porticos". This structure was a stone wall 0.85 thick, 29.3 m long, with small porticos on the sides. The tiled roof of each portico was supported by 6 square pillars, between which stood, apparently, marble and bronze statues with dedications to the gods. It was near the remains of the building with porticos that a relief of an equestrian Palak*, fragments of marble statues, a slab with a dedication to Zeus and Athena, a relief depicting Skilur and Palak, a fragment of the inscription: "King Skilur, son of the king..."
The Scythians built such a building twice. The first of them, smaller in size, was built in the 4th century. BC e. Then it was destroyed and parallel to it, closer to the gate, a similar structure, but of a larger size, was erected. At the city gate - to the right of the entrance - the remains of a stone pedestal, possibly from a bronze or marble statue, were found. Here, on the square, trade transactions were made, foreign merchants, ambassadors of other states came here. cease to function, the area turns into a garbage dump. But during the period of prosperity of the country, during the reign of its powerful rulers, everything was different. Near the defensive walls of Naples, a large granary was opened, consisting of about 60 pits, with a capacity of 1.5-2 tons of grain. The pits are made very carefully - they are hollowed out in the rock and dug (upper part) in the cultural layer, and their necks are lined with stone. From above, the pit was tightly closed with a stone lid and covered with clay so that moisture would not get in. Along the defensive wall of the city there was a paved street, under the stone slabs of which grain pits were hidden. Throughout the centuries of its existence, Naples was a major trading center. Bread was the main trade product and source wealth of the Scythians. The population of Scythia subject to the kings brought wheat to Naples. Part of it was poured into grain pits for long-term storage, creating state reserves in case of a long siege, crop failure, etc. In exchange for bread, they received expensive wine and olive oil brought from the islands of the Aegean Sea, tiles, glass and red-lacquer dishes, various luxury items - gold jewelry, expensive fabrics. Trade relations with distant islands were carried out through the mediation of the cities of the Northern Black Sea region. Bread was sold to visiting merchants, who, in turn, took it to Olbia, Chersonese, the Bosporus and further to the Greek cities of the Mediterranean, deriving significant profits from the sale. Olbia was the main intermediary in the sale of Scythian bread, which in the 2nd century. BC e. - under Skilur - was directly dependent on the Scythian kingdom. Skilur minted his coin in Olbia. A well-known citizen of Olbia, a native of the island of Rhodes, Posidei lived in Naples. Here they put four statues with dedications to Zeus, Athena, Achilles Pontarchus, the goddess Rhodes 15 . Posideus was a major merchant, he apparently quite often had to carry bread from Naples to Olbia, and then on galleys to make the way to Rhodes and other islands of the Aegean Sea. Therefore, Posideus especially honored Achilles Pontarchus, the patron of the sea. A Greek merchant named Eumenes also lived in Naples. During the excavations, a dedication to the goddess of fertility Demeter, set by Eumenes, was found. For many years, the supply of overseas goods to Naples, including wine from the island of Rhodes, was carried out through Olbia. Trade relations were maintained with Chersonesos, as well as with Panticapaeum, in the Bosporus they bought gold jewelry - products of Bosporan master jewelers. Lively trade went through the cities of the northwestern coast of Crimea - Kalos-Limen and Kerkinitida. It is possible that the Scythians themselves, without intermediaries, traded with overseas merchants, especially during the period of subjugation of Olbia, when they could use its fleet and make long journeys. the first centuries of our era. In addition to bread, they sold wool and animal skins, honey, wax, flax. Only the Scythian nobility could buy expensive dishes. However, everyone, both noble and ordinary people, daily needed pots for cooking food, storing milk, making cheese, etc. Outside Naples, near its ancient graves, the remains of a pottery workshop were discovered - traces of two furnaces and many fragments of ceramic marriage. Pottery is dangerous in terms of fire, so kilns were usually taken out of town. But bronze-casters, gunsmiths could live and work in the city. In Naples, the remains of bronze slag, clay lyachki * were repeatedly found. In 1958-1959. during the excavation of the defensive wall, a casting mold made from the handle of a Rhodes amphora was discovered. It was possible to find traces of iron-working production. Neapolitan blacksmiths forged daggers and swords, made tools.
The inhabitants of the Scythian capital cared not only for their daily bread, but also for spiritual food. From the materials obtained by archaeologists, it can be seen that the townspeople built and decorated temples, performed various religious ceremonies, made offerings to the gods. In the northern part of Naples and outside its defensive walls, four public buildings were excavated for religious ceremonies. These buildings had the same layout (rectangular hall and vestibule) and differed from each other only in size and quality of decoration. a doorway 1.6 m wide. The walls of the house were made of mud bricks lying on a stone foundation, the gable roof was covered with tiles. There was a hearth in the center of the hall. There are 16 recesses carved into the rock, 20-25 cm in diameter, from wooden supports that supported the roof and the cap over the hearth. Fragments of a deer skull with remnants of antlers were found in the northwestern corner of this room. The walls of the hall were plastered and painted. The preserved pieces of plaster make it possible to reconstruct the entire painting of hall 16. It seems to be divided into three belts: the upper one is jagged with traces of red and gray paints. Above it is a gray stucco cornice. The middle belt was divided by semi-columns with Corinthian capitals, between which there were rectangles framed with painted frames. The lower, third belt consisted of alternating wide and narrow rectangles painted with marbled red and black paint. Many drawings - graffiti - were scratched into the plaster over the painting. Among them are depictions of warriors with spears, a battering ram on wheels, herds of horses, primitive human figurines, and Sarmatian signs 17 . The building was built at the end of II - beginning of I century. BC e. and lasted until the II-III centuries. n. e. No objects of work and life were found in it. At the same time, its splendor, proportions, painted walls, dimensions, layout, remains of a hearth and bones of sacrificial animals clearly indicate that the building was public, served for religious purposes. To the southeast of the building with frescoes, the remains of a house were discovered , the same in plan, but smaller - 15x7.2 m. Its walls were also built of mud bricks and lay on a stone foundation. The building has gone through two construction periods and is very poorly preserved. There were no traces of the floor and hearth. In the southwestern corner of the main hall, 13 intact and many small fragments of antlers of young deer and 4 pieces of antlers of large deer were found. This building preceded the construction of the house with frescoes and also served for religious purposes. Outside the city in 1956-1957. during the excavation of a large ash hill, the remains of a building (dimensions 11x5.6 m) were found, which, like the house with frescoes, consisted of a hall and a vestibule. In the passage there was a recess in the rock for a wooden pole that supported the ceiling. In the center of the main hall was a round hearth. The roof was probably earthen or reed, plastered with clay. The building was erected in the III-II centuries. BC e. Later, it was badly damaged by a fire and was rebuilt: the wooden partition separating the hall from the vestibule was replaced by a stone one, and the thickness of the walls was increased. At the turn of our era, the building perished and was no longer restored. During the construction of the house near its vestibule, a child was buried in a grave lined with stones. He lay in a crouched position. Apparently, it was a girl, since around the child's neck was a low beads made of blue paste and jet. What is it - a construction sacrifice or a burial associated with some other ritual? The most unsolved question in the history of ancient peoples is their beliefs, various rituals. Sometimes we come across the remnants of sacrifices, some rituals, the meaning of which remains a mystery. Science, alas, has not yet accumulated enough facts to explain them. And, apparently, a lot of time will pass before the veil begins to open, behind which the worldview and religious ideas of people of the distant past are hidden. On the southeast side of the building there was an ash pan (its diameter is 4 m) with the remains of stone pavements and a stone fence. Subsequently, the remains of the building and the ashpit were covered with an embankment of a large ash hill, and instead of the destroyed cult building near the defensive wall, a new one (13.4x6.5 m in size) was built outside the city. It also consisted of a hall and a vestibule, where two pits for wooden pillars that supported the ceiling were preserved. In the middle of the hall there was a rectangular hearth (1.88x1.34 m), and in the southeast corner there was a couch made of small stone and smeared with clay on top. Its sides were painted with stripes of red ocher and soot. In the southwestern corner of the room, the remains of an altar were discovered, which was a pit 30 cm in diameter and 30 cm deep, covered with clay inside. It contained the bones of five sheep, fragments of molded vessels, and deliberately broken clay figurines of people and animals*.
The study of the ash pan yielded interesting findings. Among them are the terracotta head of Demeter, a fragment of the terracotta figurine of Hermes - the hand holding the purse. (The messenger of the gods Hermes - "swift as thought" - was the patron of trade, and the Greeks often depicted him with a purse in his hand.) Two bronze figurines of the Dioscuri 18 were found in the ash pan. According to Greek mythology the inseparable brothers of the Dioscuri Castor and Polideuces - skillful fighters and rulers of chariots - protect people from all sorts of dangers that await them on the way, both in a foreign land and at home. The idea of paired heroes, connected with the idea of twinning, was borrowed by the Scythians for a long time. It is therefore not surprising that the cult of the Dioscuri was understandable and close to them. fragrant plants, fragments of hearth stands with rams' heads, fragments of glass and red-lacquer vessels, beads, brooches, fragments of amphoras, etc. The ashpit here (and at the building described above) was a sacrificial hill where various offerings were made to the gods during cult ceremonies .Pausanias, an ancient author of the 2nd century. n. e., describing the sacrifices of the Greeks, he reports the following details: “They lay quadrangular bars, adjusting them like stones during the construction of the building, raising to a certain height, impose brushwood. Then the representatives of the cities make a sacrifice: Hera - a cow, Zeus - a bull, fill them with wine and incense, they put it on the altar and light it. Individuals donate whoever they can: whoever has less means donates something from small livestock. All these sacrifices are burned, and the altar itself is also burnt "19. Apparently, something similar happened in Naples. The Scythians honored the goddess Tabiti - the patroness of fire, the hearth. Since Tabiti was the supreme deity, the central place in the cult houses was occupied by the hearth, where the sacred fire burned and cult ceremonies were performed. In Naples, three ash hills are still visible, the emergence of which is probably associated with the cult of fire. Constant communication with the Greeks left its mark on the spiritual world of the Scythians. From the Greek pantheon, they adopted many rites and cults, especially deities that were adequate or somewhat similar to their own. The influence of Greek culture was especially enhanced in the Hellenistic period. The aristocracy strives to imitate the Hellenes in everything; for the construction and decoration of rich buildings, Greek masters are invited, and the plans and proportions of these buildings, residential and public, repeat the Greek ones. At this time, the Scythian kings, like the Greek basileus, minted their own coin. The Greek influence is also palpable in clothing: Skilur and Palak are depicted in cloaks on the relief, Skilur's cloak is fastened on the shoulder with a brooch. The Greeks lived and worked in Naples (we know Posideus and Eumenes). Part of the population undoubtedly knew the Greek language - dedications to the gods were written in Greek. In various examples, we see that in the Hellenistic time, especially in the reign of Skilur, the capital of the Scythians flourished. The population is engaged in trade, crafts, the city is being built. The rulers take care not only of turning Naples into a fortress ready to withstand a long siege, but also of the appearance of the city, so that overseas guests, ambassadors of other states, see the wealth of the Scythian kings, feel the strength and power of the state. Previously, others were convinced of this "teacher": already in the 3rd century BC
Scythians and Greeks
Exploration carried out by P. N. Shultz in the 1930s along the northwestern coast of Crimea discovered a number of Greek and Scythian settlements 20 . At the same time, the idea arose that the defensive lines - Greek and Scythian - seemed to oppose each other. At present, thanks to the intensive study of the western coast, including the settlements and burial grounds located along the Alma River valley, a somewhat different picture emerges, allowing a more realistic representation of the relationship between the Scythians and the Greeks. Greeks began to settle on the northwestern coast of Crimea as early as the 6th century. BC e. (Kerkinitida) 21 , but most of the settlements and estates appeared on these banks later, from the 4th century BC. BC. 22 Their appearance is connected, apparently, with the development of the coastal strip, with the creation of the chorus of Chersonesos. It is not for nothing that during excavations, so many imported materials fall into the hands of archaeologists: amphoras and tiles with the stamps of Chersonesos officials and craftsmen, various pottery vessels of Chersonesos production - jugs, flasks, lutheria. Scythian settlements IV-III centuries. BC e. not yet discovered. There are only a few Scythian burials of the 4th c. BC e. in the mounds of the Bronze Age. For about a century, the Greeks lived peacefully here, on the northwestern coast of Crimea, engaged in agriculture, viticulture, fishing, and cattle breeding. Their economy can be judged by the remnants of cereals found during excavations, by grape knives, fish hooks and sinkers for nets. There are relatively few bones of domestic animals - animal husbandry has not received wide development. In the III century. BC e. some of these settlements suddenly die, their death is accompanied by the destruction of fortified estates, fires. Thus, the estate near Lake Sasyk (Pansky) 23 and a number of other settlements of the Chersonese Greeks perished. Who destroyed the Greek estates? Archeology answers: the closest neighbors are the Scythians. A large trading city of the Black Sea region, Chersonesos was connected with many centers of the ancient world. Ships loaded with amphoras with wine and oil came here from the island of Thasos, from Heraclea, Sinope, Amis. Many ships going to the shores of the Bosporus and to Olbia landed at Chersonese. Naturally, the Scythian kings sought to seize this port. However, it was not easy to deal directly with Chersonesos, it seemed easier to capture the coastal settlements and gradually bleed the city. Did the Scythians need all the chorus for this? Apparently not. First of all, it was necessary to capture separate, largest points of the coast - outlets to the sea, which would give the Scythians the opportunity to conduct independent trade with overseas countries. The war between Chersonese and the Scythians took on a protracted character, military clashes followed one after another. Sometimes the same coastal settlement repeatedly changed hands. Chersonese could not force the Scythians to retreat - the enemy was too belligerent and strong. Skillfully using a tried and tested technique - a surprise attack, the lightly armed Scythian cavalry could quickly upset the close ranks of the Greek hoplites and archers. The Scythians used every opportunity to strike the enemy. One of the Chersonese inscriptions says that the attack was committed during a festive procession in honor of Dionysus 24. It became clear that Chersonesos alone could not cope with these "barbarians". I had to attract the Sarmatians to their side. The Sarmatians are a nomadic people who came to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region from the Volga and Ural regions. This is what Strabo wrote about them: “Their felt tents are attached to the wagons in which they live. Cattle graze around the tents, whose milk, cheese and meat they eat. Meotida (Sea of Azov. - Ed.), and in the summer on the plains" 25 . There is a well-known story cited by Polien, a Roman writer of the 2nd century BC. n. e., about the Sarmatian queen Amag, speaking on the side of Chersonesus 26 . It came to a military clash in which Amaga won, and the Scythian king was killed. And although this is most likely a legend, it reflects a very real historical picture, in particular, the uncertainty of the Chersonese in the outcome of the struggle against the barbarians. V. BC e. The taxation of a large Greek state testifies to the strength and power of the Scythians. In the II century. BC e. they captured Kerkinitida, the Beautiful Harbor (Kalos-Limen), the Greek trading post near Evpatoria (the ancient settlement "Seagull") and other settlements of the Chersonese chorus. Powerless to defeat the Scythians, the Chersonesites this time were forced to seek help from the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator, who sent troops led by the commander Diophantus to help Chersonesus. Palaka 27 . Strabo reports that the Roxolani wore helmets and shells made of rawhide bullskin, wicker helmets, as well as spears, a bow and a sword. The huge army of the Roxolans could not resist the 6,000 warriors of Diophantus, who, presumably, was distinguished by his outstanding military leadership abilities. The brilliant victory of Diophantus largely predetermined the outcome of the war. Palak had to retreat, the capital of the state of Naples was severely destroyed. Diophantus forced the Scythians to renounce their claims to the Bosporus. And the Chersonesites celebrated the victory, in honor of the leader of the victors in the city, an honorable decree was issued and carved on a stone, fortunately, which has come down to us. It says that the Scythians surrendered the fortresses located in the interior of the country - Khabei and Naples. Strabo reports on the Scythian fortress of Palakiy, and the Chersonesos inscription mentioning a Greek killed at Palakiy 28 also speaks of it. And, finally, another Chersonese decree names the fourth small fortress - Napit 29 . Where were these fortresses located? What geographical points on the modern map of Crimea are they identified with?
Search for ancient fortresses
Let us turn to the well-known Scythian settlements of the Crimea and try to find out which of them can, at least approximately, be correlated with the fortresses indicated in the Chersonesos decrees and by Strabo. Unfortunately, no inscription with its name has been found on any of the Scythian settlements in the Crimea. And since there are no exact and indisputable facts, localization can only be hypothetical 30 . Let's start with the fact that the decrees in question reflect the events associated with the campaign of Diophantus. Consequently, fortresses must be sought in the area of military operations of the Scythians and Greeks. The theater of hostilities was, most likely, in the western Crimea, in the area of the Chersonese chora, and on the territory of the Scythian state, adjacent to the possessions of Chersonesos. Some part of deep Scythia should also be included here, since the fortresses of Naples and Khabei were located, judging by the decree in honor of Diophantus, in this region of the peninsula. It is very important to find out which Scythian settlements existed in this territory in the 2nd century BC. BC e., in other words, which of them could the Greeks destroy and conquer. Now the vast majority of scientists localize Naples on the site of modern Simferopol * (more precisely, in the Kermenchik tract, in the southwestern region of the city). Naples was an important strategic point in the war with the Greeks, since the decree mentions its surrender by the Scythians. True, it is named second after the Khabei fortress. Does this mean that Naples was a smaller city? But, perhaps, it was destroyed by the second, and on the way to it lay and was the first to be hit by another Big City- Khabei?
On the western coast of Crimea, the largest Scythian settlement is located at the confluence of the Alma into the sea, and therefore it is conditionally called Ust-Alma. What was the hill fort, what is its history? Let's start from the time of its occurrence. BC e., i.e. before the wars of Diophantus. Residents of Ust-Alminsky could participate in the war with the Greeks. And if Naples and Khabei, as the decree in honor of Diophantus says, were in the middle of Scythia, then Palakios could be on the coast. The Greek, who paid with his life at its walls and was awarded the inscription, died - it is possible - right here, at the mouth of the Alma River. Of course, this is just an assumption, although not without foundation: after all, we do not yet know a single Scythian fortress that arose before the Diophantine Wars in the southwestern Crimea and on the western coast, with the exception of the Ust-Alma settlement. And Khabei? Where was this city in the depths of Scythia? We have already said that four kilometers northwest of Simferopol, on a cape bounded on both sides by deep beams, there is a large Scythian settlement Kermen-Kyr (after the name of the hill) 32. Now this is the territory of the Krasny state farm. The ancient settlement has been known to scientists since 1889. The well-known researcher of the Crimea A.I. 33 . The scientist suggested that there was a fortification of the same type as the one in Naples. The first excavations at Kermen-Kyr were carried out in 1929 by N. L. Ernst, who also came to the conclusion that the ancient settlement is similar to Naples.
Excavations in 1929, 1945 and 1951 showed that the settlement had an acropolis **, protected by a powerful defensive wall (7.25 m thick). On the floor, south-western side of the city, there was once an earthen rampart, and on top of it there was a stone wall 1.65 m thick. There was a moat in front of the rampart.
| Settlement of Kermen-Kyr. I - excavation in 1945; II - excavation in 1945 and 1951; III - quarry |
After Skilur
Diophantus returned to Chersonesos Kerkinitida, the beautiful harbor, forced the Scythians, as we have already said, to surrender Khabei and Naples. "Wonderful and beneficial for Tsar Mithridates" (words from the decree of Chersonesus) he also arranged affairs in the Bosporus. From that time on, for about 40 years, the Bosporus kingdom was part of the vast power of Mithridates VI Eupator. Many settlements of the Scythians defeated by Diophantus were burned and destroyed. The excavations of recent years at the Ust-Alma settlement revealed a layer of fire from the time of the wars with the Greeks. The city arose at the end of the 3rd century. BC e., and a century later, its inhabitants fought with Diophantus. Although they resisted this struggle, the Greeks managed to deal them a sensitive blow. It was no better in Naples: houses died from the fire, the fortress walls were badly damaged. Soon they had to be completely rebuilt. But the Scythians were not broken. They recovered relatively quickly from defeat, healed the wounds inflicted by the war, and their state again became quite strong and formidable. And immediately after the war, the situation in the country was very difficult. In addition, Scythia experienced days of great mourning - King Skilur died.
The ancient Greek writer Plutarch (I-II centuries AD) gives us a legendary message about the death of the king 36 . According to the testimony of this ancient author, Skilur allegedly had either 50 or 80 sons and ordered all to be called together. When his sons came, he invited them to take a dart each and break it. Each without difficulty carried out the will of the king. Then Skilur took together 80 darts and ordered to break the whole bundle. This turned out to be an impossible task. "If you stick together," said the king, "you will be strong and invincible, but if there is no strong alliance between you, you will be easily defeated." In this legend, in all likelihood, we are not talking about Skilur's own sons, but about his relatives and close associates. The king bequeathed to them to support the new ruler - his eldest son and heir Palak. Even during the lifetime of Skilur, Palak, apparently, took an active part in governing the state, perhaps as a co-ruler, and for this he was awarded a great honor - a relief image of him stood in a place of honor in front of the central city gates. Later, after the death of Skilur, the Greek masters captured the image of the young Palak on horseback. The death of the powerful king was naturally accompanied by a magnificent funeral ceremony. And two thousand years later, archaeologists unearthed a mausoleum at the central city gates, which, according to some assumptions, served as the tomb of Skilur 37. What was this monument? The structure is square in plan and measures 8.65x8.1 m. The walls, 1 m thick, are made of squares of white limestone, and their upper part is lined with raw bricks. From the eastern side, an entrance 1.5 m wide led into the chamber, later blocked with a stone. There, in a stone tomb, in magnificent clothes made of white wool, embroidered with gold threads and numerous gold plaques, the king was buried. According to tradition, his weapons were placed next to the old warrior: two iron swords sheathed in scarlet, a helmet and a quiver full of arrows, decorated with gold plates, gilded spears. Some time later, the queen was buried in the mausoleum - in expensive clothes, with numerous decorations. She lay in a wooden sarcophagus inlaid with gold. Here, for decades, relatives and close associates of the king were buried. For many years, the mausoleum continued to be the burial place of the most noble people of the Scythian state. In total, 72 burials were discovered in it, 70 of them lay in wooden boxes, and even then they were immediately buried in 2-3 and even 5 people. Traces of clay were preserved on some boxes (they were smeared with clay on top and then painted with red paint), there were boxes with gilding and plaster decorations. All burials were distinguished by wealth, splendor, and an abundance of gold jewelry. In the mausoleum, which was excavated in 1946-1947, 1327 gold objects were found - pendants, sewn-on plaques of various shapes, medallions, etc. The buried were accompanied by the burial of four horses with richly decorated bridles. The entrance door to the mausoleum was knocked together from oak boards, in front of her was found the skeleton of a dog - a guard at the threshold leading to the kingdom of the dead. Later, the mausoleum turns into a gate battle tower, fortified with a stone belt over 2 m thick. One could get inside the tower by a stone staircase of 11 steps. The latest (upper) burials of the royal tomb date back to the beginning of the 1st century BC. n. e. We said above that in the stone tomb of the mausoleum was buried - presumably - Skilur. This point of view was expressed in due time by P. N. Schultz 38 . It is based on the date of the burial (II century BC) and on the similarity of the face of the buried, restored by M. M. Gerasimov from the skull, with famous images Skilur - on coins and stone relief. According to N. N. Pogrebova, the royal burial could belong to the son of Skilur - Palak 39. Unfortunately, written sources do not tell us about the time of the reign and death of the Scythian kings. Only Strabo says that the Roxolani under the leadership of Tasias came to the aid of Palak in the fight against Mithridates Eupator 40, and in a decree in honor of Diophantus it is said that the Scythian king Palak attacked the Greek troops unexpectedly. Hence the assumption that in the war with the Greeks (in 110 -104 BC) Skilur did not participate that he died before these events, but his son Palak fought. If Skilur died before the war, then the mausoleum was built before it began, i.e. during preparation it, during the reconstruction of the walls. So thought P. N. Shults and A. N. Karasev. They believed that together with the mausoleum before the war, an eastern gate tower was being built, an advanced defensive wall (the so-called proteichism) was being built, separated from the main wall by an intermediate space (peribol). This view continues to this day in the literature. But in this case, the question arises, posed by O. D. Dashevskaya 41: why during the war with the Greeks the mausoleum and the tower were not destroyed, and the royal tomb was not plundered? Indeed, the mausoleum stands at the very gates, the enemy is victorious, fires are raging in the city, the city guards are killed - it's time to rob the royal tomb, where for sure (who did not know about it!) A lot of jewelry. But no, it stands untouched. Why? Well, if you take the point of view of N. N. Pogrebovoi, what happens then? The picture in this case is as follows: Skilur died before the war, his tomb is not known to us, and the portrait resemblance of the buried in a stone tomb with the relief and images on the coins does not mean anything. It also turns out that the construction of the mausoleum and the tower was carried out after the war. When analyzing both points of view, stretches in construction are involuntarily evident historical concept. Somewhere the thread of truth slips away and speculation begins. Well, what if (we allow ourselves one more "if") we assume that Skilur was alive during the war? After all, written sources do not tell us about his death. How do we know that he did not fight? Is it not possible to assume that Skilur and Palak - both - participated in the war? Palak led an active attack on the Greeks and made a surprise attack on them, Skilur held the defense of the capital. And he died immediately after the war. But even during the life of his father, the young, energetic Palak, named king in the decree, could be in power. In this case, the portrait resemblance of the person buried in the mausoleum and the integrity of the mausoleum itself find their explanation. And, finally, one more important circumstance. Judging by the reconstruction by M. M. Gerasimov, the man buried in the stone tomb was an elderly man. According to legend, Skilur died an old man. There is also an image of an equestrian Palak, synchronous with the time of Skilur's burial, where Palak appears before us as a young warrior. So, let's stop: Skilur died after the war, was buried in a mausoleum built together with the eastern gate tower. The question of the time and place of Skilur's burial remains controversial. There are statements of individual specialists, not considered here by the author, who doubt the portrait character of Skilur's images. Contradicts the author's point of view, reinforcing the opinion of N. N. Pogrebova, and the age of the buried in the mausoleum is about 40 years. - Ed.
Unbowed
Naples was badly damaged during the war. It was necessary to urgently take up the restoration of the city and, above all, to strengthen the fortifications that had fallen into disrepair. Their restructuring could take place as follows: the Scythians did not completely restore the destroyed walls, but built a new one, 2 m thick, a mausoleum and a gate tower were attached to it. The latter had a quadrangular shape, its internal dimensions were 5x3.5 m. Subsequently, it was reinforced with three additional belts and the total thickness of its walls increased to 6 m at the base. wall, the height of which reached 6-7 m. The ramp, apparently, served as additional protection only in the area of the central city gates, and in other places the city was defended by a new wall, probably along with the remains of the old one.
At the central city gates, the thickness of the wall was now (with a ramp) 12.5 m. The new wall, like the oldest one, probably had gates that could be wooden, knocked together from thick boards with forged iron nails. Thus, a system of double gates was obtained, which served as a reliable defense against the enemy. In all likelihood, the southern defensive wall of Naples was strengthened by towers and tower ledges along its entire length - not only in the area of \u200b\u200bthe gate. During the excavation of a section of the wall 40 meters east of the central gate, a tower ledge was discovered. And the Swiss traveler Dubois de Montpere, who visited Naples in 1834, left us a plan of the settlement, on which the southern wall is depicted with six towers, and the towers are located according to the rules of ancient fortification - about 40-60 meters apart, i.e. on at a distance of flight of an arrow. Near the defensive wall and the eastern tower, quite a lot of sling stones were found during excavations, which were widely used in ancient times during the siege of cities. There is also written evidence of this. Thus, the ancient Roman military historian Vegetius recommended collecting more pebble stones, because their blows are more dangerous than any arrow 43. Throughout the history of the city, its inhabitants took care of strengthening the approaches to it from the south side. It is possible that the defensive wall also ran along the Petrovsky beam on the western side of the settlement. Was there an acropolis in the Scythian capital? Construction of this kind is known in many settlements of late Scythia. There was an acropolis, as we saw, on Kermen-Kyr, there was on Alma-Kermen, on Bulganak 44. In the northern part of Naples, the remains of a powerful defensive wall were discovered. It is quite possible that she served to defend the acropolis. But a very small segment of it, only 2 m, has been identified, and therefore one can only speak of the Naples acropolis so far only presumably. After the war, the city is quickly recovering, destroyed houses are being rebuilt, new buildings are being erected. . Hellenization penetrated deeply into the culture of the late Scythians. It manifested itself both in the construction of buildings (proportions, plan according to Greek models), and in the desire to give the city a magnificent appearance (buildings with porticos at the central city gates). In the city, as already mentioned, there were statues with dedications to the gods written in Greek, and the deities themselves were not only Scythian, but also Greek. The buildings of the first centuries of our era on the site have not been studied enough. It is known, however, that stone houses and dugouts of this time existed in different parts of Naples. Near the defensive wall, in the area of the central city gates, a rectangular basement of the house was found, its dimensions are 5.76x3.90 m. There was also a small basement (1.60x1 , 10 m.), possibly belonging to some outbuilding. Rectangular single-chamber dwellings (of various sizes 3.15x4.45 m., etc.) were investigated in the central part of the city. At this time (the first centuries of our era), two-chamber basements. One of them was excavated in the northern part of Naples; the southwestern wall of the building, 2 meters high, was traced; from the south, a stone staircase led to the basement, from which three steps were preserved. In crypt No. 9, the painting of niches reproduces the appearance of Scythian houses. Judging by the painting, these houses had gable roofs, the pediments were decorated with images of skates and arrows. We also know that stone is now replacing the raw bricks of the Hellenistic era. In the first centuries of our era, the Scythians still pay attention to the decoration of religious buildings (a house with frescoes), they invite Greek masters for this - perhaps for painting some stone crypts -painters. Still wealthy people buy more expensive dishes and various luxury items. But gradually the city is changing its face. Garbage dumps are arranged on the site of previously existing large buildings, the city planning in the area of the central city gates is disrupted, more dugouts and semi-dugouts appear. There are clear signs of decline. However, all this did not prevent the Scythian kings from taking care of strengthening the state and their power.
In the valley of the Alma
For the economic life of the country, based on the trade in grain, it was vital to expand the territory of the state, to develop the fertile lands of the river valleys. Along Belbek, Kacha and Alma and in the central Crimea, after the wars of Diophantus, numerous Scythian settlements and settlements arose. The Alma settlements have been studied better than others. Many of them were known to N. L. Ernst, already mentioned by us, the Crimean archaeologist and local historian, who did a lot to study the history of the Crimea. Later, Taurus-Scythian expedition carried out reconnaissance on these settlements. In 1954, on the left bank of the Alma, near the village of Zavetnoye, research began on the settlement of Alma-Kermen (the former name of the village).
Back in the 30s of the last century, this ancient settlement was mentioned by a major researcher of the history of the Crimea, P. I. Koeppen. “The foundations of the walls are now barely visible there,” Keppen wrote, “which made up the fortress, which the traces of the Tatars call Kala.” 45 . BC e., when Taurians lived here. In the II century. BC e. This territory was mastered by the Scythians. A Scythian settlement appears on the plateau, and at its foot - a settlement. The area of the settlement is 1.3 hectares, its northwestern cape was protected by a powerful defensive wall (3.5 m thick). On the cape was the most impregnable part of the settlement - its acropolis, behind the wall of which the inhabitants of Alma-Kermen could hide in the moment of danger. The remains of the earliest buildings are few. They testify that the houses were built on stone foundations, and the walls were probably made of adobe bricks. The rooms are rectangular in shape, sometimes with rounded corners. Near one of them, a sacrifice was made in the pits, archaeologists found animal bones mixed with the bones of a child, and next (in another pit) - a molded pot. Near the pits lay the skeleton of a baby in a crouched position. There was also a small rectangular earthen altar here. BC e, that is, after the Diophantine Wars. Fertile land, proximity fresh water created favorable conditions for farming and cattle breeding 46. It is not by chance that charred grains of wheat and rye were among the finds. In the utility room, perhaps a barn or a shed, amphoras filled with grain stood on the floor. Judging by the numerous remains of grains found in this and other settlements, the Scythians grew mainly wheat. Agriculture was plow farming. The Scythian state supplied a huge amount of bread to the Black Sea market, without plow farming this would have been impossible. In addition to the plow, however, a number of auxiliary tools served for cultivating the land, primarily a hoe - a tool that had two working ends sharp - for breaking clods, and wide, flat - for loosening the earth. (Such an iron hoe, which could also be used for cultivating a garden, was found at the site of Alma-Kermen. Its length is 25 cm, in the center there is a hole for a stick). The harvest was made with sickles. But the wheat was mowed, it must be threshed The ancient Greek historian Xenophon (V-IV centuries BC) writes about how the Greeks threshed bread. "Animals - oxen, mules, horses were driven in a circle, throwing ears of corn under their feet, from which the cattle knocked out grains" 47 . Apparently, the Scythians used the same method of threshing (although they probably used threshing boards). The grain necessary for food was crushed in stone mortars, ground in hand mills, thus obtaining cereals and flour. Whole round mills (millstones) and their fragments are very often found during excavations. What did they look like? The lower millstone was fixed motionlessly, and grain was poured onto its flat working surface through a hole in the upper millstone. The upper millstone was rotated with the help of an iron or wooden handle, turning the grain into flour. Such mills are usually small - their diameter did not exceed 35-36 cm. In addition, there were also rectangular millstones-pushers. In this case, the upper stone did not rotate, but moved back and forth with the help of a handle. In the first centuries of our era, mills appeared, driven by donkeys or mules. A fragment of the upper half of such a device - 2.2 m in diameter - was found at the Alma-Kermen settlement. Cattle breeding played an important role in the economy: numerous bones of domestic animals found on the settlements indicate that they bred mainly small cattle - sheep, goats as well as pigs. At a later time (the first centuries of our era), cattle began to be bred. But the basis of the economy of the inhabitants of Alma-Kermen and other settlements and settlements of Scythia continues to be agriculture 48 . No wonder a large granary was opened in the capital of the state, Naples. The inhabitants of the river valleys, apparently, brought bread here. The oath of the citizens of Chersonesos says: "I will neither sell the bread brought from the plain, nor take it out with equals to any other place, but only to Chersonesos" 49 . The inhabitants of Scythia were also probably forbidden to sell or export bread anywhere except Naples. Apparently, the Scythian kings were engaged in a monopoly trade in bread. An auxiliary, although important role was assigned to viticulture, winemaking, and fishing in the economy. In the distribution and development of viticulture among the Scythians, the influence of Chersonesus and other Greek cities affected. Two vine knives were found at the site of Alma-Kermen. And in his necropolis, stone portable wine presses for grapes were used as foundation slabs for one of the graves. Imported wine was expensive, only wealthy Scythians could afford it. Their own wine was much cheaper, so winemaking was widely developed by them by the first centuries of our era. During the excavations of Naples, a charred vine was discovered. According to researchers**, grapes grew either in the Salgir valley or near the settlement.Fishing, quite naturally, was the occupation of the inhabitants of coastal settlements and settlements. There were a lot of fish off the coast of Crimea, especially flounder and mullet: fish scales and bones are not rare finds, in particular at Ust-Alma settlement. Were the Scythians engaged in gardening? Herodotus pointed out that the Gelons - one of the Scythian tribes - had gardens. In the Crimea, gardens were bred by Taurus. On one of the Taurus settlements of the IX-VIII centuries. BC e (Uch-Bash) bones of sweet cherries, cherry plums and cherries were found. The found remains of apples, pears, cherries, walnuts in the settlements and in the burial grounds of the Crimean Scythians testify that they also had gardening. Various crafts played a significant role in the economy of the Scythian state. In the first place, of course, was the ceramic craft 50 . The dishes are needed in any household - large and small, and clay was always at hand: the hills of Ust-Alma settlement, Alma-Kermen and others are outcrops of Quaternary clay. degrees. Therefore, everywhere in the Scythian settlements - settlements and settlements - we find numerous fragments of molded pots, simple and polished, sometimes with ornament, more often without it. Many intact vessels have also come down to us, found mainly in cemeteries and settlements. They are of various shapes and sizes - from tiny toy vessels made for children to large pots in which they kept grain, flour, water, milk. Weaving was very common among home crafts, which was done by women. In order to obtain raw materials, flax and hemp were sown and processed. Numerous weights for spindles - the so-called whorls - small round or biconical (in the shape of a double cone) clay pendants were found on settlements, burial grounds (and only in female burials). On some of them fanciful drawings are scratched, usually images of animals - rams, goats, deer. There are also prints of fabrics in burials. Studies of these remains showed that linen was the main material for fabrics. For the cold season, clothes were sewn from leather and animal skins. On the famous golden pectoral from Tolstoy Grave, two Scythians are sewing a shirt out of sheepskin. Scythian warriors were repeatedly depicted in leather pants. In female burials, bronze needles are often found, sometimes carefully placed in a bronze needle case - a case with a loop for hanging. Even in the burial of the queen in the mausoleum of Naples, a golden needle was discovered. Men were engaged in stone-cutting, making adobe bricks for construction and the construction business itself. In addition, there are many other needs in the economy that require male hands: it is necessary to make millstones for grinding grain, and carve a stone mortar or winepress, not to mention the fact that the construction of any dwelling absorbed a lot of labor. During excavations, you can often find iron slag - traces of blacksmithing. Scythian blacksmiths made iron knives, awls, nails, daggers, spearheads. As we have seen, a casting mold made from an amphora handle was found in the Naples settlement, which is indisputable evidence of the foundry craft among the Scythians. This means that some of the decorations found in the graves were made by local craftsmen.
under the rule of Rome
Having grown stronger after the defeat, having gained strength, the Scythians are again attacking the Greeks. They are again at the walls of Chersonesos, threatening the Bosporus kingdom, but unsuccessfully. Aspurgus in the 1st century. n. e. defeated the "barbarians", most likely the Scythians. At this time, the Scythian kingdom again enters into an alliance with the Sarmatians. The Chersonesites could not stand up for themselves this time either. I had to ask for help, this time to Rome. In the 60s of the 1st century. n. e. Roman legionnaires entered Chersonesus, and the Chersonese Republic lost its independence for a long time. The main policy of Rome on the peninsula was the subjugation of neighboring territories. The legionnaires had to create a number of military posts to protect Chersonese from the "barbarians". One of such strongholds of the Romans was Charax, a fortress near present-day Yalta, on Cape Ai-Todor 51 . Here, to Charax, the Romans built a land road 52 from Chersonesos, and surrounded the fortress with impregnable stone walls. The legionnaires stationed in Charax were supposed to guard communications along the southern coast of Taurica. The need required to penetrate deep into Scythia, to create a military post somewhere on the way from Naples to Chersonese. An exceptionally convenient and very important strategic point was the settlement on the Alma River - Alma-Kermen. It was located near the main highway Naples - Chersonesos (only 4-5 kilometers from the settlement to this road), lay on the way between Naples and the largest coastal city - Ust-Alminsky. Probably, in ancient times, as well as now, a land road passed along the Alma, then connecting the two most important settlements of Scythia. And, finally, (Alma-Kermen) the middle course of the Alma is just that deep Scythia, where it is most convenient - primarily for the safety of Chersonese - to place a detachment of legionnaires. We have already said that at the foot of Alma-Kermen there was a settlement. The legionnaires, having occupied (probably by force) the plateau of the settlement, forced its inhabitants to settle in the settlement. The Scythians had no choice but to obey: there were few warriors among them - excavations of the Alma-Kermen necropolis (about 300 graves were discovered) gave only single copies of daggers and swords. And what could these warriors do against Roman weapons? .. The Roman army was formed from the local population of Moesia, Thrace and other western, as well as eastern provinces of the vast Roman Empire. Among the legionnaires were various artisans: masons, carpenters, potters, gunsmiths. Since the maintenance of the armed forces required huge costs, the Roman armies made extensive use of their own reserves. When setting up camps, the legionnaires built ramparts and ditches, erected barracks and baths from stone, tiles were fired on the spot, and dishes were made. In addition, the Roman soldiers were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding - again for their own needs. And all this in addition to the main and main thing - military service. Potters in the production of tiles put the stamp of their legion. According to these marks and inscriptions, we know that in Chersonese the Roman garrison consisted of detachments of the XI Claudian legion, I Italian, V Macedonian, auxiliary troops of the Moesian army and part of the Moesian fleet. Apparently, one of the detachments of the XI Claudian Legion, which was part of the Chersonesos garrison, was stationed in Alma-Kermen. The tile was fired and branded in Chersonese, where the same one was found. A large batch of it was brought for the construction of various buildings on the Alma-Kermen settlement. Here, on the settlement, the remains of a rectangular building measuring 13x8.5 m were discovered. Its walls, laid out of mud bricks on a stone foundation, were plastered and painted from the inside. Pieces of painted multi-colored plaster have been preserved. The gable roof was covered with tiles that fell into the house during its death. The floor was adobe, smeared, in the center there was an adobe platform - a kind of sacrificial table raised 10-15 cm above the floor level. Such altars are widely known in the dwellings of the ancient Thracians who once inhabited modern Bulgaria. It is known that among the Roman soldiers of the Chersonese garrison there were also Thracians, who, naturally, brought to the Crimea the peculiarities of the culture and religion of their people. In front of the house on the southwestern side there was a courtyard paved with slabs, among the flat stones of its pavement a square brick measuring 75x75x5 cm was found. Such large bricks, also made by legionnaires, were usually used for paving floors in baths. The detachment of legionnaires stationed in Alma-Kermen also included master glassmakers. Their activity is associated with the creation of a glass-making workshop on the hillfort, which consisted of three furnaces. Glass-making is a very ancient craft. It is difficult to say where and when glass first appeared on earth. Gaius Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian and naturalist who lived in the 1st century BC. n. e. who tragically died during the eruption of Vesuvius, attributes this to chance. In very ancient times, a ship of merchants carrying natural soda - saltpeter landed on the shores of ancient Phoenicia. The merchants decided to spend the night. Sitting around the fire on the sandy shore, they began to cook food, but there were no stones at hand to put the pot on. I had to put pieces of saltpeter. Saltpeter mixed with sand - and "transparent streams of a new liquid flowed," writes Pliny. When this liquid cooled down, it turned out to be as hard as a stone, pure and transparent as water, and burned with fire in the sun 53 . This was the glass. It is difficult to say whether man came to know glass in this way or in another way. But by the Roman time, glassmaking reached the heights of craftsmanship. In addition to dishes, a variety of beads, rings, seals, bracelets and other jewelry were made from glass. These objects were very popular among the general population. Despite the huge number of glass objects found during excavations, insignificant remains of the glass workshops themselves have come down to us. Not a single workshop has been found to this day in the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region, although glass ingots, the remains of refractory bricks were found in Chersonesus, and in Tanais (one of the cities of the Bosporan Kingdom, located in the Don delta) - a clay mold for making a relief hemispherical glass bowl 54 That is why the remains of three furnaces discovered in Alma-Kermen are so interesting for us. Thanks to them, we can restore the entire process of ancient glass production 55 , which, by the way, is not much different from the modern one. The technological process remained basically the same, only the possibilities and conditions of production have changed. 3.3 m. The furnace was covered with a domed vault, built of stones on clay. Clay pots with a charge (a mixture of components that make up glass) were placed on a special clay shelf along the edges of the furnace, firewood burned inside. Where the pots stood, the temperature rose to 1200 degrees - this is quite enough for normal melting and "boiling" of glass. From the north side, a furnace hole in the form of an arch made of stones led into the furnace. And on the opposite side, apparently, there were "windows" - holes through which the glassblower collected molten glass into the pipe and blew a bubble with the force of his own lungs. With the help of a template - a wooden model - the future vessel was given a certain, given shape. To the southeast there was a third furnace - the so-called annealing furnace, in which, with a slow decrease in temperature, the finished vessels were gradually cooled. This oven is the largest. It is rectangular in shape, 6.7x4.3 m in size. Its lower part is let into the ground and lined with raw bricks. From above, the stove was covered with a vault made of the so-called "concrete" (small fragments of stones, broken dishes, fastened with tsemyankovo-lime mortar). It turned out a durable heat-resistant overlap. To facilitate the design of the vault and increase thermal insulation, amphoras were inserted into the concrete mass, and in some places - stucco pots. Apparently, several holes ("windows") led into the oven, through which it was loaded with finished products. After that, the holes were carefully closed for a more or less long time. The stove, preliminarily well heated with firewood, gradually cooled down, and the vessels also cooled. Then the holes were unbricked and the finished products were taken out. Not always, of course, the work went smoothly - an accidental gust of wind, accidental awkwardness - and a fragile, still warm and viscous vessel flattened in the hands of the master. However, the marriage was not thrown away: the defective dishes were remelted - just as they do now. In front of the first furnace there was a platform with a lot of broken glass and marriage. Here the master prepared the composition of the future glass - a mixture of light kaolin clay, sand, ash, broken glass. The whole process required skill, patience, skill. But this hard work paid off. From the flames of the furnaces, as if by a miracle, there arose transparent, thin jugs, entwined with threads of yellow, blue, white glass, beautiful spherical bowls, precious goblets, dishes, plates. When the vessel became solid, it was possible to decorate its transparent surface with faceting, matte strokes, draw a complex pattern. The workshop was located on the edge of the settlement, on its northern slope. This was required by the safety of production in terms of fire. The Roman craftsmen had to cook glass in Alma-Kermen for a short time. The borders of the empire are increasingly disturbed by the barbarians. In II-III centuries. n. e. they threaten the Roman provinces along the Rhine and Danube. Rome is making every effort to preserve them. Troops are hastily gathering in the western provinces. The Roman garrison, with the exception of a small part of it, leaves Chersonese. A detachment of soldiers of the XI Claudian Legion also left Alma-Kermen. The glass workshop was abandoned, the furnaces were covered with garbage, and only by a lucky chance they have been perfectly preserved to this day. The local population returned to the plateau of the settlement again. It is difficult to say whether Alma-Kermen was the only place in Scythia where the Roman legionaries penetrated. We do not know of another point in these parts with obvious traces of the presence of the Romans. However, the opinion was expressed that at the mouth of the Alma River, on the Ust-Alma settlement, there was also a Roman military post 56 . Arguments in favor of this version: the location of the city on a cape, its configuration, the abundance of fragments of amphoras and red-glazed pottery from the first centuries of our era. Isn't it not enough?..Let's turn directly to the settlement, to the finds that were found on it.
By the sea
So, the mouth of the Alma. The left bank is steep from the side of the river, but towards the sea it is steep and rather high (30 m). Only the gently sloping southwestern and southeastern parts of the plateau are not protected by anything. Here, the inhabitants of the ancient city poured a high earthen rampart, dug a moat in front of it - their remains are visible even now. The place to stay was excellent. The mouth of the Alma, probably more full-flowing in antiquity, could serve as a mooring for Greek ships, and the ancient sea route from Chersonesus to Kerkinitida, Kalos-Limen and further to Olbia passed by. In exchange for leather, wool and other items Agriculture local residents received various goods from passing merchants: wine and olive oil, expensive red-lacquer and glassware, jewelry.
The settlement was not limited to one fortified part. To the south of the settlement - behind its rampart - there was a vast settlement, and behind it along the slope - an ancient cemetery. We have already said above that, apparently, a land road ran along the left bank of the Alma in ancient times, connecting the capital of Scythia, Naples, with the largest seaside city. Thus, the Ust-Alma settlement was located at the crossroads of the sea and land roads, which made it an especially important strategic point 57. Exploration excavations were carried out here in 1946 by P.N. detachment of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR*.
During the cleaning of the shaft and the ditch, it was established that they arose at the turn of our era. At present, the maximum height of the shaft is 2 m, in ancient times it was clearly higher. The ditch swam heavily, its depth does not exceed 0.5 m. The entrance to the city was located on the southeastern side. Another - from the north-west - is still visible today. Whether the rampart was preceded by some other system of defense of the city, whether it had walls that were destroyed, suppose, during the war with the Greeks, is unknown. It will be possible to find out only in the course of excavations. In recent years, several rectangular residential buildings have been discovered. Their walls are made of adobe bricks on a stone foundation. The roofs, apparently, were of reeds or clay. Single fragments of tiles were found at the settlement: this material was expensive and was apparently used in the construction of only rich buildings. The adobe walls of the houses were whitewashed from the inside. Judging by the layers of whitewash, one of them was whitewashed 18 times! In the southwestern corner of this house, a sacrificial pit was found filled with the bones of domestic animals, and on the adobe floor - numerous remains of dishes of the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. 58 The Scythians had no furniture. Often, the main decoration of the house was, apparently, mats spread on the floor. Sometimes small benches made of stone and clay were arranged along the walls. But more often they sat around the hearth. The most common were earthenware, portable *, - round, oval or square in shape, with high sides, made of clay with an admixture of crushed ceramics and straw. A fire was kindled on this brazier, its floor was strongly calcined, and on it it was possible, throwing out the coals, to bake cakes, and on the coals to cook food. Numerous fragments of such portable braziers are found at all Late Scythian settlements of the Crimea, including Ust-Alma.
A yard paved with stone slabs usually adjoined the house. Here there were household pits for various purposes: grain was kept in some, garbage was poured into others, etc. Amphoras, standing under sheds, served to store water and wine. In good weather, especially in summer, they lived in the yard; food was cooked right there on the hearth-brazier. A small section of a stone-paved road, or, more precisely, a street 3.20 m wide, was explored on the settlement. Usually, their necks were lined with stones for about 0.5-1.20 m, then the pit was smeared with clay, fumigated with sulfur so that insects would not start, and covered with grain. Tightly closed with a stone lid, smeared with clay, it served as a reliable repository. As the ancient Roman writer and scientist Varro points out, wheat can lie in such a pit for 50 years, and millet for more than 100 59 . And in order to disguise the place of the granary, it was made along the city street paved with slabs. The same picture was observed in Scythian Naples. For everyday use on the farm, grain was poured into amphorae, pots, or simply kept in heaps on the floor of barns, sheds and under sheds. its inhabitants conduct a lively trade with the settlements of the northwestern coast and with Chersonese, agriculture, cattle breeding, and fishing flourish. Ust-Almintsy are also engaged in crafts. The remains of three deep pits were found, filled from top to bottom with wood ash. The holes are nearby. Near them are traces of prolonged intense burning, burnt earth, coals. There must have been some kind of production here. In the city or its environs, stucco and pottery were probably made. Proof of this is its numerous fragments, as well as ceramic slag. As already noted, a layer of fire has been discovered on the site in recent years, possibly dating back to the time of the wars of Diophantus. Judging by the finds (very scarce) from the lower layers, the city arose in the III-II centuries. BC e. But these layers have yet to be studied. But did the Romans really live in the settlement? The excavations do not confirm this. No traces of even the temporary presence of Roman soldiers have been found. Roman ceramics speaks only about one thing so far - about the trade relations of the population with the Greek cities. Of course, a very small area has been explored. The continuation of the excavations will undoubtedly provide new data, from which much can be expected. ..So far we have been talking about the residential part of the city. Now let's talk about his necropolis - after all, more than 100 graves have been explored! The burial ground was searched for a long time. Ground necropolises of ancient peoples, if they are not marked from above by stone stelae, which are rarely preserved in situ (on the spot), are very difficult to find. In fact, from above everything is overgrown with grass, shrubs, there are no fragments of ancient dishes - a sign of a former life. How do you know if there is an ancient cemetery under your feet? Usually the burial ground was located not far from the settlement, somewhere on the slope. But there are several slopes, and they are all close. It often depends on the case. So it was this time too. In 1964, the Bakhchisaray forestry enterprise terraced the slopes of the ravines near the village of Peschanoe for planting pine trees. Suddenly, bones and ancient things appeared on one of the slopes. reported to the archaeologists. Undoubtedly - there was a necropolis of the Ust-Alma settlement. Finally. Excavations have begun. It turned out that the inhabitants of the ancient city buried their relatives in different ways: in some cases they dug out a large crypt, in others - a simple pit or made a side grave. But they always poured a bunch of stones on top or put one large stone. Where did such a variety of burial structures come from? The fact is that the population of the late Scythian state, including the Ust-Alma settlement, was not ethnically homogeneous. For centuries, the Scythians mixed with various peoples of the Northern Black Sea region for centuries: they married Greek women, took the Taurians into captivity, lived together with the Sarmatians. Each people has its own funeral rite, the essence of which is always conservative. The Scythians from ancient times had a custom to bury in large burial chambers - catacombs or earthen crypts. This custom was preserved in the first centuries. At the Ust-Alma necropolis, 11 crypts were discovered, and 7 of them are large, with numerous burials (from 15 to 52 buried). These crypts, up to 4.5 m deep from the modern day surface, usually had a square shape in plan, a long, more than 2 m, corridor - dromos. The burial chamber was closed with a large stone slab, and the dromos was densely clogged with stones. Nearby, if a warrior was buried in the grave, they often buried his beloved horse. Crypts were family tombs. When one of the family members died, a vast burial chamber was dug out for him and the subsequent dead, several stones were placed at the bottom of it, and a wooden coffin was placed on them. Other dead were buried nearby - as long as there was enough space. The lower row, or tier of burials, was covered with earth, then they continued to bury, thus creating a second tier, etc. n. Each time, of course, the stone foundation of the dromos was dismantled and then restored again. One of the crypts - 52 people were buried in it - turned out to be seven-tiered. Having made the last burial, the dromos was carefully closed and covered with earth. As you know, the ancients believed that, when dying, a person passes only from one world to another, and all the items necessary for life are necessary for him in the next world. That is why archaeologists find objects of labor and everyday life, all kinds of decorations in ancient graves. The richer a person was, the more plentiful and varied the funeral gifts. In the first centuries of our era, sacrificial food became an almost invariable attribute of the burials of the Greeks, Scythians and other peoples who inhabited the Northern Black Sea region. A red-glazed plate with a piece of meat and an iron knife was placed at the feet or near the head of the buried, next to it was a red-glazed jug with water or wine (if a poor man was buried, hand-made dishes replaced the red-glazed dishes). Bronze jewelry was widespread among the Scythians: bracelets, earrings, buckles, various kinds of pendants - in the form of little men, birds, amphorae. On the chest or on the shoulder, clothes were cleaved off with a pin - the so-called brooch (like our safety pin). At the Ust-Alma necropolis, along with the usual brooches, there are brooches decorated with enamel. One of them - in the form of a hippocampus (seahorse) - is one of the rare ornaments of antiquity. Men sometimes put on a bronze hryvnia around their necks - a rod made of round wire with a loop and a hook at the end. Men also adorned themselves with several large beads - made of chalcedony and jet. Many types of beads are known: from blue Egyptian paste, mosaic, motley, eyed, black from jet, amber, carnelian, crystal, glass, bronze. the tree is poorly preserved. Only in one of the crypts of the Ust-Alma burial ground were found wooden caskets that can be restored. In women's and children's graves, pieces of pink chalk are often found - rouge, round bone toilet boxes (pyxides), and occasionally balsamaria (elongated glass vessels for incense). There are very few weapons. Apart from a few iron arrowheads, the remains of iron daggers and swords were found only twice in the Ust-Alma graves. One of the swords has a ring pommel, the other, in excellent condition, has no crosshairs. It is curious that the Scythian bronze arrows in the first centuries of our era completely fell into disuse. They are replaced by iron Sarmatian ones, and bronze ones are kept as amulets and sometimes put in the grave. Therefore, in the graves of the II-III centuries. n. e. you can find a bronze arrow of the 5th century. BC e. Golden objects are rare. In one of the crypts, probably some noble person was buried. Next to it lay a gold pendant - a moon with a glass insert in the center, and around the remains of the skull were found leaves of gold foil, apparently from a wreath. In another crypt, pieces of gold foil and an earring made of thin gold wire were found. In the first centuries of our era the influx of Sarmatians into the Crimea increases, more and more burial structures characteristic of this people appear - side graves. A narrow - 50-60 cm - grave pit broke out in the ground, along one of its long sides (the length usually ranges from 70 m) a lining was made, i.e. a burial chamber. The buried was placed in the pit, covered with stone slabs placed on the edge, and the entrance pit was filled with stones. The Sarmatians brought with them from the Volga steppes not only pit graves, but also their funeral rite. It was customary for them, for example, to sprinkle the bottom of the grave with chalk or coal, cross the legs of the buried, lay a felt mat under it, bury it in wooden logs. ). This custom - truly "barbaric" - is still inexplicable. We meet all the noted features at Ust-Alma and other late Scythian necropolises. Apparently, Greek influence also played a part. Among the Greeks, burials in slab graves* were common, and we see two similar graves at the Ust-Alma necropolis. Are they Scythian? This we do not know. It is quite possible that the Greeks who settled in the Scythian environment are buried in them.
The Greeks also had such a custom: if a relative died in a foreign land, they dug a grave for him in his homeland, sometimes they put various utensils there, covered the grave with earth - everything, as usual, but without the burial of a person. These are the so-called cenotaphs. Several of them have been discovered at the Ust-Alma necropolis. One more example. As a talisman (protection from evil spirits), the Greeks wore gems - rings with inserts of carnelian, glass, amethyst. Rings are usually bronze, sometimes iron. Numerous gems were found in the burials of the Ust-Alma necropolis. The images on them are very different: the goddess of victory Nike, Zeus, Athena, Fortuna, a shepherd with a stick, a goat lying under a tree, a moon and a star (a sign of the Achaemenids, the kings of Persia), a kanfar (a vessel for wine), an eagle sitting on an altar, running lion. Imported rings, Greek work. The Scythians bought them as amulets, guards against diseases, the evil eye. No wonder they are found mainly in children's burials. Almost every grave of the Ust-Alma necropolis, as we have already said, was marked on top with a small pile of stones or one stone placed vertically. There are no images on the stones. But on another necropolis, also in the valley of the Alma River - Alma-Kermensky - there were six tombstones with images 60. It is worth telling about this in more detail. One of the stelae depicted a male figure, primitively executed in low relief. In the man's left hand is a dagger in a sheath, in his right hand is a rhyton (a vessel for wine). The height of the stele is 1.10 m. On the other, executed in the same primitive way, there is a warrior holding a round shield in his left hand. .On two stone tombstones - a schematic drawing of the upper part of a human figure. The chest of one of them is decorated with a hryvnia. A stele depicting a male figure, made in high relief, stands out in particular. The head was not preserved, the right hand and feet were beaten off. The man is dressed in a knee-length caftan with long sleeves, the neckline of the caftan on the chest is decorated with grooves. The height of the gravestone is 0.95 m. Unfortunately, none of the stelae was found in situ (on the spot). About 300 graves were discovered at the Alma-Kermen burial ground, and only 6 of them had stone sculptures. Consequently, only on the grave of an eminent person, a noble warrior, did the tribesmen put such a tombstone. Maybe he distinguished himself in battles or had some other services to society and therefore was awarded the special memory of his relatives. Of course, most of the stone steles perished for us forever. But even from the surviving specimens, one can judge the original Scythian culture, the skill of stone carvers. No less important for the study of ancient art - and at the same time the social structure of society - are the painted crypts of Scythian Naples 61. These monuments (a total of five stone crypts with paintings ) are the only examples of Scythian painting that have come down to us. Ancient masters sought to capture pictures of real life: a wild boar hunting scene, a Scythian playing the lyre, figures of women performing a dance (perhaps during a funeral ceremony). Not all drawings are the same in execution, but to this day the naturalness of the poses, the richness of colors cause admiration. The art of the late Scythians is peculiar and complex. It, like their religion, was influenced by other peoples, primarily the Greeks and Sarmatians. In Hellenistic times, the so-called "animal style" that once dominated Scythia almost disappears. A new stage in the development of art was closely connected with the general barbarization of the culture of the Northern Black Sea region. It was in the first centuries of our era that primitive graffiti drawings appeared in Naples, and tombstones with anthropomorphic images appeared on the necropolises. In contrast to monumental art, applied art, primarily toreutics (chasing, stamping on metal), apparently continues to preserve ancient traditions, only adapting to the requirements and tastes of customers.
Decline of the Power
As it was said, in the first centuries of our era, the population of the Crimean Scythia increased, and this happened mainly due to the influx of Sarmatian tribes. They penetrate into the Crimea in two ways: from the Dnieper region through the Perekop isthmus and from the Don and North Caucasus through the Bosporus. Apparently, their invasion of Scythia was not always and everywhere peaceful. In the 1st century n. e. life ceases in some settlements of the northwestern Crimea ("Seagull", Belyaus, Popovka). Their inhabitants go to other parts of the peninsula. It is difficult to say with what events this is connected: perhaps the reason for this is climate change, perhaps the onslaught of the Sarmatians. In the central and southwestern Crimea, the arrival of the Sarmatians did not cause the death of settlements and the resettlement of their inhabitants. However, in the II-III centuries. n. e. The Scythian state is going through a difficult time. The Scythians fail in the struggle for Olbia, they are constantly at war with the Bosporus. In addition, the disunity of the settlements, the absence of centralized authority over a vast territory further exacerbates the complexity of the situation. The growing military danger required urgent measures to protect the country. Apparently, each rural community is beginning to take care of this itself.
Shelters of the Scythians
In II-III centuries. n. e. in the southwestern and central Crimea, along with such settlements as Alma-Kermen or Kermen-Kyr, there appears new type fortified settlements - shelters. Most often, this is a fortification located somewhere on a steep cape, inaccessible to the enemy, covered from the floor side by a stone wall. The configuration of the shelter depended on the terrain. Its area has always been small, but it allowed a small number of people at the time of danger to hide along with their belongings and livestock. Below, at the foot, in an open, unprotected place, there was a settlement where ordinary peaceful life was going on: they built houses, sowed and harvested bread, grazed herds, burned pottery, sewed clothes. At the moment of danger, the entire population of the village abandoned their homes and took refuge in a shelter. This kind of fortified settlement was discovered in the upper reaches of the Alma River, near the village of Kizilovka (the former name was Karagach). The shelter is located on top of a hill raised above the river level by about 40-50 m From the south, the plateau of the ancient settlement breaks off steeply towards the Alma, the rest of its slopes are gentle. The most elevated part is occupied by a fortification, which in plan has the shape of an irregular trapezoid measuring 47.5x52.5 m. n. e. In the middle reaches of the Alma, on a flat hill with a steep eastern and more gentle south-western slope, there is another refuge called "Chabovsky Mountain". The highest part of the hill was surrounded by a stone wall 2 m thick and was a fortification that arose, judging by the fragments of ceramics, in the II-III centuries. n. e.
| Krasnozorinsk settlement 1, 2, 3 - exploration pits, M - N - remains of an ancient road |
Similar fortifications existed in the central Crimea. One of them is located 2.5 kilometers northeast of the village of Pionerskoye (former Dzhalman). Rectangular in plan, the shelter with an area of 45x30 m was surrounded by a stone wall, which was poorly preserved. Next to it is a large settlement with the remains of buildings and ancient roads. The shelter belongs to the I-III centuries. n. e. 62 At the same time, there was another, so far, unfortunately, little studied type of settlements - estates. One of them was opened in 1958-1959. in the tract Kizil-Koba 63 . Part of the dwelling house of the owner of the estate, a major winemaker, was excavated here. The dwelling was of good quality, with a cement, rather than an earthen floor, which apparently consisted of several rooms. The territory of the Scythian state in the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. still, as in its heyday, is quite large. Moreover, it is expanding significantly due to the development of river valleys. How was this power governed, what was the social system of Scythia? This question has not yet been resolved. The meager evidence of ancient authors, epigraphic and numismatic data suggests that a king was at the head of the Scythian state. We know about the powerful king Skilur, during whose reign Scythia reached its highest power. One of the Naples inscriptions - it has already been discussed - says that Skilur was the son of the king. This means that power was inherited from father to son. In addition to Palak, the son of Skilur, the kings Farza and Inismey, who ruled in the first centuries of our era, are known. They, like Skilur, minted coins in Olbia. The sources do not say what kind of relationship the subordinate population had with the authorities of Scythia. All our information about this is drawn from archaeological materials. Above, we said that the population of Scythia, apparently, brought bread to Naples, and visiting merchants bought it there. Calculations of the amount of grain that was stored in the capital allow us to confirm this assumption, so much cannot be produced by the population of one city, where, moreover, aristocracy, artisans, merchants, and warriors who are not engaged in agriculture live. But under what conditions did the population give their bread to the authorities? Was there a certain rate of tribute, or did the merchants give some goods in exchange for grain? This we do not know. As for tributary relations, they existed among the Scythians for a long time 64 . At one time, the Scythians levied tribute from Olbia, imposed tribute on the Bosporus kingdom. A number of facts testify to the social differentiation of the Scythian society. We see, for example, that representatives of the royal family have their own tomb - a mausoleum, the privileged elite of society buries the dead in rich crypts with paintings; apparently, with each buried - numerous gold and other valuable items (that's why these graves were plundered in ancient times by fellow tribesmen). The bulk of the population uses earthen crypts, earth and side graves. The question of slavery among the Scythians continues to be difficult and debatable. Servants and slaves were probably the king and his entourage. Not without reason in the mausoleum of Naples, the rich burials of the nobility were accompanied by the burials of the poor. Disunity, decentralization of power, the struggle against external enemies continuously weakened the Scythian state. The measures taken to strengthen the state, including the creation of shelters, were in vain. The king of the Bosporus Sauromates I (r. 93-123) defeats the "barbarians", most likely the Scythians, and in honor of the victory he mints a coin depicting a flaming barbarian fortress. His successor Cotius II (123-132) is honored by the Bosporans with a statue for the victory over the Scythians. In all likelihood, both kings inflicted serious blows on the Scythians within a fairly short time. The last time the Scythians are mentioned in the sources was around 193: a Tanaid inscription (from the city of Tanais in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov) reports the victory of Sauromates II over the Scythians and Siraks *.
Last push
The upper layers of all Scythian settlements bear traces of conflagrations. Obviously, settlements and settlements died suddenly, becoming victims of an unexpected and crushing blow. The unarmed population, apparently, was not in a position to resist. The only thing left was to run. And people fled, leaving everything, even precious things. It happened in the III century. n. e. On the floor of a house in Alma-Kermen (a house with frescoes), a gold pendant decorated with almandines and a gold ingot dropped in a hurry were found. And a murdered man of 35-40 years old remained lying on the threshold. He died from a blow to the head with some round object. At some distance from this house, on the edge of the settlement, lay another dead man. The fire destroyed the dwellings, under the collapsed roof for centuries were buried red-glazed and stucco vessels, amphoras with charred wheat and rye, various objects of labor and everyday life. Life has not resumed here. The same fate befell the capital of the state - Naples. Traces of fire and destruction of the III century. n. e. associated with the destruction of the city. In its various regions - in the upper layers - burials (with and without things) of forcibly killed people were found. Among them - a man buried in a pit in a crouched position, a man on the ruins of a defensive wall. The latter died, probably during the battle, and remained in place, as there was no time for funeral ceremonies. All this testifies to the tragedy that broke out at the moment of the final death of the kingdom and its capital. Who were the perpetrators of the tragedy? The answer can, alas, only presumably. First of all, it is bewildering that the newcomers who managed to cause such destruction did not leave any traces of their material culture. Written sources say that in 275 AD. e. Gothic squads invaded the Crimean peninsula. According to the archaeological inventory found in the upper layers of settlements and settlements (numerous fragments of amphoras, red-glazed pottery, etc.), the time of the death of the settlements corresponds to this date. The materials of necropolises do not contradict it either: burials later than the 3rd century BC. n. e. not found in Late Scythian burial grounds. Apparently, the population left, the graves were abandoned, no new burials were made. Written sources also report that the Sarmatian-Alanian tribes were part of the Gothic tribal union, and the Goths proper were only the top of this union (tribal union). It is quite obvious that a number of burials found in the upper layers of Naples is associated with the invasion of the tribes that participated in the defeat of the Scythian capital. Let's give an example. IN top layer The burial of a Sarmatian, a male warrior, was discovered in the Ust-Alma settlement. The buried lay on his back, stretched out, with his head to the northwest. On the left side, along the body, there was a long (1.10 m) iron sword, apparently attached to the harness, since iron rings were found on the pelvic bones. A bronze fibula was found at the shoulder on the left, and a piece of chalk was found on the pelvic bones. The warrior's left hand and the phalanges of his right fingers were cut off. Similar graves are not known at the Ust-Alma necropolis. It is quite possible that we have before us dead warriors from the Gothic Union, in which the Sarmatian-Alans predominated.
On the threshold of the Middle Ages
The state of the Crimean Scythians lived for almost seven hundred years, constantly communicating with the surrounding population of ancient cities. Without these contacts, neither the Scythian kingdom, nor the Greek colonies of the Northern Black Sea region could exist. The heyday and power of late Scythia were largely associated with the far-sighted policy of its kings, who developed trade and strengthened the unity of the country. Years passed, wars and internal contradictions constantly undermined Scythia. Lucian of Samosata (author of the 2nd century AD), on behalf of one of the Scythians, characterizes the situation in the state in this way: "We are constant wars, we either attack ourselves, or withstand the attack, or enter into fights over pastures and prey ... " 65 .
Master on the badge skillfully
Terrible dog and mighty
Claws at him young
Doe sculpted; like alive
She was trembling and scared
The dog looked furious.
The Scythian material culture is clearly distinguished from other cultures by the so-called animal style or, in other words, the art of the animal style. These are the images on various subjects animals, birds, as well as their parts (head, claws, beaks, etc.). Animals are both real and fantastic, and sometimes a combination of both is bizarre (like a griffin). This bright art is also represented in the burial mounds of the Ostrogozhsky region. We will return to these images from the Dubovsky, Mastyuginsky burial grounds, mounds near the villages of Kolbino-Ternovoe, look at them through the eyes of people of that time. But first, let's clear up a few questions.
How does the Scythian animal style differ from the depiction of animals from other eras? When we talk about the Scythian art of the animal style, the question arises: weren't animals and birds depicted before? Paleolithic caves with images on the walls of mammoths, wild horses, bison come to mind ... It can be seen that Scythian art is also Scythian, which differs from everything previous. With what?
Firstly, Scythian animals differ from others in the way they depict the body of the animal and its individual parts. Deer antlers, beaks of birds of prey, head of a predator, etc. composed as if of separate planes, which converge with each other at angles. Sharp edges with ribs are obtained, and as a result, a picture of the play of light and shadow on flat surfaces is created. Let us imagine a warrior with a shield on which is depicted a golden panther or a golden deer. Under the rays of the sun, the deer burns! Here the warrior slightly turned the shield, and a deer, similar to a living one, shone with new highlights ...
Secondly, the Scythian animal style was characterized by the allocation of any one part of the body, its exaggeration. Deer antlers, for example, are unrealistically large. They branch out along the entire length of the back and end only at the tail. The eye of a bird of prey is depicted in such a way that it has the dimensions of almost the entire head. The claws of predators are unnaturally large - both animals and birds. The desire of the artist to single out one or another part of the beast is clearly visible.
Third, in this art, images of various animals, birds on cereals, deer shoulder blades, and predators are often found. And the claws of predators often end in the heads of birds of prey. This is something like the reincarnation of one animal into another.
fourth, Scythian animals and birds very rarely make up any plot compositions, such as a grazing herd of deer, etc. Animals and birds themselves. They are detached from the environment and are not associated with any action. Here lies a deer, a wild boar stands, a bird flies, everyone has “his own business” and they don’t care about anyone.
Fifth, in the Scythian animal style, it was popular to depict not a whole animal or bird, but their parts - the head of an elk, deer, griffin, claws of a bird of prey, etc. This feature - to replace the part with the whole - was common in the art of the Scythians and Sarmatians.
The features noted above are not all immediately present in all images. Somewhere some signs are prominent, somewhere else.
These are the main features Scythian art animal style. You can single them out, but finding out why is much more difficult. Since here we have to intrude into the unfamiliar jungle of the views of the creators themselves, and the creators have left us nothing but the images themselves.
What is "beautiful" among the Scythian nomads?
Before singling out the opinion of researchers of the animal style about its purpose, let's keep in mind that beauty here had a completely different meaning: behind today's beauty of animal style products lies another beauty, beauty in the understanding of those people.
Today we admire the images of the Scythian animal style, not thinking that the Scythians, like other peoples of antiquity, the concept of beauty was very different from the one we have today. And today these concepts are completely different among different peoples.
The beauty of the thing itself was determined in antiquity for the most part by its practical need - beautiful is what is useful! Swords, arrows and cute animal-style animals should help in some way, help out. Even jewelry was worn not for the purpose of being beautiful in our understanding, but mostly because of the need to shield oneself from evil spirits, sorcerers, to show people, especially foreigners, their belonging to one or another tribe, clan. Let us note how far these ideas are from our present ones.
Further, we take into account that the ancient people had a special attitude to weapons, jewelry, dishes - everything that they took from nature. The common view was this: nature is alive; everything from it is also alive. Therefore, it is necessary to treat objects as if they were alive. They talked with them, read spells, punished for a mistake. And today, echoes of those views, no, no, yes, and appear in a developed society. It is difficult to say whether such judgments prevailed among the Scythians and related tribes, or simply "took place." But they were more than likely.
Totems and a totemic view of the Scythian animal style
For a long time, the answer to the question about the purpose of the Scythian animal style was simplistic, which was associated with views on the underdevelopment of the Scythian society. He was assigned the primitive stage, at best, at its final stage. It was assumed that the images of animals and birds are nothing more than evidence of the remnants of totemism. In this regard, the followers of this point of view turned to a vivid example - the image of a deer. Many tribes related to the Scythians and living in Central Asia, Siberia, characteristic of the name "Saka" or names with this root.
Linguistic studies by V.A. Abaev, a well-known specialist in this field of linguistics, led him to the conclusion: "Saka" - itself - the name of not only Asian Saks, but also European Scythians; in the Ossetian language there is a word "sag", which translates as "deer". The deer is an animal revered by the ancient Iranian-speaking ancestors of the Ossetians, and it could be a totem animal; the name "Saki" and "Scythians" comes from the name of the deer as a totem animal (Abaev, 1949). This hypothesis was based on the only evidence (“saka is a deer”) and turned out to be the only one for supporters of the “totemic theory”. No other (written, linguistic) data was found.
But that's not the point. The recognition that the animals and birds of the Scythian art were the totems of the Scythian clans means the recognition that the Scythians did not go beyond the limits of primitiveness in their development. After all, totemism, as a system of views, characterizes the early history of mankind, but not the history of a developed society of pastoralists with signs of classes. The totem theory cannot explain many features of the animal style, for example, the selectivity of objects depicting animals and birds - weapons, horse harness, military harness accessories.
Magic in the art of the Scythians
The idea that Scythian deities stand behind the animals and birds, which are characterized by reincarnation from one image to another, did not find support. But studies of the animal style led to the conclusion that animals and birds were associated with magic, which was essential part the general outlook of the Indo-Iranians. There is no doubt that the Scythians were followers of the magical actions of those who worshiped the precepts of the Rig Veda and Avesta. There are sacrifices to the drying of nature, sacred objects, a sacred drink. The same is attested among the Scythians. Herodotus reports, for example, about the sacrifice of horses at the burial of the king. A year later, another 50 horses are sacrificed at the wake.
The magical power inherent in animals and birds, apparently, was supposed to enhance the effect of weapons, horse harness, accessories combat equipment, on sacred objects (metal goblets, rhytons, etc.). Thus, the image of the claws of a bird of prey was supposed to enhance the effect of the sword, on the handle of which claws were depicted. The bared mouth of a predator on a horse harness was supposed to frighten the enemy, make him retreat from his plans (Khazanov, Shkurko, 1976). All Indo-Iranians had a magical idea that a part replaces the whole (Kuzmina, 1976, p. 59). It also existed among the Scythians, related tribes. It is not for nothing that the animal style is presented on weapons, horse harness, warrior's harness accessories.
However ... It seems unlikely that magic would have such significance that in a developed Scythian society it would play the role of art serving the interests of its elite and the entire army. Magical acts exist today and existed in antiquity, but to exist is one thing, and to dominate the ideology through art in the minds of people is another.
Military and hunting look at the Scythian art
Attempts to find out the meaning of the word "saka" began to bring new data. So it arose from the pen of V.A. Korenyaki military-hunting hypothesis. "Saki" - "dogs" were not so much guardians of the herds as hunters and warriors. The name "Saki" had many meanings, among which were not only "warriors-hunters", "hunters-catchers", "hunting dogs", " like dogs warriors", but also others ... endowing carriers with "power", "courage", the ability to "keep a sharp look", "shoot accurately" and "move quickly" (Korenyanko, 2002). Numerous written documents testify to the great importance of hunting in the life of nomads.
Hunting required remarkable abilities from a person. He must be brave, dexterous, despise adversity, deprivation. Riding without saddles and stirrups was impossible without long training, and not everyone could cope with this difficult task.
The art of the animal style began to fade and died out with the advent of hard saddles and stirrups. They appeared at the beginning of the Middle Ages, at the earliest in the 4th century AD. As a result, the clear boundaries of the social groups of warriors blurred.
Thus, the military hunting theory of the origin of the Scythian animal style is based on the proof that animals and birds, which were the object of constant military hunting training, received art form. There are both kneeling deer and bound predators. The social stratum of society that created the animal style is not so much the aristocracy as the hunters-warriors. Those who were engaged in battue, driven hunts. This occupation required great skill, dexterity, strength. By manifesting it, the warriors became respected and revered. To serve their ideology, the animal style arose.
The military-hunting hypothesis is original, has solid evidence and weaknesses. So, it is not clear what place in it is occupied by various fantastic creatures, all sorts of complications, such as images on one animal of several, images of parts of animals.
Myths and animal style
There is another opinion about the origin of the animal style. It can be called "mythological theory". The essence of the view of this approach lies in attempts to link the images of animals and birds with the myths about the structure of the cosmos that existed among the creators of the animal style (Raevsky, 1985).
According to this view, the world of animals and birds can be easily divided into groups. The first group are predators. Predators in the eyes of the ancients brought death, therefore they displayed the underground, other world. Ungulate animals are peaceful. They have horns that grow like trees. Once a year they disappear, which is consistent with the ideas of the ancients about the natural cycle. Often deer antlers are unnaturally large, like a tree. Ungulates reflect the world of the living, now existing world. Birds, especially eagles, fly high in the sky, reflecting the upper world, the world of the gods. The three-stage vertical scheme of the structure of the world is characteristic of the views of the previous time - the Bronze Age. Thus, the Scythian animal style is a system designed to describe the world order.
In this scheme, a special place is occupied by a wild boar. On the one hand, he is an ungulate animal and is close to fallow deer, deer, elk, rams, goats. On the other hand, the boar is a predator. He is always dangerous, can attack a person, eats different foods without understanding. This behavior of the boar has long led to a cautious attitude towards him. It is always dangerous, it can attack a person, eat different foods without disassembling. This behavior of the boar has long led to a cautious attitude towards him. He seemed to be "stuck" between two worlds, and therefore was an "unclean" animal. Not because he loves to fall in a puddle, but precisely because, as they say, he has a dual nature - “herbivorous-predatory” (Perevodchikova, 1994, pp. 46-48). This position of the wild boar led to the fact that already in the Bronze Age in the Southern Urals it was almost not hunted, and the meat of pigs was not eaten.
It is precisely because of its dual nature that the boar is often a guide to the realm of the dead. Although such a role was assigned not only to him.
The three-level system must find matches in images, i.e. if birds are the upper world, then they should be depicted above ungulates, and even more so predators. As it turns out, it's not that simple. Often deer were depicted at the very top, the heads of lions above the birds. And such cases are quite numerous. The mythological view fails.
Where is the birthplace of the Scythian animal style? And was she?
At first glance, the question posed at the beginning of the paragraph seems strange. If something has appeared, then it must have a point, a place of birth.
Archaeologists and historians have long and stubbornly searched for the homeland of the Scythian animal style. The difficulty was that this style appears immediately, suddenly, already in its current form. Nothing like this was known in the Bronze Age.
There have been attempts to explain the origin of the animal style by the fact that the art of carved wood has not come down to us due to poor preservation. Therefore, we, they say, do not know this layer of art, but it has yet to be found. P.D. Liberov was sure that the roots of the animal style were at the heart of the cultures of the Bronze Age. But we do not find it, because it was presented on wood and bones, which have not been preserved (Liberov, 1976). It should be noted that from the Bronze Age, a lot of surviving bone items and even wooden bowls are known. But there are no animals on the bones or on the bowls. And if something was depicted, then these are geometric compositions.
The search for the "homeland" continues, but the idea that it is not very promising to look for this "point on the map" is becoming more and more obvious. More and more researchers of the Scythian animal style are becoming new way explanation of the confusing situation.
If you look at the problem from the other side: since the search for "motherland" did not lead to anything, isn't it time to admit that this art appears as a result of a "revolutionary explosion". The sharp, sudden appearance of the Scythian animal style is the result of huge changes in the life of the entire steppe population (transition to nomadism), its culture. Researchers are looking for transitional stages of evolution, but they did not exist, and do not exist.
Probably, it is no longer possible to find out what is more, what is less. But the new art, having fused everything into a single and new one, quickly conquered huge spaces, became part of the worldview of many and for a long time ...
Scythian animal style in the mounds of the Ostrogozhsky region. Who was portrayed
animal style appears in the burial mounds of the Middle Don only with the appearance of mounds left by the newcomer times. In the Bronze Age, none of the cultures in this area had a tradition of depicting animals and birds. There are no signs of the animal style on the existing finds of the Pre-Scythian period. The time of the appearance of the first burials is the 5th century BC. BC. Until the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century. BC. items of the animal style are found mainly, often in burial mounds - in about 50% of the graves. Given the repeated robbery of mounds, it can be assumed that in reality this percentage was higher. Finds of products in the animal style in the settlements are very rare.
On the sword from the Blizhnestoyanovskiy burial mound, the pommel was probably decorated in the form of curved claws of a bird of prey. This design of the pommel is well known. It remains only to regret that the ending was poorly preserved. On the sword of one of the mounds near the village. Kolbino's hilt is bound with gold plates depicting a lying deer with bent legs and lowered head. The head of the animal is crowned with huge branched horns. The oval pommel depicts some kind of animal, apparently sitting with its head turned back.
Sewn-on and overlaid plaques, most often made of gold, decorate funeral clothes. Sometimes they are attached with small nails to wooden objects. In 1908 N.E. Makarenko during the excavation of mounds near the village. Mastyugino in mound 2 found a gold overlay on the gorit - a case for carrying a bow and arrows. On the Mastyuginsky gorite, a seated griffin with raised wings is depicted on a plate. The Greeks called griffins winged monsters with a lion's body and an eagle's head. The Greeks believed that these animals really exist somewhere on Far North and protect the gold of Zeus from the one-eyed people - the Arimaspians.
In the mounds of the same burial ground, plaques depicting a lying deer and griffins were found. Two griffins stand on their hind legs facing each other in the so-called "heraldic" pose (in a detailed way, often at a later time - in the Middle Ages, lions were depicted on the coats of arms of knightly families). A "walking" griffin is depicted on a plate from Russian Trostyanka. The plate is poorly preserved, but the importance with which the griffin comes, and the stern contemptuous look from above, is well preserved.
In the mound burial ground Kolbino-Ternovoe, the expedition of V.I. Gulyaev, sewn-on gold plaques in the form of boar heads were found in a female burial. The foil is very thin and it is unlikely that such a garment can be worn even on very important holidays. Poetmou Valery Ivanovich believes that for the funeral rite there were specially prepared objects, decorations that were not created for Everyday life namely for funerals.
The animal style is also represented on bone items, such as, for example, on a horn cheek-piece from a burial ground near the village. Ternovoe. The head of a wolf is depicted on the left at the end, the head of a boar is depicted on the right.
One of the characteristic images of the animal style of the Middle Don population was a bear. In percentage terms, there are few images of the beast, but these finds are bright, although they are similar. About ten bears are depicted on belt hooks-clasps along with the head of an "eared griffin". In other cases, bear figurines adorn the horse's bridle.
Researchers of the Middle Don burials drew attention to the fact that these animals, despite the opening of their mouths, look somehow peaceful. These are not terrible owners of the forest, but good-natured little animals. Particularly interesting in this respect is a bear on a hook-clasp from mound 6 of the Dubovsky burial ground. If we evaluate it by the standards of "peacefulness", then it is the most peaceful and even somewhat comical. The bear seems to have found something and, sniffing, carefully examines the find.
Images of a wolf are present on belt hooks-clasps, bridle plaques and on bone cheek-pieces. It is possible that this beast is depicted on the end of a gold earring from the Blizhnestoyanovka burial mound. Unlike bears, which are easily recognizable at first sight, the wolf is more difficult. Here the ancient artist is less specific and precise in depicting the beast.
The depiction of a cheetah on a bone crest from the burial ground of Terovoe I looks foreign in Middle Don art. Gulyaev and E.I. Savchenko, who discovered this find, did not find an analogy to it, or at least a close and similar image. Unique item!
Sometimes, as on the bone crest of one of the Mastyuginsky burial mounds, animals are not identified at all in terms of their species. Below - clearly predators with cat's paws. In the center of the fish, and on top of the neck are the heads of some strange animals.
Animal style is constantly present on the horse bridle. So, on the bridle from the Russian Trostyanka, animal heads are depicted on cheek-pieces.
This is in general terms the animal style of the Middle Don of the Scythian time. Studying it allowed us to come to the following main conclusions.
Animal style appeared on the Middle Donku in the 5th century. BC. along with the advent of the kurgan burial rite. According to the most proven hypothesis to date, the creators of the Middle Don mounds appeared on the Middle Don from the territory of the Dnieper region - its right-bank and left-bank parts. Research specialist in the field of animal style A.I. Shkurko showed that the earliest products of the animal style repeat those samples that were characteristic of the kurgans of the Dnieper forest-steppe Right and Left Bank. But already in the IV century. BC. on the Middle Donku, original local art is being formed. Its creation is influenced by the traditions of the steppe Scythia, the Bosporan kingdom (Shkurko, 1976; Goncharova, 2001). How this influence was carried out is no longer known, unfortunately. But it was in the 4th century BC. most predators lose their formidable appearance and turn into calm and peaceful animals. The eagle, like a parrot in a cage, calmly cleans its claws. Nothing tells us in his image about a vigilant and formidable predator with steel claws. The heads of the horses look like toys for children. We have already spoken about the "king of the forest".
The paths of art are complex. But if you look closely, you involuntarily see the obvious - art almost always, if you look at it as a whole, reflects the life of society. The search for new ideas, answers to questions give rise to certain artistic images that are reflected in art monuments. Maybe the relatively peaceful life of the Middle Don barrow makers led to a rethinking of artistic images? When the war, the development of new territory, then the beasts of prey and terrible, corresponding to a fierce struggle on the principle of "who wins." And when is relative calm? Maybe that's why the animals calmed down and calmed down?
Sources
- Vinnikov A.Z., Sinyuk A.T. - Roads of millennia: Archaeologists on the ancient history of the Voronezh region. - 2nd ed., corrected. and additional - Voronezh: Voronezh State University Publishing House, 2003.
Scythian horseman, fragment of a blanket decorated with felt trim, Pazyryk, 5th-4th century BC e., State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, (Russia) |
Under the general name "Scythians", modern researchers unite tribes of various origins, which, starting from 1000 BC. e. occupied part of the of Eastern Europe, the territory of modern Russia and Ukraine. Field Scythians The life and customs of the Scythian tribes are known to us from the description of the Greek physician Hippocrates (about 460 - about 377 BC). Hippocrates described in detail their diet based on fish, beans and onions. He emphasized, in particular, the importance of sheep breeding, which gave the Scythians both meat and milk, from which they made cheese. These nomads, pastoralists, horse riders, distinguished by their powerful physical strength and militancy, immortalized themselves in gold items - depicting not only battles, but also everyday life. |
| Peasants and conquerors Among the Scythians, three nationalities are distinguished. These are the royal Scythians who lived north of the Black Sea and controlled everyone else; Scythian plowmen who lived in the villages, produced wheat and harvested wood, which was then sold throughout the territory up to the Mediterranean; and nomadic Scythians who were engaged in nomadic pastoralism. Only a very small number of Scythian architectural monuments have survived. Most of the evidence of this culture that has come down to us has been found by archaeologists in burials. Thanks to these objects, we know that this people lived by agriculture, cattle breeding, as well as military campaigns. |
 Comb from Solokha barrow 5th-4th century BC e., gold, 12.3 cm. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (Russia) This elegant and expensive item, decorated with a scene of a furious battle, manifested not only the militancy of the Scythians, but also their craving for luxury. |
| Scythian gold The Scythians were extremely warlike, and it is believed that the construction of the Great Wall of China in the 2nd century BC. e. pursued the goal of holding back precisely their raids on the East. Gold jewelry and household items, in which decorative forms of Asian and Greek origin are merged, are full of images of fierce military skirmishes and indicate that the Scythians made their raids on neighboring countries in order to seize booty. |
Treasures of the Mounds Scythian burial mounds are bulk earthen hills, under which there are burial chambers covered with stone and clay blocks. The deceased was left here reclining on a kind of chariot, furnished with vases with food, drinks and household items he loved during his lifetime, demonstrating his wealth - gold and bronze goblets, jewelry, armor, weapons, as well as fabrics well preserved in the permafrost. Sometimes, next to the body of the owner, his beloved horse was sacrificed, as a sign of the highest honor to the deceased warrior. This is reminiscent of the image of a proud rider on a felt blanket found in the Pazyryk mound. |
Two styles: geometric and realisticThe art of the Scythians is characterized by two main directions: geometric and realistic, with a flat image. The first is more primitive, but cleaner. These are ornaments of intricately intertwined geometric figures, among which there are golden figures of deer, lambs and panthers curled up in a ball. Perhaps the deer were among the Scythians symbols of sunlight. The Scythians took a lot from the Greeks. For example, the lying figures of lions on a golden ridge from the Solokha mound, located on the same line, resemble friezes Greek temples. It is known that the Scythians included some Greek gods in their pantheon.
In every major Scythian barrow the servants and concubines of the deceased were buried, as well as up to several dozen bridled and saddled horses. In one of the large burial mounds, about 400 horse skeletons, a whole herd, were found.For the first time, the world learned about the Scythians more than 3 thousand years ago from the Greeks, who then began to explore the Northern Black Sea region and faced here with militant semi-nomadic tribes of skilled horsemen. A whole book was dedicated to the Scythians in his "History" by Herodotus, who, it is believed, himself visited the Black Sea region and traveled through these places.
There are two understandings of the term "Scythians": ethnographic and geographical. Actually, the Scythians lived in the Black Sea region, between the Danube and the Don. Greek and Latin texts preserved several Scythian names and toponyms, from which it is clear that their language belonged to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. Of modern languages, closest to the Scythian Ossetian. In their appearance, which is clearly visible on the objects presented here (pectoral from Tolstaya Mogila, vessels from the Kul-Oba mounds, Gaymanova Mogila, etc.), as well as by numerous identifications of skulls from excavated burials, the Scythians were undoubted Caucasians. Therefore, Blok's "slanting and greedy eyes" are the great poet's fantasy.
Nomadic tribes, close to the Scythians in language and culture, occupied a much larger territory - the entire belt of steppes from the Don to the Baikal region, including the foothills and mountain valleys of the Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Altai and Sayan. Recent excavations have found typically Scythian items not only in Xinjiang, where this is not surprising, but also in the hinterland of China, in Iran and Anatolia.
The Black Sea Scythians were several tribes that had their own names mentioned by Herodotus (Meots, Gelons, Kallipids, Scythians-plowmen, etc.). Thracians and Dacians lived on the territory of modern Bulgaria and Romania. For brevity, we will call them "European Scythians", not forgetting a certain simplification of such a name.
Among the horsemen of the Asian steppes and foothills there were also many different tribes, whose names are mentioned in various ancient sources. In Greek, Iranian and Chinese texts, they were called, respectively, "Sauromates", "Massagetes", "Saki", "se". We will call them "Asiatic Scythians". Among the numerous finds in the burial mounds of European Scythia, along with objects bearing elements of Greek and ancient Eastern artistic traditions, one can also see the "purely" Scythian style, the same in its stylistic features as in the images found in Central Asia and South Siberia.
Since the Scythians led a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle, basic knowledge about their material culture were formed according to the results of excavations of mounds, which are conditionally called "royal", since it was in them that the most luxurious, precious things were found. The brightest and richest finds from the Scythian and later Sarmatian mounds are presented in the Hermitage collection, which has accumulated over 200 years. At first (since 1726) it was kept in the first Russian museum - the Kunstkamera, and since 1859, since the creation of the Imperial Archaeological Commission - in the Hermitage. Now the ancient art objects of the Scythians and related tribes of the steppe Eurasia are in many other museums in Russia and foreign countries. They are also kept in the museums of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, in the museums of Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, in the USA (Metropolitan), in France (Guimet, Saint-Germain en Le), in England (British Museum) and in a number of private collections (for example, A. Sackler's collection in New York).
Asiatic Scythians
Herodotus reports that "the Scythians came from Asia". Many researchers perceive this as a kind of metaphor, since at the time of Herodotus Asia was already beyond the Don. The fact that a lot of Scythian things were found in the Asian part of the Steppe Belt is explained by the wide influence of the Scythian culture, the center of which was in the Black Sea region, on the surrounding periphery. The mass finds of gold and bronze items in Siberia became known already at the end of the 17th century, when the gradual settlement of Siberia by Russians began. Peasants in the field and construction work, found ancient bronze and gold things.
There was talk among the peasants that these were the treasures of Genghis Khan and his entourage. At the end of the summer, after the harvest and before the start of the rains, they gathered in small artels of "bugrovshchikov" (diggers of hillocks) and went to the steppe for two or three weeks to fish. The scale of these "excavations" were so great that rumors reached Moscow. First, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and then his son Peter ordered that the things they found be bought from the peasants in order to save them from being melted down into gold bars and forwarded to the court. Then Peter I issued a decree prohibiting "amateur" excavations of burial mounds under pain of death. It was the first legislative act in Russia on the protection of historical monuments.
IN Siberian museums Thousands of items of Scythian artistic bronze are kept, found at different times, starting from the 17th century. and before today. Numerous gold and silver ornaments come from Siberian barrows. This picture shows mainly random finds from the funds of the Krasnoyarsk Museum of History and Local Lore. The same things can be seen in large quantities in the windows and storerooms of Russian museums in Omsk, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Kemerovo, Abakan, Minusinsk, Kyzyl and other cities. There are many of them in the museums of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China, Iran, Afghanistan, as well as European countries and the USA. Made in the typical manner of the Scythian "animal style", they leave no doubt that they belong to the culture of the Scythian peoples.
Clarity of conception, purity of forms, balance and rhythm of drawing, and, what is important, understanding of the material from which the thing is made - all these were characteristic features of the style of the Eurasian nomads.
The economy of these communities was necessarily based on pastoralism, so the members of the tribe developed an insight into the animal world and a much deeper understanding of it than many of us can now realize. This interest shaped their artistic view of things, which led to the development of art associated mainly with animalistic forms.
Most of the animals that appear in the art of the Scythians played an important role in the art of the civilizations that flourished in Egypt and the Ancient East from the 4th millennium B.C. e. Different animals, real or imagined, were thus portrayed by artists of all races, but in a style specific to each region. In the Near East, images remained strongly naturalistic until the Sumerian era, when heraldic compositions began to appear. Hunting scenes began to come to the fore in Central Asia at about the same time. Fairy beasts appeared gradually, but approximately from the 3rd millennium BC. e. their unusual forms are conspicuous in the art of Mesopotamia. In the 2nd millennium, aggressive lions with ferocious muzzles began to guard the entrances to the fortresses, palaces and temples of the Hittite Empire. On the southeastern outskirts of Eurasia, griffins with the heads of lions and eagles continued to guard the precious gold treasures of Siberia and Tibet.
By this time, northern Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, most of Anatolia, the entire region of Armenia and the Caucasus, and most of Persia formed a single cultural union. Attempts to trace the source of the animalistic style in the art of the Scythians proved fruitless, since the traces are numerous and lead in many directions.
Mounds are the main sources of Scythian works of art
Three of the earliest burials - mounds in the village of Kostroma, in the village of Kelermesskaya in the Kuban and Melgunovsky mound in southern Russia, as well as a treasure discovered relatively recently in Sakiz in Urartu, at the site of the likely location of the first capital of the Scythians, are of particular importance.
The Persian influence is reflected in the gold items found in the village of Kelermesskaya. The sword sheath from this burial is almost identical to the find from the Melgunov kurgan. The figurine of a leopard in the center of a round shield with Persian-style enamel inlay looks absolutely stunning.
The kurgan in the village of Kostromskaya is notable for some unusual construction details, but it is known mainly for the significance of its contents. Among other magnificent objects, iron scaly chain mail with shoulder scales of copper was found in it, and - this is the most charming find - a golden figurine of a lying deer, which is one of the most magnificent achievements of Scythian art.
The use of multi-colored enamel was the means that was resorted to in the distant times of the heyday of Ur, in Persia during the Achaemenid dynasty. The Scythians must have learned this fine technique from the Persians, since objects from a somewhat earlier period from Siberia are usually still decorated with inset stones and not with enamel. A fine early example of enamel is represented by a golden leopard found in the village of Kelermesskaya, whose forms are full of the same graceful force as the practically contemporary deer from the village of Kostroma.
Single animal figurines such as
like these, they are masterpieces of Scythian art, but the compositions in which animals are depicted in combat are hardly less characteristic of him or less beautiful. The plot, in itself very ancient, became very popular in Scythia. One of these finds was found in the burial mound of the Seven Brothers in the Kuban - this is a wooden rhyton of the beginning of the 5th century. BC e., decorated with four gold plates. Each depicts a bird of prey or animal attacking a herbivore.
Bone carving probably reflects the national style more clearly than metal products. The head of a ram from the village of Kelermesskaya and the head of a predatory animal, probably a wolf, from the Black Mountains of the Orenburg region show how little change was needed to adapt the bone or wood carving technique to such a material as metal. The inhabitants of Pazyryk liked to cover their wood carvings with chased gold or lead foil, but even when working with simple wood, they made things that are real masterpieces of their kind, such as the head of a mountain goat or the head of a stone goat. Whatever their size, the figures remain superbly proportioned, and the less expensive material is worked skillfully and thoughtfully, as if the most precious, so that the bronzes are artistically no worse than those made of gold, and the felt designs are no less good, than carved from wood.
The contribution of the Scythians to the world treasury of art is very significant. The Scythians bridged the gap between the ancient world and Slavic Russia and left behind a style that influenced the development of certain types of European art. Among other things, they managed to create a reliable folk art. Only a small number of human communities have been given the opportunity to develop this type of art. The fact that the Scythians and kindred tribes managed to achieve this is shown by the objects that they took with them to the graves.
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…should be studied in the Hermitage.
The Hermitage collection of Scythian antiquities of the 7th-4th centuries BC is world famous. e., which was based on finds obtained as a result of excavations of the barrows of the Kuban, Dnieper, Crimea, carried out from the 18th to the 20th century.
A plaque in the form of a figurine of a cat predator (panther)
7th century BC.
Northwestern Caucasus, Trans-Kuban
First Kelermes barrow
gold, hematite, amber, glass paste
embossing, soldering, forging, punching, inlay
A feature of the Scythian collection is the abundance of monuments of decorative and applied art belonging to different artistic styles and trends. These are works of the original Scythian so-called "animal" style, and things created for the nomadic nobility by Greek craftsmen from the northern Black Sea cities neighboring the Scythians, and the rarest imported products of ancient Eastern craftsmanship. Particularly artistically and historically valuable section of the collection is jewelry made of precious metals - "Scythian" gold - monuments made in a mixed Greek-Scythian manner, in particular, masterpieces of ancient art with plots on Scythian themes from the steppe "royal" mounds V– 4th century BC e. Among them are a golden comb from the Solokha barrow, and precious vessels from the Kul-Oba and Chastye barrows, and a silver amphora from the Chertomlyk barrow with relief images depicting in the manner of "ethnographic realism" scenes from the life and mythology of the Scythians, their appearance, weapons, clothes. From the burial tombs of the Scythian leaders (with whom their wives, servants, squires, grooms and horses were often buried) come a variety of weapons, horse attire, household items, ceremonial dishes and jewelry.
From the forest-steppe Scythia, where the agricultural tribes subject to nomads lived, in particular, from mounds and settlements, clay molded vessels, agricultural tools, household utensils, items associated with handicraft production, primarily with the processing of iron, bronze and bone, offensive and defensive weapons of local and antique production.
A. Yu. Alekseev, otshu
The nomadic tribes of the Scythians lived in the Northern Black Sea region. In the 7th-6th centuries BC. e. Greek cities and settlements appeared on the shores of the Black Sea (Ponta Aksinsky) and the Kerch Strait (Cimmerian Bosporus). The Greek colonization of the Northern Black Sea region played a huge role in the history of ancient Greece and the Black Sea peoples who inhabited this coast in ancient times. Colonization brought this region into the orbit of ancient civilization.
The Greek colonial cities became artistic centers, from the workshops of which many unsurpassed works of art came out. The constant contacts of the Greeks with the Scythians gave rise to an amazing cultural phenomenon - the Hellenic-Scythian art. Hellenic-Scythian art includes products, undoubtedly made by the Greeks (as evidenced by high level technical performance and artistic skill). Greek masters created them specifically for the barbarian Scythian nobility.
The works of Greek jewelers presented at the exhibition are world famous. They come from one of the most famous Scythian tombs of the second half of the 4th century BC. - Kurgan Kul-Oba.
Discovered in 1830 on the Kerch Peninsula, near the city of Kerch, untouched by robbers, the “royal” mound Kul-Oba was a treasury of ancient Hellenic works of art. In the stone crypt of the Kul-Oba burial mound, interesting gold items were found, including a golden vessel with the image of the Scythians presented at the exhibition, a torc with tips in the form of Scythian horsemen and a phial.
A vessel with images of the Scythians is one of the outstanding finds. The frieze is decorated with four scenes from the life of the Scythians. Most archaeologists tend to view these scenes as illustrations of Scythian myths or heroic epic. According to the legend about the origin of the Scythians, the younger son of Hercules, Scyth, who managed to pull the bowstring, received power over Scythia. The Greek master, with striking sophistication and ethnographic accuracy, conveyed the features of the appearance of the Scythians, details of clothing, horse harness, and weapons. Such a realistic reproduction of details leaves no doubt that the artist was well acquainted with the life of the local barbarian population. The object is clearly of cult purpose, as well as clay and metal vessels similar in shape, known from finds in Scythian burials and from images on other monuments.
A hryvnia with tips in the form of Scythian horsemen - an ornament not typical for the Greek world, was widespread among the barbarians. Among the Scythian neck ornaments, the hryvnia looks unusual due to the sculptural tips made in the form of miniature figures of horsemen. Such products were iconic and served as symbols of power. Obviously, the Greek jeweler who made the hryvnia was guided by the future owner, who was one of the Scythian leaders.
The phiale, decorated with skillful embossed ornaments, was traditionally used in cult practice in Greek culture. Among the Scythians, these things were probably symbols of power. According to the references of Herodotus, the fiala was associated with the royal life.
The unique works of toreutics were probably political gifts and served as an important element of the entire system of Greek-barbarian relations, relations between the Bosporus and Scythia.
The gold items presented at the exhibition are rightfully considered masterpieces of the Hellenic-Scythian art. (from the same place, from the Hermitage website).
OK. Galanina. Scythian antiquities of the North Caucasus in the Hermitage collection:
Scythian art is, of course, the brightest and in many ways still mysterious artistic phenomenon of the Ancient World. Already in the early Scythian period, the animal style was an organic fusion of an original pictorial tradition and individual foreign influences, mainly ancient Eastern ones. The number of subjects in Scythian art is small. These are figures of standing or curled up cat predators, lying deer, mountain goats, flying birds and mysterious griffins. The heads of panthers, goats, rams, vulture-rams, horses, horse hooves, animal ears, bird claws and beaks also served as a motive for the image (ill. 93, 94).
The main plot and stylistic features of early Scythian art are already familiar to us from a series of highly artistic bridle decorations made of carved bone (ill. 68--73) and items of military equipment made using the technique of punching and embossing on gold (ill. 95, 96).
No less vivid artistic talent of the Scythians manifested itself in bronze casting with the loss of the wax model.
A group of bronze tops typical of the Scythian culture demonstrates the richest variety of plastics and harmony of compositional solutions. They were mounted on poles and served ritual purposes. Bronze balls placed inside the slotted body made a ringing, which, according to the Scythians, drove away evil spirits. Sometimes the head of a young hornless deer or a mule with sharp protruding ears served as a pommel, as if alert, frozen in a state of expectation (ill. 33). In other cases, the openwork body was crowned with the head of a long-beaked bird, a fantastic Greek-Eastern griffin, or a fantastic beast with a blunt muzzle and a protruding tongue, like those of Hittite lions, generated by its own myth-making (ill. 98).
Remarkable compositional skill is manifested in the design of cast Scythian cauldrons with stylized figurines of goats on the rim, which served as handles and at the same time as apotropaea (ill. 97).
The design of the bronze round mirror is also dictated by the classical concept of Scythian art, according to which the object or its most significant parts were transformed into the figure of an animal, and not just covered with images. The handle in the center of the mirror is adorned with a figure of a feline predator curled up in a ball, which is one of the plot and composition schemes that were invariably used to decorate rounded surfaces (ill. 99, 100).
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Il. 93, 94.
Images of animals in Scythian art were subject to strict rules. Canonical not only poses of animals. Even in the interpretation of details, standard stylistic devices were used: the eyes, ears, nostrils, ends of the paws and tails of predators were conditionally indicated by circles. The ears of deer were, as a rule, leaf-shaped outlines, and the lips were oval in shape.
It is impossible not to pay tribute to the sharpness of the gaze of the ancient artists, who were able, without copying nature, to correctly convey the essence of each beast. The complete disregard for small anatomical details is striking, the extremely simplified modeling of body shapes by large, sharp planes - a technique that apparently originated in the technique of wood and bone carving, which was then transferred to metal products. The masters consciously emphasized and even exaggerated the most typical features characteristic of a particular type of animal. The emphasis was usually on one or two distinguishing features.
In the outline of bird heads, a large round eye and a predatory beak bent downwards stood out, and in deer, an exaggeratedly long branched horn, which was interpreted purely ornamentally, creeping along the back (ill. 58).
The laconicism and clarity of the drawing, the compactness of the compositions, the generalized plastic interpretation of forms, the conditional stylization of details with the moderate use of ornamental elements, and at the same time the lifelike authenticity of the images are a feature of the artistic method of the early Scythian animal style. All this is especially vividly embodied in the famous golden deer from the Kostroma mound in the Kuban, deservedly considered a masterpiece of Scythian art (ill. 101). The Hermitage collection also contains a no less striking example of the art of this era - a figurine of a deer from the Kelermes mound (ill. 102).
Scythian art was a social, spiritual and aesthetic phenomenon at the same time. Satisfying the needs of the nomadic nobility in richly finished weapons, horse harness and other prestigious attributes, this arts and crafts, mythological in its content, reflected the worldview and ethical ideals of the entire society.
Obviously, the images of animals were pictorial equivalents of such important concepts and qualities for the military environment as strength, courage, speed of movement, vigilance of the eye. It was in these categories that the Scythian idea of beauty was embodied. An equally important role was played by the belief in the protective function of zoomorphic images, endowed with the magical properties of protecting a person from the action of hostile forces.
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Il. 95. Ill. 96.
However, the question arises, what explains the strictly limited set of motifs in Scythian art? Why, along with animals of exclusively wild species, strange fantastic creatures also appear in it? But to reveal the essence of zoomorphic signs-symbols is not so easy. The reason lies in the lack of information about the Scythian folklore, and in the specifics of the Scythian artistic method, the creators of which, as a rule, reproduced one character, and not scenes of a narrative nature.
Most researchers are inclined to think about the connection of zoomorphic images with the deities of the Scythian religious pantheon, who personified, according to Herodotus, cosmic and natural phenomena. As you know, among the Egyptians, Sumerians, Greeks and other peoples of the Ancient World, revered deities were symbolized by wild animals. The same views were characteristic of the Indo-Iranian tribes related to the Scythians. Moreover, according to their ideas, the same animal could replace different gods and, conversely, each deity had the ability to transform into different animals. So, for example, in the "Vedas" - collections of Indo-Aryan religious hymns - the solar god Surya takes the form of either a bird soaring in the sky, or a horse. The ancient Iranian god of thunder and victory, Veretragna, was subject to especially numerous metamorphoses, easily turning from a white horse, bull or ram into a goat, wild boar, camel and bird of prey.
While admitting the ability for such a reincarnation of the Scythian deities, we, nevertheless, are deprived of the opportunity to confirm this assumption with the data of Scythian mythology proper.
There is also an opinion that Scythian art was called upon to reflect through zoomorphic signs, i.e. in the pictorial language of his era, a holistic panorama of the universe. This hypothesis is based on the idea of the universal role of tripartite structures in the mythological picture of the Universe, created by the concrete-figurative thinking of the Indo-Iranians. The cosmos was presented to them in the form of a world tree, the main parts of which - the crown, trunk and roots - symbolized the heavenly, earthly and underground spheres. It is with them, according to researchers, that the three leading motifs of Scythian art are steadily correlated - birds, ungulates and predatory animals.
Scientists, of course, still have to work to reveal the content of this peculiar art. The question of the origin of the Scythian animal style, which has no roots in the local cultures of the previous time and appears as if suddenly, is also solved in different ways. (69/70) Il. 97. Ill. 98.
Some researchers believe that Scythian art developed on the basis of the Assyrian, Urartian and Northern Iranian pictorial traditions during the stay of Eurasian nomads in the Middle East. However, this point of view is refuted by the monuments of the animal style, created on the territory of Eurasia in the 8th - early 7th century BC, i.e. before the beginning of the Scythian expansion into Transcaucasia and Western Asia. Therefore, there is no doubt that the Scythians appeared in this region with an already developed artistic culture, which, however, finally took shape and was enriched under the influence of the Near Asian art.
Of particular interest in this regard are the Kelermes antiquities, which shed light on the artistic environment and atmosphere in which the development of Scythian art took place on the soil of Western Asia.
The circumstance that the artistic design of most toreutics items, including items of the Western Asian type, is oriented towards the tastes of Iranian-speaking nomads speaks volumes. Moreover, the Scythian nobility equally willingly used the services of not only their fellow tribesmen, but also the Assyrians, Urartians, Ionian Greeks and other most skilled toreuts of the Middle Eastern world. It is most likely that both the Scythians and specially invited or captured foreign artisans worked together in the same workshop, located at the royal headquarters of the Scythians in the area of Lake Urmia. In the conditions of close communication, there was an exchange of creative experience among multilingual toreuts, new searches and experiments were undertaken to fulfill the common tasks facing them. Of course, the abilities of the masters were different, so some of them preferred to do things
eclectic style, others more skillfully combined oriental and Scythian forms, others strove to strictly follow the Scythian canons. But there were also those who, without changing their artistic method, limited themselves only to the selection of plots that met the needs and tastes of their customers. (70/71)
Il. 99, 100.
The Kelermes antiquities reveal to us not only the processes that stimulated the final formation of the Scythian animal style of the archaic period. They acquaint us with the diverse manifestations and the highest achievements of the early Scythian art, which was distinguished by its vivid expressiveness and noble simplicity of animal images.
This amazing art, which originated in the expanses of the Eurasian steppes, also penetrated to the settled tribes with whom the Scythians were in contact. The inhabitants of the Dnieper forest-steppe and Meotians of the Kuban, since ancient times famous for their various crafts, made a significant contribution to the development of the Scythian material and artistic culture.
With the advent of the Scythians in the basin of the Kuban River, the activity of the Meotian masters associated with the processing of iron and bronze flourished. Experienced artisans forged swords and spears of the Scythian type from steel, cast all kinds of nomadic items from bronze - from miniature arrowheads to huge cauldrons and openwork tops with zoomorphic images.
At the turn of the 7th-6th centuries BC, apparently, the general political situation in the North-Western Caucasus changed, which led to the resettlement or disintegration of the Meoto-Scythian union that existed in the area of the current village of Kelermesskaya. The ancient burial ground was abandoned, and only today several graves have appeared on one of the ancient burial mounds. Probably, part of the nomads who settled on the Kuban lands after the completion of the Near Asian campaigns went to the North Pontic steppes, where the Scythian kingdom subsequently arose, which existed until the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The remaining Scythians gradually more and more assimilated and eventually dissolved in the Meotian environment. But they left a very noticeable mark in the culture and art of the Meotian tribes, who created a peculiar version of the Scythian animal style. (71/72)
Il. 101. Ill. 102. Ill. 103. Ill. 104. Ill. 105.
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The tendency towards the ornamental and decorative interpretation of the details of animal images, which was laid down at the very foundation of this art, gradually intensified (ill. 103-105). Especially bright development received ornamentalism in the works of the second half of the 6th and, mainly, the 5th century BC, called the century of the Scythian baroque. Since that time, the animal style of the Northern Black Sea region and the Kuban region began to experience the influence of Greek culture, which came from the North Pontic ancient colonies adjacent to the Scythians and Meotians.
Greek art, as well as Western Asian art in its time, undoubtedly enriched the artistic creativity of the Scythians with new plots and compositional solutions, but it did not change its nature, its main criteria.
The development of the Scythian animal style in the Northern Black Sea region and in the Kuban was interrupted at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. the invasion of Sarmatian nomadic tribes related to the Scythians in language, who advanced into these areas from the Zadonsk steppes. From now on, the possessions of the Scythians began to be limited only to the steppe Crimea. Gradually, the former nomads are moving to a settled way of life, and their culture takes on the character of an urban civilization. In this period
sculptural tombstones are becoming widespread, architectural monuments, wall frescoes are being created, in which, along with the clearly tangible influence of Greek art, elements of the most ancient Scythian tradition can be traced.
Over the centuries, individual motifs and pictorial techniques of the Scythian animal style were revived in ways unknown to us in the artistic work of various tribes and peoples.
We find them in the Sarmatian animal style of the first centuries of our era, in the Permian and even Scandinavian zoomorphic art of the early Middle Ages. It is no less surprising that the Scythian eagle-headed griffins, feline predators, goats with their heads turned back, and even the Snake-footed goddess - the progenitor of the Scythians - found a kind of embodiment in Russian embroideries, enamels, architectural decoration and other forms of art of pre-Mongol Rus'.
Truly, it is not military achievements, but creative creative activity that perpetuates the name of any nation.
Not included:
093-094. Bone cheek-pieces depicting ears 
102. Golden figurine of a deer from the Kelermes kurgan In contact with
