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IRANIANS  AND  GREEKS 
IN  SOUTH  RUSSIA 


Oxford    University    Press 

London        Edinburgh        Glasgow        Copenhagen 

New  York     Toronto    Melbourne    Cape  Town 

Bombay    Calcutta    Madras    Shanghai 

Humphrey  Milford  Publisher  to  the  University 


IRANIANS    &   GREEKS 


IN 


SOUTH     RUSSIA 


BY 


M.  ROSTOVTZEFF,  Hon.  D.Litt. 

PROFESSOR   IN   THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   WISCONSIN 
MEMBER  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCE 


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OXFORD 

AT    THE    CLARENDON    PRESS 

1922 


WtMTED  IK  ENOLAKO. 


TO 

COUNT  A.  BOBRINSKOY,  PROFESSOR  N.  KONDAKOV, 

DR.  ELLIS  H.  MINNS 

AND 
TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

V.  V.  LATYSHEV  f  1921,  J.  I.  SMIRNOV  f  1918, 
V.  V.  SKORPIL  t  1919,  N.  I.  VESELOVSKY  f  1918. 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  not  intended  to  compete  with  the  valuable  and 
learned  book  of  Ellis  H.  Minns  on  the  same  subject.  Our  aims 
are  different.  Minns  endeavoured  to  give  a  complete  survey  of 
the  material  illustrating  the  early  history  of  South  Russia  and  of  the 
views  expressed  by  both  Russian  and  non-Russian  scholars  on  the 
many  and  various  questions  suggested  by  the  study  of  that  material. 
I  do  not  mean  that  Minns'  book  is  a  mere  compendium.  In 
dealing  with  the  various  problems  of  the  history  and  archaeology  of 
South  Russia  Minns  went  his  own  way  ;  his  criticism  is  acute,  his 
views  independent.  Nevertheless  his  main  object  was  to  give  a  survey 
as  full  and  as  complete  as  possible.  And  his  attempt  was  success- 
ful. Minns'  book  will  remain  for  decades  the  chief  source  of  informa- 
tion about  South  Russia  both  for  Russian  and  for  non-Russian 
scholars. 

My  own  aim  is  different.  In  my  short  exposition  I  have  tried  to 
give  a  history  of  the  South  Russian  lands  in  the  prehistoric,  the  proto- 
historic,  and  the  classic  periods  down  to  the  epoch  of  the  migrations. 
By  history  I  mean  not  a  repetition  of  the  scanty  evidence  preserved 
by  the  classical  writers  and  illustrated  by  the  archaeological  material 
but  an  attempt  to  define  the  part  played  by  South  Russia  in  the 
history  of  the  world  in  general,  and  to  emphasize  the  contributions 
of  South  Russia  to  the  civilization  of  mankind. 

In  doing  so  I  was  obliged  to  use  every  kind  of  material,  especially 
the  rich  archaeological  evidence  furnished  by  the  South  Russian 
excavations.  Notwithstanding  this  dominant  use  of  archaeological 
material,  my  book  is  not  a  handbook  of  South  Russian  archaeology, 
nor  is  it  an  investigation  of  one  section  in  the  history  of  Oriental  and 
classical  art.     I  have  tried  to  write  history,  using  the  archaeological 


viii  PREFACE 

evidence  in  the  same  way  as  I  should  use,  and  have  used,  in  this  book 
written  documents  or  literary  sources.  Such  an  attempt  is  not  new. 
Many  eminent  scholars  have  employed  this  method  in  attempting  to 
write  the  history  of  the  ancient  Orient  in  general  and  of  its  different 
parts.  The  same  method  should  be  used  more  widely  in  historical 
surveys  of  the  Roman  provinces,  as  of  course  it  has  been  used  for 
the  history  of  Gaul  by  Camille  Jullian,  for  the  history  of  Africa  by 
Stephane  Gsell,  for  the  history  of  Britain  by  the  late  Francis  Haver- 
field,  for  the  history  of  Belgium  by  Franz  Cumont,  and  for  the  history 
of  Germany  by  many  writers,  and  especially  by  H.  DragendorfF. 
But  I  should  like  to  call  for  a  more  rational  use  of  archaeological 
material  than  has  been  usual  hitherto.  For  me  archaeology  is  not 
a  source  of  illustrations  for  written  texts,  but  an  independent  source 
of  historical  information,  no  less  valuable  and  important,  sometimes 
more  important,  than  the  written  sources.  We  must  learn  and  we  are 
gradually  learning  how  to  write  history  with  the  help  of  archaeology. 

South  Russia,  with  its  enormous  wealth  of  archaeological  material, 
presents  a  favourable  opportunity  for  such  an  experiment.  The 
results  of  my  historical  investigations  are  of  course  far  from  final  or 
complete.  We  know  but  little  of  the  history  and  archaeology  of 
Central  Asia  and  of  the  Iranian  world.  The  scientific  exploration  of 
the  Caucasian  lands  and  of  the  upper  course  of  the  Euphrates  is  still 
in  its  infancy.  The  mystery  of  the  early  history  of  Asia  Minor,  and 
especially  of  its  north-eastern  part,  has  just  begun  to  dispel.  And 
it  is  precisely  these  lands  which  provide  the  key  to  the  leading 
phenomena  of  the  early  history  of  South  Russia.  If  I  have  succeeded 
in  showing  the  importance  of  these  connexions  for  the  development 
of  South  Russia,  and  the  importance  of  South  Russia  for  under- 
standing the  main  features  of  the  civilization  of  these  lands  both  in 
the  early  and  in  the  later  period,  during  the  rule  of  the  Scythians 
and  that  of  the  Sarmatians  in  the  South  Russian  steppes,  I  shall 
consider  the  main  part  of  my  task  accomplished.  I  do  not  deny  the 
importance  of  the  Greek  influences  in  South  Russia,  but  at  the  same 
time  I  do  not  regard  South  Russia  as  one  of  the  provinces  of  the 


PREFACE  ix 

Greek  world.  South  Russia  has  always  been,  and  remained  even  in 
the  Greek  period,  an  Oriental  land.  Greek  influence  in  South  Russia 
was  strong,  it  is  true,  but  the  current  of  Hellenism  met  another 
current  there,  an  Oriental  one,  and  it  was  this  which  finally  carried 
the  day,  and  in  the  period  of  the  migrations  spread  all  over  Western 
Europe.  The  attempt  to  hellenize  the  South  Russian  steppes  was 
not  a  complete  success  ;  much  more  successful  was  the  attempt  to 
orientalize  the  semi-Greek  world  of  the  northern  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea.  In  the  civilization  which  the  Sarmatians,  the  Goths,  the  Huns 
brought  with  them  to  Western  Europe  it  is  the  Orient  which  plays 
the  leading  part ;  the  Greek,  the  Western,  and  the  Northern  elements 
are  of  but  secondary  importance.  Such  is  the  leading  idea  of  my  book. 
My  book  was  written  not  in  Russia  but  in  England  and  in  France. 
The  proofs  were  corrected  in  America.  In  writing  it  I  was  unable 
to  recur  constantly  to  the  original  sources  preserved  in  the  Russian 
museums,  as  I  should  if  I  had  been  in  Russia.  Nor  was  I  able  to 
consult  friends  and  colleagues,  still  in  Russia,  on  many  questions 
which  they  would  have  helped  me  to  elucidate.  Unfortunately 
Russia  is  closed  to  me  for  a  long  time  to  come.  This  explains  why 
I  have  been  obliged  to  quote  from  memory  many  books  and  articles 
which  formed  part  of  my  private  library  in  Petrograd.  It  also  explains 
the  choice  of  illustrations.  Most  of  them  are  reproduced  from  photo- 
graphs which  I  brought  with  me  from  Russia.  But  some  of  them 
I  was  obliged  to  take  from  photographs  and  drawings  already  pub- 
lished in  printed  books.  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  the  Cambridge 
University  Press  and  to  Dr.  Ellis  H.  Minns  for  permission  to  use 
some  of  the  drawings,  and  one  of  the  maps,  from  the  work  of  Minns. 
But,  generally  speaking,  in  the  choice  of  my  illustrations  I  have  tried 
to  avoid  reproducing  well-known  objects,  especially  if  they  have  been 
published  by  Minns,  and  to  figure,  for  the  most  part,  such  monuments 
as  are  either  unpublished  or  published  in  an  unsatisfactory  way. 
For  permission  to  reproduce  unpublished  objects  my  warmest  thanks 
are  due  to  Dr.  D.  G.  Hogarth,  Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum, 

to  Sir  Hercules  Read  and  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill,  Keepers  of  the  British 

b 


x  PREFACE 

Museum,  to  Mr.  Edmond  Pottier,  Keeper  of  the  Louvre,  to  Mr. 
Ernest  Babelon,  Director  of  the  Cabinet  des  Medailles  at  Paris, 
to  Mr.  Edward  Robinson,  Director  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum, 
and  to  Mrs.  E.  Meyer,  of  New  York. 

The  text  of  my  book  was  written  partly  in  French,  partly  in 
English.  For  the  translation  of  the  French  part  and  for  a  thorough 
revision  of  the  English  I  am  indebted  to  the  self-sacrificing  kindness 
of  Mr.  J.  D.  Beazley.  I  cannot  find  adequate  words  to  express  my 
warm  thanks  to  that  accomplished  scholar  for  his  help.  He  assisted 
me  also  in  reading  the  proofs  and  in  arranging  and  composing  the 
illustrations.  I  also  owe  a  great  debt  of  gratitude  to  Dr.  Ellis  H.  Minns, 
who  read  the  proofs  of  my  book. 

But  for  the  scientific  spirit  of  the  staff  of  the  Clarendon  Press 
my  book  could  never  have  been  published  in  such  beautiful  form 
and  with  so  many  illustrations. 

The  index  was  compiled  by  my  wife,  Mrs.  S.  Rostovtzeff. 

I  dedicate  my  book  to  some  living  and  many  dead  friends.  To 
these  men  I  am  indebted  for  what  I  know  about  the  history  of  South 
Russia. 

Madison   (Wis.),  U.S.A. 
November  1921. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.    INTRODUCTORY T 

II.    THE  PREHISTORIC  CIVILIZATIONS  .         .       15 

III.  THE  CIMMERIANS  AND  THE  SCYTHIANS  IN 

SOUTH   RUSSIA   (EIGHTH  TO   FIFTH   CEN- 
TURIES B.C.) 35 

IV.  THE  GREEKS  ON  THE  SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK 

SEA,  DOWN  TO  THE  ROMAN  PERIOD  .         .  61 
V.    THE    SCYTHIANS    AT    THE    END     OF    THE 

FOURTH  AND  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY  B.C.  83 

VI.    THE  SARMATIANS n3 

VII.   THE   GREEK   CITIES   OF   SOUTH   RUSSIA   IN 

THE  ROMAN  PERIOD i47 

VIII.    THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND  THE  ANIMAL 

STYLE        . 181 

IX.    THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   RUSSIAN   STATE   ON 

THE  DNIEPER 210 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 223 

INDEX ■       .         .         .         .239 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATES 

I.    Clay  figurines  of  Scythians  from  Cappadocia,  4th  to  3rd  cent.  B.C. 

1,  2,  4.  Ashmolean  Museum.    3.  Louvre. 
II.    Bronze  pole-tops  from  Cappadocia.    British  Museum  and  Louvre. 

III.  Two  engraved  silver  vases  from  Maikop.     Third  millennium  B.C. 

Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

IV.  1.  Gold  diadem.     2-4.  Massive  gold  and  silver  figures  of  bulls. 

5-7.  Gold  plaques  sewn  on  cloth.  From  Maikop.  Third 
millennium  B.C.  Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
V.  1,2,  4.  Axe,  arrow-heads,  belt-clasp  (all  bronze)  from  a  Taman 
grave.  7th  cent.  B.C.  Hermitage,  Petrograd.  3.  Bronze  pole- 
top  from  Cappadocia.  British  Museum.  5.  Bronze  statuette 
of  a  horseman  from  the  Kuban.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

VI.    Engraved  and  gilt  silver  mirror.     From  Kelermes,  Kuban.     6th 
cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
VII.    Two  gold  cups  from  Kelermes,  Kuban.    6th  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage, 

Petrograd. 
VIII.    1,  2.  Iron  axe  and  iron  sword  with  wooden  scabbard,  all  covered 
with  gold.     From  Kelermes,  Kuban.     Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
3.  Iron  dagger  and  scabbard,  covered  with  gold.    Shumeyko's 
Farm,  near  Romny.  Kiev,  Archaeological  Museum.  6th  cent.  B.C. 

IX.  1.  Gold  pectoral  of  a  scale-corslet.  6th  cent.  B.C.  From 
Kelermes,  Kuban.  Hermitage,  Petrograd.  2.  Gold  ornaments 
inlaid  with  amber.  6th  cent.  B.C.  From  Kelermes,  Kuban. 
Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
X.  Bronze  pole-tops  and  a  bronze  bell.  From  the  Kuban.  6th  to 
5th  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XL  A.  Bronze  ceremonial  axe  from  Bactria.  B.  Bronze  ceremonial 
axe  from  Hamadan,  Persia.  C.  Bronze  axe  from  Van,  Armenia. 
D,  E.  Two  bronze  axes  from  Persia.    British  Museum. 


XIV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


XII.    Silver  and  gold  rhyta  from  the  '  Seven  Brothers  '  on  the  Kuban. 
5th  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XIII.  Gold  ornaments  of  wooden  rhyta  from  the  '  Seven  Brothers  '  on  the 

Kuban.    5th  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XIV.  Greek  bronze  breastplate.     From  Elizavetinskaya  on  the  Kuban. 

4th  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
XV.    1.  Gold  bracelet.    2.  Silver  bracelet.    3.  Silver  kylix  with  engraved 
and  gilt  emblema.    1  and  3  from  the  '  Seven  Brothers  '  on  the 
Kuban.    2  from  the  Taman  peninsula.    5th  to  4th  cent.  B.C. 
Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XVI.  1.  Engraved  chalcedony  scaraboid,  Persian.  2,  3.  Gold  and  gold- 
plated  earrings.  4.  Gold  necklace.  From  Nymphaeum,  Crimea. 
5th  cent.  B.C.  Ashmolean  Museum. 
XVII.  1.  Painted  clay  vase  from  the  Taman  peninsula.  2.  Gold  necklace 
from  Chersonesus.  Late  5th  or  early  4th  cent.  B.C.  Hermitage, 
Petrograd. 
XVIII.  1.  Earrings  from  Theodosia,  Crimea.  Hermitage,  Petrograd.  2-4. 
Gold  garment  plaques  from  Chersonesus,  Crimea.  Hermitage, 
Petrograd.  5.  Gold  coins  of  Panticapaeum.  British  Museum 
and  Louvre.    4th  cent.  B.C. 

XIX.    Gold  comb  from  the '  Solokha  '  tumulus.   4th  cent.  B.C.  Hermitage, 

Petrograd. 
XX.    Silver  cup  and  gold  patera  from  the  '  Solokha  '  tumulus.     4th 
cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XXI.    1.  '  Gorytos  '  (bow  and  arrows  case)  covered  with  silver,  from  the 

1  Solokha  '  tumulus.     4th  cent.   B.C.     Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

2,  3.  Silver  amphorae  from  the  '  Chertomlyk  '  tumulus  (lower 

Dnieper).    3rd  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XXII.    Electrum  vase  from  the  '  Kul-Oba  '  tumulus,  near  Kerch.    4th  to 

3rd  cent.  B.C.  Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
XXIII.  1.  Gold  plaque  of  the  tiara  from  the  '  Karagodeuashkh  '  tumulus  on 
the  Kuban.  2.  Fragments  of  the  rhyton  of  Merdjany  in  the 
Kuban  region.  3.  Gold  clasp  of  a  belt  or  diadem  from  the 
'  Kul-Oba  '  tumulus,  near  Kerch.  4-6.  Gold  plaques  sewn 
on  garments,  from  various  tumuli  on  the  lower  Dnieper. 
4th  to  3rd  cent.  B.C.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


xv 


XXIV.  1-4.  Silver  paterae,  gold  tore,  and  gold-plated  scabbard.  From 
Prokhorovka,  Orenburg.  Orenburg  Museum.  5.  Gold-plated 
scabbard.  From  the  tumulus  Buerova  Mogila  (Taman  penin- 
sula). Hermitage,  Petrograd.  3rd  cent.  B.C. 
XXV.  1 .  Silver-gilt  belt  with  inset  stones.  From  Maikop.  2nd  cent.  B.C.  (?). 
Hermitage,  Petrograd.  2.  Gold  plaque  with  inset  stones. 
From  Western  Siberia.    1st  cent.  a.d.    Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XXVI.  1.  Crown.  2.  Perfume  bottle.  3.  Perfume  bottle.  4,  5.  Cup  and 
statuette  of  Eros.  The  treasure  of  Novocherkassk  (all  gold). 
1st  cent.  B.C.  to  1st  cent.  a.d.  Hermitage,  Petrograd. 
XXVII.  1,  2.  Silver-gilt  phalarae  from  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea.  Cabinet 
des  Medailles,  Paris.  3.  Silver  plaque  from  Raermond  (Hol- 
land). Rijks  Museum,  Ley  den.  4.  Silver-gilt  plaque  from  the 
Siverskaya  Stanitsa,  Taman  peninsula.  Historical  Museum, 
Moscow.  2nd  cent.  B.C. 
XXVIII.  Wall  paintings  in  two  graves  at  Kerch.  The  first  now  destroyed. 
1st  to  2nd  cent.  a.d. 

XXIX.    Wall  paintings  in  a  grave  at  Kerch.    1st  to  2nd  cent.  a.d. 
XXX.    1.  Clay  statuette  of  a  Panticapaean  soldier.    1st  cent.  B.C.    Hermi- 
tage, Petrograd.     2.  Grave  stela  from  Kerch,   1st  cent.  a.d. 
Kerch,  Royal  Tumulus.     3.  Copper  coins  of  the  Bosphoran 
kingdom.    1st  to  2nd  cent.   a.d.     Hermitage,  Petrograd. 

XXXI.  1.  Chinese  bronze  vase  of  the  Chu  dynasty.  First  millennium  B.C. 
Collection  of  Mrs.  E.  Meyer,  New  York  (copyright  Mrs.  E. 
Meyer,  New  York).  2,  3.  Two  bronze  plaques  from  a  Chinese 
grave  of  the  Han  dynasty.    Metropolitan  Museum,  New  York. 

XXII.  Wooden  ornaments  of  the  furniture  of  the  Oseberg  ship  from  Norway. 
Museum,  Christiania. 

Sketch-map  of  South  Russia. 


FIG 
I. 
2. 

3- 
4- 

5- 

6. 

7- 
8. 


io. 
ii. 

12. 

13- 
14. 

15- 
16. 

17- 
18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23- 


the  region  of  the 


FIGURES    IN    THE    TEXT 

Plan  of  the  Maikop  burial 

Engravings  on  the  Maikop  vase 

The  tumulus  of  Kostromskaya.     Section.    Plan 

The  Ulski  barrow.    Plan.     Perspective  Sketch 

The  burial  in  the  barrow  of  Elizavetinskaya 

Horse  trappings  from  the  Southern  Caucasus  and 

Kuban  .         .         .         .. 

Plan  of  a  grave-chamber  in  Anapa     . 
Two  stone  chambers  in  the  tumuli  of  Yuz-Oba,  near  Panticapaeum 
Clay  vases  of  indigenous   fabrication  from  the   Middle   Dnieper 

7th  to  4th  cent.  B.C.     ..... 

Section  and  plan  of  a  grave  on  the  Middle  Dnieper 
Plan  of  the  Solokha  barrow       .... 

The  Central  grave,  Solokha.     Plan.     Section  on  line 
The  Side  grave,  Solokha  ..... 

Barrow  in  the  Orenburg  region.     Plan.     Section 
Sarmatian  grave  in  the  Kuban  region.    Plan.     Section 
Glass  vases,  brooches,  &c,  from  the  Kuban  barrows 
Sarmatian  garment  plaques  of  gold    . 
Sarmatian  bottles       ...... 

Brooches  of  the  Sarmatian  graves 

The  phalara  from  Starobelsk     .... 

Horse  trappings.  Animal  style.  6th  to  3rd  cent,  b.c 
Horse  trappings.  Animal  style.  5th  to  4th  cent.  B.c 
Horse  trappings  from  North  Russia.  . 


A-B 


PAGE 
20 

23 
46 

47 
48 

57 
74 
75 

91 

93 
100 

101 

103 

123 

126 

127 

*3« 

132 

133 
137 
194 

196 
206 


/ 


I 

INTRODUCTORY 

THE  early  history  of  South  Russia  has  never  been  treated  in  a 
purely  historical  way.  South  Russia  has  never  been  studied  as  an 
integral  portion  of  the  ancient  world,  and  as  one  which  took  a 
share,  sometimes  a  very  important  share,  in  the  general  development 
of  Oriental  and  Greco-Roman  civilization.  Archaeologists,  attracted 
by  the  astonishing  wealth  of  the  Greek,  Scythian,  and  Sarmatian  finds 
in  South  Russia,  have  been  content  to  classify  and  to  date  the  objects 
without  utilizing  them  for  the  purpose  of  history :  historians  and 
epigraphists  have  applied  themselves  to  tracing  the  history  of  the 
Greek  colonies  in  Russia,  and  have  not  attempted  to  understand  it 
as  part  of  a  more  general  history — that  of  South  Russia  as  a  whole, 
and  that  of  the  entire  Oriental  and  classical  world.  Proof  of  this  will 
be  furnished  by  a  short  survey  of  archaeological  discovery  in  Russia, 
and  of  the  literature  which  it  has  called  forth. 

The  first  persons  to  interest  themselves  in  the  national  antiquities 
of  Russia,  and  the  first  who  tried  to  comprehend  their  historical  and 
artistic  value,  were  for  the  most  part  French  emigrants  who  found  a 
welcome  and  a  home  in  Russia  after  the  French  Revolution.  These 
emigrants  exercised  considerable  influence  on  Russian  intellectual  life 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  particular,  they  did 
much  to  awaken  in  official  and  intellectual  circles  a  lively  interest  in 
the  numerous  relics  of  classical  antiquity,  which  were  being  unearthed 
in  South  Russia,  and  especially  at  Kerch,  the  ancient  Panticapaeum. 
It  would  take  too  long  to  enumerate  all  the  Frenchmen  who  worked 
side  by  side  with  the  Russians  at  this  task :  a  few  names  must  suffice. 
I  shall  mention  the  Due  de  Richelieu,  whose  stay  at  Odessa  was  of 
great  importance  for  the  intellectual  life  of  South  Russia  in  general, 
and  whose  enlightened  influence  strengthened  the  interest  in  national 
antiquities  which  was  growing  up  in  the  great  commercial  city ;  the 
Comte  de  Langeron,  governor  of  New  Russia  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  ;  Cousinery,  French  consul  at  Odessa,  who  formed 
the  first  large  collection  of  the  coins  of  the  Greek  colonies  in  South 
Russia.  These  were  official  personages  ;  still  more  was  accomplished 
by  educated  and  devoted  workers  who  consecrated  their  lives  to  the 

*353  b 


2  INTRODUCTORY 

discovery  and  study  of  classical  antiquities  in  South  Russia.    I  shall 
cite  only  two  names.    Paul  Dubrux,  a  French  emigrant,  Chevalier  of 
St.  Louis,  found  refuge  at  Kerch  from  the  storm  of  the  Revolution. 
He  did  not  enjoy  the  brilliant  official  career  which  was  vouchsafed  to 
some  of  his  compatriots  :   a  modest  chinovnik,  quiet  and  honest,  he 
lived  and  died  poor.    His  classical  knowledge— slender  enough— his 
energy,  and  his  material  resources,  he  devoted  to  the  study  of  classic 
soil  in  the  peninsula  of  Kerch,  and  to  archaeological  investigation  in 
that  still  unexplored  country.     Every  scholar  knows  what  part  he 
played  in  the  discovery,  accidental  it  is  true,  of  the  splendid  tumulus 
of  Kul-Oba.     His  report  of  the  excavation  is  far  superior,  both  in 
truthfulness  and  in  precision,  to  all  the  others,  and  the  value  of  it  can 
hardly  be  exaggerated,  since  the  find  still  remains  one  of  the  richest 
and  most  important  of  its  class.    It  is  less  generally  known  that  it  was 
Dubrux,  more  than  any  one  else,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
historical  topography  of  Kerch  and  the  Kerch  peninsula  :   it  was  his 
minute  researches  and  his  sometimes  heroic  excavations,  carried  on 
without  money  in  a  waterless  and  foodless  desert,  which  formed  a 
basis  for  the  subsequent  endeavours  of  Blaramberg,  Dubois  de  Mont- 
pereux,  and  Ashik  to  identify  extant  ruins  with  the  localities  mentioned 
by  ancient  geographers.     It  is  a  regrettable  fact  that  in  historical 
topography  we  have  made  little  advance  since  Dubrux.    The  work 
of  Blaramberg,  another  emigrant,  was  less  valuable  than  that  of 
Dubrux.    But  Blaramberg  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  wide  vision  : 
we  are  indebted  to  him  for  some  interesting  publications,  and  above  all 
for  the  foundation  of  the  two  most  important  museums  in  South 
Russia— those  of  Odessa  and  Kerch. 

I  must  also  mention  the  great  services  rendered  to  classical 
archaeology  in  Russia  by  other  French  scholars.  Dubois  de  Mont- 
pereux,  by  his  great  work  Voyage  autour  du  Caucase,  Sabatier,  and 
Raoul  Rochette,  helped  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  learned  world  to 
the  discoveries  in  South  Russia.  Dubois  de  Montpereux,  an  eminent 
geologist,  has  left  us  a  lively  and  faithful  picture,  from  the  archaeo- 
logical point  of  view,  of  the  Crimea  and  the  Caucasus  in  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  , 

Thanks  to  the  constant  interest  of  the  imperial  family,  and  ot 
aristocratic  and  official  circles,  archaeological  research  in  South  Russia 
soon  became  regular  if  not  systematic.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  there  was  always  an  official  agent  at  Kerch  to 
collect  antiquities  and  to  make  scientific  excavations.  With  the 
foundation  of  an  Imperial  Archaeological  Commission  in  1859,  the 
organization  was  considerably  enlarged  :  year  by  year  the  members  of 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

the  commission  excavated  the  numerous   barrows   and   cemeteries 
scattered  over  the  vast  steppes  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  on 
the  banks  of  the  great  Russian  rivers.    The  results  obtained  were  of 
the  highest  importance.    Those  who  were  able  to  visit  the  Museum 
ot  the  Hermitage  before  the  Russian  Revolution  will  remember  the 
deep  impression  produced  upon  all  visitors,  whether  specialists  or  not 
by  the  two  great  rooms  on  the  first  floor-the  Kerch  Room  and  the 
JNikopol  Room.    The  ordinary  sightseer  was  struck  by  the  accumula- 
tion ot  gold  objects  m  these  rooms,  by  the  enormous  quantity  of  jewels, 
ot  gold  and  silver  plate,  of  engraved  gems.    The  less  unsophisticated 
were  astonished  to  find  so  many  masterpieces  of  Hellenic  art,  sometimes 
ot  types  unknown  in  other  museums.     But  the  scholar,  above  all 
carried  away  quite  novel  impressions  :  realizing  that  in  these  rooms' 
he  was  in  the  presence  of  a  new  world,  in  which  Greek  art  appeared 
in  an  altered,  sometimes  almost  unrecognizable  form,  and  in  which 
side  by  side  with  this  art,  another  art  was  revealed,  new  and  strange. 
The  thousands  of  objects  which  filled  the  Hermitage  came  almost 
entirely  from  excavations  conducted  by  the  Archaeological  Commis- 
sion.    Year  after  year  the  treasures  poured  in.     Each  excavation, 
prosecuted  with  knowledge  and  perseverance,  afforded  new  series  of 
objects,  no  less  artistically  interesting  and  no  less  scientifically  valuable 
than  the  old.     The  cemeteries  of  the  great  Greek  colonies,  Panti- 
capaeum,  Phanagoria,  Chersonesus,  Olbia,  and  the  ruins  of  these 
towns— two  of  which  were  excavated  systematically,  Olbia  by  Farma- 
kovski,  Chersonesus  by  Kosciuszko- Waluzinicz  and  Loeper— furnished 
immense  numbers  of  pure   Greek  products,   imported  from  Asia 
Minor,  from  Athens,  and  from  other  Hellenic  centres.     The  finest 
groups  of  Ionian  vases  came  from  Olbia  and  Berezan,  which  were 
methodically  excavated  by  Ernst  von  Stern,  from  Panticapaeum,  and 
from  the  Taman  peninsula  :  black-figured  and  red-figured  ware,  the 
Panathenaic  vases,  Hellenistic  and  Roman  pottery,  are  represented  in 
the  Hermitage  by  superb  series.    The  Greek  jewellery,  as  we  shall  see, 
is  unequalled  :    most  of  it  came  from  those  great  stone  chambers, 
surmounted  by  stately  tumuli,  at  Kerch,  at  Theodosia,  at  Anapa,  and 
in  the  peninsula  of  Taman,  which  were  the  tombs  of  the  kings  who 
ruled  the  Bosphorus  and  the  tribes  dwelling  in  the  Taman  peninsula. 
The  fineness  of  this  jewellery  enables  us  to  appreciate  the  creative 
genius  of  the  Greek  goldsmith  in  the  fifth  and  fourth  centuries  B.C. 
The  wooden  coffins,  sometimes  painted,  are  frequently  masterpieces. 
The  gold  and  silver  vases  are  various  and  beautiful.    It  would  be  a 
long  task  to  enumerate  all  the  classes  of  Greek  objects  yielded  by  the 
ruins  and  cemeteries  of  the  Greek  cities. 


4  INTRODUCTORY 

Simultaneously,  another  group  of  discoveries  was  being  made  in 
the  great  barrows  on  the  Russian  steppes,  in  the  basins  of  the  Kuban, 
the  Don,  the  Dnieper,  and  the  Dniester.  I  cannot  mention  them  all. 
In  the  first  period  of  exploration,  up  to  1880,  the  following  were  the 
most  important,  the  order  being  geographical  :  the  barrows  of 
Chert omlyk  and  Alexandropol  on  the  lower  Dnieper,  excavated  by 
Zabelin  in  1859-63,  monumental  tombs  of  Scythian  kings,  belong- 
ing to  the  fourth  or  third  century  B.C.:  the  series  of  kurgans  called 
the  Seven  Brothers,  on  the  Kuban,  excavated  by  Tiesenhausen  in 
1875  and  subsequent  years,  royal  tombs  of  the  fifth  and  fourth  cen- 
turies B.C.;  several  barrows  of  native  princes  near  the  Greek  colony 
of  Nymphaeum  in  the  Crimea,  belonging  to  the  fifth  and  fourth 
centuries  B.C.,  excavated  by  different  persons  from  1867  onwards 
(a  part  of  the  finds  is  now  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford)  ; 
some  enormous  kurgans  in  the  Taman  peninsula,  especially  the 
so-called  Bolshaya  and  Malaya  Bliznitsa  (Big  and  Little  Twins)  and 
those  on  the  Vasyiirinskaya  Gora,  explored  by  Tiesenhausen,  Zabelin, 
and  Lutsenko  in  1864-8,  and  belonging  to  the  fourth  and  third 
centuries  B.C.  ;  the  group  of  graves  near  Phanagoria  (Artyukhov's 
farm),  of  the  third  or  second  century  b.  c,  excavated  in  1879  and  1880  ; 
the  Greco-indigenous  cemetery  of  the  ancient  Gorgippia,  now  Anapa, 
explored  at  various  times,  especially  in  1879-80,  by  different  persons  ; 
finally,  the  great  treasure  of  Novocherkassk  on  the  Don,  which  yielded 
a  rich  series  of  gold  objects  belonging,  as  I  believe,  to  the  first  century 
B.C.  or  A.D. 

Nicolas  Veselovski  began  his  systematic  excavations  about  1880. 
He  was  a  man  of  boundless  vigour  and  of  singular  tenacity,  and  his 
good  fortune  never  deserted  him.  The  discoveries  which  we  owe  to 
him  have  not  yet  been  properly  appreciated  :  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
their  scientific  importance  will  soon  be  realized.  We  are  not  concerned 
here  with  his  researches  in  Turkestan  :  his  other  discoveries  concern 
us  very  nearly.  His  methodical  exploration  of  the  Kuban  valley 
brought  to  light  a  number  of  tumulary  graves  which  belong  to  the 
copper  age  and  may  be  dated  in  the  third  millennium  B.C. ;  of  these 
I  shall  speak  in  my  next  chapter :  also  a  series  of  barrows  belonging 
to  a  widely  different  period,  from  the  first  century  B.  c.  to  the  third 
century  A.D.,  which  enable  us  for  the  first  time  to  form  an  idea  of  the 
Sarmatians  and  their  civilization.  At  the  same  time,  and  in  the  same 
region,  he  discovered  groups  of  graves  dating  from  the  sixth  to  the 
fourth  centuries  B.C.,  which  furnish  an  almost  exact  parallel  to 
Herodotus'  description  of  Scythian  funeral  customs  :  unfortunately, 
the  richest  of  these  finds,  that  of  Kelermes,  was  not  made  by  Vese- 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

lovski  but  by  an  amateur.  Side  by  side  with  his  exploration  of  the 
Kuban  valley,  he  continued  the  work  of  Zabelin  in  the  region  of  the 
lower  Dnieper  and  of  the  Don,  as  well  as  in  the  Crimea,  and  here  also 
he  achieved  remarkable  success.  Most  of  the  barrows  which  he 
excavated  contained  burials  of  the  same  period  as  Chertomlyk  and 
Kul-Oba,  that  is  to  say,  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  b.  c.  The 
greatest  prize  was  reserved  for  the  end  of  his  life  :  in  191 1  and  191 2 
he  presented  us  with  the  treasures  of  the  Solokha  tumulus,  which 
surpass  everything  found  hitherto  on  the  lower  Dnieper  or  in  the 
Crimea. 

I  lack  space  to  mention  the  work  done  by  other  explorers,  but  I 
should  like  to  speak  for  a  moment  about  the  scientific  exploration  of 
the  middle  Dnieper.  Kiev  was  always  a  centre  of  intellectual  life  ; 
and  here,  especially  in  university  circles,  it  was  not  long  before  a  keen 
interest  came  to  be  taken  in  the  national  antiquities  of  the  country. 
Systematic  excavation  began  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
and  has  continued  without  interruption.  Certain  names  should  never 
be  forgotten — Fundukley,  Antonovich,  Tarnovski,  Volkov,  Belashevski, 
and  above  all,  Chvojka  and  Count  Bobrinskoy.  Chvojka's  momen- 
tous discoveries  revealed,  on  the  one  hand,  a  palaeolithic  settlement 
at  Kiev,  and,  on  the  other,  a  great  centre  of  neolithic  and  chalcolithic 
culture  on  the  middle  Dnieper,  connected  with  the  civilization  of  the 
Danube,  and  characterized  by  painted  pottery  decorated  with  spirals 
and  maeanders.  Count  Bobrinskoy  gradually  explored,  in  the  region 
of  Smela,  the  so-called  Scythian  culture,  which  begins  in  the  eighth 
century  B.C.  and  ends  towards  the  Roman  period.  Both  Chvojka 
and  Bobrinskoy  have  also  made  us  better  acquainted  with  the  civiliza- 
tions of  the  '  urn  fields  '  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d.  :  these 
belong,  in  my  opinion,  probably  to  Germanic,  possibly  to  Slavonic 
peoples. 

The  discoveries  of  which  I  have  spoken  were  accompanied  by 
publications,  often  very  handsome  ones,  of  the  monuments  collected 
in  the  course  of  the  excavations.  The  first  great  comprehensive 
publication,  Les  Antiquites  dn  Bosphore  Cimmerien,  was  principally 
devoted  to  the  products  of  Greek  art  :  it  was  planned  by  a  French 
scholar,  Gille,  who  was  keeper  of  one  of  the  departments  in  the  Hermi- 
tage at  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  This  work  was  followed, 
after  a  short  interval,  by  another  equally  handsome  publication,  that 
of  the  Scythian  antiquities  discovered  by  Zabelin,  Antiquites  de  la 
Scythie  d'Herodote.  Both  books  were  remodelled,  and  combined  with 
the  Russian  and  Oriental  antiquities  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  the  great 
work  of  Count  Tolstoy  and  Professor  Kondakov,  Russian  Antiquities. 


6  INTRODUCTORY 

The  three  works  are  still  classics  ;  moreover,  they  are  well  known 
outside  Russia,  thanks  to  the  republication  of  the  first  and  the  trans- 
lation of  the  third  by  that  distinguished  scholar  Mr.  Salomon  Reinach, 
who,  by  these  publications,  and  by  a  number  of  articles  in  the  Revue 
archdologique,  has  helped  to  maintain  the  interest  of  Western  scholars 
in  the  South  Russian  finds  of  the  classical  period. 

These  works  were  concerned  with  the  figurative  monuments  :  the 
task  of  publishing  the  written  monuments,  the  inscriptions,  was  under- 
taken and  brilliantly  accomplished  by  Vasili  Latyshev  in  his  well- 
known  repertory,  Inscriptiones  antiquae  orae  septentrionalis Ponti  Euxini 
(vols,  i,  ii,  and  iv  ;  a  second  edition  of  the  first  in  191 2),  which  is  a 
complete  collection  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  inscriptions  found  in 
South  Russia.  The  same  author  has  compiled  a  repertory,  almost 
exhaustive,  of  the  passages  in  Greek  and  Latin  writers  which  refer 
to  South  Russia  (Scythica  et  Caucasica,  vol.  i,  Auctores  Graeci,  vol.  ii, 
Auctores  Latini).  In  addition  to  these  publications  the  results  of 
current  excavation  were  given  year  by  year  in  the  periodical  organs  of 
the  Archaeological  Commission — its  Reports  (Otchety),  its  Materials 
(Materialy),  and  its  Bulletin  (Izvestiya) — and  these  were  supplemented 
by  the  publication  of  the  archaeological  societies,  especially  the 
societies  of  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  Odessa,  and  of  enlightened 
persons  who  were  interested  in  Russian  archaeology,  for  example, 
Khanenko's  Antiquities  of  the  Dnieper  Region  and  Count  Bobrinskoy's 
SmSla. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  of  other  countries  what  can  now  be 
said  of  Russia,  that  almost  all  the  treasures  found  in  the  country  have 
been  published,  and  most  of  them  reproduced  as  well,  and  are  at 
present  accessible  to  any  one  who  will  consult  the  works  of  native 
scholars. 

A  vast  quantity  of  material  has  been  collected  and  published.  But 
that  it  has  been  studied  and  understood,  that  it  has  been  utilized  to 
reconstruct  the  story  of  South  Russia  at  the  dawn  of  history,  I  should 
hardly  care  to  affirm.  Apart  from  the  French  archaeologists  whom  I 
have  already  mentioned,  the  Germans  were  the  first  who  paid  attention 
to  the  antiquities  of  South  Russia.  Koehler,  Koehne,  Boeckh,  Neu- 
mann, and  Stephani  made  the  earliest  attempts  to  explain  them 
scientifically  :  Stephani  above  all.  He  was  Keeper  of  the  Hermitage, 
a  regular  contributor  to  the  Reports  of  the  Archaeological  Commission, 
and  the  author  of  the  great  Antiquite's  du  Bosphore  Cimme'rien  :  year 
after  year  he  compiled  for  the  reports  long  and  learned  articles, 
in  Russian  and  in  German,  on  the  antiquities  of  South  Russia. 
Stephani 's  works  are  well  known  :    his  vast  erudition,  founded  on 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

the  most  extensive  reading,  makes  them  a  perfect  storehouse  of 
information ;  his  judgement  is  sound  when  he  is  dealing  with  Greek 
objects  ;  and  his  interpretations  of  religious  representations  are 
sometimes  very  happy.  But  he  was  never  able  to  understand  monu- 
ments that  were  not  purely  Greek.  Just  as  he  refused  to  recognize 
Mycenaean  culture,  so  his  learning,  limited  to  the  Greek  world,  was 
incapable  of  detecting  the  Oriental  and  prehistoric  elements  in  the 
antiquities  of  South  Russia,  and  of  appreciating  the  significance  of 
those  elements. 

Unfortunately  he  exercised  a  very  powerful  influence  on  succeeding 
generations.  Vladimir  Stasov  and  Nikodim  Kondakov  had  divined 
the  necessity  of  understanding  the  native  civilization  as  such,  but  they 
did  not  succeed  in  putting  their  idea  into  practice,  and  the  book  of 
Tolstoy  and  Kondakov,  which  I  have  already  mentioned,  is  a  mere 
repertory,  though  a  very  useful  one,  of  archaeological  material.  But 
Kondakov  and  Stasov  stood  almost  alone.  Much  has  been  written 
about  South  Russia,  but  the  writings  are  always  dissertations  on  the 
Greek  towns,  commentaries  on  the  fourth  book  of  Herodotus,  or 
studies  of  one  or  two  isolated  objects.  Even  the  great  work  of  Minns, 
an  extremely  useful  and  an  extremely  learned  book,  is  but  a  repertory, 
although  as  a  repertory  almost  faultless  :  what  he  gives  us  is  a  juxta- 
position of  Scythians  and  Greeks,  two  separate  parts,  copiously 
illustrated,  and  no  more.  The  same  is  true  of  Latyshev's  erudite 
works,  and  of  the  recent  articles  by  Ernst  von  Stern.  The  point  of 
view  is  everywhere  the  same  :  that  of  the  Hellenist  in  whose  eyes  the 
native  world  has  only  a  relative  value,  by  virtue  of  its  influence  upon 
Greek  life  in  the  Greek  cities. 

My  own  point  of  view  in  all  these  questions  of  South  Russian 
history  is  a  different  one.  I  take  as  my  starting-point  the  unity  of  the 
region  which  we  call  South  Russia  ;  the  intersection  of  influences  in 
that  vast  tract  of  country — Oriental  and  southern  influences  arriving 
by  way  of  the  Caucasus  and  the  Black  Sea,  Greek  influences  spreading 
along  the  sea  routes,  and  Western  influences  passing  down  the  great 
Danubian  route  ;  and  the  consequent  formation,  from  time  to  time, 
of  mixed  civilizations,  very  curious  and  very  interesting,  influencing 
in  their  turn  Central  Russia  on  the  one  hand,  by  way  of  the  great 
Russian  rivers,  and  on  the  other  Central  Europe,  especially  the  region 
of  the  Danube. 

I  shall  treat  these  matters  with  greater  detail  in  succeeding 
chapters  :  for  the  present  I  should  like  to  state  in  general  terms,  what 
the  classical  world  gave  to  South  Russia,  and  what  it  received  from 
South  Russia  in  return. 


I 

I 


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8  INTRODUCTORY 

South  Russia  is  a  great  region  of  steppes,  which  merge  into  the 
steppes  of  Central  Asia  on  the  east  and  those  of  Hungary  on  the  west. 
But  nomadic  life  is  not  the  only  type  of  life  which  can  flourish  on  the 
South  Russian  steppes.  They  provide  excellent  pasturage,  but  at  the 
same  time,  if  employed  for  agriculture,  they  yield  admirable  results, 
thanks  to  the  richness  of  the  black  soil,  to  the  comparatively  favourable 
rainfall,  and  to  the  great  rivers  which  cross  them  from  north  to  south. 
Consequently  the  Russian  steppes,  open  on  all  sides,  attracted  not 
only  the  Eastern  nomads,  but  also  the  hunting  and  agricultural  peoples 
of  Central  Russia  and  the  Danubian  region  :  these  settlers  became 
closely  attached  to  their  new  home,  and  remained  there  for  century 
after  century.  There  is  ample  archaeological  evidence  to  prove  it. 
In  the  period  of  the  earliest  burials  with  contracted  skeletons,  the  use 
of  cereals  was  already  known,  and  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the 
makers  of  these  graves  were  not  the  same  people  from  the  neolithic 
period  as  far  down  as  the  arrival  of  Cimmerians  and  Scythians  in  the 
Iron  Age.  No  doubt  this  population  was  affected  by  influences  from 
various  quarters,  particularly  from  the  Caucasus,  the  Black  Sea,  and 
the  region  of  the  Danube.  There  was  probably  migration  and  partial 
infiltration  of  tribes  from  east,  north,  and  west.  But  the  mass  of  the 
population  remained  unchanged,  and  retained  for  centuries  its  old 
customs,  its  old  observances,  and  probably  its  old  beliefs. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  corridor  of  the  steppes — the 
great  migrational  route  along  which  the  Oriental  hordes  poured  into 
Central  Europe.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  corridor  existed,  and 
was  used  by  the  nomads  of  Central  Asia.  But  the  instability  of  life 
in  this  corridor  has  been  greatly  exaggerated. 

In  speaking  of  life  on  the  South  Russian  steppes  there  is  one  fact 
of  the  deepest  significance  which  is  usually  ignored  and  which  com- 
pletely changes  the  aspect  of  the  problem.  The  nomads  from  the 
East  were  invariably  conquering  tribes,  not  numerous,  but  well 
organized,  which  imposed  themselves  on  a  sedentary  agricultural 
population.  This  is  true  of  the  first  conquerors,  the  Cimmerians  ;  of 
the  Scythians  who  followed  them  ;  and  of  the  Sarmatians  who  took 
the  place  of  the  Scythians.  The  new-comers  found  admirable  pastur- 
age for  their  beasts  in  the  steppes.  The  subject  population  was  a 
comparatively  wealthy  one,  so  that  tribute  was  easy  to  exact.  Finally, 
the  invaders  inherited  the  commercial  relations  of  the  conquered.  In 
consequence  they  had  every  inducement  to  settle  down  in  that  fine 
country  for  as  long  a  period  as  political  conditions  allowed.  As  long 
as  their  military  forces  were  sufficient  to  defend  the  conquered  terri- 
tory against  attacks  from  east  and  west,  they  stayed  in  South  Russia 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

and  did  not  dream  of  leaving  it.  Hence  the  conquerors  were  never 
mere  passengers  in  the  Russian  steppes  :  they  founded  more  or  less 
stable  kingdoms.  So  the  Cimmerians,  who  settled  round  the  straits 
of  Kerch  (the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus) :  so  also  the  Scythians,  whose 
political  centre,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  was  originally  the  valley  of 
the  Kuban  and  later  the  steppes  between  Don  and  Dnieper. 

These  protracted  sojourns  of  conquering  peoples  in  South  Russia,  \ 
and  the  establishment  of  settled  states,  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
material  cultures  combining  elements  of  an  indigenous  culture  which 
was  already,  as  we  shall  see,  considerably  developed,  with  the  elements 
of  Oriental  civilization  brought  by  the  conquerors.  These  mixed  civili- 
zations also  absorbed  cultural  elements  coming  from  the  south  by  way  • 
of  the  Caucasus  and  the  Black  Sea. 

This  significant  fact  lends  additional  interest  to  the  history  of  the 
Cimmerian  power,  of  the  Scythian  state,  and  of  the  Sarmatian  and 
Gothic  states.  Little  is  known  of  the  Cimmerian  civilization  sub- 
merged by  the  Scythians.  Yet  there  is  an  important  consideration 
which  leads  one  to  hope  that  future  discoveries  will  dispel  the  mystery. 
A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  corridor  of  the  steppes  forms 
two  securely  protected  pockets.  One  is  the  Kuban  delta,  the  penin- 
sula of  Taman  :  the  other  is  the  Crimea,  especially  the  region  of 
Kerch  and  the  mountainous  part  of  the  peninsula.  It  was  here  that 
the  Cimmerians,  hard  pressed  by  the  Scythians,  finally  resorted,  and 
united  with  the  Greeks  to  form  the  kingdom  of  Bosphorus  :  here 
that  the  Scythians,  vanquished  by  the  Sarmatians  on  the  east,  and  by 
the  Thracians  on  the  west,  took  refuge  in  the  second  century  B.C.  : 
here,  lastly,  that  the  Goths,  beaten  back  by  Turkish  and  Mongolian 
invaders,  founded  the  kingdoms  of  the  Tetraxite  Goths  and  the 
kingdom  of  Mangup.  We  are  therefore  fully  justified  in  hoping  that 
in  this  part  of  the  world  we  shall  find  sure  traces  of  the  Cimmerians, 
not  only  from  the  period  of  Cimmerian  supremacy  on  the  northern 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  but  from  other  periods  as  well. 

The  permanence  of  certain  political  formations  in  the  steppes  of 
Russia  is  a  fact  of  extreme  importance.  It  enables  us,  above  all,  to 
realize  the  nature  of  the  Scythian  kingdom — a  formation  almost 
completely  Iranian,  a  northern  counterpart  of  the  kingdom  of 
Darius  and  Xerxes.  We  are  but  ill  acquainted  with  the  Iranian 
world,  although  its  influence  on  classical  civilization  was  enormous. 
We  are  fortunate  in  being  able  to  study  another  portion  of  it,  different 
from  that  which  created  the  Persian  kingdom.  The  Iranians  of  the  • 
Black  Sea  were  not  confined  to  the  northern  shore.  It  has  been 
demonstrated  by  recent  discoveries,  that  a  considerable  section  of  the 
2353  c 


IO  INTRODUCTORY 

Scythian  tribes  established  itself  on  the  other  side  of  the  Black  Sea 
in  the  country  which  afterwards  became  Armenia  and  Pontus.    The 
nuesdon  has  often  been  asked,  how  Pontic  civilization  acquired  its 
Iranian  character,  and  what  was  the  origin  of  the  Iranian  traditions 
of  M  threes.    li  has  been  suggested  that  the  country ^was co nquered 
and  colonized  by  Persia.    But  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  Persians 
were  not  a  colonizing  people   and  that  their  long  supremacy  in  As  a 
Minor  and  in  Egypt  left  but  faint  traces  behind  it.    I  am  therefore 
Sed  to  believe  that  part  of  the  population  of  Pontus,  Cappadocia 
SS™S^n8i8tedPof  Scythian's  who  settled  there  at  the  time  o 
the  great  Scythian  invasion  in  the  seventh  century      I  shall  discuss 
this  question  later  ;   for  the  present  I  merely  f^  *e J^"^ 
there4  existed  in  Armenia,  during  the  classical  period,  two  d  stncts 
called  Sakasene  and  Skythene,  that  is  to  say,  districts  inhabi  ed  by 
Sacians  and  Scythians."   Further,  there  was  in  Pontus  a  religious 
festiva  called  Sakaia  :  many  attempts  have  been  made  to  explain  the 
name  •    it  can  easily  be  accounted  for  by  the  presence  in  Pontus  of 
peSons  caSng  themselves  Sakai  and  forming  an  important  s e; ction 
of  the  population.     I  should  like  to  mention  here,  for  I  shall  not 
return  Tthe  subject,  certain  archaeological  data  which ^  point  to 
striking  resemblances  between  the  two  shores  of  the  Euxine    the 
northefn  and  the  southern.    First  of  all,  the  general -P^^0^ 
the  town  of  Panticapaeum  is  remarkably  similar  to  that  ot  several 
cities  on  the  southern  shore,  particularly  Amisos  and  Sinope.     Ihe 
relation  between  acropolis  and  town,  and  the  general  situation,  are 
the  same  '    in  both  places  important  alterations  were  made  in  the 
phyriS  stature  of  the  acropolis  rock  ;  the  character oi  the  cemetery 
is  the  same  in  both,  consisting  almost  exclusively  of  two  types  ot 
monumeSs-rock-cut  chambers,  and  massive  barrows  surmounting 
tombs  of  dressed  stone.    The  same  features  recur  in  Paphlagonia,  as 
deTcr  bed  in the  masterly  work  of  Leonhardt.     We  must  notice  in 
padcular  the  great  tomb  of  Kalekapu,  where  the sculptural  decora 
tion    consisting  of  Babylono-Persian  griffins  with  heads  of  horned 
ons,  lions,  J  so  forth! though  later,  as  Hugo  Pnnz  has ;  pointed  out 
than  the  architectural  decoration,  is  still  of  the  archaic  Pe"«d    ^ 
seventh  century  B.C.  :   the  sculptured  figures  seem  to  me  to  present 
a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  figures  on  coins  of  Panticapaeum 
and  to  works  of  Panticapaean  toreutic  art.    Compare  the  treatment  of 
?he  arms  of  Panticapaeum,  the  griffin  and  the  lion  on  the  gold  stateis 
of  the  Bosphorus  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  with  the  correspond  ng 
figures  on  the  Kalekapu  tomb.    Compare  with  the  same  figures  the 
lions  and  griffins  on  the  silver  vases  from  Solokha.    I  am  inclined  to 


PLATE      I 


3  4 

CLAY    FIGURINES    OF    SCYTHIANS   FROM    CAPPADOCIA 

IV-III   Cent.  b.c. 
i,  2,  4.    Ashmolean  Museum.     3.    Louvre 


INTRODUCTORY  n 

see  in  the  Paphlagonian  sculptures,  or  in  their  Assyro-Persian  proto- 
types, the  immediate  sources  from  which  the  Panticapaean  metal- 
workers derived  their  inspiration. 

We  observe  also  remarkable  analogies  between  certain  products  of 
Cappadocian  art  and  objects  found  in  Scythian  graves  of  the  period 
between  the  sixth  and  the  third  centuries  B.C.  I  would  draw  the 
reader's  attention  to  a  number  of  cast  bronze  pole-heads  which 
have  been  discovered  in  Cappadocia  (pi.  II  and  pi.  V,  3)  :  some- 
times representing  an  animal  perched  on  a  rattle,  sometimes  a  figure 
or  a  pair  of  figures,  geometrically  stylized,  of  the  Great  Goddess 
of  Asia.  The  only  parallels  to  these  curious  objects,  of  which  there 
are  several  examples  in  the  Louvre  and  in  the  British  Museum,  are 
furnished  by  pole-tops  found  in  Scythian  barrows  of  the  period 
between  the  sixth  and  third  centuries  b.  c,  and  in  Western  Siberia. 
Let  me  also  mention  the  terra-cotta  statuettes  from  Pontus  and 
Cappadocia  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  and  in  the  Louvre,  which 
undoubtedly  represent  Scythian  horsemen  (pi.  I).  These  horsemen  are 
treated  in  the  same  manner  and  in  the  same  style  as  the  Scythian 
horsemen  on  works  of  Panticapaean  toreutic  dating  from  the  fourth 
or  third  centuries  B.C. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  draw  attention  to  a  curious  coincidence  : 
terra-cotta  wagons  have  been  found  in  Pontus  and  in  Cappadocia 
which  reproduce,  beyond  all  doubt,  the  wheeled  abodes  of  the  nomads: 
a  well-preserved  example  may  be  seen  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum. 
Now,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  only  analogous  objects  come  from  South 
Russia.  We  have  two  series  of  them,  one  belonging  to  the  Bronze  Age, 
the  other  to  the  first  and  second  centuries  A.  D.  A  chariot  which 
closely  resembles  the  Ashmolean  specimen  was  found  in  a  Kuban 
grave  of  the  Bronze  Age  :  a  whole  group,  of  much  finer  execution,  in 
Panticapaean  graves  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.  d. 

These  resemblances  between  the  two  shores  of  the  Euxine  cannot 
be  explained  by  commercial  intercourse,  but  only  by  community 
of  race  ;  by  the  existence  of  similar  layers  of  population  in  both 
regions :  a  layer  which  may  be  called  autochthonous ;  a  Thraco- 
Cimmerian ;  and  a  Scytho- Iranian  layer. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  Scythians  of  South  Russia.  We  find  in 
South  Russia,  as  I  have  already  said,  a  whole  group  of  products 
partly  manufactured  by  the  Iranians  themselves,  partly  for  the  Ira- 
nians by  the  Greeks.  This  Iranian  world  is  the  pre-Zoroastrian  one 
which  disseminated  the  cults  of  Mithra  and  of  Anaitis,  the  two 
Iranian  divinities  who  exerted  a  potent  influence  on  the  classical 
civilization  of  Hellenistic  and  Roman  times.     Unfortunately  these 


12  INTRODUCTORY 

Iranians,  the  Scythians,  have  left  us  no  written  monuments.  But  their 
figurative  monuments,  which  have  come  down  to  us  in  great  numbers, 
enable  us  to  approach  the  difficult  task  of  reconstructing  their  political, 
social,  economic,  and  religious  life. 

This  Iranian  society  was  not  isolated.  Through  the  Greek 
colonies  it  had  constant  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Medi- 
terranean seaboard.  The  development  of  the  Greek  colonies,  and  the 
character  which  Greek  civilization  assumed  on  the  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea,  is  a  subject  of  the  greatest  importance.  More  of  this  later :  for 
the  present  I  will  only  observe  that  the  Greek  colonies  on  the  Black 
Sea  owed  their  very  existence  to  the  formation  of  stable  kingdoms  on 
the  Russian  steppes  :  the  Cimmerian,  and  later  the  Scythian  kingdom. 
The  Black  Sea  colonies,  exposed  as  they  were  to  attack  from  the  north, 
could  only  survive  and  prosper  if  the  surrounding  country  was  in  a 
more  or  less  settled  condition.  Just  as  the  prosperity  of  the  Greek 
colonies  in  Asia  Minor  depended  on  the  existence  of  the  kingdoms  of 
Lydia  and  of  Persia,  of  which  they  were  the  maritime  outlets,  so 
Olbia,  Panticapaeum,  and  Chersonesus  only  throve  because  a  united 
kingdom  in  the  Russian  steppes  guaranteed  them  free  intercourse 
with  the  peoples  on  the  banks  of  the  great  Russian  rivers.  Scythians 
and  Greeks  constituted  an  economic  unit,  and  their  mutual  influence 
was  necessarily  the  dominant  factor  in  their  lives. 

This  close  relation  led  to  very  interesting  results,  above  all  to  the 
foundation  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus  in  the  very  home  of 
Cimmerian  power.  A  Milesian  colony  with  a  barbarian  name, 
gradually  transforming  itself  into  a  territorial  power  supreme  on  both 
banks  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  governed  by  a  dynasty  of  archons, 
and  later  by  kings  with  partly  Greek  and  partly  Thracian  names  :  this 
unique  phenomenon  is  surely  worthy  of  the  closest  attention.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  existence  of  this  kingdom  was  of  capital 
importance  for  the  Athenian  state  before,  during,  and  after  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War.  The  Bosphorus  was  sometimes  the  principal  or  the 
only  centre  of  supply  providing  the  Greek  world  with  cereals  and 
with  fish. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  the  complex  aspect  of  the  Bosphoran 
state  and  the  peculiar  features  of  Greek  civilization  in  the  Bosphorus  ? 
I  shall  treat  the  question  in  my  fourth  chapter.  I  will  confine  myself 
here  to  stating  a  few  outstanding  points.  The  archons  of  Panti- 
capaeum styled  themselves  archons  of  Panticapaeum  and  of  Theo- 
dosia,  and  kings  of  the  native  peoples,  Sindians,  Maeotians,  and  the 
like.  This  twofold  authority  gives  the  key  to  the  explanation.  The 
state  of  the  Bosphorus  was  a  coalition  of  the  population  of  the  Greek 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

cities  and  of  the  natives  inhabiting  part  of  the  Crimea  and  of  the 
Taman  peninsula.  The  Thracian  names  of  the  Bosphoran  dynasts 
show  that  the  native  population,  or  at  least  the  dominant  part  of  it, 
was  of  Thracian  stock  :  it  possessed  a  high  and  ancient  civilization, 
and  was  promptly  hellenized.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
straits  of  Kerch— the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  an  old  and  significant 
name — were  the  centre  of  the  Cimmerian  kingdom,  and  that  the  /' 
Cimmerians  were  probably  of  Thracian  origin.  Is  it  not  natural  to 
suppose  that  the  Bosphoran  state  was  a  Greco-Cimmerian  state,  and 
that  this  alliance  gave  the  new  body  strength  to  resist  the  attacks  of 
the  Scythians  and  to  preserve  its  independence  even  against  the 
imperialism  of  Periclean  Athens  ? 

We  shall  follow  the  political  and  social  fortunes  of  the  Bosphoran 
state  in  our  fourth  chapter.  But  before  I  go  farther,  I  would  draw 
the  reader's  attention  to  one  or  two  important  considerations.  How 
curious,  this  semi-Greek  tyranny  which  lasted  for  centuries  and 
gradually  changed  into  a  Hellenistic  monarchy  with  the  same  charac- 
teristics as  Bithynia,  Pontus,  Armenia,  Parthia,  and  Commagene — 
hellenized  states  resting  on  Thracian,  Iranian,  Thraco-Iranian,  and 
Syrian  foundations  !  How  interesting,  the  mixed  religion  which 
slowly  developed  in  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  !  How  singular  this 
prolific  art,  working  mainly  for  export  to  Scythian  dynasts  and  the 
Scythian  aristocracy  !  How  remarkable,  the  social  and  economic 
organization,  based  on  great  domains  methodically  exploited,  on  a 
complex  system  of  exportation,  and  on  active  and  regular  commercial 
intercourse  with  the  neighbouring  kingdoms  ! 

The  Scythian  kingdom,  on  which  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
Greek  colonies  and  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  depended,  was 
succeeded  in  the  Russian  steppes  by  an  ascendancy  of  various  Sarma- 
tian  tribes — Iranians,  like  the  Scythians  themselves.  The  Sarmatians, 
as  every  one  knows,  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  history  "of  the 
Roman  Empire.    It  was  they,  with  the  Germamc_and_Thracian  tribes, 

wliojiealflhe  first  formidable  blows"  at  jHi3Qung_Roman  power jm 

the^DanuEe!  It  was  they  who  mingledwith  the rGoths~and  spread 
witrTlhem  over  Central  Europe  as  tar  as  Italy  and 'Spain.  ^What  did 
weTcnow^Bouf  the  Sarmatians  before  the  recent  discoveries  in  the 
Russian  steppes  ?  A  few  lines  of  Tacitus^,  of  Valerius  Flaccus,  of 
Arrian,  a  few  phrases  in  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  the  reliefs  of  Trajan's 
column  and  of  the  arch  of  Galerius  at  Salonica  :  altogether  very  little. 

The  excavations  in  the  Kuban  barrows,  the  great  find  of  Novo- 
cherkassk, the  gold  plaques  from  Siberia,  the  discoveries  in  the  Ural 
steppes,  showed  for  the  first  time  that  the  Sarmatians  were  by  no 


r 


14  INTRODUCTORY 

means  barbarians.  Iranians  like  the  Scythians,  they  brought  a  high 
culture  along  with  them,  and  adopted  elements  from  Greek  and  Greco- 
Scythian  civilization.  As  soon  as  they  reached  the  banks  of  the  Don 
and  of  the  Kuban,  they  entered  into  close  relations  with  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Bosphorus  and  mingled  with  the  population,  transforming 
the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  both  politically,  and  in  religious 
matters,  into  a  semi-Iranian  state. 

What  is  extremely  important,  is  that  out  of  all  these  elements,  the 
Sarmatians  created  a  peculiar  culture  and  in  particular  an  original  and 
characteristic  style  of  art.  I  refer  to  the  renaissance  of  the  Scythian 
animal  style,  which  combined  with  the  use  of  precious  stones  and 
enamel,  led  to  the  formation,  at  Panticapaeum  and  in  the  Russian 
steppes,  of  the  polychrome  style  of  jewellery  which  was  adopted  by 
the  Goths  and  is  wrongly  called  Gothic.  The  style  is  not  Gothic  at 
all  :  it  is  Iranian — if  you  like,  Sarmatian.  And  it  was  not  the  Goths 
but  the  Sarmatians  who  introduced  it  into  Central  and  Southern 
Europe. 

These  then  are  the  links  uniting  South  Russia  with  the  classical 
world.  There  are  others  which  unite  it  with  Central  Russia  and  with 
the  Slavonic  Russia  which  was  to  be.  From  the  remotest  period, 
progress  in  South  Russia  has  invariably  been  echoed  by  progress  in 
Central  and  Eastern  Russia.  The  Copper  Age,  the  Bronze  Age,  and, 
most  of  all,  the  Iron  Age  in  Russia  were  deeply  influenced  by  the  south. 
The  Iron  Age  on  the  Volga,  and  even  more  on  the  Kama,  peculiar  as  it 
is,  is  bound  by  a  thousand  ties  to  the  Scythian  world  of  South  Russia. 
And  it  was  the  Sarmatian  epoch  which  impressed  its  character  on  the 
Middle  Iron  Age  and  on  the  earliest  Slavonic  antiquities,  which  were 
influenced,  on  the  other  hand,  by  uninterrupted  contact  with  the 
Greek  culture  of  Byzantium  and  with  the  Oriental  world  of  the  Turkish 
and  Mongolian  nomads  who  inherited  the  Greco-Iranian  civilizations 
of  South  Russia. 


PLATE      II 


BRONZE    POLE-TOPS    FROM    CAPPADOCIA 
British  Museum  and  Louvre 


1 1 

THE   PREHISTORIC   CIVILIZATIONS 

THROUGHOUT  the  classic  East — in  Mesopotamia,  in  Elam,  in 
Turkestan,  and  in  Egypt — the  dawn  of  civilized  life  is  marked  by 
two  phenomena,  one  characteristic  of  the  neolithic  age,  the  other 
of  the  earliest  metal  periods.  I  refer  to  the  splendid  development 
of  pottery  in  the  neolithic  period,  especially  painted  pottery  with 
naturalistic  and  geometric  decoration  ;  and  to  the  wonderful  impetus 
which  civilization  received,  in  all  these  places,  at  the  metal  epoch. 
The  painted  pottery  of  Central  Asia,  of  Susa,  of  Turkestan,  of  Meso- 
potamia, of  Asia  Minor,  of  Egypt,  still  belongs  to  the  prehistoric 
period  ;  but  in  several  of  these  regions  the  age  of  metals  inaugurates 
a  historic  period  which  is  accompanied  not  only  by  artistic  develop- 
ment but  also  by  written  documents.  The  proto-historic  epoch  is 
marked  by  rich  civilizations  which  make  copious  use  of  metals, 
especially  copper  and,  later,  bronze — never  iron — and  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  call  copper  and  bronze  civilizations,  on  the  analogy  of 
the  prehistoric  epochs  in  Central  Europe,  although  the  names  are 
singularly  inappropriate  to  the  abundant  and  varied  life  of  the  East 
in  the  third  millennium  B.C. 

Southern  Europe  passed  through  the  same  stages.  No  need  to 
speak  of  the  brilliant  Cretan  or  Aegean  civilization,  in  which  a  period 
of  neolithic  painted  pottery,  and  a  chalcolithic  period,  were  succeeded 
by  a  rich  historic  life,  with  which  we  are  ill  acquainted  it  is  true, 
but  only  because  we  are  unable  to  decipher  Aegean  texts.  We  must 
examine,  however,  the  corresponding  phenomena  in  the  civilized  life 
of  Central  and  Eastern  Europe,  seeing  that  the  region  of  the  Russian 
steppes  was  one  of  prime  importance,  as  the  home  not  only  of  a 
neolithic  painted  pottery  but  of  a  metal  civilization  of  particular 
splendour. 

The  two  areas  do  not  coincide.  The  painted  pottery  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  neolithic  and  chalcolithic  epoch  on  the  banks  of  the 
great  western  rivers,  the  Dniester,  the  Bug,  and  the  Dnieper,  whereas 
the  metal  culture  principally  flourished  on  the  banks  of  the  Kuban 
at  the  other  extremity  of  the  steppes. 


16     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

The  neolithic  painted  pottery  of  the  Ukrainian  or  Tripolye  type, 
so  called  from  a  hamlet  near  Kiev  where  Chvojka  found  the  first 
examples,  belongs  to  a  group  of  Central  and  South  European  pottery 
which  we  call  spiral  and  maeander  pottery.  Wherever  it  is  found,  it  is 
partly  painted  and  partly  incised.  Its  presence  has  been  observed  in 
several  districts,  from  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  to  the  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea.  Its  expansion  coincides  approximately  with  the  basins  of 
the  Danube  and  its  tributaries,  of  the  Dniester,  the  Bug,  and  the 
Dnieper.  I  cannot  deal  with  all  the  difficult  and  delicate  questions 
which  have  been  raised  by  the  various  types  of  this  ware  :  which 
came  first,  incised  or  painted  decoration  ;  what  was  the  principal 
centre,  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  or  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  and 
what  is  the  relation  between  this  pottery  and  the  different  racial  groups 
which  subsequently  formed  the  population  of  Western  Europe. 

What  concerns  us  chiefly  is  the  generally  accepted  fact  that  the 
Tripolye  type  of  painted  pottery — the  pottery  of  South  Russia, 
Galicia,  and  Rumania — is  the  richest  and  most  highly  developed 
V  (  branch  of  the  family,  and  the  most  original  as  well.  The  shapes  show 
great  wealth  and  variety  compared  with  those  on  the  Danube  and  its 
tributaries.  The  ornamentation  is  by  no  means  restricted  to  spiral 
and  maeander.  As  in  the  contemporary  pottery  of  Susa,  the  geometric 
decoration  is  combined  with  geometrizing  animal  and  vegetable  decora- 
tion which  uses  as  ornaments  figures  of  men,  animals,  and  plants. 
Even  the  arrangement  of  the  ornament  in  parallel  zones,  and  the 
so-called  metopic  style  of  decoration,  is  not  unknown  in  the  painted 
pottery  of  South  Russia.  In  South  Russia,  as  everywhere  else,  the 
spiral  and  maeander  pottery  is  accompanied  by  numerous  clay  figures 
of  very  various  primitive  types,  representing  human  beings — especially 
women — animals,  pieces  of  furniture,  and  sacred  implements. 

The  systematic  excavations  of  Chvojka  and  of  Volkov  on  the 
Dnieper,  of  Ernst  von  Stern  in  Bessarabia,  of  Hubert  Schmidt  in 
Rumania,  and  of  Hadaczek  in  Galicia,  have  shown  that  the  men  who 
produced  the  painted  pottery  were  by  no  means  wholly  primitive  : 
they  were  no  longer  hunters  or  nomads  :  they  dwelt  in  villages, 
sometimes  fortified  ;  owned  houses  of  a  common  neolithic  form, 
half  cave,  half  hut  ;  lived  on  agriculture  ;  and  had  a  great  number  of 
domestic  animals  at  their  disposal.  We  have  no  decisive  evidence  as 
to  their  mode  of  burial.  The  best-preserved  pots  and  figurines  were 
found  neither  in  houses  nor  in  tombs,  but  in  curious  structures 
suggesting,  on  the  one  hand,  a  Roman  columbarium,  on  the  other, 
a  temple  for  religious  ceremonies  connected  with  funerals.  These 
structures  are  sometimes  of  considerable  size  ;  they  were  roofed,  and 


THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     17 

had  walls  of  clay  and  wattle  ;  the  floor,  of  rammed  earth,  was  littered 
with  all  kinds  of  funeral  offerings,  especially  vases,  some  of  them 
perhaps  funerary  urns  containing  the  bones  and  ashes  of  the  dead. 
The  structures  are  always  found  in  groups,  arranged  in  concentric 
circles  with  two  or  three  larger  ones  in  the  middle  :  they  were  built 
on  flat  elevations  beside  a  river  or  a  ravine. 

These  buildings  all  date  from  the  neolithic  or  the  chalcolithic  age  : 
none  is  later.  To  the  same  period  belong  the  thousands  of  graves  which 
are  found,  often  in  fairly  large  groups,  all  over  South  Russia,  not  only 
in  the  steppes  but  in  the  woodland  as  well — graves  covered  with  a 
barrow,  and  containing  contracted  skeletons  more  or  less  thickly 
daubed  with  red  paint.  The  oldest  graves  of  this  kind  are  very  poor 
ones  and  undoubtedly  belong  to  nomads.  It  has  often  been  asked, 
how  these  graves  are  related  to  the  neolithic  and  chalcolithic  villages 
and  funerary  structures  described  above,  those  which  are  charac- 
terized by  the  pottery  with  spirals  and  maeanders.  I  cannot  linger 
over  this  question  ;  but  I  believe  that  the  neolithic  population  which 
produced  the  spiral  and  maeander  pottery  superposed  itself  on  a 
portion  of  the  population  with  contracted  skeletons,  influenced  it 
profoundly,  and  was  absorbed  in  its  turn  by  new-comers  of  the  same 
origin  as  itself.  This  process  of  influence  and  absorption  introduced 
noticeable  alterations  into  the  life  of  the  nomads  who  buried  their 
dead  in  the  contracted  position  and  covered  them  with  red  paint. 
We  find  evidence  of  the  change  in  a  good  many  different  places.  In 
the  district  of  Kharkov,  as  Gorodtsov  has  observed,  the  nomads 
gradually  became  a  sedentary  agricultural  people,  modified  their  type 
of  sepulchral  structure,  and  developed  their  primitive  pottery  by 
introducing  new  shapes  and  by  decorating  their  vases  with  incised, 
and  sometimes  painted,  ornaments,  borrowed  from  their  neighbours 
in  the  region  of  the  Dnieper.  This  new  civilization,  which  was  also 
affected,  in  its  weapons  and  metal  implements,  by  the  chalcolithic 
culture  of  the  Kuban,  exercised,  in  its  turn,  a  very  powerful  influence 
on  Central  Russia,  where  it  gave  rise  to  the  so-called  Fatianovo  civili- 
zation. Again,  in  the  region  of  the  Dnieper,  the  Bug,  and  the  Dniester, 
the  superposition  of  nomads  upon  the  agricultural  population  pro- 
duced a  mixed  culture  which  lasted  right  through  the  bronze  epoch, 
and  which  is  represented  by  a  number  of  barrows  recently  excavated 
near  Sevastopol,  near  Odessa,  and  in  Podolia. 

The  most  important  point  to  observe  is  that  civilized  life  never 

ceased  in  the  western  part  of  South  Russia,  and  that  during  the  Bronze 

Age  the  inhabitants  remained  sedentary  and  agricultural.    They  had 

no  rich  metallic  culture  until  the  arrival  of  conquerors  bringing  iron. 

2353  D 


I  I  ; 


18     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

This  is  easy  to  understand.  There  is  no  copper  in  the  Russian  steppes, 
and  none  in  Central  Russia.  The  only  good  copper  mines  are  far 
away — in  the  Ural,  in  Transcaucasia,  and  in  Hungary.  Objects 
produced  in  these  regions  found  their  way  to  the  Russian  steppes. 
But  we  cannot  expect  to  find  such  objects  in  great  numbers.  The 
steppes  had  nothing  to  offer  in  exchange  for  precious  articles.  The 
time  had  not  yet  come  when  the  corn,  the  fish,  and  the  leather  of 
South  Russia  found  a  certain  and  permanent  market  in  countries  which 
abounded  in  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  iron. 

The  conditions  in  the  valley  of  the  Kuban  were  very  different. 
The  Kuban  valley,  rich  in  natural  produce,  always  served  as  a  granary 
for  the  mountainous  and  alpine  regions  of  Central  Caucasus,  which 
had  plenty  of  fruit  but  were  poor  in  cereals.  Now  Central  Caucasus 
and  Transcaucasia  abound  in  metals,  especially  copper  and  iron.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  most  ancient  Greek  writers  always  affirmed  that 
iron  and  even  copper — as  to  copper  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion — 
were  '  invented  '  by  the  peoples  of  Transcaucasia.  A  recently  pub- 
lished papyrus  from  Oxyrhynchus,  containing  fragments  of  Hellanicus, 
gives  a  new  version  of  the  current  story :  according  to  this  version, 
the  use  of  iron  weapons  was  introduced  by  one  Saneunos,  a  Scythian 
king.  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  the  mines  of  Transcaucasia 
furnished  much  of  the  copper  which  was  fashioned  into  weapons, 
implements,  and  objects  of  art  in  Mesopotamia ;  as  to  the  precious 
metals,  especially  gold,  I  need  only  recall  the  legend  of  the  Argonauts 
and  the  Golden  Fleece  :  I  shall  return  to  the  question  later.  Silver 
was  extracted  in  great  quantities  from  the  mines  in  the  country  of  the 
Chalybians.  Is  it  not  natural  that  the  copper  and  precious  metals  of 
the  Caucasus  should  have  easily  found  their  way,  probably  by  sea,  to 
the  fertile  valley  of  the  Kuban  ?  We  know  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Black  Sea  littoral,  and  particularly  of  the  Crimea  and  the  Caucasian 
coast,  were  always  intrepid  sailors,  and  that  in  historic  times  they 
practised  a  piracy  which  was  difficult  to  repress,  even  with  the  regular 
fleet  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom.  I  am  convinced  that  it  was  they 
who  from  the  earliest  times  transported  the  metals  of  Transcaucasia 
to  the  seaports  in  the  Straits  of  Kerch.  These  seaports  were  probably 
active  hundreds  of  years  before  the  Greeks  settled  there.  One  of 
them  was  certainly  Panticapaeum.  The  barbarian  name  of  the  town, 
and  the  legend,  preserved  by  Stephanus  of  Byzantium,  that  it  was 
founded  by  a  son  of  Aietes,  king  of  those  Colchians  who  appear  in  the 
story  of  the  Argonauts,  testify  to  the  great  antiquity  of  the  town,  to 
its  ancient  intercourse  with  the  Caucasus,  and  to  its  existence  as  a 
seaport  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Milesians.     I  take  it  that  two 


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TWO     ENGRAVED    SILVER    VASES     FROM     MAIKOP 

Third  Millennium  B.C.     Hermitage,  Petrograd 


THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 


19 


other  seaports  had  the  same  history,  Phanagoria  and,  in  particular, 
Hermonassa,  which  are  situated  on  the  other  side  of  the  straits,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kuban.  With  regard  to  Hermonassa,  Hecataeus  informs 
us  that  there  was  another  place  of  the  same  name,  near  Trebizond,  the 
chief  port  of  the  Transcaucasian  mining  district.  Perhaps  Trebizond, 
a  very  ancient  Greek  colony,  took  part  in  the  foundation  of  the  Cauca- 
sian Hermonassa,  at  the  period  when  the  Greeks  were  planting  colonies 
in  the  principal  centres  of  civilized  life  on  the  Black  Sea.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  Carians,  and  after  them  the  Ionians,  inherited  their 
commercial  relations  from  their  prehistoric  predecessors.  We  need 
not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that  the  oldest  cemeteries  in  the  Kuban 
valley,  which  belong  to  the  copper  age,  are  exceptionally  rich,  espe- 
cially in  weapons,  implements,  and  artistic  objects,  of  copper,  silver, 
and  gold,  which  can  only  be  compared  with  the  objects  of"  the  same 
copper  period  from  the  ruins  and  cemeteries  of  Elam,  Mesopotamia, 
and  Egypt. 

The  most  interesting  of  these  Kuban  graves  is  that  discovered  by 
Veselovski  in  the  town  of  Maikop,  under  a  monumental  kurgan 
10-65  metres  high  (fig.  1).  At  the  level  of  the  soil  a  circular  enclosure 
had  been  made  of  undressed  stone,  and  in  the  centre  a  great  sepulchral 
trench  dug,  142  metres  deep.  The  walls  of  the  trench  were  lined 
with  wood,  and  the  floor  was  of  pebbles.  At  the  corners,  wooden 
posts  supported  the  wooden  roof  of"  the  tomb.  A  thin  layer  of  earth 
was  placed  on  this  roof,  and  above  it  another  much  broader  roof. 
Inside,  the  grave  was  divided  into  three  by  partitions,  one  partition 
dividing  the  grave  into  two  halves,  the  other  dividing  one  of  the  halves 
into  two  others.  The  chief  part  of  the  tomb,  the  southern,  was 
reserved  for  the  corpse,  which  lay  in  a  contracted  position  with  the 
hands  raised  to  the  head.  The  whole  skeleton  was  covered  with  red 
paint.  The  funeral  furniture  of  the  principal  grave  was  extremely 
sumptuous  :  the  skeleton  was  strewn  all  over  with  gold  ornaments, 
originally,  no  doubt,  sewn  on  to  the  clothing  ;  figures  of  lions,  in  two 
sizes  (pi.  IV,  5  and  7)  ;  figures  of  oxen  (pi.  IV,  6)  ;  rings  ;  rosettes  ; 
gold,  turquoise,  and  carnelian  beads.  Under  the  skull  were  found  two 
narrow  strips  of  gold,  pierced  with  eyelets,  probably  for  sewing  orna- 
ments on  to  them  (pi.  IV,  1)  ;  earrings  ;  and  other  gold  jewels. 
Beside  the  skeleton  were  six  gold  and  silver  rods,  four  of  which  passed 
through  figures  of  oxen,  of  solid  gold  and  silver,  attached  near  their 
lower  ends  (pi.  IV,  2-4).  The  upper  ends  of  the  rods  were  pierced 
for  laces  or  ribbons.  Alongside  the  rods  were  seventeen  vases  of  gold, 
silver,  and  stone,  two  of  them  with  engraved  designs  (pi.  Ill,  1-4) :  of 
these  I  shall  speak  later.    The  tomb  also  contained  several  weapons  and 


20     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

implements  of  polished  stone  and  of  copper,  and  several  copper  and  clay 
vases .  In  each  of  the  two  other  compartments  there  was  another  skeleton 
covered  with  red  paint,  one  female  and  one  male  :  the  furniture  was 
similar,  but  less  rich.    Farmakovski  has  inferred,  from  a  minute  study 


Fig.  i. 

of  the  objects  in  the  tomb,  that  the  principal  personage  was  buried 
with  a  tiara,  of  cloth  or  felt,  on  his  head,  and  that  this  tiara  was  orna- 
mented in  front  by  two  golden  diadems  studded  with  golden  rosettes  ; 
that  the  gold  and  silver  rods  probably  belonged  to  a  funeral  canopy, 
the  edges  of  which  were  decorated  with  gold  plaques  ;  that  at  the 
interment  the  rods  of  the  canopy  were  placed  beside  the  body,  and 


THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     21 

the  body  covered  with  the  curtain  of  the  canopy.    The  dead  man  was 
evidently  no  ordinary  person,  but  the  chief  or  king  of  a  tribe. 

The  Maikop  grave  is  no  exception.  Although  the  explorers  of  the 
Caucasus  paid  little  attention  to  graves  with  contracted  and  painted 
skeletons,  and  directed  most  of  their  efforts  to  discovering  richer 
Scythian  tombs,  they  were  nevertheless  so  fortunate  as  to  find  four 
graves  contemporary  with  the  Maikop  grave  and  rivalling  it  in  the 
splendour  of  their  furniture.  As  to  graves  with  similar  though  poorer 
furniture,  they  can  be  counted  by  dozens  if  not  by  hundreds.  It  is 
quite  certain  that  in  the  copper  age  the  Northern  Caucasus,  especially 
the  valley  of  the  Kuban,  was  thickly  populated,  and  that  the  inhabi- 
tants were  wealthy  enough  to  build  monumental  tombs  and  to  sur- 
round the  dead  not  merely  with  rough  clay  vessels  but  with  precious 
objects  of  copper,  gold,  and  silver.  I  shall  give  a  short  account  of  the 
four  finds  mentioned  above. 

In  1898,  while  digging  for  clay  in  the  Cossack  village  {stanitsa)  of 
Staromyshastovskaya,  workmen  found  a  silver  vessel  of  the  same  ovoid 
shape  as  the  Maikop  vases  ;  it  contained  a  number  of  precious  objects 
resembling  those  at  Maikop  :  a  golden  diadem  with  rosettes,  a  silver 
figure  of  an  ox  with  a  hole  in  its  back  for  suspension  or  for  the  insertion 
of  a  rod,  hundreds  of  gold  and  carnelian  beads  which  originally  formed 
one  or  more  necklaces  and  bracelets,  a  lion's  head  in  gold,  belonging 
to  one  of  the  necklaces,  and  several  earrings  each  composed  of  gold 
rings  of  various  sizes  interlinked. 

Even  more  extraordinary  are  the  two  graves  discovered  in  kurgans 
near  the  village  of  Tsarskaya.  The  wooden  framework  of  the  Maikop 
grave  is  replaced  by  stone  structures  which  recall,  with  singular 
insistence,  the  well-known  dolmens  of  the  same  period  in  Northern 
Caucasus.  These  structures  were  composed  of  big  slabs  forming 
stone-boxes  or  tomb  chambers  each  divided  into  two  by  a  cross-slab. 
Both  chambers  had  stone  roofs,  one  roof  being  gabled,  the  other  flat. 
One  corpse  was  buried  in  each  stone-box  ;  the  corpse  occupied  one 
compartment,  the  other  was  filled  with  tomb  furniture.  In  both 
graves  the  bodies  were  contracted  and  covered  with  a  thick  coat  of 
red  paint  :  the  same  paint  was  used  on  the  walls  of  the  second  stone- 
box  and  on  certain  objects  in  the  grave.  The  furniture  of  both  graves 
was  extremely  rich  and  copious  :  it  is  of  the  same  character  as  at 
Maikop,  but  the  objects  are  clumsier  and  less  distinguished.  There  is 
no  doubt,  however,  that  Maikop  and  Tsarskaya  Stanitsa  are  con- 
temporary. The  Tsarskaya  kurgans  show  the  same  combination  of 
stone  and  copper  implements,  without  any  bronze,  the  same  wealth  of 
gold  and  silver,  the  same  shapes  of  earring,  and  the  same  abundance 


22     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

of  stone  and  metal  beads.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  enumerate  the 
scores  of  objects  found  in  these  graves  :  I  shall  indicate  only  the  most 
characteristic.  Among  the  weapons,  the  forks  or  spikes  are  particu- 
larly curious  :  one  of  them  is  decorated  with  little  human  figures. 
Curious  also,  the  remains  of  a  fur  coat  and  of  other  garments  in  the 
second  stone-box.  The  dead  man  was  covered  by  a  black  fur  coat,  the 
fur  turned  outwards,  with  a  silver  collar  ;  under  the  fur  was  a  tissue 
of  yellow  down,  and  under  this,  on  the  body  itself,  remains  of  a  linen 
garment  with  a  painted  border  of  purplish  red. 

The  last  grave  which  I  wish  to  mention  was  found  in  1909  at 
IJlski,  a  village  of  the  Mountain  Tatars.  The  most  interesting  finds 
were  a  model  of  a  wagon  and  fragments  of  five  or  six  female  statuettes 
in  clay  and  of  two  others  in  alabaster.  This  grave  is  undoubtedly  later 
than  the  preceding  :  for,  first,  the  grave  is  in  the  loose  earth  and  not 
in  the  virgin  soil  ;  secondly,  the  skeleton  lies  in  an  extended  position  ; 
and,  thirdly,  the  type  of  pin  is  more  advanced.  Nevertheless,  it  still 
belongs  to  the  copper  age  or  to  the  early  part  of  the  bronze  age. 

All  these  graves  of  which  I  have  spoken  bear  witness  to  a  high 
development  of  cultural  life  in  the  Northern  Caucasus  during  the 
early  copper  age.  But  the  copper  age  is  of  course  a  relative  conception: 
it  does  not  provide  an  absolute  chronology.  Yet  absolute  chronology 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  us.  Is  the  copper  age  in  Northern 
Caucasus  contemporary  with  the  copper  age  in  Mesopotamia,  in 
Turkestan,  or  in  Egypt  ?  I  believe  it  is,  although  most  investigators 
deny  this  and  attribute  our  finds  not  to  the  third  but  to  the  second 
millennium  B.C. 

The  reasons  for  my  conclusion  are  derived  from  a  stylistic  com- 
parison of  the  artistic  objects,  especially  the  engraved  silver  vases, 
with  similar  objects  found  in  Mesopotamia  and  in  Egypt. 

I  will  begin  with  the  engraved  vessels  from  Maikop  (pi.  Ill),  as  they 
are  the  most  artistic  objects  among  the  Kuban  finds.  The  first  (pi.  Ill, 
1-2)  has  the  usual  shape  of  the  Maikop  vases — ovoid  body,  wide  neck, 
no  foot,  two  handles  nailed  to  the  neck  for  suspension.  The  engraved 
decoration  (fig.  2)  is  disposed  as  follows  :  on  the  neck  is  represented 
a  chain  of  mountains,  interrupted  by  two  spreading  trees.  Between 
the  trees,  a  bear  is  standing  on  his  hind  legs  to  reach  the  fruit  :  the 
fruit  is  not  indicated.  On  the  body  of  the  vase  are  two  rivers  flowing 
from  the  mountains  and  meeting  in  a  sea  or  lake  which  occupies  the 
bottom  of  the  vase.  At  the  mouth  of  one  river  a  bird — duck  or  goose — 
is  sitting  on  the  water  :  at  the  mouth  of  the  second,  a  water-plant, 
probably  a  reed,  grows  on  the  bank.  On  the  body  of  the  vase  are 
two  rows  of  animals,  four  in  each  row  :  in  the  first  row,  a  bull,  a  wild 


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THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     23 

ass — or  rather  Przhevalski's  horse — ,  a  lion  with  a  bird  on  his  back,  all 
facing  left,  and  a  second  bull  facing  right  :  in  the  second  row,  a  wild 
boar,  a  panther,  and  two  antelopes,  all  facing  left.  The  streams  of  the 
rivers  are  partly  concealed  by  the  bodies  of  the  animals. 

The  second  vase  (pi.  Ill,  3-4)  is  of  nearly  the  same  shape,  but  the 
neck  is  narrower  and  longer.    The  bottom  is  occupied  by  a  large  rosette, 


ENGRAVINGS  ON  THE  MAIKOP  VASE 


Fig.  2. 

which  consists  of  three  rows,  one  above  the  other,  of  round  leaves 
placed  crosswise,  the  same  type  of  rosette  as  those  which  were  sewn 
to  the  diadems  of  Maikop  and  Staromyshastovskaya.  The  whole  body 
of  the  vase  above  the  bottom  is  filled  with  a  row  of  five  animals  and 
of  three  birds,  all  facing  left  :  an  antelope,  a  bull,  a  panther,  a  bird, 
and  an  antelope  and  a  panther  with  birds  on  their  backs.  Below  the 
neck  of  the  vase  is  a  narrow  hatched  strip. 

The  shape  of  both  vases,  in  its  main  lines,  recalls  the  celebrated 
Entemena  vase  found  at  Tello.    The  technique  is  the  same,  each  vase 


24     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

being  hammered  out  of  a  single  piece  of  metal.  The  engraving  is  not 
so  delicate  in  the  Maikop  vases  as  in  the  Entemena  vase,  and  reminds 
one  rather  of  the  engraving  on  the  famous  Kish  spear-head,  the  form 
of  which,  I  may  remark,  is  very  like  that  of  the  spear-heads  from 
Tsarskaya  Stanitsa.  The  primitiveness  of  the  Maikop  engravings, 
compared  with  the  Entemena  vase,  is  shown  by  the  treatment  of 
details  :  for  water,  leaves  and  branches,  fur,  horns,  manes  and 
plumage,  the  Maikop  engraver  uses  simple  straight  lines  set  in  parallel 
rows.  In  this  respect  the  engraver  of  the  Entemena  vase  works  more 
freely  than  the  artists  of  the  Maikop  vases,  of  the  mother-of-pearl 
plaques  from  Tello,  of  the  bone  objects  from  proto-dynastic  Egypt,  or 
of  the  asphalt  and  ivory  plaques  from  Elam.  Look  at  the  stylization 
of  the  lions'  manes,  and  the  plumage  of  the  eagles,  on  the  Entemena 
vase  :  there  is  no  parallel  to  them  on  the  Maikop  vases,  but  only  on 
the  more  developed  palettes  and  the  bone  mountings  of  stone  knives 
in  proto-dynastic  Egypt. 

The  general  arrangement  of  the  figures  on  the  Maikop  vases  and 
on  the  Maikop  canopy  is  identical.  It  is  the  most  archaic  type  of 
decoration  :  the  elements  which  it  uses  are  figures  of  animals,  almost 
exclusively  naturalistic,  disposed  either  in  parallel  rows,  or  in  complete 
disorder.  There  is  hardly  any  attempt  to  combine  the  figures  into 
groups,  and  such  attempts  as  are  made  are  of  the  most  primitive 
description  ;  in  the  second  row  of  the  first  vase  the  paw  of  the  panther 
is  placed  on  the  back  of  the  antelope ;  and  in  both  vases  some  of  the 
animals  have  birds  on  their  backs.  We  may  notice  in  the  two  bulls 
on  the  first  vase  a  timid  suggestion  of  the  later  heraldic  scheme  of 
confronted  animals.  At  the  same  time,  some  of  the  animals  show  a 
powerful  realism,  a  striking  faculty  of  keen  observation.  Such  a  com- 
bination of  primitive  methods  in  composition  with  strong  naturalism 
in  the  rendering  of  individual  animals  is  entirely  foreign  to  later 
periods  in  the  evolution  of  art.  We  come  across  survivals  of  it  both 
linearly  Ionian  art  and  in  the  Scythian  animal  style,  but  it  is  sufficient 
topuT"These  classes  ot  monuments  besTa^TouFvases,  to  be  convinced 
that  in  all  essentials  they  are  totally  different. 

The  only  analogy  to  this  mixture  of  realism  and  of  primitive 
schematization  is  presented  by  the  oldest  monuments  of  Elam  and 
Egypt  :  the  archaicElamite  seals  withj^riffiS-of-araimalSj  and  the  various 
products  oTpTe-ah^prcto-dyna^Hc^gypt,especiallythe bone  mountings 
of  stone  knives  andarticles  of  toilet  and  furniture  in  bone  and  ivory. 
Less  typical  are  the  Egyptian  stone  palettes,  where  we  already  meet 
with  attempts  to  unite  the  animals  into  groups,  or  to  combine  them 
with  human  figures,  and  so  to  produce  a  more  elaborate  arrangement. 


THE   PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     25 

Some  of  these  monuments,  however,  even  later  examples  such  as  the 
well-known  palette  with  three  rows  of  animals  and  one  of  trees, 
preserve  the  primitive  features  of  earlier  productions  :  worth  noticing, 
the  resemblance  in  the  treatment  of  trees  on  this  palette  and  on  the 
Maikop  vases.  But  the  primitive  scheme  on  the  Maikop  vase  is  made 
more  complex  by  the  introduction  of  two  rivers  and  a  lake,  of  trees 
and  mountains.  In  early  Babylonian  and  Egyptian  art,  the  introduction 
of  landscape  elements  into  the  increasingly  complicated  representa- 
tions comes  comparatively  late  :  in  Babylonia  not  earlier  than  the 
reign  of  Naramsin,  on  his  celebrated  stele  and  on  contemporaneous 
seal-cylinders  :  in  Egypt,  during  the  earliest  dynastic  period,  for 
instance,  on  the  mace-head  of  '  King  Scorpion  '.  A  glance  at  the 
monuments  will  show  that  the  treatment  of  the  landscape  is  entirely 
different  from  that  on  the  Maikop  vase.  It  must  be  noticed,  however, 
that  in  the  stylization  of  water  the  Maikop  vase  is  akin  to  the  mace- 
head  of  King  Scorpion,  while  both  differ  greatly  in  this  particular 
from  the  Babylonian  monuments  with  their  system  of  transverse, 
instead  of  longitudinal,  lines  :  although  the  system  is  more  advanced 
on  the  mace-head,  where  the  lines  are  undulated,  than  on  the  Maikop 
vase,  where  straight  lines  are  disposed  in  triangles.  In  the  above- 
mentioned  Babylonian  and  Egyptian  monuments,  the  landscape  is 
subordinated  to  the  figures,  and  an  effort  is  made  to  combine  both 
elements  into  a  whole,  whereas  on  the  Maikop  vase  landscape  and 
animals  are  merely  juxtaposed,  the  only  exception  being  the  bear 
climbing  the  tree.  This  very  primitive  treatment  of  landscape  is  by 
no  means  unknown  in  the  earliest  artistic  monuments  of  Egypt.  It  is 
particularly  interesting  to  compare  the  landscape  on  the  Maikop  vase 
with  painted  scenes  of  the  same  type  on  the  ovoid  clay  pots  of  pre- 
dynastic  Egypt.  On  the  neck  of  such  pots  we  often  find  a  representa- 
tion of  a  chain  of  mountains,  and  on  the  body  rows  of  animals  in  the 
desert  or  by  the  Nile,  sometimes  in  combination  with  trees,  and 
beneath  the  animals  what  are  probably  ships  floating  on  the  river, 
though  some  scholars  prefer  to  recognize  fortified  villages.  The  most 
detailed  representation  of  the  kind,  comprising  a  great  number  of 
human  figures,  was  found  painted  on  the  walls  of  a  prehistoric 
tomb  at  Hierakonpolis.  The  transition  to  the  later  system  of 
landscape  treatment  is  seen  in  bone  objects,  on  which  an  elephant  is 
sometimes  portrayed  standing  on  a  mountain.  The  Maikop  vase 
shows  the  same  transitional  character  :  here  we  find  a  survival  of 
prehistoric  motives,  a  juxtaposition  of  two  entirely  distinct  schemes 
of  ornamentation,  and  a  first  timid  attempt  to  subordinate  landscape 
to  figures. 
2353  E 


26     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

The  arrangement  of  the  decoration  on  the  second  Maikop  vase  is 
no  less  typical.  The  nearest  analogy  to  this  arrangement  is  furnished 
by  the  well-known  ivory  mounting  of  a  stone  knife  in  the  collection 
of  Lord  Carnarvon.  Here  as  there — if  the  representation  on  the 
Maikop  vase  is  unrolled — the  centre  is  formed  by  a  rosette.  Round 
this  rosette,  with  feet  towards  it,  is  a  row  of  animals  all  moving  in  one 
direction.  In  both  objects  the  purpose  of  the  artist  was  plainly  to 
represent  wild  beasts  chasing  tame  animals — a  goat  and  a  bull.  The 
likeness  between  the  two  designs  is  remarkable. 

I  now  pass  to  the  rendering  of  the  separate  animals.  The  lions 
on  the  Maikop  vase,  and  the  lions  sewn  to  the  canopy,  are  of  one  and 
the  same  type.  This  proves  that  all  the  objects  of  the  find  were  made 
in  one  workshop.  The  lions  are  characterized  by  a  vivid  naturalism, 
by  a  heavy,  clumsy  build,  and  by  the  primitive  rendering  of  such 
details  as  eyes,  ears,  tails,  and  paws.  The  mane,  for  example,  is  either 
not  rendered  at  all,  or  only  summarily  indicated,  so  that  it  assumes  the 
form  of  a  collar.  In  this  respect  the  lions  of  Maikop  differ  widely  from 
the  lions  of  the  Entemena  vase  and  of  the  Egyptian  palettes.  I  should 
like  to  draw  particular  attention  to  the  form  of  the  eyes,  which  is 
invariable  in  all  the  Maikop  animals  :  the  eye  is  either  a  circle  with 
a  dot  in  the  middle,  or  it  has  a  more  oval  shape  and  lacks  the  dot. 
Benedite,  who  has  collected  all  the  material  as  regards  primitive 
renderings  of  the  eye  in  pre-dynastic  and  proto-dynastic  Egypt,  con- 
siders these  two  forms  the  most  ancient  of  all.  The  eyes  are  some- 
times exceedingly  large. 

An  almost  perfect  analogy  to  the  lions  of  Maikop  is  to  be  found  in 
the  lions  on  ivory  mountings  of  stone  knives,  especially  those  from 
Gebel-el-Araq  and  in  the  Carnarvon  Collection.  These  have  all  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Maikop  lions  :  the  same  heavy  and  swollen 
body,  the  same  absence  of  mane,  the  same  round  eyes,  semicircular 
ears,  and  upturned  tail.  Of  the  same  type  are  the  lions  on  other  knife- 
mountings,  for  instance,  those  at  Brooklyn  and  in  the  Pitt-Rivers 
Collection,  and  on  numerous  articles  of  toilet  and  furniture  from 
Hierakonpolis.  This  similarity  is  the  more  important  as  it  testifies 
still  further  to  the  close  relation,  often  pointed  out  by  scholars,  between 
these  monuments  and  corresponding  articles  in  Mesopotamia.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  lions  of  the  stone  palettes  are  much  more  fully 
developed,  freer  in  their  movements,  and  more  elaborate  in  detail, 
for  instance  in  the  mane.  An  intermediate  position  is  occupied  by  the 
gold  mounting  of  a  mace-handle  from  Nubia.  The  whole  structure 
of  the  lions  on  this  handle  is  still  of  the  early  Asiatic  type,  the  only 
difference  being  that  the  artist  is  already  trying  to  represent  the  mane, 


THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     27 

significantly  enough  by  means  of  geometric  patterns  as  in  the  second 
Maikop  vase. 

Before  proceeding  I  must  point  out  the  close  resemblance,  in 
general  ornamentation  and  in  the  treatment  of  animals,  between  the 
Nubian  handle  and,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Maikop  objects,  on  the 
other  the  Egyptian  ivories.  The  embossed  work  of  the  Maikop  gold 
plaques  and  of  the  Nubian  handle  finds  a  parallel  outside  Egypt  in  the 
Sumerian  objects  from  Astarabad  recently  published  by  myself. 

We  may  also  notice  the  great  similarity  between  the  panthers  on  the 
second  Maikop  vase  and  on  the  Nubian  handle  :  in  both  we  find  a 
tendency  to  render  the  fur  of  the  animal  by  means  of  geometric  orna- 
ments. The  same  peculiarity  may  be  observed  in  the  well-known  gold 
plaques,  forming  the  mounting  of  a  stone  knife,  in  the  Cairo  Museum. 

The  bulls  of  the  Maikop  find  do  not  differ  from  each  other  or 
from  the  Staromyshastovskaya  figurine.  The  type  is  constant  :  a 
huge  head  with  an  exceedingly  long,  almost  square  muzzle,  enormous 
lyre-shaped  horns,  a  massive  body  with  drooping  hind-quarters,  short 
heavy  legs,  big  round  eyes  with  a  dot  in  the  middle.  This  type  of 
bull  is  entirely  foreign  to  Egypt.  The  only  parallels  are  furnished  by 
Elamitic  and  by  one  or  two  Sumerian  monuments  ;  especially 
Elamitic  seals,  and  seal-impressions  on  proto-Elamitic  tablets.  Very 
curious,  the  wild  ass  or  Przhevalski's  horse,  the  oldest  representation 
of  a  horse  on  monuments.  The  animal  on  the  Maikop  vase  is  cer- 
tainly not  an  ass  :  a  glance  at  the  rows  of  asses  on  Egyptian  palettes 
makes  that  clear.  The  only  counterpart  to  our  animal  is  the  probably 
contemporary  figure  on  an  ivory  plaque  from  Susa.  The  likeness  is 
conspicuous  :  the  same  muscular  body  and  expressive  head,  the  same 
treatment  of  the  mane  and  tail  by  means  of  straight  lines. 

The  wild  boar  and  the  bear  are  peculiar  to  our  find.  There  are 
no  representations  of  these  animals  on  early  monuments  of  the  Near 
East  or  of  Egypt.  The  types  of  bird  are  almost  identical  with  those 
on  various  bone  and  ivory  objects  from  Egypt.  The  Maikop  birds 
are  of  course  rougher  and  less  individual  than  the  Egyptian,  but  the 
stylistic  treatment  of  the  plumage  is  the  same  in  every  detail. 

The  analysis  of  the  artistic  monuments  of  Maikop  has  shown 
throughout  a  very  close  affinity  with  the  earliest  monuments  of  the 
Near  East  and  of  Egypt,  which  belong  to  a  period  when  the  arts  of 
Egypt  and  Asia  were  still  closely  related,  and  did  not  present  any  of 
the  very  marked  differences  observable  during  the  historic  period.  The 
monuments  of  Maikop,  though  very  similar  to  those  of  Elam,  Sumer, 
and  Egypt,  are  as  original  as  any  of  these  groups.  I  have  no  ground 
for    affirming  that    the  monuments  of  Elam  were  imported  from 


28     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

Mesopotamia,  nor  can  I  suppose  that  there  was  regular  and  systematic 
importation  from  Mesopotamia  to  Egypt,  or  inversely.  The  objects 
of  the  same  period  found  at  Astarabad  seem  not  to  have  been  imported. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  North  Caucasian  monuments  described 
above  :  they  are  certainly  local  products.  Farmakovski  has  tried  to 
prove  that  the  chain  of  mountains  on  the  Maikop  vase  reproduces  the 
main  outlines  of  the  Caucasian  mountains  viewed  from  the  north  : 
he  may  be  right ;  the  likeness  is  indeed  striking.  But  the  Maikop  vases 
have  many  other  peculiarities.  The  rendering  of  the  mountains  is 
much  more  naturalistic  than  on  the  Egyptian  pots.  The  group  of 
the  bear  and  the  tree  presents  the  first  attempt  to  combine  tree  and 
animal  into  a  heraldic  scheme,  and  remains  unparalleled.  The  idea 
of  giving  a  kind  of  map,  or  perhaps  a  representation  of  Paradise  with 
its  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  trees,  and  animals,  is  novel  and  indeed 
unique.  The  same  attempt  was  made  in  Egypt  with  the  same  elements, 
but  the  methods  adopted  were  entirely  different.  Finally,  as  Elam, 
Sumer,  and  Egypt  have  each  their  peculiar  fauna,  so  has  Maikop  : 
for  the  elephants,  giraffes,  and  snakes  of  Egypt  we  have  the  wild  boar, 
the  bear,  and  the  proto-horse.  We  are  evidently  dealing  with  a  new 
branch  of  a  great  artistic  movement,  a  movement  which  spread,  in 
the  period  of  transition  to  metallic  culture,  wherever  it  found  the 
conditions  favourable  :  that  is  to  say,  to  Turkestan,  to  Elam,  to  Meso- 
potamia, to  North  Caucasus,  to  Egypt.  It  is  worth  observing  that  in 
all  these  regions  the  rich  civilization  of  the  copper  age  gave  birth  to 
a  still  richer  and  more  highly  developed  civilization  of  bronze.  So 
also  in  North  Caucasus.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Caucasus  and 
Transcaucasia  were  homes  of  one  of  the  richest  and  most  interesting 
developments  of  the  bronze  civilization  :  witness  the  wonderful 
discoveries  in  the  cemeteries  of  Koban  and  in  many  parts  of  Trans- 
caucasia. I  feel  sure  that  this  outburst  originated  in  that  high  develop- 
ment of  civilized  life  in  Northern  and  perhaps  in  Southern  Caucasus 
during  the  copper  age,  which  is  certified  by  the  finds  above  analysed. 
I  cannot  deal  with  this  problem  at  length,  but  I  must  draw  attention 
to  two  cardinal  points.  In  the  bronze  age  the  typical  form  of  grave  in 
the  Caucasus  is  a  combination  of  barrow  with  the  so-called  stone-box, 
which  is  undoubtedly  a  late  imitation  of  a  real  dolmen,  as  in  the  Kuban 
graves  described  above.  The  same  fact  may  be  observed  in  the  Crimea. 
The  influence  of  the  copper  age  on  the  bronze  age  cannot  be  denied. 
The  second  point  which  shows  uninterrupted  evolution  and  close 
connexion  between  the  copper  and  the  bronze  age,  is  the  intimate 
relation  between  the  animal  style  which  characterizes  Caucasian 
ornamentation  in  the  bronze  age,  and  the  primitive  animal  style  of 


THE    PREHiaTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     29 

the  Maikop  grave.  The  influence  of  the  primitive  animal  style  is 
visible  both  in  the  strange  bronze  belts  of  Transcaucasia  and  Koban, 
and  in  Transcaucasian  pottery.  The  peculiar  combination  of  a  fully 
developed  geometric  style  with  a  very  refined  animal  style  has  no 
analogy  either  in  Mesopotamia  and  Iran  or  in  Western  Europe.  The 
general  arrangement  of  the  decoration  (rows  of  animals),  and  the 
geometric  treatment  of  the  animals  and  their  different  parts,  both 
originated  during  the  copper  period. 

I  will  now  give  a  brief  analysis  of  the  different  categories  of  objects 
which  are  typical  of  the  North  Caucasian  group  of  burials.  I  must 
first  of  all  observe  that  the  general  assortment  of  objects  is  exactly 
typical  of  the  copper,  not  of  the  bronze  age.  I  have  dealt  with  this 
subject  at  length  in  my  article  on  the  Treasure  of  Astarabad  :  here  I 
will  emphasize  only  the  most  important  points. 

The  assortment  of  weapons  in  the  North  Caucasian  burials  is  no 
less,  and  perhaps  more,  archaic  than  in  the  Astarabad  treasure  :  there 
are  no  swords,  whereas  swords  are  numerous  in  all  bronze  age  burials  ; 
and  no  arrows  :  the  principal  weapons  are  spears  with  leaf-shaped 
heads ;  daggers  reproducing  the  form  of  the  Egyptian  stone  daggers ; 
axes  ;  and  forks  or  spikes  with  two  or  three  prongs?  ulosely  related  to- 
these  peculiar  forks  are  the  very  primitive  hooks,  undoubtedly  weapons 
and  not  agricultural  implements.  Both  forks  and  hooks  seem  to  have 
Jjeen  widespread  in  South  Russia  during  the  copper  age  :  they  have- 
heerT~fouhdT  for  instance,  in  manyHof~the  graves  lhtlfe  Kharkov 
district.  Outside  Northern  Caucasus  and  South- RussiaHie  fork  as  a 
weapon  is  peculiar  to  the  Orient.  In  my  article  on  the  Treasure  of 
Astarabad  I  mentioned  similar  weapons  found  in  Turkestan,  and 
later,  as  a  religious  symbol,  in  Transcaucasia.  I  should  like  to  add 
that  this  weapon  is  by  no  means  foreign  to  Mesopotamia.  In  Meso- 
potamia as  well  as  in  other  countries,  almost  all  primitive  weapons 
became  emblems  of  different  deities.  The  ancient  spear  and  the 
so-called  boomerang  became  emblems  of  Marduk  (see  Ward,  Seal- 
Cylinders,  pp.  399  ff.)  ;  the  mace-head,  of  Shuqamuna,  a  Cassite  deity 
related  to  Nergal  (ibid.,  p.  403,  17).  The  fork,  in  its  turn,  was  used  as 
the  emblem  of  Ramman-Adad,  and  came  to  represent  the  thunderbolt ; 
the  prongs  consequently  acquired  the  form  of  rays  (Ward,  ibid., 
p.  399,  9).  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  sceptre  of  Ninib  developed 
out  of  a  combination  of  two  primitive  weapons — a  fork  with  two  prongs, 
and  a  mace.  It  is  worth  noting  that  these  symbols  were  very  frequently 
represented  as  standing  on  sacred  animals  :  the  spear  and  boomerang 
on  a  dragon,  the  sceptre  of  Ninib  on  a  griffin,  the  thunderbolt  on  a 
bull  (see  Collection  de  Clercq,  Nos.  169,  173,  230,  the  dynasty  of  Ur)  : 


30     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

thus  providing  an  excellent  analogy  for  the  bulls  fastened  to  the  rods 
of  the  Maikop  canopy  (if  a  canopy  it  be  :  it  is  equally  possible  that 
the  rods  were  sceptres,  symbolizing  the  religious  power  of  the  king). 
Incidentally,  I  must  point  out  that  the  best  analogy  for  the  ornamental 
treatment  of  the  upper  part  of  these  rods  is  presented  by  a  Sumerian 
monument  :  the  copper  mounting  of  the  lower  part  of  a  mace  from 
Tello,  which  is  decorated  with  the  same  hatched  ornament  as  the 
rods  of  Maikop  (see  Cros-Heuzey,  Nouvelles  foutlles,  p.  22).  Besides 
these  forks  there  is  another  weapon  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
Northern  Caucasus  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  South  Russia  :  I  mean 
the  copper  points,  6fte\oC,  for  fastening  to  spears  (see  Comptes  Rendus, 
1898,  pi.  IV,  54  and  55)  :  the  same  weapon  has  been  found  in  Elam 
(Delegation  en  Perse,  Me'moires,  vol.  viii,  p.  146,  fig.  297). 

Toilet  articles  were  very  numerous  in  the  Caucasian  finds.  A 
remarkable  quantity  of  gold  rings  and  gold  beads  were  found  in  the 
graves.  This  abundance  of  gold  rings,  and  particularly  the  string 
of  rings,  in  different  sizes,  from  Staromyshastovskaya,  leads  me  to 
think  that  they  were  not  mere  ornaments,  but  units  of  exchange,  like 
the  '  lake-dwellers'  purses '  of  the  pile  dwellings  in  Switzerland,  and 
other  finds  of  the  same  class  and  time. 

The  toilet  articles  in  the  Caucasian  graves  enable  us  to  verify  the 
chronological  result  which  we  obtained  from  a  stylistic  analysis  of  the 
finds  at  Maikop  and  Staromyshastovskaya.  The  profusion  of  gold 
and  silver  objects  in  the  Caucasian  burials  is,  as  I  said,  remarkable. 
It  rivals  the  wealth  of  the  famous  treasure  of  Priam  which  belongs  to 
the  second  period  of  Troy.  But  at  the  same  time,  the  shapes  of  the 
tQJlet_articles  on  the  Kubanare  far  more  primitive  thanatTro^ 
although  the  general  assortmelTF^esentsPtne  same- a1spa5F~irfT)Oth 
places.  In  both  places  we  find  a  limited  choice  of  weapons — no 
swords  or  arrows,  only  spears  and  axes  :  in  both,  costly  articles  of 
feminine  adornment,  in  three  types — first,  golden  diadems  ;  secondly, 
necklaces  and  bracelets  of  gold  beads  ;  thirdly,  earrings  :  in  both,. a 
fine  collection  of  gold  and  silver  vases  :  in  both,  sets  of  large  and  small 
copper  vessels.  The  absence  of  pottery  in  the  treasure  of  Troy  may 
be  due  to  its  being  a  treasure  and  not  a  burial. 

But  in  spite  of  this  similarity,  a  comparative  analysis  of  separate 
articles  in  the  two  finds  shows  that  the  Kuban  articles  are  far  more 
primitive  than  those  of  Troy. __ Take  the  diadems  and  the  earrings,  take 
the  gold  and  silver  vessels.  It  is  evident  that  the  Kuban  burials  belong 
to  the  pure  copper  age,  the  Trojan  treasure  to  the  early  bronze  period. 

Let  me  analyse  the  various  categories  of  objects  more  carefully. 
I  begin  with  the  vessels.    In  the  two  series,  only  the  plainest  and  most 


THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     31 
primitive  forms  coincide-the  spherical  and  the  wide-necked  ovoid 
The  more  complex  forms  are  represented  in  the  Trojan  finds  alone 
The  Kuban  vases  have  no  true  handles,  only  riveted  suspension  tubes' 
In  Troy  handles  are  common  enough,  though  some  of  the  vessels 
preserve  the  old  fashion.    No  offset  feet  at  Maikop,  many  at  Troy     The 
copper  vessels  of  Maikop  and  Tsarskaya  have  the  same  primitive^hape 
they  have  no  handles  :  at  Troy,  handles  had  already  begun  to  be  used' 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  diadems.    The  foundation l  the  same  at 
Jn llZ  f m  thC  CauKcasus-a  l0»g  narrow  strip  with  rounded  ends 
g?eatlv     ThZT*  ^^^^^    But  the  ornaments  diffe 
greatly.    They  are  much  richer  and  more  complex  at  Troy,  although 
the  forms  of  the  individual  ornaments  remain  very  primitive 

I  he  same  is  true  of  the  necklace  and  bracelet  beads.'     Great 
quantities  of  gold  beads  were  found  both  at  Troy  and  in  the  Caucasus 

formToTbead0^6  *"*!  *»  t  J^  '"    M  the  pS 
torms  of  bead,  at  Troy  and  m  the  Caucasus,  coincide :  pearl-shaped 

beads;  the  same  with  ribs  ;  annular;  hemispherical;  beads  like  parrs 
of  truncated  cones ;  others  like  perforated  quadrilateral  tubes    Z 
more  elaborate  forms  rosettes,  spirals,  leaves,  and  so  forth,  are  pecu- 
harto  Troy.    Many  of  the  types,  chiefly  the  simplest,  have  been  found 
inSumeraswell.    ThxKuban_earrings  are  very  primitive  :  plain  ring, 
rings  with  beads  app-el^didTiits^i  rings.    ln'/roy  the  earrings  may 
^e^u^joj^same^prototypes^but  theylr^^rTv^rTeTa^orate— 
n     rfu  aVr°y  are  Vanous  and  complex,  especially  the  heads. 
On  the  Kuban  they  are  very  simple,  as  in  the  burials  with  contracted 
skeletons  generally.    The  only  effort  to  improve  the  form  consists  in 
bending  the  upper  part  of  the  pin  :  there  is  no  trace  of  an  attempt  to 
wind  this  bow  into  a  spiral  or  to  give  it/the  shape  of  a  swan's  neck, 
as  was  usual  in  the  bronze  age.     In  the  Ulski  grave,  but  there  alone 
the  crooked  ends  of  the  pins  were  provided  with  balls,  just  as  in  the 
burials  of  the  middle  Hittite  period  near  Carchemish 
^Finally,  we  must  notice  toin  Troy  theornament  is  already  pure 

in  Jilam  m  MesopoTarniaTtiTEgypt,  and  in  the  Caucasus. 

(  u  n£  ^egoing  analysis  proves  that  the  finds  of  Troy  and  the  finds 
ot  the  Kuban  though  akin,  are  not  contemporaneous,  the  Kuban  finds 

I  being  much  older. 
I  have  already  pointed  out  more  than  once  that  the  IJlski  grave 
is   later  than  the  other  burials  in  the  Kuban.      It  is  interesting 
to  note,  that  in  this  grave,  and  there  only,  female  statuettes,  of 


and  there  only,  female  statuettes,  of 

very  primitive  type,  were  found.     These  statuettes,  as  is  well 

known,  are  common  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  Asia.     The  typology  of 


32     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

them  is  still  unexplained  ;  but  we  must  notice  the  very  striking  resem- 
blance between  our  statuettes  and,  on  the  one  hand,  those  of  the 
Aegean  Islands,  on  the  other,  the  clay  statuettes  of  the  Laibach  moors. 
The  Aegean  statuettes  are  certainly  pre- Mycenaean,  and  the  Laibach 
figures  still  belong  to  the  copper  age. 

To  conclude  this  rather  dry  and  tiresome  analysis  I  will  endeavour 
to  estimate  the  significance  of  my  deductions  for  the  earliest  periods 
of  the  evolution  of  human  civilization.  The  more  we  learn  of  the 
copper  age,  the  more  important  it  is  seen  to  be.  This  epoch  created 
brilliant  centres  of  cultured  life  all  over  the  world,  especially  in  the 
Orient.  To  the  centres  already  known,  Elamj_JMej>oj3o^ajrn^  and 
Egypt,  we  can  now  add  Turkestan  and  Northern  Caucasus — peTKaps" 
the  CaucasuTas  a  whole-;  The~bioem  of  civilization  in  the  Caucasus 
was  by  no  means  a  brief  one.  I  have  already  tried  to  show  that  the 
rich  development  of  the  bronze  age  in  the  Caucasus  owed  nothing  to 
foreign  centres.  I  see  no  trace  of  the  Mycenaean  influence  suggested 
by  Hoernes  ;  nor  do  I  see  any  relation  to  the  bronze  age  of  Western 
Siberia,  the  Altai,  and  the  Ural  Mountains.  The  Caucasian  bronze  age 
is  very  peculiar  and  very  original.  The  only  possible  connexion  is 
with  Mesopotamia  and  the  Asia  Minor  of  the  Hittite  period.  But  I 
{ — do  not  believe  that  this  connexion  came  about  in  the  usuaT  way,  by 
influence  due  to  conquest,  migration,  or  commercial  intercourse  ; 
I  think  that  in  all  these  countries  the  roots  of  development  lay  in  a 
great  copper  age  civilization  which  in  each  centre  arose  quite  inde- 
pendently and  proceeded  on  different  lines,  although  it  presented 
analogous  features  in  all.  How  to  explain  the  common  traits  I  cannot 
tell.  Are  we  to  suppose  a  common  origin  somewhere  in  Asia,  or  a 
common  state  of  mind  which,  just  as  in  the  palaeolithic  and  neolithic 
periods,  gave  rise  to  the  same  productions  everywhere,  quite  indepen- 
dent of  one  another  and  only  slightly  influenced  by  very  insignificant 
intercourse  ?  In  any  case,  the  peculiar  evolution  of  Hittite  civilization 
cannot  be  explained  without  assuming  a  great  centre  of  copper  age 
civilization  in  Asia  Minor  as  well.  As  yet  we  have  no  monuments 
testifying  to  the  existence  of  such  a  centre,  but  I  feel  convinced  that 
further  investigation  in  Asia  Minor  will  add  one  or  more  items  to  the 
long  list  of  centres  of  civilization  in  the  copper  age. 

A  most  important  centre  of  such  civilization  existed,  as  we  have 
seen,  on  the  Kuban,  contemporaneous  with,  and  akin  to,  the  other 
centres  of  the  same  epoch  in  Nearer  Asia  and  in  Egypt.  Do  we  know 
anything  of  the  people  which  produced  this  culture  ?  The  inhabitants, 
autochthonous  as  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  of  the  region 
adjacent  to  the  Sea  of  Azov  are  described  by  the  Greeks  as  forming  a 


\ 


THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS     33 

single  nationality.  The  Greeks  knew  them  by  the  generic  title  of 
Maeotians,  derived  from  Maeotis^ the  ancient  name  of  the  Sea  of  Azov. 
Two  Maeotian  tribes  areToften  mentioned  as  the  strongest  and  most 
numerous:  theJSauromatians  in  the  delta  of  the  Don,  and  the  Sindians 
on  both  shores  ofL_the_. straits  01  "Kerch,  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus. 
These  tribes  captivated  the  imagination  oflhe  Greeks  by  one  of  the 
peculiarities  of  their  social  structure  :  the  part  played  by  women  in 
military  and  political  life.    Female  sovereigns,  female  warriors  among 

— the__Sauromatians  were  a  commonplace  in  Greek  ethnographic  litera- 
ture  from  the  earliest  times.  The  same  feature,  we  learn,  characterized 
the  Maeotians  and  the  Sindians  :  remember  the  romantic  story  of 
Tirgatao  reported  by  Polyaenus.  Owing  to  the  gynaecocracy  which 
prevailed  among  the  dwellers  by  the  Sea  of  Azov,  the  semi-historical 
legend  of  the  Amazons  came  to  be  localized  on  the  shores  of  that  sea. 
These  female  warriors,  according  to  Herodotus,  migrated  to  the 
steppes  near  the  Sea  of  Azov  after  their  defeat  by  the  Greeks  in  their 
original  home,  Themiscyra,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Euxine. 
Landing  close  to  the  Sea  of  Azov,  they  came  to  blows  with  the 
Scythians  and  ended  by  marrying  the  youth  of  Scythia  and  forming 
the  semi-Scythian  Sauromatian  State.     The  legend  is  undoubtedly 

~  aetiolbgical,  but  it  bears  witness  to  historical  facts  :  to  constant 
relations  by  sea  between  the  straits  of  Kerch  and  the  southern  shore 
of  the  Euxine  ;  to  a  fierce  struggle  between  the  Maeotian  peoples  and 
the  Scythian  conquerors,  terminating  not  in  a  complete  Scythian 
^yjctory  but  in  compromise  and  intermarriage  ;  to  the  co-existence  of 
tworacial  elements  on  the  shore  ot  the  Sea  of  Azov,  and  to  strong 
Scythian  influence  on  the  Sauromatians.  Let  us  remember,  before 
going  further,  that  the  Saju^ojnatjans,  who  were  Maeotians,  are  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  Sarmatians,  who  do  not  appear  on  the  Don 
until  about  the  fourth  century,  and  who  were  an__Iranian  people, 
patriarchal  and  not  matriarchal. 

The  matriarchal  life  of  the  dwellers  by  the  Sea  of  Azov  was  closely 
connected  with  their  religious  beliefs.  Their  chief  divinity  was  the 
Mother  Goddess.  In  the  historic  period,  the  peninsula  of  Taman  was 
covered  with  sanctuaries  of  this  deity,  whom  the  Greeks  identified 
with  their  Artemis,  their  Aphrodite,  their  Demeter.  The  organization 
of  the  sanctuaries  was  the  same  as  in  Asia  Minor.  In  the  sanctuary 
near  Phanagoriatiiere  was  a  legend  attached  to  the  temple  :  Herakles 
was- said  to  have" come  hither  in  his  contest  with  the  Giants  :  the 
goddess  concealed  him  in  a  cave,  and  delivered  the  Giants  to  him 
one  by  one.  No  doubt  both  Herakles  and  the  Giants  had  been 
overcome  by  the  attractions  of  the  goddess,  who  thus  resembles  the 

2353  F 


34     THE    PREHISTORIC    CIVILIZATIONS 

Supreme  Goddess  of  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper,  the  mother  of  the 
mythical  Scythian  chiefs.  She  appears,  therefore,  to  have  been  a 
Mother  Goddess,  goddess  of  the  productive  forces  of  Nature,  like 
the  Mother  of  the  Gods  and  the  Potnia  Theron  of  Asia  Minor. 

As  far  as  I  know,  almost  all  students  of  the  Amazonian  legend,  led 
astray  by  the  semi-historic  character  of  the  story,  have  been  induced 
to  explain  it  by  an  historical  misconception.  The  beardless  Hittites — 
that  is  the  latest  explanation — were  taken  for  women  and  so  gave  rise 
to  the  legend.  Others  consider  that  the  Cimmerians  were,  so  to  speak, 
the  pro  to- Amazons.  Nothing  is  less  likely.  Why  not  adopt  a  much 
simpler  explanation  ?  The  Amazons  are  localized  wherever  there 
was  an  ancient  cult  of  the  Mother  Goddess  ;  wherever  that  cult  was 
connected,  as  it  regularly  was,  with  a  social  and  political  organization  of 
matriarchal  type  ;  wherever  women  were  not  only  mothers  and  nurses, 
but  warriors  and  chieftains  as  well.  The  matriarchal  stratum  and  the 
cult  of  the  Mother  Goddess  are  very  ancientln  Asia  Minor.  They  are 
the  rnarkpi_the_pre-Semitic  and  pre-Indo-European  population— the"" 
"aTTc^cTithonouspopulation ,  if  we  care  to  uselhe  word .  Semites  aricT  Indo- 
Europeans  brought  with  them  patriarchal  society  and  the  cult  of  the 
supreme  God.  This  cult  imposed  itself  on  that  of  the  Mother  Goddess, 
but  did  not  destroy  it,  least  of  all  in  Asia  Minor.  With  the  cult  of  the 
goddess,  the  Amazons,  her  warrior  priestesses,  likewise  survived. 

Not  only  the  cult  of  the  Mother  Goddess,  but  also  the  matriarchal 
structure,  persisted  for  a  very  long  time  in  certain  places,  especially 
on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea — in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
the  Greeks — among  the  Sindians,  the  Maeotians,  the  Sauromatians, 
and,  in  the  Crimea,  among  the  Taurians,  who  sacrificed  travellers  to 
their  Parthenos,  their  virgin  goddess.  It  is  quite  natural  that  the 
Greeks,  who  created  the  legend  of  the  Amazons  on  their  first  contact 
with  the  matriarchal  tribes  of  Asia  Minor,  should  have  made  the 
Amazons  of  Asia  Minor  emigrate  to  South  Russia  and  the  Caucasus, 
where  matriarchy,  the  cult  of  the  Mother  Goddess,  and  the  specific 
ritual  of  that  cult  remained  in  full  vigour. 

This  somewhat  lengthy  digression  was  necessary  in  order  to  show 
that  the  Sauromatians,  the  Sindians,  the  Maeotians,  and  the  Taurians 
were  really  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  Kuban,  and  that  it  was  prob- 
ably they  who  created  the  civilization  of  the  copper  age,  and  who  were 
able  to  infuse  it  into  their  conquerors,  the  Cimmerians,  and  later  the 
Scythians.  To  show,  also,  that  civilized  life  never  ceased  on  the  banks  of 
the  Kuban,  and  that  the  Maeotian  tribes  were  the  element  in  the  popula- 
tion which  developed  that  civilization,  under  the  influence  of  their  neigh- 
bours, often  their  masters,  the  Cimmerians,  the  Scythians,  the  Greeks. 


I II 

THE   CIMMERIANS  AND   THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH 
RUSSIA  (VIII- Vth   CENTURIES   B.C.) 

THE  oldest  historical  allusions,  Greek  and  Assyrian,  to  South 
Russia  belong  or  refer  to  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries  B.C.,  and 
tell  us  of  two  peoples  who  played  a  prominent  part  at  that  period, 
and  not  in  the  history  of  South  Russia  alone  :  the  Cimmerians  and  the 
Scythians.  The  Assyrian  documents — oracles,  letters,  and  chronicles 
—belong  txT the  reigns  of  Sargon  II,  Sennacherib,  Esarhaddon,  and 
__  Ashurbanipal,  thatTisTto  theseconalialf'  of  the  eighth  and  to  the 
seventh  century,  and  reveal  to  us  a  somewhat  troubled  period  in  the 
annals  of  the  two  great  states  in  the  basin  of  Euphrates — the  Chaldian 
kingdom  of  Van  (Armenia),  and  Assyria. 

Indo-European  tribes  were  advancing  from  the  east  and  north  to 
the  frontiers  of  these  kingdoms.  The  tribes  which  are  constantly  n 
being  named  are  the  _Gimirrai  (Cimmerians)  and  the  Ashguzai 
(Scythians),  the  former  attacking  the  Chaldian  kingdom  from  the 
north,  the  latter  pressing  forward,  step  by  step,  into  the  eastern 
portions  of  the  Vannic  and  Assyrian  kingdoms.  »  usLc.' 

I  cannot  dwell  long  upon  the  history  of  these  movements.  We 
know  that  the  Cimmerians  forced  their  way  to  the  Vannic  frontier  as 
early  as  the  end  of  the  eighth  century ;  invaded  part  of  the  kingdom, 
which  was  enfeebled  by  contests  with  Sargon  II,  in  the  last  years  of 
the  century,  after  714  ;  and  probably  succeeded  in  mingling  with  the 
Vannic  population.  At  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  when 
Rusas  II  was  king  of  Van  (680-645  B-C.),  and  Esarhaddon  and  Assur- 
banipal  of  Assyria,  the  Cimmerians,  in  alliance  with  Rusas  II  and  with 
several  Indo-European  tribes,  such  as  the  Medes  (Madai),  the  Man- 
naeans,  the  Sakerdians,  began  a  fierce  struggle  with  Assyria.  There 
is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  this  struggle  was  partly  caused  by  the 
heavy  pressure  of  the  Scythians,  advancing  eastwards  in  force  on  the 
Vannic  kingdom  and  its  eastern  neighbours.  The  common  interest 
of  the  Scythians  and  of  the  Assyrians  accounts  for  the  alliance  con- 
cluded between  Esarhaddon  and  the  Scythian  king,  Bartatua,  which 
was  undoubtedly  aimed  at  the  allied  Chaldians  and  Cimmerians.  The 


36  THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 

defeats  which  the  enemies  of  Assyria  sustained  in  this  conflict,  and 
the  subsequent  advance  of  the  Scythians,  forced  the  Cimmerians, 
about  660,  to  invade  Asia  Minor,  where  they  encountered  resistance 
from  the  kingdom  of  Lydia,  assisted  by  Assyria.  Repulsed,  the  Cim- 
merians renewed  their  onslaught  in  652,  and  succeeded  in  destroying 
the  Lydian  kingdom  and  pillaging  the  whole  of  Eastern  Asia  Minor. 
A  fresh  Assyrian  attack,  and  the  victorious  advance  of  the  Scythians 
about  637,  broke  the  power  of  the  Cimmerians,  and  reduced  their 
kingdom  to  a  fraction  of  Cappadocia,  which  remained  permanently 
Cimmerian  :  Cappadocia  was  always  called  Gimir  by  the  Armenians. 
It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  Scythians  :  they  carried  terror  and  destruc- 
tion all  over  Asia  Minor,  especially  the  southern  and  eastern  parts, 
which  they  ruled  for  twenty-eight  years.  Some  parts  of  the  country 
were  occupied  by  the  Scythians  permanently  :  Sakasene  and  Skythene 
in  Armenia  were  always  peopled  by  Scythian  tribes.  It  was  the 
Medes,  and  after  them  the  Persians,  who  put  an  end  to  the  anarchy 
which  these  two  terrible  invasions  had  caused  in  Asia  Minor. 

Parallel  with  this  Assyrian  tradition,  which  is  confirmed  by  the 
archaeological  data  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter,  we  have  another 
tradition,  this  time  Greek,  referring  to  the  same  events,  not,  however, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Asiatic  history,  but  from  that  of  the  Greeks 
who  dwelt  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  We  hear  in  the 
Odyssey  of  a  people  called  Cimmerians  who  lived  in  a  mythical 
country  of  fog  and  darkness  on  the  shore  of  the  Euxine.  Greek 
rnythology  always  connected  the  Black  ^ea^Jlie^Euxine^  with  the, 
worldof  departed  spirits.  The  White  Island  of  Achilles,  the  land  of 
~tEe  Hyperooreans,  the  Crimea,  were  at  once  real  countries  and  regions 
peopled  with  the  souls  of  heroes.  It  is  the  same  in  the  Odyssey, 
although  the  writer  of  the  passage  may  well  have  heard  of  real  Cim- 
merians inhabiting  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  A  little  later, 
Greek  historic  tradition  incorporated  in  its  historical  and  geographical 
treatises  distant  memories  of  the  events  which  took  place  in  the  Asia 
of  the  seventh  century  B.  c.  I  mean  the  traditions  which  tell  the  story 
of  the  world  empires  of  Ninus  and  Sesostris.  Many  attempts  have 
been  made  to  reconcile  these  historic  legends  with  the  established 
facts  of  Mesopotamian  and  Egyptian  history.  For  my  own  part, 
I  believe  that  the  legends  do  reflect  historical  tendencies  in  these 
countries,  but  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  assign  them  to  a  definite 
period.  Had  I  to  choose  among  more  or  less  probable  hypotheses, 
my  choice  would  fall  on  the  period  in  which  the  last  Assyrian  and 
Egyptian  dynasties,  having  repulsed  the  Scythian  attacks,  were 
anxious  to  justify,  by  means  of  such  legends,  their  aspirations  to  that 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA  37 

universal  dominion  which  was  crumbling  under  Iranian  assaults  : 
at  that  epoch,  I  should  conjecture,  the  legends  were  transmitted  from 
east  to  west  and  became  part  of  Greek  historical  tradition. 

More  important,  and  nearer  to  the  truth,  is  the  Greek  tradition 
which  tells  the  story  of  the  conquest  of  South  Russia  by  the  Scythians 
and  of  their  struggles  with  the  Cimmerians.  It  may  be  supposed  to 
have  grown  up  from  the  sixth  century  onwards  in  the  Greek  colonies 
on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  to  have  been  based  on  ancient 
local  tradition. 

Some  echoes  of  this  tradition  have  been  preserved  by  Herodotus 
and  by  Strabo,  who  tell  us  of  a  great  Cimmerian  kingdom  by  the 
Black  Sea,  occupying  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  with 
its  nucleus  on  both  shores  of  the  straits  of  Kerch.  Aeschylus, 
Herodotus,  and  Strabo  give  the  names  of  several  localities,  situated 
in  what  was  later  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  which  were  closely 
connected  with  the  Cimmerians  :  the  straits  of  Kerch  were  invariably 
known,  in  Greek  tradition,  as  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  ;  a  part  of 
the  straits,  near  Panticapaeum,was  called  the  ferry  of  the  Cimmerians  ; 
a  number  of  fortified  places  on  the  straits  were  called  the  Cimmerian 
forts  ;  the  whole  country  is  described  by  Herodotus  as  the  Cimmerian 
land,  especially  the  northern  part  of  the  Taman  peninsula,  which  is 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  peninsula  by  an  earth  wall  which  was 
believed  to  be  Cimmerian  ;  finally,  there  were  two  towns,  on  the  banks 
of  the  straits,  which  bore  the  name  of  Kimmerikon  or  Kimmerie. 

Erwin  Rohde  wished  to  explain  these  reminiscences  as  due  to  the 
archaizing  tendency  of  the  kings  of  the  Bosphorus,  anxious  to  connect 
their  kingdom  with  Homeric  legend.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
tyrants  and  the  peoples  of  the  Bosphorus  had  a  kind  of  romantic 
tenderness  for  the  traditions  which  linked  the  kingdom  with  the 
Amazons,  the  Arimaspians,  and  the  Cimmerians.  One  has  only  to 
think  of  the  hundreds  of  vases  in  the  so-called  Kerch  style,  belonging 
to  the  decadent  period  of  red-figured  vase-painting,  with  representa- 
tions of  Amazons  fighting  with  Greeks,  of  Arimaspians  fighting  with 
griffins.  But  this  by  no  means  implies  that  all  these  traditions  were 
invented  by  the  tyrants  of  the  Bosphorus.  The  rulers  and  their 
subjects  merely  laid  hold  of  a  tradition  which  already  existed  and  had 
often  been  repeated,  and  perpetuated  it  in  their  art  and  in  their 
literature.  Like  the  legends  of  Amazons  and  Arimaspians,  the  geo- 
graphical names  which  recall  the  Cimmerians  unquestionably  go  back 
to  the  sixth  or  the  seventh  century,  and  at  that  period  we  have  no  right 
to  suppose  that  the  earliest  Greek  colonists  were  archaistically  minded, 
or  that  they  regarded  the  Cimmerians  with  particular  warmth.    There 


38  THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 

is  no  doubt  that  when  the  colonists  arrived  they  found  strong  and 
actual  traces  of  the  Cimmerians  in  their  new  home. 

Herodotus,  who  probably  used  an  earlier  literary  source,  very 
likely  Hecataeus  of  Miletus,  was  able  to  tell  the  story  of  the  last 
moments  of  the  Cimmerian  kingdom.  The  Scythians  expelled  them, 
vanquished  them,  and  pursued  them  along  the  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea  and  into  Asia  Minor.  Herodotus'  account,  though  mingled  with 
much  legendary  matter,  is  possible  and  probable.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  the  Scythian  advance  in  the  Assyrian  East.  It  may  well 
have  been  part  of  a  general  advance  of  Scythian  tribes  mixed  with 
Mongolians,  moving  simultaneously  along  both  shores  of  the  Caspian 
Sea  :  one  body  passing  north  of  the  Caspian  and  pouring  into  South 
Russia,  the  other  coming  from  the  South  Caspian  littoral  and  making 
for  the  Vannic  kingdom  and  the  Assyrian  empire. 

Was  it  this  advance  that  drove  the  Cimmerians  to  the  Caucasus 
and  the  kingdom  of  Van  ?  Not  necessarily.  The  constant  intercourse 
between  the  Crimea  and  Northern  Caucasus,  and  between  the 
Crimea  and  Transcaucasia — the  kingdom  of  Van — an  intercourse 
which  is  attested  by  the  archaeological  data  cited  in  our  second 
chapter,  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  southward  and  westward 
movement  of  the  Cimmerian  tribes  began  long  before  the  Scythian 
advance.  By  their  distant  expeditions  and  conquests,  the  Cimmerians 
probably  enfeebled  their  centre  on  the  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  so  that 
the  Scythians  were  able  to  split  the  Cimmerian  kingdom  in  two,  and 
to  weaken  and  destroy,  one  after  the  other,  the  detached  wings,  after 
cutting  off  the  advanced  bodies  of  Cimmerians,  southward  and  west- 
ward, from  their  head-quarters,  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus.  My  reason 
for  preferring  this  hypothesis  to  the  Herodotean  version  is  the  fact, 
vouched  for  by  the  Assyrian  sources,  that  a  Cimmerian  movement 
on  the  Vannic  kingdom  took  place  a  long  time  before  the  advance  of 
the  Scythians  :  the  Cimmerians  appear  in  Asia  about  the  second  half 
of  the  eighth  century,  whereas  the  Scythians  do  not  figure  in  Assyrian 
monuments  until  the  time  of  Esarhaddon.  This  view  is  corroborated 
by  Strabo,  who  mentions  a  Cimmerian  invasion  of  Asia  Minor  by 
way  of  Thrace  and  the  Dardanelles,  which  presupposes  a  branch 
of  the  Cimmerian  people  established  near  the  mouths  of  the  Dnieper 
and  expelled  from  that  region  by  the  Scythians  :  this  branch  was  also 
known  to  the  authority  used  by  Herodotus  :  its  existence  bears 
witness  to  the  wide  expansion  of  the  Cimmerian  empire.  However 
this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  Scythians  occupied  the  entire  region 
which  had  previously  belonged  to  the  Cimmerians  in  the  Russian 
steppes.    But  I  doubt  if  they  succeeded  in  dislodging  the  Cimmerians 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA 


39 


from  the  Taman  peninsula,  any  more  than  in  conquering  the  Crimean  ... 
highlands,  which  were  peopled  by  the  Taurians.  There  is  a  very  // 
obscure  tradition,  often  repeated  by  Greek  writers,  of  a  fierce  struggle 
between  the  Scythians  and  the  Maeotians,  especially  the  Sindians, 
on  both  shores  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  and  on  the  shores  of  the 
Sea  of  Azov.  The  legend  of  the  origin  of  the  Sauromatians,  mentioned 
in  my  second  chapter,  and  another,  reported  by  Herodotus,  of  a  pro- 
longed conflict  between  the  Scythians  and  opponents  who  according 
to  Herodotus  were  the  sons  of  Scythian  women  by  slaves,  according 
to  other  very  ancient  authorities,  Sindians,  suggest  that  the  Scythians 
were  unable  to  penetrate  into  the  Taman  peninsula,  which  is  protected 
by  marshes  on  one  side  and  by  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  on  the  other. 
They  even  tried  to  cross  the  straits  in  winter,  but  probably  without 
success.  The  Cimmerians  and  Sindians  managed  to  organize  resis- 
tance and  to  preserve  their  independence. 

To  judge  from  the  testimony  quoted  above,  the  Cimmerians 
remained  sufficiently  long  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  to  leave  ' 
numerous  vestiges  behind  them  when  they  were  expelled.  Unhappily 
we  have  no  evidence,  either  as  to  the  time  of  their  first  appearance  in 
South  Russia,  or  as  to  the  length  of  their  stay.  Were  they  descendants 
of  the  autochthonous  inhabitants  who  made  the  graves  with  contracted 
skeletons  ;  or  conquerors  from  the  north,  the  west,  or  the  east  ?  The 
question  is  as  difficult  as  that  of  their  nationality.  Certain  indications 
would  lead  us  to  recognize  in  the  Cimmerians  one  or  more  peoples  of 
Indo-European,  probably  Thracian,  origin.  Strabo,  in  a  passage  which 
has  often  been  quoted,  identifies  them  with  the  Trerians,  who  were 
certainly  Thracians.  Others,  on  the  strength  of  royal  names  like 
Teuspa,  which  seem  to  be  Iranian,  have  argued  in  favour  of  their 
Iranian  extraction.  I  prefer  the  former  hypothesis,  and  for  the 
following  reasons.  In jhe_Assyrian  references,  and  in  such  passages 
of  Greek  writers  as  go  back  to  good  sources,  the  Cimmerians  are 
never  confused  with  the  Scythians!  On  the  other  hand,  certain  facts 
can  only  be  explained  by  a  Thracian  origin  :  first,  the  presence  of 
numerous  Thracian  names,  side  by  side  with  Iranian  ones,  among  the 
inhabitants  of  Tanais  in  the  Roman  period  ;  secondly,  the  existence, 
hitherto  unexplained,  of  a  dynasty  of  kings  with  Thracian  names 
ruling  in  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  and  in  the  Taman  peninsula 
from  the  fifth  century  b.  c.  I  can  only  account  for  these  facts  if 
there  was  a  strong  Thracian  element  in  the  population  of  the  Greek 
towns  in  the  state  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  especially  among  the 
governing  classes.  I  would  say  the  same  of  the  reigning  families 
among  the  Sindians  in  the  Taman  peninsula. 


4o  THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 

Unhaooilv   we  have  no  archaeological  data  to  verify  these  hypo- 
theses     fh^e  every  reason  to  befieve  that  two  seventh-century 
eraves-^ne  discovered  in  the  interior  of  the  Taman  peninsula,  the 
othlrn^r  Kerch  on  a  hill  called  Temfr  Gora-belong  to  the  indi- 
genous population,  to  the  native  aristocracy  of  Cimmerians   mixed 
with  SinSs.     My  supposition  is  confirmed  by  the  very  peculiar 
weapons  found  in  the  former  of  the  two  graves,  especially  the  bronze 
baXaxe  and  by  the  openwork  belt-clasp,  with  two  lions  in  a  heraldic 
attitude  from  the  same  tomb  (pi.  V,  I,  2,  4  :  both  axe  and  clasp  are 
que  different  from  the  objects  typical  of  Scythian  sixth-century 
graves    and  the  clasp  recalls  the  heraldic  figures  on  the  pole-heads 
of  Cappadocia-another  refuge  of  the  Cimmerians  (see  pi.  II  and 
Dl  V  ^)     A  bronze  statuette  of  a  galloping  horseman  with  a  quiver  in 
a  stvle  recalling  the  Cappadocian  bronzes,  may  represent  a  native 
Lrseman    a  Maeoto-Cimmerian  chief  of  the  region  of  the  Kuban 
?PT  V     )     Finally,  I  am  inclined  to  recognize  Cimmerians  or  Sindians 
n  the  opponents  of  the  Scythians  on  the  Solokha  gorytus  (pi.  XXI). 
There  isPa  strong  contrast  between  the  tall  handsome  figures  of  these 
two  warriors,  apparently  victorious,  and  the  Scythian  horseman  and 
foS^Scn  with  their  half-Mongolian  faces,  who  bear  the  same 
weapons  as  are  always  found  in  Scythian  graves      The  weapons  of 
the victorious  foot-soldiers  resemble  those  from  the  Taman  grave  : 
the  principal  piece  is  a  battle-axe  of  bronze  or  iron. 

I  should  also  like  to  draw  attention  to  a  curious  and  interesting 
find  from  Bessarabia,  published  by  Ernst  von  Stern  It  belongs  to 
the  late  bronze  age,  consists  of  personal  ornaments  in  dionte,  in  silver 
inlaid  with  gold,  and  in  bronze,  and  recalls  finds  of  the  same  class  and 
period  from  Hungary  and  from  Troy. 

P  I  would  also  mention  the  famous  treasure  of  Mikhalkovo  and  the 
Daljy  fibula  which  is  closely  akin  to  it.  Hadaczek  who  published  a 
minute  study  of  the  Mikhalkovo  find,  proposed-I  think  with  good 
reason-to  connect  it  with  the  Cimmerians  The  objects  from 
Mikhalkovo  and  Daljy  are  decorated  in  a  mixed  style,  at  once  animal 
and  geometric.  The  Mikhalkovo  animal  style  is  very  different  from 
the  Scythian  animal  style,  and  reminds  one  of  the  objects  found  at 
Koban  in  the  Caucasus  and  of  Transcaucasian  pottery,  which  are 
known  to  belong  to  the  end  of  the  bronze  age  and  to  the  early  iron 
age  just  the  period  in  which  we  might  place  the  first  attempts  of  the 
Cimmerians  to  cross  the  Caucasian  mountains  and  establish  them- 
selves in  Transcaucasia.  There  is  a  rather  strange  object  in  the 
British  Museum  which  is  perhaps  connected  with  the  objects  from 
Mikhalkovo  :  a  bronze  celt  of  highly  developed  form,  decorated  with 


PLATE      V 


M,4-    AXE,  ARROW-HEADS    BELT-CLASP  (ALL  BRONZE)  FROM    A  TAMAN    GRAY] 

VII  Cent.  b.c.       Hermitage,   Petrograd 

3-     BRONZE    POLE-TOP    FROM    CAPPADOCIA.       British  Museum 

5-     BRONZE    STATUETTE    OF    A    HORSEMAN    FROM    THE    KUBAN 

Hermitage,   Petrograd 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA  41 

geometric  ornaments,  and  with  a  figure  of  a  goat  or  deer,  engraved  in 
a  style  which  resembles  that  of  Mikhalkovo  and  of  Koban.  It  was 
said  by  the  vendor  to  have  come  from  Kerch. 

All  these  data,  however,  are  too  meagre  and  too  doubtful  for 
convincing  conclusions. 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  features  of  armament  and 
costume— bow,  spear,  and  battle-axe— which  distinguish  the  warriors 
whom  we  have  supposed  to  be  Cimmerians,  are  reported  as  charac- 
teristic of  the  Massagetians,  whose  name  recalls  that  of  the  Getians, 
a  Thracian  people.     May  we  not  hazard  the  hypothesis— a  slight  ^ 

modification  of  Franke's  theory— that  the  Cimmerians  were  a  Thra- 
cian people  who  formed  part  of  the  great  Indo-European  migration  : 
the  migration  taking  place  in  two  bodies,  one  composed  of  Iranian 
and  the  other  of  Thracian  peoples  ;  the  Thracians  occupying,  in  the 
course  of  the  migration,  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  region  of 
the  Danube  ?  We  shall  see  that  the  Thracians  were  always  the  bitter 
enemies  of  the  Scythians,  and  that,  though  driven  back  by  the 
Scythians,  they  made  many  efforts  to  reconquer  the  steppes  of 
South  Russia. 

We  do  not  know  the  exact  date  of  the  events  and  conflicts  which 
led  to  the  substitution  of  Scythians  for  Cimmerians  in  the  South 
Russian  steppes.    Herodotus  makes  these  struggles  contemporaneous 
with  the  invasion  of  Asia  by  Cimmerians  and  Scythians.    There  is  no 
objection  to  this  date.     If  we  accept  it,  we  must  place  the  conflict  of  / 1 
Scythians  and  Cimmerians  in  the  seventh  century.    We  must  notice,  '  ' 
however,  that  this  period  of  expansion  has  left  no  traces  in  the  archae- 
ology of  South  Russia.    We__have  no  Scythian  graves  of  the,  seventh 
century  ;    the  earliest  dateable  Scythian  graves  belong  to  the  sixth. 
The  reason  is  simple.    The  seventh  century,  in  South  Russia  as  in 
Asia  Minor,  was  a  period  of  perpetual  struggles,  and  the  Scythian 
state,  as  we  know  it  from  Russian  tombs  and  from  the  description  in 
Herodotus,  was  not  consolidated  until  the  sixth  century. 
'     In  the  sixth  century,  however,  the  Scythian  kingdom  is  firmly 
established,  and  presents  all  the  features  of  a  settled  and  centralized 
state,  although  it  rested,  as  we  shall  see,  on  a  feudal  basis.     For  its 
frontiers    we    have   the    account    in    Herodotus,    supplemented    by 
archaeological  evidence.     An  important  centre,  not  mentioned  by 
Herodotus,  was  the  valley  of  the  Kuban.    The  barrows  of  Kelermes, 
the  barrows   in  the  villages  of  Ulski,  Kostromskaya,  Voronezhskaya, 
Maryinskaya,  Elizavetinskaya,  and  others,  give  us  a  splendid  series 
of  graves,  several  of  which  belong  to  the  sixth  century,  others  to  the 
fifth  and  some  to  the  fourth.    Only  one  later  tomb  can  be  attributed 


2353 


42  THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 

to  the  Scythians,  that  of  Karagodeuashkh,  which  dates  from  the 
second  half  of  the  fourth  century  or  the  first  half  of  the  third  :  and 
Karagodeuashkh  is  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Taman 
peninsula. 

Scythian  graves  of  the  same  period  as  those  in  the  Kuban  valley, 
the  sixth  and  fifth  centuries  b.  c,  have  been  found  in  the  level  part 
^Qrimea  (the  Golden  Tumulus  near  Simferopol),  in  the  steppes 
betweenDon  and  Dnieper,  close  to  the  Dnieper  (Tomakovka),  in  the 
district  of  Poltava  (the  tumulus  of  Shumeyko's  farm),  and  near 
Elisavetgrad,  between  the  Dnieper  and  the  Bug  (the  Melgunov 
tumulus).  This  suggests  that  in  the  sixth  and  fifth  centuries  B.C.  the 
centre  of  the  Scythian  state  was  not  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Dnieper,  as  Herodotus  asserts,  but  farther  to  the  east.  Unfortunately, 
the  steppes  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Azov,  presumably  the 
centre  of  Scythian  dominion  at  this  period,  have  never  been  explored. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  Scythians  ruled  the  whole  region  of 
the  South  Russian  steppes  ;  with  the  probable  exception  of  the  mouths 
of  the  Kuban  and  the  Don,  where  the  Cimmerians  and  the  Maeotians 
held  out  against  their  assaults,  and  the  Crimean  highlands.  But  their 
power  extended  still  farther  west.  We  have  conclusive  evidence  that 
in  the  sixth  century  there  were  compact  bodies  of  Scythians  dwelling 
in  Hungary :  this  is  proved  by  well-established  archaeological  finds 
which  have  often  been  studied.  The  date  of  these  finds  is  certain, 
the  sixth  century  B.C.  They  may  be  compared  with  the  celebrated 
Vettersfelde  find,  published  by  Furtw angler  and  belonging  to  the 
sixth  or  fifth  century  B.C.  Vettersfelde,  as  is  well  known,  is  in 
northern  Germany,  in  the  old  Slavonic  country  of  Lusatia. 

The  question  arises,  whether  the  Hungarian  and  Prussian  finds 
bear  witness  to  Scythian  ascendancy,  or  only  to  Scythian  expansion, 
in  regions  so  remote  from  the  centre  of  their  power.  It  will  be  possible 
to  decide  this  question,  when  we  have  more  information  about  the 
tumuli  scattered  throughout  Bulgaria  and  Rumania.  The  finds 
hitherto  made,  of  which  I  shall  speak  later,  point  to  Scythian  ascen- 
dancy in  southern  Bulgaria  and  in  the  Dobrudzha  from  the  fourth 
century  onwards.  Future  excavation  will  show,  whether  it  was 
confined  to  that  period,  or  already  existed  in  the  sixth  century. 

This  vast  territory  was  governed  by  conquerors  who  formed  but 
a  minority  of  the  population.  It  has  become  customary  to  speak  of 
the  whole  of  South  Russia  as  peopled  by  Scythian  tribes.  Nothing 
is  farther  from  the  truth.  Even  the  description  in  Herodotus,  who  is 
responsible  for  the  habit  of  applying  the  name  of  Scythians  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  South  Russia,  shows  us  that  the  Scythians  were  no  more 


\ 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA 


43 


than  a  group  of  Iranian  tribes,  mixedwith  Mongolians  and  constituting  •,  ~1 

the  ruling  aristocracy.  As  conquerors  and  as  "a  dominant  minority,  f--- 
the  Scythians  developed  a  strictly  military  organization,  resembling 
the  military  organization  of  all  the  nomad  peoples  who  succeeded 
them,  the  Khazars,  the  various  Mongolian  tribes — the  Torki,  the 
Pechenegi,  the  Polovtsy — and  the  Tatars.  The  military  chief  was 
the  king,  who  dwelt  in  an  armed  camp,  surrounded  by  his  army,  which 
was  always  in  battle  readiness.  In  time  of  peace,  the  king,  the 
princes  and  the  cavalry  lived  on  the  revenues  provided  by  the  con- 
quered regions  and  on  the  produce  of  their  herds — horses,  oxen, 
cows  and  sheep.  The  herds  were  kept  by  subjects,  whose  status  / 
did  not  greatly  differ  from  that  of  slaves.  Being  nomads — warriors, 
herdsmen  and  hunters — and    desiring    to   preserve    their    nomadic 

habits  and  their  nomadic  military  organization,  the  Scythian  tribes 

chose  for  their  residence  the  steppes  between  Don  and  Dnieper, 
which  did  not  lend  themselves  to  agricultural  development.  But 
other  portions  of  their  kingdom  had  been  agricultural  and  remained  so : 
the  valleys  of  the  Dnieper  and  its  tributaries,  the  valley  of  the  Bug, 
and  part  at  least  of  the  Kuban  valley.  These  portions,  administered 
by  governors,  who  were  supported  by  troops,  paid  tribute  in  kind. 
For  this  purpose  the  Scythian  state  was  divided  into  four  provinces, 
each  province  being  subdivided  into  nomes  or  districts.  We  do  not 
know  what  was  the  relation  between  these  governors  or  nomarchs 
and  the  king,  but  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were 
so  many  semi-independent  princes,  bound  to  the  central  power  by 
military  and  financial  ties. 

The  creation  of  a  strong  and  united  state  in  the  South  Russian 
steppes  had  momentous  consequences.  The  existence  of  the  Cimme- 
rian kingdom  or  state  had  already  given  rise  to  commercial  intercourse 
between  South  Russia  and  the  Mediterranean.  Apart  from  the 
constant  communication  between  the  southern  coast  of  the  Black  Sea 
and  Asia  Minor,  which  found  an  echo  in  the  myth,  probably  Carian 
in  origin,  of  the  Argonauts,  and  which  was  probably  concerned  with 
the  export  of  metals,  we  know  that  the  Carians  founded  several 
stations  on  the  straits  of  Kerch  and  on  the  Black  Sea.  They  were 
followed  by  the  Teians  (Phanagoria),  the  Clazomenians,  and  the 
Milesians  (Panticapaeum).  The  main  object  of  these  establishments 
was  to  exploit  the  fisheries  of  the  Sea  of  Azov  and  the  Cimmerian 
Bosphorus.  The  natives,  who  were  in  perpetual  conflict  with  the 
Scythians,  welcomed  this  colonizing  activity,  which  supplied  them 
with  fresh,  well-armed  assistance.  From  the  very  first,  they  were 
strongly  influenced  by  the  Greeks.    Nowhere  do  we  find  more  Greek 


44 


THE    CIMMERIANS   AND    THE 


pottery  of  the  seventh  and  sixth  centuries  than  in  the  Taman  peninsula. 
The  same  causes  led  to  the  creation  of  a  fishing  colony  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Bug  ;  this  colony  was  Olbia,  and  it  had  a 
branch  on  the  island  of  Jlerezaju  All  these  colomeTTed  a  struggling 
existence  in  the  seventh  century  :  in  the  sixth,  they  advanced  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  Excavation  has  shown,  that  the  sixth  century  was 
a  period  of  unequalled  prosperity  for  Pamicapa^um,  Phanagoria, 
Hermonassa,  and  all  the  Greek  cities  67  the  Taman~peTiinsula7  as 
well  as  for  Olbia  and  the  cities  in  tW^rinn  nf  thg  Inwpr  Dnieper. 
-— — This  puweifu44mpelu§_i^n-efrly^e^explained  by  the  consolidation, 
in  the  sixth  century,  of  a  strong  and  settled  state  on  the  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea.  Just  as  the  Greek  colonies  of  Asia  Minor,  and  of  the 
southern  and  western  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  owed  their  prosperity 
to  the  existence  of  firm  governments  in  their  rear,  the  Lydian  and 
the  Persian  kingdoms,  so  the  development  of  the  Black  Sea  colonies 
into  wealthy  and  populous  cities  was  due  to  the  formation  of  the 
Scythian  state  in  the  steppes  of  South  Russia. 

The  Iranians  were  always  frightened  of  the  sea :  they  never  were 
and  never  wished  to  become  sailors.  But  they  were  always  anxious  to 
be  in  regular  touch  with  the  sea,  so  as~to  sell  their  wares  and  purchase 
the  products,  which  they  prized  highly,  of  Ionian  Greece  :  stuffs, 
jewels,  metal  for  weapons,  wine  and  oil.  They  gave  in  exchange  the 
goods  which  they  received  as  tribute  from  their  subjects  :  corn  ;  leather, 
the  product  of  their  stock-rearing ;  slaves,  raided  from  neighbouring 
countries  ;  furs  and  precious  metals,  toll  levied  on  the  trade  with 
north  and  east.  In  order  to  maintain  this  intercourse,  profitable  to 
themselves  and  especially  to  the  kings  and  the  aristocracy,  the  Scy- 
thians favoured  the  Greek  colonies,  left  them  unmolested,  entered 
into  personal  relations  with  them,  and  probably  contented  themselves 
with  levying  a  nominal  tribute  as  a  sign  of  sovereignty.  Neither  from 
Herodotus,  nor  from  other  sixth  or  fifth  century  sources,  do  we  hear 
of  any  conflict  between  the  Greek  colonies  and  the  Scythians.  As  a 
consequence  both  parties,  the  Greeks  in  the  towns,  and  the  Scythian 
aristocracy,  grew,  as  the  excavations  show,  extremely  rich.  I  shall 
return  to  the  subject  of  the  Greek  colonies  :  I  now  proceed  to  give 
a  brief  account  of  the  results  of  excavation  in  the  Scythian  barrows 
of  this  period. 

Our  knowledge  of  Scythian  funerary  ceremonial  in  the  sixth  and 
fifth  centuries  B.C.,  derived  from  the  barrows  excavated  in  the  valley 
of  the  Kuban,  corresponds  pretty  nearly  with  Herodotus'  account  of 
the  obsequies  of  Scythian  kings  and  princes.  Herodotus'  description 
is  as  follows  : 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA 


45 


'  The  kings  are  buried  in  the  land  of  the  Gerrhoi.  When  the  king 
dies ,  they  dig  a  great  square  pit.  The  belly  of  the  corpse  is  slit,  cleared , 
filled  with  chopped  sedge,  frankincense,  parsley  seed  and  anise,  and 
sewn  up  again,  and  the  body  waxed  over,  and  put  on  a  cart,  and  brought 
to  another  tribe.  The  tribesmen  do  as  the  Royal  Scythians  :  they  lop 
their  ears,  they  shave  their  hair,  they  slash  their  arms,  they  slit  their 
foreheads  and  noses,  they  thrust  arrows  through  their  left  hands. 
Then  they  convey  the  corpse  in  the  cart  to  another  tribe  :  the  former 
tribe  going  with  them.  When  they  have  gone  round  all  the  tribes  with 
the  corpse,  they  are  in  the  land  of  the  Gerrhoi,  who  are  the  farthest 
of  the  subject  tribes,  and  the  burial  ground  is  reached.  There  they 
put  the  body  in  the  grave,  on  a  mattress,  and  stick  spears  on  either 
side  of  the  corpse,  and  poles  over  it,  and  a  roof  of  mats.  In  the  empty 
part  of  the  grave  they  bury  one  of  the  king's  concubines,  whom  they 
strangle,  and  his  cupbearer,  a  cook,  a  groom,  a  servant,  a  messenger, 
horses,  and  firstlings  of  all  his  possessions,  and  cups  of  gold  :  they 
do  not  use  silver  or  bronze.  After  this  they  all  make  a  great  mound, 
striving  with  each  other  in  their  eagerness  to  make  it  as  great  as  they 
can.  A  year  after,  they  do  something  else  :  they  take  the  best  of  the 
king's  attendants  ;  the  king's  attendants  are  true-born  Scythians, 
commanded  by  the  king  to  serve  him,  for  they  have  no  bought  slaves  ; 
well,  they  strangle  fifty  of  them,  and  his  fifty  fairest  horses,  and  they 
gut  them  and  clean  the  belly  and  fill  it  with  chaff  and  sew  it  up. 
Then  they  set  two  half- wheels,  without  the  spokes,  ends  up,  each  on 
a  pair  of  posts  :  and  make  many  such  frames,  and  run  a  stout  stake 
through  each  horse  lengthwise  from  rump  to  neck  and  hoist  it  on  to 
the  frame,  so  that  the  first  half- wheel  supports  the  shoulders,  and  the 
second  the  belly  by  the  groin,  and  the  legs  all  hang  free.  They  bridle 
them  and  bit  them,  and  take  the  reins  forward  and  fasten  them  to  pegs. 
Then  they  mount  one  of  the  fifty  strangled  youths  on  each  horse  : 
they  run  a  straight  stake  through  the  corpse  along  the  spine  as  far  as 
the  neck,  and  the  piece  of  the  stake  which  hangs  out  below  they  fasten 
into  a  socket  in  the  stake  which  runs  through  the  horse.  They  set 
these  horsemen  in  a  circle  about  the  tomb,  and  then  retire.' 

The  excavations  have  not  confirmed  every  detail  of  Herodotus' 
account.  But  they  give  the  same  general  picture  of  the  funeral  of  a 
nomad  chief,  the  owner  of  herds  of  horses  and  of  immense  wealth  in 
gold  and  silver.  I  will  endeavour  to  give,  not  a  description  of  a  parti- 
cular tumulus,  but  a  general  view  of  the  sepulchral  ritual  as  revealed 
by  excavation  in  the  Kuban  valley,  illustrating  my  account  by  plans 
of  various  tumuli  (figs.  3-5). 

Before  constructing  the  grave  of  a  Scythian  chieftain,  a  clearing 


The  Tumulus  of  Kostromskaya 


section 


,' .LOWEST', 

i£HAMBERL 


HOUSES  ON 
THIS  LEVEL 


PLAN 


(w  "iff: 


'»""  6    (I    (I   'it    il 

OEINDSTO 

*An25*)  sal 

ito^SB  LEATHERN 
*-VSqUIVERS  00(? 
IR0N5H1ELD      -jT^ 

WITH  DEER,     W^,.'"     n"v>PJT    ft  J 
POTjHERDtf    ^F 

.Jf°BIT5         ( 
P....  IRON  SPEAR        WSfe  \    ® 
\  HEADS  8$^        *j 


SCALE  ARMOUR, 
•PLUNDERER)  PIT  .»> 

O      B      g>      (p     (111 


■fli  ■£> 


Y 


*2*fc» 


^PLUNDERERS'""*7 


J 


3B^        / 


mikM'S. 


*& 


9       V      f>    to  x 


2R  k 


rr/ 


/ 


SCALE  OF  FEET 
OI234    56789  10 
liiiiml    iiiiimi    tiini    id    bri  d 


Fig.  3. 


THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA    47 

was  made  in  the  steppes.  A  trench,  often  of  considerable  size,  was 
then  dug  in  the  virgin  soil,  with  a  corridor  sloping  down  to  it.  Beams 
were  placed  along  the  walls  of  the  trench  and  of  the  corridor  :  the 
trench  was  covered  with  a  conical,  and  the  corridor  with  a  gabled  roof. 
The  roof  of  the  tomb  chamber  was  also  supported  by  strong  beams 
planted  in  the  middle  of  the  trench.  The  cubical  frame  of  the  tomb 
was  probably  lined  with  mats  and  rugs,  so  as  to  make  an  almost  exact 


18  HORSES.  TAILS  TO  POSTS,  ROUND 
EACH  OF  THESE  POSTS 


f      V        y       N 


M 


18  HORSES  ON  EACH      I j 

SIM  OFTHIS  FENCE.  (*-•*--*.-■©» 
TAILS  TO  FENCE        I 1 


SKELETONS  Of  2  BUILS 
VH0B5E  BONES  LYING 
IN  C0UFUS10N 


U  HORSES,  TAILS  TXV 
POST,  ROUND  EACH 
OF  THESE  POSTS 


i  o      o[ 
\     A    A 


16HORSES0NEACH    \__  '. 

SfDC  OF  THIS  PENCE^CiTJ^,". i, 

TAILS  TO  FENCE     . ■ 


1 i     16  HORSES  ON  EACH 

««-,-.-»-.  -.-«-.-- 5n  SIDE  OF  THIS  FENCE. 
r 1     TAILS  TO  PENCE 


-»  SKELETONS  OF*  BULLS 
i    if  HORSE  BONES  LVINO 
-J    IN  CONFUSION 


'       N.X       *y*       \I»hO«SES. TAILS  TO 

O     J     G     }     O      IPDST.ROUNDEACH 
'-„'   v,_^V_y  OF  THESE  POSTS 

! j     IB  HORSES  ON  EACH 

*m#v4M*i  SIDE  OF  THIS  FENCE, 
i .     TAILS  TO  FENCE 


PLAN 


— --I.t-_U 

PERSPECTIVE  SKETCH 


THE 

ULSKI  BARROW 


Fig.  4. 


copy  of  a  nomadic  tent.  Under  the  tent,  another  smaller  one  was 
sometimes  constructed  to  contain  the  body  of  the  chief  and  the 
treasures  which  were  buried  with  him.  In  the  fourth  century,  under 
Greek  influence,  this  tent  was  replaced  by  a  chamber  of  dressed  stone 
with  a  wooden  roof.  Round  the  central  tent  containing  the  chief's 
body,  other  skeletons  are  nearly  always  found,  sometimes  female,  but 
usually  male,  the  female  richly  adorned,  the  male  unadorned  but 
furnished  with  weapons.  Round  the  chamber,  on  the  edge  of  the 
trench,  bodies  of  horses, sometimes  several  hundreds,  were  disposed 
in  regular  order.  In  the  Ulski  tumulus  (fig.  4)  the  bodies  of  the  horses 
were  grouped  round  the  pillars  of  the  tent,  with  wooden  structures, 


48 


THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 


•^C*  x<  ^ 


SCALE  OF  METRES 

2  3  4, 


□t 


^~ 


N 

W<^«E 
S 


The  Burial  in  the  Barrow  of 
ELIZAVETINSKAYA 


Fig.  5. 


almost  certainly  horse-stalls, 
beside  them.  In  one  of  the 
tumuli  at  Elizavetinskaya  (fig. 
5),  two  chariots  were  found  in 
the  corridor  leading  to  the 
trench  and  to  the  sepulchral 
tent,  each  drawn  by  six  horses, 
two  abreast. 

The  wealth  buried  with 
the  chieftain  was  sometimes 
enormous.  The  objects  were 
not  accumulated  haphazard. 
Even  in  the  sixth  century, 
there  was  a  regular  funerary 
procedure.  The  chief  was 
buried  with  his  richly  decor- 
ated panoply  ;  with  sacred 
vases  of  gold  and  silver — 
rhyton,  phiale,  drinking  cups ; 
with  a  number  of  copper 
vessels,  of  a  purely  Asiatic 
shape,  containing  meat,  and 
with  Greek  amphorae  contain- 
ing oil  and  wine ;  with  women , 
bejewelled,  and  arrayed  in 
festal  costume ;  with  armed 
retainers  ;  with  horses,  their 
bridles  bedizened  with  gold, 
silver,  bone  and  bronze.  Be- 
side the  horses,  we  often  find 
bronze  rattles  crowned  with 
heads  of  animals  or  birds, 
and  a  great  number  of  bells. 
The  rattles  were  undoubtedly 
fixed  on  wooden  poles  :  they 
are  very  frequently  found  in 
sets  of  four,  all  alike.  There 
is  every  reason  to  suppose 
that  these  objects  formed  part 
of  one  or  more  funerary 
canopies. 


From  these  data  we  can  reconstruct  the  Scythian  funerary  cere- 


PLATE      VI 


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WW  % 

ENGRAVED    AND    GILT    SILVER     MIRROR 
From    Kelermes,    Kuban.     VI   Cent.   B.C.     Hermitage,    Petrograd 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA 


49 


monial :  essentially  a  nomadic  ceremonial,  cruel,  bloody,  and  luxurious  ;  / 
closely  resembling  in  its  essential  features,  the  Chinese  funerary 
^ceremonies'  of  the  Han  and  later  dynasties  The  grave  itself  was 
a  reproduction  ot  the  sumptuous  tent  in  which  the  dead  man  had 
dwelt.  The  body  was  borne  to  the  sepulchral  tent  in  procession.  The 
dead  chief,  and  the  persons  sacrificed  in  his  honour,  clad  in  festal 
attire  and  accompanied  by  the  sepulchral  furniture,  were  placed  on 
funeral  chariots,  each  drawn  by  six  horses,  or  on  biers  carried  by 
retainers.  Canopies  were  held  above  the  bodies,  attached  to  poles  sur- 
mounted by  rattles  and  covered  with  bells  :  if  the  body  was  conveyed  in 
a  chariot,  the  canopy  was  set  up  over  the  chariot  (pl.X,B,D,E).  The 
procession  was  probably  preceded  by  one  or  more  standard-bearers,  the 
standards  being  crowned,  like  the  poles  of  the  canopy,  by  emblematic 
figures  in  bronze  (pi.  X,  A,  c).  As  the  horses  also  wore  bells  (pi.  X,  e), 
the  procession  made  a  vast  din,  intended  to  drive  away  the  evil 
spirits.  When  the  sepulchral  tent  was  reached,  the  bodies  were  laid 
in  the  grave,  with  the  objects  grouped  about  them  ;  the  horses  were 
slaughtered  and  their  corpses  disposed  around  and  within  the  tent  ; 
the  canopy  and  the  chariot  were  broken  and  placed  near  the  tomb, 
sometimes  in  the  corridor.  The  ceremony  over,  the  grave  was  covered 
with  earth,  and  a  barrow,  of  imposing  height,  raised  above  it.  A  primi- 
tive, materialistic  and  superstitious  rite,  thoroughly  nomadic.  In 
itself  it  presents  little  historical  interest. 

But  the  objects  interred  with  the  bodies  are  extremely  interesting, 
and  enable  us  to  apprehend  the  various  currents  of  civilization  which 
met  in  the  South  Russian  steppes.  The  richest  archaic  finds  were 
made  in  the  barrows  of  Kelermes  on  the  Kuban,  in  the  barrow  exca- 
vated by  Melgunov  near  Elisavetgrad,  and  at  Vettersfelde  in  the 
south  of  Prussia.  The  two  former  finds  are  contemporary  and  almost 
identical,  the  third  presents  some  essential  differences  and  belongs  to 
a  later  period,  the  sixth  to  the  fifth  century  B.C.  I  shall  begin  with 
Kelermes,  a  find  which  has  never  been  entirely  published.  Among 
the  rich  and  varied  objects  from  Kelermes,  we  can  clearly  distinguish 
the  furniture  of  one  or  more  male  burials  and  of  one  or  more  female. 
What  strikes  us  particularly  in  these  objects  is  their  mixed  character. 

Side  by  side  with  objects  which  were  undoubtedly  imported  from 
Asia  Minor,  and  which  offer  all  the  characteristic  features  of  sixth 
century  Ionian  and  Aeolian  art,  such  as  the  engraved  silver  rhyton 
with  Greek  mythological  subjects,  a  bronze  helmet  of  pure  Greek 
shape,  a  gold  diadem  decorated  with  rosettes  and  flying  birds,  we  have 
objects  the  origin  of  which  cannot  be  determined  except  by  an  exhaus- 
tive analysis  of  their  style  and  their  subjects.    I  refer  particularly  to 


2353 


50  THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 

the  gilt  silver  mirror,  engraved  with  figures  of  animals  in  a  peculiar 
style,  and  with  a  figure  of  the  Great  Goddess  of  Asia,  -norvia.  dypatv 
(pi.  VI).  To  the  same  category  belong  several  articles  of  uncertain 
use,  perhaps  belt-clasps,  decorated  with  animals'  heads  and  inlaid 
with  amber  in  a  technique  which  reminds  one  of  cloisonne  enamel 
(pi.  IX,  2).  It  might  be  supposed  that  these  objects  were  made  in 
Persia  by  artists  of  Asia  Minor.  Besides  these,  we  have  objects  of 
pure  Oriental  style  which  were  probably  made  in  the  Persian  kingdom 
during  the  sixth  century  B.  c,  precious  specimens  of  that  archaic  Persian 
art  with  which  we  are  but  ill  acquainted.  Characteristic  examples  are 
two  gold  vases  in  a  purely  Oriental  style  recalling  that  of  late  Assyrian 
objects  (pi.  VII),  and  a  gold-plated  scabbard  ornamented  with  fantastic 
figures  of  quadrupeds,  some  of  them  with  fish-shaped  wings  and 
human  foreparts,  all  drawing  bows  (pi.  VIII,  2).  It  must  be  noticed 
that  the  side-projection  of  the  scabbard  is  not  decorated  in  the  Assyrian 
style,  but  in  another  quite  different  style.  The  figure  is  that  of  a  deer, 
lying  down  or  leaping,  with  heads  of  eagles  forming  a  border.  This 
style,  very  primitive,  and  at  the  same  time  highly  refined,  is  what  is 
called  the  Scythian  animal  style  :  it  predominates,  though  mixed  with 
Assyrian  motives,  in  a  number  of  most  important  objects  from  the 
Kelermes  find.  One  of  them  is  a  battle-axe  of  iron  plated  with  gold, 
the  handle  of  which  is  decorated  with  a  series  of  animals,  standing 
or  at  rest  (pi.  VIII)  :  another  is  a  golden  lion,  which  probably 
adorned  the  breast-piece  of  a  scaled  corslet  (pi.  IX,  1)  :  there  are  also 
several  gold  plaques  which  were  sewn  on  to  garments.  The  golden 
lion  is  particularly  interesting  because  of  the  curious  combination  of 
the  Scythian  animal  style  with  amber  incrustation  in  the  cloisonne 
manner  mentioned  above.  Another  feature  of  these  objects  which 
deserves  attention  is  the  simultaneous  use  of  the  Scythian  animal  style 
and  of  the  Assyro-Persian  style.  In  the  scabbard  the  contrast  between 
the  two  styles  is  very  strongly  marked  :  yet  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
the  different  parts  of  the  scabbard  were  all  fashioned  by  the  same 
artist.  In  the  battle-axe  the  two  elements  are  similarly  juxtaposed, 
but  here  it  is  the  Scythian  animal  style  that  predominates. 

The  same  mixture  is  observable  in  the  objects  found  by  General 
Melgunov,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  near  Elisavetgrad,  and  recently 
published  by  Pridik  :  they  include  a  scabbard  which  is  almost  a  replica 
of  the  scabbard  from  Kelermes.  Remains  of  a  canopy  came  to  light. 
Just  as  at  Maikop  in  the  copper  age,  the  lower  ends  of  the  poles  which 
supported  the  canopy  were  wrought  separately  in  gilt  silver  :  likewise 
the  pole-tops,  which  closely  resemble  those  from  Maikop.  The  tissue 
which  covered  the  canopy  was  decorated  with  gold  eagles,  wings 


PLATE      VII 


~S0  timtimXJkwm^b 

^B^^ 

TWO    GOLD    CUPS    FROM     KELERMES.    KUBAN 
VI    Cent.    b.c.     Hermitage,    Petrograd 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA  51 

displayed.  Very  characteristic  also,  the  golden  tore  or  diadem,  the 
rosettes  of  which  are  inlaid  with  onyx. 

I  must  also  mention  another  find  of  this  period  :  the  tumulus  of 
Shumeyko's  farm,  in  the  district  of  Poltava  :  it  dates  from  the  sixth 
century,  as  is  shown  beyond  question  by  a  fragment  of  a  black-figured 
vase.  The  most  important  object  in  this  find  is  a  dagger,  the  sheath 
of  which  is  mounted  in  gold  and  decorated  with  embossed  figures  in 
the  Scythian  animal  style  (pi.  VIII,  3).  Here  we  must  notice  the 
combination  of  embossed  work  with  very  delicate  granulated  work. 
The  pieces  of  bridle-trappings  in  bone,  found  in  the  same  tumulus, 
are  examples  of  the  pure  animal  style,  with  its  characteristic  predomi- 
nance of  birds'  heads. 

I  shall  often  have  occasion  to  speak  of  that  Scythian  animal  style 
which  we  here  encounter  for  the  first  time  :  but  I  shall  mention,  before 
going  farther,  its  most  characteristic  features.  I  said  above  that  it  was 
at  once  very  primitive  and  highly  refined.  The  main  principle  is  the 
purely  ornamental  treatment  of  the  animal  figure.  In  the  archaic 
specimens  which  we  have  before  us,  there  is  none  of  the  geometrical 
tendency  noticeable  in  the  pottery  of  Susa,  nor  any  tendency  to 
transform  the  figure  of  the  animal  into  a  vegetable  ornament.  In 
general,  the  animals  are  treated  realistically.  And  the  realism  is 
vigorous  and  powerful.  But  at  the  same  time  the  animal  figure  is 
used  exclusively  as  ornament.  There  is  no  attempt  to  form  groups 
or  scenes  :  the  sole  preoccupation  of  the  artist  is  to  decorate  the  object 
with  a  number  of  figures.  The  only  kind  of  group  is  the  antithetic 
or  heraldic.  For  the  sake  of  ornamental  effect,  the  artist  does  not 
hesitate  to  place  his  animals  in  attitudes  which  are  sometimes  taken 
from  nature,  but  which  are  immoderately  exaggerated  and  occasionally 
quite  fantastic.  He  allows  himself  to  cut  the  animal  into  pieces,  and 
to  use  the  head  of  a  bird,  for  instance,  as  if  it  were  an  ornament.  The 
bird's  head  is  often  repeated  dozens  of  times,  and  is  employed  to  form 
friezes  and  borders.  A  common  practice  is  to  shape  the  extremities 
of  animals  as  birds'  heads  or  griffins'  heads.  As  a  general  rule,  how- 
ever, the  artist  shows  no  predilection,  as  yet,  for  the  fantastic  creatures 
of  Babylono-Assyrian  art :  he  restricts  himself  to  real  animals  natura- 
listically  rendered.  Note  that  he  already  employs  a  polychromatic 
inlaid  technique,  even  for  the  figures  of  animals  :  for  example,  for 
the  ears  of  the  golden  lion  from  Kelermes  ;  also  in  the  belt-clasps 
from  the  same  place,  and  in  the  diadem  from  Melgunov's  find. 

In  the  weapons,  then,  and  in  the  tomb  furniture  from  Kelermes, 
we  find  Greek  objects  side  by  side  with  Assyrian  and  with  specimens 
of  a  mixed  style  which  we  may  call  Scytho-Assyrian  :   on  the  other 


52  THE    CIMMERIANS   AND    THE 

hand,  in  the  chariot  ornaments,  in  the  canopies,  and  in  the  horses' 
trappings,  the  Scythian  animal  style  reigns  unopposed.  Take  the 
pole-tops  from  the  canopies  :  rattles  surmounted  by  heads  of  animals 
and  birds,  strange  standards  representing  a  human  eye  planted  in 
the  middle  of  the  head  of  a  bird  of  prey,  the  surface  of  the  head 
being  ornamented  with  figures  of  animals  and  with  beaks  and  eyes 
of  birds  (pi.  X).  There  is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the  orientalism  of 
Ionian  Greece. 

Scythian  civilization  changes  its  aspect  in  the  fifth  century.  Look 
for  a  moment  at  the  Vettersfelde  find,  and  the  others  that  go  with  it, 
look  at  the  tumuli  of  the  Seven  Brothers  in  the  Kuban  valley,  and  the 
native  tumuli  in  the  cemetery  of  Nymphaeum.  The  Vettersfelde  find 
consists  of  a  dagger-sheath,  a  pectoral,  a  horse's  frontlet  in  the  form 
of  a  fish  covered  with  figures  of  animals,  plaques  from  a  bridle,  and 
jewels.  The  shapes  of  these  objects  are  purely  Iranian,  the  decorative 
principles  also — rows  of  animals  one  following  another,  extremities 
transformed  into  animals'  heads,  and  so  forth.  But  the  animals  them- 
selves are  the  work  of  Greek  artists,  and  exhibit  all  the  peculiarities 
of  Ionian  animals  :  the  arrangement  also  betrays  the  hand  of  a  Greek. 
^^-^Thus  we  see  Ionian  craftsmen  working  for  the  Scythian  market , 
executing  special  orders,  and  adapting  themselves  to  the  taste  ot  their 
customers. 

The  same  tendency  is  observable  in  other  finds  which  are  closely 
akin  to  that  of  Vettersfelde  :  the  tumulus  of  Tomakovka  on  the  lower 
Dnieper,  and  the  so-called  Golden  Tumulus  near  Simferopol  in 
the  Crimea.  We  notice  particularly  a  pronounced  taste  for  poly- 
chromy.  The  polychromy  is  obtained  by  means  of  coloured  enamels 
fastened  to  the  objects  in  a  technique  which  is  the  precursor  of 
cloisonne  enamel.  Good  examples  are  the  sword-sheaths,  almost 
identical  in  both  finds  and  very  like  the  dagger-sheath  from  Vetters- 
felde ;  and  the  lioness  from  the  Golden  Tumulus,  which  either 
decorated  a  quiver  or  was  placed  on  the  corslet  as  a  pectoral  badge. 
The  body  of  the  lioness  is  covered  all  over  with  scales  of  enamel, 
each  scale  consisting  of  a  compartment  filled  with  coloured  inlay. 

I  must  also  mention  a  very  characteristic  find  from  the  Kuban, 
which  belongs  to  the  same  period  :  a  round  openwork  clasp  or 
phalara  of  bronze  (see  fig.  21  b  in  chapter  VIII).  The  frame  is 
formed  by  two  lions  biting  each  other's  tails,  and  in  the  middle  there 
is  a  lioness  with  head  regardant  :  the  whole  design  is  vigorous  and 
effective.  The  motive  recurs  on  a  number  of  bronze  plaques  from 
the  barrows  of  the  Seven  Brothers,  of  which  we  shall  presently  speak. 
It  is  interesting  to  know  that  a  find  resembling  that  of  Kelermes  was 


PLATE      VIII 


1,2.     IRON    AXE    AND    IRON    SWORD    WITH    WOODEN    SCABBARD 

all    covered    with    gold.      From    Kelermes,    Kuban. 

Hermitage,  Petrograd 

3.  IRON  DAGGER  AND  SCABBARD,  COVERED  WITH  GOLD 

Shumeyko's  Farm,  near  Romny.      Kiev,  Archaeological  Museum 

VI    Cent.   B.C. 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA 


53 


made  in  Southern  Caucasus,  at  the  village  of  Zakim  in  the  district  of 
Kars.  The  chief  piece  is  a  bronze  belt  in  the  same  style  as  the  objects 
from  Kelermes.  We  can  see  one  of  the  routes  by  which  objects  of 
the  Kelermes  type  reached  Northern  Caucasus. 

Extremely  important  finds  have  been  made  in  the  group  of  kurgans 
on  the  Kuban  which  the  inhabitants  call  the  Seven  Brothers.  Some 
of  the  graves  certainly  go  back  to  the  fifth  century  B.C. ;  another  may 
be  later,  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  Unhappily  the  objects  have 
never  been  thoroughly  studied,  although  Stephani  devoted  several 
pages  to  them  in  the  Reports  of  the  Archaeological  Commission. 
Some  of  the  finds  are  pure  Greek  :  Attic  red-figured  and  black 
varnished  vases  ;  silver  vases  engraved  and  gilded  (pi.  XV,  3) ;  bronze 
candelabra  ;  jewels  of  exquisite  finish,  for  example,  a  pair  of  snake 
bracelets  (pi.  XV,  1) ;  gold  plaques  sewn  on  garments ;  and  so  forth. 
As  far  as  I  can  judge,  some  of  these  articles  were  made  in  Athens,  and 
others  in  Asia  Minor.  The  gold  plaques  may  have  been  manufactured 
at  Panticapaeum,  on  partly  Greek,  partly  Scythian  models.  But  side 
by  side  with  Greek  imports,  we  have  Oriental ;  such  as  the  silver  rhyton 
terminating  in  the  forepart  of  a  wild  goat  (pi.  XII,  a),  which  recalls 
Hittite  and  Cappadocian  works  of  art.  It  is  exactly  analogous  to  the 
famous  handles  from  Armenia,  part  of  a  bronze  vase,  one  of  which  is 
in  the  Louvre  and  the  other  in  the  Berlin  Museum ;  and  to  certain 
bronze  objects,  of  the  same  type  and  the  same  provenience,  now 
in  the  Louvre.  We  may  perhaps  assign  the  same  origin  to  the 
numerous  rhyta  of  gold  and  horn,  terminating  in  the  foreparts  of 
animals,  which  were  placed  in  the  tumuli  of  the  Seven  Brothers  :  we 
still  possess  the  golden  portions — the  lower  ends  and  the  plaques 
which  decorated  the  mouths  (pis.  XII,  b,  c,  and  XIII)  :  the  plaques 
are  embossed  with  figures  of  beasts  and  birds  of  prey,  sometimes 
fantastic,  devouring  goats,  deer,  or  hares.  The  same  style  appears 
on  the  famous  silver  plaque,  the  pectoral  of  a  corslet,  with  figures  of 
a  deer  suckling  her  young,  and,  below  it,  of  an  eagle  with  wings 
displayed.  We  are  so  unfamiliar  with  the  art  of  Eastern  Asia  Minor, 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  find  convincing  analogies  :  the  style,  in  my 
opinion,  is  at  any  rate  not  Ionian.  It  must  be  noticed  that  side  by 
side  with  plaques  of  exquisite  work  we  find  others  which  are  unques- 
tionably imitations,  influenced  by  the  Scythian  animal  style.  In  a 
find  which  has  lately  been  acquired  by  the  Berlin  Museum,  and  has 
not  yet  been  published,  I  saw  objects  which  were  perfectly  analogous 
to  the  plaques  described  above. 

The  only  articles  from  the  tumuli  of  the  Seven  Brothers,  which 
show  the  Scythian  animal  style  in  a  pure  form,  belonged  to  bronze 


54  THE    CIMMERIANS   AND    THE 

horse-trappings  :  prodigious  numbers  of  horses  were  buried  with  the 
dead.  In  these  there  is  a  tendency,  unknown  in  the  sixth  century,  to 
transform  the  animals  into  palmettes  and  other  floral  ornaments  (see 
fig.  21 ,  c,  f,  G,  and  fig.  22,  A,  B,  E,  in  chapter  VIII). 

I  have  already  stated,  that  the  native  graves  in  the  cemetery  of 
Nymphaeum,  the  graves  of  the  hellenized  Scythians  of  the  Crimea, 
present  the  same  characteristics  as  the  tumuli  of  the  Seven  Brothers, 
and  belong  to  the  same  period,  the  fifth  and  fourth  centuries  B.C. 

The  fourth  century  brings  no  change  on  the  Kuban,  beyond  the 
continual  growth  of  Greek  influence,  which  even  shows  itself  in  the 
choice  of  armour  :  for  example,  besides  the  Greek  helmets,  greaves 
and  Greek  corslets  come  into  vogue.  A  fine  specimen  of  a  Greek 
breastplate  was  recently  found  by  Veselovski  in  a  tumulus  in  the 
village  of  Elizavetinskaya  (pi.  XIV).  The  head  of  Medusa  which 
decorates  it  looks  archaic,  but  is  merely  archaistic,  and  belongs  to  the 
end  of  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century.  We  must  observe,  that  at 
the  end  of  the  fifth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  strong 
Athenian  influence  makes  itself  felt,  not  only  in  the  style  of  the  jewel- 
lery, but  also  through  steadily  increasing  importation  of  Attic  pottery. 
The  Scythian  chieftains  had  a  special  liking  for  the  large  Panathenaic 
vases  with  their  representations  of  athletic  contests  and  their  majestic 
figures  of  the  warrior  goddess  Athena.  A  specimen  was  found  in  the 
grave  which  I  have  just  mentioned. 

^»  But  Greek  influence  was  not  able  to  kill  the  Scythian  style,  which 
always  predominates  in  horse-trappings.  The  Scythian  style  is 
elaborated  and  developed,  but  it  remains  purely  Asiatic.  It  presents 
us  with  strange  combinations  of  floral  and  animal  motives,  the  animals 
prevailing.  I  shall  treat  the  subject  at  greater  length  in  my  eighth 
chapter.  The  bronze  objects  in  this  style  were  not  the  work  of  Greek 
craftsmen  :  a  Greek  might  lay  hold  of  the  forms  and  accept  the 
decorative  principle,  but  he  could  never  create  such  purely  Oriental 
objects  as  the  bridle  plaques  from  the  barrows  of  the  Kuban  and  the 
Crimea.  Two  currents  can  be  detected :  one  from  the  south,  from 
Mesopotamia;  the  other  from  the  north,  where  in  the  forests  and 
marshes  elk  and  reindeer  fought  with  the  famished  wolves  :  all  three 
animals  were  unknown  to  Greek  decorative  art.  The  artists  were 
natives,  and  they  are  just  as  likely  to  have  worked  in  the  steppes  of 
the  Caucasus  as  in  the  Greek  towns  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus. 

To  conclude.  The  Scythian  civilization  of  the  fifth  and  fourth 
centuries  b.  Q^is_jdr£aiIy-e^mpleieiY-Ji^  It 

is  an  aristocratic  civilization  of  nomadic  chiefs,  mixed  anoTcomposite. 
Besides  the  native  element,  primitive,  but  elaborate,  even  refined, 


PLATE      IX 


i.    GOLD     PECTORAL     OF    A     SCALE-CORSLET.     VI    CENT.    B.C. 
From    Kelermes,     Kuban.     Hermitage,     Petrograd 


2.    GOLD    ORNAMENTS    INLAID    WITH    AMBER.      VI    CENT.    B.C. 
From    Kelermes,    Kuban.     Hermitage,     Petrograd 


SCYTHIANSIN    SOUTH    RUSSIA  55 

there  are  two  streams  of  importation  and  of  influence  in  the  sixth 
century  :  one  Oriental,  probably  coming  from  Mesopotamia  by  way 
of  the  Caucasus,  and  from  Asia  Minor  through  the  Greek  colonies  on 
the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea  :  the  other  Greek,  coming  from 
the  Ionian  and  Aeolian  colonies  in  Asia  Minor.  The  former  weakens 
towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  and  then  almost  disappears,  the 
other  grows  and  develops.  The  Greek  artists  of  Asia  Minor  begin  to 
work  for  the  Scythians,  and  to  consult  their  taste.  But  they  have  only 
a  general  notion  of  Scythian  life  :  they  know  the  forms  of  Scythian 
objects,  and  the  Scythian  love  of  the  animal  style  :  but  the  spirit  of 
their  work  remains  Ionian. 

The  predominance  of  the  Oriental  aspect  in  sixth-century  Scythian 
civilization  is  a  fact  of  capital  importance,  and  one  which  is  generally 
acknowledged.  What  was  the  costume  of  the  Scythians  of  South 
Russia  in  the  sixth  century  we  do  not  know.  But  as  we  are  well 
acquainted  with  their  costume  in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries,  from 
the  representations  which  I  shall  quote  in  the  fifth  chapter,  and  as 
this  costume  is  purely  Oriental,  we  may  suppose  that  it  had  not  changed 
since  the  sixth  century.  It  is  the  Iranian  costume  which  we  know 
from  the  reliefs  of  Naksh-i-Rustam  and  Bisutun  (Behistun),  and 
from  other  monuments  of  Persian  art.  I  shall  not  discuss  it  further, 
as  the  facts  are  well  known  and  have  been  studied  over  and  over  again. 
As  to  armour,  apart  from  the  bronze  helmet  and  greaves,  which  were 
borrowed  from  the  Greeks,  the  panoply  of  the  Kuban  barrows  is 
Iranian  :  Iranian  the  scaled  corslet  with  pectoral  badge — a  kind  of 
cunningly  wrought  bronze  shirt  :  the  spear  and  the  javelins  ;  the 
arrows  with  bronze  heads  of  the  triangular  form  which  spread  with 
the  Iranians  all  over  the  ancient  world,  beginning  in  the  early  iron  age ; 
the  bow  of  the  shape  known  to  the  ancients  as  Scythian  and  frequently 
described  both  by  ancients  and  by  moderns  :  the  gorytus,  quiver  and 
bowcase  in  one,  of  wood  covered  with  leather  or  metal,  an  Iranian 
speciality ;  the  short  iron  sword  ;  the  scabbard,  with  its  side-projec- 
tion for  the  chains  or  straps  by  which  the  sword  was  suspended  from 
the  warrior's  belt,  a  type  of  scabbard  convenient  for  cavalrymen  and 
regularly  represented  in  Persian  art  ;  finally,  the  dagger,  often  attached 
by  straps  to  the  warrior's  left  leg,  again  a  handy  fashion  for  cavalry- 
men armed  like  foot-soldiers.  All  this  is  familiar  and  has  often  been 
set  forth  :  recently  by  Minns. 

It  is  not  so  generally  known,  that  the  horse-trappings,  which  we 
can  reconstruct  with  the  aid  of  many  hundreds  of  pieces  from  tombs, 
and  particularly  the  bridle,  are  of  pure  Iranian  type.  The  frontlet, 
the  ear-guards,  the  temple-pieces,  the  pectoral,  the  plaques  which 


56  THE    CIMMERIANS    AND    THE 

studded  the  straps  especially  at  the  intersections,  the  pendent  bells, 
in  a  word  the  whole  bridle,  can  only  be  compared  with  the  horse- 
trappings  in  Hittite  and  Assyrian  representations.  The  pieces,  and 
the  system  of  adjustment,  are  the  same  :  and  there  is  the  same  profu- 
sion of  metal  on  the  straps.  But  there  is  one  important  difference  : 
the  ornaments  of  Assyrian  and  Hittite  bridles  are  almost  always 
geometric,  whereas  the  Scythian  ornaments,  with  few  exceptions, 
show  the  forms  of  that  pecufiaT^artimal  sWte  which  I  have  already 
described.  In  my  account  of  Scythian  funeral  customs,  I  mentioned 
more  than  once  that  the  corpse  was  protected  by  a  canopy,  spread  over 
the  funeral  car  or  carried  by  retainers,  which  was  supported  by  four 

Eoles  with  rattles  on  the  top  crowned  either  by  figures  of  animals  or 
y  animals'  heads.  The  poles  supported  a  piece  of  cloth,  on  which 
gold  plaques  were  probably  sewn.  Several  of  the  rattles  are  crowned 
with  heads  of  bulls,  mules,  or  griffins  (pi.  X,  b-d).  The  use  of  funeral 
jf  canopies  is  purely  Oriental :  we  saw  it  at  Maikop,  in  the  copper  age, 
and  it  persisted  all  over  the  East.  Oriental  also  the  use  of  poles  sur- 
mounted by  heads  of  animals  or  other  emblems  :  these  poles  occur  in 
all  parts  of  th£_3abyJonian_w_orld ;  there  they  signified  sceptres  or 
standards,  and  nearly  every  divinity  is  accompanied  by  one.  A  similar 
emblem  was  borne  in  front  of  the  Assyrian  king^:  they  were  the  first 
military  standards.  So  also  in  Egypfanit1nThe5liriijte-£mpire.  The 
Scythians  were  undoubtedly  influenced  by  this  Oriental  custom.  The 
pole-top  reproduced  on  plate  X,  A  probably  did  not  form  part  of  a 
canopy.  Its  peculiar  shape,  and  its  apotropaic  decoration,  suggest  that  it 
was  a  standard,  or  one  of  a  pair — for  two  were  found — which  were 
carried  at  the  head  of  the  funeral  procession.  The  shape  of  the  canopy 
poles  was  naturally  modelled  on  the  standards  of  the  gods  or  of  the 
kings.  The  heads  seem  to  be  primarily  apotropaic  :  the  bell  is 
certainly  so.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  same  custom  appears 
in^appadociai  I  have  already  mentioned  a  number  of  bronze  pole- 
tops  from  that  country  in  the  Louvre  and  in  the  British  Museum  (pi.  II) : 
the  poles  themselves  were  of  wood  or  iron.  These  pole-tops  are 
sometimes  in  the  form  of  a  goat  perched  on  a  rattle — a  purely  Assyrian 
type,  which  influenced  western  Siberia  :  but  most  of  them  present 
a  stylized  figure,  or  two  figures  one  above  the  other,  of  the  Great 
Goddess,  the  Mistress  of  Beasts.  Curiously  enough,  we  find  the 
same  goddess  on  a  pole-top,  belonging  to  a  canopy,  from  the  kurgan 
of  Alexandropol,  which  we  shall  study  in  our  fifth  chapter.  The  use 
of  the  Cappadocian  pole-tops  may  have  been  funerary  or  ritual  :  like 
the  South  Russian  examples,  they  are  furnished  with  rings  for  straps 
or  cords. 


P L  ATE      X 


BRONZE    POLE-TOPS    AND    A    BRONZE     BELL 

From    the    Kuban.      VI   V    Cent.    B.C. 
Hermitage,    Petrograd 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA 


57 


Thus  costume,  armour  and  funeral  outfit  of  the  sixth-century 
Scythians,  are  all  purely  Oriental  with  hardly  any  Greek  influence. 
Oriental  also,  as  we  have  seen,  the  style  and  technique  of  most  of  the 
objects  found  in  sixth-century  Scythian  tombs.  I  need  not  dwell 
upon  the  imported  Oriental  articles  mentioned  above  :  their  neo- 
Assyrian  and  Ponto-Cappadocian  style  can  be  recognized  at  a  glance. 
Some  of  the  objects  in  this  style  are  enriched  with  amber  inlay.  They 
need  not  perplex  us.  Oriental  art,  especially  Elamitic  and  Sumerian, 
used  inlay  at  all  periods  to  diversify  the  surface  of  statues,  metal 
objects  and  palace  walls.  It  is  true  that  the  cloisonne  method  of  inlay 
was  not  practised  till  after  this  period.     But  we  may  believe  that 


Horse -trappings  Jrom  the  Southern  Caucasus 
ana  the  Reqion  qf  the  Kuban . 


Fig.  6. 

cloisonne  also  was  invented  somewhere  in  Babylonia  or  Assyria. 
Almost  the  same  process  was  employed  for  ivory  in  the  neo-Assyrian 
objects  from  Nimrud,  lately  published  by  Hogarth  and  by  Poulsen, 
and  similar  processes  were  current  in  Egypt,  from  the  earliest  times, 
for  metal  objects  decorated  with  precious  stones.  That  the  same  tech- 
nique continued  to  be  used  in  Iranian  art,  may  be  seen  from  two  great 
finds  of  Iranian  objects,  both  belonging  to  the  fourth  century  b.  c:  the 
treasure Trom  Turkestan  in  the  British  Museum,  published  with  a 
commentary  by  DaftohTand  the  Susa  find  published  by  de  Morgan 
and  now  in  the  Louvre.  These  two  finds  offer  striking  analogies  with 
the  jewellery  from  the  Kuban,  and  give  undourJted  prool  ot  common" 
origin.  With  the  mlaid  objects  I  should  connect  a  group  of  metal 
articles,  chiefly  of  bronze  and  of  silver,  which  belong  to  Scythian 
horse-trappings  of  the  archaic  period  :  openwork  roundels  attached  to 

»353  X 


58  THE    CIMMERIANS   AND    THE 

a  metal  disk,  the  hollow  parts  filled  with  some  black  substance  (fig.  6). 
This  technique  also  is  purely  Oriental :  parallels  are  to  be  found  both 
in  Babylonia  and  Assyria  and  in  Egypt.  It  is  particularly  interesting 
to  note,  that  the  same  processes  were  used  for  similar  objects  in  Trans- 
caucasia at  the  end  of  the  bronze  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  iron  age  : 
we  have  many  tombs  from  this  period,  thanks  to  the  excavations  of 
Belck,  Roessler,  Ivanovski  and  others,  and  some  of  them  are  astonish- 
ingly rich  :  in  nearly  every  tomb  we  find  roundels  like  those  of  the 
Kuban,  and  openwork  pendants,  often  in  the  form  of  birds  or  animals, 
the  cavities  filled  with  black  inlay.  The  same  technique  was  in 
frequent  use  for  sword-hilts  and  other  articles.  We  may  be  sure  that 
in  this  matter  Transcaucasia  acted  as  the  intermediary  between  the 
Euphrates  valley  and  Northern  Caucasus.  We  must  avoid,  however, 
the  common  error  of  attributing  the  Transcaucasian  tombs  to  the 
Chaldian  kingdom  of  Van.  That  kingdom,  as  far  as  we  know,  is 
subsequent  to  the  prehistoric  civilization  of  Transcaucasia  ;  it  adopted, 
with  only  slight  modification,  the  culture  of  Assyria. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  class  the  animal  style  of  objects  from  the 
sixth-century  Scythian  tombs,  both  in  the  Kuban  and  elsewhere.  It 
evidently  presents  distinctive  and  very  primitive  features.  We  shall 
discuss  the  question  later  ;  but  it  should  be  observed  that  several 
of  these  features  reappear  in  Asiatic  art.  I  would  mention  certain 
Hittite  figures  among  the  Sinjirli  sculptures,  the  tails  of  which 
end  in  birds'  heads.  For  the  animals  with  reverted  heads — a  con- 
venient attitude  for  filling  a  given  space,  particularly  a  circular  one — 
I  will  quote,  in  addition  to  the  examples  mentioned  by  Reinach  in 
his  paper  on  the  flying  gallop,  the  Assyro-Chaldaean  weight  found 
at  Susa,  in  the  form  of  a  recumbent  wild  ass,  a  form  which  frequently 
recurs  on  gold  plaques  and  bridle  ornaments  from  South  Russia, 
especially  during  the  archaic  period.  Iranian  antecedents  can  be 
found  for  the  custom  of  representing  animals  with  their  foreparts 
turned  in  one  direction  and  their  hind-quarters  in  the  other,  as  on  the 
sword-sheath  found  near  the  mouth  of  the  Don,  and  in  several  figures, 
from  horse-trappings,  found  on  the  Kuban :  the  motive  occurs  later 
in  a  great  number  of  objects  from  prehistoric  and  Sarmatian  Siberia. 
An  example  is  the  axe  from  Hamadan  in  Persia,  now  in  the  British 
Museum  (pi.  XI,  b)  :  it  belongs  to  a  whole  series  of  Persian  axes, 
decorated  in  the  animal  style,  which  are  connected  by  their  shape  and 
ornamentation  with  a  group  of  axes  from  protohistoric  Elam,  from 
Babylon  and  from  Assyria.  The  British  Museum  axe  has  its  back 
part  in  the  form  of  a  Persian  lion-headed  griffin,  winged  and  horned, 
with  its  head  reverted  :    the  motive  appears  as  early  as  Babylonian 


PLATE      XI 


A.    BRONZE     CEREMONIAL     AXE     FROM     BACTRIA 

B.    BRONZE  CEREMONIAL  AXE   FROM    HAMADAN,    PERSIA 

C.    BRONZE    AXE    FROM    VAN,    ARMENIA 

D,    E.    TWO    BRONZE    AXES    FROM    PERSIA 

British  Museum 


SCYTHIANS    IN    SOUTH    RUSSIA  59 

times  on  cylinders  representing  a  hero  fighting  with  a  lion.  The 
whole  series  bears  a  conspicuous  resemblance  to  the  objects  found  in 
the  tumuli  of  the  Kuban.  The  treatment  of  the  animals  is  the  same 
as  in  the  heads  and  figures  on  the  pole-tops  of  South  Russia.  Curi- 
ously enough,  on  an  axe  from  Khinaman  near  Kirman  in  south-western 
Persia,  close  to  the  frontier  of  Baluchistan,  we  find  the  apotropaic  eye 
which  forms  the  principal  decoration  of  the  archaic  standard,  already 
mentioned,  from  the  Kuban  (pi.  XI,  e).  The  most  remarkable  specimen 
of  this  Iranian  series,  and  the  one  which  offers,  the  most  striking  analogy 
with  kindred  objects  from  South  Russia,  is  the  axe  from  Bactria,  of 
bronze  inlaid  with  silver,  recently  published  by  Sir  Hercules  Read :  a 
symplegma  of  three  animals,  a  lion  fighting  with  a  boar  and  trampling 
on  a  wild  goat  (pi.  XI,  a).  Apart  from  the  technique  of  inlay,  derived 
from  the  process  current  in  Sumerian  Babylon,  I  must  draw  attention 
to  the  combination  of  three  animals  in  one  group,  a  motive  which  was 
taken  up  by  South  Russian  as  well  as  by  Ionian  art,  and  to  the  reverted 
heads  of  the  lion  and  the  goat,  the  prototype  of  that  antithetic  arrange- 
ment of  the  animal  body  which  I  mentioned  above.  I  reserve  a  more 
detailed  discussion  of  the  Scythian  animal  style  for  my  eighth 
chapter  :  but  I  was  obliged,  before  proceeding  farther,  to  point  out 
that  this  style,  albeit  very  distinctive  and  very  original,  only  established 
itself  in  South  Russia  after  a  long  period  of  contact  with  Assyro- 
Persian  art,  during  which  it  was  subjected  to  very  powerful  influence 
from  that  quarter,  leading  to  the  amalgamation  of  motives  from  both 
styles  which  we  notice  at  Kelermes,  in  the  battle-axe  and  in  the  lion 
pectoral  with  amber  inlay. 

The  Oriental  aspect  of  Scythian  civilization  in  the  sixth  and  fifth 
centuries  could  be  demonstrated  by  means  of  other  parallels,  and 
may  be  taken  as  proven.  We  are  justified  in  affirming  that  Scythian 
art,  at  the  outset,  was  a  branch  of  that  mixed  Iranian  art  of  which 
hitherto  we  knew  only  the  Persian  branch.  Xhe_Sc^thianJbranch_ 
presents  itselfjm  the  onejiandas  a  development  of  motives  inherited 
by'Tr^ian^aiFSQjiLjhil^owerful  civilization^  of  Mesopotamia  and  ~ 
Elam,  and  on  the  other  asan^ittempt  to  combine  that  art  with  another, 
ruder  and  more  primitive,  the  origin  of  which  is  as  yet  unknown. 
From  the  fifth_j^entury_  onwards  Scythian  ^irtiJKke_j>ersian,  was 
influenced,  'more  and  more^tronglyrbyTHeGreek  art  of  Ionia.  This 
influence  was  brought  about  exclusively  by  continuous  intercourse 
between  the  Greek  and  the  Scythian  world.  The  intermediaries  were 
the  Greek  colonies,  especially  the  towns  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom. 
The  subject  will  be  treated  at  length  in  the  succeeding  chapter. 

One  remark  in  conclusion.     In  a  general  work  like  the  present 


60  CIMMERIANS   AND    SCYTHIANS 

I  cannot  dwell  in  detail  on  the  hotly  disputed  problem  of  Scythian 
nationality.  It  will  have  been  gathered  from  the  preceding  pages, 
that  I  believe  the  Scythians  to  have  been  Iranians,  although  lately 
several  high  authorities,  such  as  Geza  Nagy,  Minns  and  Treidler, 
have  revived  the  Mongolian  or  Turanian  theory,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  completely  disposed  of  by  the  judicious  observations  of 
Schiefner,  Zeuss,  Gutschmid,  Mullenhoff  and  Tomaschek.  It  ]is 
difficult  to  insist  on  either  hypothesis  :  decisive  proofs  are  lacking 
on  both  sides.  It  has  been  thought  that  a  conclusive  argument  in 
favour  of  the  Iranian  theory  was  furnished  by  the  Iranian  names  of 
native  or  semi-native  citizens  of  Panticapaeum.  Tanaisand  Olbia. 
But  it  is  forgotten  that  these  names~belohg  to  the  RomarTpenod,  and 
bear  witness  to  Sarmatian,  not  Scythian  infiltration  into  the  Greek 
cities.  Stress  has  also  been  laid  on  the  Mongolian  physiognomy  of 
the  Scythians  as  represented  on  Bosphoran  monuments  of  the  fourth 
and  third  centuries  B.C.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
monuments  give  two  ethnographical  types  :  one  Mongolian,  as  in 
the  gorytus  from  Solol^ha^theoiJiierJLndo-European,  as  in  most  of  the 
other  monuments.  In  spite  of  this  I  entirely  agree  with  those  who 
believe  the  Scythians  to  have  been  of  Iranian  extraction,  although 
I  readily  admit  a  strong  infusion  of  Mongolian  and  Turanian  blood. 
My  reasons  are  mainly  based  on  historical,  archaeological,  and  religious 
considerations,  since  the  study  of  the  language  does  not  provide 
decisive  criteria.  Our  information  about  the  Ashguzai,  who  are  the 
same  as  the  Scythians,  and  about  the  Sacians  ;  their  close  affinity  with 
the  Sarmatians,  whose  Iranian  nationality  is  not  disputed ;  and  the 
evidence  of  Herodotus,  confirmed  by  archaeology,  as  to  the  religion 
Q  of  the  Pontic  Scythians,  a  matter  which  we  shall  discuss  later ;  leave 
9  no  doubt  that  the  Scythian  tribes  of  South  Russia  were  Iranians, 
nearly  akin  to  the  Medes  and  Persians,  but  belonging  to  another 
branch  of  the  stock.  It  is  well  known  that  the  linguistic  evidence, 
founded  on  the  few  Scythian  words  transmitted  to  us  by  the  Greeks, 
is  in  no  way  opposed  to  this  hypothesis.  But  sufficient  emphasis  has 
not  been  laid  on  the  archaeological  evidence,  which  seems  to  me  almost 
decisive.  We  have  seen  that  very  ancient  monuments,  which  we 
have  every  reason  for  assigning  to  the  Scythians,  can  only  be  explained 
by  Iranian  parallels ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  to  define  the  general 
character  of  Scythian  art,  except  by  connecting  it  with  Persian  art  of 
the  same  period. 


IV 

THE  GREEKS  ON  THE  SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA, 
DOWN  TO  THE  ROMAN  PERIOD 

I  HAVE  already  spoken  of  the  very  ancient  relations  between  the 
mining  districts  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  peoples  of 
Asia  Minor  and  doubtless  of  Greece  as  well.  These  relations  probably 
date  from  the  same  time  as  the  first  appearance  of  iron  in  what  was 
later  the  Hellenic  world.  I  have  quoted  the  very  old  Greek  legends 
as  to  the  origin  of  iron.  Iron  and  iron  weapons  were  thought  to  have 
been  the  invention  of  the  Chalybians  and  the  Scythians.  I  am 
convinced  that  it  was  the  export  of  metals  from  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  the  Black  Sea  which  gave  rise  to  the  prehellenic,  probably 
Carian,  legend  of  the  Argonautic  expedition.  The  Milesian  version 
of  the  story  gave  poetic  expression  to  the  half-military,  half-commercial 
enterprises  of  the  Carians  and  other  peoples  of  Asia  Minor,  sea-raids 
organized  by  pirates  and  intrepid  corsairs,  always  in  quest  of  unknown 
lands. 

It  is  somewhere  about  the  year  iooo  b.  c.  that  we  must  date  two 
groups  of  events :  the  development  of  the  mining  industry  on  the 
southern  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  the  first  expeditions  of  Achaeans^ 
and  Carians  insearch  of  iron  and  of  gold.  This  date  is  corroborated  by 
a  fact  which  has  not  hitherto  been  explained  :  the  complete  absence, 
beyond  the  straits  of  the  Bosphorus,  of  that  Aegean  or  Mycenaean 
influence  which  is  so  strong,  for  example,  at  Troy.  The  Cretans  of 
the  Minoan  epoch,  and  the  Myceneans  of  the  time  of  Agamemnon, 
did  not  frequent  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  :  they  had  nothing  to 
take  them  there  :  all  their  efforts  were  directed  westwards.  With  the 
object  of  procuring  an  abundant  supply  of  good  iron  weapons,  the 
heirs  of  Mycenaean  sea-power  ventured  into  the  distant  Black  Sea 
regions,  and  opened  up  the  route,  later  so  popular,  which  led  from 
the  Mediterranean,  through  the  straits  and  along  the  southern  coast 
of  the  Black  Sea,  to  the  banks  of  the  Thermodon  and  of  the  Phasis. 

The  adventurers  from  Asia  Minor  soon  recognized,  that  the  Black 
Sea  was  not  only  rich  in  metals,  but  inexhaustibly  rich  in  fish,  and, 
more  important  still,  that  the  dwellers  on  its  shores  were  not  ferocious 


62  THE   GREEKS   ON   THE 

barbarians  but  fairly  civilized  people,  who  had  a  taste  for  the  products 
of  Asia  Minor  and  were  ready  to  trade.  Accordingly  they  began  to 
found  fishing  stations  on  the  snores  of  the  Black  Sea,  advancing  slowly, 
step  by  step,  until  they  finally  reached  the  heart  of  the  fishing  district : 
the  straits  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Azov,  on  the 
one  hand  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  mouths  of  the  great  Russian  rivers. 
The  routes,  once  open,  were  never  abandoned.  The  Ionians  were 
the  first  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Carians,  as  we  can  see  from  the 
written  record.  We  do  not  know  the  Carian  version  of  the  Argonautic 
myth  :  but  we  do  know  the  Ionian  or  Milesian  version,  which  existed 
as  a  separate  poem  and  was  also  incorporated  into  the  story  of  the 
hero-mariner  Ulysses.  I  agree  with  Wilamowitz  and  Friedlander  in 
believing  that  the  tenth,  eleventh  and  twelfth  books  of  our  Odyssey 
are  a  reflection  of  the  voyages  ot  Milesian  traders  and  privateers  in  the 
Pontus,  and  that  it  was  the  Ionians  who  compoundecTthat  curious 
medley  of  Greek  myths  from  various  sources,  of  Ionian  sailors'  reports, 
and  of  those  ancient  religious  and  mythical  ideas  which  saw,  in  the 
Pontic  region  and  its  inhabitants,  the  world  beyond  the  grave  and  the 
souls  of  departed  heroes.  I  cannot  give  more  than  a  brier  indication  of 
the  views  which  I  hold  on  the  numerous  difficult  and  complicated  prob- 
lems suggested  by  the  myth  of  the  Argonauts  and  the  later  portion  of 
the  Odyssey :  I  hope  to  return  to  them  in  a  special  article.  But  I  must 
insist  on  the  high  probability  of  the  theory,  pretty  generally  accepted  in 
the  most  recent  works  on  the  subject,  that  trie  adventures  of  Jason,  and 

fart  of  the  adventures  of  Ulysses,  are  to  be  localized  in  the  Black  Sea. 
do  not  feel  certain  that  we  can  go  as  far  as  Baer,  and  lately  Maass, 
who  identify  the  harbour  of  the  Laestrygons  with  Balaklava,  and  the 
island  of  Circe  with  the  Taman  peninsula :  but  I  am  persuaded  that 
the  land  of  the  rising  sun,  the  Aia  of  the  Odyssey,  which  seems,  at  the 
same  time,  to  be  part  of  the  world  beyond  the  grave,  is  to  be  placed 
on  the  Caucasian  bank  of  the  Black  Sea.  However  this  may  be,  it  is 
evident  that  the  only  route  known  to  the  oldest  Ionian  navigators  was 
the  southern,  the  same  which  was  used  by  their  predecessors.  It  is 
not  surprising,  that  the  earliest  Ionian  stations  on  this  route  were  at 
the  two  places  where  native  centres  had  long  existed  :  Sinope  and 
Trebizond.  Trebizond  has  always  been  the  best  port  for  the  trans- 
mission of  iron  and  copper  from  the  Transcaucasian  mines,  and  the 
terminus  of  the  two  great  trade  routes  from  south  and  east.  Sinope, 
as  Sir  Walter  Leaf  has  recently  shown,  was  the  point  at  which  goods 
brought  from  Trebizond,  on  the  light  vessels  which  are  the  only  craft 
plying  on  that  part  of  the  coast,  were  transferred  to  big  sea-going  ships, 
the  Ionian  merchantmen.    It  may  be  that  the  Ionians  did  not  stop  at 


PLATE      XII 


SILVER    AND    GOLD    RHYTA    EROM    THE    'SEVEN    BROTHERS' 
OX    THE    KL'BAX.    V  Cent.  b.c.    Hermitage,  Petrograd 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      63 

Trebizond,  but  moved  along  the  east  coast  of  the  Black  Sea  as  far  as 
the  straits  of  Kerch.  We  may  conjecture  that  Phanagoria,  Hermonassa, 
and  other  colonies  founded  by  Teos,  Mytilene,  and  Clazomenai,  were 
pre- Milesian  foundations,  previous  to  the  hegemony  of  Miletus  in 
the  Black  Sea. 

But  the  southern  route  was  neither  safe  nor  convenient.  There 
are  no  harbours  between  Batum  and  Novorossisk  (Bata),  and  the 
coast  teemed  with  pirates  who  detested  their  Greek  competitors.  It 
was  not  only  from  religious  motives  that  shipwrecked  foreigners  were 
sacrificed  on  the  coast  of  the  Crimea.  Nor  was  the  coast  between 
Sinope  and  Trebizond  a  very  hospitable  one,  to  judge  from  the  stories 
told  by  Xenophon  and  by  Arrian. 

But  there  were  two  other  routes,  one  lengthy  but  commodious, 
the  other  shorter.  The  first  ran  right  along  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Black  Sea.  Nearly  every  station  on  this  route  held  out  the  promise  of 
easy  profits  and  miraculous  draughts  of  fishes.  In  the  course  of  the 
eighth  and  seventh  centuries,  the  mouths  of  the  great  fishing  rivers 
on  this  route,  the  Danube,  the  Dniester,  the  Bug,  the  Dnieper,  were 
occupied,  one  after  another,  by  Milesian  fishing  colonies.  I  shall  not 
speak  of  the  Danubian  colonies  :  I  shall  mention  only  the  two  great 
ports,  Tyras  of  the  Dniester  and  Olbia  of  the  Bug  and  the  Dnieper, 
both  at  the  outset,  as  may  be  seen  from  their  coins,  almost  exclusively 
fishing  stations.  A  fishing  village  has  been  discovered  on  the  island 
of  Berezan  near  Olbia,  full  of  vases  and  vase  fragments  belonging  to 
the  seventh  and  sixth  centuries  B.C.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  village 
was  closely  connected  with  the  town  of  Olbia,  which  was  founded, 
about  the  same  time,  at  the  mouth  of  Bug  and  Dnieper  :  the  village 
may  even  be  older  than  Olbia. 

The  other  route  was  merely  a  modification  of  the  southern  route. 
Instead  of  keeping  to  the  perilous  coast  of  the  Caucasus,  ships  leaving 
the  great  ports  on  the  southern  shore,  Amisos,  Sinope,  and  Heracleia, 
could  cross  the  Black  Sea  and  head  straight  tor  the  Crimean  coast, 
from  which  the  coast  of  Asia  was  visible  in  clear  weather.  On  the 
Crimean  coast,  an  excellent  harbour,  Chersonesus,  received  the 
mariners  in  perfect  safety.  It  can  easily  be  understood  that  the  Ionian 
sailors  lost  no  time  in  seizing  this  harbour  and  founding  a  seaport. 
It  is  now  known  that  the  city  of  Chersonesus  was  not  originally  a 
Dorian  colony  from  Heracleia.  Archaeological  evidence — several 
finds  of  sixth-century  Ionian  vases — suggests  that,  like  the  other 
Black  Sea  colonies,  it  was  founded  by  Ionians  in  the_sixth  century^ 
to  be  refounded  by  Heracleotes  in  the  fifth  century  when  Miletus 
was  no  longer  able  to  maintain  her  maritime  supremacy  in  the  Black 


64  THEGREEKSONTHE 

Sea.  Chersonesus  was  only  a  stepping-stone  :  the  little  town  produced 
nothing,  the  fishing  was  poor,  and  the  neighbouring  Taurians  had 
nothing  to  sell.  But  it  was  a  convenient  stepping-stone  on  the  direct 
route,  along  the  Crimean  coast,  to  the  straits  of  Kerch  and  to  the 
Sea  of  Azov  with  its  wondrous  store  of  fish.  A  day  or  two's  sailing 
along  the  inhospitable  coast  of  southern  Crimea,  infested  with  pirates  : 
then,  after  these  anxious  hours,  the  port  of  Theodosia,  another 
Milesian  foundation,  as  Ernst  von  Stern  has  shown  :  next,  the  fine 
port  of  Nymphaeum,  where  the  fishing  was  already  plentiful  :  and  so 
to  Panticapaeum,  an  ancient  centre  of  commerce  and  of  civilization, 
one  of  the  capitals  of  the  former  Cimmerian  kingdom,  and  an  excel- 
lent port,  especially  for  sailing-vessels.  To  reach  the  opposite  coast, 
probably  already  studded  with  Greek  stations,  there  was  only  a 
strait  to  cross.  Thus  the  two  groups  of  Black  Sea  colonies  were 
already  established  :  the  numerous  eastern  group,  closely  connected 
with  the  Caucasus  and  the  southern  ports  of  the  Black  Sea  :  and  the 
western,  connected  less  closely  with  these  than  with  the  Greek  colonies 
on  the  western  littoral  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  Milesians  soon  found 
means  to  join  the  two  groups.  By  skirting  the  north  coast  of  the 
Black  Sea  and  the  west  coast  of  the  Crimea,  it  was  possible  to  reach 
the  port  of  Kerkinitis,  from  which  Chersonesus  could  easily  be  made. 
But  the  voyage  was  long  and  perilous,  and  ships  preferred  to  cross 
direct  from  the  northern  coast  of  Asia  Minor  to  the  southern  coast 
of  the  Crimea. 

It  can  easily  be  seen  that  the  ascendancy  in  the  western  group 
belonged  to  Olbia.  The  estuary  of  Olbia  was  a  calm  and  spacious 
lake  :  ships  coming  from  the  Dnieper  and  the  Bug  could  sail  there 
at  their  ease.  Moreover,  big  ships  could  find  all  they  required  at 
Olbia.  The  Dnieper  and  the  Bug  abounded  in  fish :  and  the  agri- 
cultural population  of  the  lower  and  middle  basins  was  glad  to  sell  its 
goods  to  Greek  merchants.  Finally,  the  Dnieper  and  the  Bug  were 
always  great  trade  routes  joining  north  with  south  and  bringing 
southward  the  produce  of  the  north :  furs  and  slaves,  perhaps  also 
amber.  The  relations  of  Olbia  with  north  and  east  are  proved  by 
finds  in  the  Kama  region.  The  so-called  Ananyino  civilization, 
which  belongs  to  the  early  iron  age  (sixth  to  fifth  century  b.  c),  is  full 
of  Olbian  influences. 

The  peaceful  development  of  the  country  was  facilitated  by  the 
foundation  and  consolidation  of  the  great  Scythian  empire.  We  have 
seen  that  from  the  sixth  century  onwards,  prosperity  prevailed  among 
the  Scythians  and  their  subject  tribes.  In  Olbia  also,  the  tributary  of 
the  Scythian  kings,  who,  as  we  know  from  Herodotus,  maintained 


PLATE      XIII 


GOLD     ORNAMENTS     OF     WOODEN     RHYTA     FROM     THE 
'SEVEN    BROTHERS'    ON    THE    KUBAN.      V    CENT.    B.C. 

Hermitage,  Petrograd 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      65 

the  most  cordial  relations  with  the  great  Greek  trading  centre.  We 
may  recall  the  Olbian  legends  of  Anacharsis,  the  wise  Scythian,  and 
of  King  Skyles,  who  married  a  Greek  wife,  paid  frequent  visits  to 
Olbia,  and  perished  on  account  of  his  excessive  philhellenism.  The 
excavations  of  Farmakovski  in  the  archaic  cemetery  of  Olbia,  and  those 
of  Skadovski  and  von  Stern  at  Berezan,  bear  witness  to  the  prosperity 
of  Olbia  in  the  sixth  century  and  to  its  connexions  with  almost  the 
whole  Greek  world.  Some  of  the  Olbian  tombs  were  veritable 
treasure  houses  of  pottery  and,  even  more,  of  Greek  jewellery.  The 
character  of  the  jewellery  is  purely  Ionian. 

We  can  understand  how  Olbia,  protected  by  the  Peace  of  Scythia, 
was  able  to  hellenize  a  number  of  villages  on  the  lower  course  of 
the  Dnieper  and  the  Bug,  and  to  send  Greek  colonists  who  mingled 
with  the  natives  and  formed  a  mixed  population,  the  Mixellenes  of 
Herodotus.  The  mixed  civilization  of  these  villages  is  known  to  us 
from  the  productive  excavations  of  Goshkevich  and  of  Ebert. 

The  conditions  which  prevailed  in  the  eastern  group  of  colonies 
were  much  more  complex.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Taman  peninsula  and  the  east  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Azov, 
the  Sindians  and  the  Maeotians,  possessed  a  powerful  and  ancient 
civilization,  that  the  straits  of  Kerch  were  the  nucleus  of  the  Cimme- 
rian state,  and  that  the  Cimmero-Maeotian  population  was  never 
defeated  and  subjugated  by  the  Scythians.  It  will  also  be  remem- 
bered, that  the  inhabitants  traded  regularly  with  the  mining  districts 
of  Transcaucasia.  We  can  understand,  that  in  their  struggles  with  the 
Scythians,  the  Sindians  and  the  Maeotians  welcomed  the  assistance  of 
Greek  colonists  from  overseas,  who  brought  them  metals  in  exchange 
for  their  fish,  and  who  were  well  armed  and  ready  to  defend  their 
profits  against  Scythian  exactions.  Archaeological  discoveries  have 
shown,  that  the  first  Greek  towns  in  the  Taman  peninsula,  dating 
from  the  seventh  century,  were  not  Milesian  colonies  :  the  Carians 
were  followed  by  theTeians,  the  Mytileneans,  and  the  Clazomenians, 
and  the  Milesians  were  probably  the  latest  comers.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  sixth  century,  and  most  likely  in  the  second  half  of  it, 
the  Milesians  founded  numerous  colonies  on  the  other  coast  of  the 
Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  which  had  certainly  been  conquered  by  the 
Scythians.  We  have  good  reason  for  believing  that  this  coloniza- 
tion was  facilitated  by  the  Scythians,  who  realized,  from  the 
example  of  Olbia,  the  importance  of  possessing  outlets  for  their 
products,  and  who  highly  appreciated  the  tribute  paid  them  by  the 
Greeks. 

There  existed  then  in  the  sixth  century  two  probably  rival  groups 

2353  K 


66  THEGREEKSONTHE 

of  Greek  colonies  on  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus :  one  in  Sindian 
territory,  and  the  other  in  the  Scythian  empire.  But  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  geographically  and  economically  the  two  shores  of  the 
strait  constitute  a  single  area  with  similar  populations,  and  that  for 
centuries  they  had  formed  a  political  unit  under  Cimmerian  domination. 
We  must  suppose,  although  it  is  nowhere  stated,  that  competition  led 
to  conflicts  between  these  two  groups.  Supported  by  the  Scythians ; 
commanding  the  straits  of  Kerch  by  virtue  of  their  geographical 
position ;  and  possessing  the  only  ports  which  provided  trustworthy 
shelter  for  large  sailing  ships  ;  the  Greeks  of  Panticapaeum  seem  to 
have  acquired,  in  the  sixth  century  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth, 
an  ascendancy  over  the  Greeks  of  the  Taman  peninsula.  The  silver 
coins  of  the  sixth  century  appear  to  furnish  proof :  the  number  of 
types  is  small,  and  the  coins  were  probably  all  struck  at  Panticapaeum. 

In  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  especially  in  the  second  half,  the  political 
situation  seems  to  have  completely  changed.  The  Milesians,  as  we 
know,  lost  their  maritime  supremacy  and  their  connexion  with  the 
Persian  empire  :  they  became  ordinary  members  of  the  Athenian 
league.  Athens,  after  the  Persian  wars,  became  the  chief  political 
power  in  Greece,  held  the  command  of  the  seas,  and  assiduously 
developed  her  commerce  and  her  industry.  We  shall  see  that  the 
Scythian  kingdom,  after  the  expedition  of  Darius,  concentrated  its 
forces  on  its  western  frontier,  and  began  to  pay  less  attention  than  in 
the  sixth  century  to  its  struggle  with  the  Sindians.  Greek  influence 
increased  in  the  straits  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus. 

In  her  external  and  commercial  policy,  Athens  had  to  turn  her 
eyes  more  and  more  towards  the  east.  Her  plan  to  become  mistress 
of  Egypt  collapsed,  and  her  relations  with  Italy  encountered  stronger 
and  stronger  opposition  from  the  Dorians.  On  the  other  hand,  she 
needed  more  and  more  raw  material  for  her  industries,  and  more 
and  more  food-stuffs,  corn  and  fish,  for  her  growing  population. 
The  question  of  food  was  particularly  urgent.  Athens,  and  indeed 
Greece  as  a  whole,  could  no  longer  feed  itself.  The  cities  of  the 
Athenian  confederation  tried  to  import  as  much  food-stuffs  as  possible  : 
the  other  cities  did  the  same.  Now  the  supply  of  cereals  in  the 
market  was  limited.  Owing  to  Dorian  competition  in  Italy,  and  to 
Persian  jealousy,  it  was  impossible  to  count  on  the  west  or  on  Egypt. 
The  only  hope  of  obtaining  a  sufficient  supply  of  food-stuffs  lay  in 
the  east,  in  the  fishing  and  agricultural  regions  of  the  great  Balkan 
and  Russian  rivers.  For  Athens,  therefore,  the  head  of  the  league,  it 
was  a  matter  of  the  utmost  political  and  economic  importance,  to 
cultivate  and  develop  the  commercial  relations  which  Miletus  had 


PLATE      XIV 


GREEK     BRONZE     BREASTPLATE 

From     Elizavetinskaya    on    the    Kuban 
IV  Cent.  B.C.      Hermitage,  Petrograd 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      67 

established  with  the  Black  Sea  colonies,  to  foster  the  colonies,  and  to 
make  them  relatively  independent  of  their  old  masters  the  Scythians. 
But  the  political  interests  of  Athens  demanded  more  :  Athens  claimed 
exclusive  control  of  the  export  trade,  the  sole  right  to  dispose  of  the 
Black  Sea  commodities,  to  collect  them  at  Athens  and  distribute 
them  afterwards  among  her  allies.  This  was  why  the  Athenians 
colonized  Amisos  and  Sinope  in  the  fifth  century,  and  founded 
military  colonies,  real  fortresses,  at  the  most  important  points  on  the 
straits  of  the  Bosphorus,  not  in,  but  beside,  the  principal  Greek  cities  : 
at  Athenaeum  near  Theodosia,  at  Nymphaeum  near  Panticapaeum, 
and  probably  at  Stratocleia  near  Phanagoria.  Pericles  in  the  year  435, 
and  Alcibiades  later,  personally  inspected  this  branch  of  the  Athenian 
imperial  system. 

But  the  Athenian  supremacy  was  of  short  duration.  Some  years 
before  the  expedition  of  Pericles,  a  serious  change  had  taken  place  in 
the  political  life  of  Panticapaeum.  The  tradition  concerning  the 
Archeanactids,  the  first  rulers  of  the  city,  appears  to  be  the  work  of 
a  forger  :  but  it  seems  that  the  city  had  been  governed  by  an  aristo- 
cracy and  that  the  government  was  supplanted  by  a  tyranny,  apparently 
military ;  in  438,  the  power  was  seized  by  a  chieftain  with  the  Thracian 
name  of  Spartocos.  How  can  we  explain  this  change  and  the  Thracian 
name  of  the  tyrant,  who  was  succeeded  by  other  members  of  the  same 
family,  some  of  whom  bore  Thracian  names,  such  as  Pairisades  and 
Spartocos,  others  Greek,  such  as  Leucon  and  Satyros  ?  It  has  been 
suggested  that  Spartocos  was  the  leader  of  a  Thracian  military  force, 
engaged  by  the  Panticapaeans  for  the  defence  of  the  town.  This  is 
extremely  unlikely.  Whence  came  the  Thracians,  and  what  route 
did  they  take  ?  Did  they  come  by  sea,  with  the  permission  of  Athens  ? 
It  would  surely  have  been  absurd  of  Athens  to  import  mercenaries 
who  might  destroy  her  cleruchies.  Against  the  will  of  Athens  ?  No 
less  impossible,  for  Athens  was  mistress  of  the  sea.  Did  they  come 
by  way  of  the  Russian  steppes  ?  A  long  and  dangerous  journey  :  and 
what  would  the  Scythian  empire  have  said  to  it  ?  The  Thracians  were 
always  enemies  of  the  Scythians.  This  hypothesis  being  inacceptable, 
only  one  other  remains  :  I  have  already  indicated  it  in  my  third 
chapter.  The  usurpation  of  Spartocos  was  a  purely  internal  change  : 
as  in  so  many  Greek  cities,  a  tyranny  took  the  place  of  an  aristocracy 
which  had  become  an  oligarchy.  Spartocos  must  have  belonged  to 
a  native  family  which  had  been  incorporated  into  the  aristocracy 
which  governed  the  town  :  hence  his  Thracian  name.  We  have  seen 
that  in  the  prehellenic  period  the  ruling  class  at  Panticapaeum  was 
Cimmerian,  and  that  the  Cimmerians  were  Thracians. 


68  THEGREEKSONTHE 

Did  this  revolution  take  place  with  the  consent  of  Athens  ?  I 
think  not.  The  semi-Thracian  aspect  of  the  new  dynasty  speaks 
rather  for  a  native  reaction  against  Greek  domination,  and  this  theory 
is  corroborated  by  the  title  which  the  new  rulers  assumed  :  archons 
of  Panticapaeum  and  kings  of  the  Sindians  and  the  Maeotians.  The 
fact  that  among  the  Sindian  princes  who  ruled  at  the  same  period  as 
the  tyrants  of  Panticapaeum,  we  find  Thracian  names  like  Gorgippos 
and  Komosarye,  and  that  the  two  dynasties  probably  united  shortly 
after  the  revolution  of  Spartocos,  seems  to  show  that  the  principal 
cause  of  the  political  change  was  the  necessity  of  reconciling  the 
interests  of  the  natives,  and  especially  of  the  native  aristocracy,  with 
those  of  the  Greek  population. 

It  is  worth  noticing  that  this  phenomenon  was  not  peculiar  to 
Panticapaeum.  Similar  conditions  led  to  a  similar  form  of  govern- 
ment, almost  at  the  same  time,  at  Heracleia  on  the  Pontus,  at  Hali- 
carnassus  in  Asia  Minor,  at  Syracuse  in  Sicily.  The  same  movement 
gave  rise  to  the  Greco- Macedonian  monarchy  in  Macedonia,  and  later 
to  the  combination  of  city-state  and  monarchy  at  Pergamon.  But 
it  was  only  in  the  Bosphorus  that  the  form  of  government  thus 
produced  was  stable  :   here  it  lasted  for  centuries. 

The  change  in  the  constitution  of  Panticapaeum  was  the  beginning 
of  a  brilliant  career  for  the  new  state.  Possibly  one  of  Pericles' 
motives  for  visiting  the  Euxine  was  the  desire  to  enter  into  relations 
and  to  come  to  an  arrangement  with  the  new  masters  of  Panticapaeum. 
The  understanding  which  resulted  confirmed  the  power  of  the  tyrant 
without  sacrificing  the  military  and  economic  interests  of  Athens. 
Athens  did  not  think  of  withdrawing  her  garrisons,  and  the  tyrant 
of  Panticapaeum  had  to  accept  the  status  of  Athenian  commercial 
agent  for  the  export  of  corn  to  Athens  alone.  All  corn  had  to  pass 
through  Piraeus  before  it  could  find  its  way  to  other  Greek  cities  :  an 
enormous  political  force  in  the  hands  of  a  state  like  Athens,  which 
never  knew  political  or  moral  scruples. 

But  Athenian  monopoly  and  Bosphoran  dependence  soon  came  to  an 
end.  The  Peloponnesian  war,  which  was  decided  in  the  straits  of  the 
Thracian  Bosphorus,  enabled  Satyros  and  Leucon,  the  successors  of 
Spartocos,  to  assert  their  sway  over  all  or  nearly  all  the  Greek  cities, 
to  reduce  the  Atfiejiianj^lojnejjjo  impotence  and  to  embody  them  in 
their  state,  to  pursue,  without  restraint,  a  policy  of  unification  in  the 
Taman  peninsula,  and  to  overcome,  after  a  long  struggle,  the  com- 
petition of  Pontic  Heracleia,  the  powerful  Dorian  city  which  was 
governed,  like  Panticapaeum,  by  a  tyranny,  and  which  was  anxious 
to  secure,  not  only  the  port  of  Chersonesus,  but  also  the  town  of 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      69 

Theodosia,  by  nature  the  principal  centre  for  the  corn  trade  of  the 
Scythian  Crimea.  Athens  was  neither  able  nor  willing  to  impede 
the  development  of  the  Bosphoran  state  :  she  probably  assisted  her 
semi-vassal  in  its  conflicts  with  its  numerous  enemies.  The  Athenian 
inscription  in  honour  of  the  sons  of  Leucon  shows  that  Athens 
renounced  her  exclusive  right  to  purchase  the  corn  from  Pantica- 
paeum.  Panticapaeum  probably  received  the  right  of  trading  freely, 
on  condition  of  guaranteeing  Athens  ample  privileges  in  the  matter 
of  custom  duties.  The  period  of  Satyros  (433/2-389/8),  of  Leucon 
(389/8-349/8),  and  of  Pairisades  I  (349/8-310/9)  was  one  of  great 
prosperity  for  the  Bosphorus.  Leucon  was  spoken  of  at  Athens  as 
the  pattern  of  a  virtuous  tyrant.  Attic  historians  wrote  about  him, 
as  well  as  Panticapaean.  Statues  of  these  tyrants  adorned  public 
places  in  Athens.  Pairisades  I  made  bold  to  attack  the  Scythians,  or 
at  any  rate  to  resist  their  demand  for  tribute.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  at  this  period  the  Scythians  were  in  conflict  with  the  Sarmatians 
and  were  slowly  retreating  towards  the  Crimean  steppes. 

The  commercial  situation  remained  unchanged.  Athens  was  still 
the  chief  customer  of  Panticapaeum,  and  in  Greece  the  demand  for 
fish  and  corn  was  steadily  growing.  The  Scythians  became  resigned 
to  the  independence  of  the  Bosphorus  state,  which  had  organized  a 
powerful  army  of  mercenaries  and  a  regular  system  of  traffic.  Great 
quantities  of  corn  were  produced  everywhere,  and  the  trade  flourished 
as  never  before.  The  fourth  century  was  a  period  of  general  prosperity. 
At  Olbia  and  at  Chersonesus,  at  Theodosia,  at  Panticapaeum,  at 
Phanagoria,  at  Tanais  on  the  mouth  of  the  Don,  the  fourth-century 
tombs  are  full  of  objects  of  art,  especially  gold  and  silver,  imported 
from  Greece.    We  shall  speak  of  these  later. 

At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  third, 
the  quiet  life  of  the  Bosphorus  was  disturbed  by  political  disorders. 
But  these  disorders  were  of  short  duration,  and  the  reigns,  as  we  can 
now  call  them,  of  Eumelos,  of  Spartocos  III  (304/3-284/3),  and  of 
Pairisades  III  (284/3-about  252)  were  comparable  with  those  of  their 
predecessors.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  during  the  reign  of  Spartocos  III 
Athens  not  only  recognized  the  complete  independence  of  Pantica- 
paeum, but  even  concluded  with  it  a  defensive  military  alliance.  In 
consequence  of  the  position  in  which  Spartocos  III  found  himself 
after  the  troubles  which  followed  the  death  of  Pairisades  I,  he  was 
obliged  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  recruitment  of  his  army  and  to 
alliances  with  other  states. 

It  was  not  until  the  second  half  of  the  third  century  that  economic 
and  political  decay  set  in.    During  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  the 


II 


70  THEGREEKSONTHE 

position  of  Panticapaeum  in  the  corn  trade  was  an  extremely  impor- 
tant one.  Up  to  the  time  of  Alexander  it  had  hardly  any  competitors  ; 
after  Alexander's  conquest  of  the  Eastern  world  it  had  to  contend 
with  Ptolemaic  Egypt,  with  Asia  Minor,  and  with  Macedonia  and 
Thrace,  but  the  competition  was  not  ruinous.  The  prosperity  of  the 
Greek  world  in  the  early  Hellenistic  period,  the  constant  growth  of 
population,  the  continual  foundation  of  new  cities,  and  the  general 
development  of  industry,  brought  about  an  enormous  increase  in  the 
demand  for  the  products  of  South  Russia.  A  close  examination  of 
the  documents  of  the  period  shows  that  the  difficulty  for  producers 
was  not  lack  of  customers  but  insufficiency  of  output.  The  Ptolemies 
would  never  have  been  able  to  exercise  such  powerful  influence  on  the 
cities  of  the  Mediterranean  if  they  had  not  employed  their  corn  as  a 
political  weapon.  We  have  seen  that  Spartocos  had  already  used  his 
corn  to  purchase  a  military  alliance  with  Athens.  No  matter  how 
many  offers  of  corn  and  fish  were  brought  to  the  exchanges  of  Rhodes, 
Delos,  and  Delphi,  customers  could  always  be  found. 

The  decay  of  Panticapaeum,  therefore,  cannot  have  been  occa- 
sioned by  the  competition  of  other  producers.  The  weakness  of  the 
Bosphoran  kingdom  was  due  to  other  causes.  The  output  became 
smaller  and  smaller.  Take  the  quantity  of  corn  exported  by  Panti- 
capaeum in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  :  under  Leucon  I  400,000 
medimni  by  or  for  Athens  alone  ;  and  how  much  besides  for  the 
other  Greek  cities  !  Compare  this  with  what  the  whole  Bosphoran 
kingdom  paid  to  Mithridates  :  180,000  medimni  all  told.  The 
difference  is  enormous.  The  cause  of  the  decrease  was  political 
disturbance  in  the  steppes  of  South  Russia.  The  Scythian  empire 
was  collapsing  under  the  blows  of  the  Sarmatians  and  of  the  Thracians. 
As  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  the  Gauls,  accompanied, 
it  may  be,  by  Germanic  tribes,  were  advancing  towards  the  Danube 
and  ravaging  the  outskirts  of  Olbia.  Read  the  inscription  of  Protogenes, 
and  you  will  see  how  precarious  was  the  situation  of  Olbia  at  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century,  and  what  anarchy  prevailed  in  the 
neighbouring  steppes.  The  Bosphorus  was  in  a  slightly  better 
position.  The  Scythian  kingdom  held  out  in  the  steppes  between 
Don  and  Dnieper,  as  well  as  in  the  Crimea.  The  valley  of  the  Kuban 
had  not  yet  been  occupied  by  Sarmatian  tribes.  But  even  so  the 
existence  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  and  of  the  city  of  Chersonesus, 
which  depended  for  its  prosperity  upon  the  Bosphorus,  became  more 
and  more  uncertain.  The  Scythians,  driven  back  towards  the 
Crimea,  threatened  the  cities,  demanded,  as  at  Olbia,  a  heavier  and 
heavier  tribute,  and  neither  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  nor  Chersonesus 


PLATE      XV 


i.    GOLD    BRACELET 


2.    SILVER    BRACELET 


3.   SILVER    KYLIX    WITH    ENGRAVED    AND    GILT    EMBLEMA 

1  and  3  from  the  '  Seven  Brothers'  on  the  Kuban.    2  from  the  Taman  Peninsula 
V-IV  Cent.  b.c.     Hermitage,  Petrograd 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      71 

was  wealthy  enough  to  compete,  in  the  market  for  mercenaries,  with 
the  agents  of  the  Hellenistic  monarchs,  so  as  to  form  a  strong  hireling 
army.  The  army  had  to  be  recruited  from  the  citizens  and  from  the 
subject  tribes,  as  had  happened  for  the  first  time  under  Eumelos  : 
production  suffered  in  consequence,  and  the  armed  power  of  the  state 
hardly  gained.  The  people,  accustomed  to  mercenary  armies,  became 
discontented,  planned  revolution,  and  sometimes  carried  out  its  plan. 
The  trade  with  the  Scythians  was  no  longer  the  same.  Constant  war, 
and  the  invasion  of  Scythian  territory  from  the  west  and  from  the 
east,  crippled  the  Scythian  kingdom  and  reduced  the  trade  to 
insignificance.  Besides,  the  Bosphorus  was  permanently  at  war  with 
the  Scythians.  The  hour  was  approaching  when  the  Greeks  of  South 
Russia  would  be  forced  to  renounce  their  independence  and  seek  the 
armed  protection  of  powerful  friends,  whoever  these  friends  might  be. 
What  came  of  this  situation  we  shall  see  in  our  sixth  chapter. 

I  have  tried  to  give  a  survey  of  the  political  and  economic  causes 
which  created  the  state  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  which  preserved  it  for 
more  than  two  centuries  as  an  independent  power  and  as  an  important 
part  of  the  whole  ancient  world.  What  was  the  political  and  social 
structure  of  this  state  ?    And  what  kind  of  civilization  did  it  achieve  ? 

I  have  tried  to  show  that  the  state  of  the  Bosphorus  was  originally 
a  military  tyrarmjiand^emained  one_:  it  grew~~ouT  of  a  compromise 
between  the  native  population  and~the  Greek  colonists.  For  the 
natives,  the  ruling~dynasty  Was  always~a  dynasty  ot  kings,  since  it  was 
kings  that  for  centuries  they  had  been  accustomed  to  obey.  The 
Greeks,  in  order  to  preserve  their  dominant  position  and  the  founda- 
tion of  their  economic  prosperity,  were  obliged  to  abandon  their  civic 
liberties  and  to  take  for  their  chiefs  the  Hellenized  barbarians  who 
ruled  the  native  population.  For  the  Greeks,  this  form  of  government 
was  a  tyranny,  although  the  official  style  of  the  tyrant  was  the  consti- 
tutional title  of  archon.  This  tyranny  interests  us  because  it  was  not 
a  passing  incident,  like  the  tyrannies  in  many  Greek  cities  during  the 
sixth  and  fourth  and  third  centuries  b.  c,  but  a  form  of  settled 
government  which  existed  for  centuries  and  which  gradually  trans- 
formed itself  into  a  Hellenistic  monarchy  comparable  with  monarchies 
in  Asia  Minor :  Bithynia  with  its  Thracian  population,  Cappadocia  and 
Pontus  with  their  semi-Iranian  dynasties,  Commagene  and  Armenia 
with  their  Hellenized  native  kings.  The  only  analogies,  in  the  ancient 
world,  to  this  constitutional  form  of  tyranny  which  developed  into  a 
monarchy,  are  the  tyranny  of  Pontic  Heracleia,  and  even  more  that  of 
Syracuse  in  Sicily.  In  all  three  places,  a  military  tyranny  based  on 
mercenaries  :   a  strong  native  element  in  the  population  :    no  council 


72  THEGREEKSONTHE 

of  elders,  no  boule  :  a  popular  assembly,  without  power  ;  finally, 
constitutional  fictions  to  disguise  the  reality. 

Still  more  interesting,  the  social  structure  of  the  Bosphoran  state 
hardly  differed  from  that  of  the  states  which  we  have  compared  with 
it.  The  state  was  based  on  an  agricultural  native  population,  attached 
to  the  soil  :  a  class  of  great  landowners,  friends  and  kinsmen  of  the 
king,  who  was  himself  a  landed  proprietor,  owning  the  soil  of  the 
whole  kingdom  ;  and  a  very  powerful  class  of  Greek  merchants,  some 
citizens  of  the  cities  in  the  kingdom,  others  foreigners,  who  owned 
ships  and  who  organized  the  traffic  with  the  neighbouring  semi- 
independent  tribes  as  well  as  with  the  Scythian  kingdom.  The  king 
himself  was  undoubtedly  one  of  these  merchants.  He  exported  the 
grain  which  he  received  as  tribute  from  his  vassals  and  as  contribution 
from  his  serfs.  We  must  also  reckon  with  a  numerous  lower  middle 
class  residing  in  the  towns,  artisans  and  small  tradesmen ;  and  with 
a  numerous  population  of  slaves,  who  loaded  and  unloaded  the  vessels, 
laboured  in  the  factories,  and  so  forth. 

The  same  structure  is  observable  wherever  a  Greek  population 
was  obliged  to  submit  to  a  native,  Hellenized,  or  Greek  dynasty  whose 
rule  was  based  on  a  native  population  not  barbarous  but  accustomed 
to  monarchic  government.  Peculiar  to  the  structure  of  the  Bosphoran 
state  is  the  historical  evolution,  more  easily  apprehended  here  than 
elsewhere  :  an  Ionian  Greek  city  transforming  itself  into  a  Greco- 
Maeotian  state  with  the  Greeks  in  a  privileged  position,  and  gradually 
changing  into  a  Hellenistic  monarchy  in  which  the  two  elements  are 
confounded,  the  natives  becoming  Hellenized  and  the  Greeks 
gradually  adopting  the  spirit  and  the  habits  of  the  natives.  The  dualism 
can  be  noticed  in  every  department  of  life.  In  religion,  purely  Greek 
cults  are  replaced  by  various  forms  of  native  cult,  particularly  that 
of  the  Great  Goddess  whom  we  have  already  mentioned.  Nearly 
every  Greek  town  in  the  Taman  peninsula  had  a  temple  of  this  pre- 
Hellenic  divinity.  Two  of  these  sanctuaries  have  been  excavated, 
one  near  Phanagoria,  where  the  Great  Goddess  was  identified  with 
the  Greek  Aphrodite,  the  other  on  a  promontory  in  one  of  the  lakes 
of  the  Kuban  delta,  that  of  Tsukur,  where  she  was  worshipped,  as  in 
Asia  Minor  and  in  Macedonia,  under  the  name  of  Artemis  Agrotera. 
We  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  there  were  temples  of  the  same 
deity  near  Hermonassa  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Gorgippia,  the  modern 
Anapa.  The  same  cult  gradually  became  predominant  at  Panticapaeum, 
and  it  is  well  known  that  the  patron  goddess  of  Chersonesus  was  the 
Parthenos,  who  is  represented,  in  the  guise  of  Artemis,  on  the  coins 
of  that  city.    A  significant  testimony  to  the  popularity  of  the  Great 


SHORES    OF   THE    BLACK    SEA 


73 


Goddess  in  the  peninsula  of  Taman  is  afforded  by  her  prevalence,  as 
Kore  or  as  Demeter,  in  the  decoration  of  tomb-furniture  from  the 
Taman  graves  :  I  would  instance  the  important  part  played  by 
Demeter  in  the  lady's  tomb  at  Great  Bliznitsa.  Stephani  inferred 
that  the  lady  had  been  a  priestess  of  Demeter.  I  am  more  inclined 
to  believe  that  all  the  queens,  or  consorts  of  native  kings  and  princes, 
for  example  the  queen  buried  under  the  barrow  of  Karagodeuashkh, 
were  priestesses  of  the  Great  Goddess,  who  was  sometimes  identified 
with  Demeter  and  sometimes  with  Aphrodite.  The  costume  which 
they  wore  on  special  occasions  during  their  lifetime,  and  which 
accompanied  them  into  the  grave,  was  the  ritual  costume  of  the 
grand  priestess,  and  as  such  recalled  the  costume  of  the  Goddess 
herself.  Curiously  enough,  the  Hellenized  native  queen  who  was 
buried  under  the  barrow  of  Great  Bliznitsa  had  a  number  of  gold 
plaques  sewn  on  to  her  clothing  which  represented  the  Great  Goddess 
herself.  We  shall  return  to  them  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  goddess 
worshipped  by  the  Scythians  (see  p .  107).  The  Great  Goddess  appears 
in  the  form  of  the  Asiatic  ttotvio.  OrjpcJv  :  her  chthonic  character  is 
emphasized  by  her  serpent  feet.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  shown  by 
certain  attributes  that  she  was  conceived  as  the  chief  goddess  of  the 
Bosphoran  kingdom,  the  patron  and  guardian  of  the  state.  In  the 
more  explicit  of  the  plaques,  her  wings  terminate  in  horned  and 
leonine  griffin-heads  ;  she  masters  two  eagle-headed  griffins  ;  or  she 
holds  in  her  right  hand  the  silen's  head  which  figures  on  Panticapaean 
coins  and  in  her  left  a  dagger,  and  is  accompanied  by  the  symbol  of 
Bosphoran  prosperity,  the  ear  of  corn  (see  p.  130,  fig .  17,  and  pi.  XVIII, 
4,  similar  plaques  from  Kul-Oba  and  from  Chersonesus,  compare 
pi.  XVIII,  3 — the  same  goddess  represented  as  Aphrodite — and  2 — 
the  Silen ,  the  national  god  of  vegetation) .  As  we  examine  these  plaques 
we  cannot  help  recalling  the  Maeotian  legend,  mentioned  above,  of  the 
autochthonous  goddess  who  slew  the  giants — native  deities  of  fertility 
— to  please  Herakles,  the  Greek  or  Iranian  conquering  god.  We  shall 
see  that  the  silens  and  satyrs  on  the  coins  of  Panticapaeum  probably 
represent  those  same  native  gods  of  vegetation  and  of  reproduction, 
who  are  associated  with  the  Great  Goddess  in  the  plaques. 

The  temples  on  the  Taman  peninsula,  as  we  learn  from  an 
inscription  of  Roman  date,  were  organized  like  those  in  Asia  Minor, 
especially  those  in  Pontus,  Cappadocia,  and  Armenia  :  a  college  of 
priests  or  priestesses  with  a  grand  priest  or  priestess  at  its  head  ; 
vast  domains  belonging  to  the  goddess  ;  and  serfs  working  for  the 
goddess  and  for  the  priests. 

There  is  the  same  dualism  in  the  material  life  of  the  population, 


*353 


74 


THE    GREEKS    ON    THE 


especially  of  the  ruling  class.  For  nearly  a  century  excavation, 
uninterrupted  if  not  always  scientific,  has  been  going  on  in  the  cities 
of  the  Bosphoran  state,  and  most  of  the  city  cemeteries  have  been 
explored  :  we  can  thus  form  an  accurate  notion  of  the  civilization 
and  characteristics  of  the  governing  class  in  town  and  in  country. 

One  characteristic  is  the  opulence  of  the  kingdom  in  general,  and 
of  the  urban  middle  class.  The  tombs  of  the  Bosphoran  Greeks  are 
well  constructed,  the  coffins  are  often  carefully  wrought,  and  the 
objects  interred  with  the  dead  are  sometimes  of  high  material  and 
artistic  value.  On  the  other  hand,  the  urban  middle  class  has  kept  its 
character  surprisingly  pure  :  Ionian  Greek  at  Olbia  and  in  the  Bos- 
phorus,  Dorian  at  Chersonesus.  In  the  Ionian  cities,  just  as  in  the 
mother  country,  cremation  and  inhumation  were  practised  side  by 


7TT 


y 


Pu 


i  i  i  i  i  I  i 


PLAN  of  a  GRAVE- CHAMBER  IN  ANAPA 


Fig.  7. 

side.  The  funeral  rites  are  purely  Greek ;  the  funerary  furniture  is 
no  less  so  ;  from  the  sixth  to  the  third  century  it  mainly  consists  of 
what  may  be  called  athletic  objects.  Weapons  are  rare,  for  the 
citizens  did  not  serve  in  the  army,  but  strigils,  oil-flasks,  and  oil-jars 
are  regularly  found  in  the  graves  of  men.  Women  have  mostly  jewels 
and  articles  of  toilet.  In  purely  Greek  tombs  of  this  period  nearly  all 
the  objects  are  imported.  And  they  are  not  cheap  goods.  The  Ionian 
vases  are  sometimes  of  the  highest  quality ;  the  Attic  vases,  which 
predominate  from  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  onwards,  often  bear 
signatures  of  artists  :  the  so-called  Phoenician  polychrome  glass  is 
sometimes  exquisitely  fine  :  the  gold  trinkets  probably  came  from  the 
best-known  workshops,  and  are  frequently  splendid  specimens  of  the 
Greek  jeweller's  art. 

But  it  is  not  the  Greek  tombs  that  captivate  the  imagination  of 
the  visitor  to  Kerch  or  to  the  Hermitage  :  such  tombs,  more  or  less 
rich,  are  found  in  most  parts  of  the  Greek  world,  and  the  tomb 


PLATE      XVI 


i.    Engraved    CHALCEDONY    SCARABOID,    Persian 

2,3.    Gold    and    Gold-plated    EARRINGS.  4.    Gold    NECKLACE 

From   Nymphaeum,  Crimea.     V  Cent.  b.  c.     Ashmolean  Museum 


SHORES    OF   THE    BLACK    SEA 


75 


furniture  does  not  vary  much  from  district  to  district.  The  most 
interesting  feature  of  the  burial-grounds  at  Panticapaeum  and  in  the 
Taman  peninsula,  is  the  great  tumuli  (kurgans)  on  the  summits  of 
Mount  Mithridates  and  Yiiz-Oba,  two  ranges  of  hills  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Panticapaeum.  There  are  also  tumuli  along  the  roads  leading 
from  Panticapaeum  to  the  steppe,  and  on  most  of  the  hill-tops  in  the 
Taman  peninsula. 


Fig.  8.     TWO    STONE    CHAMBERS    IN    THE    TUMULI    OF 
YUZ-OBA,    NEAR    PANTICAPAEUM. 

The  tumulus  is  carefully  constructed  and  surrounded  by  a  wall 
of  dressed  stone  (KprfnCs)  :  underneath  it  is  a  large  sepulchral  building, 
a  chamber  of  dressed  stone  with  a  corridor  joining  it  to  the  circum- 
ference of  the  tumulus  (figs.  7  and  8).  The  chamber  and  the  corridor 
are  vaulted  :  the  vault  is  often  of  the  corbelled  or  '  Egyptian '  type,  round 
or  square,  with  one  course  of  stones  projecting  beyond  the  next ;  true 
barrel  vaults  are  occasionally  found.  Walls  and  roof  were  frequently 
painted,  and  sometimes  lined  with  costly  stuffs  :  gold  plaques  were 
often  sewn  on  to  the  stuff.  In  the  middle  of  the  chamber  was  a  coffin, 
usually  of  wood — rarely  of  marble — ,  carved,  inlaid,  and  painted. 
Several  of  these  coffins  have  been  found  :  they  are  marvels  of  decora- 


76  THEGREEKSONTHE 

tive  art.  Round  the  coffin  were  Greek  vases  of  the  best  fabrics,  often 
not  only  painted  but  modelled  and  gilded  as  well  :  one  of  the  best 
known  is  the  vase  with  the  signature  of  Xenophantos  which  represents 
King  Darius  hunting.  The  bodies  laid  in  the  coffins  wore  festal 
costume  ;  the  men  had  weapons  with  them,  the  women  jewels. 

Some  of  the  graves,  which  were  discovered  intact,  have  yielded 
superb  collections  of  ancient  jewellery  and  goldsmith's  work  : 
engraved  stones  signed  by  celebrated  artists  ;  necklaces,  bracelets, 
earrings,  unequalled  in  the  ancient  world.  The  finest  objects  in  the 
Hermitage  came  almost  entirely  from  these  monumental  tombs.  The 
same  opulence  everywhere — at  Panticapaeum,  at  Nymphaeum,  at 
Theodosia,  in  the  Taman  peninsula,  at  Chersonesus  :  but  not  the 
same  funeral  rites.  The  graves  in  the  Taman  peninsula  preserve 
features  which  recall  the  native  Thracian  and  Scythian  graves,  such 
as  bloody  sacrifices  after  the  funeral  ceremony,  and  the  interment  of 
horses  and  of  funeral  chariots. 

Such  graves  are  neither  purely  Greek  nor  purely  native.  The 
Greeks  of  this  period  did  not  bury  their  dead  under  barrows,  in 
chambers  with  Egyptian  vaults,  in  sumptuous  coffins.  They  no 
longer  deposited  whole  fortunes  in  their  tombs,  like  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom.  Again,  in  the  funerary  ritual  and  the 
choice  and  character  of  the  objects  placed  in  them,  the  Scythian 
tumulary  graves  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  monumental 
tombs  of  Panticapaeum.  There  is  no  trace  at  Panticapaeum  of  the 
interment  of  horses,  no  human  sacrifice,  and  no  groups  of  sacred 
objects  laid  beside  the  dead.  We  have  two  completely  different 
rituals  :  moreover,  the  Panticapaean  ritual  influenced  the  Scythian, 
not  the  Scythian  the  Panticapaean.  We  cannot  claim  that  the  monu- 
mental graves  of  the  Taman  peninsula  were  equally  independent  of 
Scythian  practice  :  Scythian  influence  is  certain.  Although  they 
preserve,  in  principle,  the  funerary  ritual  found  at  Panticapaeum, 
which  recalls  that  of  heroic  Greece,  familiar  to  us  from  the  Homeric 
poems,  with  its  bloody  sacrifices  and  its  funeral  feasts,  they  neverthe- 
less appear  to  have  adopted  certain  customs  from  the  Scythians, 
especially  the  slaughter  and  interment  of  the  horses  which  had  been 
harnessed  to  the  hearse.  Remains  of  horses  and  harness  were  found 
in  the  barrows  of  Great  and  Little  Bliznitsa  and  of  the  Vasyurinskaya 
Gora,  the  richest  and  stateliest  tombs  in  the  Taman  peninsula.  True 
analogies  with  the  funerary  ritual  and  the  sepulchral  structures  of 
Panticapaeum  are  to  be  found  not  in  Scythian  country  but  partly,  as 
I   have   said,  in  the  Greece  of  heroic  times,  and  partly  in  those 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      77 

barbarian  lands  which  were  strongly  influenced  by  heroic  Greece. 
In  Thrace,  especially,  we  observe  the  same  characteristics.  Besides 
the  barrows  in  Macedonia,  excavated  by  Heuzey  and  Kinch,  which 
contain  painted  sepulchral  chambers  with  barrel  vaults,  I  would 
mention  the  sepulchral  chambers  discovered  near  Salonica,  and  near 
Lozengrad  in  Bulgaria.  The  latter  is  particularly  interesting  :  the 
mode  of  construction  recalls  the  Mycenaean  tholos,  and  the  plan  is 
exactly  like  those  of  the  Tsarski  tombs  and  the  Golden  Tumulus  : 
the  date  is  that  of  the  Panticapaean  graves,  the  fourth  century  B.C. 

Similar  monuments  have  come  to  light  in  Asia  Minor,  especially 
in  Pontus,  Caria  and  Lycia ;  as~~|vell  as  in~  Etruria.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  Asia  Minor  was  partly  peopled  by  Thracian  tribes. 
Throughout  these  countries,  we  come  across  tumuli,  sepulchral 
chambers  of  dressed  stone,  rich  coffins,  varied  and  sumptuous  tomb 
furniture.  The  funerary  ritual  is  almost  the  same,  and  here  also  it 
vividly  recalls  heroic,  that  is  to  say  pre-Hellenic  Greece.  Everything 
suggests  that  the  great  tombs  in  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  were  built 
for  members  of  the  ruling  class,  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was 
not  of  pure  Greek  origin,  but  of  mixed  stock,  a  combination  of  native 
elements  with  the  aristocracy  of  Greek  colonists. 

What  strikes  us  particularly  in  the  monumental  tombs  of  Panti- 
capaeum  and  the  Taman  peninsula  is  not  the  tumuli  themselves,  for 
the  shape  of  these  huge  earthen  mounds  does  not  greatly  vary  from 
one  place  or  one  period  to  another  :  much  more  interesting,  both 
historically  and  artistically,  are  the  sepulchral  chambers  of  dressed  stone. 
Some  dozens  of  them  have  been  found ;  not  a  few  are  in  almost  perfect 
preservation .  The  chambers  of  the  Golden ,  Tsarski ,  and  Melek  Chesme 
tumuli,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kerch,  are  all  three  well  known  : 
the  two  latter  are  accessible  and  attract  a  great  number  of  visitors. 
Not  so  well  known  are  the  chambers  of  the  Yuz-Oba  kurgans, 
near  Kerch,  which  are  partially  destroyed,  those  in  the  Taman  pen- 
insula, and  those  in  the  vicinity  of  Gorgippia  (see  figs.  7  and  8).  Some 
of  these  can  be  dated  by  means  of  their  contents  :  none  are  as  old  as 
the  fifth  century :  the  grandest  belong  to  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  , 
century  B.C.,  the  more  summary  to  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  and 
the  first  half  of  the  third.  It  has  been  proposed  to  place  the  finest 
examples  of  the  first  series,  the  Golden  and  Tsarski  kurgans,  in  the 
fifth  century  b.  c.  :  but  without  good  reason.  The  mode  of  construc- 
tion is  exactly  the  same  as  in  the  sepulchral  chambers  of  Yuz-Oba, 
which  date  from  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century.  Now  we  have 
seen  that  the  fourth  century  was  a  period  of  great  prosperity  in  the 


78  THEGREEKSONTHE 

Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  whereas  in  the  fifth  century  Nymphaeum  and 
the  other  Athenian  cities  grew  rich  at  the  expense  of  Panticapaeum. 
This  is  shown,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  rich  fifth-century  finds  at 
Nymphaeum — a  mixed  cemetery  with  Greek  and  Greco- Scythian 
tombs,  and  several  tumuli — and  in  the  Taman  peninsula — the 
barrows  of  the  Seven  Brothers ;  on  the  other,  by  the  rarity  and 
poverty  of  fifth-century  tombs  at  Panticapaeum,  not  one  of  which  has 
yielded  jewellery  comparable  with  that  of  the  fifth-century  tombs  in 
the  Taman  peninsula  and  in  the  cemetery  of  Nymphaeum  ;  while 
the  vases  of  severe  red-figured  style  are  very  poorly  represented  at 
Panticapaeum,  especially  compared  with  the  vases  of  the  sixth  and 
fourth  centuries.  We  have  no  right  to  suppose  that  costly  monuments 
were  constructed  in  Panticapaeum  at  a  time  when  the  city  and  her 
rulers  were  impoverished  by  dissension  at  home,  by  wars  abroad,  and 
by  complete  subordination,  if  not  vassalage,  to  all-powerful  Athens. 

I  said  above,  that  technically  and  architecturally,  the  tomb 
chambers  of  Panticapaeum  were  real  creations.  The  forms  are 
various  and  elaborate.  ,  The  roof  is  sometimes  a  rectangular  corbelled 
vault,  sometimes  corbelled  but  rounded  :  some  architects  used  the 
barrel  vault,  combining  it,  in  the  double  chambers,  with  the  corbelled 
vault.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  in  constructing  tomb-chambers 
with  the  so-called  Egyptian  vault,  the  Panticapaean  architects  were 
following  an  archaic  custom,  were  imitating  heroa  and  tombs  of  the 
Mycenaean  period  :  in  short,  that  they  acted  like  the  Augustan 
sculptors  when  these  carved  their  archaizing  statues.  I  do  not  believe 
this  conjecture  to  be  correct.  As  soon  as  Greek  architects  learned  to 
construct  barrel  vaults  they  put  their  knowledge  into  practice,  and 
the  barrel  vault  gradually  supplanted  the  older  corbelled  vault.  But 
the  barrel  vault,  which  apart  from  the  Egyptian  vault,  is  the  only 
suitable  method  of  roofing  a  sepulchral  chamber  surmounted  by  a 
tumulus  several  metres  high,  was  not  introduced  into  Greece  until 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century.  Moreover,  the  Greek  barrel  vault 
is  very  imperfect  compared  with  the  Roman.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  in  the  Bosphoran  barrel  vaults  of  the  fourth  century,  the 
stones  are  almost  always  held  together  by  metal  clamps,  a  process 
which  the  Romans  never  employed.  Now  before  the  Greek  architects 
adopted  the  Oriental  system  of  barrel  vaults,  what  processes  did  they 
know  of  for  constructing  a  tomb-chamber  surmounted  by  a  tumulus  ? 
The  only  process  known  to  them  was  the  corbelled  vault,  rectangular 
or  circular,  the  same  which  was  used  in  the  Mycenaean  period. .  I  have 
no  doubt,  although  we  possess  no  examples,  that  the  corbelled  vault 
was  continuously  employed  in  Thrace,  and  in  Greece  and  in  Asia 


PLATE      XVII 


i.  PAINTED    CLAY    VASE    FROM    THE    TAMAN    PENINSULA 

2.GOLD     NECKLACE     FROM     CHERSONESUS 

Late   V   or  early    IV   Cent.    b.  c.     Hermitage,    Petrograd 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA      79 

Minor  as  well,  from  the  Mycenaean  period  onwards,  for  underground 
buildings  and  especially  for  tumulary  graves.  All  the  Panticapaean 
architects  did  was  to  import  the  technique  to  Panticapaeum  and  to 
perfect  it.  But  they  were  not  servile  imitators  :  they  managed  to 
give  their  buildings  an  air  of  grandeur  and  a  distinctive  charm :  they 
contrived  to  find  proportions  which  inspire  us  with  a  profound  respect 
for  their  taste  and  for  their  technical  acquirement.  It  surely  needed 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  builder's  art  to  construct  a  tomb- 
chamber  with  an  Egyptian  vault,  which  could  resist  for  centuries  the 
enormous  pressure  of  an  earthen  mound  some  ten  or  fifteen  metres 
high  !  The  tomb-chambers  of  the  Bosphoran  kurgans  are  nearly 
always  found  intact,  though  stripped  of  their  contents.  If  many  or 
most  of  the  Panticapaean  tomb-chambers  are  at  present  in  ruins,  it  is 
not  the  fault  of  the  Bosphoran  architects,  but  of  the  inhabitants  of 
modern  Kerch,  who  have  been  attracted  by  the  excellent  dressed 
stone  and  by  the  iron  and  bronze  clamps. 

I  may  observe,  before  taking  leave  of  these  buildings,  that  when 
I  have  made  my  way  down  the  corridor  of  Tsarski  Kurgan,  with  its 
Egyptian  vault,  when  I  have  passed  from  the  corridor  to  the  tomb- 
chamber  with  its  rounded  corbelled  vault,  when  I  have  visited  the 
Yuz-Oba  tomb -chambers,  I  have  always  been  moved  by  a  feeling  of 
deep  respect  and  of  lively  admiration  for  the  builders  of  these  impressive 
and  mysterious  monuments.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  their 
civil  and  religious  architecture  has  completely  disappeared. 

Some  of  the  objects  found  in  these  tomb-chambers  were  imported, 
from  Greece  (for  instance  the  silver  bracelet,  pi.  XV,  2  ;  the  necklace 
and  earrings  found  at  Nymphaeum,  pi.  XVI,  2-4  ;  the  earrings  found 
at  Theodosia,  pi.  XVIII,  1  ;  the  necklace  from  Chersonesus  and  the 
painted  vase  from  Taman,  pi.  XVII),  or  from  the  Orient  (the  gem  from 
Nymphaeum,  pi.  XVI,  1) :  but  side  by  side  with  these,  there  are  others 
which  are  unquestionably  local  work,  and  it  is  these  which  concern  us  the 
more  nearly.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  coins  of  Panticapaeum  were 
struck  in  Panticapaeum  itself.  In  the  sixth  and  fifth  centuries,  they 
differ  very  little  from  the  coins  of  the  Ionian  cities  in  Asia  Minor.  The 
Samian  coins,  in  particular,  served  as  models  for  the  silver  of  Pantica- 
paeum. But  at  the  end  of  the  fifth,  and  in  the  fourth  century— the 
date  rests  principally  on  stylistic  considerations — probably  at  the  time 
of  the  reconstitution  of  the  Bosphoran  state,  Panticapaean  coinage 
suddenly  changes.  Gold  staters  were  now  struck,  and  the  types  of 
these  staters,  and  of  the  silver  coinage,  are  quite  new.  These  types  are 
not  imitated  from  the  contemporary  coinage  of  other  Greek  states. 
The  Cyzicene  staters  offer  analogies,  but  Cyzicus  probably  imitated 


r\ 


80  THEGREEKSONTHE 

the  Bosphoran  types,  not  inversely.  Doubtless  Cyzicus  wished  to 
safeguard  its  monopoly  of  issuing  gold  staters,  which,  until  the 
appearance  of  the  Bosphoran  staters,  had  been  uncontested  except 
by  Lampsacus  ;  and  endeavoured  to  oust  the  Bosphoran  gold  by 
means  of  an  electrum  coinage  with  similar  types.    It  did  not  succeed. 

The  fourth-century  coins  struck  in  the  Bosphorus  are  masterpieces 
of  original  and  forcible  art  (pi.  XVIII,  5).  The  style  is  purely  Greek. 
Not  so  the  types.  Look  at  the  heads  of  bearded  silens  and  beardless 
satyrs.  We  shall  see,  in  the  next  chapter,  how  strongly  they  influenced 
the  canonical  rendering  of  Scythians  in  the  art  of  the  Greeks.  But  we 
can  also  trace  the  influence  of  the  Scythian  type  on  these  mythical 
heads.  We  have  been  bidden  to  recognize  a  representation  of  the 
god  Pan,  and  an  etymological  allusion,  in  the  Greek  manner,  to  the 
name  of  Panticapaeum.  I  cannot  accept  this  suggestion.  We  are 
familiar  with  the  type  of  Pan  as  it  was  developed  in  Greek  art. 
It  oilers  only  the  faintest  of  resemblances  with  the  heads  on  the 
Bosphoran  coins.  They  are  more  likely  to  represent  silens  and  satyrs, 
but  they  are  not  faithful  reproductions  of  the  established  types.  I 
should  be  more  inclined  to  take  them  for  heads  of  some  native, 
probably  Thracian  divinity,  the  great  god  of  vegetation  who  became 
the  Greek  Dionysos  and  who  sometimes  figures,  in  the  guise  of  a 
bearded  silen,  on  coins  of  Greco-Thracian  cities  (compare  the  gold 
plaques,  in  the  form  of  a  silen 's  head,  found  by  hundreds  in  the 
Crimea  and  in  the  Taman  peninsula  :  pi.  XVIII,  2).  Is  it  an  accident, 
that  one  of  the  Bosphoran  dynasts  was  named  Satyros  ? 

The  types  on  the  reverse  of  the  Bosphoran  coins  are  also  of  local 
origin.  The  arms  of  Panticapaeum  are  not  Greek  :  the  griffin 
treading  upon  an  ear  of  corn  or  a  fish,  the  sources  whence  the  rulers 
and  the  citizens  of  the  Bosphorus  derived  their  wealth.  The  lion- 
headed  griffin  is  the  Iranian  animal,  created  in  Babylonia,  and  thence- 
forward common  throughout  Asia,  especially  in  the  Iranian  area. 
I  have  already  mentioned  the  sculptures  from  a  tomb  in  Paphlagonia, 
which  belong,  it  is  true,  to  the  archaic  period,  but  which  offer  many 
points  of  comparison  with  the  reverses  of  Bosphoran  coins. 

It  must  be  recognized,  therefore,  that  the  engravers  of  the  Panti- 
capaean  dies  were  no  mere  imitators.  Masters  of  Greek  craftsman- 
ship, endowed  with  Greek  creative  genius,  they  invented  original 
types  which  are  true  emblems  of  the  Bosphoran  state,  half-Greek, 
half-Thracian,  with  strong  Iranian  influence.  In  painting,  the  art  is 
of  the  same  partially  local  kind.  True  that  those  masterpieces  of 
decorative  art,  the  painted  wooden  and  sculptured  coffins,  may  have 
been  imported  from  Greece  or  Asia  Minor  :   I  do  not  believe  it,  but 


PLATE      XVIII 


-  'M 

^^. 

7$ 
1  i  .     »i  w> 

1 

I 

.V.-  fv  T<  '« 

iUi 

■ 

i.    EARRINGS    FROM    THEODOSIA,    CRIMEA.     Hermitage,  Petrograd 

2-4.    GOLD    GARMENT    PLAQUES    FROM    CHERSONESUS, 
CRIMEA.       Hermitage,    Petrograd 


5.    GOLD    COINS    OF    PANTICAPAEUM.      British  Museum  and  Louvre 

IV    Cent.   b.c. 


SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA     81 

owing  to  the  scarcity  of  wood-carvings  from  classical  times,  I  cannot 
offer  proof.  But  examine  the  wall  paintings  in  the  houses  and  tombs 
of  this  period.  We  have  a  whole  series  of  these,  partly  from  Panti- 
capaeum,  partly  from  the  Taman  peninsula  ;  I  have  recently  repub- 
lished them  in  a  special  work.  These  paintings  are  undoubtedly 
local  work ;  they  were  executed  on  the  spot  by  Greek  artists.  They 
follow  the  Greek  fashion,  and  help  us  to  reconstruct  the  pre- 
Pompeian  system  of  mural  decoration  in  Greece.  But  observe  them 
closely.  The  house  decorations  are  very  like  those  at  Delos.  Yet 
there  are  important  differences.  At  Panticapaeum,  the  colour  is 
richer  and  more  various,  but  the  architectural  effect  is  poorer :  both 
characteristics  of  Oriental  art.  Study  the  paintings  of  the  two  Taman 
barrows,  Great  Bliznitsa  and  Vasyurinskaya  Gora.  The  latter  please 
by  their  colour  :  look  at  the  juxtaposition  of  the  dark  blue  on  the  roof 
with  the  bright  red  on  the  walls.  The  others  follow  the  tradition  of 
the  monumental  painting  in  Greek  temples  :  sober  ornamentation 
of  friezes  and  capitals.  But  the  head  of  Demeter,  on  the  keystone  of 
the  Egyptian  vault,  is  not  quite  Greek.  Compare  it  with  the  head  of  the 
same  goddess  in  a  grave  belonging  to  the  first  century  a.  d.,  and  the 
type  will  be  seen  to  be  the  same  :  this  is  not  Demeter,  save  in  name 
only;  it  is  really  a  native  deity,  the  Great  Goddess,  mother  of  gods 
and  men. 

I  consider  myself  justified,  therefore,  in  affirming  that  the  state 
of  the  Bosphorus  was  not  by  any  means  a  group  of  little  Greek  towns 
lost  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  and  living  on  what  the  mother 
country  could  send  them.  It  developed  an  interesting  and  original 
form  of  life.  It  had  the  sagacity  to  invent  a  semi-Greek  constitution, 
which  held  the  state  together  for  centuries  ;  it  contrived  to  make  this 
form  of  government  popular  in  Greece,  and  by  means  of  propaganda 
issued  by  its  historians,  to  install  Bosphoran  tyrants,  such  as  Leucon 
and  Pairisades,  in  the  great  gallery  of  famous  statesmen  whose  names 
were  familiar  in  the  Greek  schools.  It  succeeded  in  spreading  Greek 
civilization  among  its  Scythian  neighbours,  and  in  saturating  its 
non-Greek  subjects  with  that  civilization.  For  centuries  it  guaranteed 
the  Greek  world  a  cheap  and  abundant  supply  of  provisions.  It 
transformed  wide  tracts  of  steppe  into  cultivated  fields.  Finally,  it 
created  a  vigorous  art,  which  achieved  brilliant  triumphs,  especially 
in  toreutic,  and  of  which  I  shall  speak  further  in  the  following 
chapter. 

In  a  word,  the  Bosphorus  of  the  classical  Greek  period  played  an 
important  part  in  the  life  of  the  ancient  world.    The  time  is  past 
when,  in  the  imagination  of  cultivated  persons,  the  Greek  world  was 
2353  M 


82  GREEKS   AT    THE    BLACK   SEA 

bounded  by  the  shores  of  Attica  and  of  the  Peloponnese.  The  power 
of  the  Greek  genius  consisted,  above  all,  in  its  universality,  in  its 
flexibility,  in  its  power  of  adapting  itself  to  unfamiliar  conditions, 
and  of  constructing,  in  foreign  surroundings,  focuses  of  civilization,  in 
which  whatsoever  was  strong  and  fertile  in  the  native  life  was  combined 
with  the  eternal  creations  of  Greek  intelligence. 

This  is  what  we  see,  wherever  we  look,  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
Greek  world,  long  before  the  so-called  Hellenistic  age,  which  merely 
entered  into  a  heritage  bequeathed  by  the  Greeks  of  the  fifth  and 
especially  the  fourth  century.  Take  Italy,  where  Samnites,  Apulians, 
Etruscans,  and,  last  of  all,  Latins,  collaborated  with  the  Greeks  in 
producing  a  Greco-Italic  civilization  of  high  achievement  :  witness 
the  painted  vases  made  in  Italy,  and  the  mural  paintings  in  Samnite 
and  Etruscan  tombs.  Take  Spain,  with  its  Greco-Iberian  art.  Take 
Celtic  Gaul,  and  the  art  of  the  La  Tene  period,  which  was  strongly 
influenced  by  the  Greek  city  of  Marseilles,  and  which  has  much  in 
common  with  the  Greco-Iranian  art  of  Panticapaeum,  excelling,  like 
that  art,  in  toreutic.  Little  is  known  of  Thrace  in  the  Greek  and 
Hellenistic  epoch  :  but  the  cemeteries  of  the  Greek  cities  in  Thracian 
territory,  so  far  as  they  have  been  explored,  show  so  many  resem- 
blances with  those  of  the  Greek  cities  in  South  Russia,  especially 
Olbia  and  her  neighbours,  that  I  do  not  doubt  that  in  Thrace  also 
the  Greek  artists  availed  themselves  of  their  contact  with  the  natives 
and  adapted  Greek  art  to  the  needs  and  tastes  of  the  Thracian  popula- 
tion. The  great  tumulary  graves  of  Thracian  chieftains,  with  their 
vaulted  tomb-chambers,  which  have  been  found  in  Thrace  and  in 
Macedonia,  present  many  analogies  with  the  Bosphoran  graves,  both 
in  their  architecture  and  in  their  painted  decoration,  and  bear  witness 
to  a  close  union,  just  as  at  Panticapaeum,  of  local  aristocracy  and 
Greek  colonists.  I  feel  sure  that  systematic  exploration  of  the 
Thracian  tumuli  will  yield  the  same  result  as  the  work  of  Russian 
scholars  in  Scythian  tombs.  Finally,  I  am  convinced  that  careful 
investigation  in  Pontus,  in  Cappadocia,  in  Paphlagonia,  in  Bithynia 
will  reveal  similar  phenomena. 

One  of  the  most  pressing  tasks,  in  the  scientific  exploration  of 
Asia  Minor,  is  the  excavation  of  the  oldest  and  wealthiest  Greek 
colonies  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea :  Sinope,  Amisos, 
Heracleia. 


V 

THE  SCYTHIANS  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  FOURTH 
AND  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY  B.  C. 

WE  have  seen  how  the  Scythians  spread  over  the  South  Russian 
steppes  in  the  seventh  century,  how  they  consolidated  their 
empire  and  extended  it  westwards  as  far  as  the  Danube  and 
even  beyond .  We  are  somewhat  ill  acquainted  with  their  political  history, 
for  they  have  left  no  written  monuments,  and  the  allusions  in  Herodotus 
and  other  Greek  writers  are  few  and  vague.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  do  not 
possess  the  books  of  Ephorus  in  which  he  related  the  history  of  the 
Scythians  in  the  sixtK7nfth  and  fourth  centuries  :  all  we  have  is  a  few 
extracts  from  his  description  of  Scythian  manners  and  customs. 

Notwithstanding  the  meagreness  of  our  information,  we  can  still 
trace  the  general  lines  along  which  the  Scythian  empire  evolved.  It 
was  primarily  a  conquering  state.  Like  the  Cimmerians  before  them, 
the  Scythians  tended  to  embody  in  their  empire  Thrace  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Transcaucasia  on  the  other,  so  as  to  have  access  to  Asia 
Minor,  with  which  they  maintained  regular  commercial  relations 
through  the  Greek  cities.  This  tendency  brought  them  into  contact 
with  Persia,  the  other  Iranian  power  at  this  period,  which  was  much 
stronger  and  much  more  highly  civilized  than  the  Scythian  state,  but 
resembled  it  in  its  conquering  propensity  and  in  its  aspiration  to 
universal  empire.  The  two  Iranian  movements  met  in  Thrace  and 
in  the  Caucasus. 

The  Scythian  world  was  by  no  means  unknown  to  the  Persians. 
Within  their  own  empire,  on  their  north-west  confines,  the  Persians 
had  to  contend  with  the  Sacians  and  the  Scythians  of  Asia  Minor,  who 
were  closely  akin  to  the  European  Scythians.  It  was  not  until  about 
590  B.C.  that  the  Medes,  and  after  them  the  Persians,  were  able  to 
substitute  their  own  supremacy  for  the  Scythian  in  Asia  Minor. 
Even  after  the  final  Persian  conquest  of  Asia  Minor,  there  were  whole 
provinces  in  which  the  majority  of  the  population,  or  at  least  the 
predominant  section,  was  Scythian.  I  have  already  mentioned 
certain  portions  of  Armenia,  Sakasene  and  Skythene,  in  which  the 
Scythians  undoubtedly  formed  the  ruling  aristocracy.  We  know  that 
even  in  Hellenistic  and  Roman  times  the  Iranian  families  constituted 


84  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

a  ruling  class,  and  that  the  social  structure  of  the  country  closely 
resembled  the  feudalism  of  the  Iranian  countries  in  general.  We  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Iranian  parts  of  Armenia  were  differently 
organized  during  the  period  of  Persian  domination,  a  domination 
which  was  probably  only  nominal. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  on  the  other  hand,  that  there  was 
constant  communication  between  the  two  shores,  northern  and 
southern,  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  that  the  existence  of  a  flourishing  and 
independent  Scythian  kingdom  on  the  northern  shore  fostered  the 
aspirations  of  the  Scythians  on  the  southern  shore.  Thus  the  Scythian 
kingdom  on  the  Black  Sea  littoral  was  not  only  known  to  the  Persian 
empire,  but  dreaded  by  it. 

Darius 's  project  for  annexing  the  whole  of  Greece  was  imperilled 
by  Scythian  ascendancy  in  Thrace,  and  by  the  chance  of  a  Scythian 
onslaught  at  the  very  moment  when  his  troops  were  marching  on 
Greece  by  way  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia.  If  Darius  really  wished 
to  become  master  of  the  Greek  world,  it  was  essential  for  him  to 
protect  his  rear  both  in  the  Caucasus  and  in  Thrace.  This  is  the 
true  explanation  of  the  famous  expedition  of  Darius  ;  in  Herodotus' 
account,  the  historical  facts  are  almost  completely  obscured  by  fable 
and  legend.  I  cannot  think  that  Darius  was  bent  upon  conquest,  or 
that  he  intended  to  destroy  and  subjugate  the  Scythian  empire.  He 
was  accompanied  by  Ionian  generals  who  knew  Scythia  well  and  had 
no  motive  for  deceiving  their  supreme  chief.  They  were  fully  con- 
scious of  the  difficulties  which  such  a  plan  presented.  It  is  more  likely 
that  Darius  had  the  same  intention  as  Philip  and  Alexander  before 
their  expedition  to  Asia.  To  make  an  impressive  raid  into  the 
Scythian  kingdom  as  a  proof  of  Persian  power,  to  deal  one  or  two 
heavy  blows  at  the  Scythian  army,  while  his  Cappadocian  satrap 
Ariaramnes  conducted  a  naval  demonstration  in  the  waters  of  the  Greek 
colonies  who  were  tributary  to  the  Scythians,  and  along  the  northern 
and  eastern  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  :  this  was  all  that  Darius  desired 
to  do.  I  make  no  doubt  that  he  attained  his  object.  Ctesias  states 
that  the  expedition  of  Ariaramnes  was  completely  successful,  and  that 
by  his  raid  he  not  only  managed  to  reconnoitre  the  country  but  to 
capture  a  member  of  the  Scythian  royal  family,  Marsagetes,  the  king's 
brother.  What  Herodotus  gives  us  is  the  Greco- Scythian  version  of 
the  story  ;  but  he  cannot  conceal  the  fact,  that  Darius  himself  advanced 
far  enough  into  Scythian  territory  to  terrify  the  Scythians  and  to  force 
them  to  respect  the  Persian  forces.  Darius,  who  was  an  Iranian  like 
the  Scythians,  and  who  had  fought  the  Scythians  in  Asia,  knew 
beforehand  that  he  had  to  deal  with  a  mobile  cavalry  force,  and  he 


FOURTH    AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.     85 

was  doubtless  well  prepared  for  those  tactics  which  were  afterwards 
adopted  by  the  Parthians  and  are  hence  no  less  familiar  to  us  than 
they  were  to  the  Persian  king.  Did  he  suffer  from  lack  of  water  ? 
I  can  hardly  suppose  so  :  South  Russia  is  not  the  Sahara  :  drinking 
water  is  to  be  had  everywhere. 

In  a  word,  I  believe  that  Darius  succeeded  in  his  enterprise,  and 
that  his  expedition  to  Thrace  and  to  Scythia  made  it  possible  for  him, 
at  a  given  moment,  to  invade  Greece  through  Thrace  and  Macedonia. 
It  is  no  proof  of  the  contrary,  that  after  this  expedition  the  Scythians 
executed  a  raid  which  carried  them  as  far  as  the  Thracian  Chersonese  : 
it  is  merely  another  proof,  that  the  Scythian  empire  was  an  aggressive 
power. 

The  expedition  of  Darius  did  not  seriously  affect  the  Scythian 
empire  :  but  it  put  a  stop  to  expansion  southward  and  westward,  and 
confined  the  Scythians  to  the  frontiers  marked  by  the  Caucasus  on 
the  south  and  by  the  Danube  on  the  west. 

Much  more  momentous  for  the  Scythian  empire  were  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Bosphoran  state,  described  in  our  fourth  chapter,  and  the 
influence  of  the  Athenians  in  Thrace,  where  they  succeeded  in  con- 
solidating a  powerful  native  state,  that  of  the  Odrysians,  which  was 
capable  of  seriously  impeding  any  attempt  of  the  Scythian  kings  to 
renew  their  expansion  towards  the  west.  The  Odrysian  state,  which 
I  cannot  discuss  at  length,  existed  as  a  vassal  of  the  Athenian  empire 
until  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century,  and  presents  striking 
analogies,  politically  and  socially,  with  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus. 
The  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  which  commanded  the  mouths  of 
the  Don,  together  with  the  city  of  Tanais,  founded  as  an  advanced 
post  by  Panticapaeum,  cut  the  Scythian  empire  in  two,  and  the  creation 
of  a  stable  state  in  the  north  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  closed  the  door 
to  the  west.  . 

But  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  that  the  position 
of  the  Scythians  in  South  Russia  became  critical.  The  kingdom  of 
the  Bosphorus  was  richer  and  more  powerful  than  ever :  the  Spartocid 
tyrants,  by  engaging  mercenaries  and  by  mobilizing  the  native  popu- 
lation, got  together  an  army  which  was  probably  equal  if  not  superior 
to  the  Scythian.  On  the  east,  the  Sarmatian  tribes  slowly  advanced 
over  the  Ural  and  Orenburg  steppes,  crossed  the  Volga,  occupied  the 
line  of  the  Don  and  very  likely  put  an  end  to  Scythian  supremacy  on 
the  Kuban  :  we  have  seen  that  none  of  the  Scythian  graves  on  the 
Kuban  date  from  the  third  century.  In  consequence  the  Scythians 
were  obliged  to  concentrate  their  attention  upon  the  western  and 
northern  portion  of  their  state.    We  shall  see  that  they  contrived  to 


86  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

enlarge  their  empire  northwards  in  the  regions  of  Kiev,  of  Poltava 
and  of  Voronezh,  and  to  plant  their  civilization  in  places  where 
hitherto  little  Scythian  influence  had  been  felt. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  west.   Pompeius  Trogus  furnishes  us  with 
precious  information  about  certain  events,  which  took  place  at  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century,  and  which  bear  witness  to  vigorous  Scythian 
expansion  towards  the  west.    We  learn  that  the  Scythian  king  Ateas 
advanced  to  the  southern  bank  of  the  Danube  and  attacked  the  His- 
trians  :  that  is  to  say,  he  was  in  process  of  occupying  the  Dobrudzha. 
Philip    of    Macedon    encountered    him    and    defeated    him    with 
great  loss.    As  Philip  was  returning,  he  was  assaulted  by  the  Tribal- 
Hans  and  had  to  relinquish  all  his  booty.    The  story  related  by  Justin 
is  full  of  suspicious  details,  romantic  and  anecdotical,  but  the  fact 
of  the  expedition  of  Ateas  and  his  fight  with  Philip  remains  certain. 
The  defeat  of  Ateas  was  by  no  means  final.    We  know  from  the  same 
author  that  at  the  time  of  Alexander's  eastern  expedition,  one  of  his 
generals,  Zopyrion,  made  an  expedition  to  Scythia,  probably  to  cover 
northern  Macedonia  :    after  advancing  as  far  as  the  walls  of  Olbia, 
which  may  have  been  held  by  the  Scythians,  he  perished  with  his 
whole  army  of  thirty  thousand  men.    These  two  events  testify  to  a 
Scythian  policy  of  westward  expansion,  resolute,  vigorous  and  syste- 
matic.    The  aim  of  the  Scythians  was  not  only  to  strengthen  their 
power  beyond  the  Danube,  but  also  to  occupy,  if  possible,  the  whole 
western  bank  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  to  reduce  to  vassalage  the  small 
tribal  states  in  the  adjacent  part  of  Thrace.    To  judge  by  the  expedi- 
tions of  Philip  and  of  Alexander,  the  danger  was  grave,  and  the 
Macedonians  had  great  trouble  in  dislodging  the  Scythians  from 
Thrace  and  in  driving  them  back  beyond  the  Danube. 

No  doubt  the  Macedonian  expeditions  weakened  the  Scythian 
power,  but  they  did  not  succeed  in  destroying  Scythian  influence  on 
the  Danube  and  beyond  it.  The  Scythians  were  able  to  hold  out  for 
a  long  time,  perhaps  until  the  Roman  period,  in  the  Dobrudzha, 
where  they  founded  a  fairly  powerful  state,  which  endured  for 
centuries,  outlasting  even  the  ruin  of  the  great  Scythian  state  in 
South  Russia  and  the  retreat  of  the  Scythians  into  the  Crimea.  The 
existence  of  a  Scythian  state  in  the  Dobrudzha,  resembling  that  in  the 
Crimea,  is  attested  by  archaeological  and  numismatical  evidence. 
I  shall  speak  later  of  the  silver  rhyton  found  at  Poroina,  which  closely 
resembles  contemporary  work  of  the  same  class  from  South  Russia, 
and  which  points  to  similar  religious  and  political  ideas.  I  shall  also 
mention  the  instructive  series  of  coins  issued  by  the  Scythian  kings 
of  the  Dobrudzha,  which  suggest  that  the  Greek  cities  of  Tomi  and 


FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.      87 

Istros  were  dependants  of  the  Scythian  kingdom  of  the  Dobrudzha. 
No  doubt  this  state  was  strongly  influenced  by  the  Thracian  popula- 
tion of  the  country. 

A  deadly  blow  was  dealt  to  Scythian  expansion  beyond  the 
Danube,  not  by  the  Macedonian  monarchs,  but  by  the  general 
political  situation  in  Central  Europe  from  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century  onwards.  In  291,  when  Lysimachus  was  trying  to  strengthen 
the  northern  frontier  of  his  Thracian  kingdom,  the  enemies  who 
confronted  him  on  the  Danube  were  not  Scythians  but  Getians. 
This  suggests  that  Scythian  power  in  the  steppes  between  Danube 
and  Dniester  had  sustained  a  serious  reverse,  no  doubt  owing  to  the 
victorious  advance  of  Celtic  and  perhaps  Germanic  tribes,  who,  about 
this  time,  began  to  invade  the  steppes  of  South  Russia  on  their  way  to 
the  Black  Sea. 

The  anarchy  which  began  to  prevail  in  the  Russian  steppes,  as 
the  result  of  this  advance  of  Northern  tribes,  is  attested  by  the  facts 
related  in  the  well-known  Olbian  decree  in  honour  of  Protogenes, 
a  rich  citizen  and  merchant  of  Olbia.  The  most  interesting  feature 
of  the  decree  is  the  evidence  which  it  furnishes  as  to  the  attitude  of 
the  Scythian  king  Saitapharnes  towards  Olbia,  and  the  attitude 
of  divers  petty  kings  and  princes  of  adjacent  tribes  towards  the  same 
city.  Their  demands  for  tribute  became  more  and  more  exacting  and 
vexatious.  One  feels  that  the  little  tribes,  of  different  nationality, 
established  in  the  steppes  between  Dnieper  and  Bug,  Scythians, 
Sandaratians,  Thisamatians,  were  mortally  afraid  of  the  advancing 
Galatians  and  Scirians  and  were  desirous  of  finding  refuge  and  security 
behind  the  Olbian  city  walls,  which  Protogenes  had  helped  to  build. 
The  anxiety  to  complete  the  fortifications  of  Olbia  shows  that  condi- 
tions had  greatly  changed  since  the  fifth,  and  probably  the  fourth 
century,  when  the  Scythian  dynasts  lived  peaceably  in  Olbia  and 
built  houses  and  palaces  there. 

I  must  state  in  passing,  in  order  to  avoid  misunderstanding,  that 
I  see  no  reason  to  date  the  Protogenes  inscription  in  the  second 
century  or  even  in  the  second  half  of  the  third.  Historical  as  well  as 
palaeographical  considerations  are  entirely  in  favour  of  an  earlier 
date,  the  beginning  of  the  third  century.  I  also  insist  on  the  fact,  not 
generally  realized,  that  King  Saitapharnes  was  the  great  Scythian  king 
who  retired,  before  the  advance  of  Northern  tribes,  towards  the  seat 
of  his  power,  the  steppes  in  the  district  of  Taurida.  It  is  he  who  is 
the  King  pure  and  simple,  the  suzerain  of  the  various  sceptre-bearers 
(o-ktjtttoGxoi)  who  are  mentioned  in  the  inscription  of  Protogenes. 

The  advance  of  the  Galatians  put  an  end,  once  and  for  all,  to 


88  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

Scythian  ascendancy  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube.  The  survival  of 
a  Scythian  state  in  the  Dobrudzha  is  explained  by  the  geographical 
situation  of  the  Danube  delta,  which  resembles  the  delta  of  the  Kuban. 
Have  we  more  precise  evidence  as  to  the  Scythian  occupation  of  the 
lower  Danube  valley,  its  duration,  character,  and  vicissitudes  ? 
Unhappily  we  have  not.  We  do  not  possess  sufficient  archaeological 
data,  for  the  archaeological  exploration  of  Bulgaria  and  Rumania  is 
still  in  its  infancy :  and  the  literary  tradition  does  not  deal  with  these 
questions.  Recent  finds,  however,  made  by  chance  in  one  or  two 
tumuli  in  southern  Bulgaria,  give  us  a  glimpse  of  the  result  that  may 
be  expected  from  methodical  investigation  of  the  tumuli  in  Bulgaria 
and  in  Rumania.  I  need  not  dwell  upon  these  finds,  which  have 
lately  been  published,  with  a  commentary,  by  Filov,  whose  conclu- 
sions I  am  unable  to  accept.  Unfortunately,  he  has  not  taken  the 
trouble  to  make  a  close  study  of  Russian  archaeological  material,  but 
has  contented  himself  with  a  few  superficial  comparisons.  Without 
entering  into  controversy,  I  shall  briefly  indicate  the  nature  of  these 
finds  and  the  conclusions  which  I  draw  from  them.  The  most 
instructive  finds  are  those  of  Brezovo  and  of  Panagyurishte  in  the 
department  of  Philippopolis  :  after  them,  of  Bedniakovo  in  the 
department  of  Chirpan  and  of  Radyuvene  in  the  department  of  Lovech. 
The  objects  from  the  first  three  places  were  discovered  in  tumulary 
graves.  Although  the  graves  were  not  regularly  excavated,  the 
information  which  Filov  collected  locally  enables  us  to  form  a  notion 
of  the  funerary  ritual.  It  closely  resembles  the  Scythian  ritual,  and 
particularly  that  which  prevailed  on  the  Dnieper  in  the  fourth  and 
third  centuries  B.  c.  :  an  Oriental  ritual,  but  here  attenuated  and 
unpretentious,  compared  with  that  of  the  great  royal  tombs  by  the 
Kuban  and  the  Dnieper.  Characteristic,  the  burial  of  the  body  under 
a  tumulus  in  a  stone  chamber,  and  the  interment,  beside  the  body  or 
in  the  loose  earth  of  the  tumulus,  of  one  or  more  horses  with  richly 
ornamented  bridles.  We  may  conjecture  that  the  bridle  was  some- 
times laid  in  the  tomb  with  the  body,  and  the  horse  slaughtered  on 
the  half-finished  mound.  The  tomb  furniture,  also,  is  very  like  that 
of  the  Scythian  graves  :  a  group  of  sacred  vessels — chiefly  paterae 
and  sometimes  spherical  vases — ,  amphorae  with  wine  and  oil,  and 
various  drinking  vessels,  Greek  and  local  ;  weapons  ;  rich  garments 
and  diadems,  loaded  with  gold  ;  symbols  of  power — sceptre  and  ring  ; 
lastly,  horse  trappings,  including  a  richly  ornamented  bridle.  Just  as 
in  the  Scythian  tombs,  part  of  the  furniture  consists  of  Greek  objects 
imported  from  Greek  colonies,  especially  Amphipolis,  part  of  local 
imitations  of  Greek  work,  and  part  of  purely  native  objects.    These 


FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.     89 

similarities  cannot  all  be  accidental  ;  they  point  to  close  relations 
between  the  Scythians  and  the  population  of  southern  Bulgaria,  and 
to  strong  Scythian  influence  on  the  natives.  But  there  is  more  :  we 
are  astonished  to  find  that  the  horse  trappings  are  almost  the  same  in 
the  Thracian  tombs  and  in  the  tombs  of  South  Russia.  We  find  the 
samepieces:  frontlet, ear-guards,  temple-pieces,  nasal;  the  same  Oriental 
practice  of  covering  nearly  the  whole  bridle  with  metal  plaques ;  the 
same  system  of  bits.  Further,  the  two  types  of  bridle  ornament  : 
round  plaques  embossed  in  the  Greek  manner;  and  plaques  in  the 
form  of  animals,  cast  and  incised  in  the  Oriental  fashion.  Lastly,  and 
this  is  the  most  important  of  all :  all  the  pieces  in  the  animal  style  find 
striking  parallels  in  the  Scythian  horse  trappings,  from  Scythian  tombs 
of  the  fourth  and  third  centuries,  which  we  shall  discuss  at  length  in 
the  course  of  this  chapter  :  some  of  these  are  almost  duplicates. 

Besides  these  coincidences  I  may  mention  the  tendency  to  repro- 
duce local  religious  scenes  on  objects  made  for  or  by  the  natives  :  such 
scenes  are  the  unexplained  representation  on  the  horse's  frontlet  from 
Panagyurishte,  and  the  royal  investiture,  or  holy  communion,  which 
appears  on  the  Brezovo  ring,  and  is  common  in  objects  from  fourth- 
or  third-century  Scythian  tombs  in  South  Russia.  We  shall  see  that 
this  tendency  is  characteristic  of  Scythian  tombs  in  the  fourth  and 
third  century,  while  it  is  unknown  in  earlier  Scythian  graves. 

The  tombs  of  southern  Bulgaria  were  no  doubt  constructed  for 
Thracian  kinglets  and  princes.  But  it  is  clear  that  for  their  material 
culture  these  princes  were  completely  dependent  upon  Greek  and 
upon  Scythian  civilization.  The  horse  trappings  cannot  all  have  been 
imported  from  Scythia  :  they  were  probably  made  in  Thrace,  but 
certainly  after  Scythian  models.  The  local  craftsman  may  well  have 
introduced  one  or  two  alterations  of  detail,  but  he  has  preserved  not 
only  the  principle  of  Scythian  art,  but  even  the  features  characteristic 
of  western  Scythia  in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.  I  see  no 
reason  for  agreeing  with  Filov  in  postulating  a  parallel  development 
of  the  animal  style  in  Thrace  and  in  Scythia.  The  Thracian  pieces 
are  obvious  imitations  of  western  Scythian  work  of  the  fourth  and 
third  centuries  B.C. 

How  can  we  account  for  this  Scythian  influence,  which  shows 
itself  not  only  in  the  adoption  of  the  animal  style,  but  also  in  funerary 
ritual  and  in  political  and  religious  ideas  ?  I  can  see  only  one  way. 
The  Bulgarian  finds  all  belong  to  the  fourth  century  B.C.  We  have 
seen  that  the  fourth  century  was  marked  by  considerable  Scythian 
expansion  towards  the  west,  and  by  the  enfeeblement  of  the  Odrysian 
state,  which  was  no  longer  supported  by  Athens,  and  which  was  a 
3353  N 


90  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

dangerous  rival  to  Macedonia.  We  must  suppose  that,  profiting  by 
these  circumstances,  the  Scythians  established  themselves  firmly  on 
the  lower  Danube,  influenced  the  neighbouring  Thracian  tribes,  and 
probably  reduced  some  of  them  to  vassalage.  The  Bulgarian  excava- 
tions show  that  the  expeditions  of  Philip  and  of  Zopyrion  were  only 
the  last  manifestations  of  a  rivalry  which  had  existed  between  Macedon 
and  Scythia  since  the  collapse  of  the  Odrysian  state,  and  that  these 
manifestations  presuppose  Scythian  ascendancy,  nominal  at  least,  in 
the  regions  adjoining  Macedonian  territory.  Can  it  be  presumed,  that 
this  ascendancy  had  continued  without  interruption  from  the  expedi- 
tion of  Darius  and  the  Scythian  inroad  into  the  Chersonese  ?  I  can 
hardly  accept  the  theory :  it  is  contradicted  by  what  we  know  of  the 
Odrysian  kingdom  and  the  anti- Scythian  policy  of  Athens.  Further 
and  more  systematic  excavation  in  Bulgaria  and  Rumania  will  give  us 
more  definite  information.  For  the  present  I  incline  to  believe  that 
the  Scythians,  driven  back  by  the  Thracians  with  the  aid  of  Athens 
in  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  resumed  the  offensive  in  the  fourth,  and 
succeeded  in  asserting  supremacy,  for  some  decades  at  least,  over  a 
number  of  Thracian  tribes.  The  reverses  suffered  by  the  Scythians 
in  the  west,  during  the  last  years  of  the  fourth  century,  and  the 
pressure  of  the  Sarmatians  from  the  east,  forced  them  to  concentrate 
their  efforts  in  the  central  and  northern  part  of  their  state,  the  land 
on  the  Dnieper  and  between  Dnieper  and  Don,  including  the  tribu- 
taries of  these  rivers  and  the  rich  district  of  Poltava.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  this  country  as  it  was  in  the  neolithic,  copper  and  bronze 
ages :  what  happened  to  it  in  the  iron  age,  immediately  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Scythians  and  after  their  conquest  of  South  Russia  ? 

We  have  seen  that  as  far  back  as  the  neolithic  period,  the 
regions  between  Dnieper  and  Bug  and  farther  west  were  agricultural 
regions.  Excavation  in  the  ruins  of  the  fortified  settlements  which 
are  common  enough  in  these  parts — for  example  the  excavations  of 
Spitsyn  in  the  gorodishche  (ruins  of  a  town)  of  Nemirov  in  Podolia, 
and  those  of  Chvojka  and  of  Bobrinskoy  in  the  districts  of  Kiev  and 
of  Poltava — and  archaeological  investigations  in  the  adjacent  ceme- 
teries, have  shown  .that  the  conditions  remained  the  same,  even  at  the 
period  when  the  mixed  civilization  of  the  tribes  which  brought  the 
spiral  and  maeander  pottery  and  of  those  which  constructed  tumulary 
graves  with  contracted  skeletons,  gave  place  to  an  iron  age  civiliza- 
tion, probably  introduced  by  conquering  tribes.  It  was  these  tribes 
who  first  acquainted  the  western  part  of  South  Russia  with  the 
use  of  iron  weapons,  in  shapes  which  remind  one  of  the  Hallstatt 
culture,  for  instance,  the  sword  with  antennae,  and  with  a  quite 


FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.     91 

distinctive  pottery  which  cannot  be  connected  either  with  the  spiral 
and  maeander  ware,  or  with  the  pottery  of  the  graves  with  contracted 


Clay  Vases  of  indigenous  fabrication  from 
the  Middle  Dnieper.  7-+ cent.  b.c. 


Fig.  9. 


skeletons.  The  pots  are  of  black  clay,  with  incised  ornament  filled  in 
with  white  :  the  ornament  is  exclusively  geometric  and  is  very  primi- 
tive. The  commonest  and  most  typical  shape  is  a  cup  with  a  big 
handle  which  is  sometimes  horned  (fig.  9).     This  pottery  recalls, 


92  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

most  of  all,  the  Bronze  Age  pottery  of  Hungary,  also  Trojan  pottery 
of  the  so-called  Cimmerian  period,  and  the  Hallstatt  pottery  of 
Central  Europe.  Unfortunately  it  has  never  been  properly  studied, 
although  the  Russian  archaeological  museums  are  full  of  it  and  the 
most  interesting  varieties  have  frequently  been  published. 

The  graves  and  settlements  distinguished  by  iron  weapons  and 
the  pottery  just  described  are  usually  attributed  to  the  Scythians  : 
wrongly  in  my  opinion.  We  have  seen  the  culture  brought  with  them 
by  the  Scythians :  a  mixed  culture,  purely  nomadic  and  purely 
Oriental.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  Russian  steppes,  the  tombs  yield 
neither  iron  weapons  of  Hallstatt  type,  nor  pottery  of  the  kind  described 
above.  It  is  true  that  purely  Scythian  graves  have  been  discovered  in 
the  steppes  between  Dnieper  and  Bug,  for  example  the  grave  in  a 
tumulus  excavated  by  Melgun6v  in  the  eighteenth  century,  which 
presents  notable  affinity  with  the  finds  at  Kelermes.  But  these  are 
exceptions.  The  majority  of  the  graves  in  this  region  belong  to  a 
different  type,  both  in  structure  and  in  contents  (fig.  10).  There  is 
a  certain  superficial  resemblance  between  the  purely  Scythian  graves 
and  those  of  the  Dnieper  region,  which  has  misled  scholars  into 
ascribing  the  Dnieper  graves  to  the  Scythians.  In  both  groups  we 
have  tumuli,  and  wooden  structures  under  the  tumuli.  But  in  the 
Russian  steppes,  the  tumulus,  as  a  grave  monument,  does  not  begin 
in  the  Scythian  period  :  it  is  much  older :  and  the  wooden  funerary 
structure  in  the  basin  of  the  Dnieper  is  quite  different  from  that  on 
the  Kuban.  It  is  not  a  nomadic  tent,  but  a  farmer's  house,  a  '  khata  ', 
made  of  planks  and  tree-trunks  :  it  is  not  imitated  from  the  type  used 
in  the  nomadic  graves,  but  derived  from  the  type  current  in  the 
district  as  early  as  the  copper  age.  The  funerary  ritual  of  these  graves 
differs  from  that  of  the  Kuban  basin  in  several  essential  points. 
There  is  no  trace  of  hecatombs  of  horses,  or  of  human  sacrifice. 
The  furniture  of  the  tumulary  graves  in  the  Dnieper  region,  from  the 
sixth  to  the  fourth  century,  is  rich  and  varied,  and  of  a  mixed  descrip- 
tion, just  as  in  the  Kuban  graves.  But  the  general  aspect  is  very 
different  from  that  of  the  Kuban  tumuli.  First  of  all,  we  must  notice 
that  the  Dnieper  graves  are  not  exclusively  those  of  ruling  warriors, 
of  nomadic  chiefs  :  there  are  rich  and  poor  graves,  large  and  small. 
That  implies  a  different  social  system. 

Again,  the  tomb  furniture  is  not  composed  of  the  same  elements 
on  the  Dnieper  as  on  the  Kuban.  To  judge  from  the  excavations  in 
the  settlements  and  in  the  oldest  graves,  Greek  influence  set  in  long 
before  Oriental  influence,  that  is,  long  before  the  Scythian  conquest. 
In  the  deepest,  oldest  strata  of  the  settlements  between  Dnieper 


FOURTH  AND  THIRD  CENTURIES  B.C. 


93 


and  Dniester,  we  regularly  find  heaps  of  native  potsherds  mingled 
with  less  numerous  fragments  of  Greek  seventh-century  vases  ;  also 
weapons  and  objects  in  bronze,  iron  and  precious  metal,  of  Hallstatt 
type :  but  no  articles  of  Oriental  origin.  So  likewise  in  the  oldest 
so-called  Scythian  graves  in  the  Dnieper  region.  Unfortunately,*  these 
graves  have  never  been  carefully  studied  and  arranged  in  chrono- 
logical order.  The  task  is  a  difficult  one,  and  I  cannot  undertake  it 
here  :  it  could  only  be  executed  on  the  spot,  above  all  in  the  great 
archaeological  museum  of  Kiev.  But  to  judge  from  the  reports 
published  by  Bobrinskoy,  Brandenburg,  Samokvasov  and  Chvojka, 


Sections  &  Plan  of  a  Qrave  on  the  Middle  Dnieper 


Fig.  io. 

and  from  the  objects  reproduced  in  the  works  of  Bobrinskoy  and 
Khanenko,  it  seems  that  the  oldest  graves  in  the  Kiev  region  do  not 
differ  from  the  oldest  strata  of  the  settlements,  that  is  to  say,  they 
present  the  same  mixture  of  Greek  and  Hallstatt  objects. 

The  uniform  culture  of  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries  B.C. 
changes  towards  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  and  even  more  in  the 
sixth.  We  find  at  this  period,  in  the  steppes  of  western  Russia,  certain 
graves  of  purely  Oriental  type  which  resemble  those  of  the  Kuban 
region.  I  have  already  spoken  of  them.  Again,  in  the  common  graves, 
side  by  side  with  Greek  and  Hallstatt  things,  which  are  still  very 
plentiful,  there  are  products  of  Oriental  art  and  industry,  some  of  them 
decorated  in  the  animal  style.    Towards  the  end  of  the  sixth  century, 


94  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

these  products  become  more  and  more  frequent,  but  in  the  fifth 
century  they  are  gradually  ousted  by  objects  imported  from  Greece. 
But  the  staple  of  the  furniture  remains  native.  Down  to  the  fourth 
century  B.  c,  native  pottery  predominates  and  Hallstatt  weapons 
outnumber  Greek  and  Scythian. 

The  predominance  of  native  and  Hellenic  elements  in  the  west  is 
an  extremely  characteristic  and  important  feature.  We  have  found 
nothing  like  it  in  the  region  of  the  Kuban,  where  the  material  culture 
of  the  native  was  completely  absorbed,  first  by  Oriental,  and  then  by 
Greek  civilization. 

One  is  tempted  to  ask,  whether  racial  difference  may  not  account 
for  the  difference  of  archaeological  aspect.  What  was  the  nationality 
of  the  tribes  with  the  black  pottery  and  the  Hallstatt  weapons  ? 
From  the  parallels  which  we  have  adduced,  western  South  Russia  would 
appear  to  have  been  closely  connected,  in  material  culture,  with  the 
portions  of  Europe  and  of  Asia  Minor  peopled,  both  then  and  in  the 
later  neolithic  and  the  copper  ages,  by  Thracians.  It  was  conceivably 
tribes  of  Thracian  stock  which  invaded  the  western  steppes  of  Russia, 
perhaps  for  the  second  time,  in  the  iron  age.  But  I  prefer  to  abstain 
from  ill-founded  hypotheses.  We  must  wait  until  Rumanian,  Bul- 
garian and  Serbian  scholars  can  give  us  more  methodical  information 
as  to  the  prehistory  of  the  central  and  northern  parts  of  the  Balkan 
peninsula. 

Meanwhile  we  have  a  consistent  picture  :  the  continuous  evolu- 
tion of  a  distinctive  material  civilization  in  the  western  portion  of  the 
Russian  steppes :  a  powerful  native  civilization,  in  touch  with  the 
Greeks  from  the  seventh  century  onwards,  and  an  Oriental  element 
which  becomes  more  and  more  prominent  from  the  end  of  the  seventh 
century  and  the  beginning  of  the  sixth. 

This  archaeological  picture  accords  very  well  with  the  historical 
data  quoted  above.  It  is  clear  that  from  the  seventh  to  the  fourth 
century  the  sovereignty  of  the  Scythians  in  the  western  part  of  their 
empire  was  neither  very  powerful  nor  very  oppressive.  It  made  little 
alteration  in  the  social  and  economic  order  which  prevailed  on  the 
Dnieper  and  the  Bug  before  the  arrival  of  the  Scythians.  The 
Scythians  no  doubt  contented  themselves  with  exacting  tribute  from 
the  conquered  peoples  and  repressing  their  attempts  to  regain  their 
freedom.  The  tribute  from  the  agricultural  districts,  and  the  furs 
delivered  by  the  hunters  in  the  forests,  enabled  the  conquerors  to 
conduct  a  profitable  traffic  with  the  Greek  city  of  Olbia.  The  centre 
of  Scythian  ascendancy  did  not  lie  in  the  western  part  of  the  kingdom. 
Being  nomads,  the  Scythians  needed  the  freedom  of  the  steppes,  for 


FOURTH    AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.     95 

their  cattle,  and  for  their  military  training  :  hunting,  wild  rides,  and 
warlike  exercises.  We  have  seen  that  their  centre,  from  the  sixth  to 
the  fourth  century,  was  somewhere  in  the  steppes  between  Dnieper 
and  Don,  probably  near  the  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Azov. 

In  the  fourth  century,  the  events  which  I  have  already  mentioned 
considerably  modified  the  circumstances  of  the  Scythian  state,  driving 
it  westward  and  northward.  I  have  spoken  of  the  Scythian  advance 
towards  the  west  :  we  must  now  turn  to  the  archaeological  evidence 
as  to  the  organization  of  the  principal  part  of  the  Scythian  empire,  the 
part  between  Don  and  Dnieper,  especially  along  the  Dnieper  and  its 
tributaries,  after  these  events,  that  is  to  say  in  the  fourth  and  third 
centuries  B.C. 

When  archaeologists  began  to  explore  the  tumuli,  often  of  enor- 
mous size,  in  the  region  east  and  west  of  the  lower  Dnieper,  they  were 
dazzled  by  the  magnificence  of  these  truly  regal  sepulchres.  So  rich 
were  the  tumuli  of  Chertomlyk,  of  Alexandropol,  of  the  Tsymbalka  ; 
the  Ogiiz,  Deev  and  Chmyreva  barrows  ;  the  Serogozy  and  Znamenka 
groups  ;  and,  above  all,  the  now  famous  tumulus  of  Solokha,  and  the 
tumulus  explored  by  myself  in  Count  Mordvinov's  estate,  the  Black 
Valley,  Chernay  Dolina  :  that  explorers  were  led  to  identify  this 
whole  vast  region  with  the  half- mythical  locality  of  Gerrhoi,  mentioned 
more  than  once  by  Herodotus.  But  quite  apart  from  the  question, 
whether  Gerrhoi  was  a  real  place  at  all,  the  chronology  of  these  tumuli 
was  not  taken  into  account.  I  maintain,  and  I  have  often  essayed  to 
prove,  that  they  form  a  chronological  unit,  that  they  all  belong  to  the 
same  period,  that  none  of  them  is  earlier  than  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century  or  later  than  the  second  half  of  the  third,  a  period  of  a  hundred 
years  more  or  less.  I  cannot  repeat  all  my  arguments  :  I  will  indicate 
them  briefly. 

The  unity  of  the  group  is  proved  by  the  following  facts  :  first,  the 
type  of  sepulchral  structure  is  the  same  ;  secondly,  the  funerary  ritual 
is  the  same  ;  thirdly,  the  composition  of  the  tomb  furniture  is  almost 
identical  ;  fourthly,  the  style  of  the  objects  is  the  same  ;  fifthly, 
duplicates  are  often  found  in  different  tombs,  especially  duplicates  of 
the  gold  plaques  sewn  on  to  garments  :  the  plaques  were  produced 
and  sold  in  large  quantities. 

The  chronology  of  the  group  has  been  hotly  disputed.  According 
to  some  scholars,  some  of  the  tombs  date  from  the  fifth  century  : 
Farmakovski  and  others  place  some  of  them  in  the  second  century  B.  C. 
Both  dates  are  impossible.  Comparison  of  the  contents  with  dated 
objects,  especially  of  the  garment  plaques  with  the  Greek  coins  from 
which  they  were  imitated  ;  analysis  of  the  pottery  found  in  some  of  the 


96  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

graves  ;  and  other  considerations  which  I  cannot  specify  here,  lead 
me  to  place  the  whole  group  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  and  the  beginning 
of  the  third  century. 

Now  if  I  am  right,  if  the  whole  group  is  much  later  than  Herodotus, 
it  is  not  possible  to  identify  the  region  with  Herodotus'  Gerrhoi.  In 
the  period  between  the  sixth  and  fourth  centuries,  Gerrhoi,  as  I  have 
already  pointed  out,  must  have  been  situated  farther  east,  correspond- 
ing to  the  political  centre  of  the  Scythian  kingdom  in  the  time  of 
Herodotus.  On  the  other  hand,  ours  are  certainly  royal  sepulchres. 
They  can  only  have  belonged  to  members  of  the  dynasty  of  the  great 
Scythian  kings.  They  prove  that  in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries 
B.C.  the  political  centre  of  the  Scythian  empire  was  no  longer  where 
we  supposed  it  to  have  been  from  the  sixth  to  the  fourth  century,  but 
farther  to  the  west,  nearer  to  the  Dnieper  on  one  side  and  the  Crimea 
on  the  other.  The  transference  can  easily  be  accounted  for  by  the 
events  to  which  I  have  alluded  above.  Forced  to  concentrate  west 
and  north,  especially  north,  the  Scythians  moved  westwards,  with 
j  their  capital  covering  the  route  to  the  Crimea,  their  last  refuge  in  case 
of  retreat.  Their  main  task  was  to  command  the  Dnieper  and  to 
keep  in  contact  with  their  northern  provinces :  otherwise  they 
would  have  nothing  to  sell  to  the  Greeks.  It  was  impossible  to 
command  the  Dnieper  without  bringing  their  political  and  military 
head-quarters  nearer  the  river  and  disposing  their  armed  forces  along 
its  banks.  If  they  remained  concentrated  on  the  Sea  of  Azov,  they 
could  not  face  attacks  delivered  from  the  west  and  aimed  at  the  wealthy 
agricultural  regions  on  the  middle  and  lower  Dnieper  and  the  popu- 
lated nuclei  in  that  district,  including  Olbia.  Nor  could  they  pursue 
an  active  policy  on  the  Bug,  the  Dniester  and  the  Danube,  unless 
they  moved  their  main  forces  in  that  direction. 

The  archaeological  and  historical  considerations,  which  lead  me  to 
postulate  a  transference  of  the  Scythian  centre  to  the  lower  Dnieper 
and  the  approach  to  the  Crimea,  are  confirmed  by  further  archaeo- 
logical evidence.  We  have  seen  that,  during  the  period  in  which  the 
Scythian  centre  lay  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  steppes  between  Dnieper 
and  Don,  Scythian  culture  exercised  comparatively  little  influence 
on  the  region  of  the  Dnieper.  But  from  the  fourth  or  third  century 
onwards,  the  aspect  of  things  alters  appreciably  in  this  part  of  the 
Scythian  state.  Henceforward,  on  the  middle  course  of  the  Dnieper 
and  westward  in  the  fertile  country  between  Dnieper  and  Bug,  as 
well  as  in  the  regions  east  of  the  Dnieper,  on  its  eastern  tributaries, 
the  Sula,  the  Psel,  the  Vorskla  (the  district  of  Poltava)  as  far  as  the 
middle  course  of  the  Don  (the  district  of  Voronezh),  we  find  a  goodly 


FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.     97 

number  of  purely  Scythian  graves,  belonging  to  the  same  period  and 
presenting  the  same  characteristics  as  the  already-mentioned  graves 
on  the  lower  Dnieper  and  in  Taurida.  The  large  and  sumptuous 
tombs  of  Ryzhanovka,  of  Darievka,  of  Ilyintsy,  of  Novoselki,  in  the 
districts  of  Kiev  and  Podolia  ;  a  number  of  tombs  in  the  great  tumu- 
lary  cemeteries  belonging  to  the  native  settlements — big  fortified 
towns — of  Romny  ;  finally,  the  tumulary  cemeteries  of  the  middle 
Don  :  all  these  recall,  feature  by  feature,  the  kurgans  of  the  lower 
Dnieper  and  of  Taurida.  The  ancient  funerary  ritual  of  the  natives 
is  still  retained,  but  considerably  modified  by  the  purely  Scythian 
ritual.  Even  the  traditional  wooden  structure  is  sometimes  abandoned, 
and  replaced  by  the  tomb-chambers  of  the  lower  Dnieper.  Horses 
are  now  sacrificed  :  the  funeral  car  appears,  the  canopy,  the  canopy- 
poles  with  rattles  atop  surmounted  by  figures  of  animals  and  of  deities. 
At  the  same  time  the  tomb  furniture  also  changes.  There  is  no  longer 
any  native  pottery,  and  hardly  any  weapons  of  Hallstatt  type.  The 
whole  furniture  assumes  a  marked  Oriental  character,  and  the  Greek 
objects  imported  from  Olbia  give  place  to  objects  which  seem,  as  I 
shall  show  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  to  have  been  produced  in  Panti- 
capaeum.  Particularly  characteristic  is  the  repetition,  in  both  groups  of 
graves,  of  the  same  types  of  caparison  plaque.  It  is  important  to 
notice,  that  on  the  middle  Dnieper,  in  Poltava  and  in  Voronezh,  the 
plaques  are  always  imitations,  sometimes  very  coarse,  of  the  plaques 
on  the  lower  Dnieper  :  we  found  the  same  in  Bulgaria.  Still  more 
characteristic  :  some  of  the  objects  from  this  area  are  duplicates  of 
objects  found  in  the  Crimea  and  on  the  lower  Dnieper  ;  thus  a  replica 
of  the  celebrated  Chertomlyk  gorytus  was  found  at  Ilyintsy.  Gold 
garment-plaques,  from  tumuli  in  the  districts  of  Kiev  and  Poltava, 
find  counterparts,  made  from  fellow  dies,  on  the  lower  Dnieper. 
The  habit,  which  distinguishes,  as  we  shall  see,  our  group  of  tombs, 
of  decorating  artistic  objects  with  scenes  from  Scythian  life,  and  of 
adorning  jewels  with  figures  of  local  deities,  is  general  in  the  region 
which  we  are  studying.  Take  the  silver  vase  from  the  Voronezh 
tomb,  decorated  with  scenes  from  Scythian  camp-life  :  it  is  not  a 
duplicate  of  the  famous  electrum  vase  from  Kul-Oba,  but  it  obviously 
originated  in  the  same  artistic  area.  Take  the  earrings  from  another 
tomb  in  Voronezh,  with  figures  of  the  great  local  goddess  :  certainly 
native  work,  but  imitated  from  Panticapaean  models.  Take  the  silver 
plaque  from  the  same  tomb.  Take,  lastly,  the  gold  ornaments  from 
the  tiara  of  the  lady  buried  at  Ryzhanovka,  which  find  exact  parallels 
at  Chertomlyk  and  elsewhere. 

These  resemblances  cannot  be  fortuitous.   We  cannot  but  recognize 

»353  ° 


.98  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN   THE 

that  in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries,  the  Scythians  endeavoured  to 
install  themselves,  as  a  ruling  class,  in  the  northern  regions  of  their 
empire,  to  transform  their  suzerainty  into  a  real  domination,  and  to 
extend  that  domination  as  far  as  possible  to  the  north.  It  will  not  be 
denied  that  this  Scythian  expansion,  hitherto  unnoticed,  is  an  historical 

,  /   fact  of  the  first  importance,  for  it  must  be  remembered,  that  the  middle 

//    Dnieper,  with  Kiev,  was  the  cradle  of  the  great  Slavonic  state  from 

'  '    which  modern  Russia  sprang. 

These  archaeological  data  agree  most  admirably  with  the  history 
of  the  Scythian  state  from  the  fourth  to  the  third  centuries  B.C.,  as  I 
have  set  it  forth  above.  I  will  repeat  my  conclusions.  Weakened  in 
the  east,  the  Scythian  power  tried  to  extend  westward  and  northward. 
Its  western  conquests  broke  down  under  the  pressure  of  the  Mace- 
donians and  the  Thracians,  and  the  Gallo-German  invasion  created 
a  very  difficult  situation  in  the  steppes  between  Danube  and  Dnieper. 
But  the  Scythians  maintained  themselves  between  Dnieper  and  Don, 
and  were  able  to  wield  vigorous  sway  in  the  adjoining  regions  north- 
ward, on  the  middle  Dnieper  and  the  middle  Don.  Not  for  long, 
however.  Towards  the  second  half  of  the  third  century,  the  Sarma- 
tians  crossed  the  Don  and  advanced  on  the  Dnieper  ;  the  Scythian 
provinces  on  the  middle  Dnieper  fell  into  anarchy  and  were  partially 
invaded  by  Germanic  and  perhaps  Slavonic  tribes.  The  Scythians 
were  driven  back  into  the  Crimea  and  towards  the  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea,  they  were  confined  within  narrow  limits  and  reduced 

.  /    to    comparative  indigence.     The   great   Scythian   empire  collapsed 
for  ever. 

Nevertheless  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  were  a  period  of  great 
prosperity  for  the  Scythian  state.  The  loss  of  the  eastern  provinces  was 
counterbalanced  by  acquisitions  in  the  west  and  by  the  strengthening 
of  Scythian  power  in  the  agricultural  region  of  the  middle  Dnieper 
and  the  middle  Don.  Scythian  trade  flourished.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten,  that  this  period  corresponds  to  the  great  conquests  of 
Alexander  and  the  formation  of  the  Hellenistic  states.  In  an  era  of 
political  expansion,  which  witnessed  the  development  of  a  really 
world-wide  trade  and  the  creation  and  amplification  of  a  modern 
industrial  system,  the  Greek  world  needed  enormous  quantities  of 
food-stuffs  and  of  raw  material.  The  supplies  were  absorbed  eagerly, 
^/l  and  gladly  paid  for  with  the  gold  which  Alexander  had  brought  from 
conquered  Persia  and  put  into  circulation.  No  wonder,  therefore, 
that  the  period  of  Scythian  political  decay  was  a  period  of  great 
material  prosperity.  It  was  not  otherwise  in  the  Greek  cities  on  the 
Black  Sea.    The  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  as  we  have  already  seen, 


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FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.     99 

was  never  so  flourishing  as  at  this  time.  Even  Olbia,  which  passed 
through  many  anxious  hours,  remained  rich,  although  wealth  passed 
more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  one  or  two  families,  like  that  of 
Heroson  and  Protogenes  :  these  families  succeeded  in  equipping  a 
fleet  which  was  sufficiently  large  and  powerful  to  give  them  the  mono- 
poly of  the  Scythian  trade.  Read  the  inscription  of  Protogenes,  and 
similar  inscriptions  from  the  Greek  cities  on  the  western  shore  of  the 
Black  Sea,  and  you  will  be  astonished  by  the  great  wealth  of  certain 
families,  and  by  the  poverty  of  the  city  itself,  crushed  by  debts  and 
exactions. 

It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  in  this  period  of  political  decay, 
the  Scythian  tombs  are  full  of  gold  and  silver,  of  superb  works  of  art, 
of  jewels  and  of  precious  stones.  Apart  from  the  sixth  century,  the 
Scythian  tombs  were  never  so  rich  as  in  the  fourth  and  third  cen- 
turies B.C. 

These  graves  are  not  essentially  different  from  the  Kuban  graves  : 
the  same  type  of  nomad  chieftain's  tomb,  the  same  stately  ritual,  the 
same  heavy  profusion  of  gold,  silver,  and  other  precious  objects. 
There  are  modifications,  however,  due  to  various  geographical  and 
economic  causes.  First  of  all,  the  structure  beneath  the  tumulus  is  no 
longer  of  wood  :  it  is  replaced  by  a  chamber  or  chambers  dug  in  virgin 
soil  inside  the  walls  of  the  sepulchral  trench  (figs .11,12).  The  change 
was  undoubtedly  occasioned  by  the  lack  of  forests  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  the  steppes  adjoining  the  Crimea.  Again,  horses 
are  no  longer  slaughtered  in  great  numbers.  It  is  clear  that  owing  to 
agricultural  development  in  the  riverine  and  coastal  districts  it  became 
more  difficult  to  keep  large  herds  of  horses  :  their  value  increased, 
and  oxen  were  preferred  for  the  purpose  of  sacrifice.  It  was  now 
considered  sufficient,  to  slaughter  the  horses  which  drew  the  funeral 
car,  and  the  dead  man's  parade  horses  :  in  the  poorer  graves,  the 
sacrifice  was  merely  simulated,  by  the  interment  of  the  horse's  bridle. 
Lastly,  under  the  single  tumulus,  not  one,  but  two  sepulchral  chambers 
were  made,  one  subsequently  to  the  other,  the  second  always  after 
the  construction  of  the  tumulus.  The  second  chamber  sometimes 
accommodates  a  woman  :  but  by  no  means  regularly.  In  the  Solokha 
kurgan,  the  additional  chamber  was  reserved  for  a  man,  who  was 
buried  with  enormous  wealth  beside  him  (figs.  11-13). 

With  these  exceptions,  the  funerary  ritual  remains  the  same.  The 
funeral  cars,  the  canopies  with  poles  crowned  by  rattles  and  figures 
of  animals  and  deities,  the  bells  on  the  canopies,  the  funeral  repast, 
the  sacrifice  of  servants  and  of  horses :  all  these  are  found  on  the 
Dnieper  as  on  the  Kuban. 


100 


THE    SCYTHIANS 


The  tomb  furniture  is  no  less  rich,  perhaps  richer,  than  in  the 
period  between  the  sixth  and  fourth  centuries.  The  contents  of  the 
Kul-Oba  tumulus,  mentioned  in  my  first  chapter,  are  well  known  and 
have  often  been  published.    It  is  typical  tomb  furniture  of  the  period. 


Fig. 


ii. 


To  give  an  idea  of  the  wealth  of  such  furniture,  I  shall  enumerate 
the  objects  which  were  buried  with  the  dead  in  the  lateral  grave  at 
Solokha(fig.  13)  and  which  recur,  with  slight  modifications,  in  all  the 
tombs  of  our  group.  Arms  :  two  swords,  one  with  gold-plated  sheath 
and  guard;  a  quiver  plated  with  silver  gilt  (pi.  XXI,  1) ;  a  bronze 
helmet  ;  a  scale  corslet  of  bronze  ;  bronze  greaves  ;  a  number  of 
copper  weapons  or  sceptres.     Ornaments  :  a  gold  tore,  a  necklace  or 


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SECTION  ON  LINE  A-B 


THE  CENTRAL  GRAVE,  SOLOKHA 


Fig   i2. 


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1/7  /Co  >&• 


102  THE    SCYTHIANS 

chain  of  gold  tubes,  with  gold  pendants,  five  bracelets  of  solid  gold, 
more  than  three  hundred  gold  garment-plaques  ;  a  solid  gold  comb 
(pi.  XIX).  Vessels :  a  gold  patera  (pi.  XX,  3),  seven  silver  vases 
(pi.  XX,  1,  2),  some  wooden  vases  plated  with  gold,  three  large  copper 
cauldrons,  and  several  amphorae  for  wine  or  oil. 

Still  richer  were  the  tombs  of  Chertomlyk  and  of  Alexandropol, 
and  those  of  the  Chmyreva  Mogila  and  of  the  Serogozy  group :  for 
not  only  the  king's  grave  but  the  queen's  grave  was  found  as  well. 
The  jewels  worn  by  the  women  were  extremely  rich  and  various,  and 
usually  very  heavy  and  costly.  Their  festal  costume  was  loaded  with 
gold,  especially  the  great  conical  tiara,  of  Irano-Greek  type,  which  I 
have  lately  reconstructed  by  means  of  fragments  from  a  number  of 
different  graves. 

We  must  notice  that  nearly  all  these  objects  were  artistic  works 
covered  with  figures  and  ornaments  in  relief  :  sometimes  artistic  works 
of  the  highest  order.  Let  us  compare  the  funeral  inventory  with  that 
of  the  Scythian  tombs  on  the  Kuban.  The  superficial  aspect  has  not 
altered.  Side  by  side  with  pure  Greek  work,  made  for  Greeks  but 
sold  to  Scythians,  a  series  of  Greek  objects  made  for  Scythians,  and 
a  series  which  seems  pure  Scythian,  especially  some  jewels,  the  bridle 
decoration,  the  ornaments  of  the  funeral  canopies,  and  those  of  the 
funeral  cars.  But  if  we  look  more  closely  we  detect  a  notable  change, 
particularly  in  the  second  class  of  products.  We  have  seen  that  as 
early  as  the  fifth  century,  Greek  artists  adapted  themselves  to  Scythian 
taste,  fashioned  for  them  weapons  and  ornaments  of  regular  Scythian 
type,  and  endeavoured  to  please  them  by  decorating  these  articles  in 
the  animal  style  which  the  Scythians  loved.  But  while  they  thus 
consulted  the  taste  of  their  customers,  they  remained  Greeks.  They 
ennobled  the  shapes,  and  they  partly  substituted  the  animal  style  of 
Asia  Minor  for  the  Scythian.  But  their  art  remained  purely  decorative  : 
religious  subjects  are  rarely  found,  and  that  only  on  pure  Greek 
objects  brought  to  the  Russian  steppes  by  chance. 

In  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  there  is  a  significant  change. 
There  is  still  importation  from  Iranian  lands  :  for  instance,  one  of 
the  Chertomlyk  swords,  and  some  engraved  gems.  But  most  of  the 
objects  are  the  work  of  Greek  artists.  They  still  produced  the 
same  kind  of  weapons  and  ornaments.  But  the  mode  of  decoration 
is  quite  different.  The  animal  style  is  no  longer  predominant,  but 
confined  to  subsidiary  positions.  Scenes  with  figures  now  prevail  : 
and  strange  scenes  !  Partly  representations  from  Greek  mythology, 
taken  almost  at  random  from  the  plentiful  repertory  of  the  Greeks, 
and  employed,  more  or  less  successfully,  to  decorate  surfaces  for  which 


PLATE      XX 


SILVER    CUP  AND   GOLD    PATERA    FROM    THE   'SOLOKHA'   TUMULUS 

IV    Cent.    b.c.     Hermitage,    Petrograd 


M^mm^mm^^ 


CHAMBER 


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THE  SIDE  GRAVE.SOLOKHA 


Fig.  13. 


io4  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

the  originals  were  never  intended  :  examples  are  the  celebrated  gorytus 
of  Chertomlyk,  a  replica  of  which  has  lately  been  discovered  at  Ilyintsy , 
and  one  of  the  sword-sheaths  from  the  same  tumulus.  But  the 
great  majority  of  the  objects  are  decorated  with  subjects  which  are 
completely  new  to  Greek  art,  subjects  borrowed  from  the  religious 
and  social  life  of  the  Scythians  themselves.  The  scenes  are  studied 
in  every  detail.  The  minute  rendering  of  Scythian  costume  and 
equipment  corresponds  exactly  to  the  originals  found  in  the  tombs. 
The  religious  scenes  are  so  peculiar,  and  so  foreign  to  Greek  ideas, 
that  we  must  accept  their  correctness  a  priori.  Some  of  them  are 
like  illustrations  to  Herodotus.  The  scenes  from  social  life  are 
slightly  idealized,  the  types  also.  Here  we  can  trace  the  Stoic  tendency 
of  Ephorus,  who  desired  to  substitute,  for  the  real  Scythians,  Scythians 
idealized  according  to  Stoic  theory.  But  the  idealization  does  not  go 
very  far.  One  can  see  that  the  Scythians  themselves,  under  Greek 
influence,  wished  the  Greek  artists  to  provide  them  with  objects 
reproducing  Scythian  scenes  :  scenes  from  their  religious,  from  their 
economic  and  social  life.  Precious  documents  for  reconstructing  the 
life  and  the  religion  of  the  Scythians  :  let  us  try  to  profit  by  them,  as 
briefly  as  we  can. 

The  religious  scenes  are  mainly  concerned  with  Scythian  ideas 
about  the  connexion  of  the  royal  power  with  divinity.  The  chief 
subject  is  the  rite  of  the  holy  communion,  a  rite  which  occurs  later 
in  the  Irano-Pontic  cult  of  Mithra,  and  which  played  a  considerable 
part  in  the  Christian  religion.  On  the  rhyton  from  Karagodeuashkh, 
we  see  the  supreme  god  offering  the  holy  communion  to  the  king, 
by  means  of  a  rhyton  filled  with  the  sacred  drink.  Both  king  and  god 
are  represented  on  horseback,  like  the  god  Mithra  on  a  number  of 
Pontic  coins  and  sculptures  :  under  their  horses'  feet  they  trample 
the  prostrate  bodies  of  their  enemies,  the  forces  of  evil :  a  valuable 
instance  of  the  dualism  of  the  Iranian  religion.  It  is  important  to 
observe,  that  the  same  subject  recurs,  six  centuries  later,  on  Sassanid 
gems.  Still  more  interesting,  that  the  holy  communion  reappears  on 
a  great  many  other  monuments,  in  which  the  administering  divinity 
is  not  the  great  god  Ahuramazda,  but  the  Great  Goddess  whom  we 
may  call  Anaitis.  In  the  queen's  grave  at  Karagodeuashkh,  a  scene  like 
that  on  the  rhyton  is  figured  on  the  great  triangular  gold  plaque  which 
adorned  the  front  of  the  ritual  tiara(pl.  XXIII,  i).  The  goddess  is  seated 
on  a  throne,  clad  in  a  heavy  ceremonial  garment,  and  wearing  a  tiara  on 
her  head  :  behind  her  are  two  priestesses  with  their  heads  veiled. 
A  young  Scythian  noble,  no  doubt  a  prince,  approaches  the  goddess 
on  the  right,  and  she  offers  him  the  holy  communion  in  a  rhyton.  j  On 


PLATE      XXI 


■  •' 

^T^ 

f    u  * 

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-dS^Sw 

Br  niral  Bf               '                           "•*T"W*^ 

l^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^___ 

i.    'GORYTOS'    (bow  and  arrows  case)   covered    with    silver,   from   the 

'Solokha'    tumulus.      IV    Cent.    b.c.      Hermitage,    Petrograd 

2,  3.    SILVER    AMPHORAE    from   the  '  Chertomlyk  '  tumulus  (lower  Dnieper) 

III   Cent.    B.C.      Hermitage,    Petrograd 


FOURTH    AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.    105 

the  other  side,  a  strange  figure,  a  beardless  man  clad  in  a  woman's 
garment,  advances  towards  the  goddess  with  a  round  vase,  probably 
containing  the  sacred  beverage,  in  his  right  hand  :  he  must  be  a 
servant  of  the  goddess,  a  priest  :  his  facial  features  and  his  costume 
suggest  that  he  is  a  eunuch.  Now  Herodotus  states  that  among  the 
Scythian  aristocracy  there  was  a  special  class  of  persons  who  were 
afflicted  with  a  mysterious  malady ;  they  changed  their  male  clothing 
for  female  and  consecrated  themselves  to  the  worship  of  the  goddess  : 
Herodotus  calls  them  Enareans.  Whatever  the  cause  of  the  malady, 
whether  that  alleged  by  the  pseudo-Hippocrates,  or  another,  we  may 
take  it  that  the  Enareans  fulfilled  the  same  function  among  the 
Scythians,  in  the  worship  of  the  Great  Goddess,  mother  of  gods, 
of  men  and  of  animals,  as  the  eunuchs  elsewhere.  Above  the  com- 
munion scene  is  a  figure  of  a  god  in  a  chariot  ;  the  type  is  influenced 
by  the  type  of  Helios,  but  the  god,  unless  I  am  mistaken,  is  the  great 
Iranian  sun-god,  the  Sol  Mithra  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Lastly,  in 
the  uppermost  row  is  a  figure  of  a  Greek  Tyche  which  I  should  identify 
with  the  Iranian  Hvareno.  Whether  my  interpretation  of  the  two 
upper  rows  be  right  or  wrong,  the  scene  in  the  lower  row  is  certainly 
a  religious  one.  The  same  scene  is  reproduced,  over  and  over  again, 
on  the  gold  garment-plaques  in  the  tumuli  of  our  group  (pi.  XXIII,  4). 
A  kind  of  contamination  of  the  scenes  on  the  rhyton  of  Karagodeu- 
ashkh  and  on  the  tiara  is  engraved  on  a  rhyton  from  a  tomb  near  the 
village  of  Merdjany,  where  the  king,  on  horseback,  is  receiving  the 
holy  communion  from  a  goddess  seated  on  a  throne  and  holding 
the  round  sacred  vessel  in  her  hands,  while  the  king  holds  the  rhyton 
(pi.  XXIII,  2).  An  interesting  detail  is  the  sacred  spike  with  a  horse's 
skull  on  it,  which  stands  near  the  goddess,  indicating  the  sacrifice  of 
horses  to  her. 

It  is  very  important  to  notice,  that  the  same  religious  and  political 
conceptions  found  their  way  into  Thrace,  part  of  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  ruled  by  Scythian  conquerors  in  the  fourth  century.  Among 
the  objects,  already  mentioned,  from  Brezovo  in  southern  Bulgaria, 
is  a  gold  ring  engraved  with  the  counterpart  of  the  Merdjany  repre- 
sentation :  a  king  on  horseback  receiving  the  holy  communion,  in  a 
rhyton,  from  the  goddess  standing  in  front  of  him. 

A  similar  subject  appears  on  the  gilded  silver  rhyton  found  at 
Poroina  in  Rumania  and  published  by  Odobesco.  It  has  the  same 
sturdy  proportions,  and  terminates  in  the  same  massive  bull's  head, 
as  another  rhyton,  found  at  Contzesti  in  Rumania,  and  now  preserved 
in  the  Hermitage,  together  with  other  objects  from  the  same  place, 
including  a  sceptre  resembling  that  of  Brezovo.  Both  sides  of  the 
2353  p 


106  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

Poroina  rhyton  are  ornamented  with  figures  in  relief.  We  see  the 
same  goddess  seated  on  a  stool,  holding  the  round  vase  in  her  right 
hand,  and  in  her  left  a  rhyton  of  the  same  shape  as  the  Poroina  rhyton 
itself.  Facing  the  goddess  is  a  priestess  or  worshipper  raising  her 
right  hand  in  the  gesture  of  adoration.  The  scene  is  given  twice,  on 
the  upper  part  of  each  side.  It  is  not  possible  to  date  the  rhyton  : 
it  is  unquestionably  the  work  of  a  native  artist,  and  consequently 
barbarous  in  style.  One  would  be  inclined  to  consider  it  much  later 
than  the  Merdjany  rhyton,  which  can  be  dated,  by  the  objects  found 
along  with  it,  in  the  third  century  B.C. ;  but  the  style  of  the  repre- 
sentations on  the  Merdjany  rhyton,  if  one  can  speak  of  style  in  such 
uncouth  works,  does  not  differ  from  that  of  the  Poroina  rhyton.  It 
must  also  be  noticed,  that  the  goddess  who  adorns  the  centre  of  the 
famous  Petrossa  phiale  seems  to  be  closely  akin  to  the  Great  Goddess 
worshipped  by  the  Scythians  of  South  Russia. 

This  whole  series  of  religious  representations  shows  the  sacred 
character  of  the  vases  which  are  regularly  found  in  Scythian  tombs  of 
our  period  :  the  round  vase  and  the  rhyton,  two  very  primitive  forms 
which  go  back  to  the  earliest  stages  of  civilized  life.  The  two 
Scythians  on  the  girdle  or  diadem  from  the  barrow  of  Kul-Oba, 
one  of  whom  bears  the  rhyton,  the  other  the  round  vase,  must  be 
devotees  of  the  supreme  goddess. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  understand  the  ceremony  of  the 
sacred  oath,  described  by  Herodotus  (iv.  70)  :  '  When  the  Scythians 
make  a  treaty,  they  pour  wine  into  a  great  clay  cup,  and  the  parties 
prick  themselves  with  a  needle  or  cut  themselves  with  a  sword,  and 
mingle  their  blood  with  the  wine  ;  and  they  dip  into  the  cup  a  scimitar, 
and  arrows,  and  a  battle-axe,  and  a  javelin.  Then  they  pronounce 
a  long  curse,  and  they  drink,  the  parties,  and  their  principal  followers.' 
This  is  the  same  ceremony  of  holy  communion.  It  was  reproduced 
on  the  clasp  (?)  of  the  Kul-Oba  girdle  or  diadem,  mentioned  above 
(pi.  XXIII,  3)  :  the  representation  included  the  figures  of  Scythians 
with  round  vase  and  rhyton,  taking  part  in  the  ceremony  described 
by  Herodotus.  Many  such  figures  have  been  found  and  are  to  be 
seen  in  museums  :  they  were  set  to  left  and  right  of  the  central 
group,  the  Holy  Communion,  on  the  girdle  or  diadem.  The  same 
subject  occurs  in  the  Solokha  tumulus,  on  gold  plaques  attached  to 
the  clothing  of  the  king. 

In  Scythian  religion  the  great  god  has  been  almost  totally  eclipsed 
by  the  Great  Goddess.  It  is  she  who  is  the  great  divinity,  the 
divinity  above  all  others.  It  is  she  who  presides  at  oath-taking,  who 
administers  the  holy  communion,  and  who  initiates  the  royal  Scythians 


PLATE      XXII 


ELECTRUM    VASE   FROM   THE   'KUL-OBA'   TUMULUS,    NEAR   KERCH 

IV— 1 1 1    Cent.    b.c.      Hermitage,    Petrograd 


FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.    107 

into  the  mysteries  of  her  religion.  We  have  observed  the  part  which 
she  played  in  the  religion  of  the  Maeotians  and  of  the  Sauromatians  : 
we  have  mentioned  her  temples  in  the  Taman  peninsula.  At  Panti- 
capaeum,  as  we  shall  find,  she  became  the  chief  goddess  of  the 
Bosphoran  state  in  the  Roman  period.  But  we  have  just  seen  that 
she  was  deeply  venerated  by  the  Scythians  as  well.  What  can  be 
the  reason  ?  Did  the  Scythians  bring  the  cult  with  them  from  their 
eastern  homeland  ?  It  is  possible,  nay  probable.  But  the  develop- 
ment and  prominence  of  the  cult  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
supposing  that  here,  as  in  Asia  Minor,  the  Iranians  inherited  the 
worship  of  the  Great  Goddess  from  the  native  population,  that  it  was 
the  primitive  worship  of  the  natives.  This  view  is  confirmed  by  the 
list  of  Scythian  deities  in  Herodotus  (iv.  59)  :  '  they  worship  these 
deities  and  no  others  :  first,  Histie,  after  her  Zeus  and  Ge,  then  Apollo 
and  Heavenly  Aphrodite,  Herakles  and  Ares.'  Later  he  says  :  '  they 
call  Histie  in  their  tongue  Tabiti,  and  Zeus,  I  think,  Papaios,  Ge  Api, 
Apollo  Gaitosyros,  Heavenly  Aphrodite  Argimpasa,  Poseidon  Thagi- 
masadas.'  At  first  sight  it  is  strange  to  find,  in  a  list  of  Iranian 
divinities,  a  goddess  with  the  un-Iranian  name  of  Tabiti  occupying 
the  highest  place,  while  the  supreme  god  has  the  second  place  only. 
But  it  is  not  surprising  on  the  hypothesis  which  I  have  formulated. 
Herodotus'  list  is  a  mixed  one,  a  list  of  the  divinities  who  were  revered 
by  the  native  population  primarily,  the  neighbours  of  the  city  of  Olbia. 
We  can  understand,  therefore,  that  the  Great  Goddess  should  be 
mentioned  first,  and  after  her  a  god  with  a  name  which  is  Thracian 
rather  than  Iranian,  Papaios. 

The  Scythian  legends  collected  by  Herodotus  corroborate  my 
theory.  Remember  the  story  of  the  autochthonous  goddess  of  the 
Dnieper  region,  half-woman,  half-serpent,  who  dwelt  in  a  woodland 
cave  near  the  mouth  of  the  Dnieper.  Herakles,  the  conquering  god, 
had  to  come  to  terms  with  her,  and  she  bore  him  the  three  eponymous 
heroes  of  the  peoples  in  the  Russian  and  Thracian  plain,  the  Gelo- 
nians,  the  Agathyrsians  and  the  Scythians.  The  legend  reflects  the 
history  of  the  country.  Conquerors  who  were  servants  of  a  warrior 
god ;  and  a  native  population  devoted  to  the  worship  of  an  earth 
goddess,  a  serpent  goddess.  It  is  worth  noticing  that  a  similar  tale 
was  current  in  Sakastan  :  the  part  of  Herakles  is  played  by  the  hero 
and  demi-god  Rostahm.  The  legend  reported  by  Herodotus  is 
confirmed  by  the  archaeological  monuments.  The  same  group  of 
tumuli,  those  of  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.,  have  furnished 
several  representations  of  a  serpent-footed  goddess  :  she  appears  on 
the   horse's  frontlet   from   Tsymbalka  ;    on  gold  garment  -  plaques 


^ 


1 08  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

(pi.  XVIII,  4,  and  p.  130,  fig.  17) ;  and  in  plaster  on  Panticapaean 
coffins  of  the  Roman  period.  The  serpent-footed  goddess  is  an  old 
Ionian  type,  a  variant  of  Medusa.  It  is  rare  in  archaic  Ionian  monu- 
ments :  I  know  but  two  examples,  an  archaic  vase-handle  of  bronze 
in  the  Museum  at  Nimes,  its  fellow  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
a  well-preserved  archaic  vase,  with  the  same  kind  of  handles,  in  Berlin. 
But  the  type  was  adapted  by  Greek  artists  to  the  beliefs  of  the 
Scythian  and  Maeotian  tribes,  and  became  extremely  popular  in  the 
Russian  steppes  and  nowhere  else. 

To  conclude  our  survey  of  the  religious  scenes,  I  will  mention  the 
plaques  representing  the  Great  Goddess  accompanied  by  her  sacred 
animals,  the  raven  and  the  dog  (pi.  XXIII,  5),  and  the  plaque  with 
a  wrestling  contest  between  two  Scythians,  no  doubt  in  honour  of  the 
same  deity  (pi.  XXIII,  6).  In  a  word  :  we  see  that  in  the  hands  of 
Greek  artists,  the  aniconic  Iranian  religion,  as  described  by  Herodotus, 
becomes  peopled  with  divine  images,  created  by  the  Greek  artists 
and  no  doubt  accepted  by  the  Scythian  devotee.  In  creating  these 
images,  the  artists  seem  to  have  been  inspired  by  very  ancient  repre- 
sentations of  Oriental  divinities,  such  as  the  seated  goddess  with  a  vase 
in  her  hand,  a  type  which  is  found  in  Babylonia  from  the  remotest 
times. 

Let  us  now  pass  to  social  and  economic  life.  The  warlike  activity 
of  the  ruling  class  was  a  favourite  subject  with  the  artists  who  worked 
for  the  Scythians.  Battle  scenes  are  common  everywhere  :  fights 
between  Scythians  and  their  enemies,  Scythians  of  other  tribes, 
Thracians,  Maeotians :  enough  to  cite  the  Solokha  comb  (pi.  XIX) 
and  the  gorytus  from  the  same  grave  (pi.  XXI,  1).  Hare-hunts, 
and  hunting  in  general  (pi.  XX,  1,2),  are  no  less  frequent  :  this 
was  the  most  usual  form  of  sport  among  the  Scythians  :  it  trained 
them  to  hit  a  moving  adversary  at  full  gallop.  More  interesting  are 
the  scenes  on  two  spherical  vases  ;  one,  of  silver,  from  Voronezh,  the 
other,  of  electrum,  from  Kul-Oba.  The  scene  on  the  Voronezh  vase 
is  a  peaceful  one  :  Scythian  warriors  in  conference ;  an  old  warrior 
instructing  a  youth  in  the  use  of  the  bow,  the  principal  weapon  of  the 
Scythians  :  a  Scythian  camp  on  the  eve  of  an  expedition.  The  Kul- 
Oba  vase  (pi.  XXII)  shows  the  same  camp  after  the  battle  :  the 
king  receiving  a  report  from  a  messenger,  wounded  warriors  attended 
by  their  comrades — a  leg-wound  being  dressed,  an  operation  for  a 
mouth  wound.  Both  vases  are  interesting  for  their  style  and  their 
inspiration  :  they  provide,  as  it  were,  illustrations  to  the  account  of 
Ephorus,  who  was  the  first  to  idealize  the  Scythian  social  system,  as 
an  example  of  communism  on  a  democratic  basis  :  the  same  motive 


FOURTH   AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.    109 

recurs  in  the  Scythian  dialogues  of  Lucian.  The  two  scenes  might 
be  described  as  realistic  idylls  in  the  manner  of  Theocritus.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  they  are  the  oldest  Greek  monuments  which 
attempt  to  give  realistic  illustrations  corresponding  to  the  ethno- 
graphical treatises  which  were  especially  common  about  the  time  of 
Alexander  the  Great. 

I  should  like  to  conclude  this  series  of  racial  representations 
with  the  famous  Chertomlyk  vase  (pi.  XXI,  2).  Once  more  the 
Scythian  camp  on  the  eve  of  battle.  The  warriors  are  scattered  over 
the  steppe,  catching  the  horses  which  they  will  ride  on  the  morrow. 
I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  artistic  power  with  which  the  artist  has 
seized  the  type  of  the  horses  (pi.  XXI,  3),  of  the  Scythian  warriors, 
and  even  of  the  landscape.  The  whole  atmosphere  is  that  of  the 
Russian  steppe :  the  artist  must  have  known  the  steppe,  must  have 
studied  the  life  of  a  Scythian  camp,  and  must  have  been  thoroughly 
well-acquainted  with  the  little  horse  of  the  steppes,  dry  and  muscular, 
quite  unlike  the  horses  of  Greece  or  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Chertomlyk 
vase  is  a  masterpiece,  even  compared  with  the  vases  of  Voronezh  and 
Kul-Oba,  which  must  belong  to  the  same  artistic  school. 

What  was  the  artistic  school  that  created  these  marvels  of  realistic, 
slightly  idyllic  art,  an  art  which  devoted  itself  almost  entirely  to  the 
study  of  a  nation,  and  which  was  able  to  catch  the  characteristic 
features  of  a  national  life  ?  The  artists  cannot  possibly  have  been 
Athenians  :  Athens  produced  nothing  similar,  and  the  nature  of 
Athenian  art  was  opposed  to  such  ethnographical  realism.  Artists 
of  Asia  Minor  ?  But  where  could  they  have  obtained  their  profound 
knowledge  of  Scythian  life,  of  Scythian  religion,  and  of  the  Russian 
steppe  ?  Impossible  for  artists  residing  at  Ephesus,  at  Miletus,  nay, 
at  Cyzicus ;  even  supposing  that  they  had  visited  Russia.  But  why 
go  so  far  afield  ?  Have  we  not  admired  the  masterpieces  of  Greek 
toreutic  produced  at  Panticapaeum,  particularly  the  gold  and  silver 
coins  of  the  fourth  century  (pi.  XVIII,  5)  ?  Compare  the  three-quarter 
face  of  the  old  silen  with  the  head  of  the  Scythian  whose  teeth 
are  being  operated  upon,  compare  the  silen 's  head  in  profile  with 
the  profile  head  of  the  Scythian  on  the  Solokha  gorytus,  compare  the 
beardless  heads  of  the  young  satyr  with  the  young  Scythians  on  the 
same,  compare,  finally,  the  realistic  horse  on  the  silver  didrachms  of 
the  third  century  with  the  horses  on  the  Chertomlyk  vase.  Is  the 
style  not  the  same  ;  a  style  derived  from  Scopaic  art,  a  forerunner  of 
the  style  of  Pergamon  ?  Nowhere  will  you  find  more  striking  and 
more  convincing  analogies.  This  is  the  dawn  of  Hellenistic  art,  the 
art  which  we  find  later  in  the  Hellenistic  kingdoms ;  which  was 


no  THE    SCYTHIANS    IN    THE 

influenced  by  the  interest  taken  by  science  and  literature  in  the  hitherto 
barbarian  peoples  who  were  now  entering  into  the  great  family  of 
civilized,  that  is,  Hellenized  nations  ;  which,  like  the  idylls  of 
Theocritus  and  the  mimes  of  Herodas,  was  at  once  idyllic  and 
realistic.  An  art  which  was  glad  to  place  itself  at  the  disposal  of 
foreign  nations,  and  which  gave  birth  to  new  masterpieces  of  pure 
Greek  type,  inspired,  however,  by  the  strange  and  exotic  spectacle 
of  a  life  both  foreign  and  familiar  to  the  artists. 

One  more  reason  for  insisting  on  the  Panticapaean  origin  of  the 
artistic  objects  found  in  the  tumuli  of  this  group,  is  the  geographical 
distribution  of  the  tumuli  themselves.  The  tumuli  which  lie  nearest 
Panticapaeum  are  likewise  the  richest  in  artistic  objects  of  Bosphoran 
work.  One  of  the  most  splendid  is  the  barrow  of  Kul-Oba,  which 
stood  in  the  cemetery  of  Panticapaeum,  but  which  undoubtedly 
contained  the  body  of  a  Crimean  prince  of  Scythian  blood,  a  vassal 
of  the  great  king  ;  one,  who  like  Skyles  of  old,  the  neighbour  of  Olbia, 
loved  to  spend  his  days  in  the  wealthy  and  hospitable  Greek  city.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  this  prince  was  strongly  Hellenized,  and  that 
he  had  a  regular  business  connexion  with  the  tyrants  of  Panticapaeum. 
The  tumuli  of  Karagodeuashkh  and  of  Merdjany,  situated  on  the 
Kuban  close  to  Bosphoran  territory,  belong  to  the  same  category. 
These  also  were  the  graves  of  petty  kings,  princes  of  Scythian  extrac- 
tion, who,  even  after  the  collapse  of  the  great  king's  ascendancy  over 
the  region  of  the  Kuban,  retained  their  local  authority  for  some  time, 
just  like  the  Scythian  dynasty  in  the  Dobrudzha.  Finally,  there  is  the 
stately  group  of  tumuli  in  the  districts  of  Taurida  and  Ekaterino- 
slav  on  the  lower  Dnieper ;  which  are  closely  akin  to  the  barrow  of 
Kul-Oba.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  vast  wealth  of  these  tumuli 
belonged  to  the  family  of  the  Scythian  great  kings,  the  overlords  of 
the  petty  kings  and  princes  mentioned  above.  This  group,  also,  lies 
very  near  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus.  The  royal  family  seems  to 
have  maintained  a  steady  and  intimate  connexion  with  the  Bosphoran 
state.  In  more  distant  places,  on  the  middle  Dnieper  and  on  the  Don, 
Bosphoran  influence  is  much  fainter.  Local  products,  of  which  we 
shall  presently  speak,  prevail. 

The  question  will  be  asked,  what  is  the  reason  for  the  powerful 
influence  exerted  by  Bosphoran  art  and  commerce  ?  Why  did  the 
Scythian  kings  not  fetch  their  weapons  and  their  jewellery  from  Olbia  ? 
The  answer  is  simple.  We  have  seen  that  Olbia  suffered  terribly  from 
its  exposed  position  and  from  the  pressure  of  the  Scythians  upon  their 
vassal  city.  Some  of  the  Olbian  families  were  still  able  to  carry  on  a 
flourishing  trade  and  to  accumulate  great  wealth,  but  the  conditions 


PLATE      XXIII 


-TO 


1.  GOLD    PLAQUE    OF    THE    TIARA    FROM    THE    '  K  AR  AGODEU  A  SH  KH' 

TUMULUS    ON    THE    KUBAN 

2.  FRAGMENTS    OF    THE    RHYTON    OF    MERDJANY    IN    THE    KUBAN    REGION 

3.  GOLD    CLASP    OF    A    BELT    OR    DIADEM    FROM    THE    'KUL-OBA' 

TUMULUS,    NEAR    KERCH 
4-6.    GOLD    PLAQUES    SEWN    ON    GARMENTS,    FROM    VARIOUS    TUMULI 

ON    THE    LOWER    DNIEPER 


1V-III  Cent.  b.c.     Hermitage,  Petrograd 


FOURTH    AND    THIRD    CENTURIES    B.C.    in 

were  not  favourable  to  the  development  of  local  industry  and  art, 
which  demand  a  calmer  atmosphere  and  greater  security  and  tran- 
quillity. Olbia  was  content  to  act  as  intermediary  between  Greece 
and  Asia  Minor  on  the  one  hand,  Scythia  on  the  other,  and  perhaps 
to  manufacture  a  few  simple,  rude  objects  for  export  to  the  Scythian 
provinces  on  the  middle  Dnieper. 

It  appears  then,  that  the  masterpieces  which  I  have  described 
above  were  the  work  of  Bosphoran  artists,  a  Bosphoran  school  of 
metalwork  closely  connected  with  the  artistic  schools  of  Asia  Minor. 
Compare  the  Bosphoran  productions,  especially  the  two  silver  vases 
from  Solokha  (pi.  XX,  i ,  2)  and  the  gold  patera  from  the  same  place 
(pi.  XX,  3),  with  the  Lycian  tomb  sculptures  and  the  sarcophagus 
of  Alexander,  and  the  affinity  is  immediately  apparent.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  it  is  the  artists  of  Asia  Minor  who  have  trans- 
mitted to  us  the  detailed  and  authentic  studies  of  Persians  on  the 
sarcophagus  of  Alexander,  on  the  great  mosaic  from  Pompeii,  and  on 
a  number  of  reliefs  recently  discovered  in  Asia  Minor  :  moreover, 
that  it  is  Lycian  artists  who  have  provided  us  with  scenes  from  the 
social  and  religious  life  of  semi-Hellenized  Asia  Minor,  scenes  which 
closely  resemble,  in  their  artistic  character,  the  contemporary  repre- 
sentations of  Scythian  life  produced  at  Panticapaeum. 

Side  by  side  with  the  artistic  products  of  Panticapaeum,  we  find 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  others  which  by  their  rudeness  and 
primitiveness  present  a  strong  contrast  to  the  refinement  of  Panti- 
capaean  work.  Some  of  these  are  rough  imitations  of  Greek  jewellery, 
such  as  a  number  of  necklaces,  diadems,  bracelets  and  earrings  found 
in  the  region  of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Don  :  others  are  objects  decorated 
with  local  mythological  scenes,  coarse  versions  of  Panticapaean  objects 
of  the  same  type  ;  such  as  the  earrings  from  Voronezh,  with  figures 
of  the  Great  Goddess,  and  the  Merdjany  rhyton  described  above  : 
others  are  objects,  mostly  of  bronze,  which  served  to  ornament  the 
horses'  bridles  and  the  funeral  cars.  The  third  class  is  the  most 
interesting.  The  Scythian  animal  style,  always  employed  for  such 
purposes,  shows  a  rich  development.  On  the  one  hand,  we  find  the 
specific  motives  of  the  style  combined  in  infinite  and  fantastic  variety  : 
heads  of  eagles  (fig.  21,  E  ;  compare  the  pole-top  from  the  Kuban, 
pi.  X,  a),  griffins,  lions  and  other  savage  beasts  grouped  with  highly 
complicated  barbarian  refinement  :  on  the  other  hand,  a  marked 
Greek  influence,  attempting  to  ennoble  the  style  and  at  the  same  time 
robbing  it  of  its  vigour,  by  combining  it  with  motives,  borrowed  from 
Greek  vegetable  ornament,  which  are  completely  alien  to  the  animal 
style.     The  effect  of  the  combination  is  not  very  happy. 


ii2  THE    SCYTHIANS 

It  is  very  difficult  to  say  where  these  objects  were  manufactured. 
Some  of  them  may  have  been  produced  by  local  workmen  or  by  Greek 
immigrants  in  the  native  settlements,  others  by  itinerant  craftsmen 
wandering  with  their  tools  from  place  to  place,  working  here  and  there 
to  order,  and  using  the  raw  material  provided  by  their  customers.  In 
any  case,  the  quantity  of  objects  bears  witness  to  the  importance  of 
the  industry  and  to  the  wide  circulation  of  its  products. 


VI 

THE     SARMATIANS 

THE  Sarmatians  are  first  mentioned  by  Greek  writers  as  a  people 
which  advancedtothe  middle  Don  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourth 
century~.  ^lnceTittleTwas  known  about  the  new-comers  at  the 
time,  and  since  their  name  closely  resembled  that  of  the  Sauromatians, 
who  had  long  dwelt  on  the  lower  Don  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of 
Azov,  Greek  historians  and  geographers  were  misled  by  the  similarity 
of  appellation  into  identifying  the  two  peoples,  a  confusion  which  has 
given  rise  to  countless  misunderstandings. 

Herodotus  and  the  pseudo -Hippocrates  give  descriptions  of  the 
Sauromatians.  Of  the  Sarmatians,  the  historians  of  the  Roman  period, 
who  knew  them  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  in  the  Caucasus, — 
Tacituj>^alenusJFlaccus;  Arrian,  Pausanias,  Ammianus  Marcellinus — 
have  left  us  a  picture  which  though  fragmentary  is  highly  finisKedrln" 
parts.  Now  the  two  descriptions  are  completely  different,  and  precisely 
in  the  most  important  and  characteristic  points.  The  Sauromatians 
impressed  the  Greeks  by  a  notable  peculiarity  of  their  social  system  : 
matriarchy,  or  rather  survivals  of  it  :  the  participation  of  women  in 
war  and  in  government,  the  preponderance  of  woman  in  the  political, 
military  and  religious  life  of  the  community.  Among  the  Sarmatians, 
as  far  as  we  know,  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind.  They  were  a  warrior 
tribe  like  the  Scythians,  nomads  with  a  military  organization ;  hunters 
and  shepherds.  They  fought  many  a  battle  with  the  Roman  legions  : 
but  it  is  nowhere  said  that  women  appeared  in  the  ranks  of  their 
army,  or  that  women  played  any  part  in  their  political  life. 

We  may  take  it,  then,  that  the  Sauromatians  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  Sarmatians,  that  the  Sauromatians  were  probably  conquered 
by  the  Sarmatians  and  then  disappeared  from  history,  only  surviving 
in  historic  tradition  :  writers  like  Ammianus  Marcellinus  attempting 
to  combine  literary  references  to  the  Sauromatians,  with  later  accounts 
of  the  warlike  Sarmatians,  formidable  opponents  of  Imperial  Rome. 

When  first  we  meet  them,  the  Sarmatians  appear  as  a  series  of 
separate  groups  moving  westward  in  uninterrupted  succession.  With 
the  details  of  the  movement  we  are  but  ill  acquainted,  for  the  refer- 
ences in  the  historians  of  the  Roman  republic  and  empire  are  few  and 

2353  Q 


u4  THE    SARMATIANS 

sometimes  exasperatingly  brief  :  these  references  enable  us,  however, 
to  reconstruct,  in  its  general  outline,  the  Sarmatian  invasion  of  the 
South  Russian  steppes. 

The  Sarmatians,  like  the  Scythians,  belonged  to  the  Iranian 
group  of  Asiatic  peoples.  They  may  have  been  closely  akin  to  the 
Scythians  ;  may  have  belonged,  like  them,  to  those  Iranian  peoples 
who  were  generally  called  Sacian,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  other 
branch  of  the  Iranians,  represented  by  the  Medes  and  Persians,  who 
were  bitter  enemies  of  the  Sacians.  That  the  Sarmatians  were  of 
Iranian  extraction  has  been  definitely  established  by  the  study  of  the 
Ossetian  language  :  the  Ossetians  are  known  to  be  descended  from 
the  Alans,  the  strongest  and  most  numerous,  as  we  shall  see,  of  the 
Sarmatian  tribes.  Ossetian,  although  it  contains  an  admixture  of 
heterogeneous  elements,  is  unquestionably  an  Iranian  tongue,  nearly 
related  to  Persian. 

We  do  not  know  the  origin  of  the  general  term  Sarmatian,  applied 
by  Greeks  and  Romans  to  the  succession  of  tribes  which  gradually 
dislodged  the  Scythians  from  the  steppes  of  South  Russia.  The 
earliest  writer  to  speak  of  Sarmatians  was  the  pseudo-Scylax  :  he, 
and  Eudoxos  of  Cnidos,  had  heard  of  IvpfidTai  on  the  Don  in  the 
fourth  century,  about  338  B.  c.  Was  this  the  name  of  a  tribe, 
the  first  to  arrive  ?  Is  it  not  conceivable,  that  the  resemblance  of  the 
word  SvpiAaTau  to  the  familiar  tavpofxarai,  and  the  amalgamation  of 
the  new-comers,  proved,  as  we  shall  find,  by  archaeological  evidence, 
with  the  Sauromatians  long  established  on  the  Don,  led  to  the  trans- 
formation of  the  name  Sv/^arai  into  Sap/iarai,  and  to  the  perma- 
nent confusion  of  two  distinct  peoples  in  our  historical  tradition  ? 
However  that  may  be,  from  the  time  of  JPolybius,  who_mentions  the 
Sarmatians,  in  179  b.  c,  as  enemies  of  Ihe  Crimean  Scythians,  the 
name  of  Sarmatian  was  in  general  use  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans , ' 
to  designate  those  Iranian  peoples,  who,  in  the  third  and  especially 
in  the  second  century  B.  c,  were  advancing  from  east  to  west  towards 
the  Danube  and  western  Europe.  The  employment  of  this  generic 
designation  for  all  the  variously  named  tribes  which  supplanted  the 
Scythians  in  the  steppes  of  South  Russia,  is  evidence  that  these  tribes 
were  closely  interrelated. 

Whence  came  this  Neo-Iranian  wave,  which  re-enacted  the  story 
of  the  Cimmerians  and  the  Scythians  ?  We  have  little  information 
about  the  history  of  Central  Asia  in  that  tangled  and  difficult  period, 
the  Hellenistic.  Chinese  records  speak  of  an  important  movement 
during  the  Ts'in  and  Han  dynasties  :  Mongolian  tribes  were  pushed 
westward  by  the  vigorous  defence  of  the  Chinese  frontier,  and  by  the 


THE    SARMATIANS 


"5 


construction  of  the  Limes  which  we  know  as  the  Great  Wall  of  China. 
This  movement  probably  displaced  a  number  of  Iranian  tribes  in 
Central  Asia  and  in  Turkestan,  who  turned  northward  and  westward, 
as  the  Scythians  had  turned  before  them,  and  made  for  western  Siberia 
and  the  Ural  and  Volga  steppes  to  the  north  of  the  Caspian  :  the 
southern  road  being  barred  by  the  kingdom  of  Parthia.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  events  which  took  place  in  Central  Asia  during  the 
third  and  second  centuries  were  much  less  elementary  and  more 
complicated  than  the  Chinese  sources  make  them  out  ;  although  the 
Chinese  account  is  by  no  means  so  simple  as  the  version  given  above. 
For  further  details  we  must  wait  until  the  results  of  recent  exploration 
are  better  known  and  better  digested  :  Russian,  German,  French, 
British  and  Japanese  exploration  in  Chinese  Turkestan,  Seistan  and 
Baluchistan.  The  new  data,  linguistic,  archaeological,  and  his- 
torical, will  perhaps  afford  a  clearer  view  of  Central  Asiatic  history 
in  the  last  centuries  before  and  the  earliest  after  Christ.  This  much 
we  can  already  affirm,  that  the  flow  of  Sarmatian  tribes  towards  the 
South  Russian  steppes  was  due  to  the  political  and  economic  condition 
of  Central  Asia  between  the  fourth  and  the  second  centuries  B.C. :  a 
symptom  of  which  was  a  movement  of  Mongolian  tribes  towards  the 
west,  and  a  corresponding  movement  of  Iranians. 

The  second  century  B.C.  seems  to  have  been  the  critical  period 
of  Sarmatian  expansion  in  South  Russia,  although  archaeological 
evidence  and  a  few  historical  passages  indicate  that  long  before  this 
period  Sarmatian  tribes  had  been  slowly  moving  towards  the  west. 
But  the  earliest  certain  notice  of  Sarmatians  in  the  South  Russian 
steppes  dates  from  the  second  century  b.  c.  I  have  already  quoted 
the  evidence  of  Polybius,  proving  the  presence  of  Sarmatians  between 
Don  and  Dnieper  in  179.  From  the  part  played  by  the  Sarmatian 
king  in  the  political  events  of  this  period,  it  is  clear  that  by  179  Sarma- 
tian power  was  firmly  established  between  Dnieper  and  Don,  counter- 
balancing the  Scythian  power,  which,  as  we  have  seen  from  the 
archaeological  evidence  treated  in  the  last  chapter,  centred  in  the 
Crimea.  To  judge  from  the  chronology  of  Scythian  tumuli,  it  was 
in  the  second  half  of  the  third  century  that  the  Sarmatians  crossed 
the  Don  and  invaded  the  steppes  between  Don  and  Dnieper.  This 
date  is  confirmed  by  Strabo.  The  authority  used  by  Strabo  for  his 
seventh  book,  Artemidorus  of  Ephesus,  who  wrote  at  the  end  of  the 
second  century,  bears  witness  that  about  this  time  the  advance  guard 
of  the  Sarmatians,  the  Iazygians,  reached  the  steppes  between 
Dnieper  and  Danube,  while  the  next  in  order,  the  Roxalans  or  White 
Alans,  were  between  Don  and  Dnieper  and  figured  on  the  political 


n6  THE    SARMATIANS 

stage  in  the  war  which  Mithridates  the  Great  was  waging  in  the 
Crimea.  Behind  the  Roxalans,  another  of  Strabo's  informants,  the 
authority  used  for  the  eleventh  book,  Theophanes  of  Mytilene,  a 
contemporary  of  Pompey  and  his  biographer,  alludes  to  Aorsians  as 
occupying  the  left  bank  of  the  Don  and  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Azov, 
and  to  Siracians  as  holding  the  valley  of  the  Kuban.  Farther  east 
we  must  suppose  that  the  Alans  were  supreme  :  it  is  not  long  before 
they  appear  as  the  dominant  tribe  in  the  eastern  steppes  of  South 
Russia. 

The  earliest  reference  to  the  Alans  belongs  to  the  year  A.  D.  35. 
Josephus,  who  mentions  them,  leads  us  to  suppose  that  they  had 
held  the  Kuban  valley  for  some  time,  and  were  trying  to  force  their 
way,  through  the  passes  of  the  Caucasus,  to  Iberia  and  Armenia,  with 
the  ultimate  intention  of  fighting  the  Parthians.  It  seems,  however, 
that  their  attempt  was  frustrated,  that  they  turned  aside  and  followed 
the  other  Sarmatian  tribes  towards  the  Don  and  the  Dnieper.  In 
A.D.  49,  during  the  troubles  which  arose  in  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus, 
the  immediate  neighbours  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  were  Aorsians 
and  Siracians,  not  Alans.  But  these  tribes  seem  to  have  been  gradually 
invaded  by  the  Alans  and  to  have  combined  with  them  to  form  a  unit 
which  was  thenceforth  known  by  the  name  of  the  dominant  tribe, 
the  Alans.  The  continual  advance  of  the  Sarmatians  soon  carried 
them  beyond  the  Dnieper  in  the  direction  of  the  Danube.  In  A.  D.  50, 
we  find  the  Iazygians  between  Theiss  and  Danube,  and  the  Roxalans 
beyond  the  Dnieper. 

The  Sarmatians  now  became  an  imminent  danger  to  Roman 
power,  which  was  threatened  from  two  different  quarters.  The 
provinces  and  vassal  kingdoms  south  of  the  Caucasus  daily  anticipated 
a  flood  of  conquerors  from  the  steppes  beside  the  Kuban,  while  the 
Danubian  provinces  were  already  feeling  the  pressure  of  the  Sarma- 
tian vanguard.  Little  is  known  about  the  conditions  on  the  Dnieper 
at  this  period,  and  between  Dnieper  and  Danube.  Thej^gionseems_ 
to  have  been  the  meeting-place  of  several  currents*?  a  Thraciah- 
current  of  Getians  or  Dacians,  who  took  Olbia  in  the  middle  of  the 
first  century  B.C.;  a  Celto-Germanic  current  of  Galatians  and 
Scirians  in  the  third  century,  and  later  of  Bastarmans,  who  ap~peaT 
to  have  orfTipipH  at  least  a  portion  ofJhe_Dnieper  basin  ;  andjkstly, 
the__Sargiatian  current.  What  mattersmost  to  us,  is  tTiaTrrom  this 
period,  the  hrst  century  b.  c,  the  Iranians  maintained  regular  and 
sometimes  cordial  relations  with  the  Germanic  and  Thracian  tribes, 
a^d  that  they  dwelt  side  by  side  with  them  in  the  succeeding  centuries. 

From  the  first  century  B.  c,  therefore,  Rome  had  to  face  a  new 


THESARMATIANS  117 

enemy  on  her  frontiers :  the  Sarmatians.  Time  would  fail  me,  nor 
is  this  the  place,  to  tell  the  whole  story  of  the  long  and  sanguinary 
struggle  between  Roman  and  Sarmatian  which  was  waged  in  the 
Danubian  provinces  and  especially  in  Lower  Moesia.  A  brief  sketch 
must  suffice.  The  Sarmatian  advance  beyond  the  Danube  compelled 
the  Romans  to  take  the  offensive.  In  62-63,  Nero's  general,  Plautius 
Silvanus,  dealt  a  heavy  blow  at  the  forces  of  the  Thracian,  Germanic 
and  Sarmatian  tribes,  and  hurled  them  back  across  the  Danube. 
The  same  Plautius  Silvanus  tried  to  reinforce  the  Greek  oases  in  the 
Scythian  world  by  relieving  them  of  the  danger  which  threatened 
them  from  the  Scythians  in  the  Crimea. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  the  Sarmatians  destroyed  or  completely 
absorbed  the  Scythians.  This  is  one  of  the  many  historical  figments 
invented  by  modern  historians.  The  Scythians  continued  to  exist  as 
long  as  the  Romans  were  supreme  on  the  Black  Sea  :  explicit  evidence 
is  furnished  by  the  Bosphoran  inscriptions  of  Roman  imperial  date. 
The  Scythians  only  disappear  with  the  arrival  of  the  Goths  in  the 
third  century  B.C.,  or  rather  with  the  destruction  of  the  Gothic  state 
by  Mongolian  nomad  tribes.  It  is  true  that  the  Scythians  were 
conquered  by  the  Sarmatians  and  had  to  retire  before  them.  But  the 
Sarmatians  never  managed  to  dislodge  them  from  their  last  refuges, 
the  Crimea  in  the  east,  and  the  Dobrudzha  in  the  west.  We  shall  see 
in  the  next  chapter  that  for  centuries  the  Scythians  maintained  a 
strong  monarchical  state  in  the  Crimea,  with  itscentre  in  the  neigh~ 
bourhood  oTSimferopol,  and  were  powerful  enough  to  persist  in  their 
claim  to  supremacy  over  Olbia  and  the  Greek  towns  of  the  Crimea. 

The  expedition  of  Plautius  Silvanus  opened  the  eyes  of  the  Roman 
government  to  the  Sarmatian  peril.  Hence  Nero's  project  for 
attacking  the  Alans  in  the  very  seat  of  their  power,  the  steppes  of 
Northern  Caucasus.  It  seems  to  have  been  Nero's  intention,  to  con- 
centrate his  forces  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  which  was  to  be 
made  a  Roman  province  for  the  purpose,  and  thence  to  open  an 
offensive  against  the  Sarmatian  armies  ;  the  Sarmatian  empire  would 
be  cut  in  two,  and  the  Caucasus  and  the  Danube  preserved  from 
incessant  attacks  from  north  and  east.  As  a  subsidiary  measure, 
Pontus  was  to  be  transformed  into  a  Roman  province.  Owing  to  the 
dethronement  of  Nero,  the  plan  was  never  carried  out.  The  period 
of  civil  war  which  followed  the  death  of  Nero  laid  the  Danubian 
provinces  open  to  Sarmatian  assaults.  This  period  over,  it  cost  the 
Romans  many  efforts  and  much  blood  to  arrest  the  triumphal  march 
of  the  Sarmatians  and  their  Thracian  and  Germanic  allies.  Tfre 
famous  wars  on  the  Danube,  begun  by  Vespasian,  and  continued  by 


„8  THE    SARMATIANS 

Domitian,  Trajan  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  though  they  led  to  the 
temporary  annexation  of  Dacia,  were  primarily  defensive  wars  with 
the  object  of  interposing  an  effective  barrier  between  the  Danubian 
provinces  and  the  combined  attacks  of  Germans  and  Sarmatians. 

In  the  Crimea  and  in  the  Caucasus,  the  Romans  pursued  the  same 
defensive  policy.  We  shall  see  tha^after  Nero_th£kingdom  of  the 
Bosphoruswas  re-established  as  a  vassaTTangdom,  and  entrusted  with 
the  duty  of  defending  the  Crimea  and  Olbia  against  the  Scythians, 
and  of  keeping  watch  in  the  Taman  peninsula  and  on  the  Don  to 
preserve  the  Greek  colonies Jn.  that  region  from  complete  occupation 
by  the  Sarmatians.  The  kingdom  oTthe^osphoTuTproving  unequal 
to  the  task,  the  Roman  government,  from  the  time  of  Hadrian 
onwards,  was  forced  to  protect  the  rear  by  drawing  a  line  of  fortresses, 
mannedbyRoman  troops,  round  the  territory  o£Chersonesus  Taurica ; 
uTlactTTrTiad  to  resume  that  military  occupation  of  part  of  the 
Crimea,  which  had  been  taken  in  hand  by  Claudius  and  by  Nero.  Roman 
policy  in  the  Caucasus  was  the  same.  "The  kingdom  ot  IbenaTwhich 
covered  the  Caucasian  passes,  was  guarded,  at  its  most  vulnerable 
points,  "by  fortresses  and  Roman  troops  :  Armenia  "also,  from  the 
second  century  A.  D.  The  military  bases,  on  which  these  two  groups 
of  advanced  posts  depended,  were  the  province  of  Lower  Moesia  for 
the  Crimea,  and  for  the  Caucasus  the  province  of  Cappadocia  and  the 
legions  re-installed  there  by  the  Flavian  emperors. 

The  Alans,  by  themselves,  were  never  able  to  cross  the  barriers 
set  up  by  the  Romans.  In  73-74,  they  tried  to  invade  the  Parthian 
kingdom  from  the  east  :  in  Hadrian's  time,  in  135,  they  attempted 
to  cross  the  Caucasus  and  to  invade  Armenia  from  the  north.  Both 
enterprises  failed.  The  invasion  of  135  was  repulsed  by  the  governor 
of  Cappadocia,  the  historian  Arrian,  whose  treatise  on  his  tactics  and 
order  of  battle  against  the  Alans  throws  valuable  light  on  Alan  military 
organization.  The  invasion  of  73-74  collapsed  before  the  might  of 
Parthia.  On  the  Danube  also,  the  Sarmatian  advance  was  arrested, 
once  and  for  all,  by  the  vigorous  defensive  measures  and  counter- 
attacks of  the  second-century  emperors. 

In  the  third  century  a.  d.,  the  situation  changed.  We  have  already 
observed,  that  from  their  first  appearance  on  the  Dnieper,  the  Alans 
maintained  constant  relations  with  the  Germanic  tribes,  and  often 
joined  hands  with  Germans  and  Thracians  to  fight  the  Roman  legions. 
What  shape  these  relations  assumed  we  do  not  know  :  nor  what  was 
the  character  of  the  association,  formed  in  South  Russia  during  the 
third  century,  between  the  Alans  and  the  Goths,  who  were  Germanic 
tribes  from  the  Dnieper.    Was  it  a  conquest  of  Alans  by  Goths,  or 


■ 


THESARMATIANS  119 

an  alliance,  or  both  ?  Again,  we  know  little  about  the  fusion  of  other 
Germanic  tribes,  Suevians  and  Vandals,  with  the  Alans.  What  is 
certain  is  that  this  epoch  was  one  of  inestimable  importance  for  the 
history  of  the  whole  world.  Iranians  and  Germans  combined  to 
invade  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  the  Crimea,  and  the  Greek 
towns  in  the  Taman  peninsula,  destroyed  Olbia  and  Tanais  and  the 
Roman  fortresses  in  the  Crimea,  passed  to  Asia  and  to  Greece,  dealt 
formidable  blows  at  the  Roman  empire  on  its  Danubian  frontier, 
and  finally  succeeded  in  effecting  a  temporary  conquest  of  Italy 
herself,  of  Gaul,  of  Spain  and  even  of  Africa.  The  Iranian  tribes — 
especially  the  Alans — who  had  remained  in  Asia  and  in  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  Russian  steppes,  were  drawn  once  more  westward,  by 
the  Huns  :  leaving,  however,  strong,  almost  independent  detachments 
on  the  Kuban,  and,  united  with  the  Goths,  in  the  Crimea  and  in  the 
Taman  peninsula.  I  cannot  examine  this  period  in  detail  :  it  has 
often  been  treated,  and  it  lies  outside  the  chronological  limit  which  we 
have  prescribed.  But  I  must  lay  stress  upon  the  participation  of  the 
Alans  in  the  conquest  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  upon  the  extreme 
importance  of  the  Iranian  element  in  the  conquering  armies  of  Goths 
and  Huns.  The  union  of  Iranians  and  Germans  is  mirrored,  to  take 
a  single  instance,  in  the  legend  about  the  origin  of  the  Emperor 
Maximin,  who  was  said  to  have  had  a  Gothic  father  and  an  Alan 
mother. 

Again,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  if  the  Germans  exercised  a 
powerful  influence  on  the  Roman  state  and  the  Roman  army  from  the 
fourth  century  onwards,  so  did  the  Sarmatians,  whose  influence,  more- 
over, was  much  older.  From  the  time  of  Hadrian,  Roman  cavalry 
tactics  were  aifected  by  the  distinctive  tactics  of  the  Alans  :  the 
Sarmatian  element  played  an  increasingly  important  part  in  the 
Roman  army,  and  we  may  go  so  far  as  to  say,  that  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries  some  Roman  corps,  like  that  which  figures  on  the 
arch  of  Galerius  at  Salonica,  were  almost  entirely  Sarmatian  both  in 
composition  and  in  armament. 

This  historical  survey,  incomplete  as  it  is,  shows  that  from  the 
second  century  B.  c.  till  the  third  century  A.  D.,  theSarmatians,  and 
particularly  the  Alans,  were  the  predominant  force  throughout 
South  Russla~and  western  Asia,  especially  in  the  central  and  eastern 
regions,  where  they  were  unhampered  by  their  dangerous  rivals  and 
confederates,  the  Thracians  and  the  Germans.  From  the  third  century 
onwards,  they  had  to  share  their  supremacy  with  the  Goths  or  even 
yield  it  to  them,  but  they  still  formed  a  very  important  factor  in  the 
governing  class  and  in  the  army  of  the  Gothic  tribes.     What  do 


120  THESARMATIANS 

literary  documents  and  inscriptions  teach  us  about  their  state,  their 
manners  and  their  beliefs  ? 

Very  little.  They  were  doubtless  governed,  like  the  Aorsians  and 
the  Siracians  in  49,  by  princes  or  kings.  But  nothing  is  known,  either 
about  the  power  of  these  rulers,  or  about  the  social  structure  of  the 
state.  To  judge  from  a  few  words  in  Arrian,  the  system  was  tribal 
and  feudal,  the  component  parts  of  each  tribe  being  governed  by 
sceptre-bearers,  a-K-qirroxixoi.  We  would  gladly  know,  if  the  Alans 
succeeded,  as  the  Scythians  succeeded,  in  creating  a  united  state  with 
a  hereditary  dynasty  :  but  it  is  doubtful,  whether  they  did  or  not. 

We  learn  a  little  more  about  their  attitude  towards  the  Greek 
towns.  Like  the  Scythians  while  the  Scythians  were  masters  of  the 
Russian  steppes,  they  had  never  any  intention  of  vanquishing  or 
annihilating  the  Greek  cities.  Even  Olbia,  which  was  destroyed  by 
the  Getians,  weak  as  she  was  and  exposed  on  every  side,  was  never 
occupied  by  the  Sarmatians.  From  the  first  to  the  third  century  A.D., 
her  enemies  were  not  the  Sarmatians,  but  the  Scythians  of  the  Crimea. 
It  is  true  that  after  the  union  of  the  Sarmatians  with  the  Goths,  the 
united  tribes  altered  their  method  and  began  to  conquer  and  destroy 
the  Greek  cities,  such  as  Olbia  and  probably  Tanais.  But  even  then 
they  preserved  Panticapaeum  with  its  social  and  political  structure 
intact.  We  shall  see  in  the  following  chapter  that  they  preferred  to 
percolate  into  the  populations  of  the  Greek  cities  and  to  Sarmatize 
them  gradually,  adopting,  however,  the  Greek  language  and  some  of 
the  Greek  customs.  This  must  be  taken  into  account  in  our  estimate 
of  Sarmatian  civilization. 

As  to  the  Greek  cities  as  such,  the  Sarmatians  were  content  to 
preserve  them  and  to  use  them  as  commercial  agents.  Like  the 
Scythians,  they  had  a  high  opinion  of  Greek  civilization,  and  of  Greek 
goods  :  wine,  oil,  jewels,  pottery,  glass  and  metal  vases.  The  Greek 
towns  on  the  Black  Sea  kept  their  position  as  centres  of  production 
and  exportation.  They  continued  to  work  for  customers  in  the  South 
Russian  steppes. 

The  Sarmatians,  as  described  by  Greek  and  Roman  authors,  did 
not  greatly  differ  from  the  Scythians.  They  were  Iranians,  as  we  said 
above  :  perhaps  of  purer  blood  than  the  Scythians,  who  had  probably 
incorporated  certain  Mongolian  tribes  into  their  political  and  military 
organization. 

The  affinity  between  Scythians  and  Sarmatians  is  demonstrated  by 
common  features  in  their  clothing,  armour,  ethnographic  type,  and 
social  and  political  structure  :  it  is  generally  accepted,  and  I  shall  not 
dwell  upon  it.    More  interesting  are  the  differences  between  the  two 


PLATE      XXIV 


323 

1-4.    SILVER    PATERAE,    GOLD    TORC,    AND    GOLD-PLATED    SCABBARD 

From  Prokhorovka,  Orenburg.     Orenburg  Museum 

5.    GOLD-PLATED    SCABBARD 

From  the  tumulus  Buerova  Mogila  (Taman  Peninsula).     Hermitage,    Petrograd 

III   Cent.   b.c. 


THESARMATIANS  121 

peoples :  which  show  that  the  Sarmatians  had  had  no  regular  dealings  with  1 
the  Scythians ;  that  they  had  developed,  independently  of  the  Scythians,  ( 
somewhere  in  Central  Asia  ;    and  that  they  came  as  conquerors  to  \ 
the  steppes  of  South  Russia,  bringing  with  them  a  body  of  distinctive 
customs,  and  a  material  culture  peculiar  to  themselves.    Their  equip- 
ment and  their  military  tactics  were  un- Scythian.     The  Scythians 
were  primarily  bold  archers  :   their  principal  weapons  were  bow  and 
arrows.    It  was  only  after  they  had  broken  the  enemy's  resistance  by 
a  succession  of  attacks  at  long  range,  by  a  continuous  bombardment 
of  arrows,  sometimes  poisoned,  that  they  advanced  in  wedge  forma- 
tion for  a  final  assault,  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  in  which  they  used 
their  short  daggers. 

The  tactics  of  the  Sarmatians,  especially  the  Alans,  were  very 
different.  Their  principal  weapon  was  a  long,  heavy  lance,  such  as 
was  carried  by  mediaeval  knights.  Covered,  horse  and  man,  with 
corslets  of  scale-  or  ring-armour,  or  sometimes  of  cast  iron,  they 
charged  in  masses  and  broke  resistance  by  the  weight  of  this 
heavy  cavalry  attack :  the  formation  may  be  compared  to  a  mounted 
phalanx.  The  lance  attack  was  followed  by  hand-to-hand  fighting  in 
which  they  used  long  swords  with  sharp  points.  The  part  played  by 
bow  and  arrows  was  quite  secondary.  Conical  helmets  of  iron,  and 
stirrups,  both  unknown  to  the  Scythians,  completed  the  Sarmatian 
outfit.  There  was  the  same  difference  between  the  Parthians,  mobile 
archers,  and  the  Sassanid  Persians,  mounted  hoplites.  We  seem  to 
be  witnessing  the  dawn  of  the  Middle  Ages,  with  their  ironclad  knights. 

Very  little  is  known  about  Sarmatian  religion.  From  such  insuffi- 
cient evidence  as  we  possess,  the  Sarmatians  would  seem  to  have  been 
fire- worshippers.  The  sacrifice  of  horses  appears  to  have  been 
prominent  in  their  ritual. 

This  is  virtually  all  we  can  gather  about  the  Sarmatians  from  our 
written  sources.  But  the  Sarmatians  inhabited  the  Russian  steppes 
for  more  than  five  centuries,  and  the  eastern  branch  of  them  dwelt 
for  ages  in  the  steppes  between  the  Sea  of  Aral  and  the  Caspian  Sea 
and  in  the  adjacent  steppes  of  Siberia.  They  must  have  left  many 
traces  of  their  sojourn.  Nevertheless,  the  works  on  the  archaeology 
of  South  Russia  provide  no  clue  to  the  archaeological  material  illus- 
trating the  life  and  manners  of  the  Sarmatians.  Yet  such  material 
abounds  :  if  it  has  not  been  utilized  hitherto,  the  reason  is  that  no  one 
has  taken  the  trouble  to  arrange  it  systematically  in  chronological 
order,  to  date  the  several  finds  precisely,  and  to  make  a  historical 
analysis  of  the  groups. 

In  a  general  work  like  the  present  I  cannot  undertake  a  task  so 

2353  R 


122  THESARMATIANS 

lengthy  and  so  minute.  But  I  would  draw  the  reader's  attention  to 
certain  phenomena  which  have  never  been  observed  or  explained, 
and  which  are  of  the  highest  historical  interest.  The  data  are  by  no 
means  complete,  nor  even  very  copious  :  but  they  form  an  unbroken 
series  which  lends  itself,  in  my  opinion,  to  an  historical  explanation. 
No  methodical  excavation  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  vast  steppe- 
land  of  the  Ural  valley :  in  the  districts  of  Ufa  and  Orenburg,  in  the 
country  of  the  Ural  Cossacks,  in  the  region  of  Turgai  and  the  district 
of  Samara.  The  area  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Ural  mountains, 
on  the  south  by  the  Caspian  Sea  :  eastward  and  westward  it  lies  open. 
It  is  traversed  by  a  large  river,  the  Ural,  which  is  navigable  and  rich  in 
fish.  Clandestine  excavations,  verified  and  sometimes  completed  by 
competent  persons,  and  investigations  by  amateurs,  have  furnished 
a  quantity  of  valuable  material,  which  I  have  collected  and  reproduced 
in  a  special  memoir.  The  graves  of  '  the  Orenburg  region  ',  the  name 
which  I  shall  give  to  the  whole  area,  are  tumulary  like  the  Scythian. 
Apart  from  the  few  prehistoric  graves,  belonging  to  the  neolithic  and 
bronze  ages,  they  date  from  a  period  which  corresponds  to  the 
sojourn  of  the  Scythians  in  South  Russia  :  that  is  to  say,  the  sixth 
century  B.  c.  and  onwards.  But  in  funerary  ritual,  in  sepulchral 
construction,  and  in  tomb  furniture,  they  differ  considerably  from 
the  Scythian  graves  of  the  time.  I  know  but  one  find  which  bears 
a  certain  likeness  to  those  from  the  Scythian  tumuli  ;  it  came  from 
the  village  of  Pokr6vka  near  Orenburg,  and  probably  belongs  to  the 
fifth  century  b.  c. ;  it  includes  a  number  of  triangular  arrow-heads, 
some  bronze  plaques  in  the  animal  style  from  the  trappings  of  a  horse, 
and  a  boar's  tooth  with  a  gold  mounting  like  the  tooth  from  the 
Seven  Brothers  on  the  Kuban.  But  first,  triangular  arrow-heads  were 
very  common,  all  over  the  world,  between  the  sixth  and  third  cen- 
turies B.  c.  ;  secondly,  the  griffin-head  plaques  from  Pokrovka  find 
no  convincing  analogies  in  the  Scythian  tumuli,  and  there  is  nothing 
quite  like  them  in  the  fifth-century  tumuli  on  the  Kuban  and  in  the 
Crimea  :  lastly,  the  boar's  tooth  from  the  Seven  Brothers  does  not 
square  with  the  other  finds  from  the  same  grave  and  seems  to  have 
been  imported.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  difference,  either  in 
the  mode  of  burial,  or  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  tomb  furniture, 
between  the  Pokrovka  tumuli  and  the  rest  of  the  Orenburg  group  :  we 
notice  the  same  absence  of  Greek  imports,  and  the  same  Iranian 
influence  :  one  of  the  sepulchres  yielded  a  Persian  seal,  and  gold 
plaques,  probably  imported,  in  a  style  which  is  not  far  removed  from 
the  Assyro-Persian.  We  shall  see  that  these  are  just  the  features 
which  distinguish  the  Orenburg  group  as  a  whole. 


THE    SARMATIANS 


123 


In  characterizing  this  group  I  shall  take  as  my  principal  guide  the 
finds  recently  made  in  four  tumuli  near  the  village  of  Pr6khorovka. 
Although  the  objects  came  from  clandestine  excavations,  the  reports 
of  the  excavators  seem  to  be  perfectly  accurate  :  they  were  verified 
on  the  spot  by  a  competent  archaeologist,  Rudenko,  and  the  comple- 
mentary excavations  which  he  carried  out  have  given  us  full  parti- 
culars about  the  funerary  ritual  and  the  structure  of  the  tombs.  The 
Prokhorovka  excavations  may  therefore  rank  as  scientific,  and  round 
them  we  can  group  others  which  gave  closely  similar  results. 

The  funerary  structures  in  the  Orenburg  region  are  very  unpre- 
tentious (fig.  14).  A  square,  oval,  or  circular  trench  dug  in  the  soil, 
sometimes  with  a  small  pocket  in  one  of  the  walls.  The  corpses 
were  not  put  in  coffins,  but  wrapped  in  mantles  of  leather  or  fur, 
occasionally,  perhaps,  with  mats  or  turf  beneath  them. 


SECTION 


o       I       a       3      4       5 


1  METRES 


-  N 


PLAN 


SUf  GRAVE    |N 
NICHE*' 


BARROW  IN  THE  ORENBURG  REGION 


Fig.  14. 

The  funerary  ritual  is  quite  different  from  the  Scythian.  There 
were  no  wooden  structures,  no  funeral  cars,  and  no  sacrifices  of  horses 
or  human  beings.  The  ritual  was  no  less  primitive  than  the  Scythian, 
the  dead  being  provided  with  everything  necessary  for  the  life  beyond 
the  grave  :  but  it  was  much  simpler. 

The  classes  of  objects  buried  with  the  dead  are  the  same  as  in  the 
Scythian  graves  :  arms,  sometimes  horse-trappings,  garments,  precious 
articles,  .pottery.  But  one  characteristic  is  immediately  obvious  :  the 
total  absence  of  Greek  imports.  No  Greek  vases,  no  Greek  jewels. 
Imports  are  not  lacking,  but  they  are  Oriental,  generally  Persian :  I  may 
mention  thetwo  silver  cups, of  Persian  work,  with  Aramaean  inscriptions 
from  one  of  the  Prokhorovka  graves  (pi.  XXIV,  1),  and  the  Persian  seal, 
engraved  with  a  figure  of  a  king  fighting  with  a  lion,  from  a  grave  at 
Pokrovka.  The  people  which  established  itself  in  the  steppes  of  Oren- 
burg was  not  in  touch  with  the  Greeks  or  with  the  Scythians  :  but  it 
maintained  regular  relations  with  the  eastern  Iranian  world,  especially 
with  the  Persian  kingdom.  The  principal  weapons  are  a  long  heavy 
lance  and  a  long  sharp-pointed  sword.    A  heavy  corslet  of  cast  iron 


124  THESARMATIANS 

was  found  in  one  of  the  tombs.  Like  the  Scythians,  the  warriors  of 
Orenburg  and  their  wives  were  fond  of  gold  and  silver  articles.  But 
these  articles  differ  widely  from  the  Scythian.  The  animal  style  is  rare  : 
the  geometric  style  predominates.  There  is  a  strong  tendency  to 
polychromy,  rarely  observable  in  the  Scythian  kurgans.  A  gold-plated 
dagger-sheath,  from  a  third-century  grave  at  Prokhorovka,  is  covered 
with  floral  and  geometric  ornaments,  embellished  with  enamels  in  a 
technique  which  already  brings  to  mind  the  cloisonne  of  the  so-called 
Gothic  period  (pi.  XXIV,  4).  The  gold  tores  from  the  same  find  are 
particularly  interesting  (pi.  XXIV,  2,  3).  The  use  of  tores  for  the  neck 
is  common  to  several  races  and  peoples,  but  the  shape  varies.  At 
Orenburg  the  shape  is  purely  Oriental  :  a  thick  wire  of  solid  gold, 
twisted  twice  or  thrice,  and  ornamented  at  either  end,  in  Eastern 
fashion,  by  an  animal  or  an  animal's  head — the  well-known  dragon 
with  the  characteristic  crest,  large  ears  and  sharp  teeth.  We  shall 
come  across  the  same  type  in  the  South  Russian  steppes  during  the 
last  centuries  before  Christ  and  the  first  centuries  of  our  era.  Scythian 
tores,  of  which  we  have  many  specimens,  are  almost  all  Greek  work, 
and  the  shapes  are  very  different. 

The  jewels,  which  are  somewhat  rare,  are  clumsy  and  primitive  ; 
the  shapes  are  purely  Oriental.  The  gold  garment  plaques  differ 
greatly  from  the  Scythian  forms,  and  their  prototypes  must  be  sought 
in  the  Assyro-Persian  world. 

Speaking  generally,  the  furniture  is  extremely  rude.  To  a  few 
imported  articles,  we  have  a  great  number  of  local  products  :  iron 
weapons,  and  objects  in  bone.  Both  classes  of  local  products  present 
striking  analogies  with  certain  objects,  of  the  same  shape  and  purpose, 
found  in  the  Altai  Mountains  and  in  eastern  Russia,  especially  on  the 
Kama.    These  belong  to  the  earliest  iron  age. 

It  is  impossible  to  assign  an  exact  date  to  this  group  of  tombs.  As 
far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  imports,  the  oldest  tombs  belong  to  the 
sixth,  the  Pokrovka  group  to  the  fifth,  and  the  Prokhorovka  to  the 
fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.  Others  are  certainly  later:  some  of 
these  may  be  placed  in  the  last  centuries  before  and  the  earliest  after 
Christ.  From  first  to  last,  and  this  is  important,  there  are  few  changes: 
the  group  is  homogeneous  and  distinctive  :  the  civilization  which  it 
reflects  is  a  primitive  civilization  of  nomadic  warriors,  whose  only 
relations  were  with  east  and  north,  and  who  were  not  in  regular 
contact  with  their  neighbours  beyond  the  Volga. 

Of  almost  the  same  date  as  the  Orenburg  group  are  the  tumulary 
graves  which  were  excavated  by  Alexander  Miller  in  the  vicinity  of 
Elizavetovskaya  Stanitsa,  a  village  in  the  Don  delta.    The  civilization 


THE    SARMATIANS 


!25 


which  they  reveal  is  a  curious  one  :  it  differs  widely  from  the  Scythian, 
and  closely  resembles  that  of  the  Orenburg  region :  it  lasted  on  the 
Don  for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  from  the  end  of  the  fourth  to 
the  first  century  B.C.  The  shape  of  the  graves — simple  trenches  lined 
with  reeds — is  almost  the  same  as  in  the  Orenburg  region,  and  totally 
different  from  the  Scythian  types.  The  funerary  ritual  is  far  simpler 
than  the  Scythian  :  the  dead  man  is  buried  by  himself,  sometimes 
with  his  horse  or  its  bridle.  The  arms  of  the  warriors  are  not  the 
same  as  in  Scythia  :  just  as  in  the  Orenburg  group,  the  principal  piece 
is  a  long  heavy  lance.  But  the  Don  graves  differ  from  the  Orenburg 
group  in  containing  a  large  quantity  of  Greek  objects  and  a  number 
of  weapons  and  other  objects  of  the  forms  used  by  the  Scythians. 
In  a  word,  a  cemetery  of  half-nomadic  warriors,  closely  akin  to  the 
Orenburg  type,  but  noticeably  modified. 

Much  closer  to  the  Orenburg  graves  are  those  which  have  been 
discovered  on  the  Volga,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Saratov  and  of 
Tsaritsyn,  and  the  great  find  from  the  valley  of  the  upper  Kuban, 
near  Stavropol,  which  has  recently  furnished  a  whole  series  of  tores 
and  bracelets  in  solid  gold,  closely  resembling  those  from  Orenburg, 
and  probably  of  the  same  date. 

At  the  same  period,  in  the  third  century  b.  c,  we  notice  a  marked 
change  in  the  furniture  of  the  native  tombs  in  the  Taman  peninsula 
and  on  the  Kuban.  The  tombs  of  this  time  are  characterized  by  a 
taste  for  polychromy,  which  is  confined  to  this  period  and  to  graves 
with  a  particular  type  of  furniture.  It  chiefly  shows  itself  in  the  gold 
objects  interred  with  the  dead,  which  are  set  with  precious  stones  and 
many-coloured  enamels.  For  example,  the  grave  at  Buerova  Mogila 
yielded  a  gold-plated  sword-sheath  (pi.  XXIV,  5),  which  in  its  shape 
and  in  its  geometric,  probably  polychrome  decoration,  is  remarkably 
like  the  Orenburg  sheath  described  above.  Very  characteristic,  also, 
the  graves  in  the  villages  of  Kurdzhips  and  Besleneevskaya.  Both  are 
dated  :  the  former  by  engraved  gems  and  by  a  bronze  vase  with  scenes 
from  the  myth  of  Telephos,  of  the  third  or  second  century  B.  c.  :  the 
other  by  engraved  gems  of  the  second  or  first  century  B.C.  Both 
retain  some  of  the  traditional  features  which  distinguished  the  native 
tombs  of  the  Taman  peninsula  in  the  preceding  period  :  gold  garment 
plaques  of  circular  form  ;  jewels  with  delicate,  purely  classical 
decoration  ;  and  so  forth.  But  at  the  same  time  there  are  novelties, 
unknown  in  the  fourth  or  third  centuries  b.  c. :  gold  jewels  set  with 
precious  stones  ;  fibulae,  especially  a  round  type  with  a  figure  of  a 
lion,  whose  body  is  set  with  stones,  biting  his  tail  ;  necklace  pendants 
of  geometric  type  ;  bronze  fibulae,  the  shapes  of  which  are  fore- 


126 


THE    SARMATIANS 


v^A. 


runners  of  the  so-called  Gothic  fibula.  Wherever  we  turn,  we  find  a 
new  world,  which  brings  with  it,  as  it  advances,  tastes  and  habits 
unfamiliar  to  the  Greco-Scythian  world  of  South  Russia  in  the  fourth 
and  third  centuries  B.C. 

In  the  first  century  B.C.  and  later,  we  witness  the  triumph  of 
those  elements  which,  in  the  graves  of  the  transitional  period,  were 
only  beginning  to  appear.  The  new  civilization,  hitherto  represented 
by  scattered  objects,  difficult  to  date,  was  first  revealed  and  rendered 
intelligible  by  the  explorations  of  Veselovski  in  the  region  of  the 
Kuban. 

In  1895  Veselovski  began  to  excavate  a  series  of  kurgans  in  the 
Kuban  valley.    The  shape  of  these  kurgans  was  peculiar  :  they  were 


SECTION 


PLAN 


B      A 


SCALE  OF  METRES 

OI2J45O78910 


SARMATIAN  GRAVE  in  the  kXlBAN  REGION 


Fig.  15. 


mostly  small,  flat  tumuli  with  an  oval  ground  plan,  quite  unlike  the 
Scythian  tumuli  (fig.  15).  The  graves  which  they  contained  were 
sometimes  very  rich  and  remarkable.  Several  graves  of  this  type 
were  found  in  barrows  which  had  originally  been  constructed  for 
prehistoric  burials  with  contracted  skeletons. 

Veselovski  excavated  some  dozens  of  these  kurgans,  but  there  are 
hundreds  or  even  thousands  in  the  valley  of  the  Kuban.  They  are 
all  of  one  type,  and  the  graves  which  they  contain  are  uniform.  The 
funeral  structures  under  the  barrows  are  very  simple,  and  resemble 
those  in  the  Orenburg  steppes  :  they  regularly  consist  of  a  sepulchral 
trench  and  a  small  cave  in  which  the  corpse  was  deposited.  The 
funerary  ritual  recalls  the  ritual  at  Orenburg  and  on  the  lower  Don  : 
the  graves  are  those  of  warriors  and  their  wives,  who  were  buried 
separately  :  but  there  were  neither  funeral  cars,  nor  sacrifices  of  horses 
or  of  human  beings. 


THE    SARMATIANS 


127 


No  Greek  or  Roman  coins  have  been  found  in  these  graves :  but 
they  nearly  all  contain  objects  exported  from  Greece,  and  these  enable 
us  to  date  the  graves  with  accuracy.  To  begin  with,  the  total  absence 
of  Greek  vases  with  black  glaze,  and  of  the  various  classes  of  Hellenistic 
pottery,  provides  a  lower  chronological  limit.  But  besides  this  nega- 
tive evidence,  we  have  a  good  deal  of  positive,  by  means  of  which  we 
can  arrange  the  graves  in  three  chronological  series.  The  first  is  dated 
by  its  pronounced  predilection  for  glass  vases,  either  cast  or  hewn  out 
of  solid  blocks  of  glass  (fig.  16,  1-3).  In  shape,  they  reproduce  the 
metal  vases  of  the  late  Hellenistic  and  early  Imperial  epoch.    It  is  well 


~v;-. 


Fig.  16. 

known  that  cast-  and  cut-glass  vases  preceded  blown-glass  vases,  and 
belong  to  the  first  century  before  and  the  first  century  after  Christ. 
Such  vases  have  been  found  in  about  a  dozen  tumuli,  the  contents  of 
which  are  uniform  :  the  richest  graves  were  discovered  in  the  kurgans 
of  Zubovski,  Akhtanizovka,  Vozdvizhenskaya,  Yaroslavskaya,  Tiflis- 
skaya  and  Armavir.  The  jewels  which  are  regularly  found  in  these 
graves  are  distinctive  both  in  shape  and  in  technique.  The  artists 
have  a  fondness  for  filigree  decoration,  the  motives  being  almost 
without  exception  geometric.  But  the  technique  is  no  longer  the  true 
granulation  of  classical  times,  but  an  imitation  of  it,  pseudo-filigree, 
which  consists  in  dividing  a  gold  wire  into  a  row  of  grainlike  sections, 
so  as  to  give  the  impression  of  a  row  of  separate  grains.    The  artists 


i28  THESARMATIANS 

also  obtain  a  rich  and  varied  polychromy  by  using  precious  stones  and 
pieces  of  coloured  glass  (see  fig.  16,  4  and  5 — the  two  gold  fibulae  from 
Zubov's  farm,  with  Alexandrian  coloured  glass  in  the  centre  ;  and  the 
enamelled  earring,  which  is  very  popular  at  Kerch  in  the  later  period). 
The  first  group,  then,  may  be  dated  in  the  first  century  before  and  the 
first  after  Christ. 

The  second  and  largest  group  can  be  dated  by  a  series  of  objects 
which  belong  to  the  end  of  the  first  and  to  the  second  century  of  our 
era  :  a  profusion  of  blown-glass  vessels,  with  the  typical  shapes  of 
the  period  ;  engraved  gems ;  clay  vases  in  the  form  of  animals  and 
of  human  heads  ;  Roman  fibulae  ;  fragments  of  terra  sigillata ;  and  the 
like.  It  is  in  these  Kuban  tumuli  that  the  fibula  appears  for  the  first 
time  in  South  Russia.  Fibulae  are  rare  in  the  tombs  of  the  first 
period  and  become  common  only  in  the  second.  Again,  in  the  tombs 
of  the  first  period,  nearly  all  the  fibulae  belong  to  one  or  other  of  two 
types  :  one  type,  usually  in  gold,  is  derived  from  the  well-known 
fibula  of  the  La  Tene  period,  and  has  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
tendril  fibula,  the  '  fibula  with  foot  turned  over  '  of  the  Germans,  the 
forerunner  of  the  so-called  Gothic  fibula  ;  the  other  is  in  the  form  of 
a  brooch  or  of  an  animal,  sometimes  a  grasshopper ;  the  material  is 
again  gold,  richly  embellished  with  precious  stones.  The  second 
period  offers  fibulae  of  the  various  types  which  are  current  in  the 
Roman  empire,  but  also  develops  the  tendril  fibula,  which  comes 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  so-called  Gothic  type. 

The  third  and  last  group  of  graves  may  be  dated  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries  A.  D.  :  they  present  remarkable  analogies  with  the 
Kerch  graves  of  the  same  period,  which  we  shall  describe  in  the  next 
chapter. 

One  more  observation  :  in  certain  tombs  which  belong  to  the 
first  division  of  the  group,  notably  in  a  grave  at  Zubov's  farm,  and  in 
another  at  the  village  of  Ust-Labinskaya,  objects  were  discovered 
which  are  much  earlier  than  the  grave  as  a  whole  :  a  Greek  phiale  in 
the  former  grave,  with  the  inscription  '  AirokXwvos  'Hye/udvos  el/xl  to^  4>a<n, 
and  a  bronze  candelabrum  in  the  latter,  unquestionably  belong  to  the 
sixth  century  B.C.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  objects  were  looted, 
in  the  course  of  a  tribal  raid  beyond  the  Caucasus,  by  the  warriors 
who  were  buried  in  these  graves  :  the  phiale  must  have  been  a  sacred 
vessel  belonging  to  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Phasis.  Consequently 
the  objects  have  no  bearing  on  the  date  of  the  tombs  :  but  they 
furnish  valuable  evidence  as  to  the  character  of  the  builders. 

Although  they  extend  over  a  period  of  more  than  four  centuries, 
the  tombs  of  the  Kuban  valley  form  a  coherent  group.     The  con- 


PLATE      XXV 


i.    SILVER-GILT    BELT    WITH     INSET    STONES 
From    Maikop.       II    Cent.    b.  c.  (?).      Hermitage,    Petrograd 


2.    GOLD    PLAQUE    WITH    INSET    STONES 
From  Western    Siberia.      I    Cent.    a.  d.       Hermitage,    Petrograd 


THESARMATIANS  129 

struction  of  the  graves,  the  funerary  ritual,  and  the  class  of  contents, 
are  the  same  throughout.  The  contents  are  especially  interesting.  It 
is  true  that  there  are  many  features  in  the  tomb  furniture  which  recall 
the  furniture  in  Orenburg  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Don,  but  there  are 
others  which  are  quite  new  and  which  point  to  an  original  and  inde- 
pendent civilization.  The  tomb  furniture  consists,  as  I  have  said,  of 
the  objects  usually  found  in  nomadic  graves  :  arms,  horse- trappings, 
remains  of  clothing,  jewels,  vessels.  Many  of  these  are  imports,  made 
in  Greece  or  even  in  Italy.  But  the  general  character  of  the  furniture 
is  neither  Greek  nor  Italian.  It  is  purely  Oriental,  and,  further, 
widely  different  from  what  we  observed  in  Scythian  tombs. 

A  noteworthy  change  has  taken  place  in  the  arms.  The  Scythian 
sword — the  acinaces  with  its  characteristic  sheath  and  hilt — is  nowhere 
found.  It  has  been  supplanted  by  a  long  sword  with  a  remarkable 
hilt,  a  type  which  was  also  adopted,  in  the  first  century,  by  the  citizens 
of  Panticapaeum.  The  wooden  hilt  is  oval  in  section,  and  in  itself 
extremely  simple  :  but  it  is  regularly  topped  by  a  round  or  square 
knob,  of  onyx,  agate  or  some  other  precious  stone,  or  by  a  wooden 
knob  plated  with  gold  and  adorned  with  gems.  The  guard  or  the 
upper  part  of  the  sheath  is  often  made  out  of  one  large  piece  of  semi- 
precious stone.  The  only  parallels,  as  far  as  I  know,  are  the  swords 
of  the  second  Assyrian  empire,  the  hilts  of  which  are  surmounted 
by  a  knob  of  bone  or  bronze,  and  some  Chinese  swords  of  the  Han 
period.  The  Scythian  gorytus  is  also  absent :  indeed  the  part  played 
by  bow  and  quiver  is  much  less  important  than  in  the  Scythian  graves. 
The  lance  seems,  with  the  sword,  to  have  been  the  favourite  weapon  of 
the  warriors  buried  in  the  tumuli  of  the  Kuban.  The  scaled  corslet 
was  replaced,  towards  the  end  of  the  first  century,  by  the  corslet  of 
ring-armour  ;  and  a  helmet,  often  conical,  is  sometimes  found  in 
such  tombs  as  have  not  been  despoiled. 

The  horse-trappings  are  no  longer  the  same  as  in  the  Scythian 
tombs.  There  are  a  few  specimens  of  bar-bridles,  bridles  with 
xjjdXia,  rods,  but  the  psalia  have  not  the  rich  and  manifold  forms  of 
the  Scythian  examples  ;  they  degenerate  fast  and  are  gradually 
replaced  by  simple  rings.  We  do  not  find  the  distinctive  pieces  of 
the  Scythian  bridle,  frontlet,  cheek-pieces,  ear-guards,  nasal,  and  the 
rest,  with  their  varied  forms  in  the  animal  style  :  instead,  round 
phalarae,  of  silver  or  gold,  with  embossed  ornaments,  usually  geo- 
metric, sometimes  in  an  animal  style,  but  in  an  animal  style  which  is 
not  the  Scythian,  and  which  recalls  the  corresponding  styles  of  the 
second  Assyrian  empire  and  of  archaic  Ionia.  The  normal  material 
of  the  horse-trappings  is  silver  :    the  silver  phalarae  are  often  gilt. 

»353  S 


130  THE    SARMATIANS 

Here  also  we  notice  a  return  to  Oriental  tradition,  to  the  tradition  of 
the  late  Assyrian  period,  in  which  the  bridles  were  commonly  decorated 
with  round  phalarae  of  metal.  It  is  in  these  tombs  that  we  find  the 
first  stirrups. 

-  We  do  not  know  much  about  the  costume  of  the  Kuban  warriors 
and  their  wives.  But  the  introduction  of  the  fibula  points  to  a  great 
change,  and  the  appearance  of  the  class  of  fibula  derived  from  the 
La  Tene  type,  and  of  a  Celtic  fibula  of  the  Augustan  period  with 
the  name  of  the  maker  Aucissa,  is  a  proof  of  regular  relations  with  the 
Celtic,  and  probably  with  the  Germanic  world. 

Still  more  important  is  the  complete  change  in  the  forms  of  the 
gold  ornaments  sewn  to  clothing  and  shrouds.  In  the  East,  at  all 
periods,  clothes  had  been  ornamented  with  metal  plaques  sewn  on  to 
the  material.  We  have  seen  that  the  mode  prevailed  in  South  Russia 
in  the  period  of  Scythian  ascendancy  :  in  that  period,  the  plaques 
were  nearly  always  round  or  square  :  they  were  fairly  large  ;  they  were 
covered  with  embossed  decoration  in  floral  or  animal  style ;  they 
were  often  imitated  from  Greek  coins,  and  in  the  fourth  and  third 
centuries,  religious  scenes  were  sometimes  represented.  The  Kuban 
graves  have  yielded  hundreds  of  garment  plaques,  but  never  of  a  type 
known  from  the  Scythian  tombs  :  they  are  now  very  small  and  thin, 
and  the  shapes  are  geometric,  roundels,  billets,  fleursdelys,  crescents, 
voided  triangles,  rosettes  and  the  like  (fig.  17).  All  these  shapes 
belong  exclusively  to  the  Oriental  repertory :  exactly  similar  plaques 
have  been  found  in  Assyria  :  the  same  ornaments  appear  later  in 
Sassanian  and  Arabic  art. 

The  vessels,  numerous  in  the  Kuban  graves,  are  sometimes  of 
metal,  sometimes  of  clay.  The  metal  vases,  of  silver  or  bronze,  are 
almost  all  importations  :  the  shapes  are  those  current  in  late  Helle- 
nistic and  Roman  Imperial  times.  Most  of  the  clay  vases  are  also 
imported  :  some  are  local  imitations  of  classical  models.  But  there 
are  also  native  products  :  the  large  Asiatic  cauldrons  of  bronze  or 
copper,  which  we  found  in  the  Scythian  tombs,  are  very  common  on 
the  Kuban  as  well.  The  general  form  of  these  cauldrons  remains  the 
same,  but  there  are  alterations  of  detail  which  link  the  Kuban  vessels 
with  those  found  in  the  tombs  of  the  period  of  migrations.  Several 
of  the  Kuban  vessels  bear  signs  which  are  undoubtedly  alphabetical : 
this  alphabet,  as  we  shall  find,  was  in  use  at  Panticapaeum  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries  A.  D.  The  same  signs  occur  on  certain 
pieces  of  caparison. 

I  would  also  suggest  an  Oriental  origin  for  the  small  round  bottles 
of  gold — recalling  the  spherical  vases  of  the  Scythian  tombs — which 


KUBANSK.AYA  OBLASf 


Nekrasovskaua  Stanitsa 
TvfUskaua  Stanitsa 


f£=^>[^    ^H 


Akhtar^ovskaua  Stanitsa  Kajanskaua  Stanitsa     Vojdvijhenskaua    Khata3hukaevski  Aul 

Stanitsa 


jubovski  Khutor 


Armavir 


DMI^PElK  RgQIOM 


3vetna  Village         Museum  Pohl 
Mr.  Kiev    '  E&aterinoslav 


MOVOeH^RKASSK,  I  DON) 
Enamelled. 


A 


©  @    <|| 


ICE^ReH 
(Jrave  of  the  Queen  urtth  the  Mask. 


UNTERSIEBENBRUNNEN  (Austria) 


NORMANDY 


NORTH  AFfelCA 

@  ■  *  ©       ^ 
Carthage  ThuburboMajus 


Sarmatian.  (jarnwnt  Plaques  of  (Jold 


Fig.  17. 


132 


THE    SARMAT1ANS 


V 


are  frequently  found  in  the  graves  of  women.    The  bottles  are  always 
studded  with  gems  (fig.  18,  i,  2). 

One  word  more.  The  tores  and  mirrors  in  our  tombs  are  beyond 
doubt  local  work.  Both  tores  and  mirrors  were  constantly  found  in 
Scythian  tombs  :  but  the  forms  have  now  changed.  The  tores  are 
massive  and  rude,  of  the  type  which  we  noticed  at  Orenburg  and  at 
Stavropol.  The  mirrors  are  no  longer  of  bronze,  like  the  Scythian 
mirrors,  nor  have  they  bronze  handles  ending  in  figures  of  animals  : 
they  are  now  made  of  a  special  alloy,  silvery  in  colour,  are  consider- 
ably smaller,  and  have  a  wooden  handle,  or  a  knob  in  the  centre  for 
suspension.    Both  shape  and  alloy  are  purely  Asiatic,  and  are  wide- 


Fig.  18. 

spread  in  Asia,  especially  in  Central  Asia  and  in  China.  Speaking  of 
the  relation  between  the  Kuban  tombs  and  China,  I  would  also 
mention  a  small  amber  figure  of  a  lion,  found  at  Armavir  in  a  grave 
of  the  first  century  A.  D.  :  it  reminds  one  strangely  of  the  Chinese 
lions  familiar  from  our  museums  of  Chinese  art. 

The  jewellery  and  goldsmith's  work  is  particularly  characteristic 
in  the  Kuban  tombs  of  the  Roman  period  :  tores,  diadems,  gold 
plating  for  weapons  and  for  glass  vases,  belt  clasps,  and  so  forth. 
The  most  remarkable  feature  is  the  complete  abandonment  of  the 
principles  of  Greek  jewellery.  What  interests  the  artist  is  no  longer 
delicacy  of  form,  proportions,  or  artistic  modelling,  but,  above 
all,  richness  and  polychromy  in  the  surface  decoration.  Historical, 
mythological  and  religious  subjects  have  been  almost  entirely  sup- 
pressed :    geometric  and  floral  motives,  and  the  animal  style,  hold 


THE    SARMATIANS 


J33 


the  field.  The  technical  processes  employed  are  embossing,  and 
ornamentation  by  means  of  gold  wires  and  granulation  :  as  I  said 
above,  true  granulation  begins  to  die  out,  and  is  replaced  by  pseudo- 
granulation,  a  variant  of  the  gold  wire  technique.  But  the  decoration 
is  entirely  subordinated  to  the  colouring.  The  artist's  chief  object  is 
to  vary  the  coloration  by  inserting  precious  stones  wherever  he  can  ; 
by  filling  with  stones  the  spaces  which  the  geometric  or  floral  decora- 
tion leaves  free.  There  was  a  great  demand  for  vases  cut  out  of 
blocks  of  solid  glass,  in  imitation  of 
stone  and  metal  vases.  But  the 
elegant  shape  of  the  vase  did  not 
satisfy  the  inhabitants  of  the  Kuban 
valley  in  the  Roman  period  :  they 
required  a  casing  of  gold  enriched 
with  stones  and  enamels  (fig.  16, 
1,2).  The  gold  diadem  or  bracelet 
must  present  a  combination  of  gold 
and  of  precious  stones  :  a  fibula  or 
a  belt  clasp  must  be  gay  with  inset 
coloured  glass  and  gems  (fig.  16, 4 — 
Alexandrian  coloured  glass  in  the 
centre — ,  and  fig.  19,0 — transparent 
white  glass).  I  shall  speak  presently 
of  the  openwork  plaques  with 
coloured  filling.  I  would  also  men- 
tion a  vase  found  in  the  Caucasus  : 
the  vase  itself  is  of  coloured  glass, 
the  openwork  casing  of  silver. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the 
revival  of  the  polychrome  style, 
rejected  by  Greek  art  but  popular 
throughout  the  East.  Greek  art 
furnishes  no  parallels  to  this  rude  and  vivid  polychromy  :  in  the 
East,  however,  the  tradition  flourished  without  interruption.  The 
Kuban  polychromy  is  very  closely  akin  to  the  Persian  goldsmith's 
work  which  is  represented  by  the  Oxus  treasure  in  the  British  Museum 
and  by  the  finds  from  Susa  in  the  Louvre.  The  processes,  the 
principles,  the  shapes  are  the  same,  but  the  Kuban  work  is  ruder  and 
more  primitive. 

The  goldsmiths  who  worked  for  the  Kuban  valley  revived  a  form 
of  polychrome  toreutic  which  became  highly  developed  in  the 
Western  Europe  of  later  times  :  openwork  objects,  the  voids  of  which 


BROOCHES  OF  THE 
SARMATIAN  GRAVES 


Fig.  19. 


i34  THESARMATIANS 

are  filled  with  coloured  substances.  They  were  mentioned  above 
when  we  were  studying  the  sixth-  and  fifth-century  Scythian  tombs 
on  the  Kuban.  I  drew  attention  to  the  openwork  plaques  which 
adorned  the  horses'  bridles,  and  I  pointed  to  the  original  models,  the 
bronze  plaques  of  Transcaucasia  in  the  earliest  Iron  Age  (fig.  6).  It  is 
curious  to  find  the  same  plaques  used  for  belt  clasps  in  the  tombs  on 
the  Kuban.  Every  one  knows  that  the  technique  was  very  popular 
in  the  metalwork  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  that  it  probably  exercised 
a  strong  influence  on  the  cloisonne  enamel  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
famous  golden  vase  from  Petroasa  certainly  goes  back  to  these  open- 
work polychrome  jewels,  characteristic  specimens  of  which — earrings 
— are  found  on  the  Kuban  in  the  fifth  century  B.C.  and  in  the  Persian 
graves  of  Susa  in  the  fourth. 

This  polychromy  profoundly  modified  the  animal  style  of  orna- 
ment, of  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  Kuban  valley  in  the  Hellenistic 
period  were  no  less  fond  than  the  Scythians.  The  animal  style  of 
the  graves  on  the  Kuban  is  doubtless  poorer  in  motives  than  the 
Scythian.  But  in  certain  objects  it  shows  exceptional  vigour  and  charm. 
On  a  belt  clasp  of  silver  gilt,  recently  discovered  at  Maikop,  and  now 
in  the  Hermitage  (pi.  XXV,  i),  the  familiar  scheme  of  a  beast  of  prey 
devouring  an  animal  is  handled  in  a  most  remarkable  way.  The 
animals  are  subordinated  to  their  decorative  and  practical  purpose, 
to  form  a  belt  clasp,  but  the  powerful  feeling  expressed  in  the  swoop 
of  the  griffin,  and  in  the  head  of  the  dying  horse,  contrasts  strangely 
with  the  fantastic  position  of  the  griffin's  body  and  with  the  treatment 
of  the  horse's  hind-quarters,  reversed  to  fill  a  space  which  would 
else  be  vacant.  And  how  rich  the  colouring  is  !  The  artist  has 
studded  the  animals'  bodies  with  gems  and  cut  garnets,  and  enclosed 
the  whole  design  in  a  richly  modelled  and  gaily  coloured  frame  ; 
this  frame  is  the  body  of  the  belt  itself,  formed  of  rows  of  wings,  the 
compartments  of  which  are  filled  with  enamels.  The  technique, 
notice,  is  already  that  of  cloisonne  enamel,  although  the  date  cannot 
be  later  than  the  second  or  first  century  B.C.  The  same  combination 
of  polychromy  and  animal  style  is  frequent  in  the  jewellery  of  the 
Sarmatian  period  :  for  example,  in  the  belt  clasps,  already  mentioned, 
adorned  with  figures  of  lions  biting  their  tails.  We  shall  come 
across  the  same  tendency  in  the  contemporary  and  kindred  jewellery 
of  western  Siberia,  which  I  shall  presently  discuss. 

The  group  of  Kuban  graves  which  I  have  just  described  is  by  no 
means  isolated.  Similar  graves  occur  in  most  parts  of  the  South 
Russian  steppes,  and  we  find  a  flourishing  development  of  the  same 
civilization  in  western  Siberia.    The  most  remarkable  parallel  to  the 


THESARMATIANS  135 

Kuban  culture  appears  in  the  valley  of  the  Don.  I  would  mention, 
in  especial,  the  celebrated  treasure  of  Novocherkassk,  which  resembles, 
feature  for  feature,  the  furniture  of  the  Kuban  tombs  ;  and  the  less 
sumptuous  find  from  Golubinskaya  Stanitsa.  The  gold  diadem  from  *"* 
Novocherkassk  (pi.  XXVI,  1)  is  a  characteristic  specimen  of  the  strange 
jewellery  described  above.  The  shape  is  Greek ;  Greek  the  cameo 
which  adorns  the  front  of  the  diadem  ;  and  the  pendants  attached  to 
the  lower  part  of  the  diadem  are  imitations  of  the  pendants  which 
are  common  in  Greek  jewellery  and  widespread  in  South  Russia 
during  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.  But  the  upper  part  of  the 
diadem  is  in  a  pure  animal  style,  and  reminds  one  of  motives  which 
we  shall  find  in  Siberian  jewellery.  Lastly,  the  polychromy  of  the 
diadem  as  a  whole,  the  pearls,  the  amethysts  and  garnets,  large  and 
small,  with  which  the  entire  surface  is  studded,  takes  us  back  to  the 
valley  of  the  Kuban.  It  is  there  also  that  we  find  perfect  parallels  for 
the  gold  perfume  vase  (pi.  XXVI,  3),  decorated  in  the  animal  style 
and  set  with  stones  ;  for  its  lid,  which  recalls,  with  extraordinary 
vividness,  the  belt  clasps  from  the  tombs  on  the  Kuban  ;  for  the 
golden  vase  covered  with  figures  of  animals  and  set  with  stones 
(pi.  XXVI,  4)  ;  and  above  all,  for  the  hundreds  of  little  gold  garment 
plaques,  some  of  them  encrusted  with  tiny  pieces  of  blue  or  pink 
enamel,  pink  coral,  or  turquoise  (fig.  17).  The  same  spirit  prevails  in 
the  curious  perfume-tube,  in  the  form  of  a  lion  whose  body  is  replaced 
by  an  onyx  tube  (pi.  XXVI,  2).  I  cannot  speak  of  all  the  objects 
which  make  up  this  splendid  treasure  :  but  I  must  insist  on  their 
close  resemblance  to  the  finds  from  the  tombs  on  the  Kuban.  The 
Novocherkassk  find  forms  a  kind  of  bridge  between  the  Kuban  and 
Siberia.  The  date  has  been  hotly  disputed  :  but  if  we  consider 
that  the  cameo  set  in  the  diadem  is  probably  a  late  Hellenistic  work, 
that  pendants  like  those  of  the  diadem  never  appear  in  the  jewellery 
of  the  Roman  period,  that  the  small  gold  statuette  of  Eros  (pi.  XXVI, 
5)  is  late  Hellenistic,  that  the  Kuban  analogies  point  to  the  period 
of  the  first  group  of  tombs  ;  we  must  date  the  treasure  in  the  first 
century  B.C.,  or  at  latest  the  first  a.  d.  A  little  later  is. the  gold 
vase  found  at  Migulinskaya  Stanitsa,  which  bears  the  names  of  the 
owner,  E^/Wok-ov,  and  of  the  artist,  Tapov\a<>  hroia,  with  an  indication 
of  the  weight,  X(iV/Das)  xP(uo"oS)  MH  (forty-eight  ounces) :  a  closely 
similar  vase,  uninscribed,  forms  part  of  the  treasure  of  Novocherkassk. 
The  inscription  is  valuable,  for  it  shows  us  where  the  vase  was  made  : 
I  have  pointed  out,  in  a  special  article,  that  both  names  are  Thracian, 
common  at  Tanais  and  even  at  Panticapaeum  in  the  Roman  period. 
Let  us  bear  this  important  fact  in  mind. 


136  THESARMATIANS 

From  the  same  region  of  the  Don  and  the  Donets  comes  a  peculiar 
group  of  silver  gilt  plaques,  mostly  from  horse-trappings,  which  belong 
to  the  earlier  part  of  the  same  period  (pi.  XXVII,  4).  The  decoration 
of  these  phalarae,  which  have  recently  been  published  by  Spitsyn,  is 
sometimes  identical  with  that  of  similar  plaques  from  the  region  of 
the  Kuban.  The  most  interesting  of  those  found  on  the  Kuban  is  the 
bronze  phalara,  excavated  at  Vozdvizhenskaya  Stanitsa  in  1899, 
representing  a  goat  devoured  by  a  hydra  with  six  heads,  all  eared 
and  nearly  square.  Large  finds  of  plaques  have  been  made  at  Siver- 
skaya  Stanitsa  in  the  Taman  peninsula,  at  Taganrog,  Fedulovo  and 
Starobelsk  in  the  region  of  the  Don  and  the  Donets,  at  Yanchekrak 
in  the  district  of  Taurida :  that  is,  between  the  Caucasus  and  the 
steppes  of  the  Dnieper.  The  style  of  the  plaques  from  Akhtanizovka 
is  different,  and  appears  to  be  purely  Greek  :  the  Akhtanizovka 
phalarae  were  probably  either  imported,  or  made  by  Greek  artists  in 
South  Russia.  The  Siverskaya  find  dates  from  the  second  or  first 
century  B.C. :  the  others  from  about  the  same  period.  Some  of  the 
plaques  are  decorated  with  patterns  only,  and  in  these  the  orna- 
mentation is  purely  Iranian  ;  just  as  in  a  plaque  found  in  1901  at 
Tiflisskaya  Stanitsa  on  the  Kuban.  Others,  at  Starobelsk  for  instance, 
bear  figures  of  animals  (fig.  20)  or  mythological  scenes.  The  animals 
have  nothing  in  common  with  the  animals  of  Roman  provincial  art : 
a  similar  style  prevails  in  the  painted  tomb  discovered  by  Stasov  at 
Kerch  and  presently  to  be  described  :  a  pure  Iranian  style  ;  derived, 
as  I  have  proved  in  my  work  on  decorative  painting,  from  the  art  of 
which  one  branch  is  Parthian  art  ;  and  perhaps  presenting  a  certain 
analogy  with  the  earliest  stage  of  the  Ionian  animal  style,  which  was 
borrowed  from  the  East.  Two  gilded  silver  plaques  in  the  Cabinet  des 
Medailles  at  Paris  (pi.  XXVII,  1,2),  which  are  said  to  have  come  from 
Pontus,  although  the  provenience  is  not  certain,  show  a  style  and 
a  technique  which  are  almost  identical  with  those  of  the  plaques 
from  South  Russia.  The  Oriental  style  of  the  Paris  plaques  was 
recognized,  and  their  date  established,  by  Drexel  and  by  Reinach, 
but  neither  scholar  noticed  the  numerous  and  convincing  analogies 
from  South  Russia.  It  is  well  known  that  in  their  artistic  develop- 
ment Pontus  and  South  Russia  were  always  closely  associated.  But 
it  may  be  that  the  Paris  plaques  reached  Constantinople,  where  they 
were  purchased,  from  South  Russia.  The  engraved  inscription,  in 
spite  of  Drexel's  arguments,  I  believe  to  be  false  :  it  looks  as  if  it  had 
been  made  in  Russia,  where  Mithridates  is  even  more  popular  among 
forgers  than  Saitapharnes :  the  Pontic  provenience  would  be  subse- 
quent, and  occasioned  by  the  inscription. 


PLATE      XXVI 


i.    CROWN 


/0 

tfiigA 

f%& 

. 

...  „ 

2.    PERFUME    BOTTLE 


3.  PERFUME    BOTTLE 


4,  5.    CUP    AND    STATUETTE    OF    EROS 


THE    TREASURE    OF    NOVOCHERKASSK    (ALL    GOLD) 
I   Cent.  b.c.  to  I  Cent.  a.  d.      Hermitage,   Petrograd 


THE    SARMATIANS 


[37 


I  should  like  to  draw  special  attention  to  the  second,  fragmentary 
plaque,  which  is  published  here  for  the  first  time,  by  kind  permission 
of  Mr.  Ernest  Babelon,  director  of  the  Cabinet  des  Medailles,  and 
from  a  photograph  supplied  by  him  (pi.  XXVII,  2).  The  Indian 
elephant's  head  in  the  centre,  and  the  three  stags,  show  all  the 
peculiarities  of  later  Iranian  style.  It  is  worth  noticing  that  the  scales 
which  cover  the  body  of  the  central  animal  in  the  first  plaque  are 
very  similar  to  the  scales  of  the  archaic  lion  on  the  plaque  from  the 
Golden  Tumulus  near  Simferopol  (see  p.  52). 

Still  more  interesting  are  the  plaques  with  mythological  subjects. 
On  the  Siverskaya  plaque  (pi.  XXVII,  4)  there  are  two  scenes,  on  the 


Fig.  20.  THE  PHALARA  FROM  STAROBELSK. 

left  the  triumph  of  Dionysos,  on  the  right  Athena  mastering  a  giant. 
Both  scenes,  however,  have  undergone  a  quaint  transformation  which 
recalls  some  of  the  Greco-Indian  monuments  from  Gandhara.  For 
instance,  the  costumes  are  purely  Oriental,  and  the  panther  on  which 
Dionysos  is  seated  has  an  almost  human  head.  The  curious  technique 
of  the  plaque,  especially  the  strewing  of  the  ground  with  incised  dots, 
is  constant  in  the  monuments  of  our  series.  The  plaque  from  Yan- 
chekrak  has  a  half-length,  frontal  figure  of  a  sun  god,  with  wings  of 
the  recurving  Oriental  type,  holding  a  solar  disk,  a  plate  or  patera  with 
an  eight-petalled  rosette,  in  his  right  hand.  These  mythological 
plaques  remind  one  strangely  of  a  number  of  monuments  which 
exhibit  the  same  technique  and  the  same  treatment  of  mythological 
figures.  Some  groups  of  them  have  been  found  in  Bulgaria.  The 
earliest  group,  that  of  Panagurishte,  which   belongs   to   the  third 

2353  T 


138  THE   SARMATIANS 

century  B.C.,  consists  of  a  horse's  frontlet  in  silver  and  four  circular 
phalarae  of  the  same  metal.  The  frontlet  has  the  regular  form  of 
the  third  century  frontlets  from  South  Russia,  for  instance,  the 
frontlet  from  the  Tsymbalka  tumulus  :  the  phalarae  remind  one  of 
the  phalarae  from  Alexandropol,  which  show  strong  affinities  with  the 
whole  group  of  phalarae  which  we  are  discussing.  But  the  style 
of  the  figures — Herakles  mastering  a  boar,  a  siren  with  a  lyre  and  two 
griffins — which  represent,  under  borrowed  forms,  deities  of  the 
local  pantheon,  has  the  same  characteristics  as  the  above-mentioned 
plaques  from  South  Russia,  those  of  the  second  and  first  centuries  B.C. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  animals  and  the  floral  motives  in  the 
circular  phalarae  from  Panagurishte.  The  best  parallels  are  provided, 
on  the  one  hand  by  the  phalarae  found  at  Alexandropol,  and  on  the 
other  by  the  phalara  from  Starobelsk  (fig.  20).  Still  closer  is  the 
analogy  between  the  South  Russian  phalarae  of  the  Sarmatian 
period  and  the  recent  find  of  silver-gilt  phalarae  at  Galiche  in  the 
district  of  Orekhovo  on  the  Danube,  which  I  shall  describe  and  analyse 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Bulgarian  Archaeological  Society.  The 
phalarae  are  all  circular,  and  the  forms  correspond  closely  to  those 
of  the  phalarae  from  South  Russia  mentioned  above.  The  technique 
is  the  same  in  both  groups  :  I  would  instance  the  habit  of  covering 
the  whole  ground  with  incised  dots.  The  floral  ornaments  are 
oriental,  as  in  South  Russia,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  classical 
floral  patterns.  Here  also  we  find  mythological  figures  which  recall 
the  most  popular  figures  in  the  Greco-Iranian  pantheon  of  South 
Russia  :  the  bust  of  the  Great  Goddess  flanked  by  birds  (compare 
pi.  XXIII,  5),  and  a  corresponding  figure  of  a  native  prince  on 
horseback  (pi.  XXIII,  2).  Even  the  great  tores  which  cover  the 
necks  of  both  figures  find  a  parallel  in  the  numerous  tores  of 
the  same  type  found  at  Anapa,  Stavropol,  Akhtanizovka,  and  on  the 
Kuban,  which  belong  to  the  third  or  second  century  B.  c.  Another 
good  parallel  to  the  Bulgarian  mythological  phalarae  is  presented  by 
many  of  the  objects  which  compose  the  rich  find  of  Petroasa  in 
Rumania,  to  be  dealt  with  in  my  eighth  chapter  :  for  example,  the 
tores,  and  above  all  the  large  gold  patera  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
chapter.    Here  again  we  have  a  local  pantheon  in  classical  disguise. 

Finally,  the  same  style  and  the  same  main  ideas  appear  in  certain 
finds  from  Germanic  lands.  I  am  thinking  of  the  phalarae  from 
Raermond  in  Holland  (pi.  XXVII,  3),  with  a  frieze  of  animals  and 
a  figure  of  Hercules  strangling  a  lion  which  presents  the  same  peculi- 
arities—beardlessness,  local  costume — as  the  Hercules  of  Panagurishte: 
and  of  the  famous  cauldron  from  Gundestrup.    I  agree  with  Salomon 


PLATE      XXVII 


1,2.    SILVER-GILT    PHALARAE    FROM    THE    SHORES    OF    THE 
BLACK    SEA.      Cabinet  des  Medailles,   Paris 
SILVER    PLAQUE    FROM    RAERMOND    (HOLLAND).      Rijks  Museum,  Leyden 

4.    SILVER-GILT     PLAQUE     FROM     THE     SIVERSKAYA 
STANITSA,  TAMAN    PENINSULA.      Historical  Museum,  Moscow.     II   Cent.    b.  c. 


THE    SARMATIANS 


139 


Reinach  and  Drexel  in  attributing  these  monuments  to  a  peculiar 
branch  of  art  which  they  call  Irano-Celtic  :  but  I  am  convinced  that 
this  art  grew  up,  not  in  Pontus  or  Cappadocia,  but  in  South  Russia; 
that  it  began  to  develop  as  early  as  the  final  period  of  Scythian  domina- 
tion, the  third  century  B.C.;  and  that  it  was  brought  to  completion 
by  the  Sarmatians  in  the  second  and  first  centuries  B.C.  It  was 
indebted  to  the  Sarmatians  for  the  strong  Iranian  tone  both  in  the 
representation  of  human  beings  and  animals  and  in  the  Iranian  floral 
motives  ;  Greco-Scythian  art  contributed  the  semi-Greek  travesties 
of  Iranian  gods  ;  the  Celts  certain  technical  peculiarities  and  in  the 
treatment  of  human  and  animal  figures  a  peculiar  touch  borrowed 
from  archaic  Ionian  art  at  the  time  when  their  own  art  was  just 
beginning.  A  few  special  traits  may  have  been  added  by  the  native 
Thracian  population.  There  is  nothing  astonishing  in  the  mixture  ; 
nor  in  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  style,  which  even  reached  Germany. 
I  would  remind  the  reader  of  what  I  said  about  the  advance  of  the 
Celts  in  South  Russia  in  the  third  century  B.C.,  where  they  encoun- 
tered first  the  Scythians — Posidonius,  in  Strabo,  knew  of  Celto- 
Scythians  on  the  Black  Sea — and  afterwards  the  Sarmatians,  who  were 
evidently  familiar  to  the  Gaulish  tribes,  especially  to  the  Scordiscans 
who  infested  the  Balkan  peninsula  in  the  second  and  first  centuries 
B.C.  Through  the  Bastarnians,  the  phalara  and  the  cauldron  of 
Gundestrup  may  very  well  have  passed  from  hand  to  hand  until  they 
reached  Germany.  I  would  invite  the  reader  to  compare  the  Gunde- 
strup serpents  with  those  on  the  plaque  from  Vozdvizhenskaya  Stanitsa, 
and  the  gods  with  those  on  the  Siverskaya  and  Yanchekrak  plaques. 

These  products  of  the  Irano-Celtic  art  of  the  last  centuries  before 
Christ  probably  represent  the  achievement  of  those  groups  of  Sarma- 
tian  tribes  which  first  came  into  contact  with  the  western  peoples. 
It  is  noticeable  that  they  consist  almost  exclusively  of  horse-trappings, 
the  bearers  of  them  being  conquering  horsemen  whose  lives  and 
successes  depended  upon  the  speed  and  training  of  their  horses. 
They  show  close  kinship,  of  course,  with  the  objects  from  the  Kuban, 
from  the  Don  and  from  Siberia,  especially  with  those  of  the  earlier 
period,  the  third  and  second  centuries  B.C. :  but  in  general  they  are 
characteristic  of  the  western,  earlier  group  alone.  The  specifically 
Sarmatian  products  are  the  objects,  described  above,  from  the 
Kuban,  from  the  Don,  and  from  Siberia  :  these  belong  to  the  last 
century  b.  c.  and  the  first  a.  d.  and  probably  represent  the  special 
culture  of  the  strongest  and  latest  of  the  Sarmatian  tribes — the 
Alans.  But  the  ethnographical  problem  will  be  discussed  later.  Let 
us  now  proceed  to  the  analysis  of  the  archaeological  evidence. 


i4o  THESARMATIANS 

Finds  like  those  of  the  Kuban  are  not  lacking  farther  west.  Gold 
plaques  in  geometric  shapes  have  been  discovered  in  the  barrows  of 
the  Kharkov  district.  A  characteristic  find,  with  small  gold  plaques 
shaped  like  the  Kuban  plaques,  came  to  light  at  Tsvetna  in  the 
district  of  Kiev :  and  another  near  Odessa.  From  Olbia  come  two 
little  gold  perfume  bottles,  exactly  similar  to  the  bottles  from  Ust- 
Labinskaya  Stanitsa  on  the  Kuban  and  in  the  treasure  of  Novo- 
cherkassk ;  one  of  these  Olbian  bottles  presents  a  striking  resemblance 
to  the  gold  vases  from  Novocherkassk  and  from  Migulinskaya  Stanitsa, 
by  reason  of  its  animal-shaped  handles  and  the  lion  on  the  lid :  like 
the  cauldrons  from  the  Kuban,  it  bears  an  alphabetical  sign. 

We  now  come  to  the  gold  objects  brought  from  western  Siberia 
to  the  Hermitage  in  the  eighteenth  century.  I  have  no  space  to  discuss 
them  at  length.  That  they  came  from  Siberia  cannot  be  doubted  : 
yet  at  first  sight  one  is  almost  tempted  to  follow  Veselovski  in  assigning 
them,  one  and  all,  to  the  region  of  the  Kuban.  Compare  the  Maikop 
belt-clasp,  described  above,  with  the  gold  plaque  in  the  Hermitage 
(pi.  XXV,  2)  :  they  agree  in  the  composition,  in  the  attitude  of  the 
horse,  and  in  the  expression  of  the  dying  animal  :  one  would  be 
inclined  to  attribute  the  two  plaques  to  a  single  artist,  were  it  not  for 
a  marked  difference  of  execution.  The  plaque  from  the  Kuban  is  full 
of  life,  the  Siberian  probably  reproduces  an  oft-repeated  motive  and 
consequently  lacks  the  pathos  of  the  plaque  from  the  Kuban.  Other 
Siberian  plaques  are  coarser  and  clumsier.  But  some  of  them  are 
real  masterpieces,  vying  with  the  finest  pieces  in  the  Oxus  treasure 
and  in  the  Persian  tomb  at  Susa.  Take  the  eagle  attacking  a  goat,  or 
the  statuette  of  an  eagle  grasping  a  swan.  In  composition,  the  Siberian 
eagle  is  a  worthy  rival  of  the  celebrated  plaque  from  the  barrow  of  the 
Seven  Brothers,  and  in  polychromy  it  is  unequalled.  Take  the  Siberian 
tore  lately  published  by  Pridik.  The  griffin  is  the  familiar  Persian  and 
Panticapaean  animal.  But  the  living  force  of  head  and  body,  the  leonine 
leap,  the  rich  and  cunning  polychromy,  make  it  far  superior  to  the 
griffins  of  the  Oxus  treasure.  There  is  a  marked  contrast  between 
these  masterpieces  and  the  rude  figures  of  fantastic  animals  peaceably 
devouring  victims  no  less  fantastic  and  no  less  peaceable.  It  is  as  if 
we  had  originals  from  a  master's  hand  and  travesties  by  barbarian 
imitators.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  origin  of  the  Siberian 
objects  and  of  the  motives  which  they  exhibit :  they  came  from  the 
Iranian  world,  eithef  directly  or  through  South  Russia.  There  remains 
the  question  of  date.  It  is  natural  to  suppose,  that  most  of  the  objects 
in  the  Hermitage,  together  with  those  which  were  brought  to  Holland 
by  Witsen  and  which  have  completely  disappeared,  came  from  a 


THESARMATIANS  141 

single  great  find  or  from  a  few  contemporary  tombs  in  a  single  ceme- 
tery. If  this  is  so,  great  importance  must  be  attached  to  the  Roman 
coins  of  Galba  and  Nero  published  by  Witsen  and  probably  discovered 
along  with  the  objects  which  he  carried  off.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suspect  Witsen 's  good  faith  :  and  where  could  Roman  coins  have 
been  found  in  Siberia,  except  in  such  tombs  ?  These  considerations, 
and  the  contemporaneousness  of  the  Siberian  finds  with  the  finds  from 
the  Kuban  and  from  Novocherkassk,  lead  me  to  believe  that  the 
greater  portion  of  the  Siberian  objects  are  to  be  assigned  to  the  first 
century  A.D.;  some,  perhaps,  being  earlier  than  this  date;  others,  it 
may  be,  later. 

This  civilization  then  was  widespread.  I  shall  show  in  the  next 
chapter  that  it  profoundly  influenced  the  Panticapaean  civilization  of 
the  second  and  third  centuries  a.  d.,  and  we  shall  see  that  it  left 
strong  traces  all  over  Europe,  in  Austria,  in  Italy,  in  France,  in  Spain, 
and  in  Africa. 

It  will  possibly  be  asked,  whether  we  are  justified  in  speaking  of 
a  civilization,  whether  the  predilection  for  polychromy  may  not  be 
explained  by  influence  from  the  Roman  empire,  where  the  polychrome 
style  took  root,  in  more  than  one  province,  about  the  second  century 
A.  d.  I  do  not  deny  an  influence  from  without,  nor  the  presence, 
among  the  Kuban  finds,  of  objects  imported  from  Asia  Minor  and 
from  Syria,  where  the  same  tendency  to  polychromy  produced 
articles  which  took  the  fancy  of  the  Sarmatian  customer.  But  I  think 
that  after  the  preceding  demonstration,  no  one  will  dispute  the 
existence  of  a  very  distinctive  Sarmatian  civilization.  We  see  before 
us  the  development  of  a  purely  Oriental  civilization  by  a  nomadic 
people,  which  brought  the  germs  of  this  civilization  with  it  and 
developed  them  locally,  while  in  uninterrupted  contact  with  the  Greek 
colonies  of  South  Russia.  The  polychrome  style  is  only  one  of  the 
characteristics  of  this  civilization  :  but  its  appearance  is  easily  intelli- 
gible. The  whole  civilization  was  Iranian ;  in  part,  it  was  directly 
based  on  the  productions  which  marked  the  last  period  of  cultural 
development  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria.  We  have  little  information 
about  the  story  of  Iranian  art  outside  of  Persia.  We  have  seen  that  it 
influenced  the  earliest  Scythian  art.  We  now  see  that  its  development 
did  not  cease  in  the  succeeding  centuries,  and  that  it  invaded  the 
Russian  steppes,  for  the  second  time,  in  the  Hellenistic  age.  More- 
over, this  Iranian  art  of  Central  Asia  did  not  remain  stationary  during 
that  obscure  period  :  it  made  progress,  keeping,  however,  to  the  same 
lines  as  in  the  seventh  and  sixth  centuries,  when  the  Scythians  first 
introduced  it  into  South  Russia.     Just  as  before,  it  has  a  decided 


i42  THESARMATIANS 

taste  for  polychromy,  chiefly  known  to  us  from  its  jewellery,  for 
few  save  metal  objects  have  survived  to  our  time,  but  doubtless 
manifested  in  other  arts  as  well.  The  jewels  from  Kelermes,  with 
their  amber  and  enamel  inlay,  exhibit  the  same  tendency  as  the  jewels 
from  the  barrows  on  the  Kuban,  on  the  Don,  and  in  Siberia.  Another 
feature  of  this  Iranian  style  is  its  fondness  for  the  animal  style.  In 
essentials,  this  animal  style,  as  we  have  already  noticed,  is  the 
same  in  the  first  centuries  before  and  after  Christ,  as  it  was  in  the 
sixth  century  B.C. :  a  propensity  to  pure  ornament  still  shows  itself, 
in  the  arbitrary  disposal  of  animal  bodies,  in  associations,  sometimes 
fantastic,  of  several  animals,  in  the  formation  of  extremities  as  animal 
heads,  in  the  love  of  fabulous  creatures,  especially  griffins.  But 
between  the  Scythian  animal  style  and  that  of  our  finds  there  are  great 
differences.  The  chief  reason  is  that  our  style  is  more  closely  connected 
with  the  Assy ro -Persian  animal  style,  and  apparently  less  influenced 
by  northern  elements,  although  these  do  appear  in  the  monuments 
from  Siberia  and  from  the  region  of  the  Don.  The  style  of  our  finds 
seems  to  have  been  almost  unaffected  by  the  Scythian  animal  style 
as  the  Scythians  had  developed  it,  mainly  under  Greek  influence,  in 
South  Russia. 

Where  were  the  objects  made,  which  are  found  in  the  tombs  of 
the  Kuban,  of  the  South  Russian  steppes,  and  of  western  Siberia  ? 
I  think  we  may  say  that,  just  as  in  the  Scythian  period,  some  of  the 
objects  are  imports  from  the  East,  some  imports  from  Greek  colonies, 
and  some  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  Among  our  finds  there  are 
several  pieces  of  goldsmith's  and  jeweller's  work  which  offer  a  curious 
mixture  of  Greek  and  Oriental  motives  and  technique.  Take  the 
diadem  from  Novocherkassk,  the  bracelets  and  the  round  fibulae  from 
the  Kuban,  the  glass  vases  encased  with  gold  and  precious  stones, 
the  silver  openwork  vase,  with  hunting  scenes,  from  the  Caucasus, 
the  gold  perfume-bottles,  and  other  articles.  Here  there  is  such  a 
mixture  of  elements  that  the  objects  cannot  be  defined  except  as 
Greco-Oriental.  The  Maikop  belt,  the  griffin  tores,  the  eagle  and 
a  number  of  gold  statuettes  from  Siberia,  are  surely  Oriental  importa- 
tions. But  the  hand  of  a  Greek  artist  is  traceable  in  the  diadem  of 
Novocherkassk  and  the  other  works  mentioned  above.  The  answer 
to  our  question  is  given  by  the  gold  vase  from  Migulinskaya  Stanitsa, 
and  by  parallels,  found  in  Panticapaean  tombs  of  the  first  to  the  third 
centuries  B.C.,  to  the  objects  from  the  tumuli  on  the  Kuban.  It  was 
a  native  artist  of  Tanais  who  made  the  Migulinskaya  vase,  and  Panti- 
capaean artists  who  furnished  the  warriors  of  the  Kuban  region  with 
most  of  their  gold  and  silver  articles.     The  gold  bottles  from  Olbia 


THE    SARMATIANS 


H3 


appear  to  be  the  work  of  an  Olbian.  Now  as  before,  the  Greek 
artists  or  Hellenized  natives  who  lived  in  the  Black  Sea  cities 
worked  for  the  neighbouring  peoples  and  adapted  themselves  to  their 
tastes  and  requirements.  Was  it  such  artists  who  made  the  barbaric 
objects  from  Siberia  ?  I  do  not  know.  There  may  have  been  a  local 
industry  which  imitated  the  articles  imported  from  the  East  and  from 
the  Greek  cities  on  the  Black  Sea. 

If  we  proceed  to  ask  ourselves,  now  that  we  have  described  and 
analysed  this  civilization,  whether  it  can  be  associated  with  a  particular 
people,  the  answer  appears  to  be  easy.  It  is  a  purely  Oriental  civili- 
zation, which  is  closely  connected  with  the  Iranian ;  which  slowly 
advanced  from  Central  Asia  and  gradually  invaded  the  steppes  of 
South  Russia  and  Siberia  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  A.  D. ; 
which  exerted  a  profound  influence,  as  we  shall  show  in  our  seventh 
chapter,  on  the  Greek  colonies  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  furniture 
of  the  tombs  which  we  have  examined  shows  that  the  warriors  buried 
there  were  nomads,  mounted  hoplites,  whose  principal  weapons 
were  lance,  sword  and  dagger,  whose  defensive  armour  consisted 
of  a  helmet  and  a  corslet  of  scales  or  rings,  and  who  were  already 
acquainted  with  spurs. 

All  these  data  correspond  to  what  we  know  of  the  Sarmatians, 
who  occupied  part  of  the  Russian  steppes  about  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century,  who  advanced  slowly  westwards  and  settled  down  for  a  long 
while  in  the  basin  of  the  Kuban.  I  do  not  hesitate  then  to  identify 
the  bearers  of  this  civilization  with  the  Sarmatians,  especially  the 
Alans,  Iranian  tribes  who  were  at  the  height  of  their  political  develop- 
ment in  the  first  and  second  centuries  A.  D.,  precisely  the  time  at 
which  this  civilization  flourished.  We  can  now  complete,  with  the 
help  of  archaeological  evidence,  the  historical  picture  which  we 
outlined  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter. 

Setting  out  from  Central  Asia,  the  Sarmatians  moved  both  west- 
ward, occupying  the  steppes  in  the  Ural  region ;  and  northward,  to 
the  Siberian  steppes.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  they 
appeared,  as  we  know  from  the  pseudo-Scylax,  on  the  Don.  At  this 
period,  we  found  near  Tanais  a  civilization  mixed  in  character  but 
certainly  belonging  to  nomadic  warriors  and  very  different  from  the 
Scythian.  Some  have  supposed,  that  the  cemetery  of  Elizavetovskaya, 
excavated  by  A.  Miller,  belonged  to  the  pre-Roman  city  of  Tanais. 
I  cannot  subscribe  to  this  theory.  The  city  of  Tanais  was  founded 
by  Greek  colonists  from  Panticapaeum.  Its  cemetery,  in  consequence, 
in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries,  must  have  been  like  that  of  Panti- 
capaeum :   it  must  have  been  a  Greek  cemetery.    Now  the  cemetery 


i44  THE    SARMATIANS 

of  Elizavetovskaya,  in  all  its  features,  is  the  cemetery  of  a  population 
which  was  originally  nomadic,  a  population  of  mounted  warriors, 
which  settled  near  the  mouth  of  the  Don  so  as  to  watch  the  Greek  city 
of  Tanais  and  to  collect  tribute  from  it. 

From  numerous  inscriptions,  all  of  the  Roman  period,  discovered 
on  the  site  of  Tanais,  we  know  that  the  city  then  presented  a  semi- 
Iranian  aspect.  The  names  of  the  citizens,  who  belonged  to  the 
aristocracy  of  Tanais,  are  partly  Iranian  and  partly  Thracian.  The 
population,  therefore,  was  a  mixed  population  of  Hellenized  Iranians 
and  Thracians,  which  gradually  supplanted  the  original  Greek  inhabi- 
tants. The  process  of  supersession,  the  result  of  which  we  see  in  the 
second  century  a.d.,  the  time  to  which  most  of  the  inscriptions  belong, 
was  necessarily  a  protracted  one :  the  native  infiltration  into  a  hetero- 
geneous society,  and  the  complete  Hellenization  of  the  native  elements, 
can  only  have  been  accomplished  in  the  course  of  long  years  of  peaceful 
cohabitation.  The  Iranian  names,  studied  by  V .  Miller,  of  the  second- 
century  Tanaites,  and  the  type  of  the  Tanaites  as  we  gather  it  from 
funerary  statues  and  votive  reliefs  of  the  period,  approximate  to  the 
names  and  type  which  we  know  to  be  Sarmatian.  It  is  among  the 
Ossetes  that  we  find  most  of  the  analogies  with  those  Tanaite  names 
which  have  been  recognized  as  Iranian :  the  armour  of  the  Tanaite 
horsemen  on  the  funerary  reliefs  and  statues  corresponds  exactly  with 
the  Sarmatian,  as  described  by  Tacitus  and  portrayed  in  Roman  reliefs. 
All  this  leads  me  to  believe,  that  as  early  as  the  fourth  century  an 
advanced  tribe  of  Sarmatians  came  and  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Don. 
It  drove  the  Scythians  across  the  river  and  opened  relations  with  the 
kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  colony  of  Tanais.  The  Sarmatians 
kept  an  eye  on  the  colony,  and  it  paid  them  a  regular  tribute.  They 
also  absorbed  the  native  population  of  the  country,  the  Sauromatians, 
and  part  of  the  former  masters  of  the  Don  steppes,  the  conquering 
Scythians  of  old.  In  this  way  a  mixed  population  grew  up  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Don ;  it  gradually  became  Hellenized,  and  supplanted 
the  old  Greek  population  of  the  city.  Established  on  the  river  and 
constantly  reinforced  from  the  Ural  and  Volga  steppes,  the  Sarma- 
tians, held  in  check  by  the  Scythians  at  the  barrier  of  the  Don, 
naturally  spread  southward,  towards  the  valley  of  the  Kuban  and  the 
mountains  of  Caucasus,  in  the  fourth  or  third  centuries  B.  c.  and  later. 
I  observed  in  the  third  chapter  that  after  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
there  are  hardly  any  Scythian  graves  in  the  valley  of  the  Kuban. 
The  Scythians  were  probably  obliged  to  leave  the  Kuban  valley  when 
they  decided  to  resist  the  advance  of  the  Sarmatians  at  the  barrier  of 
the  Don.    The  Kuban  valley  was  gradually  occupied  by  the  Sarma- 


THESARMATIANS  145 

tians.  The  Siracians  were  probably  the  first  tribe  to  arrive,  and  it 
was  probably  they  who  expelled  the  Scythians.  If  the  name  of  the 
Siracians  is  correctly  restored  in  a  corrupt  passage  of  Diodorus,  they 
took  an  important  part  in  the  struggle  of  two  pretenders,  Eumelos  and 
Satyros,  for  the  tyranny  of  the  Bosphorus,  in  the  year  309.  The 
advance  of  the  Sarmatians  from  east  to  west  was  comparatively  slow  ; 
towards  the  second  century  B.C.,  they  occupied  the  whole  valley  of  the 
Kuban,  with  the  exception  of  the  delta,  that  is,  the  Taman  peninsula ; 
and  even  penetrated  into  the  peninsula  in  the  first  century.  They 
thus  became  immediate  neighbours  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  with 
which  they  entered  into  relations.  Thence  they  moved  still  farther 
west,  and  subdued  the  whole  of  South  Russia.  We  have  seen  that 
the  valley  of  the  Don  preserves  numerous  archaeological  traces  of  their 
prolonged  sojourn  on  the  Don  and  between  Don  and  Dnieper  in  the 
second  and  first  centuries  B.C. 

On  their  arrival  in  the  valley  of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Bug,  the 
Sarmatians  were  faced  by  a  much  more  complicated  situation.  In 
the  second  century  B.  c,  when  the  first  Sarmatian  tribes  appeared, 
the  ethnological  and  political  aspect  of  the  region  between  Dnieper 
and  Danube  was  extremely  varied  and  complex.  As  early  as  the 
third  century  B.C.,  Celtic  tribes  possessed  themselves  of  a  number  of 
districts  in  South  Russia,  and  advanced  as  far  as  the  Black  Sea. 
German  tribes  followed  at  their  heels.  Moreover,  the  revival  of  a 
Thracian  state,  that  of  the  Dacians,  in  the  first  century  B.C.  and  the 
first  a.d.,  led  to  constant  invasions  of  South  Russia  by  Thracians. 
One  of  these  brought  about  the  capture  and  sack  of  Olbia.  The 
Sarmatians  also  settled  in  the  same  localities.  The  varied  ethno- 
graphical character  of  the  steppes  between  Dnieper  and  Danube  is 
reflected  by  the  archaeological  finds.  The  period  in  which  Scythian 
influence  predominates,  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.  c,  with  its 
sumptuous  tombs  of  Scythian  chieftains,  is  succeeded,  in  the  steppes 
of  the  Dnieper  region  and  in  the  wooded  country  northward,  by  a 
period  in  which  the  graves  gradually  lose  their  Scythian  stamp,  and 
in  which  a  number  of  new  strains  are  observable,  very  different  from 
the  Scythian.  A  great  number  of  objects  have  recently  been  discovered 
in  the  basin  of  the  Dnieper,  which  certainly  belong  to  the  civilization 
of  La  Tene  :  bronze  and  clay  vases,  and  weapons.  I  have  already 
referred  to  the  appearance  of  the  fibula  of  the  latest  La  Tene  period. 
These  are  the  remains  of  the  Galatians,  a  portion  of  whom,  the  Celto- 
Scythians  of  Posidonius,  settled  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea.  There 
is  also  a  series  of  graves  which  closely  resemble  the  Orenburg  graves 
and  which  probably  date  from  the  third  century  b.  c.  :  these  are 
2353  0 


146  THESARMATIANS 

perhaps  to  be  assigned  to  the  first  Sarmatian  arrivals,  the  Iazygians 
and  the  Roxalans,  the  bearers  of  the  silver  phalarae  described  above. 
Other  finds  are  exactly  analogous  to  the  Kuban  finds  of  the  first 
century  a.d.  :  including,  for  example,  the  characteristic  gold  plaques. 
We  may  assign  them  to  the  Alans.  At  the  same  time,  a  new 
civilization  is  asserting  itself  on  the  middle  Dnieper.  It  is  marked 
by  a  new  mode  of  burial :  the  tumuli  disappear,  and  their  place 
is  taken  by  vast  crematory  cemeteries,  the  urn  fields,  which  date 
from  the  first  and  second  centuries  A.  D.  Many  writers  have  pointed 
out  the  resemblances  between  these  urn  fields  and  contemporaneous 
phenomena  in  Germany,  especially  South  Germany.  Arne  may  be 
right  in  supposing  an  advance  of  Germanic  tribes,  carrying  with 
them,  as  they  advanced,  a  number  of  Slavs. 

In  a  word,  the  archaeological  evidence  as  to  the  region  between 
Don  and  Dnieper  does  not  conflict  with  the  historical.  A  closer  study 
of  the  archaeological  data  than  has  hitherto  been  attempted  will  give 
us  clearer  insight  into  the  difficult  questions  which  are  raised  by  the 
early  stage  of  the  period  of  migrations.  The  details  of  the  subject 
cannot  be  discussed  in  a  book  about  Iranians  and  Greeks. 

It  thus  appears  that  such  knowledge  of  the  Sarmatians  as  we 
derive  from  ancient  writers,  is  completed  and  amplified  by  archaeo- 
logical evidence.  Far  from  being  destructive  barbarians,  the  Sarma- 
tians were  a  fresh  wave  of  Iranian  conquerors,  who  brought  to  Europe 
the  new  achievements  of  Iranian  culture  in  the  home  of  the  Iranian 
people.  Like  their  predecessors,  the  Scythians,  the  Sarmatians  did 
not  aim  at  abolishing  the  centres  of  Greek  civilization.  They  fought 
with  the  Greeks,  but  never  because  they  were  bent  on  destroying  or 
subduing  the  Greek  cities.  Even  remote  Tanais,  and  unprotected 
Olbia,  continued  to  exist,  commercial  intermediaries  to  the  Sarma- 
tians, as  they  had  been  to  the  Scythians.  But  unlike  the  Scythians 
the  Sarmatians  showed  great  power  of  penetration.  They  contrived 
to  make  their  way  into  the  Greek  cities  and  to  Iranize  them  almost 
completely. 

This  process  will  form  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 


VII 


THE  GREEK  CITIES  OF  SOUTH  RUSSIA  IN  THE 

ROMAN  PERIOD 

THE  political  life  of  the  Greek  cities   on  the  Black  Sea  was 
profoundly  affected  by  the  appearance  of  the  Sarmatians  in  the 
South  Russian  steppes. 
As  long  as  the  Scythian  kingdom  held  the  Sarmatians  in  check  on 
the  banks  of  the  Don,  the  political  and  economic  situation  of  the 
Bosphoran  kingdom  suffered  little  change.     The  hard  times  began, 
both  for  the  Scythians  and  for  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  in  the 
third  or  second  century  b.  c,  when  the  Sarmatians  crossed  the  Don, 
penetrated  far  into  the  region  of  the  Kuban,  and  invaded  the  Taman 
peninsula.    The  Scythians  were  forced  to  seek  shelter  in  the  Crimean 
steppes,   and   consequently  began   to   exert   stronger  and   stronger 
pressure  on  the  Greek  cities  of  the  Crimea.    Chersonesus  and  the 
Bosphorus  were  compelled  to  fight  the  Scythians  for  their  indepen- 
dence, and  at  the  same  time  the  Greeks  of  the  Bosphorus  had  to 
defend  the  Greek  cities  of  the  Taman  peninsula  against  the  advancing 
Sarmatians.     Life  in  the  Greek  cities  became  more  and  more  pre- 
carious and  uncertain.    The  Greeks  tried  to  resist,  they  paid  heavy 
ransom  to  the  Scythian  and  Sarmatian  armies,  they  mobilized  their 
citizens  and  fortified  their  towns,  but  the  hostile  pressure  increased, 
and    the    resources    accumulated    during    centuries    of    prosperity 
rapidly  diminished.    They  still  exported  corn,  leather,  fish  and  slaves, 
but,  while  the  land  routes  became  more  and  more  unreliable,  the 
sea  routes  became  quite  insecure.    Piracy  prevailed  as  at  the  dawn  of 
Greek  civilization.  Athens,  enfeebled  as  she  was,  and  '  allied  '  with  the 
Romans,  could  offer  no  remedy.    Rhodes,  who  had  policed  the  seas 
in  the  third  and  second  century  B.  c,  lost  her  importance  at  the  end 
of  the  second  century,  and  Rome,  the  new  mistress  of  the  world, 
engaged  in  internal  struggles  of  increasing  ferocity,  had  neither  time 
nor  leisure  to  provide  for  the  security  of  the  Aegean  and  the  Black  Sea, 
and  took  not  the  least  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Pontic  Greeks. 
The  position  became  critical  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  b.  c, 
when  a  strong  Scythian  state  was  formed  in  the  Crimea  under  the 


148       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

sceptre  of  King  Skiluros.  In  order  not  to  succumb  to  the  Scythians, 
the  Greek  cities  of  the  Crimea,  Chersonesus  foremost,  had  no  choice 
but  to  look  for  a  powerful  protector  who  would  turn  his  attention  to 
the  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea. 

Pontus  and  the  Crimea  had  been  closely  connected  from  the 
earliest  times.  In  both  regions,  there  was  a  strongly  Iranized  native 
population,  and  in  both,  Greek  cities  which  made  their  living  by 
exploiting  native  vassals  or  bondmen.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Pontic  Heracleia  recolonized  Chersonesus  ;  the  relations  between  the 
two  cities  never  ceased.  As  long  as  the  Bosphorus,  with  the  help  of 
Athens  and  of  its  own  abundant  resources,  was  able  to  maintain  an 
army  and  a  navy  strong  enough  to  defend  the  whole  Crimea,  Cherso- 
nesus availed  itself  of  the  services  of  its  neighbour  and  ally.  But 
when  this  protection  failed,  and  the  Bosphorans  themselves  were 
groaning  under  hostile  pressure,  the  Chersonesans  turned  once  more 
to  their  ancient  allies,  the  Greek  cities  of  Pontus.  The  precarious 
position  of  Chersonesus,  as  early  as  the  third  century,  is  illustrated 
by  the  decree  in  honour  of  Syriscos,  a  young  scholar  who  belonged 
to  one  of  the  good  Greek  families  in  the  city.  He  had  recounted,  in 
an  historical  treatise,  the  miraculous  appearances  of  the  Parthenos, 
the  patron  goddess  of  Chersonesus,  and  also  more  prosaic  matters, 
the  diplomatic  intercourse  of  Chersonesus  with  the  Bosphoran  kings, 
which  had  assured  it  military  protection.  The  combined  assistance 
of  the  miracles  and  the  Bosphoran  armies  was  rarely  adequate  to 
defend  the  city  from  the  growing  fierceness  of  the  Scythian  onslaughts. 
We  can  well  understand,  that  in  this  difficult  plight  the  Chersonesans 
sought  allies  wherever  they  could  hope  to  find  them. 

But  the  Pontic  cities,  the  natural  allies  of  Chersonesus,  were  no 
longer  free.  A  monarchical  state  had  formed  itself  in  Pontus  during 
the  third  century,  and  the  Pontic  kings,  who  were  only  slightly 
Hellenized,  had  contrived  to  subjugate  the  Greek  cities.  It  was  to 
these  kings,  therefore,  that  the  Chersonesans  addressed  themselves 
when  they  were  at  the  end  of  their  resources.  By  the  second  century 
B.C.,  their  prayers  became  more  instant,  as  we  know  from  an  inscrip- 
tion, recently  discovered,  which  testifies  to  a  military  treaty  between 
Pharnaces  I  of  Pontus  and  the  city  of  Chersonesus.  But  even  the 
kingdom  of  Pontus  was  only  a  Hellenistic  monarchy  of  the  second 
class,  entirely  dependent  on  the  Roman  Empire  ;  so  that  its  inter- 
vention did  not  greatly  alter  the  position  in  the  Crimea. 

This  position  changed  with  the  accession  of  Mithridates,  sur- 
named  the  Great.  Every  one  knows  of  his  conflict  with  Rome,  and 
that  in  his  campaigns  against  the  Romans,  he  found  a  safe  base  on 


IN   THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  149 

the  northern  coast  of  the  Black  Sea.  But  it  is  not  sufficiently  recog- 
nized, that  it  was  only  against  their  will,  and  of  bitter  necessity,  that 
the  Crimean  Greeks  summoned  Mithridates  to  their  aid.  Their 
fortunes  had  sunk  so  low,  that  they  must  either  become  the  subjects 
of  the  Scythians,  or  accept  the  assistance  of  the  Pontic  king.  It  was 
certainly  not  from  any  liking  that  they  approached  him.  The  generals 
of  Mithridates  conquered  the  Scythians  in  three  campaigns,  took 
possession  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  and  established  Pontic  garrisons 
in  all  the  cities  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  including  Olbia. 
For  the  Greeks,  accustomed  to  freedom,  especially  the  Chersonesans 
and  the  Olbians,  the  domination  of  Mithridates  was  a  heavy  burden. 
It  became  intolerable,  when  they  realized  that  the  philhellenism  of 
Mithridates  was  merely  superficial,  and  that  his  true  purpose  was  to 
unite  the  native  populations,  especially  the  Iranian  tribes,  under  his 
banner,  and  to  lead  them  to  the  conquest  of  the  Roman  Empire  :  the 
Greeks  being  useful  only  as  a  source  of  revenue.  The  Scythians, 
indeed,  were  vanquished  by  Mithridates,  and  the  Crimea  was  nomi- 
nally embodied  in  the  Pontic  kingdom,  but  it  nevertheless  remained 
independent  and  powerful,  and  Mithridates  hastened  to  enter  into 
amicable  relations  with  the  Scythians  :  it  is  well  known  that  he 
made  himself  popular  by  marrying  his  sons  and  daughters  to  Scythian 
princesses  and  princes.  He  also  adopted  a  friendly  policy  towards 
the  Maeotian,  Sarmatian  and  Thracian  tribes.  He  thus  succeeded 
in  arousing  a  strong  feeling  of  sympathy  in  these  warlike  races,  who 
looked  upon  Mithridates  as  a  descendant  of  the  Achaemenids  and 
the  founder  of  a  new  and  great  Iranian  power.  We  pointed  out,  in 
preceding  chapters,  that  neither  the  Scythians  nor  the  Sarmatians 
were  in  any  wise  barbarous  peoples.  If  large  numbers  of  Greek 
objects  found  their  way  into  their  fortified  camps,  if  they  valued 
Greek  representations  of  native  myths  and  of  native  military  and 
religious  life,  they  must  certainly  have  learned  from  the  Greeks  the 
history  of  the  Iranian  world  and  of  the  universal  empire  of  Persia. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  tribes  of  South  Russia 
lent  their  aid  to  Mithridates.  When  he  found  a  last  refuge  in  Panti- 
capaeum,  after  his  defeat  by  Lucullus  and  Pompey  in  Asia  Minor, 
and  tried  to  organize  a  new  army  to  march  against  Rome,  it  was  not 
the  Iranian  and  Thracian  tribes  who  betrayed  him,  but  the  Greeks, 
first  at  Phanagoria  and  then  at  Panticapaeum.  He  perished  in  a  rising 
of  his  Greek  subjects,  who  were  apprehensive  of  his  alliance  with  their 

I  secular  enemies  and  preferred  the  lordship  of  Rome  to  that  of  an 
Iranian  king.    The  same  story  as  in  Asia  Minor. 
It  must  also  be  remembered,  that  Mithridates  brought  into  the 


i5o       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

Greek  towns  of  the  Bosphorus,  besides  his  garrisons,  a  great  many 
colonists  from  Paphlagonia,  Pontus,  and  Cappadocia,  especially  after 
he  had  been  driven  out  of  those  regions  by  the  Romans.  We  may 
conjecture  that  the  first  Jewish  colonists  of  Panticapaeum  were 
introduced  byJVIithridalCJs  :  so  manyTfiore  competitors  for  the  Greek 
population  of  the  kingdom. 

It  was  the  war  with  Mithridates  which  opened  the  eyes  of  Rome 
to  the  political  and  economic  significance  of  South  Russia.  As  early 
as  the  second  century  B.C.,  the  Romans  had  occasionally  interested 
themselves  in  the  affairs  of  the  Greek  colonies  on  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Black  Sea,  since  the  Crimea  was  connected  with  Pontus,  and 
the  Romans  had  to  dictate  their  wishes  to  that  Hellenistic  monarchy. 
But  it  was  only  after  the  Mithridatic  war,  in  which  the  Romans  had 
to  face  almost  the  entire  forces  of  Iranian  expansion,  that  they  realized 
the  enormous  importance  of  South  Russia,  which  was  still  one  of  the 
principal  producing  centres,  and  which  at  any  moment  might  become 
a  rallying  point  for  the  Iranian  tribes,  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of 
the  young  Roman  Empire.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  from  the  second 
half  of  the  first  century,  South  Russia  always  played  a  very  considerable 
part  in  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  was  some  time 
before  the  Romans  formed  a  definite  policy  for  dealing  with  the  Greek 
colonies  and  the  Iranian  tribes  in  South  Russia.  In  the  middle  of  the 
first  century  B.C.  Rome  herself  was  in  a  critical  situation.  Civil  war 
was  raging  in  Italy  and  in  the  eastern  and  western  provinces.  The 
Romans  were  too  busy  to  think  of  such  distant  countries.  Pompey, 
bestowing  freedom  with  one  hand  on  the  Greek  cities  of  South  Russia, 
confirmed  with  the  other  the  authority  of  Mithridates'  villainous  son, 
Pharnaces.  Pharnaces,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  was  only  another 
Mithridates  :  his  ambition  was  to  conquer  Asia  first,  and  then  Rome. 
But  he  lacked  both  the  genius  and  the  resources  of  his  father,  and  he 
miscalculated  the  opportunity  presented  by  the  Roman  civil  war. 
He  attempted  to  reconquer  Pontus,  but  was  bloodily  defeated  by 
Caesar  at  Zela.  He  tried  to  shelter  himself  in  Panticapaeum  and  to 
reconstruct  his  forces.  But  the  governor  whom  he  left  in  the  Crimea, 
Asandros,  refused  to  recognize  him,  and  Pharnaces  fell  in  a  hopeless 
struggle. 

We  do  not  know  who  Asandros  was,  or  what  title  he  had  to  the 
Bosphoran  crown.  His  Greek  name  tells  us  nothing.  But  we  may 
suppose  that  he  was  a  citizen  of  Panticapaeum,  half  Greek  like  most 
of  the  citizens  of  the  Greek  cities  in  Pontus  at  the  time.  His  haste  to 
marry  a  daughter  of  Pharnaces,  Princess  Dynamis,  suggests  that  this 
marriage  was  probably  the  sole  legitimate  title  with  which  he  could 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  151 

confront  Mithridates  of  Pergamon,  a  Pergamene  Greek  who  called 
himself  a  bastard  son  of  Mithridates  the  Great  and  who  was  one  of 
Caesar's  favourites.  Caesar  owed  it  partly  to  the  younger  Mithridates, 
that  he  was  not  assassinated  at  Alexandria  :  he  assigned  him  the 
kingdom  of  Pharnaces  as  a  reward.  Asandros  would  not  submit  to 
this  decision.  With  the  help  of  his  subjects  he  defeated  Mithridates, 
who  perished  in  the  conflict. 

It  is  curious  that  after  this  stroke,  Caesar,  who  never  forgot  a 
friend,  did  not  think  of  expelling  Asandros  and  punishing  him  for  his 
treason.  But  Caesar  had  hardly  time.  On  his  return  to  Rome  after 
the  final  defeat  of  his  opponents  in  Spain,  he  was  not  able  to  carry 
out  his  plan  for  an  eastern  expedition  to  destroy  the  Thracian  empire 
of  Boerebista  and  to  prepare  his  decisive  blow  at  Iranian  power  in  the 
east.  That  he  concentrated  his  army  at  Apollonia,  and  that  he 
intended  to  begin  his  Parthian  campaign,  like  Alexander  the  Great, 
by  a  war  on  the  Danube,  proves  that  he  would  have  settled  the  affairs 
of  the  Bosphorus  before  opening  the  great  struggle  with  the  Iranian 
forces.  An  inscription  from  Chersonesus,  discovered  recently  and 
studied  by  myself  in  special  articles,  shows  that  he  was  deeply 
interested  in  the  fortunes  of  that  colony,  that  he  had  friends  there, 
and  that  he  pursued  a  definite  policy  in  South  Russia.  But  Caesar 
was  assassinated  at  Rome  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  the  east, 
and  Asandros  contrived,  no  doubt  by  paying  money,  to  obtain  recogni- 
tion from  Antony  as  archon  and  later  as  king  of  the  Bosphorus. 

As  ruler  of  the  Bosphorus,  Asandros  governed  the  enfeebled 
kingdom  with  a  strong  and  resolute  hand.  He  managed  to  re-establish 
order,  to  defeat  the  pirates,  and  to  secure  his  frontiers  against  Scythian 
and  Sarmatian  invasions.  He  was  sixty  years  old  when  he  ascended 
the  throne,  and  he  remained  king  to  an  advanced  age.    The  end  of 

Ihis  reign  was  troubled.  A  usurper,  one  Scribonius,  who  claimed  to 
be  descended  from  Mithridates,  and  who  probably  belonged,  like 
Mithridates  of  Pergamon,  to  the  Greco-Oriental  aristocracy  of  Asia 
Minor,  enlisted  Asandros'  subjects  against  him,  wedded  Queen 
Dynamis,  and  ejected  the  aged  king.  It  is  not  impossible  that 
Dynamis,  daughter  of  Pharnaces  and  wife  of  Asandros,  took  part  in 
the  rising.  She  certainly  profited  by  it,  for  in  17  B.C.  she  was  the 
recognized  ruler  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  she  struck  coins  with  her  own 
effigy  and  the  insignia  of  Mithridates.    Scribonius  was  probably  only 

I  her  tool,  to  be  discarded  at  the  first  opportunity. 
Henceforth    the   dominant  figure   in   Bosphoran  history  is   the 
energetic  and  unscrupulous  Queen  Dynamis.     Augustus,  and  his 
counsellor  for   eastern   affairs,  Agrippa,   had   to   reckon  with  her. 


i52      GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

They  could  not  allow  her  to  remain  sole  governor  of  the  Bosphoran 
kingdom.  The  risk  was  too  great,  that  the  story  of  Mithridates 
would  be  re-enacted.  But  they  did  not  venture  simply  to  expel  her  : 
she  seems  to  have  had  considerable  support  from  the  subject  popula- 
tion. Accordingly  they  tried  a  compromise.  They  compelled 
Dynamis  to  marry  Polemon,  a  Greek  of  Asia  Minor,  in  whose  hands 
the  kingdoms  of  Pontus  and  of  the  Bosphorus  were  to  be  united. 
Polemon  was  a  forcible  man  who  was  not  prepared  to  play  Scribonius  : 
he  quarrelled  with  Dynamis  and  married  Pythodoris,  daughter  of 
Pythodoros  of  Tralles.  This  marriage  has  been  supposed  to  show  that 
Dynamis  had  died.  I  think  not.  Numismatical  and  epigraphical 
evidence,  which  I  have  studied  in  a  special  memoir,  proves  that 
Dynamis  not  only  survived  Polemon 's  marriage,  but  deprived  him 
of  his  kingdom.  It  seems  most  likely  that  when  the  marriage  took 
place,  she  fled  to  the  steppes  of  the  Kuban  ;  found  support  among  the 
Sarmatian  and  Maeotian  tribes,  who  were  probably  kinsfolk  of  her 
mother  ;  wedded  a  Sarmatian  or  Maeotian,  Aspurgos,  son  of  a  native 
prince,  Asandrochos  ;  and  possessed  herself  of  a  number  of  fortified 
places  in  the  Bosphoran  kingdom.  Polemon  offered  stout  resistance, 
but  he  was  enticed  into  a  trap  and  slain,  by  a  tribe,  probably  Sarma- 
tian, which  bore  the  significant  name  of  Aspurgians  and  was  probably 
the  tribe  of  Dynamis  and  of  Aspurgos. 

The  disappearance  of  Polemon  opens  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
the  Bosphorus.  Dynamis  had  conquered,  but  she  could  not  reign 
without  recognition  from  the  Roman  Government.  Now  Augustus, 
in  9-8  B.  c,  was  neither  able  to  intervene  with  an  armed  force,  nor 
inclined  to  countenance  a  power  which  was  not  controlled  by  himself 
and  his  agents.  On  the  other  hand,  Dynamis  could  not  make  her 
throne  secure  without  Roman  support  :  the  principal  resources  of 
the  Bosphoran  kingdom  were  the  revenues  from  traffic  with  the 
Aegean,  and  that  traffic  was  impossible  without  the  permission  of 
Rome.  A  compromise  was  effected.  Dynamis  was  recognized,  but 
as  a  vassal  queen,  who  must  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Rome  and 
the  independence  of  the  Greek  cities.  This  was  the  opening  of  a 
period,  in  which  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus  was  virtually  incor- 
porated in  the  Roman  Empire,  although  it  preserved  its  dynasty  and 
a  nominal  independence. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  upon  the  beginnings  of  Bosphoran 
vassalage,  first  because  the  period  has  usually  been  misinterpreted  by 
our  historians  of  the  ancient  world,  and  secondly,  because  unless  we 
understand  it,  we  cannot  understand  the  political  and  social  life  of 
the  Bosphoran  kingdom  in  Roman  times.    I  shall  add  a  word  or  two 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD 


J53 


about  the  political  vicissitudes  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  down  to 
the  third  century  a.  d.  On  the  death  of  Dynamis,  Aspurgos  succeeded 
to  the  throne  and  reigned  peacefully  till  his  decease.  His  second  wife 
was  a  princess  with  the  Thracian  name  of  Gepaepyris,  who  bore  him 
a  son  Cotys.  His  son  by  Dynamis  was  Mithridates.  After  the  death 
of  Aspurgos,  the  two  sons  naturally  quarrelled.  The  elder,  Mithri- 
dates, occupied  the  throne  as  co-regent  with  his  stepmother  and  his 
younger  brother.  He  conceived  a  high  ambition  :  he  wished  to 
reconstitute  the  kingdom  of  Mithridates  the  Great.  Betrayed  by  his 
brother,  and  probably  betraying  his  mother,  he  fell  in  a  desperate 
struggle,  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  Sarmatian  tribes  against  a 
Roman  army  sent  to  attack  him. 

After  his  death,  the  dynasty  of  Cotys  established  itself,  and  ruled 
the  Bosphorus  right  down  to  the  arrival  of  the  Goths  :  the  loyal 
servant  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  is  not  this  Thraco-Iranian  dynasty 
that  interests  us,  but  the  views  and  designs  of  the  Roman  Empire  : 
without  the  Roman  Empire  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  could  not  have 
endured.  The  main  lines  of  Roman  policy  towards  the  kingdom  of 
the  Bosphorus  were  fixed,  once  and  for  all,  by  Augustus  and  Agrippa. 
They  were  both  well  aware,  that  it  was  impossible  to  enlarge  the  Roman 
Empire  beyond  the  Danube  and  to  take  in  the  whole  of  the  Pontic 
coastland.  Nero  was  the  only  Roman  emperor  who  seriously  con- 
templated such  expansion  and  prepared  an  expedition  for  the  purpose. 
More  sensible  emperors  saw  that  the  Roman  forces  were  not  sufficient 
to  conquer  the  Iranian  portion  of  the  world.  The  Sarmatians  and 
the  Parthians  remained  dangerous  enemies,  to  be  averted,  if  possible, 
from  the  Roman  frontiers,  and  to  be  closely  watched.  The  same 
policy  was  adopted  towards  the  Germans  after  the  defeat  of  Varus. 
To  weaken  and  to  watch,  these  were  the  two  objects  of  Roman  policy 
towards  the  Iranians.    But  how  ? 

The  safest  way  was  to  strengthen  the  non-Iranian  elements  on  the 
Black  Sea,  to  keep  alive  the  fires  of  Greek  civilization  which  still 
smouldered  in  the  ancient  Greek  colonies.  There  were  economic  as  well 
as  political  reasons  :  the  Greeks  of  the  Aegean,  as  well  as  the  Greeks 
on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  could  not  exist  without  the 
produce  of  South  Russia.  Now  the  most  powerful  organization  on 
the  Black  Sea  was  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus.  That  kingdom 
must  at  all  costs  be  preserved.  Otherwise  it  would  be  impossible  to 
keep  close  watch  over  the  movements  of  the  Sarmatian  tribes,  and 
to  bring  up  the  necessary  forces,  when  the  Sarmatians  threatened  to 
swallow  up  the  Greek  settlements  on  the  Black  Sea.  Moreover,  the 
kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus  was  still  a  great  centre  of  supply,  not  only 


2353 


154       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

for  famished  Greece,  but,  still  more  important,  for  the  Roman  armies 
stationed  in  Pontus,  Cappadocia,  and  Armenia  to  prevent  a  Parthian 
advance.  The  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus  must  therefore  be  assisted 
and  upheld,  especially  in  its  perpetual  conflict  with  the  Scythians  of 
the  Crimea,  who  were  still  dangerous  opponents.  The  Black  Sea 
trade  routes  must  also  be  kept  clear,  so  that  the  merchant  fleets  could 
sail  from  the  Cimmerian  to  the  Thracian  Bosphorus  and  to  the 
southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  These  objects  the  Romans  attained 
by  various  devices.  The  first  was  an  annual  subvention  to  the  kings 
of  the  Bosphorus  for  the  maintenance  of  an  army  and  a  fleet,  which 
were  supervised,  as  we  know  from  Trajan's  correspondence  with  Pliny, 
by  the  vigilant  eye  of  the  Governor  of  Pontus.  The  subvention  was 
probably  made  on  the  understanding  that  the  kingdom  should 
provision  the  troops  and  cities  of  the  Pontic  provinces.  Another 
device  consisted  of  military  measures.  The  principal  object  of  the 
Roman  administration  was  the  preservation  of  peace  on  the  seas. 
Now  the  fleet  which  maintained  this  peace  needed  a  secure  and  ample 
harbour.  Chersonesus  was  the  only  harbour  safe  enough  and  well 
enough  situated  to  become  the  centre  of  a  naval  police  force.  Accord- 
ingly, when  the  emperors  saw  that  the  Bosphorus  could  not  defend 
the  whole  Crimea  unaided,  and  at  the  same  time  keep  guard  on  the 
sea,  or  rather,  when  they  understood  that  the  assignment  of  such  a 
mission  to  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  would  make  it  over-strong  and 
perhaps  imperil  Roman  prestige,  they  sent  a  Roman  squadron  to 
Chersonesus  and  garrisoned  the  city  with  troops  from  their  armies  on 
the  Danube.  The  fort  of  Chersonesus  once  occupied,  the  Romans 
were  obliged  to  defend  the  city  and  its  territory,  and  to  patrol  the 
coast  between  Chersonesus  and  Panticapaeum.  The  defence  of  the 
city  meant  the  fortification  of  the  passes  leading  from  the  region 
occupied  by  the  Scythians  to  the  territory  of  Chersonesus  :  the 
patrolling  of  the  coast  involved  the  erection  of  forts  and  naval  stations 
at  prominent  points.  Chersonesus  seems  to  have  been  first  occupied 
in  the  time  of  Claudius  and  Nero,  when  the  formation  of  a  new 
province,  Scythia  Taurica,  was  being  seriously  considered.  But  this 
occupation  did  not  last  long.  Domitian  and  Trajan .  preferred  to 
reinforce  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  to  entrust  it  with  the 
entire  defence  of  the  Greek  colonies,  including  Olbia,  which  soon 
recovered  after  its  destruction  by  the  Getians,  and  Tanais,  which 
had  been  almost  annihilated  during  the  war  between  Polemon  and 
Dynamis.  But  this  policy  was  not  successful.  Hadrian,  and  after  him 
Antoninus,  Marcus  Aurelius,  Commodus,  and  Severus,  saw  that  it 
was  impossible  for  the  Greek  cities  of  the  Black  Sea  to  hold  out 


IN    THE    ROMAN   PERIOD  155 

without  Roman  troops.  The  pressure  of  the  Scythians  and  the 
Sarmatians  was  too  heavy  :  the  frontier  was  too  long  for  the  Bosphoran 
army  to  defend.  Accordingly  Hadrian  and  his  successors  reoccupied 
the  Chersonesan  part  of  the  Crimea,  and  garrisoned  Olbia  and  probably 
Tyras  as  well.  At  the  same  time  they  gave  these  cities  their  freedom, 
in  other  words  they  relieved  them  of  the  Bosphoran  protectorate  and 
conceded  them  the  status  of  Roman  provincial  cities.  The  Roman 
fortress,  recently  excavated  on  the  promontory  of  Ai-Todor,  was  one  of 
the  points  of  concentration  for  Roman  troops  from  the  army  of  Moesia. 

This  state  of  things  lasted  for  nearly  two  centuries,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Bosphorus  throve.  The  change  came  in  the  third  century 
A.  D.  The  dynasty  of  the  Severi  was  the  last  which  was  able  to 
preserve  order  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  revolu- 
tions which  succeeded  one  another  at  Rome  in  the  middle  of  the 
third  century,  the  internal  policy  of  violence  and  extortion  gradually 
adopted  by  the  emperors,  rendered  the  Roman  Empire  incapable  of 
maintaining  its  frontiers  and  compelled  the  government  to  abandon 
the  outposts  of  empire  to  their  fate.  It  was  from  this  cause  alone,  that 
the  Bosphorus  had  to  capitulate  to  the  combined  forces  of  Sarmatians 
and  Goths,  and  lost,  almost  completely,  its  rank  as  an  outpost  of 
Greek  civilization  and  of  Roman  policy.  The  lot  of  the  other  colonies 
was  worse  still.  Olbia  became  a  small  and  struggling  fishing  village : 
so  did  the  other  cities  on  the  coast.  Chersonesus  alone  was  defended 
by  the  Romans,  and  preserved  its  Greek  culture  to  the  end  of  the 
Byzantine  period.  Panticapaeum  did  not  disappear:  it  continued  to 
exist  for  centuries,  down  to  our  own  time  if  you  like,  but  it  was  no 
longer  a  real  Greek  city.  Hellenism  in  Panticapaeum  was  perishing 
daily. 

Here  we  may  stop  :  but  let  us  not  forget,  that  the  seeds  of  civilized 
life  were  never  entirely  destroyed  in  the  Greek  cities  on  the  Black  Sea. 
If  Panticapaeum  was  no  longer  a  Greek  city,  it  remained  a  very 
important  centre  of  culture,  and  it  was  one  of  the  homes  of  the 
Christian  religion.  Its  civilization  was  not  Greek,  but  the  life  which 
its  inhabitants  led  was  a  civilized  one,  and  its  neo-Iranian  culture 
radiated  over  an  enormous  area.  The  Byzantine  Empire  did  its  best 
to  gather  up  the  threads  of  Roman  policy,  and  to  preserve  a  breath  of 
cultivated  life  in  the  ancient  Greek  centres  :  not  only  Chersonesus, 
but  at  times  Panticapaeum,  and  certain  new  settlements  in  the  Crimea, 
served  as  starting-points  for  the  civilizing  mission  of  Byzantium  in 
the  Russian  East. 

We  said  above,  that  the  two  centuries  of  the  Roman  Empire  were 
a  most  prosperous  period  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus.    But  it 


156      GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

was  no  longer  the  old  kingdom.  Its  life  had  greatly  altered.  We  have 
already  noticed,  that  the  Bosphoran  state  was  a  mixed  state  from  the 
very  outset  :  but  we  also  observed,  that  in  the  cities  the  Greeks 
succeeded  in  retaining  their  nationality  and  their  civilization  :  it 
was  only  the  aristocracy  and  the  rural  population  that  showed  a  strong 
native  admixture.  In  the  Roman  period,  the  Iranization  spreads  to  the 
townsfolk,  and  the  Greek  element  receives  a  strong  native  infusion. 

This  can  be  seen  at  every  turn.  Let  us  look  first  at  the  political 
system. 

The  ruling  family  had  not  a  drop  of  Greek  blood  in  its  veins. 
What  its  origin  was  we  have  seen.  A  Sarmato-Pontic  or  Maeoto- 
Pontic  woman,  Dynamis,  married  a  prince  whom  we  have  every 
reason  to  suppose  a  Sarmatian  or  a  Maeotian,  that  is,  an  Iranian  or 
a  semi-Thracian  :  Aspurgos.  Aspurgos,  in  his  turn,  married  a 
Thracian  princess.  These  persons  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Bosphoran 
rulers,  whose  names  are  mainly  Thracian,  Cotys,  Rhescuporis, 
Rhoemetalces,  or  else  recall  their  Maeotian  or  perhaps  Sarmatian 
affinity,  such  as  Sauromates  :  we  know  that  historical  tradition  tended 
to  identify  Sauromatians  and  Sarmatians.  The  preponderance  of 
Thracian  names  may  be  thought  curious,  seeing  that  the  kings  were 
Thracian  only  through  Gepaepyris  the  second  wife  of  Aspurgos .  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  there  had  always  been  a  strong  Thracian 
strain  in  the  population  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  that  the  Thracian  royal 
names  in  the  Roman  period  were  but  a  revival  of  a  very  ancient 
historic  tradition,  the  tradition  of  the  Spartocids.  The  name  of 
Sauromates,  highly  popular  in  the  Bosphorus  from  the  first  to  the 
third  century  a.  d.,  did  not  necessarily  recall  the  Sarmatian  origin 
of  the  dynasty :  it  may  equally  well  be  referred  to  the  Sauromatians, 
the  Maeotian  tribe  of  which  we  have  frequently  spoken.  Dynamis, 
the  warrior  queen,  reminds  us  of  the  Maeotian  and  Sauromatian 
queens,  Tirgatao  and  Amage.  Pontic  reminiscences,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  rare  :  one  of  the  kings,  and  only  one,  was  called  Eupator ; 
it  is  doubtful  whether  after  Mithridates  Eupator  or  not.  The  vassals 
of  Rome  may  well  have  been  chary  of  commemorating  the  great 
enemy  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  same  mixture  is  observable  in  the  religious  traditions  of  the 
Bosphoran  monarchy.  On  their  coins  and  in  their  inscriptions,  the 
Bosphoran  monarchs  liked  to  evoke  the  memory  of  Herakles  ;  he,  and 
through  Eumolpos,  Poseidon,  were  considered  to  be  the  ancestors  of 
the  royal  house  (see,  for  example,  the  coin  pi.  XXX,  3,  second 
row,  fig.  2).  The  tradition  is  clearly  the  same  as  the  legend 
(invented  by  the  Athenians  to  glorify  their  allies)  which  attributed  an 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD 


J57 


Athenian  origin  to  the  Odrysian  kings.  But  Herakles  plays  a  great 
part  in  the  coinage  of  Mithridates  VII,  the  son  of  Dynamis,  who  was 
in  no  way  related  to  the  Thracian  dynasty ;  Mithridates  seems  to 
have  been  thinking  of  the  Maeotian  legend  mentioned  in  a  previous 
chapter  :  the  Hellenized  Maeotian  aristocracy,  to  judge  from  the 
legend,  believed  itself  to  be  descended  from  the  god  Herakles  and 
the  Great  Goddess  of  the  natives.  On  the  other  hand,  Herakles  was 
extremely  popular  with  the  Roman  emperors  of  the  second  century 
owing  to  the  Cynic  and  Stoic  theory  of  imperial  power  :  Commodus, 
it  will  be  remembered,  believed  himself  to  be  Hercules  eVi^ai^s. 
This  fashion  no  doubt  influenced  the  kings  of  the  Bosphorus,  who 
like  Herakles  had  to  combat  malefic  forces,  the  Scythians  and  the 
Sarmatians.  We  can  also  understand  the  combination  of  Herakles 
and  Poseidon  which  was  introduced  by  Mithridates  VII.  We  have 
seen  that  Poseidon  figured  in  Herodotus'  list  of  deities  venerated  by 
the  Scythians.  Asandros  invoked  this  god,  Poseidon  Swo-iVew?, 
together  with  Aphrodite  Navapx^s,  to  celebrate  a  naval  victory, 
probably  over  the  pirates  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  the  pair  seems  to  have 
been  worshipped  by  the  natives  at  Gorgippia  from  the  earliest  times. 
Further,  it  was  natural  that  these  monarchs  should  venerate  the 
sea-god  and  wish  to  identify  themselves  with  him  :  they  were  warriors 
and  traders,  whose  prosperity  depended  on  their  command  of  the  sea. 
An  odd  mixture  of  religious  ideas  derived  from  divers  sources. 

We  have  already  noticed  that,  even  under  the  last  Spartocids,  the 
power  of  the  Bosphoran  rulers  was  no  longer  a  compound  of  a  Greek 
magistracy  and  a  native  kingship.  It  gradually  took  the  form  of  a 
Hellenistic  monarchy.  In  the  time  of  Asandros,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  revive  the  old  dualism :  which  would  suggest  that  at  the  outset  he 
was  supported  by  the  Greek  population  of  the  Bosphorus,  anxious  to 
resuscitate  the  Spartocid  tradition.  But  Asandros  hastened  to  assume 
the  more  convenient  and  more  brilliant  title  of  king.  Henceforward 
the  Spartocid  dualism  was  dead,  and  the  rulers  of  the  Bosphorus 
adopted,  once  and  for  all,  the  title  of  king,  in  its  Irano-Hellenistic  form 
King  of  Kings,  a  style  which  was  no  doubt  inherited  from  Mithridates 
the  Great,  and  which  was  tolerated  by  the  Romans,  in  view  of  its  popu- 
larity with  the  natives,  who  constituted  an  important  part  of  the  kingdom. 
This  would  lead  us  to  suppose,  that  the  Greek  cities  in  the  Bosphoran 
kingdom  did  not  long  retain  the  autonomy  which  Pompey  had  granted 
them,  and  which  Augustus  had  confirmed.  The  last  autonomous 
coins  issued  by  the  cities  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  are  the  bronze 
coins  of  Agrippea  and  Caesarea,  the  new  names  imposed  by  Augustus, 
as  Oreshnikov  has  seen,  on  the  two  capitals  of  Queen  Dynamis' 


158       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

kingdom,  Phanagoria  and  Panticapaeum.  And  I  feel  convinced,  that 
the  goddess,  whose  head  is  represented  on  these  coins,  is  no  other 
than  Queen  Dynamis  herself.  It  is  possible  that  even  at  a  later  period 
the  city  of  Phanagoria  preserved  some  vestiges  of  this  fictitious  and 
titular  autonomy.  The  fact  is,  that  under  Roman  domination  the 
Bosphoran  kingship  was  a  Hellenized  Oriental  autocracy,  like  the 
kingships  of  Commagene  of  of  Armenia.  But  in  the  course  of  its 
three  centuries  of  Roman  protectorate,  it  underwent  gradual  but 
significant  alterations.  We  can  follow  the  changes  by  studying  the 
inscribed  stones  and  the  types  and  legends  of  the  royal  coinage. 
During  the  first  and  second  centuries,  both  in  their  inscriptions  and  on 
their  coins,  the  kings  emphasize  their  vassalage,  their  dependence 
upon  Rome  and  the  Emperor.  On  the  stones,  they  regularly  style 
themselves  <JuXo/3a>/i.cuos  and  <&i\oK<uo-a/3,  according  to  the  custom  of 
Roman  vassal  kings  ;  they  assume  the  prenomen  and  gentile  name 
of  the  Caesars — Tiberius  Julius — and  the  priesthood  of  the  imperial 
cult.  Under  Eupator,  a  Capitol  was  even  constructed  at  Panti- 
capaeum, as  if  the  city  had  become  a  Roman  colony.  From  the 
period  of  Augustus  to  that  of  the  Flavians,  with  a  few  brief  intervals, 
the  gold  coins  of  the  Bosphorus  show  heads  of  the  emperor  and  of  a 
member  of  the  imperial  house :  from  the  time  of  Domitian  onwards, 
the  emperor's  head  on  one  side  and  the  king's  on  the  other ;  again  a 
sign  of  vassalage.  Lastly,  in  their  bronze  coinage  (pi.  XXX,  3),  the 
Bosphoran  kings  make  a  special  parade  of  their  vassalage  and  of  their 
loyalty,  as  well  as  of  the  military  services  rendered  to  the  empire  and 
to  their  subjects.  On  the  bronze  coins,  as  on  the  coins  of  other  vassal 
kings,  the  king  is  represented  sitting  on  the  curule  chair,  with  the 
image  of  the  emperor  on  his  crown,  and  the  emperor's  head  on  his 
sceptre  :  or  else  in  the  garb  of  a  Roman  general,  riding  to  attack  the 
enemy,  a  type  which  recalls  the  contemporary  coinage  of  Thrace.  The 
reverses  commonly  figure  the  complimentary  gifts  of  the  Roman 
emperors  :  the  selection  of  gifts  is  traditional,  but  it  well  expresses 
the  dominant  ideas  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  its  dealings  with  Oriental 
vassals.  The  Bosphoran  kings  received  the  curule  chair  ;  the  royal 
crown,  probably  embellished  with  the  image  of  the  emperor  ;  the 
sceptre  surmounted  by  the  imperial  bust  ;  and  the  complete  armour 
of  a  Roman  knight,  helmet,  spear,  round  shield,  sword,  and  sometimes 
battle-axe.  The  intention  was  always  the  same  everywhere  :  the  king 
was  to  be  a  loyal  vassal,  and  a  good  soldier.  The  triumphal  types 
which  are  used  by  certain  kings  are  imitated  from  the  corresponding 
imperial  coins,  and  give  expression  to  the  military  character  of  the 
Bosphoran  kingship. 


IN    THE    ROMAN   PERIOD  159 

In  the  course  of  the  second  century,  however,  the  enthusiasm  for 
vassalage  dies  down,  and  the  types  of  the  Bosphoran  bronze  sensibly 
alter.  Henceforth  religious  types  predominate.  At  the  end  of  the 
second  century  the  image  of  the  Great  Goddess  reappears  (pi.  XXX, 
3,  second  row,  fig.  3)  :  it  had  already  played  a  considerable  part  in 
the  coinage  of  Dynamis  and  her  heirs  and  successors.  The  goddess 
is  figured  in  her  Hellenized  form,  in  the  guise  of  Aphrodite.  Further, 
the  martial  representation  of  the  king  charging  the  enemy  is  gradually 
replaced  by  another  type,  influenced  by  the  statues  of  Roman 
emperors  from  Marcus  Aurelius  onwards  (pi.  XXX,  3,  first  row, 
fig.  4).  The  king,  who  is  bearded,  sits  on  a  heavy  charger,  wearing 
a  corslet  of  scale  armour,  a  flying  cloak,  trousers,  and  soft  leather  shoes: 
a  diadem  encircles  his  head  ;  in  his  left  hand  he  holds  a  long  sceptre, 
without  the  image  of  the  emperor  ;  his  right  hand  makes  the  gesture 
of  adoration,  either  to  the  supreme  God,  whose  bust  sometimes 
appears,  as  a  subsidiary  type,  on  the  same  side  of  the  coin  ;  or  to  the 
Great  Goddess,  who  is  regularly  represented  on  the  reverse.  A  totally 
new  type,  then,  which  bears  witness  to  the  thorough  Iranization  of 
the  dynasty,  and  to  its  increasing  religiosity.  The  type  recurs,  at  the 
end  of  the  second  and  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  on  gold 
funerary  crowns.  The  religious  and  political  character  of  these 
representations  is  even  more  strongly  marked  than  on  the  coins.  I 
have  republished  these  crowns,  with  a  commentary,  in  a  special 
treatise  :  we  shall  return  to  them. 

We  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  power  of  the  king  was 
absolute.  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Greek  citizens  of  the  kingdom 
had  any  share  in  the  government.  The  administration,  also,  is  purely 
monarchical.  The  king  was  surrounded  by  a  court,  the  members  of 
which  bore  pompous,  Oriental  titles.  It  was  the  courtiers  who  filled 
the  public  posts,  who  acted  as  military  governors  in  the  provinces,  as 
financial  officers,  and  the  like.  The  system  of  administration  was 
probably  modelled  on  those  of  the  Iranian  kingdoms,  the  Parthian,  the 
Armenian  and  the  rest.  It  was  very  likely  inherited  from  Mithridates 
the  Great.  Roman  influence  can  occasionally  be  traced  :  for  instance 
in  the  creation,  during  the  Trajanic  period,  of  a  kind  of  praetorian 
prefect  or,  let  us  say,  grand  vizier. 

The  social  and  economic  system  had  not  greatly  altered  since  the 
later  Spartocid  period.  Two  classes  are  to  be  distinguished.  On  the 
one  hand,  the  governing  class,  the  citizen  aristocracy,  which  served 
at  court  and  in  the  army,  and  which  provided  the  lung  with  agents 
and  officials  :  landed  proprietors,  merchants,  owners  of  industrial 
establishments.     On  the  other,  the  governed,  the  serfs  and  slaves. 


160       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

The  sole  owners  of  cultivated  land  appear  to  have  been  the  king, 
the  city  aristocracy,  and  the  temples.  I  can  hardly  believe  that  a 
peasant-farmer  class,  of  the  Greek  type,  existed  or  could  exist  in  the 
Bosphoran  kingdom.  Agricultural  conditions  did  not  lend  themselves 
to  a  system  of  small  proprietors.  The  territory  of  the  kingdom, 
theoretically  vast,  since  it  covered  the  whole  of  the  Crimea  and  the 
Taman  peninsula,  was  actually  very  modest.  The  Crimean  plains 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  Scythians,  the  mountains  were  inhabited  by 
the  Taurians.  The  cultivable  and  cultivated  portion  of  the  Taman 
peninsula  was  still  smaller,  for  to  judge  from  what  we  know  of  the 
Aspurgians,  the  Sarmatians  had  seized  the  greater  part  of  the  country. 
The  precariousness  of  agriculture  in  the  Bosphoran  territory  is  illus- 
trable  by  archaeological  evidence.  Both  from  ruins,  and  from  repre- 
sentations of  fortified  cities  on  coins  (pi.  XXX,  3,  second  row,  fig.  4), 
we  learn  that  in  the  Roman  period  the  cities  of  the  Bosphorus,  large 
and  small,  were  transformed  into  so  many  fortresses.  A  group 
of  small  strongholds,  belonging  to  the  Roman  period,  has  been 
discovered  in  the  Taman  peninsula  :  these  must  have  been  fortified 
refuges  for  the  agricultural  population.  Moreover,  the  Bosphoran 
kings,  like  the  Chinese  emperors,  had  to  erect  lines  of  forts,  to 
protect  the  cultivable  land  in  the  peninsulas  of  Kerch  and  of  Taman. 
Strabo  mentions  a  wall  constructed  by  Asandros  :  whether  it  is  one 
of  those  that  still  remain  we  cannot  tell.  It  may  be  that  this  system 
of  defences  dates  from  the  change  in  Scythian  policy  towards  the 
Greek  cities  :  but  this  is  doubtful.  In  any  case  the  three  parallel 
lines  in  the  peninsula  of  Kerch,  and  a  similar  line  in  the  Taman 
peninsula,  as  far  as  they  have  been  studied,  seem  to  date  from  the 
Roman  period.  Lastly,  certain  pictures  in  Panticapaean  tombs  of 
the  first  or  second  century  give  us  a  good  idea  of  agricultural  life 
at  the  time.  The  dead  are  frequently  represented  as  heroized  beings, 
in  the  usual  Greek  schemes,  the  funeral  repast,  and  the  combat. 
The  Panticapaean  artists,  who  painted  the  scenes  on  the  walls  of  the 
tombs,  were  not  content  merely  to  reproduce  the  old  types  :  they 
transformed  them  into  scenes  from  the  social  life  of  the  deceased.  In 
one  of  these  tombs,  which  belongs  to  the  first  century  a.d.,  the  scene 
is  an  idyllic  one  (pi.  XXVIII,  1).  The  dead  man,  armed,  and  followed 
by  a  retainer,  is  riding  towards  his  family  residence,  a  tent  of  true 
nomadic  type.  His  household,  wife,  children,  and  servants,  are 
assembled  in  the  tent  and  beside  it,  under  the  shade  of  a  single  tree  ; 
beside  the  tree  is  his  long  spear,  and  his  quiver  hangs  from  a  branch. 
The  interpretation  is  easy  :  the  gentleman  is  a  landed  proprietor,  who 
spends  most  of  his  time  in  town  :    in  summer,  during  the  harvest 


PLATE      XXVIII 


WALL    PAINTINGS    IN    TWO    GRAVES    AT    KERCH 
The  first  now  destroyed.      I— II  Cent.  a.  d. 


IN   THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  161 

season,  he  goes  out  to  the  steppes,  armed,  and  accompanied  by  armed 
servants ;  taking  his  family  with  him.  He  supervises  the  work  in  the 
fields,  and  defends  his  labourers  and  harvesters  from  the  attacks  of 
neighbours  who  live  beyond  the  fortified  lines  :  Taurians  from  the 
mountains,  ferocious  foot-soldiers  ;  Scythians  from  the  plains,  horse- 
men and  landowners.  Who  knows  ?  perhaps  he  raids  a  little  himself. 
Fights  between  neighbours  are  often  represented  in  Panticapaean 
tomb-paintings  of  the  first  or  second  century  B.C.  We  see  the  Panti- 
capaean chief,  followed  by  his  little  army,  battling  with  a  black- 
bearded  Taurian  or  with  shag-haired  Scythians,  the  same  bold  archers 
and  horsemen  whom  we  knew  in  the  sixth,  and  down  to  the  third 
century  B.C.  (pi.  XXIX,  1-3).  When  he  moves  house,  he  uses 
heavy  wagons  to  transport  his  tent,  his  furniture,  and  his  family. 
Clay  models  of  these  wagons  have  been  found  in  Panticapaean  tombs 
of  the  first  century  A.  D. 

I  infer  from  all  this  evidence,  that  the  Bosphorans  of  the  Roman 
period  adopted  the  customs  and  the  land  system  of  nomadic  peoples. 
Their  land  system  must  have  been  taken  from  the  Scythians  :  the 
Sarmatian  system  cannot  have  differed  much  from  the  Scythian. 
Owing  to  the  uncertainty  of  life  in  the  steppes,  the  Greek  method  of 
tilling  the  soil  was  out  of  the  question.  The  labourers  and  harvesters 
had  to  be  protected  by  a  military  force,  and  the  only  persons  who 
could  provide  this  military  force  were  the  great  landed  proprietors. 
Their  armed  retainers  guarded  the  herds  in  winter  and  summer.  In 
spring,  master  and  servants  went  out  to  the  domain,  to  protect  the 
natives,  who  lived  a  miserable  life  in  caves  or  huts,  and  to  enable  them 
to  work  on  the  land.  The  harvest  was  shared  between  master  and 
serfs  :  the  master  carried  off  his  share,  the  serfs  hid  theirs  in  grain  pits. 

This  land  system  presupposes  a  social  structure  of  feudal  type, 
a  state  composed  like  the  Scythian  of  a  king,  an  armed  aristocracy 
with  armed  followers,  and  a  more  or  less  numerous  body  of  serfs. 
We  must  suppose  that  the  precariousness  of  life,  in  the  later  Hellenistic 
and  the  Roman  periods,  gradually  reduced  the  Bosphoran  state  to 
this  primitive  and  barbarous  condition.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
Bosphoran  army  chiefly  consisted  of  separate  contingents  under 
feudal  chiefs,  which  were  supplemented  by  forced  levies  from  the 
serf  farm-labourers,  who  were  probably  the  native  population  of  the 
country.  Apart  from  the  feudal  lords,  the  only  great  landowners  were 
the  gods  and  the  temples.  I  have  already  cited  an  inscription  from 
Phanagoria  which  proves  the.  existence  of  extensive  domains  belonging 
to  the  gods  and  cultivated  by  serfs.  The  priests  who  looked  after  the 
serfs  probably  did  not  differ  greatly  from  the  other  feudal  lords  already 

2353  Y 


i6z     GREEK   CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

described.    Strabo  gives  a  similar  account  of  the  economic  and  social 
conditions  in  the  great  temples  of  Pontus  and  Cappadocia. 

The  serf-reaped  harvest  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  kings, 
priests  and  great  landowners  :  after  feeding  the  city  population,  they 
exported  the  remainder,  on  the  Bosphoran  merchant  fleet  and  on 
foreign  trading  vessels,  to  Greece,  and  especially  to  the  Greek  towns 
on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  traffic  between  Panti- 
capaeum  and  the  cities  of  Pontus  and  Bithynia  was  livelier  than  ever 
before,  as  we  know  from  the  numerous  Panticapaean  inscriptions 
which  mention  citizens  of  Amisos,  Sinope  and  other  cities,  domiciled 
at  Panticapaeum.  We  should  naturally  suppose  that  the  chief  exporters 
of  corn  were  the  shipowners.  But  they  were  not  alone.  The  kings 
and  the  rich  landowners  also  maintained  a  considerable  merchant 
fleet.  From  an  inscription  recently  discovered  at  Gorgippia  in  the 
Taman  peninsula,  we  learn  that  a  religious  corporation  of  naucleroi 
existed  in  this  city,  its  honorary  president  being  the  king  himself. 
The  royal  president  bestowed  a  gift  upon  the  corporation  :  it  con- 
sisted in  a  large  quantity  of  corn,  reckoned  in  Persian  artabai. 

The  corn  which  was  exported  did  not  come  exclusively  from  the 
territory  of  the  kingdom.  It  is  highly  probable,  that  the  Bosphoran 
naucleroi  played  the  middleman  between  the  foreign  purchaser  and 
the  neighbours  of  the  Bosphoran  state,  the  Scythians  of  the  Crimea 
and  the  Sarmatians  in  the  district  of  the  Kuban.  Considering  the 
political  situation  from  the  first  to  the  third  centuries  A.D.,  I  question 
whether  the  Don  and  Dnieper  regions  still  produced  a  great  quantity 
of  corn  for  export.  As  early  as  the  time  of  Polybius,  who  had  the 
Dnieper  region  particularly  in  mind,  the  export  of  corn  through 
Olbia  and  Tyras  was  by  no  means  regular,  the  Scythian  power,  which 
protected  agriculture,  having  disappeared.  It  is  possible,  of  course, 
that  circumstances  changed  in  the  first  century  a.  d.  and  subsequently  : 
the  geographer  Ptolemy  mentions  scores  of  cities  on  the  lower 
Dnieper,  which  shows  that  Olbia,  under  Roman  protection,  was  able 
to  recover  part  of  the  Dnieper  trade.  In  any  case,  the  existence  of 
a  firmly-established  Scythian  state  in  the  Crimea,  and  the  prolonged 
supremacy  of  the  Sarmatians  on  the  Kuban,  created  conditions  in  both 
places  which  furthered  extensive  production  and  active  commerce. 
We  must  remember  that  these  are  the  richest  agricultural  districts 
in  modern  Russia,  and  that  they  had  been  tenanted,  from  the  earliest 
times,  by  a  sedentary  agricultural  population,  which  changed  masters, 
but  itself  remained  unchanged.  The  constant  efforts  of  the  Scythians, 
in  the  first  three  centuries  of  our  era  no  less  than  in  the  three  pre- 
ceding, to  get  possession  of  the  Greek  cities  on  the  shores  of  the  Black 


PLATE      XXIX 


— ^i( 


"tSJtuJklL'' 


.<> 


®?    ^  I/, 


^  ■^kf*.^-. 


SP* 


lW    ^ 


;V<*»  *. 


-/ 


k"^ 


\  r 


-    .      s+*-.S 


WALL    PAINTINGS    IN    A    GRAVE    AT    KERCH 
I  —  1 1    Cent.    a.  d. 


IN   THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  163 

Sea,  efforts  which  led  to  the  appearance  of  Mithridates  in  the  Crimea, 
to  the  expedition  of  Plautius  Silvanus  to  rescue  Chersonesus,  to 
the  military  occupation  of  part  of  the  Crimea  by  the  Romans,  to 
the  war  of  Antoninus  Pius  with  the  Tauro-Scythians  for  the  liberation 
of  Olbia,  to  innumerable  contests  between  the  Bosphoran  kings 
and  the  Scythian  state  in  the  Crimea,  show  how  anxious  the  Crimean 
Scythians  were  to  rid  themselves  of  these  middlemen  and  to  open 
direct  relations  with  the  purchasers  of  their  corn.  We  have  no 
right  to  suppose,  that  the  Scythian  state  of  Skiluros'  successors 
was  a  nomadic  and  barbarous  state.  Ruins  of  a  fortified  town  near 
Simferopol  belong  to  the  Roman  period  :  to  judge  from  Greek 
inscriptions  found  in  the  town,  it  was  the  centre  of  the  Scythian 
kingdom  as  early  as  the  first  century  B.  C,  and  was  even  then  in  regular 
communication  with  the  Olbian  exporters.  The  ruins  suggest  that 
the  Scythian  kingdom  of  the  Roman  period  did  not  greatly  differ  from 
the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  except  that  it  preserved  its  independence. 
The  cemetery  is  full  of  Greek  imports  dating  from  the  early  centuries 
of  our  era,  which  show  that  the  town  had  a  Hellenized  population 
and  traded  with  the  coastal  cities.  The  Greek  objects  can  hardly  be 
due  to  Roman  military  occupation  :  for  there  are  no  inscriptions  of 
Roman  soldiers,  such  as  we  find  in  the  fortress  of  Ai-Todor. 

Again,  we  have  convincing  evidence  that  life  on  the  Kuban  was 
not  unlike  life  in  the  Crimea.  A  Bosphoran  historian,  used  by 
Diodorus'  authority,  gives  a  picture  of  social  life  among  the  Siracians 
on  the  Kuban.  The  Siracians  were  a  Sarmatian  tribe,  and  it  was 
probably  they  who  dislodged  the  Scythians  from  the  Kuban  valley. 
Unhappily  the  reading  in  the  text  of  Diodorus  is  corrupt  :  it  was 
Mueller  who  proposed  to  read  2ipa.Ka>v,  whereas  Boeckh  corrected 
the  QpyKoiv  of  the  manuscripts  into  Bariuv.  Speaking  of  the  struggle 
between  Eumelos  and  Satyros,  the  rival  claimants  to  the  Bosphoran 
throne  in  309-308  B.C.,  the  historian  describes  the  fortified  capital  of 
King  Aripharnes.  The  centre  was  occupied  by  the  fortified  palace 
of  the  king,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  wall,  perhaps  of  stone.  The 
palace  was  situated  on  a  tongue  of  land  formed  by  the  River  Thates. 
The  town  itself  lay  in  the  river  marshes  ;  it  was  a  settlement  of  the 
lacustrine  or  paludal  type,  supported  by  pillars  and  encircled  by  a 
wooden  fortification.  Diodorus  also  mentions  another  town  of 
the  same  sort,  Gargaza,  and  a  number  of  less  important  towns  and 
villages.  The  country,  then,  had  a  sedentary  population,  which  was 
no  doubt  agricultural.  The  description  is  confirmed  by  another 
eye-witness,  the  same  who  furnished  the  authority  used  by  Tacitus 
with  his  account  of  the  expedition  of  Aquila  against  King  Mithri- 


164      GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

dates  VII  in  a.  d.  49  :  the  primary  source  is  probably  Aquila's  own 
official  report.  This  witness  speaks  of  the  same  tribe,  the  Siracians, 
and  describes  the  fortified  town  of  King  Zorsines,  Uspe  :  again  the 
same  type  of  fortified  royal  residence.  The  most  characteristic  feature 
of  the  story  is  the  proposal  of  King  Zorsines  to  deliver  ten  thousand 
1  slaves '  to  the  conqueror  in  return  for  the  lives  of  the  '  freemen ' : 
these  slaves  were  no  doubt  native  serfs  who  worked  for  Sarmatian 
masters. 

This  information  explains  the  finds  in  the  Sarmatian  cemeteries, 
described  in  the  last  chapter.  As  soon  as  they  arrived  in  the  region 
of  the  Kuban,  the  Sarmatians,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  established 
regular  commercial  relations  with  the  Greek  towns  on  the  coast, 
Tanais,  Phanagoria,  Gorgippia.  They  bartered  their  corn,  cattle  and 
fish  for  the  products  of  the  Greek  workshops.  In  a  number  of 
inscriptions,  we  read  the  names  of  merchants  from  Greek  cities,  who 
traded  in  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  country  subject  to  the  Sarma- 
tians.   Some  of  these  merchants  died  there. 

The  ports  of  Theodosia  and  Chersonesus  served  as  outlets  for 
the  produce  of  the  Crimea  ;  Tanais,  and  the  ports  in  the  Taman 
peninsula,  for  the  produce  of  the  Sarmatian  countries.  We  must  bear 
in  mind  what  Strabo  expressly  tells  us  about  Sarmatian  commerce, 
in  particular  that  the  great  trade  route  from  the  East,  which  passed 
through  the  Russian  steppes,  was  still  used  under  Sarmatian  supre- 
macy. We  may  be  sure  that  it  was  the  merchants  of  the  Bosphoran 
kingdom  who  acted  as  middlemen  between  the  caravans  from  Central 
Asia  and  the  Greco-Roman  world. 

Here  was  another  source  of  wealth  for  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Bosphorus.  As  long  as  the  Bosphoran  state,  with  the  help  of  the 
Romans,  controlled  the  Black  Sea,  the  Scythians  and  the  Sarmatians 
were  necessarily  dependent  upon  it,  for  they  had  neither  navy  nor 
merchant  fleet. 

Agriculture  and  commerce,  then,  enriched  the  citizen  aristocracy 
of  the  Bosphoran  state  :  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom  had  other 
means  of  acquiring  wealth  besides  these.  We  have  seen  that  the  finds 
in  the  Sarmatian  cemeteries  point  to  a  fairly  prosperous  industrial 
activity  in  the  Bosphorus.  We  cannot  affirm  with  certainty,  that  it  was 
the  workshops  of  Panticapaeum  and  other  Bosphoran  towns  which 
supplied  the  Sarmatians  with  their  pottery  and  their  cut  and  blown 
glass.  These  may  have  been  imported,  although  the  examples  of 
Gaul,  Germany  and  Britain  suggest  that  wherever  there  was  a 
demand  for  such  articles  plenty  of  local  workshops  arose  to  meet  it. 
But  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  goldsmith's  work  exported  by  the 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  165 

Bosphoran  cities  was  of  local  make.  I  have  shown  that  goldsmiths 
flourished  at  Panticapaeum  in  the  Spartocid  epoch  and  produced 
large  quantities  of  articles  for  the  Scythian  market.  I  am  convinced 
that  the  same  workshops  continued  to  supply  the  Sarmatian  demand. 
I  shall  return  to  the  question  when  I  come  to  discuss  the  Panticapaean 
tomb  furniture  in  this  period. 

Thewealth  of  the  city  population,  therefore,was  derived  fromagricul- 
ture ,  from  commerce  and  from  industry .  We  are  pretty  well  acquainted 
with  this  class  from  inscriptions  in  tombs,  from  grave  stelai  and  from 
lists  of  members  of  corporations.  The  city  class  was  undoubtedly  a 
real  force.  We  are  particularly  struck,  in  examining  its  records,  by  its 
high  organization  and  by  its  parade  of  Hellenism.  The  members  were 
proud  of  belonging  to  the  Greek  race,  and  did  their  best  not  to  forget 
the  language,  the  literature,  and  the  traditions  of  Greece.  This  is 
what  impressed  Dio  Chrysostom  at  Olbia  towards  the  end  of  the  first 
century  a.  d.,  this  is  what  we  can  gather  from  the  Tristia  and  the 
Pontic  letters  of  Ovid,  who  was  forced  to  dwell,  a  needy  exile,  in  the 
'Greek'  city  of  Tomi,  in  the  heart  of  the  Dobrudzha,  which,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  remained  a  Scythian  kingdom,  like  the  kingdom  of 
the  Crimea,  until  it  was  occupied  by  the  Romans. 

We  find  the  same  spirit  at  Panticapaeum  and  in  the  other  cities 
of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom.  Wherever  we  turn,  we  are  impressed  by 
the  societies  formed  by  a  population  proud  of  its  Hellenism.  These 
Bosphoran  colleges  have  been  classed  with  the  other  colleges  which 
were  founded  all  over  the  Greek  world.  A  grave  error.  I  cannot 
discuss  this  important  question  in  detail,  but  I  must  lay  stress  on 
certain  significant  points.  The  synods  (avvoSot)  or  brotherhoods 
(o-vva8e\<f>iai)  which  existed  in  all  Bosphoran  towns,  especially  those 
which  were  most  exposed  to  attacks  from  their  neighbours,  Tanais, 
Gorgippia  and  Panticapaeum,  present  themselves  to  us,  first,  as 
religious  fraternities  centring  in  the  official  cult  of  the  Great  God 
and  probably  in  that  of  the  Great  Goddess  ;  secondly,  as  unions  of 
a  limited  number  of  families,  that  is,  as  aristocratic  and  purely 
citizen  unions  ;  thirdly,  as  clubs  closely  connected  with  the  royal 
family  and  the  court ;  fourthly,  as  military  and  political  organizations, 
the  members  of  which  are  always  represented  in  military  costume  and 
armed  as  infantrymen  or  mounted  hoplites,  often  on  horseback, 
attended  by  a  squire  ;  fifthly,  as  colleges  which  provided  their 
members,  especially  the  younger  ones,  the  veavCo-Koi,  with  a  Greek 
education  in  gymnasia  and  palaistrai  ;  colleges  comparable  with 
those  of  the  Juvenes  and  vioi  in  other  parts  of  the  Greek  world  ; 
this  effort  to  provide  Greek  education,  in  a  town  surrounded  by 


166       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

barbarians,  for  the  Greek  or  Hellenized  youth,  finds  an  interesting 
parallel  in  Egypt,  where  the  class  which  had  been  educated  in  the 
gymnasium  formed  the  city  aristocracy  and  enjoyed  a  number  of 
privileges  ;  sixthly  and  lastly,  as  burial  societies,  an  important 
function  in  view  of  the  military  organization  of  the  colleges  :  one  is 
struck  by  the  number  of  members  who  died  young,  defending  their 
country  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  am  certain  that  these  colleges  were 
a  product,  and  a  curious  one,  of  the  historical  development  of  the 
Bosphoran  kingdom.  The  constant  penetration  of  heterogeneous 
elements  into  the  citizen  society  in  the  Greek  towns,  the  perpetual 
danger  of  being  submerged  by  their  Scythian  and  Sarmatian  neigh- 
bours, the  economic  and  social  situation  which  raised  the  Greeks  to 
the  position  of  a  dominant  class  with  hundreds  of  natives  working 
for  it,  led  the  city  populations  to  rally  closely  round  the  throne, 
in  order  to  defend,  if  not  their  nationality,  at  least  their  civilization 
and  their  privileges.  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  the  form  of  these 
exclusively  masculine  colleges  was  borrowed  wholesale  from  the 
Greeks.  It  seems  very  likely  that  colleges  of  young  men  existed  in 
Italy,  and  among  the  Celts  and  Germans,  from  prehistoric  times, 
and  retained,  though  reconstituted  by  Augustus  to  suit  his  views  and 
aims,  a  considerable  measure  of  their  primitive  structure.  It  may  be 
that  the  origin  of  the  Bosphoran  colleges  was  similar,  that  there  was  an 
institution  of  the  same  sort  in  the  Iranian  world.  But  this  is  not  the 
place  to  examine  this  difficult  and  controversial  question. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  citizen  class  in  the  Bosphoran  kingdom 
was  highly  organized,  and  formed  an  aristocracy  which  was  princi- 
pally responsible  for  defending  the  kingdom  from  foreign  attacks. 
These  citizens  probably  formed  the  army  of  the  Bosphoran  kings. 
We  do  not  know  how  the  army  was  organized  :  perhaps  in  contingents 
furnished  by  the  great  landowners  and  by  the  various  colleges  in  the 
towns  :  but  we  cannot  be  certain.  The  nucleus  was  composed  of 
citizens  ;  but  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  Bosphoran  kings 
tried  to  obtain  assistance  from  semi-independent  subject  tribes  and 
from  '  allied '  tribes,  that  is  to  say,  tribes  which  would  serve  for  pay. 
The  practice,  which  was  adopted  by  Eumelos  and  Satyros  in  their 
fratricidal  struggle,  and  later,  by  Dynamis  and  Aspurgos  and  by 
Mithridates  VII,  must  have  been  continued  by  the  Bosphoran  kings 
from  the  first  to  the  third  century  A.  d.  :  when  fighting  the  Scythians 
they  had  Sarmatian  and  Maeotian  allies  ;  and  inversely.  The  same 
system  was  employed  by  the  Romans  from  the  third  or  fourth  century 
a.d.,  and  regularly  in  the  Hellenistic  monarchies.  A  peculiar  political 
and  social  organization,  with  a  strange  mixture  of  elements. 


PLATE      XXX 


i.    CLAY    STATUETTE    OF    A    PANTICAPAEAN    SOLDIER 

I    Cent.    b.  c.       Hermitage,    Petrograd 

2.    GRAVE     STELA     FROM     KERCH.       I    Cent.    a.d. 

Kerch,    Royal    Tumulus 

3.    COPPER     COINS     OF    THE     BOSPHORAN     KINGDOM 

I  —  II    Cent.    a.d.       Hermitage,    Petrograd 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  167 

I  said  above  that  the  citizens  of  the  Greek  towns  on  the  Black  Sea 
were  very  anxious  not  to  be  confused  with  the  barbarians.  They 
counted  themselves  Greeks,  and  did  their  best  to  appear  Greek  and 
to  be  Greek.  Greek  was  the  only  language  used  at  Panticapaeum  for 
public  and  private  inscriptions  and  on  coins.  The  citizens  received 
a  Greek  education  and  were  proud  of  it.  Dio  Chrysostom  speaks  of 
the  reverence  paid  to  Homer  and  Plato  at  Olbia.  At  Panticapaeum 
we  have  many  funerary  inscriptions  in  verse,  which  were  assuredly 
composed  in  Panticapaeum  itself.  One  of  the  finest  commemorates 
the  services  rendered  to  the  city  of  Nymphaeum  by  Glycaria,  wife  of 
Asandros,  perhaps  his  first  wife  while  he  was  still  a  private  citizen : 
it  was  found  in  the  sea  near  Nymphaeum  and  has  been  published 
recently  by  myself  and  by  Skorpil.  Another  inscription  praises  the 
scientific  and  educational  attainments  of  a  young  Bosphoran. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  the  Hellenism  of  the  citizen  population  in  the 
Bosphorus  seems  to  have  been  no  more  than  a  veneer,  which  wore 
thinner  and  thinner.  It  is  true  that  the  inscriptions  are  all  Greek. 
But  from  the  second  century  onwards  we  notice  traces,  even  on  official 
monuments,  of  a  new  system  of  writing  which  was  probably  used  for 
texts  in  the  native  language.  We  observed,  in  the  last  chapter,  that 
a  number  of  objects  from  Sarmatian  tombs  are  decorated  with 
alphabetical  signs  of  heraldic  appearance,  monograms  which  made  one 
think  of  badges  or  coats  of  arms.  From  the  second  century  b.  c,  we 
find  the  same  signs,  accompanying  the  names  of  kings,  on  stones  with 
official  inscriptions,  on  public  documents,  on  inscribed  tombstones,  on 
certain  coins,  on  horse  trappings,  on  belt  clasps,  on  strap  mounts,  and  so 
forth.  The  strap  mounts  are  in  the  openwork  technique  normal  in 
Sarmatian  objects  of  the  kind.  It  is  certain  that  these  signs  are  private 
monograms,  personal,  family,  or  tribal  devices.  But  elsewhere  we  have 
complete  texts  written  in  signs  which  are  partly  identical  with  and 
partly  similar  to  the  signs  described  above  :  so  on  two  funerary  lions 
found  at  Olbia  ;  so  on  the  entrance  of  a  tomb  at  Kerch,  where  the 
inscription  is  placed  on  a  lower  layer  of  plaster,  which  was  covered 
with  an  upper,  painted  layer.  I  have  no  doubt  that  these  are  the  first 
stages  in  the  development  of  a  Sarmatian  system  of  writing.  Let  us 
remember  that  the  Hittite  hieroglyphic  writing  developed  in  the  same 
manner  out  of  badge-like  signs  :  this  has  been  shown  by  Sayce  and 
by  Cowley,  and  de  Linas  has  already  compared  the  Bosphoran  signs 
with  Persian.  A  significant  testimony  to  the  importance  of  the 
Iranian  element  in  the  citizen  population :  for  it  was  the  Bosphoran 
nobles  who  built  these" sumptuous  carved  and  painted  tombs. 

The  testimony  is  confirmed  by  an  analysis  of  the  proper  names  at 


1 68       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

Panticapaeum,  at  Olbia,  at  Tanais,  at  Phanagoria,  at  Gorgippia.  It 
would  not  be  difficult  to  produce  statistics,  which  would  show  the 
rate  at  which,  in  the  Roman  period,  native  names  gradually  supplanted 
the  Greek  names  which  predominated  in  pre-Roman  times.  But  a 
glance  at  the  college  lists  and  at  the  names  of  members  of  colleges  on 
tombstones,  will  suffice  to  prove  that  the  population  was  losing  its 
Hellenic  character.  It  is  curious  that  the  Bosphorans  become  less 
and  less  inclined  to  substitute  Greek  names  for  their  native  names, 
and  that  the  reverse  was  probably  the  rule  :  native  names  were 
substituted  for  Greek  ones.  The  native  names  have  been  studied  by 
Vsevolod  Miller :  he  shows  that  they  are  mostly  Iranian,  and  expli- 
cable by  comparison  with  Ossetian.  But  I  have  lately  drawn  attention 
to  an  equally  significant  fact  :  side  by  side  with  the  Iranian,  we  have 
a  group  of  names  which  are  undoubtedly  Thracian,  both  in  formation 
and  in  type.  Others  are  typical  of  Asia  Minor  :  but  these  are  very  few. 
It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  Greek  citizen  population  was  gradually 
submerged  by  Iranian  and  Thracian  elements.  The  Iranians  were 
the  Scythians  of  the  Crimea  and,  even  more,  the  Sarmatians  :  the 
Thracians  must  have  come  from  the  Maeotian  tribes,  which  as  we 
have  seen,  had  been  strongly  Thracized  by  the  Cimmerians.  It  was 
unquestionably  the  aristocracy  among  the  Sarmatians,  Scythians  and 
Maeotians,  which  was  attracted  towards  the  former  Greek  centres. 
Remember  Lucian's  descriptions  of  life  at  the  Bosphoran  court  in 
the  Hellenistic  and  Roman  periods  :  a  kaleidoscopic  picture  of 
Scythians,  Sarmatians,  and  Bosphorans,  intermarrying,  making  friends, 
quarrelling.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  citizen  aristocracy  acted  like 
the  others,  and  that  there  was  constant  coming  and  going  between  the 
cities  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  neighbouring  tribes,  interrupted  by 
frequent  but  by  no  means  sanguinary  wars.  The  difference  between 
the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  and  the 
Scythian  or  Sarmatian  kingdoms  was  not  very  great  ;  but  the  life 
of  the  Greek  cities  had  a  strong  fascination  for  the  Iranians,  who 
came  to  trade,  to  make  agreements,  to  visit  kinsfolk,  and  the  like. 

It  was  natural,  under  these  conditions,  that  the  city  population 
rapidly  became  Iranized.  It  is  unfortunate  that  we  know  very  little 
about  the  costume  of  the  Panticapaeans  in  the  pre-Roman  period  : 
the  stelai  of  this  period  are  few,  and. they  never  bear  the  effigy  of  the 
dead.  But  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  their  costume  was 
Greek  like  their  names  and  their  tombs.  In  the  Roman  period  the 
material  becomes  very  plentiful,  especially  in  the  first  and  second 
centuries  a.  d.  A  series  of  carved  and  sometimes  painted  funeral 
stelai  (pi.  XXX,  2),  and  an  equally  rich  series  of  tombs  with  painted 


IN   THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  169 

walls,  present  us  with  hundreds  of  portraits  of  Bosphoran  citizens,  in 
civil  and  in  military  costume.  Their  garments  at  this  period  are  far 
from  Greek.  They  wear  trousers,  soft  leather  shoes,  leather  or  fur 
doublets,  and  long  cloaks  probably  of  wool :  just  like  the  Scythians  and 
the  Sarmatians  on  monuments  of  the  fourth  or  third  century  b.  c. 
Ovid  at  Tomi,  Dio  Chrysostom  at  Olbia,  can  hardly  recognize  the 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Milesian  colonists. 

The  armour  is  no  longer  Greek.  No  doubt  the  mercenary  armies 
of  the  Spartocid  period  were  armed  like  the  Greek  hoplites,  peltasts 
and  cavalrymen  of  the  time.  But  as  early  as  the  third  or  second 
century  b.  c,  when  the  mercenaries  were  mainly  recruited  from  the 
barbarian  tribes,  a  change  took  place  :  it  affected  even  the  armour  of 
the  citizen  troops,  which  now  began  to  play  an  important  part. 
A  number  of  clay  statuettes  from  this  period,  found  exclusively  at 
Panticapaeum,  and  undoubtedly  made  there,  represent  soldiers  of  the 
citizen  army  (pi.  XXX,  1) :  their  costume  is  Thraco-Iranian,  their 
shields  Gaulish.  In  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d.,  we  have  an  abun- 
dance of  documents  for  the  armour  of  the  citizen  troops  and  of  the 
contingents  recruited  among  the  native  population .  Hundreds  of  stelai 
reproduce  the  heroized  dead  in  complete  armour  (pi.  XXX,  2) :  mural 
paintings  in  tombs ,  the  battles  of  the  Bosphoran  army  with  the  Scythians 
and  the  Taurians  (pi.  XXIX).  The  armour  is  the  same  everywhere. 
The  cavalryman,  and  the  Bosphoran  nobles  are  almost  always  cavalry, 
has  a  conical  metal  helmet  ;  a  corslet  of  scale-  or  ring-armour  ;  a 
long  lance  ;  a  dagger  fastened  to  the  leg,  with  a  ring  on  the  top  as 
in  the  Kuban  tombs  ;  a  sword  with  a  round  stone  pommel  and  a  stone 
guard  ;  a  bow  ;  a  gorytus  ;  and  a  shield,  small  in  the  cavalry,  large  in 
the  infantry  :  a  combination  of  Scythian  and  Sarmatian  panoply,  with 
predominance  of  the  characteristic  Sarmatian  weapons,  as  they  are 
represented  on  Trajan's  column  and  on  the  arch  of  Galerius  at  Salonica. 
Infantry  plays  little  part  in  the  Bosphoran  army.  It  consists  of  peltasts, 
generally  without  corslets,  armed  with  lances,  javelins,  shields  and 
sometimes  bows.  The  tactics  are  also  Sarmatian.  Heavily  armed 
warriors,  cataphracts,  fighting  tourney-wise  in  single  combat,  or 
phalanx  pitted  against  phalanx  :  harbingers  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
same  armour  is  found  in  the  tombs  of  the  period. 

Our  principal  source  of  information  for  the  material  culture  of  the 
Bosphoran  citizens  is  as  usual  the  tombs.  Thousands  have  been 
excavated.  They  bear  witness,  first  of  all,  to  great  prosperity  on  the 
Bosphorus  during  the  first  two  centuries  of  our  era.  The  sepulchral 
structures  are  varied  and  sumptuous.  There  are  three  main  types. 
One  continues  the  old  Greek  tradition :  a  tomb  dug  in  the  earth ; 
2353  z 


170      GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

the  body  was  enclosed  in  a  wooden  coffin  or  a  stone  sarcophagus  and 
deposited  in  the  tomb.  The  walls  of  the  trench  sometimes,  have  a 
revetment  of  dressed  stone,  and  dressed  stone  is  used  for  roof  and 
floor.  I  know  very  few  certain  examples  of  cremation :  inhumation 
is  the  rule.  The  trench  was  covered  with  a  small  mound  which  was 
topped  by  a  carved  and  painted  stele.  These  stelai  mostly  belong 
to  the  first  century  A.  D.,  some  to  the  second,  none,  as  far  as  I  know,  to 
the  third.  Nearly  all  the  stelai  were  used  again,  and  have  been  found 
embodied  in  funeral  structures  of  the  second  and  third  centuries. 
There  are  slight  variants  of  this  type  :    I  shall  not  discuss  them. 

The  second  type  of  grave  was  introduced  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  third  century  b.  c,  but  is  rare  in  the  Hellenistic  period  :  it 
appears  to  be  of  Pontic  origin.  In  the  soft  rock  on  the  chain  of 
Mount  Mithridates  at  Panticapaeum,  or  in  the  clay  elsewhere,  a  tomb 
chamber  was  cut,  sometimes  with  double  berths,  both  berths  cut  in 
the  rock  or  clay.  The  chambers  were  approached  by  a  shaft,  some- 
times very  deep,  and  a  corridor.  The  bodies  were  placed  in  the  berths, 
often  enclosed  in  wooden  coffins.  The  graves  are  always  family  graves 
and  were  frequently  re-employed.  The  walls  of  the  tombs  were  often 
coated  with  stucco  and  painted. 

The  third  type  takes  up  the  old  Spartocid  tradition :  monumental 
tumulary  chambers,  of  dressed  stone,  with  barrel  vaults.  They  are 
often  sculptured  without  and  painted  within.  These  also  were 
family  graves,  belonging  to  Bosphoran  aristocrats.  We  know  the 
occupants  of  some  of  them.  The  dead  were  laid  in  wooden  coffins, 
in  sarcophagi  of  dressed  stone,  or  in  hermetically  sealed  sarcophagi. 

All  these  types  of  tomb  must  have  been  very  costly  and  show 
that  the  inhabitants  were  wealthy.  The  same  types  appear  in  the 
cemeteries  of  the  other  Greek  cities  on  the  Black  Sea  ;  the  tumulary 
graves  at  Olbia  more  than  elsewhere,  but  fewer  and  less  rich  than  on 
the  Bosphorus. 

The  funerary  ritual  is  everywhere  the  same  as  before.  In  all  three 
types,  the  tomb  furniture  is  astonishingly  rich  and  varied.  Un- 
happily, the  tumulary  and  chamber  graves  have  almost  always  been 
pillaged,  and  it  is  only  the  trenches  that  are  usually  found  intact.  The 
dead  were  furnished  with  everything  that  might  be  useful  in  the  other 
world.  Garments  ;  mortuary  crowns  ;  jewels  ;  baskets  of  fruit, 
especially  nuts  ;  baskets  of  eggs,  the  funerary  significance  of  which 
is  well  known  ;  toilet  boxes  ;  terra-cottas,  often  quaint  representations 
of  strange  beings,  probably  evil  geniuses — perhaps  personifications 
of  diseases — like  those  found  in  contemporary  Chinese  graves  ;  toys 
and  games,  for  instance  a  complete  set  of  duodecim  scripta  ;   coins  ; 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  171 

gold  plaques  struck  from  coins  ;  and  so  forth.  Weapons  are  some- 
times found  in  men's  tombs,  but  chiefly  from  the  second  century  a.  d. 
onwards.  It  is  significant  that  from  the  first  century  A.  d.  metal  bridle- 
pieces  are  found  in  a  number  of  tombs  :  the  custom  is  thoroughly 
Sarmatian. 

As  before,  most  of  the  objects  buried  with  the  dead  are  imports. 
But  some  are  certainly  local  work.  We  shall  begin  with  the  tombs 
themselves.  The  grave  stelai,  and  the  decorative  sculpture  of  the 
tombs,  were  certainly  executed  in  Panticapaeum  and  the  other  Greek 
cities.  The  art  of  the  sculptors  is  not  purely  Greek  :  the  style  is 
decadent  Ionian,  at  once  heavy  and  dry.  There  is  a  notable  propensity 
towards  naturalism  and  realism,  which  shows  itself  particularly  in  the 
care  with  which  every  detail  of  costume  and  armour  is  rendered. 
I  do  not  know,  whether  the  same  can  be  said  of  the  racial  type.  As 
before,  the  tomb  chambers  were  decorated  with  painting,  and  some- 
times the  stone  sarcophagi  and  stelai  as  well.  The  paintings  are 
assuredly  local  work,  and  are  very  interesting.  I  have  discussed  them 
in  a  special  treatise  and  I  shall  say  only  a  few  words  about  them  here. 
The  old  Greek  style  of  mural  decoration  was  retained  in  the  first 
century  :  the  architectural  style.  But  from  the  second  half  of  the 
first  century  onwards,  its  place  was  taken  by  two  Oriental  styles  :  one, 
the  floral  style,  probably  came  from  Egypt  ;  the  other,  the  incrustation 
style,  was  purely  Asiatic  ;  heavy,  richly  coloured,  pompous,  a  style 
created  in  the  palaces  of  the  Asiatic  monarchs,  a  style  in  which  archi- 
tectural form,  variety  of  hue,  and  fineness  of  detail  are  all  killed  by 
colour.  Artists  began  '  to  paint  with  marbles  '  (marmoribus  pingere), 
and  to  imitate  this  painting  in  paint.  This  style  was  to  conquer 
the  Roman  world,  and  it  was  in  this  style  that  the  Christian  churches 
were  to  be  decorated. 

The  tombs  were  painted  with  figures  and  scenes :  but  look  at  the 
scenes.  The  art  is  no  longer  Greek.  Animals,  plants,  real  and  mythical 
persons,  can  only  be  compared  with  Parthian  and  Sassanid  monuments 
(pi.  XXX,  2,  3). 

Characteristic,  also,  of  the  Bosphoran  tombs,  are  the  coffins,  boxes, 
and  other  objects  of  wood.  The  finest  specimens  may  have  been 
brought  from  Asia  or  Syria,  although  it  is  not  very  likely.  But  even 
if  they  were  imported,  these  objects  will  always  have  a  singular  value, 
as  almost  unique  specimens  of  the  once  flourishing  art  of  marquetry. 
More  well-preserved  examples  have  been  found  in  South  Russia  than 
anywhere  else.  It  was  an  old  custom  at  Panticapaeum  to  bury  the 
wealthy  and  noble  dead  in  wooden  coffins  worthy  of  them,  carved, 
gilded  and  painted.    We  found  such  coffins  as  early  as  the  Spartocid 


i72       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

period.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Hellenistic  and  Roman  marquetry 
has  never  been  properly  studied.  Watzinger,  who  published  a  book 
on  the  subject,  says  hardly  anything  about  this  period.  It  is  interesting 
to  find,  in  the  Hellenistic  and  Roman  times,  especially  in  the  first 
century  b.  c.  and  the  first  A.  D.,  a  process  which  has  been  common  in 
the  East  down  to  our  own  day  :  the  insertion  of  ornamental  inlay  of 
a  different  colour,  in  wood,  glass,  stone  or  metal,  into  the  plain  surface 
of  the  wooden  object.  In  the  first  century  A.  d.,  sarcophagi  were 
hardly  ever  painted  or  decorated  with  figure  subjects.  Painting  is 
replaced  by  incrustation,  figure  subjects  by  geometric  and  floral 
ornaments.  The  old  fashion  was  revived  much  later,  in  the  second 
century  a.d.  ;  very  ugly  coffins,  decorated  with  plaster  or  clay  figures 
glued  to  the  sides.  I  do  not  know  the  origin  of  the  incrusted  sarco- 
phagi :  in  any  case  they  help  to  show  that  there  was  a  pronounced 
taste  at  Panticapaeum  for  rich  and  varied  polychromy  :  further 
evidence  will  be  furnished  by  the  jewellery. 

I  now  proceed  to  speak  of  Panticapaean  jewellery  in  the  Roman 
period.  The  Panticapaean  tombs  are  as  rich  as  before  in  gold  and 
silver  objects.  It  is  difficult  to  distinguish  the  local  jewels  from  the 
imported.  But  I  have  already  pointed  out,  that  the  existence  of  a 
school  of  goldsmiths  at  Panticapaeum  in  Greek  and  Hellenistic 
times  suggests  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  jewels  were  local  work 
and  not  imported.  From  the  second  century  B.  c,  what  distinguishes 
Panticapaean  and,  in  general,  Bosphoran  goldsmith's  work,  is  the  taste 
for  polychromy.  This  taste  is  already  very  noticeable  in  a  find  which 
is  certainly  as  old  as  the  second,  if  not  the  third  century  b.  c,  the 
sumptuous  tombs  at  Artyukhov's  farm  in  the  Taman  peninsula  ;  in 
graves  of  the  same  period  at  Gorgippia  ;  and  in  a  group  of  finds  at 
Panticapaeum,  which  cannot  be  enumerated  here,  but  which  date 
from  the  second,  perhaps  even  from  the  end  of  the  third  century  b.  c. 
Thenceforth  the  series  is  uninterrupted. 

I  spoke  of  the  taste  for  polychromy  in  the  last  chapter.  It  is 
general  all  over  the  ancient  world  in  late  Hellenistic  and  Imperial 
times,  but  the  South  Russian  finds  are  richer,  more  numerous,  more 
varied  and  more  ancient  than  any  others.  I  do  not  wish  in  the  least 
to  suggest,  that  the  polychrome  style  in  jewellery  arose  and  developed 
in  South  Russia,  and  spread  thence  over  the  Roman  Empire.  The 
love  of  polychromy  prevailed  throughout  the  classic  East,  in  Egypt 
as  well  as  in  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  and  the  Iranian  world.  The 
Orientalization  of  taste,  the  result  of  the  later  Hellenistic  period,  and 
the  participation  of  non-Greek  races,  eastern  and  western,  with  their 
love  of  brilliancy  and  pomp — observe  the  affection  of  the  Celts  for 


IN   THE    ROMAN   PERIOD  173 


polychrome  ornaments — in  the  civilized  life  of  the  Greco-Roman 
world,  led  to  that  change  of  psychology  which  has  been  well  charac- 
terized by  Alois  Riegl.  But  I  do  maintain  that  South  Russia  was  one 
of  the  centres,  in  which  polychromy  developed  early,  and  indepen- 
dently of  the  other  centres  of  ancient  jewellery  ;  and  assumed  special 
forms  which  brought  about  the  new  style  commonly  called  Gothic. 

Even  after  what  I  said  in  the  preceding  chapter,  I  shall  allow 
myself  to  return  once  more  to  this  question,  because  it  is  extremely 
important  for  us,  if  we  wish  to  appreciate  the  part  which  the  Bosphorus 
played  in  the  history  of  civilization  during  the  period  of  the  migrations 
and  the  early  Middle  Ages. 

The  characteristic  feature  of  the  polychrome  style  at  Panticapaeum 
and  in  the  Sarmatian  world — for  the  same  objects  are  found  in  both 
places,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  Bosphoran  workshops 
furnished  the  Sarmatian  world  with  most  of  its  jewellery — is  not 
merely  the  use  of  precious  stones  to  adorn  jewels,  or  rather  the 
predominance  of  the  stone  in  the  goldsmith's  art,  which  is  now 
principally  concerned  with  providing  artistic  settings  for  one  or  more 
gems  ;  but  something  more  important  and  more  distinctive.  The 
speciality  of  Panticapaean  and  Sarmatian  jewellery  does  not  lie  in 
providing  settings  for  precious  stones,  but  in  the  incrustation  of  gold 
objects,  in  ornamenting  the  surface  with  gems  and  cut  stones,  occasion- 
ally enamels.  The  surface  gradually  loses  its  independence  and 
becomes  no  more  than  a  field  for  incrustation,  for  the  production 
of  polychrome  effects.  The  goldsmith  uses  inset  gems  of  various 
shapes  and  sizes  ;  the  same  stones  cut  to  the  required  shape  ;  and  glass 
and  enamel  of  various  hues.  The  result  is  a  kind  of  carpet  made  of 
precious  stones,  in  which  the  scheme  and  arrangement  of  colours  is 
all,  while  the  form  of  the  objects  themselves,  and  their  geometric, 
floral,  or  animal  ornamentation,  play  hardly  any  part.  Polychrome 
effect  is  now  the  alpha  and  omega  of  the  Panticapaean  jeweller. 

This  tendency  in  jewellery,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  is  by 
no  means  new.  It  is  to  be  observed  in  South  Russia  during  the 
archaic  period.  The  Kelermes  find,  the  finds  of  Vettersfelde,  of 
Tomakovka  on  the  lower  Dnieper, of  theGolden  Tumulus  in  theCrimea, 
furnish  characteristic  specimens  of  this  Oriental  style,  in  which  enamel 
and  precious  stones  are  employed  side  by  side  to  enliven  the  surface 
of  gold  objects.  But  at  this  period  the  polychrome  decoration  was 
subordinated  to  the  form  and  ornamentation  of  the  objects  themselves. 
Towards  the  fifth  century,  this  style  disappears  in  South  Russia :  a  few 
survivals,  discreet  touches  of  colour,  occur  in  some  jewels  of  the 
fourth  and  third  centuries  :  but  these  are  exceptions.     The  style  as 


s 


174      GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

such  develops  in  the  East,  in  Iranian  lands,  as  we  see  from  the  Oxus 
and  Susa  treasures.  It  returns  to  South  Russia  with  the  Sarmatians. 
It  reappears  in  the  Orenburg  steppes  during  the  fourth  century  B.  c, 
and  influences  Panticapaean  jewellery  by  the  third,  witness  the 
Taman  and  Kuban  finds  just  described,  and  the  others  analysed  in 
the  preceding  chapter.  The  enamelled  sword  sheath  from  Buerova 
Mogilain  the  Taman  peninsula  (pi.  XXIV,  4),  the  round  brooch  from 
the  grave  at  Artyukhov's  farm,  the  gold  roundels,  dotted  with  precious 
stones,  from  Kurjips,  the  gold  openwork  mounting  of  a  vase  or 
rhyton  from  Besleneevskaya  :  all  these  lead  on  to  the  finds  of  the  first 
century  B.  c,  and  of  Roman  imperial  times,  from  Panticapaeum  and 
from  the  Russian  steppes,  in  which  the  polychrome  style  eventually 
triumphs,  and  incrustation  prevails  over  the  form  and  decoration  of 
the  object.  The  result  of  this  victory  we  have  already  seen  in  the 
finds  from  Novocherkassk  and  from  western  Siberia.  But  the  same 
phenomenon  may  be  observed  at  Panticapaeum. 

To  ascertain  the  true  nature  of  Panticapaean  jewellery  in  the 
Roman  period,  we  must  make  a  rather  closer  examination  of  certain 
very  characteristic  finds  which  have  often  been  quoted  but  never 
thoroughly  investigated.  In  the  first  century  A.  D.,  and  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  second,  the  tombs  of  Panticapaeum  present  almost 
the  same  picture  as  contemporary  tombs  elsewhere.  I  have  already 
observed,  that  the  citizens  of  the  Bosphorus,  notwithstanding  the 
progress  of  Iranization,  were  strongly  attached  to  their  Greek  nation- 
ality ;  the  objects  which  they  liked  to  take  with  them  into  their  tombs 
were  such  as  bore  hardly  any  local  stamp  :  those  which  did  were 
reserved  for  export.  In  the  second  century,  however,  a  profound 
change  takes  place.  Iranization  has  borne  its  fruit.  The  tomb 
furniture  comes  more  and  more  to  resemble  that  of  the  tombs  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Kuban  and  the  Don.  By  the  third  century,  one  might 
be  in  the  heart  of  Sarmatian  country.  These  tombs  can  often  be 
dated  by  imprints  of  coins  on  gold  funerary  crowns. 

I  shall  first  speak  of  three  exceptionally  rich  tombs  discovered  in 
1837  and  1841.  The  two  tombs  of  1841  were  stone  chambers  sur- 
mounted by  tumuli  :  the  third,  of  1837,  found  in  the  same  district 
but  under  another  tumulus,  was  a  marble  sarcophagus,  not  interred 
in  the  virgin  soil,  but  in  the  soil  of  the  tumulus  :  the  lid  of  the  sarco- 
phagus was  shaped  like  a  pediment  with  an  acroterion.  To  give  an 
idea  of  the  wealth  of  the  furniture,  I  shall  briefly  enumerate  the  objects 
of  which  it  consisted,  adding  references  to  the  publications.  In  the 
1837  tomb,  the  tomb  of  the  Queen  with  the  Golden  Mask  :  a  grave- 
mask  of  gold  (Antiquites  du  Bosphore  Cimmerien,  pi.  I)  ;    a  silver 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  175 

sceptne  (pi.  II,  5)  ;  a  gold  funerary  crown  (pi.  Ill,  4)  ;  a  pair  of  gold 
ear-pendants ;  a  gold  circlet  like  that  on  plate  XI,  6  ;  two  gold 
bracelets  (pi.  XIV,  4)  ;  three  gold  rings  (pis.  XV,  3  and  XVIII,  19)  ; 
a  simple  pin,  of  gold  ;  a  distaff  (pi.  XXX,  8)  ;  a  bridle  (pi.  XXIX, 1-7); 
a  red  leather  purse,  with  a  figure  of  a  bird  cut  out  of  leather  and  applied; 
two  small  fibulae,  one  of  gold,  the  other  of  bronze  ;  beads  of  glass 
and  of  cornelian  ;  a  gold  bottle  (pi.  XXIV,  25)  ;  a  number  of  garnets 
mounted  in  bezels  ;  a  gold  medallion  (pi.  LXXXV,  8)  ;  several 
hundreds  of  small  stamped  plaques  in  gold  (pi.  XXII,  1,3,4,  °>  22>  25  ; 
pi.  XXIII,  10-12  and  14).  A  great  quantity  of  silver  plate  ;  two  vases 
with  reliefs  (pi.  XXXVII,  1  and  2)  ;  another,  plain  ;  two  cups  with 
feet  and  without  handles  ;  a  large  covered  cup  ;  a  pyxis  for  cosmetic  ; 
two  spoons  (pi.  XXX,  3  and  5)  ;  a  round  plate  (pi.  XXX,  11).  In 
bronze  :  a  basin  (pi.  XLIV,  2)  ;  a  bell  (pi.  XLIV,  8)  ;  a  round  seal  ; 
two  small  bells  (pi.  XXXI,  1)  ;  a  small  pilaster  (pi.  XLIV,  15)  ;  two 
lion's  paws,  feet  of  a  vase  ;  remains  of  a  dagger,  and  of  a  knife  with 
a  gold  filigree  mount. 

One  of  the  stone  chambers  discovered  in  1841  had  a  stepped  vault, 
the  other  a  barrel  vault.  As  far  as  can  be  ascertained  from  the  drawings 
published  by  Ashik  (Bosphoran  Kingdom,  ii,  pis.  IV  and  V),  neither 
chamber  was  constructed  for  its  ultimate  occupant  :  they  were  both 
built  in  the  fourth  century  B.  c.  and  re-employed ;  this  explains  the 
discovery,  in  the  second  tomb,  of  a  painted  vase  with  reliefs,  of  an 
alabastron,  and  of  a  mirror,  which  belong  to  the  fourth  century  B.C., 
and  present  a  strong  contrast  to  the  furniture  found  in  the  coffin.  In 
the  first  tomb,  which  was  a  man's,  a  wooden  coffin,  plated  with  lead, 
was  found  intact,  and  the  furniture  complete.  The  furniture  consisted 
of  a  gold  funerary  crown,  a  counterpart  to  the  Queen  with  the  Mask's 
(A.B.C.  p\.  Ill,  3);  a  tunic  embroidered  with  gold  ;  a  sword,  a  long 
spear,  a  knife  blade,  with  remains  of  a  gold  mount,  a  dagger  (pi.  XXVII  ,7), 
a  whetstone,  a  bridle  like  that  of  the  Queen  with  the  Mask  (Ashik, 
Bosphoran  Kingdom,  iii,  fig.  209  a-e),  a  gold  plaque  (pi.  XXIV,  16), 
and  two  gold  imprints  from  a  coin  of  Rhescuporis  II  (a.  d.  212-29). 
The  other  chamber  contained  a  woman's  body,  also  in  a  wooden 
coffin  :  a  gold  funeral  crown  (pi.  Ill,  5),  a  necklace  (pi.  X,  3),  brace- 
lets of  gold  wire,  gold  lion's  head  earrings,  two  gold  rings,  one  set  with 
a  garnet,  and  the  painted  vase,  mentioned  above,  belonging  to  the 
fourth  century  b.  c.  (pi.  LVIII,  6,  2). 

I  must  also  mention  the  tomb  excavated  in  1910,  which  contained 
a  gold  crown  exactly  similar  to  those  in  the  grave  of  the  Queen  with 
the  Mask  and  in  the  man's  tomb  of  184 1.  If  we  look  closely  at  the 
three  tombs,  we  see  that  they  must  have  belonged  to  members  of  one 


176       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

family.  The  objects  certainly  came  from  the  same  workshops. 
First  of  all  the  crowns  :  the  crowns  of  the  warrior  and  of  the  Queen 
with  the  Mask  make  a  pair,  and  the  workmanship  is  exactly  the 
same  :  the  representations  on  the  plaques  in  front  are  likewise 
pendants,  as  I  have  shown  in  a  special  article.  The  crown  in  the 
woman's  tomb  of  1841  is  of  the  same  work  as  the  others,  and  has  the 
same  square  plaque  in  front,  although  the  ornamentation  is  different. 
The  two  bridles,  the  Queen's  and  the  warrior's,  are  almost  identical  : 
the  same  badge-like  monogram  appears  on  parts  of  the  gold  plating  ; 
it  was  probably,  as  I  said  above,  a  kind  of  family  device.  The  gold 
circlet  of  the  Queen  with  the  Mask  closely  resembles  the  bracelets  of 
the  woman  in  the  tumulus  of  1841.  And  so  forth.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  three  tombs  belong  not  only  to  the  same  period  but 
to  the  same  family. 

The  date  of  the  tombs  was  established  by  Ashik  and  Stephani 
at  the  time  of  the  discovery.  The  tomb  of  the  Queen  with  the  Mask 
contained  the  famous  silver  plate  with  the  words  /WiXews  'Ptjo-kov- 
iropei  (='Fr)CTKovrr6pi.8os,  the  genitive  in  -a  being  common  in  the 
Bosphorus)  incised  in  dots,  and  the  indication  of  the  weight,  finally 
deciphered  by  Zahn  with  the  help  of  information  supplied  by  Pridik 
and  myself.  The  plate  belonged,  then,  to  King  Rhescuporis.  The 
date  of  the  king  is  fixed  by  the  monogram  engraved  in  the  centre  and 
round  the  rim  of  the  plate  :  it  is  composed  of  the  letters  antb. 
Instead  of  'Avt(l6xov)  fi(aaiXem)  which  would  give  a  date  incom- 
patible with  the  style,  Zahn  proposes  to  read  'Avr(a)veivov)  /3(acn\ews). 
I  entirely  agree  with  this  reading,  especially  as  the  monogram 
seems  to  me  to  contain  all  the  letters  of  the  name  'Avr(wveCvov)  or 
'Avt(o)V€lvos:).  The  Antoninus  meant  is  undoubtedly  Caracalla, 
as  Zahn  saw,  and  the  plate  is  one  of  the  regular  gifts  which  the 
Roman  emperors  presented  to  their  Bosphoran  vassals.  The  lady 
buried  in  the  tomb  of  1837  was  therefore  a  member  of  the  family 
of  King  Rhescuporis  II,  Caracalla 's  contemporary  :  perhaps  she  was 
the  king's  wife  and  died  before  him.  The  date  is  corroborated  by 
imprints,  found  in  the  tomb  of  1841,  from  coins  of  the  same  king. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  lordly  tomb,  though  built  in  the  fourth 
century  for  some  one  else,  was  the  tomb  of  the  king  himself :  his 
second  wife  or  his  concubine  being  buried  beside  him.  I  have  laid 
stress  upon  this  date,  because  Kubitschek  has  recently  questioned 
it  ;  he  wishes  to  assign  the  three  tombs  to  a  much  later  period,  the 
fourth  century  A.  D.  His  arguments  are  extremely  flimsy  :  he  is 
clearly  anxious  to  confirm  his  own  dating  of  the  Siebenbrunnen 
tomb,  which  I  shall  discuss  later.     He  accordingly  attributes  the 


IN   THE    ROMAN   PERIOD  177 

Kerch  tombs  to  the  Gothic  epoch.  But  there  cannot  be  the  least 
doubt  that  they  are  pre-Gothic,  that  the  first  belongs  to  the  period 
a.d.  212-29,  and  the  two  others  to  a.d.  229,  the  date  of  the  death 
of  Rhescuporis  II  :  that  is,  some  decades  before  the  appearance  of 
the  Goths. 

The  furniture  of  these  tombs  is  astonishingly  similar  to  that  of  the 
Sarmatian  tombs  on  the  Kuban.  The  funerary  ritual  is  the  same,  the 
bridle  occurs  in  both,  and  the  objects  have  the  same  shapes.  Look  at 
the  gold  bottle,  which  recurs  at  Ust-Labinskaya,  at  Novocherkassk 
and  at  Olbia  (fig.  19,  1-2  from  the  Kuban ;  3,  from  the  grave  of  the 
Queen)  ;  the  characteristic  gold  garment  plaques,  regular  in  Sarma- 
tian tombs  (fig.  17) ;  the  bracelets  and  tores,  of  the  same  type  as  the 
Sarmatian  ;  the  distinctive  armour  of  the  king,  with  the  great  spear 
predominating ;  the  shape  and  decoration  of  the  dagger.  The  clasp 
of  the  necklace,  in  the  form  of  a  ram  ornamented  with  false  filigree, 
reappears  in  many  of  the  tombs  on  the  Kuban  :  the  type  of  bridle, 
with  rings,  is  the  same  ;  the  monogram  devices  also  ;  the  same 
technical  processes  are  used,  embossing,  and  pseudo-granulation  com- 
bined with  inlaid  stones.  Finally,  a  highly  developed  style  of  poly- 
chrome jewellery.  I  must  also  notice  the  striking  resemblance  between 
the  funeral  crown  of  the  lady  in  the  tumulus  of  1841,  and  the  crown 
from  Novocherkassk.  The  plaque  in  front  of  the  lady's  crown  is 
divided  into  nine  compartments,  which  are  decorated  with  embossed 
geometrical  patterns,  very  primitive  and  very  characteristic  of  Sarmatian 
art  as  a  whole  ;  seven  of  the  compartments  are  embellished  with 
inlaid  precious  stones,  three  of  which  are  chalcedony  cameos  of  the 
irst  century  A.  D.  The  Syriam  garnet,  with  a  female  head,  which 
forms  the  centre-piece  of  the  lady's  necklace,  may  belong  to  the  third 
century  and  may  represent  the  deceased  herself. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  polychrome  style  of  the  gold  objects  found 
in  these  tombs.  It  is  much  richer  and  much  more  highly  developed 
than  in  the  Kuban  finds,  and  vies  with  the  polychrome  style  at 
Novocherkassk  and  in  Siberia.  Stones  are  inlaid  everywhere,  even  in 
the  funeral  crowns.  Compare  the  gold  bottle  of  the  Queen  with  the 
Mask  and  the  gold  bottle  from  Ust-Labinskaya  :  the  Queen's  bottle 
is  thickly  studded  with  precious  stones.  Look  at  the  two  bridles  : 
embossed  work  like  that  on  the  crown  described  above,  and  precious 
stones  inlaid  all  over  it. 

But  there  are  two  other  features  to  which  I  would  draw  attention. 
The  king's  dagger  was  richly  ornamented,  like  the  knife  in  the  same 
tomb  and  the  dagger  of  the  queen.  The  hilt  is  coated  with  gold  foil, 
and  bears  the  same  monogram  device  as  the  bridle  :  it  is  studded 

2353  A  a 


178       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

with  carnelians  fixed  in  bezels.  The  flat  pommel  is  a  chalcedony  with 
a  gold  rosette  in  the  middle  :  the  rosette  is  enriched  with  enamel  and 
coloured  pastes  forming  a  mosaic  design.  The  same  combination, 
then,  of  proto-cloisonne  and  inlaid  stones  as  is  typical  of  the  Gothic 
style. 

The  other  feature  is  the  entire  absence  of  decoration  in  the  animal 
style,  which  we  found  abundantly  represented  in  Siberia  and  at 
Novocherkassk,  and  much  less  abundantly  on  the  Kuban.  The 
western  variety  of  the  polychrome  style  is  developing  before  our  eyes  : 
it  will  presently  start  from  Panticapaeum  to  conquer  the  world. 

It  has  always  been  recognized  that  the  Kerch  finds  which  I  have 
just  analysed  are  of  the  greatest  importance  for  determining  the  origin 
of  the  Gothic  or  Merovingian  style  of  jewellery.  The  close  affinity  of 
the  two  styles  is  undeniable.  No  one  will  dispute  the  significance  of  the 
conclusions  which  we  have  now  reached  :  first,  that  the  finds  analysed 
date  from  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  that  is,  from  the  pre- 
Gothic  period  ;  secondly,  that  they  are  connected  with  a  series  of  much 
more  ancient  finds,  which  we  have  every  justification  for  assigning  to 
the  Sarmatians,  and  which  go  back  as  far  as  the  fourth  century  B.C. 
and  form  an  uninterrupted  sequence. 

Let  us  now  return  to  Bosphoran  civilization.  The  tomb  furniture 
of  the  second  and  third  centuries  A.  D.  agrees  with  the  rest  of  our 
evidence  in  pointing  to  progressive,  almost  precipitate  Iranization  at 
Panticapaeum  and  in  the  Bosphorus  generally.  It  is  difficult  to  think 
of  the  family  tombs  of  Rhescuporis  II  as  belonging  to  persons  who 
spoke  Greek  and  called  themselves  Greeks.  These  persons  were 
Iranians,  Sarmatians,  with  a  veneer  of  Hellenism.  It  was  mainly  in 
the  second  century  that  the  transformation  took  place.  This  is  proved 
by  a  number  of  tombs  which  I  have  no  time  to  describe.  I  refer  the 
reader  to  Ernst  von  Stern's  careful  description  of  one  of  these 
monumental  chambers,  or  to  Ashik's  of  a  chamber  with  fourteen 
wooden  coffins,  one  of  which  contained  a  crown  with  an  imprint 
from  a  coin  of  Marcus  Aurelius  (a.  d.  17^),  and  a  number  of  typical 
Sarmatian  plaques  :  or  to  the  account  of  the  chamber  discovered  by 
Kareysha  in  1842,  which  is  dated  by  an  imprint  from  a  coin  of  Corn- 
modus.  He  will  receive  the  same  impression  everywhere  :  Hellenism, 
still  strong  in  the  first  century  a.  d.,  was  now  in  complete  decline  :  the 
Iranian  world  was  overwhelming  the  Greek. 

""It  remains  to  say  a  few  words  about  religion  and  worship  in  the 
Bosphoran  kingdom  during  Roman  times.  I  have  already  spoken  of 
the  power  wielded  by  native,  especially  Maeotian  cults,  in  the  Asiatic 
portion  of  the  Bosphorus  during  the  Greek  and  Hellenistic  periods. 


IN    THE    ROMAN    PERIOD  179 

I  have  mentioned  the  cult  of  the  Great  Goddess,  which  in  Greek 
disguise  continued  to  be  the  principal  cult  among  the  Greek  and  native 
population.  With  this  cult,  as  we  have  seen,  was  associated  that  of 
the  Great  God.  The  only  native  names  of  these  deities  which  are 
preserved  are  Sanerges  and  Astara,  names  which  remind  us  of  Hittite 
Asia  Minor  :  they  appear  in  a  Hellenistic  inscription. 

In  the  Roman  period,  the  part  which  the  Great  Goddess  plays  in 
the  coinage  of  Dynamis  points  to  a  resurrection  or  a  fresh  manifesta- 
tion of  the  ancient  beliefs.  I  pointed  out  that  the  old  sanctuaries  of 
the  Goddess  never  ceased  to  exist,  and  that  they  were  protected  by 
the  sovereigns  of  the  Bosphorus.  At  Panticapaeum,  as  everywhere 
else,  the  Roman  epoch  was  a  period  of  religious  syncretism.  But 
through  all  this  syncretism  the  Great  Goddess  preserves  her  dominant 
position.  It  is  true  that  Demeter  and  Persephone  were  chthonic 
divinities  above  everything  else,  and  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  them 
in  tombs,  as  defenders  of  the  dead  in  the  world  beyond  the  grave. 
The  presence  of  Orphic  influence  is  also  natural,  considering  the 
importance  of  Orphism  in  the  Roman  period.  Nevertheless,  it 
may  well  have  been  due  to  native  influence,  to  the  cult  of  the  Great 
Goddess,  that  the  scenes  depicted  in  the  tombs  are  taken  almost 
exclusively  from  the  Eleusino-Orphic  cycle.  At  the  period  when 
native  influence  in  the  Bosphorus  becomes  strongly  marked,  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries  a.  d.,  there  was  a  vigorous  revival  of. the 
cult  of  the  Great  Goddess  in  the  official  religion.  We  have  seen  that 
the  Great  Goddess,  the  patroness  of  the  kingdom,  appears  on  the 
reverse  of  nearly  all  Bosphoran  bronze  coins  from  the  third  century 
onwards.    At  Chersonesus  we  find  the  same. 

But  side  by  side  with  the  worship  of  the  Great  Goddess,  the 
worship  of  the  Great  God  increases  in  importance,  and  is  coupled 
with  a  noticeable  tendency  towards  monotheism.  The  chief  divinity 
revered  by  the  official  colleges  was  the  supreme  God,  @eos  "t^io-tos. 
He  appears  in  the  barbarous  tomb  paintings  of  the  third  century  a.d., 
accompanied  by  orgiasts  engaged  in  ritual  acts.  It  has  been  proposed, 
on  the  strength  of  analogies  from  Asia  Minor,  to  attribute  this  cult 
to  the  influence  of  the  Jewish  and  Thracian  religions,  to  see  in  it  a 
syncretism  of  Sabaziasts  and  Sabbathiasts.  Ij.  is  true  that  there  was 
a  powerful  Tewish  colony  in  the  Bosphorus  by  the  first  century  a.d.  : 
it  probahly_came  from  Asia  Minor.  But  here  as  everywhere,  the~ 
Jewish  colony  kept  tcTitselt.  Hardly  any  Jewish  names  occur  in  the 
college  lists  :  and  yet  it  was  the  members  of  the  colleges  who  were 
the  principal  votaries  of  the  Great  God.  I  believe,  therefore,  that  in 
South   Russia  the  cult   of  the  ©eos  "Ttyio-Tos  was  related,  first  and 


180       GREEK    CITIES    OF    SOUTH    RUSSIA 

foremost,  to  the  cult  of  Sabazios,  the  supreme  god  of  the  Thracians, 
especially  as  it  has  recently  been  shown,  that  the  Sabbathiasts  them- 
selves had  nothing  to  do  with  Jewish  religion,  but  were  connected 
with  a  cult  of  the  Great  Goddess  of  Asia  Minor  and  her  consort.  The 
arguments  of  Schiirer  and  of  Cumont  fail  to  convince  me  that  the 
Jewish  beliefs  exercised  a  dominant  influence  on  the  Bosphorus  ; 
the  tendency  to  monotheism,  and  to  moralization  of  the  gods,  was 
general  at  the  Roman  period,  especially  in  the  East.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  figure  of  Sabazios  appears  in  the  Bosphoran  tombs 
described  above,  his  cult  is  found  in  the  Caucasus,  and  it  was  probably 
he  who  gave  rise  to  the  Bosphoran  coin  types  of  the  fourth  century  B.C., 
the  silen  and  the  satyr.  Moreover,  there  was  a  powerful  Thracian 
element  in  the  Bosphoran  population,  and  the  deity  who  has  most 
affinity  with  the  god  Sanerges  is  along  with  Sandas  of  Asia  Minor, 
god  of  wine  and  prosperity,  the  mystic  Thracian  god  Sabazios.  I  con- 
sider, therefore,  that  the  ©eos'Ti/ao-ros  of  the  Bosphoran  inscriptions,  is 
the  supreme  god  of  the  native  population,  a  syncretism  of  the  Iranian 
Ahuramazda  and  of  the  Thracian  Sabazios,  who  was  influenced,  in 
his  turn,  by  the  consort  of  the  Great  Goddess  of  Asia  Minor. 

In  conclusion :  our  study  has  shown,  that  the  Roman  period  was 
a  period  of  real  renaissance  in  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  and  in  the 
Greek  colonies  on  the  Black  Sea.  Under  Roman  protection,  Hellenism, 
which  had  been  almost  stifled  by  Iranism,  began  to  revive  and  to 
prosper.  But  Iranization,  undefeated,  returned  to  the  attack  and 
took  possession  of  the  Greek  city  life  in  all  its  branches.  The  Iranian 
world  exercised  a  powerful  effect  upon  the  political  and  social  life 
of  the  Greek  colonies,  upon  their  religion,  their  art  and  their  industry. 
By  the  time  that  Roman  protection  ceased  to  be  the  principal  factor, 
the  process  of  Iranization  was  almost  completed.  But  the.jusion  of 
^Iranism  and  Hellenism  did  not  involve  the  suppression  of  Hellenism  : 
it  was~a  true  tusion,  and  the"  outcome  was  a  mixed  civilizatioITTsf" 
singular  complexity  and  interest.  The  northern  tribes  who  mingled 
with  this  world  in  the  third  century  A.  d.,  and  who  had  long  been 
penetrating  into  its  midst,  were  faced  by  a  civilization  which  was  far 
higher  than  theirs.  They  naturally  learned  from  it  and  made  it  their 
own.  We  must  not  forget,  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  Sarmatians 
having  been  conquered  and  subjugated  by  the  Goths.  The  relation 
between  the  two  was  rather  that  of  co-operation  and  alliance  :  in 
military  matters,  the  Goths  were  the  stronger ;  the  Sarmatians  were 
the  cultivated  element.  The  result  of  this  fusion  will  be  made  clear 
in  the  next  chapter. 


VIII 

THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND  THE 
ANIMAL  STYLE 

MY  purpose  in  writing  this  chapter  is  not  to  compile  a  history  of 
the  polychrome  and  animal  styles.  The  task  could  only  be 
accomplished  by  a  specialist,  in  a  comprehensive  and  copiously 
illustrated  work  of  several  volumes.  My  own  task  is  a  much  more 
modest  one.  I  wish  to  indicate,  in  a  few  pages,  the  influence  exerted 
upon  Central  Europe  by  Greco-Iranian  South  Russia,  during  the 
formation  of  two  styles  which  are  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the 
historian  of  mediaeval  art  :  the  polychrome  style  of  the  period  of 
migrations,  and  the  animal  style  of  the  Germanic  North. 

Much  has  been  written  on  these  problems.  The  steps  in  the 
evolution  of  the  two  styles,  from  the  fourth  century  A.  d.  onwards, 
have  been  established  :  of  the  objects  which  exhibit  these  styles, 
especially  the  fibulae  and  the  clasps,  from  a  much  earlier  period.  The 
origin  of  the  styles  has  often  been  discussed.  There  are  several 
conflicting  theories  about  the  polychrome  style.  One  theory,  that  it 
is  of  purely  Germanic  origin,  is  almost  abandoned.  The  theory  of 
Oriental  origin,  proposed  by  de  Linas  and  Odobesco,  was  stated  in 
such  vague  terms  that  it  has  hardly  affected  the  discussion.  The  third 
theory,  the  most  widely  current,  is  Riegl's  :  he  attributes  the  appear- 
ance of  the  polychrome  style  to  a  general  change  of  taste,  of  stylistic  ■ 
feeling,  of  artistic  psychology,  in  the  Roman  world  of  Imperial  times. 
Certain  discoveries  at  Kerch,  which  I  have  not  mentioned  hitherto, 
gave  rise  to  a  modification  of  this  theory.  Ernst  von  Stern,  Ebert, 
Reinecke,  and  Kossinna  believed  that  the  new  feeling  was  particularly 
strong  at  Panticapaeum  ;  it  was  at  Panticapaeum,  they  maintained, 
that  the  Goths  encountered  it,  adopted  it,  and  created  the  polychrome 
style  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  they  carried  with  them  into  Central 
Europe,  altering  it  and  perfecting  it  as  they  went. 

In  the  study  of  the  animal  style,  Salin's  book  marked  a  new  epoch. 
Salin  made  a  thorough  study  of  the  evolution  of  this  style,  especially 
from  the  fourth  century  A.  d.  onwards  :   he  pointed  out  the  various 
stages  by  which  it  was  transformed  into  a  geometric  style,  taking  the  I 
fibulae  and  clasps  of  the  Germanic  countries  as  his  principal  guides. 


182     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

On  the  question  of  origin  he  is  less  explicit,  but  he  is  inclined  to 
think,  that  the  chief  motives  of  the  northern  animal  style  were  mostly 
borrowed  from  late  Roman  art.  I  cannot  discuss  all  these  theories 
here  :  I  shall  merely  adduce  certain  facts  which  may  prove  useful  to 
future  investigators. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  polychrome  style.  Polychromy  had  never 
died  out  in  the  East  :  and  from  the  Hellenistic  period  onwards,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  there  was  a  powerful  revival  of  polychromy  in  the 
Iranian  world.  A  similar  revival  took  place  in  Semitic  and  Egyptian 
quarters  at  the  same  time.  It  is  among  the  Sarmatians  that  we  can 
best  follow  the  revival  of  the  polychrome  style  in  its  Iranian  branch. 
Among  the  Sarmatians,  who  were  in  touch  with  the  Greeks  of  South 
Russia,  the  style  flourished  with  a  vigour  and  an  originality  unequalled, 
as  far  as  we  can  see,  in  any  other  part  of  the  Hellenistic  world.  All 
the  jewellery  becomes  polychrome.  Various  processes  are  employed  : 
cloisonne,  where  the  stones  are  enclosed  by  metal  partitions ;  open- 
work, where  the  coloured  substance  is  inserted  into  a  metal  network ; 
champleve,  where  the  stones  or  other  coloured  materials  are  let  into 
hollows :  the  first  is  the  usual  process,  the  others  are  less  common. 
Coloured  enamels  are  sometimes,  but  seldom  used  as  well  as  stones. 
The  variety  of  this  style  which  we  find  in  the  valley  of  the  Kuban 
is  more  sober  and  more  classical,  and  not  so  closely  connected  with 
the  animal  style.  In  the  valley  of  the  Don,  and  in  western  Siberia, 
the  objects  are  more  gaily  coloured  and  more  barbaric  :  the  poly- 
chrome style  takes  possession  of  the  animal  style  and  unites  with  it. 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  most  of  this  polychrome 
jewellery  was  manufactured,  for  export,  in  the  workshops  of  various 
Bosphoran  cities.  The  Bosphoran  artists  adopted  the  Oriental  fashion, 
and  used  it  to  decorate  the  particular  articles  which  their  barbarian 
customers  required  :  pieces  of  armour  and  of  horse  trappings  ;  glass 
and  metal  vases  ;  personal  ornaments,  such  as  crowns,  tores,  necklaces, 
bracelets,  metal-plated  belts,  fibulae  and  brooches,  garment  plaques, 
and  the  like.  In  the  Greek  towns  themselves  the  new  fashion  was 
slow  in  establishing  itself,  and  the  objects  in  the  polychrome  style 
are  almost  exclusively  imports,  probably  from  Greece,  Asia  Minor 
and  Syria,  where  the  same  period  saw  a  great  revival,  under  Persian 
and  Egyptian  influence,  of  the  polychrome  style  in  jewellery.  In  these 
imports,  the  principle  of  the  polychromy,  the  technique  and  the  whole 
spirit  are  not  the  same  as  in  the  articles  manufactured  by  Bosphoran 
artists  for  Sarmatian  customers :  the  Greco-Oriental  branch  is  more 
refined  and  more  moderate,  it  makes  more  use  of  enamel,  less 
of  coloured  stones.     But  from  the  end  of  the  first  century  a.  d., 


THE    ANIMAL    STYLE 


183 


certain  objects,  hitherto  peculiar  to  the  Sarmatians,  come  into  use 
among  the  Greek  inhabitants  of  the  Bosphoran  cities  :  and  these  are 
ornamented  in  the  characteristic  Sarmatian  manner.  Arms  in  the 
first  place:  also  fibulae.  Until  the  first  century  B.C.,  fibulae  were 
virtually  unknown  to  the  Iranians  of  the  Russian  steppes  and  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Greek  cities  :  they  now  become  more  and  more 
common  :  tendril  fibulae,  round  and  oval  fibulae,  animal-shaped 
fibulae,  and  so  forth.  From  the  very  beginning  they  are  decorated 
in  the  polychrome  style.  In  the  second  and  third  centuries  a.  d.,  the 
adoption  of  Sarmatian  customs  and  of  the  Sarmatian  style  becomes 
more  and  more  pronounced.  Thenceforward  it  is  not  only  in  Sarma- 
tian country,  in  the  steppes  of  Europe  and  Asia,  that  the  objects  in  the 
polychrome  style  prevail :  they  appear,  in  steadily  increasing  numbers, 
in  the  Greek  cities  as  well. 

I  have  already  mentioned,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  most  inter- 
esting of  the  second-  and  third-century  finds  at  Panticapaeum,  which 
bear  witness  to  the  change  of  taste  and  habits.  We  saw  that  the  tomb 
of  Rhescuporis  II  belonged  at  latest  to  the  year  229.  A  recent  find, 
which  has  been  acquired  by  the  Louvre,  and  which  I  hope  to  publish 
before  long,  contains  imprints  from  coins  of  the  Emperor  Pupienus 
(a.  d.  238),  and  consequently  belongs  to  the  last  decades  of  the  first 
half  of  the  third  century.  It  has  become  customary,  in  archaeological 
works,  to  consider  that  coins  comprised  in  a  find  possess  no  more 
than  a  relative  value  for  the  purpose  of  dating  the  tomb.  But  the 
special  circumstances  of  each  case  must  be  taken  into  account.  When 
discussing  the  tomb  of  Rhescuporis  II,  I  showed  that  the  chronological 
evidence  afforded  by  the  coin  imprints  was  perfectly  accurate.  So  in 
the  Louvre  find  :  I  cannot  think  that  if  the  tomb  were  much  later 
than  the  single  year  of  Pupienus'  reign,  it  would  have  contained 
imprints  of  his  coins,  which  cannot  have  had  a  wide  or  a  prolonged 
circulation.  Now  the  Louvre  find  presents  the  same  peculiarities  as 
those  which  are  dated  by  the  reign  of  Rhescuporis  II  :  the  same 
arms,  the  same  clasps,  the  same  system  of  polychrome  decora- 
tion. It  is  worth  noticing  that  it  includes  a  golden  fibula  of  the  same 
shape  as  the  fibulae  found  in  the  region  of  the  Kuban,  a  fibula  with 
flat  back  and  tendril  foot.  Throughout  the  third  century,  that  is  to 
say,  the  period  immediately  preceding  the  arrival  of  the  Goths,  we  have 
an  almost  continuous  series  of  similar  finds.  The  most  characteristic 
are  those  of  1874,  published  in  the  Compte  Rendu  for  1874,  PP-  x_xi> 
and  1875, p.  26.  One  of  these  is  dated  by  imprints  from  coins  of  the 
Emperor  Gordian  (a.  d.  238-44)  and  undoubtedly  belongs  to  his 
time ;  two  others  by  coins  of  Maximian  (275-307)  and  of  his  contem- 


1 84  THE    POLYCHROME    STYLE    AND 

porary,  the  Bosphoran  king  Thothorses  (278/9-308/9).  The  two 
latter  are  particularly  distinctive.  The  second  includes  an  iron  sword 
of  purely  Bosphoran  type,  silver  clasps,  and  beads  and  garment  plaques 
like  those  from  the  tomb  of  Rhescuporis  II.  A  great  number  of 
similar  plaques  were  found  in  the  tomb  dated  by  the  coins  of  Gordian. 
It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  down  to  the  end  of  the  third  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth,  the  civilization  of  the  Bosphorus  retained 
that  purely  Sarmatian  character  which  it  had  assumed  in  the  second 
century  a. D.  In  the  third  century,  just  as  in  the  time  of  Rhescuporis  II, 
the  majority  of  the  objects  from  Panticapaean  tombs  are  exactly  similar 
to  those  from  Sarmatian  tombs,  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d., 
on  the  Kuban. 

This  continuous  series  leads. directly  to  the  fourth-century  finds 
at  Panticapaeum,  which  are  no  less  numerous.  The  richest  and  most 
important  are  the  contents,  now  in  the  Hermitage,  of  two  tombs 
which  were  pillaged  about  1904.  They  can  be  accurately  dated  by 
two  dishes,  one  from  each  tomb,  which  were  gifts  from  the  Emperor 
Constantius  II  (337-61),  to  the  persons  buried  in  the  tombs  ;  also 
by  imprints  from  coins  of  Valentinian  I  (364-75)  or  Valentinian  II 
(375-92),  of  Sauromates  II  (174-210)  and  of  Gordian  (238-44). 
As  the  finds  probably  belonged  to  a  number  of  consecutive  burials, 
a  frequent  practice  at  the  time,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  assigning  part 
of  the  objects  to  the  third,  and  part  to  the  second  half  of  the  fourth 
century  A.  D.  Now,  in  the  nature  of  the  tomb  furniture,  these  finds 
do  not  differ  from  third-century  finds.  There  are  the  same  funerary 
crowns,  with  gold  medallions  taken  from  Roman  and  Bosphoran 
coins  ;  the  same  solid  gold  tores,  terminating  in  heads  of  fantastic 
animals,  eared  and  fanged,  with  a  long  squarish  snout  ;  the  same 
custom  of  burying  horse  trappings  with  the  dead  ;  and  so  forth.  But 
there  are  novelties  both  in  the  character  and  in  the  decoration  of  the 
objects.  The  shapes  of  the  arms,  especially  of  the  swords,  are  new :  new 
arms  are  introduced,  such  as  the  shield  with  egg-shaped  boss.  The 
fibulae  are  more  numerous,  larger,  more  massive  and  more  com- 
plicated :  the  types  remain  the  same,  but  the  forms  are  exaggerated. 
Lastly,  in  the  system  of  decoration,  the  predominant  process  is  the 
diversification  of  the  surface  by  means  of  garnets  cut  to  geometric 
shapes  and  surrounded  by  golden  cloisons  :  although  the  older 
practice  is  by  no  means  abandoned,  that  of  stones  inlaid  in  hollows 
and  surrounded  by  a  wire  in  pseudo-granulation.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  a  new  wave  has  spread  over  the  almost  wholly  Sarmatian 
culture  of  Panticapaeum.  This  was  unquestionably  the  Germanic, 
the  Gothic  wave.    What  did  it  bring  with  it  ? 


THE    ANIMAL    STYLE  185 

The  introduction  of  the  new  arms,  and  the  modification  of  the 
old,  were  certainly  due  to  the  military  and  conquering  spirit  of  the 
new-comers.  I  will  not  deny  that  they  brought  with  them  the  new 
variety  or  varieties  of  fibula,  which  they  had  developed  elsewhere, 
out  of  the  same  type,  however,  as  was  current  at  Panticapaeum,  the 
tendril  fibula.  Nevertheless  these  new  forms  of  fibula  were  now 
deeply  influenced  by  Panticapaean  art.  I  would  instance  the  intro- 
duction of  the  animal  style  into  the  ornamentation — the  use  of  bird's 
heads,  the  lion  fibula  from  Szilagy-Somlyo,  and  so  forth — ;  and  the 
constant  occurrence  of  fibulae  in  the  shape  of  animals,  such  as  were 
widespread  in  the  Bosphorus  from  the  first  to  the  third  centuries  a.d.  , 
But  I  see  no  novelty  in  the  technical  processes  of  the  jewellery,  or  in 
the  decorative  system.  The  Goths  adopted  all  the  processes  which 
were  employed  in  the  Bosphorus  before  their  arrival :  embossing,  false 
filigree,  cloisonne.  They  also  appropriated  the  polychrome  style  of 
decoration  with  all  its  rules.  Their  predilection  for  the  garnet  is 
nothing  new.  Before  their  time,  the  garnet  was  the  most  popular  of 
precious  stones  with  the  Sarmatians,  no  doubt  because  it  was  the 
cheapest  and  the  easiest  to  work.  Lastly,  the  development  of  cloisonne 
combined  with  cut  garnets  was  merely  the  natural  outcome  of  prin- 
ciples which  had  been  observed  in  the  Bosphorus  long  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Goths  :  witness  the  Maikop  belt.  It  must  also  be  noted, 
that  the  fourth-century  style  of  jewellery  at  Panticapaeum  was  not 
greatly  affected  by  the  animal  style  :  we  said  the  same  about  the 
western  branch  of  the  polychrome  style  as  a  whole,  the  branch  of 
the  Kuban  valley  and  the  Bosphoran  kingdom. 

The  fourth-century  finds  just  mentioned  are  by  no  means  isolated. 
We  have  several  of  them,  and  some  later  ones  as  well.  They 
are  not  confined  to  Kerch  ;  like  the  Sarmatian  art  of  the  previous 
age,  they  are  spread  all  over  the  Russian  steppes.  I  may  cite 
the  finds,  published  by  Tolstoy  and  Kondakov  in  the  Antiquities 
of  South  Russia,  from  Chulek  near  Taganrog  in  the  region  of 
the  Don,  from  Kudinetov  in  the  Tersk  province  in  Northern 
Caucasus,  the  great  fibula  from  Nezhin  in  the  district  of  Chernigov  ; 
and  the  excavations,  unknown  to  these  writers,  in  the  cemetery  of 
Suuk  Su  near  Gurzuf  in  the  southern  Crimea.    The  Gotho-Sarma- 

Itian  civilization,  therefore,  developed  uninterruptedly  in  South  Russia 
and  covered  the  same  area  as  the  Sarmatian.  Every  one  knows  that 
it  did  not  stop  at  the  frontiers  of  modern  Russia.    It  spread,  through 

I  the  region  of  the  Danube,  all  over  the  western  Roman  provinces  and 
even  over  Italy  itself.    Products  of  this  distinctive  art,  which  was  very 
closely  connected  with  the  Gotho-Sarmatian,  are  found  on  the  Rhine, 
2353  b  b 


186    THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

in  Merovingian  France,  in  the  English  county  of  Kent,  in  Spain,  and 
in  North  Africa.  The  carriers  of  the  art  were  certainly  not  the  Goths 
alone,  who  in  so  short  a  space  of  time  cannot  have  formed  a  class  of 
craftsmen  familiar  with  all  the  technical  details  of  this  complicated 
kind  of  jewellery,  but  more  than  any  one  else,  the  Hellenized  Sarma- 
tians  or  Sarmatized  Greeks  who  took  an  active  share  in  the  expeditions 
of  the  Goths.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  spread  of  the  new  style  was 
not  only  not  checked,  but  even  assisted  by  the  conquests  of  the  Huns  : 
it  is  well  known  that  the  Huns,  like  the  Goths,  were  accompanied  by 
Sarmatian  tribes. 

I  cannot  give  a  list  here  of  all  the  finds  which  illustrate  the  develop- 
ment of  this  style  in  the  various  quarters  into  which  the  Goths  and 
the  Sarmatians  introduced  it  ;  I  should  like,  however,  to  mention 
one  or  two,  to  show  the  stability  of  type  in  the  objects  which  we  have 
proved  to  be  wholly  and  exclusively  Sarmatian. 

A  special  position  is  occupied  by  the  celebrated  find  at  Petrossa 
or  Petroasa  in  Rumania,  to  which  I  have  made  several  allusions 
already,  and  which  has  been  sumptuously  published  by  Odobesco. 
I  cannot  deal  with  it  in  detail :  but  I  would  draw  attention  to  certain 
important  points.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Petroasa  treasure  contains 
a  number  of  objects  which  strangely  recall  the  Siberian  finds  and  the 
treasure  of  Novocherkarsk,  that  is  to  say,  the  northern  branch  of  the 
polychrome  style.  I  have  already  mentioned  the  gold  patera,  which 
reminded  us,  by  its  semi-classical  form  and  figures,  of  the  silver 
phalarae  from  Sarmatian  South  Russia.  I  would  lay  special  stress  on 
the  tendency,  in  both  groups,  to  give  the  gods  of  the  native  Pantheon 
a  classical  guise.  This  tendency  is  observable  in  South  Russia  from 
the  fourth  century  B.C.  It  never  leads,  however,  as  in  the  Roman 
provinces,  to  the  substitution  of  a  classical  for  the  native  deity.  The 
native  deity  preserves  his  attributes  and  his  individuality.  I  would  also 
point  to  the  similarities  in  technique,  and  in  the  forms  of  the  animals. 

Let  me  also  draw  attention  to  the  two  openwork  paterae,  with 
handles  in  the  shape  of  panthers,  covered  with  precious  stones  ;  and 
to  the  fibulae  in  the  form  of  eagles  studded  with  gems.  These  objects 
are  in  the  same  style  as  the  best  things  from  Siberia,  and  their  Oriental 
character  cannot  be  denied.  One  would  like  to  assign  them  a  fairly 
early  date.  Whatever  its  date  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  treasure 
of  Petroasa  is  closely  connected  with  the  finds  from  Siberia  and  from 
the  region  of  the  Don.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  can  ascribe  it  to 
the  Goths.  The  runes  on  the  tore  may  be  later  than  the  objects 
themselves,  and  the  whole  find  may  have  been  seized  by  the  Goths 
from  some  Sarmatian  or  Thracian  prince. 


The  new  find  at  Siebenbrunnen  in  Austria  is  of  a  different 
nature.  Kubitschek,  who  published  it,  recognized  the  close  affinity 
between  the  Austrian  graves  and  the  tombs,  already  mentioned, 
of  the  family  of  Rhescuporis  II.  Astonished  at  this  affinity,  and 
convinced  that  the  Siebenbrunnen  things  were  Gothic,  he  wished 
to  assign  the  Kerch  finds  to  a  post- Gothic  date  :  this  we  have 
shown  to  be  quite  impossible.  The  affinity  is  even  closer  than  Kubit- 
schek supposed.  The  little  gold  garment  plaques  from  the  Austrian 
find  are  of  exactly  the  same  shapes  as  the  Sarmatian  plaques  from 

■  tombs  on  the  Kuban,  at  Kerch,  on  the  Don,  and  on  the  Dnieper 
(see  fig.  17).  It  is  not  surprising  that  they  occur  in  the  Danube 
region  as  well.  The  gold  bracelets  terminate  in  the  same  heads  as 
the  tores  from  Orenburg,  from  Stavropol,  from  the  regions  of  the 
Kuban  and  of  Kerch.  The  mirrors  are  closely  connected  with 
the  mirrors  of  the  Kuban.  I  do  not  wish  to  discuss  the  date  of  the 
Siebenbrunnen  find.  But  whether  it  dates  from  the  fourth  or  from 
the  fifth  century,  it  is  nearly  allied  to  the  finds  of  pre-Gothic  South 

•  Russia.  I  do  not  see  why  the  Siebenbrunnen  graves  should  not  have 
belonged  to  a  Sarmatian  woman  and  child. 
Kubitschek  himself  noticed  the  kinship  between  the  Siebenbrunnen 
find  and  a  find  made  at  Valmeray  in  the  commune  of  Moult  in  Calva- 
dos (Normandy).  The  tomb  was  that  of  a  young  girl ;  it  contained, 
besides  a  fibula  decorated  with  inset  stones,  '  one  hundred  and  sixty 
small  gold  fragments,  weighing  37  grammes  in  all,  consisting  of 
linear  borders  forming  a  succession  of  triangles,  of  solid  triangles  with 
little  balls  at  the  angles,  of  rectangles  ornamented  with  three  raised 
lines  of  six  dots  each,  of  circles  with  a  ball  in  the  centre,  and  lastly  of 
double,  conjoined  triangles,  like  the  solid  triangles  already  mentioned, 
but  set  with  small  garnets  '  (E.  de  Robillard  de  Beaurepaire,  Bulletin 
de  la   Societe  cT Antiquaires  de  France,  viii  (1878),  p.  155).    These 

I  plaques,  like  the  plaques  from  Siebenbrunnen  and  from  South  Russia, 
were  undoubtedly  sewn  on  to  garments.  The  Norman  plaques,  then, 
offer  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  South  Russian  finds  mentioned 
above  (see  fig.  17). 

Others  have  been  found  at  Nordendorf  in  Germany,  according  to 
Brenner,  whose  references  I  have  been  unable  to  verify;    and  in 

I  North  Africa,  in  a  Carthaginian  tomb  of  the  Vandal  period  which 
I  hope  to  publish  before  long.  The  plaques  from  Carthage  have  the 
same  shapes  as  the  Sarmatian  plaques,  but  their  purpose  was  perhaps 
different :  they  may  have  formed  a  necklace. 
Half-way  between  these  finds,  which  go  with  the  Bosphoran,  and 
the  treasure  of  Petroasa,  stands  the  celebrated  find  of  Szilagy-Somly6, 


188     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

published  by  Pulszky  and  Hampel,  which  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the 
same  period  as  the  Kerch  finds  of  1904,  the  period  of  Valens,  Valen- 
tinian  and  Gratian.  Let  us  look  at  the  fibulae.  One  class  of  fibula 
is  enriched  with  cabochons,  which  are  set  in  cavities  surrounded 
by  granulation  or  false  filigree,  and  is  ornamented  with  granulated 
geometric  patterns — double  spirals  spectacle-shaped,  eight-shaped,  or 
triangular  :  the  whole  decoration,  therefore,  is  of  the  same  type  as  in 
the  Sarmatian  polychrome  objects.  In  another  class  of  fibula,  the 
granulated  ornaments  are  partly  replaced  by,  partly  combined  with, 
the  embossed  work  which  is  frequent  on  the  Kuban.  It  is  with  this 
class  that  we  must  connect  the  large  fibula  in  the  form  of  an  oval 
brooch  :  a  common  shape  on  the  Kuban.  A  third  class  finds  remark- 
able analogies  among  the  Sarmatian  objects  from  the  Don  and  the 
Dnieper,  and  in  the  treasure  of  Petroasa  :  the  most  characteristic 
specimen  is  a  fibula  with  the  body  in  the  form  of  a  couchant  lion, 
geometrically  stylized,  and  embellished  with  precious  stones.  The 
figure  of  the  lion  is  strangely  reminiscent  of  the  Scythian  animal  style 
pure  and  simple,  modified  to  suit  the  fashion  of  polychrome  decoration. 
The  tail  of  the  fibula  is  adorned  with  an  embossed  griffin.  Curiously 
enough,  the  incisions  on  the  lion's  body  are  extraordinarily  like  the 
incisions  in  the  field  of  the  plaque  from  Siverskaya  Stanitsa.  Still 
closer  to  the  Sarmatian  plaques  or  phalarae,  with  their  vegetable, 
animal  and  mythological  decoration,  are  the  boss-shaped  fibulae  : 
the  boss  is  decorated  with  two  embossed  friezes  of  animals :  the 
work,  though  barbarous,  is  exceedingly  like  that  of  the  South  Russian 
phalarae. 

Before  leaving  Szilagy-Somlyo,  let  me  point  out  another  queer 
coincidence.  The  gold  vases  of  Szilagy-Somlyo  have  triangular 
plaques,  studded  with  gems,  attached  to  their  mouths.  This  strange 
system  of  decoration  can  be  explained  with  the  help  of  Scythian 
monuments  :  the  rhyta,  of  horn  or  wood,  from  the  kurgans  of  the 
Seven  Brothers,  the  wooden  vases  from  Solokha  and  from  other  tombs 
of  the  same  group.  In  these  objects,  the  golden  triangles  fastened 
to  the  mouth  have  a  technical  justification :  in  the  Szilagy-Somlyo 
vases,  they  are  decorative  survivals  and  nothing  more.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  Szilagy-Somlyo  vases,  which  are  very  primitive,  were 
imitated  from  wooden  originals.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  orna- 
mentation in  triangles  reappears  on  the  well-known  drinking-horn 
from  Taplow  Barrow  in  Buckinghamshire,  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
a  work  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period. 

It  would  be  easy,  if  space  permitted,  to  multiply  these  comparisons 
between  Sarmatian  art  and  the  art  of  the  Merovingian  epoch.    To 


THE   ANIMAL    STYLE  189 

conclude  my  study  of  the  polychrome  style,  I  should  like  to  draw  atten- 
tion to  a  matter  which  has  hitherto,  I  fancy,  escaped  notice.  We  have 
followed  the  development  of  the  round  or  oval  brooch  in  Sarmatian 
art  (figs.  1 6  and  19) :  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  decoration  appeared 
to  be  the  combination  of  the  simplest  geometric  motives — circle, 
spectacle-shaped  spiral,  double  spiral  in  the  form  of  an  eight — carried 
out  in  granulation  or  in  filigree,  with  a  rich  polychromy  effected  by  the 
use  of  precious  stones,  transparent  or  coloured  glass,  and  enamels. 
Embossing  is  sometimes  employed  for  the  ornaments  instead  of  granu- 
lation. Very  few  specimens  of  these  brooches  have  been  found  in 
the  Roman  provinces,  and  such  as  have  been  found  are  comparatively 
late.  The  British  Museum,  for  example,  has  only  two  (Marshall, 
Nos.  2863  and  2864,  pi.  LXV)  :  they  came  from  Antarados  in  Syria, 
and  belong  to  the  third  or  fourth  century  a.  d.  We  have  seen  that 
these  brooches  are  common  on  the  Kuban,  where  the  earliest  go  back 
to  the  second  or  first  century  B.C.,  the  date  of  the  finds  at  Artyukhov's 
farm,  at  Akhtanizovka,  at  Siverskaya,  at  Zubov's  farm.  Now  just 
at  the  period  of  the  migrations  these  brooches  become  common  in 
Western  Europe :  we  find  them  in  Italy,  in  France,  on  the  Rhine, 
and  in  Anglo-Saxon  England.  In  England  they  are  confined  to 
Kent,  where  they  exhibit  an  interesting  and  original  development, 
and  are  characteristic  of  the  rich  civilization  which  flourished  there 
from  the  fourth  to  the  sixth  century.  Compare  the  South  Russian 
brooches  which  I  have  reproduced  with  the  selection  given  by 
Baldwin  Brown  ( The  Arts  in  Early  England,  iv,  pis.  CXLV-CXLVTI)  : 
particularly  the  Frankish  fibula  in  the  museum  at  Rouen  (pi.  CXLVII, 
2) ;  the  fibula  from  Kent,  formerly  in  the  Mayer  Collection  and  now 
in  the  Liverpool  Museum  (pi.  CXLVII,  1)  ;  or  the  Maidstone  and 
Dover  fibulae  (pi.  CXLVI,  1-2)  :  ornament  and  technique  are  the 
same  as  in  South  Russia.  Another  testimony  to  the  persistence  of  the 
types  created  or  adopted  by  the  Sarmatians,  and  to  the  wide  diffusion 
of  these  types  at  the  period  of  the  migration  of  the  Sarmatian  tribes. 

The  conclusion  which  follows  from  these  facts  and  these  com- 
parisons is  one  which  must  be  taken  into  account  in  all  future  investi- 
gation. The  polychrome  style  which  spread  over  Central  Europe  at 
the  period  of  the  migrations  is  totally  different  from  the  polychrome 
style  which  was  current  in  the  Roman  provinces  and  in  Italy  during 
the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d.  The  provincial  and  Italian  style 
has  nothing  to  do  with  South  Russia  :  it  is  the  outcome  of  the  Syrian 
polychrome  style  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  ancient  Celtic  poly- 
chrome style  on  the  other.  The  Syrian  style  aims  at  providing  a 
handsome  gold  setting  for  one  or  more  precious  stones,  the  Celtic  at 


II 


190     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

ornamenting  objects,  chiefly  bronze  objects,  by  means  of  coloured 
enamels  in  champleve.  This  brief  characterization  must  suffice  : 
but  I  would  gladly  be  corrected,  if  my  definitions  of  the  Syrian  and 
Gaulish  styles  are  beside  the  mark. 

The  aim  and  the  character  of  the  North  Iranian  polychrome  style, 
as  I  have  already  noticed,  are  quite  different.  The  problem  which  it 
sets  itself  is  a  more  difficult  one  :  it  endeavours  to  transform  the 
gold  or  silver  surface  into  a  field  for  colouristic  display,  for  a  symphony 
of  sheer  colour :  the  ground  itself  serves  merely  as  a  foil  for  the  stone, 
providing  a  shining  monochrome  frame  to  intensify  the  play  of  tints. 
Accordingly  the  technical  processes  which  this  style  prefers  are  the 
insertion  of  gems  or  cut  stones  into  cavities  surrounded  by  filigree ; 
the  arrangement  of  cut  stones  and  gems,  by  means  of  cloisons,  in 
geometric  patterns ;  and  the  instalment  of  cut  stones  and  pastes  in 
openwork  frames  of  gold. 

This  style,  which  originated  in  the  East,  and  was  highly  elaborated 
in  Iranian  art,  established  itself  in  the  steppes  of  South  Russia  and 
Siberia  during  the  Hellenistic  period  :  here  it  underwent  considerable 
modification  at  the  hands  of  Greco-Iranian  artists,  and  when  the 
Goths  came,  it  was  adapted  by  the  Sarmatians  to  the  objects  which 
the  Goths  introduced  into  South  Russia  from  their  northern  home. 

Down  to  this  period,  the  Iranian  polychrome  style,  developed  by 
Sarmatians  and  Greeks  in  South  Russia,  was  virtually  confined  to 
the  Russian  steppes.  A  few  specimens  were  brought  by  the  Sarma- 
tians to  the  Danubian  provinces.  But  when  the  Goths,  with  Sarma- 
tians and  Greco-Sarmatians  in  their  train,  poured  into  Central  Europe, 
and  spread  thence  to  Southern  Europe  and  Northern  Africa,  they 
took  with  them  the  Sarmatian  art  which  served  to  decorate  their  arms, 
their  fibulae,  their  garments,  their  vases  :  the  shapes  of  these  objects 
remaining,  partially  at  least,  Germanic.  Since  the  use  of  the  Syrian 
and  Celtic  polychrome  styles  was  already  widespread  in  Central 
Europe  ;  since,  under  the  influence  of  imports  from  the  Syrian  East, 
the  artistic  taste  of  the  population  was  turning  more  and  more  towards 
polychromy  ;  and  since  Europe  was  being  gradually  transformed  into 
a  group  of  states  in  which  the  dominant  classes  were  Germanic  :  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  whole  of  Central  and  Southern  Europe 
now  adopted  the  Irano-Sarmatian  polychrome  style,  and  substituted 
it  for,  or  combined  it  with  the  Syrian  and  Celtic  styles,  which  were 
much  poorer,  and  over  refined  for  the  taste  of  the  conquerors  of 
Europe.  Naturally  enough,  in  each  of  the  new  European  and 
African  states,  the  style  was  modified  and  associated  with  the  local 
art  :  varieties  of  the  polychrome  style  thus  arose,  the  Lombard,  the 


THE   ANIMAL    STYLE  191 

Vandal,  the  Spanish,  the  Frankish  or  Merovingian,  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
But  the  source  of  the  style  should  not  be  forgotten  :  nor  need  it 
astonish  us,  that  the  style  continued  to  flourish  in  its  original  homes, 
in  Sassanid  Persia,  and  in  South  Russia  ;  and  there,  perhaps,  with 
greater  splendour  than  anywhere  else. 

One  more  remark,  to  finish  our  sketch  of  the  polychrome  style. 
It  was  not  through  conquest  only  that  the  style  was  propagated.  It 
was  mainly  through  commercial  intercourse  that  the  polychrome 
style  penetrated  to  northern  Europe,  especially  central,  eastern  and 
northern  Russia  and  the  Finnish  and  Germanic  north  :  above  all, 
through  the  constant  communication  between  southern  and  central 
Russia,  along  the  great  Russian  rivers  ;  and  between  the  Germanic 
tribes  settled  in  Russia,  and  those  which  had  remained  in  the  north. 
Thus  the  northern  branch  of  the  polychrome  style  arose.  It  differs 
from  the  central  and  southern  European  branch  in  being  an  offshoot 
of  the  northern  branch  of  the  Sarmatian  style,  the  branch  which 
preserved  a  close  connexion  with  the  animal  style. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  animal  style.  Its  history  is  much  more 
difficult  and  complicated.  I  have  spoken  of  the  animal  style  several 
times  in  the  course  of  this  work  :  but  I  must  recapitulate  the  principal 
features  of  its  evolution,  to  make  its  development  in  South  Russia 
clear,  and  to  indicate  the  channels  by  which  it  made  its  way  into 
western  Europe.  Unfortunately  no  one  has  ever  examined  the  general 
evolution  of  the  animal  style,  from  the  artistic  and  historical  point  of 
view.  Special  aspects  have  been  dealt  with,  but  no  comprehensive 
study  exists.  Yet  I  am  convinced  that  without  such  a  study  it  is 
impossible  to  elucidate  the  many  complex  problems  which  are 
presented  by  the  animal  style  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

What  is  the  origin  of  the  animal  style  ?  Which  came  first  in  order 
of  time,  the  animal  style  or  the  geometric  ?  I  do  not  know  that  a 
definite  answer  can  be  given.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  evolution 
proceeded  on  the  same  lines  everywhere,  or  that  everywhere,  as  at 
Susa,  the  animal  style  preceded  the  geometric  and  enriched  it  with 
new  motives.  Without  committing  ourselves  to  ill-founded  theories, 
we  may  affirm  that  the  animal  style  is  very  ancient.  I  will  not  speak 
of  the  palaeolithic  period  :  but  as  early  as  the  neolithic  period,  it 
plays,  in  some  regions,  a  predominant  part  in  the  ornamentation  of 
clay  vases  and  other  objects.  The  classic  example  is  the  neolithic 
pottery  of  Susa. 

In  the  Copper  Age,  as  we  have  seen,  the  place  of  the  animal  style 
in  decorative  art  was  an  exceedingly  important  one.     We  find   the 


/ 


192     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

of  metal,  bone,  or  stone.  The  system  of  decoration  is  very  primitive, 
and  recalls  the  palaeolithic  system.  The  surface  of  the  object  is 
covered  with  naturalistic  figures  of  animals,  sometimes  broadcast, 
sometimes  arranged  in  horizontal  or  vertical  rows. 

In  Mesopotamia,  a  number  of  radical  innovations  were  made, 
which  introduced  certain  new  principles  of  decoration.  These 
principles  were  of  the  highest  importance,  and  have  remained  classic 
down  to  our  own  time.  Side  by  side  with  the  arrangement  of  animals 
in  series,  and  with  their  haphazard  distribution  over  the  surface,  the 
Sumerian  Age  in  Mesopotamia  employed  all  the  schemes  which 
afterwards  became  normal  in  the  animal  style  generally.  The 
heraldic  combinations  of  two  or  three  animals  ;  of  two  animals  and 
an  inanimate  object  ;  of  two  animals  and  a  human  figure  ;  or  of  two 
human  figures  and  an  animal.  The  combination  of  two  or  three 
animals  in  a  close-knit  group,  where  one  of  the  animals  may  be 
replaced  by  a  human  figure  :  the  favourite  scheme  being  that  of  a 
fight  between  two  animals,  or  between  a  human  or  divine  being,  male 
or  female,  and  one  or  two  animals.  The  contortion  of  an  animal  figure 
to  suit  a  given  space  : — crouching  animal  with  head  reverted  ;  couchant 
animals  forming  a  frieze  or  even  a  circle,  a  motive  taken  from  the 
cat  tribe.  A  continuous  succession  of  animal  figures,  so  that  the  space 
is  filled  with  a  close  network  of  animals,  one  attached  to  the  other, 
the  hunting  motive  being  the  commonest.  Lastly,  the  termination 
of  objects  by  figures  of  animals  or  animal  heads. 

Each  of  these  schemes  might  be  illustrated  by  a  number  of 
examples  from  the  Sumerian  period  :  I  shall  not  linger  over  the 
matter,  but  merely  refer  the  reader  to  Heuzey's  great  works,  and  to 
the  excellent  analysis  recently  published  by  Professor  Ludwig  Curtius. 

These  schemes  of  naturalistic  animals  were  accompanied  by 
another  very  important  innovation  :  the  introduction  into  decorative 
and  symbolic  art  of  special  symbolic  and  fantastic  creations  formed 
by  the  amalgamation  of  favourite  animals  of  the  period  with  each 
other  anoTsometirnes  with  human  beings  :  lions,  eagles,  snakes,  bulls, 
perhaps  sheep  and  goats  ;  mostly  winged.  It  was  thus  that  the 
popular  types  of  fantastic  animals  with  a  religious  significance  arose  : 
the  two  types  of  griffin — with  a  horned  lion's  head,  and  with  an  eared 
eagle's  head,  both  crested  ;  the  two  types  of  dragon — with  a  snake's 
or  a  crocodile's  head,  horned  or  not ;  the  well-known  type  of  the 
sphinx.  All  these  types  spread  far  and  wide,  eastward,  westward 
and  northward.  I  cannot  dwell  upon  this  subject  either.  I  must 
point  out,  however,  that  the  Sumerian  innovations  exercised  a  power- 
ful influence  upon  the  entire  ancient  world.    This  influence  can  be 


THE   ANIMAL    STYLE 


193 


observed  everywhere,  in  Egypt,  in  Hittite  Asia  Minor,  in  Babylonia 
and  Assyria,  in  the  Aegean  and  Mycenaean  world,  in  Cyprusand  in 
Phoenicia;  m  Fhrygia,  Lydia7~Cappadocia^  Paphlagonia,  Lycia,  in 
EtruriaTnd  m  Sardinia,  and  finally  in  continental,  island  and  colonial 
Greece. 

In  Greece,  the  style  flourished  during  the  archaic  period,  but 
gradually  gave  way  to  other  decorative  conceptions,  richer  and  more 
subtle.  It  persisted,  however,  in  the  East.  In  Assyria,  above  all, 
it  underwent  a  remarkable  development.  Assyria,  and  the  countries 
dependent  on  Assyria,  retained  all  the  schemes  mentioned  above, 
but  introduced  a  number  of  rather  important  alterations.  The 
animal  ornamentation  becomes  more  and  more  purely  decorative  : 
the  animal  figure  loses  all  reality,  and  comes  to  be  used  as  a  mere 
ornamental  motive,  like  vegetable  and  geometric  motives.  On 
Assyro-Persian  sword-hilts  in  the  Louvre,  and  from  Carchemish  in 
the  Ashmolean,  the  very  ancient  scheme  of  a  lion  devouring  a  goat 
is  reduced  to  a  lion  attacking  the  head  of  a  goat  :  the  next  stage  is 
the  gradual  transformation  of  both  lion  and  goat's  head  into  a  collection 
of  lines,  and  the  fantastic  combination  of  them  with  floral  ornament. 
This  is  but  one  example  ;  many  could  be  given. 

The  Iranian  world  was  strongly  influenced  by  Assyria  and  its 
civilization,  especially  in  the  first  millennium  B.C.  But  at  the  same 
time  it  certainly  had  a  civilization  of  its  own,  and  a  comparatively 
independent  art.  The  Iranian  world  probably  created  the  animal  style 
usually  called  Scythian.  I  shall  examine  this  style  in  some  detail,  for 
the  animal  style  nowhere  attained  so  high  a  development  as  in  South 
Russia  during  the  period  of  Scythian  ascendancy.  All  the  varieties 
of  the  Oriental  animal  style  are  represented,  the  most  archaic  as  well 
as  the  most  elaborate.  From  the  sixth  century  B.C.  onwards,  we  find 
objects  strewn  all  over  with  figures  of  animals,  such  as  the  axe  from 
Kelermes  (pi.  VIII,  i),the  stag  from  Kul-Oba,  the  fish  of  Vettersfelde  : 
objects  decorated  with  groups  of  fighting  animals  ;  heraldic  combina- 
tions ;  animals  and  groups  of  animals  forming  a  dense  network  which 
covers  the  whole  surface  of  the  object,  as  in  the  phiale  from  Solokha 
(pi.  XX,  3) ;  and  so  forth.  Several  of  these  motives  were  borrowed 
directly  from  Oriental  art,  others  were  transformed  by  Ionian  artists 
and  reached  South  Russia  in  a  modified,  Ionian  form.  By  the 
sixth  century,  three  main  currents  are  observable  in  the  animal  style 
of  South  Russia :  an  Assyro-Persian  current,  an  Ionian  current,  and 
a  current  which  may  be  called  Scythian.  These  currents  influenced 
each  other  and  gave  rise  to  hybrid  forms. 

The  purely  Scythian  variety,  the  only  one  which  is  used  to  decorate 
2353  c  c 


194 


THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 


horse  trappings,  though  affected  by  the  two  others,  preserves  a  pro- 
nounced individuality  and  is  always  readily  distinguishable.  The 
animal  style  was  never  so  purely  ornamental  as  in  the  variety  which 
established  itself  in  South  Russia  at  the  Scythian  epoch.  It  would 
be  an  embarrassing  task  to  catalogue  all  the  features  of  this  style  and 


Fig.  21. 


to  classify  all  its  variants.  We  notice,  first  of  all,  that  the  general 
tendency  is  the  same  as  in  the  classical  East.  The  animal  figure  is 
subordinated  to  its  ornamental  purpose  :  hence  it  is  often  treated 
arbitrarily  and  fancifully.  The  attitudes  are  sometimes  wholly 
unnatural.'  The  common  Eastern  motive  of  the  animal  with  reverted 
head  is  frequently  exaggerated  ;  the  hindquarters  being  turned  in 
the  opposite  direction  to  the  forepart  (fig.  21,  f,  h).    A  round  space 


THE   ANIMAL    STYLE 


195 


is  decorated  with  a  circle  of  lions  or  other  felines  :  a  common  modifi- 
cation is  to  make  the  animal  bite  its  own  tail  (fig.  21,  c).  Sometimes 
two  animals  biting  each  other's  tail  are  grouped  together  (fig.  21,  b). 
The  artist  is  quite  ready  to  cut  the  animal  into  pieces  and  to  use  the 
head,  or  even  the  flanks,  foreleg,  or  hindleg  as  a  separate  motive. 
The  favourite  heads  are  heads  of  birds  of  prey  (figs.  21 ,  e  and  22,  b),  lions 
(fig.  22,  f),  elks  (fig.  22,  A,  c),  reindeer  (fig.  22,  h),  wild  goats  (fig.  21 ,  d), 
boars,  wolves  (fig.  22,  d).  The  heads  or  foreparts  are  frequently 
grouped  in  pairs  or  in  triangles,  or  even  form  a  complete  wheel, 
oddly  reminiscent  of  the  solar  wheel  (fig.  21,  d,  e).  Heads  of  birds  or 
griffins  lend  themselves  particularly  well  to  fantastic  combinations. 
Remember  the  standard  from  the  Kuban,  in  which  the  bird's  eye 
plays  an  important  part  :  we  find  the  same  procedure  in  fourth-  and 
third-century  plaques  from  the  region  of  the  Dnieper  (fig.  21,  e). 
The  lion's  head  is  also  in  regular  use.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the 
bird's  heads,  griffin's  heads,  and  lion's  heads  are  reduced  to  their 
essential  elements  and  geometrically  stylized.  All  that  remains  of 
the  bird's  head  is  a  beak  and  huge  eye  ;  of  the  lion's  head,  the  ears, 
the  eyes,  and  a  vestige  of  the  muzzle. 

The  horror  vacui,  it  has  been  said,  is  strongly  pronounced  in 
Scythian  art.  Not  more,  I  should  say,  than  in  decorative  art  else- 
where. What  makes  our  objects  look  so  strange,  is  that  the  voids 
are  filled  almost  exclusively  with  animals  or  parts  of  animals.  The 
artist  likes  to  give  the  object  the  shape  of  an  animal  :  but  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  cover  this  animal  with  other  animals  or  parts  of 
animals. 

Still  more  peculiar  is  the  tendency  to  shape  the  extremities  of 
animals  as  animals  or  parts  of  animals.  Look  at  the  lion  of  Kelermes  : 
each  paw  has  the  form  of  a  lion  with  reverted  head  ;  the  tail  is  com- 
posed of  a  row  of  such  lions  (pi .  IX ,  1 ) .  The  heads  used  for  this  purpose 
are  generally  bird's  heads  or  griffin's  heads.  In  works  decorated  in 
the  Scythian  animal  style,  the  paws,  the  tail,  the  ends  of  the  horns, 
the  ears,  seldom  retain  their  natural  form  :  they  are  usually  trans- 
formed into  birds'  heads  (e.g.  fig.  22,  c  and  e).  In  figures  of  horned 
beasts,  stag,  elk,  reindeer,  wild  goat,  the  propensity  has  particularly 
free  play.  Oxen,  we  may  remark,  hardly  ever  appear,  sheep  rarely. 
The  style  looks  as  if  it  had  been  invented  by  a  race  of  hunters. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  choice  of  animals.  Side  by  side  with 
the  favourite  animals  of  Oriental  art  as  a  whole — the  cat  tribe,  espe- 
cially the  lion  ;  and  fanciful  creatures — we  find  others  which  are  not 
familiar  to  Greek  or  Oriental  decorative  art  :  reindeer,  elk,  wolf  and 
horse.     The  animals  of  the  Ionian  animal  style  appear  chiefly  on 


SI" 


196 


THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 


objects  which  show  strong  Ionian  influence  or  were  actually  made  by 
Ionian  artists. 

The  motives  of  the  Scythian  animal  style  are  sometimes  combined 
with  floral  motives,  especially  palmettes  (fig.  22,  A-c).  Still  more 
interesting,  palmettes  are  occasionally  made  out  of  purely  animal 
motives.  Here  is  an  elk's  head,  in  which  the  horns,  wildly  exaggerated, 
form  a  real  palmette  (fig.  22,  h).     Here,  a  stag  at  rest,  whose  horns 


Fig.  22. 


make  a  sort  of  floral  ornament  above  its  head  (fig.  21,  g).  So  in 
fanciful  animals  also,  for  example  in  the  griffin,  with  stag's  antlers, 
figured  on  fig.  21,  h.  Sometimes  the  bodies  and  heads  of  heraldic 
animals  compose  a  palmette,  a  kind  of  arabesque  in  which  the  bodies 
are  lost  and  only  the  ornament  appears  (fig.  22,  G — two  lions  ; 
fig.  22,  1 — two  stags)  :  at  other  times  the  palmette  is  composed  of 
the  heads  alone,  set  on  excessively  long  necks  (fig.  22,  f). 

I  cannot  enumerate  all  the  variations  of  the  Scythian  animal  style. 
It  would  be  well  if  a  complete  repertory  of  the  motives  were  compiled. 


THEANIMALSTYLE  197 

They  are  at  present  scattered  in  publications  which  are  not  always 
easily  procurable.  Moreover,  the  greater  part  of  the  objects  have 
never  been  published :  the  initial  task  would  be  to  collect  and  photo- 
graph them.    Hundreds  of  variants  would  come  to  light. 

The  variety  of  the  animal  style  which  I  have  briefly  described  is 
not  a  product  of  South  Russia.  As  early  as  the  sixth  century  B.C. 
we  find  it  fully  formed.  Historical  analysis  shows,  that  apart  from 
the  pieces  which  show  strong  Greek  influence,  this  variety  finds 
remarkable  analogies  in  the  contemporaneous  art  of  Iranian  Asia, 
and  is  thereby  connected  with  the  late  Assyrian  animal  style.  But  it 
also  contains  elements  which  are  northern  rather  than  eastern.  The 
elk  and  the  reindeer  are  entirely  foreign  to  Mesopotamian  and  Persian 
art.  The  appearance  of  the  northern  element  has  been  accounted 
for  by  supposing  that  the  style  arose  in  western  Siberia,  in  the  region 
of  Minussinsk.  True,  that  in  this  region,  from  the  Bronze  Age 
onwards,  we  find  a  similar  style.  But  first,  the  Minussinsk  style 
shows  no  signs  of  evolution  :  it  remains  almost  stationary,  and  is 
much  poorer  in  motives  than  the  Scythian  animal  style.  And 
secondly,  the  Siberian  style,  though  very  awkward,  clumsy  and  rude, 
is  by  no  means  primitive.  It  is  a  decadent  and  a  derivative  style.  It 
bears  marks  of  Assyrian  influence,  but  this  influence  was  indirect  : 
the  Assyrian  elements  reached  Siberia  through  another  medium,  and 
were  distorted  before  they  arrived. 

The  only  theory,  which  really  accounts  for  the  genesis  of  the 
Scythian  animal  style,  places  its  origin  in  a  country  which  roughly 
corresponds  to  modern  Turkestan,  but  which  also  comprises  the 
mountain  region  of  Altai,  rich  in  metals,  where  tombs  have  been 
discovered  which  resemble  those  on  the  Kuban.  It  was  here  that 
an  Iranian  people,  the  Sacians,  in  constant  intercourse  with  Assyria, 
formed  the  animal  style  which  they  afterwards  brought  with  them  to 
South  Russia. 

The  theory  of  the  Central  Asiatic  origin  of  the  South  Russian 
animal  style  is'  not  new.  But  I  have  found  no  definite  proof  of  the 
theory  in  any  work  on  the  subject.  Such  a  proof,  as  far  as  I  can 
judge,  is  furnished  by  the  following  considerations.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  animal  style,  in  conjunction  with  the  geometric,  forms  the 
basis  of  the  ornamental  style  of  the  earlier  Chinese  art.  The  early 
system  of  ornamental  art  in  China  is  a  topic  which  I  cannot  discuss 
at  length  :  I  have  devoted  a  special  article  to  it :  '  South  Russia  and 
China,  two  centres  of  the  animal  style '.  But  I  should  like  to  lay 
stress  upon  certain  peculiarities  of  earlier  Chinese  art  which,  as  far 
as  I  know,  have  never  been  properly  emphasized.    By  earlier  Chinese 


198     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

art  I  mean  the  art  of  the  Chu  dynasty  (1122-250  b.  c).  From  the 
mass  of  archaic  Chinese  objects,  many  scholars  have  tried  to  separate 
a  group  of  monuments  earlier  than  the  Chu  dynasty.  But  there  is 
no  possibility  of  dating  these  objects,  as  no  systematic  excavation 
has  ever  been  conducted  in  China,  and  the  Chu  dynasty  is  our  only 
landmark.  This  matter,  however,  is  of  little  importance  to  us,  for 
the  system  of  decoration  in  the  earlier  group  coincides,  in  the  main 
points,  with  the  system  of  the. Chu  dynasty. 

The  chief  fact  which  issues  from  the  study  of  early  Chinese  art 
is  this.  Even  in  the  earlier  monuments,  we  find  a  definite,  well 
characterized  system  of  decoration  :  a  combination  of  decoration 
in  the  animal,  and  in  the  geometric  style.  Which  is  the  more  ancient 
we  do  not  know.  The  basis  of  the  decorative  system  is  of  course 
the  animal  style.  But  the  closest  study  of  the  monuments  fails  to 
establish  the  priority  of  the  one  or  the  other  style.  All  that  can  be 
proved  is  that  the  animal  decoration  cannot  be  traced  back  to  the 
geometric.  Let  me  now  describe  briefly  the  peculiarities  of  the 
Chinese  animal  style. 

(1)  The  principle  of  decoration  consists  in  a  combination  of  motives 
of  the  animal  and  of  the  geometric  style,  the  animal  motives  forming 
the  foundation.  The  geometric  motives — mostly  combinations  of 
ribbons — serve  to  connect  the  animal  motives,  and  assume  very 
primitive  forms,  mostly  primitive  spiral  and  maeander  patterns. 
The  ribbons  often  end  in  heads  of  animals.    . 

(2)  The  scale  of  the  animal  motives  does  not  greatly  vary.  Com- 
plete figures  of  naturalistic  animals  are  exceptional  :  half-stylized 
tigers,  fishes  and  perhaps  snakes. 

(3)  The  leading  part  in  the  ornamental  system  is  played  by 
fantastic,  symbolical  animals  of  four  types  :  (a)  a  griffin  with  a  horned 
lion's  head,  the  head  being  usually  adorned  with  a  crest  ;  (b)  a  griffin 
with  an  eagle's  head,  the  head  being  eared  and  crested  ;  (c)  a  dragon 
or  snake-griffin,  with  the  head  horned,  toothed,  sometimes  eared, 
and  sometimes  crested  ;  (d)  the  same  dragon,  but  hornless.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  these  types  were  not  invented  in  China.  All 
four,  as  we  know,  were  favourite  types  in  Babylono-Assyrian  art, 
which  had  inherited  them  from  Sumerian  art.  It  is  impossible  to 
suppose  that  such  peculiar  creations  were  invented  independently 
by  Sumerians  and  later  by  Chinese  :  for  we  find  very  primitive 
forms  of  these  fantastic  beings  in  Sumer,  and  the  lion,  for  example, 
was  quite  unknown  to  Chinese  art  throughout  the  period  of  the 
Chu  dynasty. 

(4)  Complete  figures  of  animals,  whether  realistic,  like  the  tiger, 


THE   ANIMAL    STYLE 


199 


or  fantastic,  are  rare.     The  chief  basis  of  Chinese  decoration  is 
constituted  by  parts  of  these  animals,  especially  heads. 

(5)  The  heads  are  used  both  in  naturalistic  reproduction,  giving 
all  the  details,  and  in  geometric  schematizations,  where  the  heads 
are  reduced  to  their  most  characteristic  and  most  prominent  features. 
The  head  of  the  lion-griffin  appears  as  a  combination  of  geometrized 
crest,  horns,  eyebrows,  eyes,  ears,  and  muzzle  ;  the  head  of  the 
eagle-griffin  as  a  combination  of  beak  and  eyes,  both  occasionally 
assuming  the  form  of  a  primitive  spiral ;  the  tiger-head  is  reduced 
to  the  same  elements  as  the  lion-griffin's  head,  excepting  the  crest 
and  the  horns.  I  need  not  remind  the  reader  that  these  peculiarities 
are  the  peculiarities  of  the  Scythian  animal  style  as  well  :  compare 
the  pole-top  from  Ulski  on  the  Kuban  (pi.  X,  1). 

(6)  Just  as  in  the  Scythian  animal  style,  the  eyes  and  beak  of  an 
eagle-griffin  are  very  commonly  used  to  replace  the  extremities  of 
parts  of  an  animal  body. 

(7)  The  various  bronze  vases,  which  are  the  most  characteristic 
products  of  Chinese  art  under  the  Chu  dynasty,  very  often  take  the 
shape  of  the  fantastic  animals  mentioned  above,  or  of  a  combination 
of  such  animals. 

I  will  not  support  my  definition  of  the  main  features  of  Chinese 
art  in  the  Chu  dynasty  by  references  to  particular  monuments.  A 
glance  at  the  illustrations  in  Munsterberg's  history  of  Chinese  art 
will  suffice.  But  I  should  like  to  describe  one  of  the  most  character- 
istic and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  richest  and  most  elaborate  examples 
of  the  animal  style  in  China,  the  beautiful  bronze  vase  in  the  collection 
of  Mrs.  E.  Meyer  at  New  York,  which  is  at  present  exhibited  on 
loan  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  and  which  is  reproduced,  with 
the  owner's  kind  permission,  on  pi.  XXXI,  1.  A  vase  which  is  almost 
a  pendant  of  Mrs.  Meyer's  is  in  a  private  collection  in  Japan ;  it  is 
reproduced,  insufficiently,  by  Miinsterberg  in  his  Geschichte  der 
Chinesischen  Kunst,  ii.  132,  fig.  204. 

The  vase  takes  the  form  of  six  combined  foreparts  of  fantastic 
animals.  The  upper  part  of  the  front  of  the  vase  consists  of  the  head 
and  neck  of  a  lion-griffin  with  sheep's  horns  ;  the  lower  part,  of  the 
head,  crest  and  forelegs  of  an  eagle-griffin,  the  head  being  reduced 
to  the  beak,  the  big  eyes,  which  are  shaped  like  spirals,  the  ears  and 
the  crest.  The  legs  are  those  of  an  eagle  and  cover  the  forelegs  of 
the  vase.  The  surface  of  the  vase  is  covered  on  both  sides  with  three 
figures  of  dragons,  the  bodies  of  which  are  shaped  like  broad  ribbons 
and  form  primitive  maeanders.  Under  the  back  of  the  eagle-griffin 
we  notice  the  wing  and  leg  of  an  eagle-griffin.    The  cover  of  the  vase, 


200     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

that  is,  the  back  of  the  horned  lion-griffin,  is  adorned  with  realistic 
figures  of  beasts — two  tigers  turned  to  the  left,  with  reverted  heads, 
two  fishes  and  two  snakes  (?).  The  back  of  the  vase  and  the  handle 
each  consist  of  two  superposed  foreparts  of  fantastic  animals.  The 
back  shows  two  superposed  heads  :  the  head  of  a  lion-griffin  with 
horns  in  the  form  of  two  fishes,  heraldically  arranged  ;  and  another, 
more  geometrical  head  of  the  same,  with  enormous  eyes,  ears  and 
horns.  The  hindlegs  of  the  vase  have  the  form  of  two  geometrized 
human  figures.  The  handle  consists  of  a  tiger's  head  issuing  from 
the  mouth  of  the  lion-griffin's  head  which  constitutes  the  upper  part 
of  the  back  of  the  vase  :  the  mouth  of  this  tiger's  head  holds  the 
lower  part  of  the  handle — the  forepart  of  a  dragon  with  two  legs  in 
the  form  of  human  legs  with  two  large  eyes.  The  whole  surface  of 
the  vase  is  covered  with  a  net  of  minute  geometric  ornaments  in  the 
form  of  spirals  and  maeanders. 

The  vase  is  truly  a  strange  combination,  a  rich  symphony  of  motives 
of  the  animal  style.  But  to  us,  who  have  studied  the  Scythian  animal 
style,  there  is  nothing  in  it  unfamiliar.  Objects  in  the  form  of  beasts' 
heads  are  common  in  Scythia  :  common  also  the  geometrization  of 
the  heads,  the  tendency  to  cover  the  surface  of  the  objects  with 
figures  of  other  animals,  the  predilection  for  the  symbolic  animals 
of  the  Assyro-Babylonian  repertory,  the  idea  of  giving  the  parts  of 
an  animal  the  form  of  other  animals  (compare  the  fishes  on  our  vase 
with  the  fishes  which  make  the  wings  of  the  fantastic  creatures  on 
the  scabbards  from  Kelermes  and  Melgunov's  barrow,  pi.  VIII,  2), 
the  use  of  parts  of  the  body  for  separate  ornaments  (the  wings  on  the 
Maikop  belt,  pi.  XXV,  1  ;  compare  the  Chinese  vase,  of  the  same 
type  and  time  as  Mrs.  Meyer's,  in  a  Japanese  collection,  Miinsterberg, 
ii,  p.  132,  fig.  203)  ;  and  so  forth. 

I  would  draw  attention  to  one  more  feature  of  the  Chinese  animal 
style,  not  represented  in  the  New  York  vase,  but  common  both  on 
Chinese  vases  of  the  Chu  dynasty  and  in  the  Scythian  animal  style. 
I  refer  to  the  combination  of  floral  and  animal  motives,  that  is,  the 
treatment  of  the  extremities  of  animal  and  parts  of  animals  as  quasi- 
floral  patterns,  often  combined  with  eagles'  beaks  and  eyes. 

These  striking  coincidences  between  the  Scythian  and  the  Chinese 
animal  style  cannot  be  accidental.  The  fact  that  motives  borrowed 
from  Assyro-Babylonian  art  are  paramount  in  both  speaks  for  itself. 
I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  both  countries  received  the  animal 
style  from  a  common  source  :  I  mean  Iranian  Central  Asia.  The 
Chinese  adopted  the  elements  of  this  style,  dealt  with  them  freely, 
in  accordance  with  their  artistic  temperament,  and  formed  a  new 


THEANIMALSTYLE  201 

and  peculiar  decorative  style  :  the  Scythians  developed  their  style 
in  close  connexion  with  Persian  and  Greek  art.  This  explains  why 
the  two  styles,  in  their  final  shape,  are  utterly  different.  But  their 
common  origin  is  evident.  We  shall  see  later  a  repetition  of  the 
phenomenon  in  the  China  of  the  Hellenistic  epoch — the  period  of  the 
Han  dynasty. 

The  Scythian  animal  style  endured  for  centuries  in  South  Russia. 
It  came  under  various  influences,  especially  Greek  influence ;  and 
developed  in  several  directions  of  its  own  accord.  There  were  two 
branches  of  the  style  in  South  Russia.  One,  the  eastern,  clung  to 
the  old  traditions  and  produced  interesting  developments  of  them. 
This  branch  probably  maintained  regular  relations  with  Central  Asia, 
the  original  home  of  the  Scythian  animal  style.  This  is  shown  by 
recent  finds  on  the  Kuban,  those  of  the  '  Seven  Brothers  '  and  of 
the  barrows  at  Elisavetinskaya,  which  belong  to  the  fifth  or  fourth 
century  B.C.  It  was  this  branch  which  devised  the  ingenious  motives 
of  the  horns  and  the  animal  palmettes,  and  which  adapted  the  heraldic 
pair  of  animals  for  the  purpose  of  ornament.  Nothing  of  the  sort 
is  to  be  found  in  the  western  portion  of  the  Scythian  state,  on  the 
Dnieper  and  the  Bug,  during  the  period  of  its  prime,  the  fourth  and 
third  centuries  B.C.  In  western  Scythia  the  animal  style  was  by 
this  time  moribund  :  proof  meets  us  at  every  turn  :  there  are  no 
new  forms,  no  token  of  creative  power,  nothing  but  dry  repetitions 
of  ancient  designs.  Take  for  example  the  gold-plated  sword-sheath 
from  Solokha.  The  native  artist  has  chosen  the  ancient  motive  of 
the  lion  devouring  the  deer,  in  its  Ionian  form.  But  see  how  he  has 
treated  it  :  the  lion  has  become  a  mere  conglomeration  of  strokes, 
without  modelling  and  without  plastic  value  ;  the  deer,  like  the  earlier 
deer  in  Persian  art,  is  reduced  to  a  schematic  head.  The  decadence 
is  complete.    And  so  in  thousands  of  other  objects. 

The  Sarmatians,  who  succeeded  the  Scythians,  adopted  and  culti- 
vated the  animal  style.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  they  borrowed  it 
from  their  predecessors  or  not.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Sarmatian 
style  shows  a  fondness  for  motives  which  are  by  no  means  favourites 
in  the  true  Scythian  animal  style,  the  style  which  was  uninfluenced 
by  Ionian  art.  The  Sarmatian  repertory  consists  chiefly  of  fights 
between  animals,  and  of  separate  animals,  naturalistically  rendered, 
arranged  in  rows  and  sometimes  grouped  with  human  beings.  There 
is  also  a  tendency,  in  the  Siberian  examples,  to  place  the  animals  and 
men  in  a  landscape  setting,  a  tendency  foreign  to  the  Scythian  style, 
which  is  essentially  ornamental.  The  inference  is  that  the  Sarmatians 
brought  with  them  a  stock  of  animal  motives  which  differed  from  the 
2353  D  d 


202 


THE   POLYCHROME    STYLE   AND 


Scythian  stock,  and  which  had  been  constituted  under  the  influence 
of  a  Hellenized  Oriental  art.  The  nearest  analogy  is  the  art  of  Parthia 
and  Sassanid  Persia. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  probable  that  the  development  of  the 
Sarmatian  animal  style  was  strongly  influenced  by  Scythian  art  : 
for  the  Sarmatians  took  over  most  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Scythian 
style,  and  adapted  them  to  their  own  cherished  and  traditional  motives. 
In  the  Sarmatian  style,  as  in  the  Scythian,  we  find  animal  extremities 
formed  as  heads  or  figures  of  animals  ;  horns  converted  into  ornament ; 
contorted  animals  ;  and  so  forth  ;  in  the  Siberian  group,  a  predilection 
also  for  northern  fauna. 

All  these  considerations  lead  me  to  suppose,  that  the  Sarmatian 
animal  style  originated  in  a  stock  of  motives  brought  by  the  Sarma- 
tians from  their  old  home  ;  and  that  the  style  developed  under  the 
influence  of  the  Scythian  animal  style,  in  particular  of  its  northern 
and  eastern  branch,  the  branch  which  we  know  from  the  monuments 
of  the  Kuban  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of  Minussinsk  and  the  Altai 
mountains  on  the  other. 

A  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Sarmatian  animal  style  is  its 
polychromy.  The  Scythian  animal  style  is  almost  entirely  mono- 
chrome. We  have  already  spoken  of  Sarmatian  polychromy,  and 
need  not  discuss  it  here.  It  is  possible  that  polychromy  formed  an 
integral  part  of  the  Sarmatian  animal  style  from  the  outset. 

We  noticed  above  that  there  were  two  branches  of  Sarmatian 
jewellery  :  the  southern,  on  the  Kuban  and  in  the  state  of  the  Bos- 
phorus  ;  and  the  northern,  on  the  Don  and  in  Siberia.  It  was  the 
northern  branch  which  cultivated  the  animal  style,  of  which  there 
are  only  vestiges  in  the  southern  branch.  These  vestiges  it  carried 
with  it  into  western  Europe,  in  particular  the  use  of  birds'  heads  for 
ornament.  Birds'  heads,  as  we  know,  played  an  important  part  in 
the  so-called  Merovingian  and  Gothic  style  of  jewellery.  The  Scytho- 
Sarmatian  animal  style  left  a  few  other  traces  in  the  '  Gothic  '  jewellery 
of  the  West.  For  example,  the  combinations  of  birds'  heads,  the 
friezes  of  crouching  animals,  and  the  like.  More  significant,  but  more 
difficult  to  determine,  is  the  influence  of  the  northern  branch  of 
Scytho- Sarmatian  jewellery,  the  branch  which  preserved  its  love  for 
the  animal  style. 

I  spoke  of  the  northern  branch  in  my  sixth  chapter.  I  showed 
that  there  was  a  powerful  revival  of  this  style  on  the  Kuban,  and  to 
some  extent  in  Siberia.  In  its  finest  products,  such  as  the  Maikop 
belt  or  some  of  the  plaques  from  Siberia,  it  reached  a  very  high 
artistic  level.     Some  of  the   Siberian  plaques  exhibit  a  tendency 


PLATE      XXXI 


CHINESE     BRONZE     VASE     OE     THE     CHU     DYNASTY 
Eirst    Millennium    k.c.       Collection   of   Mrs.    E.    Meyer,    New    York 
(Copyright  Mrs.  E.  Meyer,  New  York) 


2,3.    TWO     BRONZE     PLAQUES     FROM     A     CHINESE     GRAVE 
OF    THE    HAN     DYNASTY.        Metropolitan    Museum,    New    York 


THE   ANIMAL    STYLE 


203 


towards  a  naturalism  and  an  ethnographic  realism  which  are  different 
from  the  naturalism  and  realism  of  Roman  art.  The  same  quality  is 
observable  on  silver  phalarae  from  the  South  Russian  steppes.  But 
it  was  not  this  tendency  which  carried  the  day.  The  old  ornamen- 
talism  asserted  itself  once  again,  and  the  majority  of  the  Siberian 
plaques  show  as  great  a  fondness  for  purely  ornamental  composition 
as  the  creations  of  the  Scythian  animal  style  on  the  Kuban.  We  find 
the  same  contracted  attitudes  in  the  animals,  the  same  decoration  of 
the  animal's  body  by  means  of  other  animals,  the  same  animal  styliza- 
tion  of  the  extremities,  the  same  ornamental  exaggeration  of  the  horns. 
All  these  peculiarities  occur  together  in  the  figure  of  an  elk  found  at 
Verkhneudinsk  (Minns,  p.  275,  fig.  192).  The  body  of  the  elk  is 
surcharged  with  a  figure  of  a  griffin  and  with  the  head  of  an  eagle 
devouring  a  ram's  head  :  the  end  of  the  tail  is  shaped  as  an  eagle's 
head  :  the  antlers  form  a  kind  of  nimbus,  and  each  tine  terminates 
in  the  head  of  an  eagle  or  a  griffin. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  eastern  and  northern  branch  of  the 
Sarmatian  animal  style  had  a  career  of  great  brilliance  and  intensity. 
Like  the  southern  branch,  it  doubtless  exercised  a  powerful  influence 
on  its  neighbours.  Its  influence,  however,  did  not  spread  westwards, 
but  mainly  to  east  and  north.  The  Chinese  world  was  deeply  affected 
by  it.  The  most  characteristic  features  of  Chinese  life,  especially 
Chinese  military  life,  in  the  Han  dynasty  (206  b.  c-220  a.  d.)  cannot 
be  explained  without  assuming  profound  Iranian  influence.  It  is 
to  the  credit  of  B.  Laufer  that  he  was  the  first  to  lay  the  proper  stress 
upon  this  truth.  Had  he  known  the  Sarmatian  antiquities  published 
by  myself,  he  would  certainly  have  been  able  to  point  out  many  other 
coincidences  which  are  perhaps  more  remarkable  than  those  which 
he  noted.  I  shall  deal  with  this  topic  at  length  in  my  article,  already 
mentioned,  on  the  relations  between  China  and  South  Russia :  for 
the  present  I  will  confine  myself  to  a  brief  summary  of  the  results 
of  my  investigation.  I  maintain  that  the  whole  military  life  of  China 
was  reorganized  by  the  kings  of  the  Han  dynasty  on  Iranian  lines. 
The  Iranian  influence  reached  China,  not  directly  from  Parthia  or 
Bactria,  but  through  the  medium  of  the  Sarmatian  tribes,  many  of 
which,  beyond  doubt,  took  part  in  the  Hunnish  assaults  upon  China. 
The  Huns  had  no  culture  of  their  own.  They  borrowed  everything, 
especially  in  their  military  training,  from  a  more  cultivated  race, 
the  Sarmatians,  and  particularly  the  Alans.  The  indebtedness  of 
China,  in  military  matters,  to  the  Sarmatians,  is  fully  proved  by  the 
following  facts.  Laufer  has  shown  that  the  new  heavy  cavalry  of 
China  was  armed  and  trained  on  the  same  model  as  we  described 


2o4     THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

when  we  were  speaking  of  the  military  life  of  the  Sarmatians.  But 
I  must  add,  that  the  Chinese  adopted  not  only  their  scale  and  ring 
armour  from  the  Sarmatians,  their  heavy  spears,  and  their  conical 
helmets,  but  their  arrows,  with  the  characteristic  triangular  head, 
their  short  ring-headed  daggers  (almost  identical  with  those  found  in 
Sarmatian  graves  on  the  Kuban  and  those  represented  in  the  figures 
of  semi- Sarmatian  warriors  on  the  funerary  stelai  of  Panticapaeum 
and  Tanais),  their  horse-trappings,  which  during  the  Han  and  suc- 
ceeding dynasties  in  China  are  purely  Iranian,  and  last  but  not  least 
their  long  swords,  in  which  the  guard,  the  pommel  and  the  bottom  of 
the  scabbard  are  of  jade,  just  as  in  the  South  Russia  of  the  Sarmatian 
period.  These  jade  ornaments,  found  both  in  China  and  in  South 
Russia  (scores  of  specimens  have  been  found  in  Panticapaeum  and 
in  Sarmatian  graves,  often  with  remains  of  the  iron  swords),  are 
almost  identical  in  the  two  countries,  and  are  made  of  the  same 
material,  the  jade  of  Central  Asia.  But  Sarmatian  influence  was  not 
restricted  to  the  military  life  of  Han  China.  I  have  every  reason  for 
supposing  that  the  habit  of  interring  dozens  of  clay  figures  with 
the  deceased,  to  represent  the  funeral  procession,  and  the  type  of 
funeral  procession  itself,  were  borrowed  by  the  Chinese  from  the 
nomadic  peoples  of  Central  Asia  (compare  the  description  of  Scythian 
funeral  processions  on  pp.  45,  49, 99).  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  clay 
figures  of  the  gods  of  Death,  regularly  buried  with  the  dead  in'  China, 
are  Iranian :  one  of  these  figures  reproduces  the  type  of  the  Iranian 
horned  lion-griffin  ;  the  other — a  half-human,  half-leonine  figure, 
the  head  of  which  is  covered  with  the  skin  of  an  elephant  (usually, 
but  wrongly,  called  a  unicorn),  reminds  one  of  the  portraits  of  Alex- 
ander the.  Great  wearing  the  elephant  helmet,  of  the  symbolic  figure 
of  Egypt  with  the  same  head-dress,  and  of  the  portraits  of  Bactrian 
and  Tibetan  kings.  One  more  coincidence  :  strange  figures  of  clay 
are  commonly  found  in  the  graves  of  the  inhabitants  of  Panticapaeum 
in  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d.,  the  period  of  strong  Sarmatian 
influence  :  fantastic  half-human,  sometimes  grotesque  creatures  of 
various  types  ;  a  puzzle  to  archaeologists.  Exactly  similar  figures 
are  found  by  the  dozen  in. Chinese  graves  of  the  Han  dynasty.  Laufer 
considers  them  to  be  personifications  of  various  diseases. 

Here  I  must  leave  the  subject.  The  relationship  between  China 
and  South  Russia  is  not  new  to  the  scientific  world.  As  early  as  1896, 
Reinecke  pointed  to  similarities  between  certain  Scythian  and  Sar- 
matian objects  and  certain  Chinese.  Some  of  his  comparisons  are 
not  convincing  :  but  some  remain  :  the  same  rattles  in  Chinese  and 
in  Scythian  graves  ;    the  same  forms  of  mirror  in  Sarmatian  and 


THE   ANIMAL.  STYLE  205 

Chinese  graves  ;  similar  shapes  of  cauldron.  But  Reinecke's 
explanation  of  the  resemblances  is  certainly  wrong.  The  phenomena 
which  we  have  observed  in  the  military  and  religious  life  of  China 
under  the  Han  dynasty  show  that  we  have  no  right  whatever  to  speak 
of  Chinese  influence  on  South  Russia,  on  the  Scythian  and  Sarmatian 
world.  The  opposite  is  true.  The  Chinese  of  the  Han  dynasty, 
remodelling  their  life  and  their  civilization  to  meet  fresh  requirements, 
borrowed  many  features  from  their  Central  Asiatic  neighbours. 
A  measure  of  Sarmatian  influence  is  also  noticeable  in  the  art  of  the 
Han  dynasty.  It  is  shown,  first  and  foremost,  by  the  hundreds  of 
belt-plaques  and  plaques  for  horse-trappings  which  the  Chinese  of 
the  Han  dynasty  manufactured  for  themselves  on  Sarmatian  models. 
Many  such  have  been  found  in  Chinese  graves  of  the  Han  period, 
and  many  have  been  published  by  Chinese  archaeologists  in  their 
archaeological  albums.  The  best  specimens  are  reproduced  in 
pi.  XXXI,  2  and  3.  Both  plaques  were  found  in  Northern  China, 
near  the  Chinese  Wall,  in  a  grave  of  the  Han  period  :  they  are  now 
in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  New  York.  One  of  them  reproduces, 
feature-  for  feature,  the  dead  horse  of  the  Maikop  belt  and  of  the 
Siberian  gold  plaque  in  the  Hermitage  (pi.  XXV)  ;  the  other  has 
a  figure  of  a  horse,  in  the  same  scheme,  killed  by  two  beasts — a  lion, 
and  a  bear  or  perhaps  a  lioness.  Other  equally  remarkable  coinci- 
dences have  been  observed  by  Sir  Hercules  Read  and  by  Minns. 
The  motives  of  these  plaques  are  entirely  foreign  to  Chinese  art  of 
the  Chu  dynasty.  They  must  have  been  seen  by  the  Chinese  on 
Sarmatian  warriors,  and  reproduced  by  Chinese  artists  as  forming 
part  of  the  new  equipment,  which  was  almost  wholly  Sarmatian. 
But  the  main  stream  of  Chinese  art  in  the  Han  dynasty  was  not 
influenced  by  these  plaques.  In  Chinese  art  they  remained  an 
accident.  This  does  not  mean  that  Chinese  art  of  the  Han  dynasty 
was  unaffected  by  the  influence  of  the  Iranian  animal  style.  But  that 
influence  did  not  affect  the  composition  of  the  ornamental  symphonies, 
and  it  is  more  noticeable  in  details  than  in  the  general  scheme.  In 
the  details,  however,  the  influence  was  exceedingly  strong  :  I  may 
mention  the  motive  of  the  head  and  eyes  of  the  eagle-griffin,  a  motive 
which  is  constantly  being  employed  for  ornamentation  by  the  Chinese 
artists  of  the  Han  period  ;  the  use  of  vegetable  forms  for  the  extremi- 
ties of  animals ;  the  use  of  figures  heraldically  confronted  ;  the 
freedom  with  which  the  animals  are  treated  for  ornamental  purposes  : 
all  these  features  are  characteristic  both  of  the  Chinese  animal  style 
in  the  Han  dynasty,  and  of  the  Sarmatian.  We  should  also  notice  the 
spread  of  landscape  elements  in  the  decoration  of  varnished  clay 


206 


THE   POLYCHROME   STYLE   AND 


vases  :    these  elements  were  probably  borrowed  directly,  together 
with  the  figures  of  warriors  and  hunters,  from  Parthian  art. 

I  cannot  develop  my  ideas  on  this  subject  more  fully  in  this  place. 
It  is  enough  for  my  purpose  to  have  proved  the  diffusion  of  Sarmatian 
culture  and  art  to  the  East.  It  is  no  wonder  that  this  powerful  art 
spread  to  the  West  as  well ;  and,  particularly  in  its  eastern,  purely 
Oriental  form,  to  the  North,  to  the  forests  and  swamps  of  Northern 
Europe. 

.  I  nave  already  referred  to  the  influence  of  the  Scythian  animal  style 
upon  the  Iron  Age  in  central  and  eastern  Russia.  The  objects  found 
at  Ananyino  and  at  Zuevskoe  reproduce  many  of  the  motives  which 
are  characteristic  of  the  Scythian  animal  style  in  the  fifth  and  fourth 


Fig.  23. 

centuries  B.C.  Later  finds,  of  the  Hellenistic  and  Roman  epoch,  in 
the  region  of  Perm,  give  token  of  the  same  influence,  which  evidently 
spread  along  the  Russian  rivers  to  North  Russia  and  the  Baltic  Sea. 
The  animal  style  of  North  Russia  preserves  all  the  peculiarities  of  the 
eastern  and  northern  branch  of  the  Sarmatian  animal  style  :  animal 
extremities  terminating  in  heads  and  beaks  of  birds  or  griffins  ; 
animal  motive  piled  on  animal  motive,  often  in  strange  combinations  ; 
motives  repeated  in  continuous  series,  sometimes  forming  a  kind  of 
fantastic  lattice-work  which  immediately  recalls  Sarmatian  art  (fig.  23). 

Now  in  examining  this  style,  one  cannot  fail  to  recognize  the 
remarkable  analogies  which  it  presents  with  the  animal  style  of  the 
Scandinavian  countries. 

I  am  not  a  specialist  in  the  art  of  northern  Germany  and  Scandi- 
navia.   I  have  studied  the  works  on  the  subject,  especially  the  classic 


PLATE      XXXII 


WOODEN   ORNAMENTS   OF  THE   FURNITURE   OF  THE 

OSEBERG   SHIP  FROM   NORWAY 

Museum,  Christiania 


THE   ANIMAL   STYLE  2oy 

3rk  °i  Sdin  ;  ^ai?.acquainted  with  the  articles  and  books  of  Goetze 
and  others  on  Gothic  art ;    and  I  took  advantage  of  a  stay    lasting 

ITS! t?ThVw*7edenu  and  Norwa^  to  scru<^  the  spedmenf 
of  the  style  exhibited  in  the  museums  of  those  countries.  I  forced 
the  impression  that  from  the  third  or  fourth  century  a.d.,  this  art 
was  strongly  affected  by  Oriental  influence.  I  regard  the  GermanL 
annua  style  as  a  very  original  development  of  the  South  RuSkn 
animal  style  ;  presenting  all  the  peculiarities  of  that  style  but 
schematizing  and  geometrizing  it.  Look  at  the  evolution  of  the 
ornamentation  on  Scandinavian  fibulae.  There  is  the  same  fondness 
for  the  fanciful  animals  of  the  East  ;  the  same  use  of  animal  heads 
especially  beak  and  eye  of  griffin  or  bird  of  prey,  to  form  extremfties  • 
the  same  treatment  of  the  animal  body  as  an  ornamental  mot?vT  the 
same  dislocation  of  animal  bodies,  with  forepart  turned  in  one 
direction,  and  hindquarters  in  the  other. 

When  I  had  the  opportunity  of  inspecting  the  Viking  funerarv 
ship    recently  discovered  at  Oseberg  near  Christiania  (pi    XXXII) 
and  the  funeral  furniture  belonging  to  it,  many  features  of  that  rich 
and  luxurious  art  brought  the  Scythian  animal  style  vividly  before 
my  mind.    The  carver  of  the  sledges  and  wagons  found  in  the  ship 
took  almost  all  his  motives  from  the  animal  style.     The  animals 
which  he  used  to  create  his  Oriental  symphonies  were  not  the  fauna 
ot  the  north— there  are  no  reindeer  or  elks,  and  very  few  deer—  •  but 
mainly  the  creatures  of  Oriental  fancy,  lions,  griffins  bird-headed  or 
lion-headed,  and  sphinxes.     When  he  has  a  large  surface  to  cover 
he  uses  an  mtertexture  of  various  fantastic  figures,  with  curiously 
contorted  bodies    treated  in  a  purely  Oriental  manner.     Sometimes 
this  mtertexture  forms  regular  palmettes,  and  just  as  in  the  Scythian 
animal  style    the  original  animal  motives  can  hardly  be  made  out 
bometimes  the  animals,  on  which  the  decoration  is  based,  suggest  the 
fantastic  fauna  of  Scythian,  Sarmatian  and  Siberian  art,  and  of  the 
objects  from  Perm.    But  when  the  Scandinavian  craftsman  sets  to      / 
work  on  a  separate  head,  he  does  his  very  best,  and  produces  real 
gems  :   but  Orient  gems.    I  cannot  dwell  longer  on  this  topic,  but  I 
am  convinced  that  it  is  impossible  to  understand  the  Scandinavian  art 
ot  the  hrst  millennium  a.d.,  without  previous  study  of  the  objects  in 
the  Scythian  animal  style.     There  have  indeed  been  scholars,  who 
have  turned  their  attention  to  the  Scythian  monuments,  in  the  hope 
that  these  would  shed  light  on  Scandinavian  art.    But  they  have  never 
studied  the  subject  thoroughly  :    they  have  been  content  to  select 
and  analyse  a  few  isolated  monuments,  and  compare  them  with 
Scandinavian  works.     I  am  sorry  to  say  that  they  have  done  their 


208    THE  POLYCHROME  STYLE  AND 

cause  more  harm  than  good.  We  must  apply  ourselves  to  the  complete 
series,  and  study  it  historically. 

That  Scandinavian  art  should  be  derived  from  the  Oriental  art 
of  South  Russia  is  not  surprising.  We  have  seen  that  the  South 
Russian  style  spread  to  North  Russia  by  way  of  the  Russian  rivers. 
We  must  remember,  that  the  arrival  of  the  Goths  in  the  South  Russian 
steppes  was  neither  the  first  nor  the  last  appearance  of  Germanic 
tribes  in  South  Russia.  Excavation  in  the  Dnieper  valley  has  given 
proof  of  strong  Germanic  influence  in  those  quarters  as  early  as  the 
first  century  A.  D.  From  that  time  the  Germanic  tribes  steadily 
advanced  southwards,  and  entered  into  contact  with  the  Scytho- 
Sarmatian  civilization.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  Scytho-Sarmatian 
civilization  spread  north-west  as  well  as  north-east. 

Much  more  intricate  is  the  question  of  the  relation  borne  by 
Romanesque  and  so-called  Gothic  art  to  the  Oriental  animal  style. 
I  cannot  venture  to  discuss  it  :  but  I  will  say  that  I  have  noticed 
more  than  one  curious  and  significant  coincidence. 

My  task  is  drawing  to  a  close.  I  will  sum  up  the  principal  ideas 
which  have  guided  me  in  my  investigation.  The  characteristics  of 
South  Russian  civilization  are  the  same  in  the  classical  period  as  in 
subsequent  centuries  :  and  the  types  of  phenomena  are  the  same. 
South  Russia  was  always  one  of  the  most  important  centres  of  civiliza- 
tion. Three  main  currents  are  traceable :  an  eastern  current,  pro- 
ceeding from  both  Iranian  and  Mesopotamian  Asia  by  two  routes, 
the  Caucasus  route,  and  the  Russian  steppe  route  ;  a  southern 
current  from  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  which  brought  with  it  the 
splendid  civilization  of  Greece  ;  and  a  western  and  northern  current, 
by  means  of  which  Russia  partook  in  the  civilization  of  central  and 
northern  Europe.  The  three  currents  met  in  the  Russian  steppes, 
coalesced,  and  formed  a  great  civilization,  quite  independent  and 
extremely  original,  which  influenced,  in  its  turn,  central  and  northern 
Russia,  and  central  Europe  as  well.  The  sudden  development  of 
Russian  civilization,  in  the  ninth  century  A.D.,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Dnieper,  and  its  rapid  diffusion  over  the  whole  of  Russia,  have  been 
counted  a  very  extraordinary  thing  :  the  princes  of  Kiev,  in  constant 
intercourse  with  Byzantium  and  the  East,  appear  to  us,  from  the  very 
beginning,  as  enlightened  monarchs  who  succeeded  in  founding  a 
great  centre  of  civilization  and  art  at  Kiev.  It  all  seems  natural 
enough,  if  we  remember  that  the  State  of  Kiev  was  only  one  member 
of  a  long  series  of  civilized  states  in  South  Russia  ;  that  it  was  not  the 
first  state  to  establish  close  relations  between  South  Russia  and 
Greece  ;   lastly,  that  long  before,  other  states  had  paved  the  way  for 


THE   ANIMAL   STYLE 


209 


the  advance  of  southern  civilization  over  the  country  which  later 
became  Russia,  and  that  even  the  intercourse  between  the  Dnieper 
and  the  Germanic  north,  and  the  intercourse  between  the  Dnieper  and 
the  region  of  the  Danube,  were  already  very  ancient  in  the  ninth 
century.  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  wrong  to  make  the  history  of  Russia 
begin  in  the  ninth  century.  In  Russia,  as  in  all  European  countries, 
the  date  must  be  put  back  many  centuries  :  the  history  of  modern 
Europe  should  begin  in  the  protohistoric  and  classic  period. 


|H 


2353 


Ee 


IX 

THE   ORIGIN   OF  THE   RUSSIAN   STATE 
ON   THE   DNIEPER 

IN  the  ninth  century,  when  the  Russian  annals  first  begin  to  give 
us  a  systematic  record  of  the  Russian  people  and  its  princes, 
Russia  appears  as  a  well-developed  body,  as  an  organized  state 
possessing  its  own  peculiar  political,  social  and  economic  structure 
and  endowed  with  a  high  and  flourishing  civilization.  Russia  of  the 
ninth  century  consisted  of  many  important  commercial  cities  situated 
partly  on  the  Dnieper  and  its  tributaries,  partly  in  the  far  north  on 
Lake  Ilmen,  and  partly  in  the  east  on  the  upper  Volga.  Each  of  these 
cities  possessed  a  large  territory  populated  by  various  Slavonic  tribes, 
and  had  its  own  self-government  with  a  popular  assembly,  a  council  of 
elders,  and  elected  magistrates.  To  defend  its  flourishing  trade,  the 
population  of  each  town  issued  an  invitation  to  a  special  body  of 
trained  and  well-armed  warriors  commanded  by  a  prince  ;  this  prince 
was  also  entrusted  with  the  tasks  of  collecting  tribute  from  the  popula- 
tion and  of  carrying  out  certain  administrative  and  judicial  duties. 
These  princes  with  their  retinues  were  generally  of  Germanic  blood, 
and  chiefly  Norsemen,  who  were  called  in  Russia  Varangers.  One  of 
these  ninth-century  princes  succeeded  in  uniting  all  the  Russian  cities 
under  the  rule  of  one  dynasty,  and  in  forming  out  of  them  a  single, 
though  not  very  firmly  established  state,  with  its  capital  on  the  Dnieper 
— Kiev. 

Nothing  similar  to  this  kind  of  federation  of  large  commercial 
self-governing  cities,  ruled  by  an  invited,  that  is,  a  hired  dynasty, 
existed  at  that  time  in  Western  Europe  with  its  well-known  feudal 
structure.  In  the  history  of  the  formation  of  the  Russian  state  every- 
thing is  peculiar  and  original :  the  exclusively  commercial  character  of 
the  cities,  the  wide  extension  of  Russian  commerce,  which  reached  Con- 
stantinople in  the  south,  Central  Asia,  China  and  India  in  the  east,  and 
the  Baltic  and  White  Seas  in  the  north,  the  sharp  distinction  between 
the  self-government  of  the  cities  and  the  primitive  tribal  organiza- 
tion of  the  country,  the  contrast  between  the  prehistoric  manner  of 
life  in  the  country  population  and  the  high  standard  of  civilized  life 
in  the  cities,  and,  last  but  not  least,  the  unparalleled  combination  of 


RUSSIAN    STATE    ON   THE   DNIEPER     211 

foreign  military  power  and  well-organized  self-rule  in  the  frame  of 
a  single  city  state. 

All  these  peculiarities  of  Russian  origins  and  the  extraordinary 
differences  between  Russia  and  western  Europe  are  still  unexplained. 
Why  should  Russia  begin  her  evolution  with  commerce  and  city  life 
and  western  Europe  with  agriculture  and  the  so-called  feudal  system  ? 
Why  is  it  that  Russia  developed  a  feudal  system  much  later,  not  earlier 
than  the  thirteenth  century,  when  western  Europe  had  already  begun 
to  abandon  that  system  ?  Why  even  then  did  Russian  feudalism 
assume  peculiar  and  original  forms  which  bear  little  resemblance  to 
the  corresponding  phenomena  in  western  Europe  ?  • 

In  spite  of  many  attempts  by  both  Russian  and  western  European 
scholars  to  solve  this  problem,  it  remains  unsolved.  The  main  reasons 
for  this  failure  are  as  follows.  It  is  a  mistake  to  begin  the  history  of 
Russia  with  the  Russian  annals  in  the  ninth  century,  that  is,  to  con- 
found the  history  of  Russia  with  the  history  of  the  Slavonic  race. 
The  history  of  Russia  as  an  economic  and  political  organism  is  much 
more  ancient  than  the  earliest  references  to  the  Slavonic  race.  Russia 
as  a  country  existed  long  before  the  ninth  century,  and  formed  part 
of  the  civilized  world  even  in  the  classical  period  and  in  the  period 
of  migrations.  At  this  epoch  the  main  lines  of  future  evolution  were 
already  laid  down.  We  must  therefore  treat  the  history  of  Russia 
not  as  the  history  of  the  Slavonic  race  but  as  the  history  of  the 
country  of  Russia.  I  am  convinced  that,  if  we  treat  the  history  of 
Russia  from  this  point  of  view,  many  of  the  alleged  difficulties  will 
disappear  at  once,  and  the  history  of  Russia  in  general  will  appear 
before  us  in  an  entirely  new  light.  Let  me  go  more  into  detail  and 
try  to  explain  from  this  point  of  view  the  political  and  social  structure 
of  the  Kievan  princedom  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  I  have  tried  to  show  what  were  the  con- 
ditions of  life  in  the  steppes  of  South  Russia  before  it  was  occupied 
by  the  German  tribes.  Let  me  summarize  once  more  the  main 
features  of  the  social  and  economic  life  of  this  period.  During  this 
whole  period  the  leading  part  was  played  in  the  steppes  of  South 
Russia  by  different  nomadic  tribes.  One  replaced  another  :  the 
Cimmerians  were  driven  out  and  conquered  by  the  Scythians  ;  the 
Scythians  gave  up  their  sovereignty  under  the  pressure  of  the  Sarma- 
tians  ;  but  the  main  structure  of  the  states  successively  formed  by 
these  tribes  was  almost  the  same.  A  small  minority  of  nomads  with 
a  strong  and  effective  military  organization  ruled  over  a  large  majority 
of  conquered  peoples  and  tribes.  Some  of  these  tribes  were  themselves 
nomads,  but  most  of  them  were  agriculturists  established  on  the  rich 


212        ORIGIN    OF   THE    RUSSIAN    STATE 

plains  of  South  Russia  or  half-nomadic  hunters  and  bee-keepers  in 
the  forests  and  marshes  of  Central  Russia.    The  relations  between  the 
rulers  and  the  ruled  were  of  the  simplest  description  :  the  ruled  paid 
their  masters  a  tribute  in  kind  (money  was  not  used  either  by  the 
subjects  or  by  the  masters  ;   in  the  graves  which  belong  to  the  pre- 
Sarmatian,  that  is  to  say,  the  pre- Roman  period,  we  never  find  coins), 
and  were  probably  forced  to  serve  them  in  their  military  expeditions. 
The  fact  that  so  many  '  Scythians '  were  sold  in  the  Greek  colonies 
of  South  Russia  and  went  abroad  as  slaves  (for  instance,  the  '  Scythian' 
archers  who  formed  the  police  force  of  Athens  in  the  fifth  and  fourth 
centuries  B.C.)  seems  to  bear  witness  to  a  free  disposal  of  the  con- 
quered population  by  the  conquerors,  to  a  kind  of  potential  slavery. 
I  must  emphasize,  by  the  way,  my  conviction  that  most  of  the  slaves 
sold  to  the  Greeks  under  the  name  of  Scythians  did  not  belong  to  the 
ruling  tribes  of  Iranian  conquerors  but  to  the  conquered  native  pre- 
Scythian  population.    The  name  '  Scythians '  for  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  the  Scythian  kingdom  was  in  general  Greek  use  during  the 
fifth  and  fourth  centuries  B.C.,  and  so  in  the  fourth  book  of  Herodotus. 
These  political  and  social  conditions  explain  the  peculiar  economic 
life  of  South   Russia  during  the   Greco-Scythian  and  the   Greco- 
Sarmatian  periods.     The  main  foundation  of  the  strength  and  the 
wealth  of  the  ruling  Scythian  tribes  was  not  their  productive  activity, 
which  was  very  primitive.    As  pure  nomads  they  produced  only  milk, 
butter  and  meat  for  themselves,  and  hides  for  commerce.    The  whole 
wealth  of  the  Scythian  kings  and  princes,  as  shown  by  the  enormous 
riches  buried  with  them  in  their  graves,  depended  on  their  commercial 
activity,  on  the  active  part  which  they  took  in  the  international  trade 
of  the  period.     The  objects  which  are  found  in  the  Scythian  and 
Sarmatian  graves  and  which  have  been  analysed  in  the  preceding 
chapters  offer  eloquent  testimony  to  the  importance  of  Scythian  com- 
merce, and  enable  us  to  determine  the  great  commercial  routes  which 
were  used  by  the  Scythians  in  their  international  commercial  relations. 
The  main  route  was,  of  course,  the  route  of  the  great  South  Russian 
rivers  to  the  Black  Sea.    The  Greek  merchants  paid  regular  visits 
to  the  Scythian  trading  centres  on  the  Bug,  the  Dnieper  and  the 
Don,  and  carried  with  them  to  the  Greek  harbours  on  the  Black  Sea 
enormous  quantities  of  food-stuffs  and  raw  materials.    These  food- 
stuffs and  raw  materials  were  partly  the  tribute  paid  by  the  subjects 
of  the  Scythian  kings  :   grain  and  fish  which  were  furnished  by  the 
settled  population  of  the  banks  of  the  great  rivers  and  their  tributaries, 
hides  paid  by  the  nomads,  furs,  wax  and  honey  by  the  hunters  and  bee- 
keepers of  the  forests.    But  part  of  this  merchandise  was  itself  the 


ON    THE    DNIEPER  213 

product  of  the  lively  commerce  which  naturally  grew  up  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Scythian  kingdom  and  the  independent  Finnish 
tribes  of  Central  and  Eastern  Russia,  who  dwelt  on  the  middle  and  upper 
courses  of  the  great  Russian  rivers  :  Volga,  Oka,  Kama,  Don,  Donets, 
Dnieper,  Pripet,  Desna.  Moreover,  products  of  the  Far  East  were 
brought  to  South  Russia  by  the  caravans  which  started  from  Central 
Asia  and  Western  Siberia  and  made  for  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea. 
The  merchants  of  Central  Asia  and  Siberia  were  doubtless  obliged  to 
sacrifice  a  proportion  of  their  merchandise  as  tribute  or  custom 
duties  to  the  Scythian  rulers  of  South  Russia,  who  retained  part  for 
their  own  use,  and  sold  part  to  the  Greek  merchants.  Here  again, 
a  traffic  between  these  merchants  and  the  inhabitants  of  South  Russia 
was  bound  to  grow  up. 

The  age-long  existence  of  such  commerce,  protected  by  the  military 
forces  of  the  Scythian  state,  contributed  on  the  one  hand  to  increase  of 
productivity  in  the  Scythian  state  itself  and  in  the  neighbouring 
countries,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  the  development  of  numerous 
commercial  centres  of  the  city  type  on  the  banks  of  the  Russian 
rivers.  The  Greek  geographers  of  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C. 
do  not  tell  us  the  names  of  these  cities,  as  they  had  no  independent 
knowledge  of  South  Russia  and  mostly  repeated  the  data  of  the  Ionian 
geographers  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.  But  the  geographers  of  the 
Hellenistic  and  Roman  epoch,  especially  Ptolemy,  enumerate  scores 
of  such  places  on  the  banks  of  the  Bug,  the  Dnieper,  the  Don  and  the 
Kuban.  The  half-Greek  city  of  the  Gelonians,  mentioned  by  Herodo- 
tus, was  undoubtedly  of  this  type.  I  have  already  mentioned  the 
remains  of  such  cities,  partially  but  unsystematically  excavated  by 
Russian  archaeologists,  and  the  large  rich  cemeteries  which  surround 
them.  The  most  brilliant  period  of  these  native  cities  is  shown  by 
the  contents  of  the  graves  to  have  been  the  fourth  and  third  centuries 
B.C.  The  population  of  the  cities,  according  to  the  objects  found 
in  the  graves,  was  a  mixture  of  Greek,  Scythian  and  native  elements. 
Most  of  the  inhabitants  must  have  been  merchants. 

These  cities  contributed  largely  to  the  formation  of  constant  and 
regular  commercial  relations  between  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  whole  of  Central  and  Northern  Russia  including  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic.  They  indicated  for  all  future  generations  the  main  commercial 
highways  of  Russia,  and  above  all,  the  great  river  route  from  Scandi- 
navia to  Constantinople,  the  future  route  '  from  the  Varangers  to  the 
Greeks '.  — 

"^When  the  Scythian  state  was  destroyed  by  the  joint  efforts  of  the 
Sarmatians,  the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  the  Thracians  and  the  Celts,  the 


214        ORIGIN    OF   THE    RUSSIAN    STATE 

place  of  the  Scythians  was  taken  by  different  Sarmatian  tribes.  These 
new  formations  were  by  no  means  stable.  Each  Sarmatian  tribe 
tended  to  move  westward  with  the  object  of  reaching  the  flourishing 
and  civilized  Roman  provinces.  A  state  of  anarchy  began  to  prevail 
in  these  lands.  The  first  to  exploit  this  state  of  anarchy  were  the 
Germans.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the  first  century  B.C.  and  the  first 
century  A.  d.  the  German  tribes  showed  a  tendency  to  get  into  touch 
with  the  Greco-Roman  world  both  in  the  west  and  in  the  east.  They 
followed  the  footsteps  of  the  Celts,  who  in  the  third  and  second 
centuries  B.  c.  had  flooded  the  whole  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  had 
reached  even  Greece  and  Asia  Minor. 

But  the  German  advance  was  stopped  in  the  west,  both  on  the 
Rhine  and  on  the  Danube,  by  the  Romans.  The  expeditions  of 
Julius  Caesar  and  of  Augustus,  and  the  military  efforts  of  their  suc- 
cessors during  the  first  and  the  second  centuries  a.  d.,  set  up  a  strong 
barrier  against  the  advance  of  the  German  tribes  towards  the  west 
and  the  south.  The  armed  frontiers  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
where  Rome  concentrated  her  best  military  forces,  were  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  against  the  Germans.  No  wonder  if  the  wave  of 
German  tribes  was  deflected  towards  the  east  and  the  Germans  used 
for  their  advance  to  the  south  the  only  open  and  unprotected  way, 
the  way  which  they  had  known  for  ages — the  great  river  route  '  from 
the  Varangers  to  the  Greeks  ',  the  route  of  the  Dnieper. 

I  have  already  dealt  with  this  movement.  The  archaeological  data 
prove  with  certainty  that  it  began  as  early  as  the  first  century  B.C.,  and 
became  very  important  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  A.  d.  We  have 
already  seen  that,  just  at  this  time,  German  cemeteries  and  German 
settlements  become  common  on  the  Dnieper.  One  of  the  most 
important  features  which  characterize  the  German  graves  in  Western 
and  Southern  Russia  is  the  presence,  side  by  side  with  certain  home- 
made objects,  of  large  quantities  of  objects  imported  from  the  Greco- 
Roman  world — especially  Greco-Roman  pottery  (such  as  terra  sigil- 
lata),  Greco-Roman  glass-ware,  jewellery,  &c.  A  new  phenomenon  is 
that  the  trade  of  the  Greco-Roman  world  with  the  Dnieper  basin  and 
Russia  in  general  no  longer  took  the  form  of  barter,  as  in  the  Greco- 
Scythian  period,  but  was  carried  out  by  means  of  coined  money, 
Roman  silver  and  copper,  the  universal  currency  of  the  period.  Coins 
of  the  Bosphoran  kings  found  access  even  to  the  Germanized  regions  of 
South  Russia.  Characteristically  enough,  however,  the  Sarmatian 
tribes  of  South  Russia  still  preserved  the  ancient  Scythian  habit  of 
barter,  and  did  not  accept  Roman  and  Bosphoran  coins,  even  gold. 

It  is  a  pity  that  there  are  no  full  statistics  about  the  finds  of  Roman 


ONTHEDNIEPER  215 

coins  in  South  Russia,  whether  in  graves,  or  in  the  form  of  hoards. 
Observations  collected  by  Russian  and  foreign  scholars,  especially  the 
Swedish  scholar  Arne,  show  that  the  trade  was  liveliest  in  the  second 
and  third  centuries  a.d^  especially  in  the  second,  between  the  reigns 
of  Nerva  and  of  SeptimTus  Severus.  Most  of  the  coins  belong  to  the 
reigns  of  Antoninus  Pius  and  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  finds  are  thickest 
in  the  region  of  Kiev,  Poltava  and  Chernigov,  that  is,  in  the  region 
where  civilized  life  had  attained  a  high  level  during  the  final  period 
of  Scythian  domination,  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.  But 
this  region  was  no  longer  in  direct  communication  with  the  Bosphoran 
kingdom,  and  no  longer  formed  a  commercial  province  of  that  state. 
The  scarcity  of  Bosphoran,  and  thg_prevalence  of  Roman  coins  in  the 
region  of  the  middle  Dnieper  show  that  the  Bosphoran  kingdom  was 
driven  from  the  region  of  the  Dnieper  and  turned  its  attention  exclu- 
sively _to_Jbartejinjj[_with_the_^^  German 
population  of  the  Dnieper  region  entered  into  direct  relations  with  the 
Roman  provinces  of  the  Danube,  and  thus  came  to  form,  no  longer  a 
part  of  the  Greek  commercial  world,  but  a  kind  of  annex  to  the  Roman 
Danube  trade.  The  same  conditions  prevailed  in  the  region  of  the 
upper  Dnieper  and  as  far  north  as  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  Roman 
trade  was  also  supreme  in  the  districts  which  now  belong  to  the  Polish 
state.  Thus  once  again,  as  in  the  period  before  the  Greek  colonization 
of  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  the  west  took  the  leading  part  in  the 
civilized  life  of  Western  and  Soutfv- Western  Russia. 

Various  Roman  objects  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d., 
found  in  Eastern  Russia  and  Western  Siberia,  raise  the  question, 
whether  Eastern  Russia  and  Western  Siberia  also  belonged  to  the 
domain  of  Roman  provincial  trade.  As  far  as  our  knowledge  reaches, 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  these  objects  were  imported  to  the  region 
of  the  Kama  and  to  Siberia  not  from  the  region  of  the  Dnieper,  but 
up  the  Volga,  through  the  medium  of  the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  which 
held  constant  intercourse  both  with  the  Volga  region  and  with  the 
steppes  of  Western  Siberia. 

This  change  in  the  orientation  of  the  commercial  relations  of 
Western  and  South- Western  Russia  was  due  to  the  German  occupa- 
tion of  the  valleys  of  the  Dnieper  and  its  tributaries.  In  their 
own  country,  the  Germans  had  regular  commercial  relations  with 
Italy,  Gaul,  the  Alpine  and  the  Danubian  Roman  provinces.  No 
wonder  if,  after  their  occupation  of  the  valley  of  the  Dnieper,  they 
preserved  these  commercial  relations  and  developed  them.  It  is  only 
natural  to  suppose  that  in  their  expansion  towards  the  south  and  the 
east  they  constantly  came  into  conflict  with  the  Sarmatian  tribes  which 


216        ORIGIN    OF   THE    RUSSIAN    STATE 

were  moving  in  the  opposite  direction,  towards  the  west.  These 
constant  collisions  made  it  impossible  to  maintain  the  old  trade 
relations  between  the  Dnieper  and  the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  and  created 
conditions  which  were  exceedingly  favourable  for  the  merchants  of  the 
Roman  Danube  provinces. 

In  their  gradual  occupation  of  the  Dnieper  basin,  the  Germans  did 
not  aim  at  destroying  the  existing  commercial  relations  and  the  existing 
commercial  centres.  They  tried  to  use  these  relations  for  their  own 
profit.  No  wonder  therefore  that  they  do  not  appear  to  have  destroyed 
the  cities  in  South  Russia.  It  seems  on  the  contrary  that  they  rather 
increased  the  number.  The  large  number  of  cities  mentioned  by 
Ptolemy  and  located  by  him  on  the  Dnieper  gives  the  impression  that 
the  Germans  were  more  anxious  to  develop  the  cities  than  to  do  away 
with  them.  Further  investigation  will  show  if  I  am  right  in  assuming 
such  a  tendency  in  the  Germans  of  South  Russia. 

In  any  case,  it  is  only  in  the  light  of  this  gradual  occupation  of  the 
Dnieper  basin  by  the  German  tribes  during  the  early  period  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  that  we  are  able  to  understand  the  invasion  of  South 
Russia  by  the  Goths,  and  their  speedy  and  successful  conquest  of  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  Gothic  invasion  was  not  the  first  but  the 
last  act  of  the  age-long  activity  of  the  Germans  in  South  Russia.  If  we 
are  right,  as  I  think  we  are,  in  assuming  the  existence  of  a  large  German 
population  on  the  Dnieper  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  a.d.,  we 
can  easily  understand  that  the  Germans,  some  of  whom  were  daring 
sailors,  hankered  for  the  sea-shore,  which  would  give  them  the 
opportunity  of  plundering  and  holding  to  ransom  the  eastern  part 
ot  the  Roman  Empire,  and  of  entering  into  direct  commercial  relations 
with  the  wealthy  East.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  constant  relations 
of  the  Germans  with  Olbia  had  showed  them  how  much  richer  and 
more  attractive  the  Roman  East  was  than  the  Roman  West.  It  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  if  they  used  the  first  opportunity,  namely,  the 
internal  troubles  in  the  Roman  Empire  which  prevented  the  Romans 
from  protecting  their  Greek  '  allies '  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea, 
for  invading  the  steppes  of  South  Russia  and  capturing,  first  of  all,  the 
important  harbours  of  Olbia  and  Tyras.  The  capture  of  Olbia  and 
Tyras  was  a  military  necessity,  because  these  cities  with  their  Roman 
garrisons  were  the  chief  obstacle  against  the  Germans  seizing  and 
settling  down  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  seizure  of  Olbia  and 
Tyras  did  not  mean  the  complete  destruction  of  these  cities.  Coins 
and  inscriptions  show  that  the  cities  continued  to  exist  for  some  scores 
of  years  after  they  were  captured  by  the  Goths.  But  they  ceased  to  be 
important  commercial  centres,  as  the  Goths,  like  the  Kievan  princes 


ON    THE    DNIEPER 


217 


later,  preferred  to  enter  into  direct  relations  with  the  Greek  cities  on  the 
Thracian  Bosphorus  and  the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea. 

We  do  not  know  much  about  the  history  of  the  great  Gothic 
state  thus  established  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  either  during  its 
independent  existence,  or  during  the  supremacy  of  the  Huns.  One 
fact  however  is  characteristic.  The  Goths  did  not  attempt  to  destroy 
the  Bosphoran  kingdom,  and  after  vanquishing  the  Sarmatians  they 
preferred  to  enter  into  a  kind  of  alliance  with  them.  We  know  that 
the  Bosphoran  kingdom  continued  to  exist,  perhaps  under  the  rule  of 
a  new  dynasty,  which  was  apparently  not  of  German  stock  but  of  Sar- 
matian  origin.  We  know  also  that  the  Alans  preserved  their  indepen- 
dence, and  continued  to  exist  and  to  rule  on  the  banks  of  the  Kuban 
and  perhaps  of  the  Don  as  well.  Moreover,  the  Bosphoran  kingdom 
maintained  its  commercial  relations  with  the  Roman  Empire.  The 
rich  fourth-century  graves  already  mentioned,  where  among  other 
obj  ects  we  notice  silver  dishes  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the  Emperor 
Constantius,  show~that  the  Bosphoran  kings  received  presents ' 
(disguised  tribute)  from  the  Roman  emperors.  The  Goths  probably 
used  Panticapaeum,  their  vassal,  as  they  used  Olbia  and  Tyras,  both  as 
a  starting-point  for  their  expeditions  against  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
as  a  harbour  which  allowed  them  to  receive  goods  not  only  from  the 
Orient  through  the  Sarmatians,  but  also  from  the  eastern  provinces 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  large  quantity  of  objects  of  Greek 
workmanship  found  both  at  Panticapaeum  and  at  Chersonesus  in 
graves  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  A.  D.,  and  the  spread  of 
Christianity  in  both  places  at  the  same  epoch,  show  that  the  relations 
between  these  cities  and  the  Roman  Empire  were  not  always  hostile. 
We  have  every  ground  for  supposing,  that  Chersonesus  never  became 
subject  to  the  Gothic  kings,  but  was  kept  and"  fortified  by  the  Roman 
emperors  of  the  fourth  century  as  the  last  stronghold  j3f_Roman 
power  in  the  Crimea.  An  inscription  of  Valentinian  published  by 
myself,  and  certain  traditions,  half  legendary  and  half  historical,  which 
date  from  the  time  of  Constantine,  illustrate  the  efforts  "f  the  Roma 
Empire  to  protect  Chersonesus  from  Gothic  andlBosphoran  attacks. 
These  data  show  that  the  period  of  Gothic  domination  in  Russia  was 
not  simply  a  period  of  constant  Gothic  attacks  on  the  Roman  Empire 
by  land  and  sea.  We  may  suppose  with  great  probability  that  the 
Goths  resumed  the  threads  of  the  ancient  commerce  of  Russia  both 
with  the  Orient  and  with  the  Greek  world .  Like  their  predecessors,  the 
Goths  formed  an  exclusively  commercial  and  military  state,  and  this 
state  lasted  for  more  than  two  centuries.  An  important  feature  of 
this  new  formation  was  that  the  Gothic  state  was  not  ruled  by  nomads, 
2353  f  f 


218        ORIGIN    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    STATE 

but  by  tribes  which  in  their  own  country  were  accustomed  to  the 
settled  life  of  farmers,  warriors  and  sailors.  The  Huns  who  displaced 
the  Goths  in  South  Russia  were  of  course  noma'dsT  We  know  practi- 
cally nothing  of  their  relations  with  the  Gothic  and  Sarmatian  tribes 
in  South  Russia.  But  the  part  which  the  Germans  and  the  Iranians 
took  iiLlhe_expeditions  of  the  Huns  against  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
the  fact  thatmey  survived  until  the  fall  of  The~Huhs7  preserving  the 
tribal  organization  of  their  state,  shows  that  even  during  this  domination 
they  were  vassals  of  the  Huns  rather  than  peoples  absorbed  by  the 
Mongolian  invaders.  The  Gothic  epoch  was  accordingly  a  revival  of 
the  Scythian  and  the  Sarmatian  state  in  a  new  shape,  a  shape  which 
reminds  us  of  the  later  Slavonic  state  on  the  Dnieper  and  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea. 

The  Germans — warriors  and  keen  sailors — were  always  attracted 
by  the  wealth  of  the  Roman  Empire.  As  soon  as  they  felt  that  the 
mighty  organism  of  the  Roman  Empire,  in  the  critical  period  of  the 
third  century,  was  beginning  to  weaken  and  to  break  up,  they  renewed 
their  attacks  on  the  Roman  provinces.  The^weakest  point  in  the 
Roman  Empirejwas  of  course  the  Danube  frontier,  a  long  and  difficult 
frontier  without  a  civilized  hinterland .  But  to  overcome  the  Germans' 
superstitious  fear  of  the  Roman  legions,  supposed  invincible,  and  to 
transform  scattered  attacks  into  an  overwhelming  movement,  a  strong 
shock  from  behind  was  needed.  This  shock  was  dealt  to  the  German 
tribes  in  Russia  by  the  first  Mongolian  invaders  of  Europe,  the  mighty 
Huns.  Under  their  pressure  a  detachment  of  the  German  tribes, 
and  of  the  Iranian  tribes  with  which  the  Germans  lived  in  a  kind  of 
federation,  the  Visigoths  and  the  Alans,  made  the  first  rush  into 
the  Roman  Empire.  The  consequence  is  well  known,  and  I  need  not 
repeat  the  story.  Soon  after,  the  Huns  themselves  under  Attila, 
dragging  with  them  the  Ostrogoths  and  scores  of  German  and 
Iranian  tribes,  followed  the  victorious  march  of  their  predecessors. 

The  outcome  of  these  events  was  of  the  utmost  importance  for 
Russia.  In  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  Russia  was  swept  clean  of 
her  German,  Iranian,  and  Mongolian  rulers  and  inhabitants.  Small 
fractions  of  the^Alansjymained  on  the  Kuban,  where  they  still  dwell 
under  the  name  or  "Ossetes  ;  some  tribes  of  Goths  were  left  behind 
in  the  Crimea  (the  kingdom  of  Mangup  near  Chersonesus)  and  on  the 
Taman  peninsula  (the  Tetraxite  Goths  near  Phanagoria)  ;  scattered 
bands  of  Huns,  after  their  downfall,  came  back  to  the  Russian  steppes  ; 
but  not  one  of  these  groups  played  any  part  in  the  future  destinies  of 
Russia.  The  place  of  the  Germans  was  soon  occupied  by  a  new 
European  people,  the  Slavs.    They  had  originally  dwelt,  as  far  as  our 


ON   THE   DNIEPER  219 

knowledge  reaches,  onjhejiorthernslopes  of  th^Carpathians,  towards  _ 
the  Vistula  and  the  Baltic  SeaTTAccording  to  Ptolemy  and  to  Jbrcfanes, 
they  were  well  known  to  the  Romans,  and  were  divided  into  three 
parts — the  Wends,  the  Sclavenes  and  the  Antes.  During  the  domi- 
nation of  the  Goths  in  South  Russia  they  were  vanquished  by  them 
and  formed  a  part  of  the  Gothic  Empire,  under  a  kind  of  vassalage. 
But  in  the  sixth  century  the  same  Jordanes,  a  Goth  himself  who  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  north-eastern  Europe,  knew  of 
their  continuous  settlements  on  the  Dnieper  and  of  their  occupation 
of  the  steppes  as  far  as  the  Black  Sea.  It  is  evident  therefore  that  the 
Slavs  repeated  the  movement  of  the  Germans  and  replaced  them  in 
South  Russia.  Thus  they  founded  in  South  Russia  a  state  of  the  same 
type  as  the  Germans  before  them,  and  naturally  inherited  from  them 
their  towns,  their  trade  relations,  and  their  civilization.  This  civiliza- 
tion  was  not,  of  course,  a  German  one,  but  the  ancient  Greco-Iranian 
civilization  of  the  Scythians  and  the  Sarmatians,  slightly  modified. 
At  the  very  outset  of  their  life  in  South  Russia  they  were  threatened  by 
a  great  danger.  New  conquerors  of  the  same  stock  as  the  Huns,  the 
Avars,  tried  to  overpower  them  and  to  drag  them  into  Western  Europe. 
But  the  young  Slavonic  federation  was  strong  enough  to  repulse  this 
attack  and  to  annihilate  the  Avars,  giving  rise  to  the  old  Russian  saying 

preserved  by  our  Annals  :  ■  They  perished  like  the  Avars  \ 

The  Slavs  took  firm  root  on  the  Dnieper,  and  spread  widely  to  the 
north  and  to  the  east,  occupying  all  the  old  highways  of  commerce. 
In  the  north  they  developed  Novgorod,  in  the  east  they  founded 
Rost6v,  in__the  south,  opposite  Panticapaeum,  Tmutarakan.  The 
conditions  were  favourable/  Their  ancient  relations^with  the  Germans 
secured  them  the  military  help  of  wandering  Scandinavian  chieftains, 
who  were  prepared  to  serve  and  to  fight  for  any  one,  provided  that  they 
had  good  opportunities  of  enriching  themselves.  The  Germans 
helped  the  Slavs  to  find  the  ancient  way  to  Constantinople  and  to 
protect  their  commercial  fleet  on  the  Dnieper.  Southward,  the  rule 
of  the  new  masters  on  the  Volga,  the  Mongolian  tribe  of  the  Khazars— - 
the  peaceful  rule  of  a  trading  people — guaranteed  them  the  Oriental 
market.  So  they  grew  strong  and  rich  and  developed  a  lively  trade 
withj[the  German  north,  the  Finnish  north-east,  the  Arabic  south-east, 
and  especially  the  Byzantine  south .  This  was  as  before  the  main  source 
of  their  civilization  and  their  wealth,  and  it  dictated  the  forms  of  their 
political  and  social  life.  Their  centres  were  as  before  the  great  cities 
on  the  Dnieper,  and  the  most  important  of  these  cities  was  of  course 
Kiev,  thanks  to  her  wonderful  geographical  situation  in  the  middle  of 
the  Dnieper  basin,  midway  between  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea. 


220        ORIGIN    OF   THE    RUSSIAN    STATE 

In  the  light  of  this  historical  evolution,  the  history  and  structure 
of  Kievan  Russia,  the  Russia  of  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  centuries, 
assume  a  new  form.  The  Russia  of  Kiev  was  at  the  same  time  the  last 
link  of  an  ancient  historical  chain  and  the  first  of  a  new  one.  Kievan 
Russia  was  the  immediate  successor  of  the  series  of  commercial  states 
which  had  replaced  one  another  in  the  steppes  of  South  Russia  from 
time  immemorial,  and  at  the  same  time  the  mother  of  the  sub- 
sequent Slavonic  Russian  states  in  Western  Russia  (the  Galicia  of 
to-day),  on  the  upper  course  of  the  Dnieper  (the  modern  White  Russia), 
and,  most  important  of  all,  between  the  upper  Volga  and  the  Oka, 
Great  Russia,  the  Russia  of  modern  times. 

Kievan  Russia,  in  the  first  period  of  her  evolution,  naturally 
inherited  all  the  peculiarities  of  her  predecessors.  Like  them  she  was 
an  almost  purely  commercial  state  ;  like  them  she  tried  to  occupy 
the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  and  her  political  and  cultural  life,  like 
theirs,  faced  south  and  east,  towards  Greece  and  the  Orient,  and  not 
west,  towards  the  Western  Roman  world.  It  is  only  natural  therefore 
that  the  civilization  of  the  Russia  of  Kiev  was  a  southern  civilization, 
an  offspring  of  classical  culture  in  that  Greco-Oriental  aspect  which 
was  characteristic  of  Byzantium  and  the  Byzantine  Empire.  Kiey_ 
and  Novgorod  in  Russia  were  little  Constantinoples  ;  so  were" 
Trebizond  on  the  southern  shore  ot  the  black  ^Sea,  the  gorgeous 
Georgian  capital,  Ani,  and  the  various  centres  of  the  Balkan  Slavs, 
especially  Sgfia  in  Bulgaria  and  Belgradein  Serbia.  We  must  not 
forget  that  the  mam  centre  of  political,  social,  religious  and  economic 
life  both  at  Kiev  and  at  Novgorod  was  the  cathedral  of  S.  Sophia, 
which  stood  in  the  same  relation  to  the  palace  and  the  person  of  the 
Kievan  Great  Prince  (Veliki  Knyaz)  as  the  great  S.  Sophia  of  Con- 
stantinople to  the  Byzantine  emperor  and  his  residences. 

But  Russia  did  not  receive  the  whole  heritage  of  the  Greco- 
Oriental  civilization.  She  had  not  the  same  opportunities  in  the  East 
as  Italy,  France  and  Spain  in  the  Western  classical  world.  The 
strivings  of  the  Kievan  princes  towards  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian 
Orient  were  not  successful.  Svyatoslav,  of  course,  nearly  succeeded 
in  destroying  and  conquering  the  two  strongholds  of  Oriental  civiliza- 
tion in  Eastern  Russia — the  Kaganate  of  the  Khazars  on  the  Volga  and 
the  Don,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Bulgars  on  the  Kama.  But  his 
successes  were  temporary.  The  Khazars  were  soon  replaced  in  the 
steppes  of  South  Russia  by  a  new  Mongolian  horde,  the  Pechenegs : 
and  when  the  Kievan  princes  had  almost  managed  to  reduce  the 
Pechenegs  to  comparative  harmlessness,  a  new  and  powerful  tribe 
of  Mongolians  appeared  in  the  South  Russian  steppes — the  Polovtsy 


ON    THE    DNIEPER 


221 


or  Cumans.^  The  forces  of  the  Kievan  princedom  were  almost 
entirely  absorbed  by  the  constant  struggle  with  these  dangerous 
enemies,  who  received  regular  reinforcements  from  the  Orient ; 
and  Russia  was  gradually  cut  off  from  the  south  and  the  east.  She 
was  driven  into  the  Central  Russian  forests  and  swamps  and  into  the 
Carpathian  mountains.  The  final  blow  to  Russia  was  struck  by  the 
hordes  of  the  Tatars,  a  branch  of  the  mighty  Mongolian  kingdom  in 
Central  Asia.  Against  such  an  enemy  Russia  in  her  Kievan  condition 
was  powerless.  The  Tatars  occupied  all  the  highways  of  commerce 
towards  the  east,  seized  the  mouths  of  the  great  Russian  rivers,  drove 
the  Russians  from  the  Dnieper  and  made  them  their  vassals.  Like 
the  Scythians  between  the  eighth  and  the  third  centuries  B.C.,  they 
kept  the  still  important  trade  with  the  Western  world  in  their  own 
hands,  using  as  intermediaries  the  Italian_colonies  on  the  Black  Sea 
and  in  the  Crimea,  the  heirs  of  the  Greek^olonies^^Kafa  (Formerly 
Theodosia),  Sudak,  Kerch  (Panticapaeum)  in  the  Crimea;LAkkerman 
(the  ancient  Tyras)  on  the  Bug,  and  thejrestT  The  Russian  part  in 
this  trade  was  reduced  to  furnishing  the  Tatars  with  the  products 
of  the  Russian  forests,  in  the  form  of  tribute.  The  Russians  were 
forced  to  retreat  to  the  Carpathians  in  the  west,  to  the  swamps  of  the 
upper  Dnieper  and  the  Pripet  in  the  north-west,  and  to  the  forests 
of  the  upper  Volga  and  the  Oka  in  the  east. 

But  in  retreating  the  Russians  carried  with  them  the  traditions  of 
Kievan  Russia  and  the  important  achievements  in" civilized  life  which 
had  been  the  result  of  their  constant  relations  with  the  Greek  and 
Oriental  world  during  the  centuries  in  which  the  Kievan  state  had 
existed.  We  must  not  forget  that  these  centuries  enabled  the  Russians 
not  only  to  use  the  blessings  of  classical  civilization,  but  also  to  form 
their  own  Slavonic  classical  culture,  a  culture  similar  to  the  Byzantine, 
but  at  the  same  time  highly  distinctive.  The  wonderful  bloom  of  art 
in  the  Russia  whose  capital  was  the  city  of  Vladimir,  during  the 
eleventh,  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  and  in  the  Galician  Russia 
of  the"  sariie~period,  shows  how  deeply  classical  civilization  had  taken 
root  in  Russia!  The  Tatar_yokepreyented  the  Russianslxom develop- 
ing  ^is~l?TKeritance  to*^thelunanor_from  becoming  the  complete 
successors  of  the  Byzantine  Empire.  But  this  inheritance  enabled 
the  Russia  of  Moscow  to  escape  dissolution  in  the  sea  of  Eastern 
nomads,  to  preserve  her  nationality,  her  religion  and  her  state,  and 
later  to  enter  the  family  of  European  nations  with  her  own  peculiarities 
and  her  own  national  spirit. 

In  this  new  period,  the  development  of  Russia  had  no  longer  its 
old  orientation  towards  the  south  and  the  east.     The  force  of  cir- 


222      RUSSIAN    STATE    ON    THE   DNIEPER 

cumstance — the  decay  of  civilized  life  in  the  Byzantine  Empire,  the 
pressure  of  the  Tatars— made  Russia  look  westward,  towards  the 
Baltic  ;  to  join  Western  Europe  and  its  cultural  development  now 
became  the  ultimate  goal  of  Russian  effort. 

Cut  off  from  the  Oriental  trading  routes  ;  impeded  in  their  move- 
ment towards  the  west  by  the  Germans,  the  Lithuanians,  the  Poles,  and 
later  the  Swedes ;  the  Russians^  ceased  to  be  a  nation  of  merchants, 
and  the  Russian  state  became "an  Agricultural  state,  a  state  of  peasants" 
and  landowners.  Thus  Russia,  in  a  comparatively  late  period  of  her 
existence,  set  foot  on  the  path  which  was  characteristic  of  the  develop- 
mentofJeudal^Europe  in  the  early  Middle  Ages.  But  here  also  the 
pecufiaTcohditTons  of  Russian  history  made  the  progress  of  Russia  in 
this  path  slow  and  strange. 

History  knows  no  pauses  and  interruptions  in  its  evolution.  Nor 
are  there  any  in  the  history  of  Russia.  The  Slavonic  is  one  of  the 
epochs  in  the  evolution  of  Russia  as  such.  But  the  Slavonic  race 
succeeded  in  accomplishing  one  cardinal  thing,  which  neither  the 
Thracians  nor  the  Iranians,  neither  the  Germans  nor  the  Mongolians 
had  been  able  or  willing  to  perform.  For  these  peoples  Russia  was 
an  expedient  to  achieve  their  main  aim — the  conquest  of  Western 
Europe.  For  the  Slavs,  Russia  was  their  final  aim  and  became  their 
country.  They  bound  themselves  to  the  country  for  ever  :  and 
Russia  is  indebted  to  them,  not  only  for  her  name,  but  also  for  her 
peculiar  statehood  and  civilization. 


>  ( SOUTH  RUSSIA 

AOMPORTANT  ARCHA6QLOGICAL  FINDS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

CHAPTER  I.    GENERAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A.  History  of  the  archaeological  discoveries  in  South  Russia. 

^dSSJ&^%S!iij^  ^  ^  b°°k  P™™*  to  be  Published 

B.  General  works  on  South  Russia. 

d    I]  SsSS^SteS^21  (not  accessible  to  me). 
mdndionale,  Paris,  1891   (French  translation  o tt        rch,^to(fe/^« 
work,  Russkiya  DrevZsti(R^Ll^Ses))  ^  **  V°IumeS  of  the  S^erd 

(in  tg&aa  BI=rt»fidHaZ;  ^  ,„. 

C.   Sources, 
(a)  Literary. 

,897!'  E'  Bon"ell"S"'"*"«"4"»''»»»*»»<fc*«»W«,  vols,  i,  ii,  St.  Petersburg,  ,8to, 

from  the  By^tine  ^^SSTLtarlt^^r*0"  °"  S°U'h  Ru8sfa 

(6)  Epigraphic. 
rsa,^'  ^atyshev>  Inscriptimes  antiquae  orae  sebtentrionalis  Ponti  Euxim   vnl   Wtc*    a 

(c)  Numismatic. 
.007  (in  RuS)'"    e"Li"Garde-  <W"'<"IS '"  *  *■•  G°>°™'  «,  a***»,  Moscow, 


224  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

3.  Minns,  1.1.,  p.  661  ff.  (Coin  plates)  and  passim. 

4.  Moscow  Numismatic  Society,  Numismatic  Miscellany,  1908-1916  (4  volumes). 

5.  Rostovtzeff,  Studies,  &c,  part  ii,  Epigraphic  and  numismatic  sources. 

(d)  Archaeological. 

1.  Antiquitis  du  Bosphore  Cimmerien  conservies  au  Muse"e  imperial  de  VErmitage, 
St.  Petersburg,  1854  (i-ii,  text ;  iii,  plates).  Republication  of  the  French  text  (in 
abbreviated  form  with  many  additions)  and  the  plates  by  S.  Reinach,  Bibliotheque  des 
Monuments  figure's,  Paris,  1892  (with  copious  indices,  containing  references  to  the  C.  R. 
(see  below).    Archaeological  Commission.    [Quoted  A.B.C.] 

2.  Antiquitis  de  la  Scythie  d'Hdrodote,  i  (1866),  ii  (1873),  and  Atlas,  St.  Petersburg, 
Archaeological  Commission.    [Quoted  A.S.H.] 

3.  Minns,  1.1.,  chaps,  vii-xiii. 

4.  Rostovtzeff,  Studies,  p.  iii,  Archaeological  Sources. 

5.  Y.  I.  Smirnov,  Argenterie  orientale.  Recueil  d'ancienne  vaisselle  orientate  en  argent 
et  or  trouvde  principalement  en  Russie,  St.  Petersburg,  1909. 

6.  M.  Rostovtzeff,  Ancient  Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia,  i,  text  (in  Russian), 
ii,  plates  (in  Russian  and  French),  St.  Petersburg,  1913  ;  the  same,  Ancient  Decorative 

V        Wall-painting,  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  xxxix  (1919). 

D.  Periodicals. 

1.  Compte  rendu  de  la  Commission  [Impiriale]  Archeologique  (after  1917  without  the 
epithet  Imphiale  like  the  other  publications  of  the  [Imperial]  Archaeological  Com- 
mission) :  1859-1881 ,  yearly  reports  (in  French  and  Russian),  and  supplements  by  Stephani 
(in  German  and  Russian),  and  Atlas;  1882-1888,  report  (in  French  and  Russian)  and 
Atlas  ;    1889-         ,  brief  reports  (in  Russian  only)  with  illustrations,  no  Atlas.     Full 

*   A  reports  on  archaeological  excavation  from  1898  in  B.C.A.  (see  below).    [Quoted  C.R.] 

2.  Bulletin  de  la  Commission  [Impe'riale]  Archdologique,  1901-  (65  parts  in  1918), 
with  special  bibliographical  supplement.  [Quoted  B.C.A.]  A  new  series  of  the  Bulletin 
was  started  in  1921  under  the  title  Bulletin  of  the  Russian  Academy  of  the  History  of  Material 
Civilization.    [Quoted  B.A.M.C.] 

3.  Materials  for  the  Archaeology  of  Russia,  1866-  (37  parts  in  1918).  [Quoted 
M.A.R.] 

4.  Transactions  of  the  Historical  and  Antiquarian  Society  of  Odessa,  vols,  i  (1844)  to 
xxxii  (19 1 5). 

5.  Bulletin  of  the  T auric  Record  Commission,  i  (1882)  to  liii  (19 16). 

6.  Transactions  of  the  Archaeological  Congresses,  vols,  i  (1869)  to  xv  (191 1) 
[Full  list  in  Minns,  1.1.,  pp.  xxv  ff.] 

7.  B.  Farmakovski,  Reports  on  archaeological  excavations  in  South  Russia,  published 
yearly  (last  report  (for  1913)  printed  in  1914)  in  the  Archaeologischer  Anzeiger  of  the 
Jahrbuch  des  Deutschen  Archaeologischen  Instituts,  with  copious  illustrations  (quoted  as 
Farmakovski,  A.A.). 

8.  Report  (with  illustrations)  for  the  years  1916  and  1917,  B.C.A.,  65  (1918),  157  ff. 

CHAPTER  II 

1 .   Painted  pottery  in  South  Russia. 

Minns,  1.1.,  132  ff.  ;  compare  Karl  Hadaczek,  La  Colonie  industrielle  de  Koszylowce 
de  Vipoque  eneolithique,  Lvov,  1914  ;  M.  Homes,  Urgeschichte  der  bildenden  Kunst  in 
Europa,  2nd  ed.  (1915),  304  ff.  and  606  ff.  ;  new  finds  by  Himner  near  Uman  in  the 
Ukraine ;  E.  Majewski,  Bulletin  et  Mimoires  de  la  SocUte  d?  Anthropologic  de  Paris,  1913, 
226;  compare  U.  B.,  V Anthropologic,  xxvi  (1915),  575  (clay  model  of  a  house  and 
a  dwelling-area  on  piles,  found  together  with  painted  pottery).  Clay  model  of  a  wagon- 
house  found  in  a  grave  of  the  copper  period  near  the  Ulski  aul  (on  the  Kuban),  B.C.A.  35, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  225 

1  ff. ;  Farmakovski,  A.A.  1910,  195,  fig.  1.  Similar  finds  of  models  of  houses  in  neolithic 
settlements  have  been  recently  made  in  Bulgaria  :  (1)  Kodjadermen  barrow  near  Shumen 
(B.  Filow,  A.A.,  1915,  218,  fig.  1)  ;  and  (2)  barrow  near  Salmanovo  (B.  Filow,  ibid., 
1913,  343  ff.,  and  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  archeologique  bulgare,  iv  (1914),  148  ff.). 

2.  Incised  pottery  of  the  Kharkov  government. 

Gorodtsov,  Bytovdya  Arkheologia  (Archaeology  of  Material  Civilization),  Moscow, 
1910 ;  Transactions  of  the  Archaeological  Congress  at  Kharkov,  xii,  1902,  and  Ekaterinoslav 
xiii,  1905  ;  Report  of  the  Historical  Museum  of  Moscow  for  19 16. 

3 .  The  origin  of  iron. 

P.  Oxy.  x.  1241,  v.  3  ff.  ;     Belck,  Zeitsckrift  fur  Ethnologie,  1907,  359  and  363; 

0.  Montelius,  Prdhistorische  Zeitschrift,  v  (1913),  28  ff.,  esp.  328  ff. 

4.  The  Copper  Period  in  the  Kuban  district. 

M.  Rostovtzeff,  L'dge  du  cuivre  dans  le  Caucase  Septentrional  et  les  civilisations  de 
Soumer  et  de  VEgypte  protodynastique,  Revue  archeologique,  1920.  Idem,  The  Treasure  of 
Aster abad,  Journal  of  Egyptian  Archaeology,  1920. 

5.  Pre-Vannic  Antiquities  in  Southern  Caucasus. 

Countess  P.  Uvarov,  The  Cemeteries  of  Northern  Caucasus,  Materials  for  the  Archaeo- 
logy of  the  Caucasus,  viii  (Moscow),  1900 ;  A.  Ivanovski,  In  Transcaucasia,  ibid., 
vi  (Moscow),  191 1  ;  Farmakovski,  M.A.R.  34  (1914),  37  (all  in  Russian);  compare 
the  reports  on  the  excavations  in  Transcaucasia  made  by  A.  Rossler  and  others  in  C.R. 
1895-1905,  and  Verhandlungen  der  Berliner  Gesellschaft  fur  Anthropologic,  &c,  Zeitschrift 
fur  Ethnologie,  1895-1905.  Previous  publications  :  Chantre,  Recherches  anthropologiques 
dans  le  Caucase,  i  (1885)  ;  Fr.  Bayern,  Untersuchungen  tiber  die  dltesten  Grdber-  und 
Schatzfunde  in  Kaukasien,  Zeitschrift  fur  Ethnologie,  1885,  supplement ;  J.  de  Morgan, 
Mission  scientifique  au  Caucase,  i,  ii  (1889)  ;  the  same,  Mission  scientifique  en  Perse, 
iv  (1896),  13  ff.  ;  Recherches  au  Talysch  Person,  Delegation  scientifique  en  Perse, 
Mimoires,  viii  (1905),  251 ;  W.  Belck,  Verhandlungen  der  Berliner  Gesellschaft  fur 
Anthropologic,  &c,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Ethnologie,  1893,  64 ;  R.  Virchow,  Abhandlungen 
der  Berliner  Akademie,  1895,  Phys.-math.  Kl.,  1  ff. 

6.  Religious  beliefs  of  the  most  ancient  population  in  the  Kuban  district,  and  the  Amazons. 

M.  Rostovtzeff,  Le  Culte  de  la  grande  deesse  et  les  Amazones  en  Russie  meridionale,    ^ 
Revue  des  Etudes  Grecques  (jubilee  number,  rg2*}.   ^1,  C  l^l^)  */&  1  ~  Ol 

CHAPTER  III 

1 .  Cimmerians  and  Scythians  in  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries. 

(a)  Oriental  tradition. 

M.  Streck,  Assurbanipal  und  die  letzten  assyrischen  Konige  bis  zum  Untergange 
Ninivehs,  Leipzig,  1916  (Vorderasiatische  Bibliothek),  p.  ccclxxi,  n.  1  (gives  a  good  but 
incomplete  bibliography).  In  addition  to  the  bibliography  given  by  this  writer,  see 
H.  Winckler,  The  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  London,  1907,  225 ;  Jeremias,  The 
Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  the  Ancient  East,  i  (1911),  275 ;  F.  Wilke,  Das  Skythen- 
problem  im  Jeremiabuche  (R.  Kittel,  Alttestamentliche  Studien,  13  (Leipzig,  1913),  222); 
C.  H.  W.  Johns,  Ancient  Assyria  (1912),  116  and  136  ;  W.  Rogers,  A  History  of  Babylonia 
and  Assyria  (6th  ed.,  1915),  ii.  320,  329,  412  ff. ;  Thureau-Dangin,  La  huitieme  campagne 
de  Sargon,  Paris,  1912,  p.  x  ff. ;  Olmstead,  Western  Asia  in  the  days  of  Sargon  of  Assyria 
(Cornell  Studies  in  History  and  Political  Science,  ii),  148. ;  id.,  Western  Asia  in  the  reign 
of  Sennacherib,  American  Historical  Association,  Annual  Report  (1909),  Washington,  191 1, 
94 ;  E.  G.  Klauber,  American  Journal  of  Semitic  Languages,  28  (1911-12),  101  comp.  247  ; 
V.  Smolin,  Transactions  of  Kazan  University,  1914  or  1915  (quoted  from  memory); 
S.   Feist,  Kultur,  Ausbreitung   und  Herkunft  der  Indogermanen,  Berlin,    1913,  4046°.; 

2353  G  g 


u/ 


226  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

G.  Hiising,  Volkerschichten  in  Iran,  Mitth.  der  anthrop.  Gesellschaft  in  Wien,  xlvi  (1916), 
199  ff. ;  Lehmann-Haupt,  Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll,  Real-Encyclopaedic,  ix,  s.v.  Kimmerier, 
cp.  Klio,  xvii  (1920),  113  ff. ;  H.  Vambery,  Primitive  Kultur  der  Turko-tatarischen  Volker 
(1879),  103  f.,  133  (pleads  for  the  Mongolian  origin  of  the  Cimmerians),  cp.  O.  Schrader, 
Sprachvergleichung  und  Urgeschichte,  ii  (3rd  ed.),  528. 

(6)  Vannic  Kingdom. 

Patkanov, yottrna/  of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction,  1883,  December  (in  Russian) ; 
V.  Nikolski,  Cuneiform  Inscriptions  of  the  Vannic  Kings  discovered  in  Russia  ;  Oriental 
Antiquities  (Moscow),  i.  375-453  (in  Russian),  and  various  articles  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Russian  Archaeological  Society,  Oriental  branch ;  B.  Turaev,  History  of  the  Ancient 
Orient,  ii  (1912),  46  (in  Russian) ;  N.  Marr,  Bulletin  de  I' Academic  des  Sciences  de  Russie, 
1918  (results  of  the  new  excavations  in  Van  during  the  War  ;  quoted  from  memory); 
Hyvernat,  Du  Caucase  au  Golfe  Persique,  Washington,  1892  ;  Prasek,  Geschichte  der 
Meder  und  Perser,  i.  50  ff. ;  H.  Winckler,  The  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  London, 

1907,  225  ff. ;  Lehmann-Haupt,  Armenien  einst  und  jetzt ;  Hall,  The  Ancient  History 
of  the  Near  East  (1913),  516  ;  S.  Feist,  Kultur,  Ausbreitung  und  Herkunft  der  Indogermanen, 
Berlin,  1913,  403.  Archaeology  :  Lehmann-Haupt,  Materialien  zur  dlteren  Geschichte 
Armeniens,  Gottinger  Abhandlungen,  ix  (1907)  ;  Zeitschrift  fur  Assyriologie,  vii.  265  ; 
ix.  95  ;   British  Museum  :   A  Guide  to  the  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  Antiquities,  2nd  ed. 

1908,  p.  106  ;  Perrot  and  Chipiez  ii.  224  ;  Heuzey,  Origines  orientates  de  Part,  231  ; 
Farmakovski,  The  Archaic  Period  in  Russia,  M.A.R.  34  (1914),  45  ff.  Hittite  inscriptions  in 
Van  :  Hommel  and  Sayce,  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology,  1899  (xx),  238. 

(e)  Greek  tradition. 
Gutschmid,  Kleine  Schriften,  iii.  430  ;  v.  109 ;  Duncker,  Geschichte  des  Altertums, 
i4.  395,  i5.  463;  E.  Meyer,  Geschichte  des  Altertums,  i1.  §§  406,  424,  452-3  ;  ii.  1, 
§  286  ;  i,  23,  §  529  ;  compare  §  423  ;  Miillenhoff,  Deutsche  Alter tumskunde,  ii2.  (1906),  162, 
and  iii  (passim);  E.  Rohde,  Rheinisches  Museum,  1881,  555;  E.  Thraemer,  Pergamos, 
Leipzig,  1888,  330 ;  U.  Hofer,  De  Cimmeriis  (programme),  Belgrad,  1891 ;  Dittenberger, 
Orientis  Graeci  inscriptiones,  N.  13,  compare  M.  O.  Caspari,  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies, 
1913  (35),  173 ;  W.  Leonhard,  Paphlagonia,  Reisen  und  Forschungen  (1915),  298. 

(d)  Greek  mythological  tradition. 

Count  I.  Tolstoy,  The  White  Island  and  the  Taurike  on  the  Euxine,  Petrograd,  1913. 
Compare  my  review,  B.C. A.  65  (19 18),  177  ff. 

(e)  Ninus  and  Sesostris. 

Gutschmid,  Kleine  Schriften,  v.  26  and  90  ff. ;  Sethe,  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte 
Aegyptens,  ii ;  Zeitschrift  ftir  dgyptische  Sprache,  41,  34  ff. ;  Maspero,  Journal  des  Savants, 
1 901,  594;  E.  Meyer,  Geschichte  des  Altertums,  i.  23,  §  281  ;  W.  Leonhard,  Hettiter  und 
Amazonen,  93,  1,  compare  97  and  Anhang  vi.  270. 

2.  Thracian  names  in  the  Bosporus.    M.  Rostovtzeff,  B.C. A.  63  (191 7),  106. 

3.  Find  of  Temir  Gora.  C.R.  1870-1,  p.  xx,  pi.  IV  (the  carved  ivories  and  the  bronze 
implements  of  this  find  are  still  unpublished). 

4.  Find  in  the  Taman  peninsula.    E.  Prushevskaya,  B.C.A.  63  (1917),  31  ff. 

5.  Find  in  Bessarabia.    E.  von  Stern,  M.A.R.  34,  1  ff. 

6.  Find  at  Mikhalkovo  in  Galicia.  K.  Hadaczek,  Zlote  skarby  Michalkowskie,  Cracow, 
1904;  Oesterreichische  Jahreshefte,v'i  (1903),  115  ff.  ;  ix  (1906),  32  ff. ;  A  Lebedyanskaya, 
B.C. A.  53  (1914),  29  ff. ;  A.  Spitsyn,  ibid.,  135  ff. ;  Homes,  Urgeschichte  der  bildenden  Kunst? 
29  and  610.  Compare  the  fibula  of  Dalyi,  M.  Ebert,  Oesterreichische  Jahreshefte,  xi  (1908), 
260  ff. 

7.  Massagetians,  Minns,  in  ;  Franke,  'Zur  Kenntnis  der  Tiirkvolker  und  Skythen 
Zentralasiens  ',  Abhandlungen  der  Berliner  Akademie,  1904,  24  ff. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  227 

8.  Scythian  graves  of  the  sixth  to  fourth  century. 

(a)  Kuban  district.  Minns,  222  (Kelermes),  223  (Voronezhskaya),  224  (Kostromskaya), 
227  (Ulski),  cp.  G.  Borovka,  'The  bronze  Stag  of  the  Ulski  aul',  B.A.M.C.  1921,  206 
(Seven  Brothers);  Maryinskaya  and  Elizavetinskaya,  N.  Veselovski,  C.R.  1912,  1913-15  ; 
B.C.A.  65  (1918),  1  ff.  ;  Karagodeuashkh,  Minns,  216  ff. 

(b)  Crimea  and  the  Dnieper  region.  Golden  Barrow  near  Simferopol,  Veselovski,  C.R. 
1890,  4ff. ;  Rostovtzeff,  M.A.R.  37,  40;  Tomakovka,  Antiquities  of  Herodotean  Scythia, 
pp.  62  ff.,  pi.  XXVI;  Rostovtzeff,  1.1.,  38  ff.  Shumeyko  barrow,  Khanenko,  Les  anti- 
quite's  de  la  region  du  Dnieper,  iii,  pi.  XLV,  461  (on  the  excavations  in  this  barrow  in 
general,  compare  the  introduction  to  vol.  vi) ;  Melgunov's  barrow,  Minns,  171  ff. 

(c)  Hungarian  group.  Minns,  150;  Geza  Nagy,  A  Szkithdk,  Budapest,  1909,  p.  57; 
Hampel,  Fiihrer  in  der  Altertumsabteilung  des  Ungarischen  Nationalmuseums,  Budapest,  191 1, 
65,  note  5  ;  Homes,  Urg.  der  bild.  Kunst 2,  428. 

(d)  Vettersfelde.    Minns,  236  ;  A.  Furtwangler,  Kleine  Schriften,  i.  469  ff. 

(e)  Caucasus.    C.R.  1904,  131,  figs.  239-43. 

9.  Scythian  dress,  weapons,  and  implements.    Minns,  50  ff. 

(a)  Dress.  Sarre  and  Herzfeld,  Iranische  Felsreliefs,  p.  54 ;  P.  Stepanov,  History  of 
Russian  Dress,  I :  Scythians,  Petrograd,  1915. 

(b)  Headgear.  M.  Rostovtzeff  and  P.  Stepanov, '  Greco-Scythian  Headgear ',  B.C.A.  63 
(1917),  69  ff.  G.  Borovka,  B.A.M.C.  1921,  169  ff.  A.  H.  Smith,  Journal  of  Hellenic 
Studies,  1917,  135. 

(c)  Weapons.  Sword.  Rostovtzeff,  M.A.R.  37,  51  ff. ;  Stepanov,  1.1.  Corslet.  Rostov- 
tzeff, ibid.,  p.  62;  A.  Hagemann,  Griechische  Panzerung,  I.  Teil :  Metallharnisch,  Leip- 
zig and  Berlin,  Teubner,  1920.  Bow,  arrows,  and  bow-case.  Bulanda,  Bogen  und  Pfeil  bei 
den  Volkern  des  Altertums,  Wien,  1913  (ignores  the  Russian  material) ;  P.  Reinecke,  Zeit- 
schrift fiir  Ethnologie,  xxviii  (1896),  6,  8  ff.,  20  ff. ;  H.  Schmidt  in  R.  Pumpelly,  Explorations 
in  Turkestan,  Washington,  1908,  vol.  i,  p.  ii,  p.  183  ;  A.  M.  Tallgren,  Collection  Tovostine, 
48  ff. ;  H.  Bliimner,  FmpvTos,  Berliner  philologische  Wochenschrift,  1917,  1121  ff. 

(d)  Mirrors.  Farmakovski,  M.A.R.  34,  p.  33  ;  F.  Studniczka,  Archdologischer  Anzeiger, 
1919,  2  ff . 

(e)  Cauldrons.  M.  Ebert,  Prdhistorische  Zeitschrift,  iv  (1912),  451 ;  Zoltan  v.  Takacs, 
'  Chinesische  Kunst  bei  den  Hunnen ',  Ostasiatische  Zeitschrift,  iv  (1915),  174  ff. ;  A.  M. 
Tallgren,  Collectun  Tovostine,  46. 

(/)  Horse-trappings.  E.  Pernice,  Griechisches  Pferdegeschirr,  Berlin,  1896  (56,  Winckel- 
manns  Programm) ;  R.  Zschille  and  R.  Forrer,  Die  Pferdetrense  in  ihrer  Formentwicklung, 
Berlin,  1895  (ignores  the  South  Russian  material) ;  Lefebvre  des  Noettes,  Annales  du  Service 
des  Antiquites  de  I'Egypte,  xi  (1911-12),  283  (especially  Assyrian  bridle,  pi.  II).  Oriental 
horse-trappings  (no  good  study).  Perrot  et  Chipiez,  History  of  Art  in  Chaldaea  and  Assyria, 
ii.  357  ;  compare  150,  fig.  73.  Iranian  horse-trappings  in  North  Syria.  Woolley,  Liverpool 
Annals  of  Archaeology,  vii  (1914-16).  Very  primitive  horse-trappings  in  the  animal  style. 
Sumerian  (?),  Sir  Hercules  Read,  Man,  19-18,  i,  pi.  A.  Another  in  the  same  style,  the  same, 
Man,  1920.  Hittite  horse-trappings.  E.  Meyer,  Reich  und  Kultur  der  Chettiter,  55,  fig.  45  ; 
Ausgrabungen  in  Sendschirli,  iv  (191 1),  p.  334  ff.,  fig.  245-9  ;  Carchemish,  pi.  B  10,  C. 

(g)  Funeral  canopies  and  chariots.  Rostovtzeff,  Ancient  Decorative  Wall-painting  in 
South  Russia,  47  ff.  Oriental  Standards.  H.  Prinz,  Altorientalische  Symbolik,  97,  compare 
Prdhistorische  Zeitschrift,  iv  (1912),  16,  and  H.  Schmidt,  ibid.  28. 

10.  Susa  find.  De  Morgan,  Delegation  scientifique  en  Perse,  Mem.  viii.  29  ff ;  Oxus  find. 
Dal  ton,  The  Treasure  of  the  Oxus,  London,  1905. 

11.  Caucasian  openwork  plaques  and  other  bronze  implements.  Plaques  and  trinkets. 
Rossler,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Ethnologie,  1901,  87,  fig.  21b;  1902,  172,  fig.  135  ff. ;  1896,  398, 
pi.  VIII ;  de  Morgan,  Mission  scientifique  au  Caucase,fig.  116  ;  Bayern,  Zeitschrift  fur  Ethno- 
logie, 1885,  suppl.,  pi.  IX.  Swords  and  other  weapons  and  implements.  Rossler,  Zeitschrift 
fiir  Ethnologie,  Verhandlungen  der  anthropologischen  Gesellschaft,  1902, 147,  fig.  42  ;  ibid.,  240, 
fig.  25,  &c.  „ 

12.  Scythian  animal  style  (compare  bibliography  to  chapter  VIII).     Minns,  266  It. ; 


X 


228  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Farmakovski,  M.A.R.  34  (1914),  32;  Zoltan  von  Takacs,  'Zur  Kunst  der  hunnischen 
Volker ',  Ostasiatische  Zeitschrift,  v  (1916),  138  ff. ;  compare  Arch.  Ertes.  xxxv  (1915),  65  and 
211 ;  and  Supka,  ibid.,  chs.  iii-v ;  J.  Strzygowski,  Die  bildende  Kunst  des  Ostens,  Leipzig, 
1916,  27 ;  C.  Schuchhardt,  Alteuropa  in  seiner  Kultur  und  Stilentwicklung,  Strassburg  and 
Berlin,  1919,  325,  cp.  332,  fig.  101  :  the  same,  '  Tierornamentik  in  Siidrussland ',  A.A., 
xxxv  (1920),  p.  51  ff.,  cp.  H.  Schmidt,  ibid.,  p.  42  ff. 

13.  Contracted  figures  of  animals.  Delegation  scientifique  en  Perse,  xii.  21,  N.  1173, 
fig.  24,  to  be  compared  with  Scythian  monuments,  Bobrinskoy,  Smela,  iii.  20,  barrow  346, 
pi.  VI,  1  and  3  ;  Khanenko,  Antiquites  de  la  region  du  Dnieper,  iii,  pi.  45,  N.  460  ;  pi.  49, 
N.  529-31  ;  pi.  57,  T;  pi.  61,  N.  539,  540,  and  470.  S.  Reinach,  Revue  arche'ologique, 
xxxvi  (1900),  447,  fig.  58  ;  and  448,  figs.  60,  61. 

14.  Persian  axes.  Prototypes.  Morgan,  Delegation  scientifique  en  Perse,  v'u,  78,  pi.  XVII, 
8  (axe) ;  Harper,  American  Journal  of  Semitic  Languages,  xx,  266  ff. ;  compare  Handcock, 
Mesopotamian  Archaeology,  250,  fig.  40  E  (dagger) ;  Handcock,  Mesopotamian  Archaeology, 
294,  fig.  58  (contracted  position  of  a  lion  on  a  Sumerian  seal).  Hamadan  axe  in  the  British 
Museum.  Greenwell,  Archaeologia,  58  (1902),  9,  fig.  11  ;  British  Museum,  A  Guide  to  the 
Antiquities  of  the  Bronze  Age  (1904),  p.  128,  fig.  124.  Kinaman  axe.  Greenwell,  Archaeo- 
logia, 58  (1902),  10,  fig.  12.  Bactrian  axe.  Sir  Hercules  Read,  '  A  Bactrian  Bronze  Cere- 
monial Axe  ',  Man,  1914,  no.  11,  p.  17.  Axe  of  Van.  Greenwell,  ibid.,  8,  fig.  10  (compare 
Handcock,  Mesopotamian  Archaeology,  254,  pi.  XXVIII). 

15.  The  nationality  of  the  Scythians.  Mongolian  theory.  Minns,  97  (excellent  biblio- 
graphy). Geza  Nagy,  A  Szkithak,  Budapest,  1909 ;  H.  Treidler,  '  Die  Skythen  und  ihre 
Nachbarvolker ',  Archiv  fur  Anthropologic  (Wien),  1915,  280;  G.  Supka,  Oesterreichische 
Monatsschriften  fur  den  Orient,  xli  (1915),  77  ff. 


CHAPTER  IV 

1 .  The  myth  of  the  Argonauts,  the  Odyssey,  and  South  Russia.  O.  Maass,  Die  Irrfahrten 
des  Odysseus,  Programme,  Giitersloh,  1915  ;  Drerup,  Homer2,  124 ;  P.  Friedlander, 
'  Kritische  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte  der  Heldensage,  I :  Argonautensage,'  Rheini- 
sches  Museum,  69  (1914),  299 ;  U.  von  Wilamowitz-Moellendorff,  Die  Ilias  und  Homer, 
Berlin,  1916,  362. 

2.  The  Carians  in  South  Russia.  W.  Leonhard,  Paphlagonia,  Reisen  und  Forschungen, 
Berlin,  1915,  323  ff. ;  O.  Maass,  1.1.,  8;  Tomaschek,  '  Kritik  der  alteren  Nachrichten'. 
Sitzungsberichte  der  Wiener  Akademie,  1888  (106),  723  ;  Hommel,  Grundriss  der  Geographic 
u.  Geschichte  des  alten  Orients,  58  (§  30),  cp.  C.  Autran,  Pheniciens,  Paris,  1920. 

3.  Sinope.  W.  Leaf,  '  The  Commerce  of  Sinope ',  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  xxxvi 
(1916),  iff., 

4.  Greek  colonization.  E.  von  Stern,  articles  quoted  above  to  chapter  I  (with  abundant 
bibliography,  which  I  do  not  repeat).  P.  Klym,  Die  milesischen  Kolonien  im  Skythenlande 
bis  zum  3.  vorchristlichen  Jahrhundert,  Czernowitz,  Programme,  1914  ;  E.  von  Stern, 
'  Bemerkungen  zu  Strabons  Geographie  der  Taurischen  Chersonesos ',  Hermes,  Hi  (1917), 
iff.;  J.  L.  Myres,  '  Geography  and  Greek  Colonization ',  Proceedings  of  the  Classical  Asso- 
ciation, Jan.  191 1  (viii),  London,  191 1,  62  ;  A.  Glynn  Durham,  The  History  of  Miletus, 
London,  1915, 15  ;  A.  Gwynn,  '  The  Character  of  Greek  Colonization ',  Journal  of  Hellenic 
Studies,  1918,  94  ff. ;  F.  Bilabel,  Die  ionische  Kolonisation,  Leipzig,  1920  (Philologus 
Suppl.  xiv.  1),  esp.  pp.  19-28,  60  ff.,  197.  Greek  colonies  in  Thrace.  G.  Kazarovv, 
'  Hellenism  in  Ancient  Thrace  and  Macedonia  ',  Annual  of  the  University  of  Sofia,  xiii-xiv 
(1919)  (in  Bulgarian). 

5.  Olbia.  Farmakovski,  'The  Archaic  Period  in  Russia',  M.A.R.  34  (1914),  16  ff.  : 
Archaic  Olbia. 

6.  Bosphorus.  History:  latest  treatment,  E.  von  Stern,  Hermes,  1.  179  ff.,  compare 
E.  Bethe,  '  Athen  und  der  peloponnesische  Krieg ',  Neue  Jahrbucher  fiir  das  klassische 
Altertum,  xx.  1,  73  ff. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  229 

7.  The  most  ancient  coinage  of  the  Bosphoran  group  of  Greek  colonies.  The  Aeginetan 
standard  of  this  coinage  is  explained  by  the  commercial  relations  of  the  Bosphoran 
colonies,  after  the  fall  of  Miletus  but  before  the  beginning  of  the  Athenian  hegemony,  with 
Aegina  and  the  Peloponnese,  see  Herod,  vii,  147  ;  P.  Gardner,  A  History  of  Ancient 
Coinage,  700-300  B.C.,  Oxford,  1918.  Note  that  Teos,  the  metropolis  of  Phanagoria,  had 
the  same  Aeginetan  standard,  and  that  its  chief  god  was  Apollo  (the  inscription  AIIOA 
on  the  earlier  Bosphoran  coins).  The  similarity  of  type  in  the  archaic  coins  of  Panticapaeum 
and  of  Samos  is  explained  by  the  dominant  part  played  by  Samos  on  the  shores  of  the 
Propontis  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  (the  time  of  Polycrates).    Gardner,  1.1.,  192. 

8.  Bosphoran  tyrants.  On  the  tyrannies  in  general :  H.  Swoboda,  '  Zur  Beurteilung 
der  griechischen  Tyrannis ',  Klio,  xii  (1912),  341  ;  Hampers,  in  Daremberg  and  Saglio, 
Dictionnaire  des  Antiquites,  v.  567  (both  pay  no  attention  to  the  Bosphoran  tyranny). 

9.  Cemetery  of  Panticapaeum.  About  the  latest  excavations,  my  article  in  the  Journal 
des  Savants,  1920,  quoted  above.  Analogous  cemeteries  are  those  of  Mesambria  and  Abdera, 
excavated  during  the  war.  Kazarow,  A.A.  1918,  4  ff.,  50  ff.  ;  cp.  Ath.  Mitt,  xxxvi  (191 1), 
308  ff.,  and  Amelung,  A.A.,  1918,  140  ff.  Barrows  with  chambers  :  best  analogy  in  Thrace, 
see  F.  W.  Hasluck,  '  A  Tholos  Tomb  at  Kirk  Kilisse  ',  Annual  of  the  British  School  at 
Athens,  xvii  (1910-11),  76  (pi.  XX),  cf.  xviii ;  B.  Filow,  Volume  in  honour  of  Shishmanow, 
Sofia,  1919,  46  (in  Bulgarian)  :  other  barrows  with  vaulted  chambers  in  my  Ancient 
Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia,  passim. 

10.  Cemetery  at  Nymphaeum.  Minns,  561.  Contents  of  some  graves  of  this  cemetery 
in  the  Ashmolean ;  E.  A.  Gardner,  Journalof  Hellenic  Studies,  v  (1884),  69  (Atlas,  pi.  XL  VII). 
Graves  I,  II,  and  IV  certainly  belong  to  the  fifth  century  B.  c.  (grave  IV  is  dated  by 
red-figured  vases).  New  data  on  these  graves  and  a  new  treatment  of  the  whole  cemetery 
will  be  given  in  my  forthcoming  book,  Studies  in  the  History  of  Scythia  and  the  Bosphorus, 
vol.  i ;  ibid.,  description  of  the  cemeteries  of  other  Greek  cities  in  the  Bosphoran  state ; 
meanwhile,  see  Minns,  passim,  cp.  my  article  in  the  Journal  des  Savants,  1920. 

11.  Cemeteries  of  Olbia  and  the  neighbouring  Greco-Scythian  towns.  Farmakovski, 
M.A.R.  34,  16  ff.,  cf.  Journal  des  Savants,  1920;  M.  Ebert,  Prdhistorische  Zeitschrift,  iii, 
252  and  v.  1  ff. ;  von  Stern,  Hermes,  1.  165  ff.  Remains  of  Greco-Scythian  towns. 
Goszkiewicz, '  The  "  Gorodishche  "  on  the  lower  Dnieper ',  B.C. A.  47  (1913),  117 ;  Ebert, 
Prdhistorische  Zeitschrift,  v  (1913),  81  ff. 

12.  Gold  coinage  in  the  Bosphorus.  The  precise  date  of  the  introduction  of  gold 
coinage  in  the  Bosphoran  state,  and  the  economic  and  political  reasons  for  the  step,  are 
still  conjectural.  P.  Gardner,  A  History  of  Ancient  Coinage,  Oxford,  1918,  293  ff.,  pointed 
out  that  the  phenomenon  is  not  peculiar  to  Bosphorus  but  common  to  most  of  the  leading 
commercial  states  of  Greece  :  Athens,  to  his  mind,  took  the  lead  in  the  whole  movement. 
Hence  the  Athenian  standard  of  the  Panticapaean  gold.  I  can  hardly  agree  with  this 
opinion.  My  own  view  is  that  the  rise  of  gold  coinage  in  Greece  was  due  to  the  fall  of  the 
Athenian  commercial  hegemony  and  the  increasing  commercial  and  political  influence 
of  Persia.  It  is  possible  that  Panticapaeum,  being  independent  of  Persia,  was  the  first 
to  adopt  gold  coinage.  As  its  chief  market  was  Athens,  Panticapaeum  adopted  the 
Athenian  standard.  Athens  followed  Panticapaeum,  being  anxious  to  keep  her  lead  in 
the  Pontic  trade.  Cyzicus  and  Lampsacus  and  some  other  cities  attempted  to  oust  the 
Panticapaean  coinage  by  imitating  its  types.  I  intend  to  treat  these  matters  more  fully 
in  a  special  article. 

CHAPTER  V 

1 .  The  Persians  and  the  Scythians, 
(a)  Darius's  expedition.    Minns,  1 16-17.    J-  V.  Prasek,  Geschichte  der  Meder  und  Perser, 
ii.  76  and  105  ;  the  same,  Dareios,  i  (1914)  (Der  alte  Orient,  14,  4),  21  ff.  ;   Obst,  Klio,  ix 
(1909),   413  ff.  ;     Wittneben,  Zeitschrift  fur  Oesterr.   Gymnasien,   lxvi   (1912),   557  ff. ; 
Lenschau,  Bursian's  Jahresberichte  d.  Klass.  Alt.,  178  (1919),  119  ff. 


230  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(b)  Darius  and  the  Sacians  (inscription  of  Naksh-i-Rustam).  Sarre  and  Herzfeld,  Iranische 
Felsreliefs  (igio), chaps.  II  and  III,  and  supplement,  p.  251 ;  F  .H.Weissbach,  Berichte  d.  sdch- 
sischen  Gesellschaft,  1910  (62),  i.and  Abhandlungen  der  K.  Sdchsiscken  Gesellschaft,  Phil.-hist. 
Kl.,  xxix  (191 1),  Die  Keilinschriften  am  Grabe  des  Darius  Hystaspes  ;  the  same,  Die  Keilin- 
schriften  der  Achdmeniden,  Vorderasiatische  Bibliothek,  Leipzig,  191 1.  The  mention  of  the 
over-sea  Sacians  and  the  Sacians  in  the  supplement  to  the  inscription  of  Bisutun  (Weissbach, 
Die  Keilinschriften  der  Achdmeniden,  p.  73,  §74)  is  usually  (Herzfeld,  198  ;  Prasek,  ii.  93) 
taken  as  referring  to  the  expedition  of  Darius  in  South  Russia,  compare  Hoffmann- Kutschke, 
Recueil  des  travaux,  1908,  140. 

(c)  On  the  ethnographical  questions.  E.  Meyer,  Geschichte  des  Altertums,  i.  23,  §  578, 
p.  905  ff. 

2.  The  Kingdom  of  the  Odrysians.  P.  Foucart,  '  Les  Atheniens  dans  le  Chersonese 
de  Thrace  au  IVes.,  Mem.  de  VAcad.  d.  Inscr.,  xxxviii,  1  (1909),  80  ff. ;  J.  Kazarow,  Beitrdge 
zur  Kultur geschichte  der  Thraker,  Sarajevo,  1916  ;  the  same,  Hellenism  in  ancient  Thracia 
and  Macedon,  Annual  of  the  University  of  Sofia,  xiii-xiv  (1920)  (in  Bulgarian) ;  Lenschau, 
(Bursian's)  Jahresb.  des  Kl.  Altert.  178  (1919),  182  ff. 

3.  Scythian  objects  in  Thracian  tumuli.  B.  Filow, '  Denkmaler  der  thrakischen  Kunst ', 
Mitteilungen  des  Deutschen  Archdologischen  Instituts,  Romische  Abteilung,  xxxii  (1917),  1  ff., 
compare  G.  Kazarow,  Beitrdge  zur  Kulturgeschichte  der  Thraker,  Sarajevo,  1916  (Zur  Kunde 
der  Balkanhalbinsel,  II,  Quellen  u.  Forschungen),  87,  94  ff. 

4.  The  Celts  in  the  Balkan  peninsula.  Minns,  126;  Niese  in  Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, 
R.E.  vii,  618,  compare  Brandis,  ibid.,  522  ;  G.  Kazarow, '  Celts  in  Thracia  and  Macedonia ', 

Z>  .  Transactions  of  the  Bulgarian  Academy,  xviii  (1919).  Bastarnae.  A.  Bauer,  '  Die  Her- 
kunft  der  Bastarner',  Sitzungsberichte  der  Wiener  Akademie,  185,  2,  Wien  191 8,  compare 
L.  Schmidt,  Berliner  philologische  Wochenschrift,  1919,  106. 

5.  On  the  remains  of  the  fortified  cities  of  the  native  population  in  the  regions  of 
the  Dnieper,  the  Bug,  the  Dniester,  and  the  Don  (gorodishche's),  Minns,  147  ff.,  175  ; 
Spitsyn, '  Scythia  and  Hallstatt ',  Miscellany  in  honour  of  Count  A.  Bobrinskoy  (excavations 
in  the  gorodishche  of  Nemirov  in  Podolia),  St.  Petersburg,  191 1  ;   the  same,  B  C.A.,  65 

(1918).  87  ff. 

6.  Barrows  of  the  seventh  to  fourth  century  on  the  Middle  Dnieper.  Archaeological 
material.  Count  A.  Bobrinskoy,  Barrows  and  chance  Archaeological  Finds  about  the  Town 
of  Smela,  vol.  i  (1887),  ii  (1894),  iii  (1902).  Samokvasov,  The  Graves  of  the  Russian  Land, 
Moscow,  1908;  General  Brandenburg,  Reports  on  his  own  excavations,  Petersburg,  1908; 

.  B.  and  V.  Khanenko,  Antiquities  of  the  Region  of  the  Dnieper  Basin,  vols,  i,  ii,  iii,  and  vi ; 

Minns,  175.  Attempts  at  classification.  V.  Chvojka,  The  Ancient  Dwellers  on  the  Middle 
Dnieper,  Kiev,  1913  ;  A.  Spitsyn,  B.C. A.  65  (1918),  87  ff.,' The  Barrows  of  the  "ploughmen" 
Scythians.'    M.  Rostovtzeff,  Studies  of  the  History  of  Scythia  and  the  Bosphorus,  i,  p.  iii. 

7.  Barrows  of  the  fourth  to  third  century  B.  c.  in  the  Dnieper  region. 

(a)  Lower  Dnieper.  Minns,  152-71  (Lower  Dnieper  and  the  Government  of  Taurida) ; 
for  the  Deev  barrow,  compare  M.  Rostovtzeff,  B.C.A.  63  (1912),  78.  Later  excavations  : 
Solokha,  N.  Veselosvki,  C.R.  1912  and  1913-19  (with  bibliography) ;  S.  Polovtsov,  Revue 
archeologique,  1914 ;  Svoronos,  '  Explication  des  tresors  de  la  tombe  royale  de  Solokha ', 
Journal  international  d'archeologie  numismatique,  xvii  (1915),  3  ff.  (cf.  S.  Reinach,  Revue 

^/archeologique,  1916,  310;  M.  Rostovtzeff,  'Learned  Fantasies',  B.C.A.  65  (1918),  72); 
Rossbach,  Berliner  philologische  Wochenschrift,  1914, 131 1 .  Chernaya  Dolina.  N.  Makarenko, 
Hermes  (Russian),  1916,  267.  Other  barrows  excavated  after  191 1.  M.  Rostovtzeff ,  Journal 
des  Savants,  1920. 

(b)  Middle  Dnieper.  Darievka  and  Ryzhanovka,  Minns,  177-80,  compare  Samokvasov, 
Graves  of  the  Russian  Land,  71;  Government  of  Poltava,  Minns,  180  ff.,  compare 
Samokvasov,  1.1.;  Novoselki  (government  of  Kiev,  district  of  Lipovets),  A.  Bydlovski, 
Svyatovit,  1904  (v),  59  ff. ;  Rostovtzeff,  B.C.A.  63,  81,  1. 

8.  Date  of  this  group.  E.  von  Stern,  Hermes,  1.(1915),  192  ff. ;  cf.  M.A.R.  34(1914).  91, 
and  B.C.A.  58. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


231 


9.  Greco-Scythian  settlements.  Goszkiewicz,  B.C. A.  47,  117;  Ebert,  Prdhistorische 
Zeitschrift,  v.  81. 

10.  Scythian  religion.    M.  Rostovtzeff, '  The  Idea  of  Royal  Power  in  Scythia  and  on  the    V 
Bosphorus',  B.C.A.  49,  and  addenda  ibid.;    the  same,  '  Iranism  and  Ionism',  London 
Historical  Congress,  1913  ;   the  same,  Revue  des   Etudes  Grecques,  1921  (jubilee  volume). 
Thracian  engraved  ring.    B.  Filow,  Romische  Mitteilungen,  1917  (xxxii),  4,  fig.  1  ;  another 
almost  identical  ring  found  in  Adrianople  and  now  in  the  Louvre,  not  quoted  by  Filow, 

Le  Musee,  iii.  332,  fig.  18  ;  Rostovtzeff,  Ancient  Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia,  516,  fig. 
On  Herakles  as  parent  of  the  Scythian  tribes.  Hes.  Cat. ;  Oxy.  Pap.  xi.  1358,  2,  15-19  ; 
Th.  Reinach,  Revue  des  Etudes  Grecques,  1915  (xxix),  120.  Enareans.  W.  R.  Halliday,  '  A 
Note  on  the  dr/Xeia  vovaos  of  the  Scythians ',  Annual  of  the  British  School  at  Athens, 
xvii.  95.  The  sacred  oath.  Minns,  203,  fig.  98  =  A.B.C.  xxxii,  10,  and  197,  fig.  90  =  A.B.C. 
xxxii.  1. 

11.  The  dominant  tribe  among  the  Scythians.  Th.  Reinach,  Revue  des  Etudes  Grecques, 
191 6  (xxix),  11. 

12.  Economic  life.  '  2kv0o.i  aporripts  and  yetopyot,'  Vogel  in  'Festschrift  fur  Eduard 
Hahn ',  Studien  u.  Forschungen  zur  Menschen-  und  Volkerkunde,  herausgegeben  von  G.  Buschan, 
Stuttgart,  1917,  cf.  H.  Philipp,  Berliner  philologische  Wochenschrift,  19 19,  p.  386  ff. 

13.  Vases  with  scenes  from  life  in  a  Scythian  camp.    M.  Rostovtzeff,  M.A.R.  34  (1914), 

79-93- 

14.  Panticapaean  artistic  school.     M.   Rostovtzeff,  B.C.A.  65,  72  ff.     Compare     1/ 

e.g.  the  scenes  on  the  silver  vases  from  Solokha  (pi.  XX,  1,  2)  with  the  monuments 
analysed  by  P.  Perdrizet,  '  Venatio  Alexandri ',  Journ.  of  Hell.  St.  xix  (1899),  p.  273  ff., 
pi.  XI  and  Winter,  Der  Alexandersarkophag  von  Sidon,  1912. 

CHAPTER  VI 

1.  Sarmatians  and  Sauromatians.  My  article  in  Revue  des  Etudes  Grecques,  32 
(1921),  p.  470.  . 

2.  Sarmatians  and  Alans.  Miillenhoff,  Deutsche  Alter tumskunde,  iii,  passim,  chap.  102  ff. ; 
Minns,  1 17  ff. ;  W.  Tomaschek,  art.  Alani  in  Pauly-Wissowa,  R.E. ;  J.  Kulakovski,  The  Alans 
according  to  the  Testimonies  of  Classical  and  Byzantine  Writers,  Kiev,  1899.  E.  Taubler, 
'  Zur  Geschichte  der  Alanen',  Klio,  ix  (1909),  14  ff. ;  M.  Rostovtzeff,  History  of  Decorative 
Painting  in  South  Russia,  340  ff.  Their  dress  and  weapons.  Rostovtzeff,  ibid.  326  ff. ; 
ibid.,  the  extant  ancient  monuments  representing  Sarmatians  :  add  to  this  list  a  figure  of 
a  Sarmatian  horseman — a  perfect  counterpart  of  the  Sarmato-Bosphoran  horsemen  in 
the  Panticapaean  painted  tombs  (pi.  XXIX) — carved  on  a  rock  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Yenissei  in  Siberia:  often  published,  e.g.  Inscriptions  de  VYenissei,  Helsingfors,  1889, 
cp.  B.  Laufer,  Chinese  Clay  Figures,  i,  Chicago,  1914,  222,  fig.  35.  The  Yenissei  carvings 
testify  to  the  lasting  occupation  of  a  large  part  of  Western  and  Central  Siberia  by  the 
Sarmatian  tribes.  Sarmato-Roman  soldiers  wearing  Sarmatian  arms  (note  especially 
the  conical  helmet)  are  often  represented  on  late  Roman  and  early  Byzantine  historical 
reliefs.  Besides  the  arch  of  Galerius  (a.  d.  297  :  lately  discussed  by  O.  Wulff,  Altchrist- 
liche  u.  Byzantinische  Kunst,  i  (1914),  p.  160  ff.,  compare  E.  Hebrard,  Bull,  de  Corr.  Hell., 
xliv  (1920),  5  ff.,  on  the  new  excavations  conducted  during  the  war),  I  would  mention 
a  wooden  capital  from  Alexandria,  of  the  fifth  to  sixth  century  A.D.,  which  represents 
a  besieged  city  (O.  Wulff,  Kon.  Mus.  Berlin,  Beschr.  der  Bildwerke  der  christl.  Epoche, 
iii,  Altchristliche  etc.  Bildwerke,  i  (1909),  no.  243,  p.  80  ff.,  pi.  VI),  and  the  bronze  plaque 
from  the  throne  (?)  of  the  Lombard  King  Agilulf  (a.d.  590-616)  found  at  Val  di  Nievole  in 
Tuscany  (O.  Rossbach,  Neuejahrb.f.  kl.  Altertum,  xxxi  (1913),  269  ff.). 

3.  Scythians  in  the  Dobrudzha.  J.  Weiss, '  Die  Dobrudscha  im  Altertum '  (Zur  Kunde 
der  Balkanhalbinsel,  II,  Quellen  und  Forschungen,  12).  Coins  of  Scythian  kings  of  the  Do- 
brudzha kingdom.  J.  Weiss,  1.1.,  cf.  M.  Soutzo  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Rumanian 
Academy,  1916,  and  A.  Oreshnikov  in  Moscow  Numismatic  Miscellany,  iii  (1916). 


232  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

4.  The  kingdom  of  Skiluros  in  the  Crimea.    Minns,  119  ;  Stern,  Hermes,  1.,  206. 

5.  Excavations  in  the  region  of  Orenburg.    M.  Rostovtzeff,  M.A.R.  37. 

6.  Excavations  near  Tanais.    Minns,  567.     Sarmatians  near  Tanais,  Diod.  ii,  43. 

7.  Excavations  near  Stavropol  (Kazinskoe  farm).    Pridik,  M.A.R.  34,  107  ff. 

8.  Excavations  of  Veselovski  in  the  Kuban  region.  N.  Veselovski,  '  Barrows  of  the 
Kuban  district  in  the  time  of  Roman  dominion  in  the  Northern  Caucasus ',  Bulletin  of  the 
XHth  Archaeological  Congress,  Kharkov,  1902  ;  Minns,  232,  note  4.  The  last  important 
find  on  the  Kuban  was  made  accidentally  in  1911  and  acquired  by  the  Archaeological 
Commission.  It  belongs  to  the  group  of  the  earlier  Sarmatian  graves  (second  to  first 
century  B.  c.-first  century  A.  d.)  and  contains  many  interesting  objects,  e.  g.  two  gold 
mountings  of  glass  or  horn  rhyta,  one  richly  adorned  with  coloured  stones  and  transparent 
glass,  the  other  with  embossed  figures  in  the  style  of  the  silver  phalarae  mentioned  below. 
Published  by  Farmakovski,  A. A.,  19 12,  323  ff.  Finds  in  Akhtanizovka  and  Siverskaya. 
Spitsyn,  B.C. A.  29,  19  ff.  Artyukhov's  farm  and  Anapa.  Minns,  430  ff.  ;  G.R.,  1882-3. 
Buerova  Mogila  C.R.  1870-1871,  ixff. ;  1 882-1 888,  lxxxii ;  M.^.^.,37,43.  Many  finds 
of  the  same  type  have  been  made  in  Central  Caucasus,  especially  in  the  cemeteries  of 
Kambulta,  Kamunta,  Katcha,  &c,  see  Tolstoy  and  Kondakov,  Russian  Antiquities,  463  ff. 
These  finds  of  the  Sarmatian  epoch  must  not  be  confounded,  as  in  the  book  of  Tolstoy  and 
Kondakov,  with  the  prehistoric  grades  of  the  Koban  and  with  prehistoric  burials  in  the 
cemeteries  enumerated  above.  The  Caucasus  finds  in  general  need  careful  revision  and 
investigation.  A  well  dated  Caucasian  cemetery  (1st  to  2nd  century  a.d.)  showing  strong 
Sarmatian  influence  is  that  of  Bori  in  the  province  of  Kutais,  recently  published  by  E.  Pridik 
in  M.A.R.,  34. 

9.  Novocherkassk.  Tolstoy  and  Kondakov,  Antiquites  de  la  Russie  meridionale,  488  ff. ; 
Ch.  de  Linas,  Origines  de  I'orfevrerie  cloisonnee,  vol.  ii ;  A.  Odobesco,  Le  tresor  de  Petrossa, 
passim;  Minns,  235.  Other  finds  on  the  Don.  Migulinskaya,  B.C. A.  63,  106;  Chulek, 
Tolstoy  and  Kondakov,  Ant.,  496  ff. 

10.  Silver  phalarae  from  South  Russia.  Spitsyn,  B.C.A.  29,  19  ff. ;  A.  Odobesco, 
Le  trdsor  de  Petrossa,  i,  p.  293,  fig.  116,  cf.  p.  513,  fig.  217.  The  same  technique,  style 
and  the  same  selection  of  figures  on  certain  gold-mountings  of  glass,  wood,  or  horn  rhyta 
are  found  on  the  Kuban  and  the  Don.  Many  such  are  forged,  but  some  are  certainly 
genuine,  e.  g.  A.A.  1912,  p.  326,  fig.  4,  which  is  a  good  representative  of  the  whole  class. 
The  phalara  from  Vozdvizhenskaya,  C.R.  1899,  43,  fig.  70,  cf.  1896,  58,  fig.  284.  The 
cauldron  of  Gundestrup,  the  Raermond  phalara,  and  the  plaques  of  Pontus  (?).  S.  Reinach, 
Revue  celtique,  xxv  (1904),  211  ;  Cultes,  Mythes  et  Religions,  i.  282  ;  F.  Drexel,  '  Ueber 
den  Silberkessel  von  Gundestrup  ',  Jahrbuch  des  Deutschen  Archdologischen  Instituts,  xxx 
(1915),  1  ff.  Gilt  silver  phalarae,  Avith  floral  patterns,  inset  with  transparent  glass,  found 
in  horse-graves  on  the  Vasyurinskaya  Gora  in  the  Taman  peninsula.  Rostovtzeff,  History 
of  Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia,  p.  41,  n.  2,  and  p.  510. 

11.  Silver  phalarae  of  the  South  Russian  type  in  Bulgaria,  Bulletin  de  la  Socie'te 
archeologique  bulgare,  vii  (1919-1920),  p.  147  ff.,  figs.  106  and  107. 

12.  Tsvetna,  C.R.  1896,  89  and  216. 

13.  Contzesti.  The  important  find  of  Contzesti  (see  A.B.C.,  Fr.  ed.,  p.  91,  data, 
gathered  by  Odobesco,  about  the  grave  where  the  objects  were  found),  which  contained  two 
silver  vases  (A.B.C.,  pi.  XXXIX-XLII)  and  three  sticks,  covered  with  silver,  in  the  form 
of  thyrsi  (A.B.C.  xxvii.  1,  2,  erroneously  attributed  to  Kul-Oba,  but  belonging  to  the  find 
of  Contzesti,  as  is  shown  by  documents  preserved  in  the  Hermitage),  which  probably  formed 
the  supports  of  a  funerary  canopy,  certainly  belongs  to  the  Sarmatian  epoch,  cf.  the  rhyton 
of  Poroina  (Odobesco,  Le  tresor  de  Petrossa,  i,  p.  498,  fig.  205)  and  the  rhyton  of  Kerch 
(A.B.C.  xxxvi.  1,  2,  cp.  Winter,  Oesterr.  Jahreshefte  v  (1902),  112  ff.),  also  the  find  of 
Petroasa.  On  the  silver  amphora  of  Contzesti,  Drexel,  Jahrbuch  des  Deutschen  Archdologischen 
Instituts,  xxx  (19 1 5),  202.  All  these  monuments  present  the  same  technique  as  the  silver 
phalarae  mentioned  above.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  crown  of  Contzesti,  of  gold  inset  with 
precious  stones,  has  disappeared. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  233 

14.  Siberia.  N.  C.  Witsen,  Noord  en  Oost  Tartarye,  1785  (3rd  ed.)  ;  W.  Radloff, 
M.A.R.  3,  5,  15,  27.  Tolstoy  and  Kondakov,  Antiquite's,  379  ff. ;  Ch.  de  Linas,  Origines  de 
I'orfevrerie  cloisonnee,  vol.  ii ;  Minns,  271  ff.  The  whole  find  ought  to  be  republished 
in  good  reproductions,  together  with  Witsen's  drawings,  and  with  the  documents  about 
the  discovery,  and  the  eighteenth-century  drawings,  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
Russian  Academy  of  Science. 

15.  Characteristic  objects  found  in  the  graves  of  Kuban. 

(a)  Glass  vases  imitating  metal  vases.  Zubov's  farm,  B.C.A.  i.  96,  fig.  9  (first  barrow) ; 
101,  fig.  24  (second  barrow);  Akhtanizovka,  C.R.,  1900,  107,  fig.  208;  Siverskayaj 
Spitsyn,  B.C.A.  29,  19  ff.  ;  Vozdvizhenskaya,  C.R.,  1899,  45,  fig.  73 ;  Yaroslavskaya' 
C.R.,  1896,  56,  fig.  218  ;  Tiflisskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  66,  fig.  135  ;  Armavir,  C.R.,  1902,  87, 
fig.  194.  This  group  of  vases,  some  of  which  are  adorned  with  gold  mountings  inset 
with  precious  stones  (e.  g.  the  vases  of  Siverskaya  ;  the  rhyton  from  the  Kuban,  A.A. 
1912,  323  ff.,  figs,  i,  2  ;  another,  ibid.,  p.  325,  fig.  3  ;  the  rhyton  from  the  Besleneevskaya 
stanitsa  ;  Minns,  p.  58,  fig.  n,  &c),  is  indeed  unique.  It  is  the  first  attempt  of  the  Greeks 
to  replace  metal,  stone  and  clay  vases  by  glass  vases,  the  glass  used  being  not  coloured 
but  transparent,  like  crystal,  though  slightly  opaque.  The  whole  class  has  never  been 
studied  seriously,  as  regards  either  technique  or  style.  As  far  as  I  have  studied  the  vases 
myself  I  suppose  that  they  were  either  cast  in  moulds  and  afterwards  polished,  or  hewn 
out  of  solid  blocks  of  cast  glass.  The  latter  technique  prevailed  in  China  after  glass  began 
to  be  manufactured  there  in  the  fifth  century  a.  d.  (see  B.  Laufer,  The  Beginnings  of 
Porcelain  in  China,  Chicago,  1917,  p.  140  ff.).  The  models  used  by  the  Chinese  were 
undoubtedly  vases  of  the  kind  described  above,  which  were  manufactured,  probably  in 
Alexandria,  for  the  special  purpose  of  export  to  the  East — South  Russia,  China,  India. 
It  seems  that  the  Oriental  peoples  were  very  fond  of  such  vases,  especially  if  set  in  gold 
mountings.  One  of  the  earliest  monuments  of  this  kind  found  in  the  Far  East  is  the  large 
vase  of  opaque  glass,  adorned  with  medallions  engraved  with  the  head  of  Athena,  now  in 
the  Royal  Ontario  Museum  at  Toronto  (second  century  B.  c.  ?).  In  the  West  these  vases 
were  not  popular  and  were  soon  replaced  by  blown  glass  and  various  kinds  of  coloured 
glass.  See  Kisa,  Das  Glas  im  Altertume  (1908),  ii,  p.  378  ;  Morin-Jean,  Daremberg  et 
Saglio,  Diet,  v,  934-949. 

(b)  Clay  vases  in  the  form  of  animals  and  human  heads.  C.R.,  1902,  73,  fig.  157  ;  67, 
fig.  136;  72,  fig.  152  (all  from  Tiflisskaya  stanitsa) ;  Ladozhskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  87,  fig.  162, 
cf.  Ust-Labinskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  81,  fig.  174.  On  this  group  of  late  Hellenistic  and  early 
Roman  vases,  see  Farmakovski  in  Miscellany  in  honour  of  Countess  P.  Uvarov,  Moscow, 
1916,  311  ff.  (in  Russian). 

(c)  Brooches.  Artyukhov's  farm,  C.R.,  1880,  Atlas,  pi.  II,  3.  Akhtanizovka,  C.R.,  1900, 
107,  fig.  211.  Titorovskaya,  A.B.C.  xxiv.  10.  Zubov's  farm,  B.C.A.  1,  pi.  II  and  fig.  1. 
Vozdvizhenskaya,  C.R.,  1899, 44,  fig.  68.  Geymanov's  settlement,  C.R.,  1900,  44,  fig.  103. 
Ekaterinodar,  C.R.,  1899,  131,  fig.  258.  Usahelo  near  Kutais  (Caucasus),  M.A.R.  34, 
p.  109,  pi.  I,  1,  2.  All  ornamented  with  geometric  patterns  in  filigree  and  embossed 
work.  Brooches  ornamented  with  figures  of  animals  inset  with  coloured  stones.  Kurd- 
zhips,  C.R.,  1896,  64,  figs.  305  and  306  ;  1895,  62,  fig.  296  ;  152,  figs.  501a  and  502. 
Zubov's  farm,  B.C.A.  i.  101,  fig.  20.  Tiflisskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  67,  fig.  139.  Ladozhskaya, 
ibid.  77,  fig.  161.  Ibid.  78,  fig.  164.  Ust-Labinskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  82,  fig  177  (two  griffins) ; 
cf.  Kondakov  and  Tolstoy,  Antiquite's,  486,  fig.  440,  and  the  Siberian  plaque,  Odobesco, 
Le  tre'sor  de  Petrossa,  5 1 1 ,  fig.  2 1 5 .  The  earliest  brooches  of  this  kind  were  found  in  graves 
of  the  third  to  first  century  B.C. — at  Kurdzhips,  Akhtanizovka  and  Artyukhov's  farm.  The 
type  is  therefore  a  creation  of  the  Hellenistic  epoch. 

(d)  Tendril  fibulae.  Tiflisskaya,  C.R.,  1900,  103,  fig.  186.  Timoshevskaya,  C.R.,  1894, 
38,  fig.  41.  Anapa,  C.R.,  1894,  85.  Vodyanoe  (government  of  Taurida),  C.R.,  1902, 
133.  In  form  of  animals  and  geometric  figures.  Ust-Labinskaya,  C.R.,  1899,  17,  fig.  87  ; 
1902, 81,  fig.  175,  &c.  Kurdzhips,  C.R.,  1896,  155,  fig.  513,  cf.  Martin,  Kongelige^  Vitterhets 
Historisk  och  Antiquarisk  Akademiens  Manadsblad,  i894,Bikang(Fiiw/or  och  soljorfrdn  Kertch). 

*353  H  h 


/ 


234  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

On  the  type  of  fibula  for  which  the  Germans  use  the  term  '  Fibula  mit  umgeschlagenem 
Fusse  '  and  which  was  generally  used  by  the  Goths,  see  Ebert's  articles  quoted  in  note  15. 
I  lay  stress  on  the  fact  that  many  of  the  tendril  fibulae  found  on  the  Kuban,  some  of 
which  belong  to  the  first  century  A.  d.,  present  all  the  peculiarities  of  the  fibula  '  mit 
umgeschlagenem  Fusse  '. 

(e)  Cauldrons  (Asiatic)  with  family  devices.  C.R.,  1899,  fig.  96,  cf.  Vozdvizhenskaya,  ibid. 
43,  figs.  77  and 78  ;  Zubov's  farm,  .B.CA  1,  fig.  7  ;  Ust-Labinskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  83,  fig.  183. 

(/)  Gold  bottles  inset  with  stones.  Ust-Labinskaya,  C.R.,  1902,  83,  fig.  184  ;  Olbia, 
C.R.,  1868,  Atlas,  pi.  I,  10  ;  and  A.A.  xxix  (1914),  p.  256,  fig.  79. 

(s)  Openwork.  Hellenistic  and  early  Roman  period  :  Besleneevskaya  stanitsa,  Minns, 
p.  58,  fig.  11  (mounting  of  a  rhyton)  ;  Kuban  region,  A.A.,  1912,  p.  325,  fig.  3  (the  same)  ; 
Bori  (Caucasus),  M.A.R.  34,  p.  96,  1,  2,  pi.  I,  8,  9  ;  cp.  p.  98,  14,  pi.  I,  6  ;  Novocherkassk, 
Minns,  p.  234,  fig.  139  (tore),  compare  Akhtanizovka,  Minns,  p.  215,  fig.  118  and  the 
figures  on  the  Bulgarian  phalarae  quoted  above  no.  11;  to  a  later  period  belongs  the  vase 
of  violet  glass  in  a  silver  openwork  mounting  found  in  the  Caucasus,  C.R.,  1872,  144, 
Atlas,  pi.  II,  1-3  ;  Kisa,  Das  Glas,  figs.  208  and  208  a  (pp.  430,  431)  and  p.  602  ff.,  where 
other  examples  of  the  same  kind  are  given  from  Northern  Europe.  Openwork  belt-plaques 
of  the  early  Roman  Empire.    Kazanskaya  stanitsa,  C.R.,  1901,  76,  fig.  153. 

(A)  Gold  garment  plaques.  Seep.  131,  fig.  17,  with  indication  of  proveniences.  Besides 
the  plaques  found  in  datable  graves,  large  sets  of  identical  plaques,  all  bought  in  South 
Russia,  mostly  at  Kerch,  are  preserved  in  various  museums  :  the  Louvre  (a  set  bought 
in  1889,  Inv.  MNC  1120  and  another  bought  in  1920  with  the  Messaksudi  collection) ;  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  at  New  York  (some  hundreds  of  plaques  bought  at  Kerch). 

(i)  Mirrors.  M.A.R.  37, 72  ;  Zubov's  farm,  B.CA.  1, 102,  fig.  25  ;  Armavir,  C.R.,  1903, 
63,  fig.  102. 

(j)  Swords  of  the  type  used  in  Kerch.  Novokorsunskaya  stanitsa,  C.R.,  1902,  135, 
figs.  240  a  and  240  b  ;  M.A.R.  37,  51. 

16.  Archaeological  evidence  for  the  Dnieper  region  in  the  Roman  period.  Reinecke, 
Mainzer  Zeitschrift,  1906  (i),  42  ff. ;  Ebert,  Prdhistorische  Zeitschrift,  v  (1913),  80  ;  the  same, 
Baltische  Studien  zur  Archaologie  und  Geschichte,  Berlin,  1914,  85  ;  T.  Arne,  Oldtiden,  1918, 
207  ff. ;  Det  Stora  Svitgod,  Stockholm,  1917,  p.  7  ff. ;  Rostovtzeff,  Studies,  p.  iii. 

CHAPTER  VII 

1.  History  of  the  Bosphorus  in  the  first  century  B.  c.  M.  Rostovtzeff, '  Caesar  and  the 
South  of  Russia  ',  Journal  of  Roman  Studies,  1917,  27  ff. ;  '  Queen  Dynamis  of  Bosphorus  ', 
Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  xxxix  (1919),  88. 

2.  History  of  the  Bosphorus  during  the  Roman  Empire.  My  articles  quoted  by  Stern, 
Hermes,  1.,  209,  note  1  ;  cf.  '  Pontus,  Bithynia,  and  the  Bosphorus  ',  Annual  of  the  British 
School  at  Athens,  xxii.  Military  occupation  of  Olbia  by  the  Romans,  B.CA.  58,  1  ff. 
Military  occupation  of  Armenia,  B.CA.  32,  1  ff.,  and  Christian  Orient  (in  Russian),  iii. 

3.  Political,  social,  and  economic  conditions  in  the  Bosphorus  during  the  first  to  third 
centuries  A.  D.  Minns,  612  ff.  Stern,  Hermes,  1.  (1915),  211  ff.  (he  quotes  all  my  articles  on 
this  subject).  Cf.  K.  J.  Neumann, '  Romische  Klientelstaaten',  Historische  Zeitschrift,  1917, 
1  ff.  On  the  titles  (piXoKaiaap  and  (ptXopco/xaios,  R.  Miinsterberg,  Jahreshefte  des  Oester- 
reichischen  Institutes,  xviii  (1913),  Beiblatt,  318. 

4.  On  the  religious  conditions  see  my  articles  :  '  The  Idea  of  Kingly  Power  in  Scythia 
and  on  the  Bosphorus  ',  B.CA.  49  ;  '  Iranism  and  Ionism  ',  Historical  Congress,  London, 
1913  ;  and  '  Ancient  Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia  ',  passim,  especially  the  chapter 
on  the  late  Panticapaean  painted  tombs  ;  compare  my  article  on  the  Great  Goddess  in 
Rev.  d.  lit.  Gr.,  1921.  On  the  names  of  the  Great  Goddess  and  her  consort — Astara  and 
Sanerges — see  the  note  of  Hiller  von  Gaertringen  and  E.  von  Stern  to  Dittenberger, 
Sylloge  3,  no.  216.  Von  Stern  is  inclined  to  compare  these  names  rather  with  the  Thracian 
names  "Aorat,  Sawj,  'Epyivos  than  with  the  Semitic  Astarte  and  the  Hittite  (?)  Sandas. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  235 

I  am  not  sure  that  the  name  Sandas  for  the  God  of  Tarsus  is  not  also  of  Thracian  origin. 
The  fantastic  clay  figurines  which  are  regularly  found  in  Panticapaean  graves  of  the  first 
and  second  century  a.  d.  (see  e.  g.  A.A.,  1912,  345,  fig.  29 ;  1913,  193  ff.,  figs.  32,  33  ; 
Minns,  pp.  369,  370,  fig.  268)  are  puzzling.  They  are  certainly  not  toys  :  their  religious 
significance  is  beyond  doubt.  The  best  analogy  is  furnished  by  Chinese  clay  figures  of 
the  Han  dynasty  (B.  Laufer,  Art  and  Archaeology,  vi  (1917),  p.  300),  which  also  have 
movable  limbs.  Their  apotropaeic  character  is  indicated  by  their  being  ithyphallic  and 
playing  musical  instruments  or  clashing  their  swords  and  shields.  Analogous  figures 
are  common  in  the  paintings  of  later  Panticapaean  graves,  mostly  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries  a.  d. 

5.  Sarmatian  system  of  writing.  Skorpil,  B.C.A.,  37,  236°.;  Minns,  pp.  316-318. 
Similar  signs  on  the  tiaras  of  Sassanian  kings  (coins  and  engraved  stones).  On  the 
Hittite  '  hieroglyphs  ',  A.  E.  Cowley,  The  Hittites,  London,  1920.  Note  that  the  same 
signs  appear  both  at  Panticapaeum  in  the  second  to  third  century  A.  D.  and  on  the  Kuban 
(cauldrons — ch.  vi,  no.  15  (e) ;  gold  bottles — ibid.,  no.  15  (f));  compare  the  mark  on  the 
rump  of  the  horse  of  the  Sarmatian  horseman  on  the  Yenissei  (ch.  vi,  no.  2). 

6.  Relations  between  Panticapaeum  and  the  cities  on  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Black  Sea.  I  have  collected  the  evidence  in  my  articles  on  Roman  Olbia.  New  evidence 
is  furnished  by  two  inscriptions  :  one,  from  Sinope,  republished  by  Th.  Reinach,  Rev. 
arch.,  1916,  p.  345,  no.  7,  is  the  funeral  inscription  of  Julius  Callinicus  a  vavK\i]pos, 
compare  Jos.  P.E.  iv.  72,  from  Chersonesus  mentioning  a  certain  r.  Kdios  Evrvx«u'6s 
vavitXapos  Siwowew  (even  if  Eutychianus  assumed  the  predicate  NavxAapos  as  a  second 
cognomen  it  is  sufficient  evidence  for  his  profession)  ;  the  second  is  the  inscription  of 
Zela  (Cumont,  Stud.  Pontica,  iii  (1910),  246,  no.  273,  compare  Th.  Reinach,  Rev.  arch., 
1920,  p.  185  ff.) ;  the  deceased  woman  Chelidon  is  a  Maeotian  and  her  husband  bore 
the  name  of  IIovtos,  common  in  the  form  floiTuo's,  &c,  in  the  Bosphorus. 

7.  The  polychrome  style  in  Panticapaeum.  On  the  sarcophagi  with  incrustations : 
Rostovtzeff,  Ancient  Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia,  p.  213.  The  group  of  graves 
belonging  to  the  family  of  Rhescuporis  II.  Minns,  p.  434;  Skorpil,  B.C. A.  37,  pp.  23  ff. 
The  grave  of  1910  was  discovered  in  the  same  region  as  the  first  three  :  the  diadem  inset 
with  garnets,  Farmakovski,  Archdologischer  Anzeiger,  191 1,  198,  and  fig.  9  on  p.  202. 
A  better  reproduction  :  Rostovtzeff,  Ancient  Decorative  Painting  in  South  Russia,  p.  575, 
fig.  97;  cf.  p.  319. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

1.  Polychrome  style  in  jewellery.  Minns,  p.  282,  no.  2;  E.  von  Stern,  Sitzungs- 
berichte  der  Prussia,  xxi  (1900),  243  ff.,  pi.  XXIV ;  idem,  Hermes,  1.  (1915),  213  ;  Reinecke, 
Maimer  Zeitschrift,  i  (1906),  47,  no.  30 ;  S.  Reinach,  Revue  archeologique,  1900  (xxxvi),  441  ff. ; 
idem,  ibid.,  1905,  309  ff. ;  M.  Ebert,  '  Die  Wolfsheimer  Platte  und  die  Goldschale  des 
Khosrau ',  Baltische  Studien  zur  Archaeologie  und  Geschichte,  Berlin,  1914,  57  ff. ;  A.  Gotze, 
'  Gothische  Schnallen '  (Germanische  Funde  aus  der  Volkerwanderungszeit),  Berlin,  5.  d. ; 
idem,  Mannus,  i  (1909),  122  ff. ;  idem,  Kaiserliche  Museen  zu  Berlin,  Frilh-germanische 
Kunst,  Sonderausstellung  ostgothischer  Altertumer  der  Volkerwanderungszeit  aus  Siidrussland, 
Berlin,  1915  (2.  Aufl.) ;  E.  Brenner,  Der  Stand  der  Forschung  iiber  die  Kultur  der  Mero- 
wingerzeit,  252  ff. ;  '  Die  Sudrussisch-donaulandische  Germanenkultur ',  Kaiserliches 
Archdologisches  Institut :  VII.  Bericht  der  rdmisch-germanischen  Kotnmission,  Frankfurt  a.  M., 
1915  ;  R.  Zahn,  Amtliche  Berichte  aus  den  kdniglichen  Museen,  xxxviii  (1916),  no.  1,  iff.; 
A.  Rosenberg,  Monatshefte  fur  Kunstwissenschaft,  ix  (1916) ;  J.  Strzygowski,  Altai,  Iran  und 
Volkerwanderung,  Leipzig,  1917,  274  ff. ;  E.  Male,  Etudes  sur  I'art  allemand,  Revue  de  Paris, 
1917,  cf.  E.  Male,  Studien  iiber  die  deutsche  Kunst,  herausgegeben  mit  Entgegnungen  von  .  .  . 
A.  Gotze  .  .  .  Geza  Supka  .  .  .  Leipzig,  1917 ;  G.  Kossinna,  Altgermanische  Kulturhohe, 
Jena,  1919. 

2.  '  Gothic  '  find  of  1904  in  Kerch,  and  later  finds  in  South  Russia.    Minns,  p.  386, 

no.  1,2;  Brenner,  1.1. 


236  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

7.  The  treasure  of  Petroasa.  A.  Odobesco,  Le  tresor  de  Petrossa,  t.  i  Paris,  1 889-1900  i 
t.  ii,  1896  ;  t.  iii,  1900  ;  Geza  Supka,  Arch.  Ertesito,  1914, 29  ;  Dionisie  Ohnescu,  Gothisch- 
Skythische  Goldschmiedekunst  in  Dacien  u.  Pannomen,  Jahrbuch  des  Bukomna  Landes- 

^"Siebenbmnnen  graves.     W.  Kubitschek,  «  K.-K.  Zentral-Kommission  fur  Kunst 
und  Historische  Denkmaler  'Jahrbuch  fur  Altertumswissenschaft,  v  (191 1),  32  ff.  5  Brenner, 

c  Finds  in  Africa.  Find  of  Carthage  (Koudiat  Zateur,  unpublished).  Delattre,  Compte 
rendu  de  VAcademie  des  Inscriptions,  1916,  14  ff.;  Merlin,  Bulletin  archeologique  duComite, 
1016  p  ccxiii;  finds  of  Thuburbo  Majus  (unpublished) :  the  first,  Compte  rendu  del  Aca- 
demi'e  des  Inscriptions,  1912,  pp.  358  «•  J  the  second  (of  1920),  still  unmentioned;  cf  other 
finds,  Bull,  arch.du  Coni.,  1895,  pi.  XV-XVII J  Doublet  and  Gauckler  Mus.  de  Constantine, 
p.  c4;  Bulletin  archeologique  du  Comite,  1902,  p.  444;  Besnier  and  Blanchet  Collection 
Farges,  pp.  66  ff. ;  de  Baye,  Bulletin  des  Antiquaires  de  France,  1914,  212  ft.  1  hese  reter- 
ences  all  kindly  supplied  by  A.  Merlin. 

6  Find  of  Szilagy-Somlyo.  F.  von  Pulszky,  Die  Goldfunde  von  S.  S.,  Budapest,  1890  ; 
Baron' de  Baye,  Le  tresor  de  S.  S.,  Paris,  1892  ;  Hampel,  Altertumer  des  friihenMittelalters 
in  Ungarn,  ii,  15  ff. ;  iii,  pi.,  14  ff- ;  A.  Riegl,  Die  spdtromische  Kunstindustrie ;  Strzygovvski, 

ta%nn  Merovmgian  brooches.     France,  H.  Hubert,  Fibules  de  Baslieux    Rev.  arch. 

xxxiv  (1800),  363  ff. ;  Boulanger,  Le  cimetiere  franco-merovingien  et  carohngien  de  Marchele- 

fiot  Paris  1909.    An  important  collection  of  such  fibulae,  mostly  of  French  origin,  formed 

bv  J  P  Morgan,  is  now  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  at  New  York.   Italy,  Castel  1  rosino  : 

Monumenti  antichi  d.  Ace.  dei  Lincei,  xii  (1902),  145  ff.    Lingotto  :   R^zo,  Not.  d  Scavi 

1010,  194,  fig-  i-    Senise :  Not.  d.  Sc,  1916,  329,  fig.  1.    In  general :  Ventun  Storiadel- 

I'Arte  Italiana,  iii,  44  ff.;  Orsi,  Atti  e  Memorie  della  R.  Deputazione  di  Stonaper  la  provinaa 

di  Romagna,  iii,  vol.  v,  p.  332  ff.    It  is  noteworthy  that  the  scabbards  of  the  swords  and 

daggers  found  in  Italy  (sixth  to  seventh  century  a.d.)  (one  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum) 

show  in  their  lateral  prominence  great  similarity  to  the  Scythian  scabbards     Germany, 

Bondorf  in  Baden  (Museum  of  Carlsruhe),  Lindenschmidt,  Alt.  unserer  hetdn.  Vorzett, 

iii,  Heft  ix,  pi.  6.   England,  Kent,  G.  Baldwin  Brown,  The  Arts  in  Early  Eng  land  w  (London, 

191  c),  chap,  x,  pp.  508  ff.    '  Inlaid  jewellery',  especially  pi.  CXLV,  CXLVI,  CXLV11 ,  t. 

Thurlow  Leeds,  The  Archaeology  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Settlements,  Oxford,  1913,  pp.  99tt- 

8    The  Syrian  and  Celtic  polychrome  styles.    I  attribute  the  revival  of  the  polychrome 

tendency  in  the  Hellenistic  world  in  general  to  the  influence  of  Persia  through  Syria  and 

in  a  minor  degree  to  the  revival  of  the  polychrome  style  in  Egypt,  where  it  never  completely 

died  out.    See  the  numerous  mentions  of  XidoKoKKrira  in  both  the  epigraphic  and  the 

literary  sources  of  the  Hellenistic  period,  e.  g.  the  gift  of  Seleucus  I  to  Apollo  of  Didyma, 

Ditteiiberger,  Or.  gr.  inscr.  214,  47  :  ^vktt,p  fiappapuds  XlOokoKXos,  cp.  Theophr.  Charact. 

23  ;    Parmenion  Athen.  11,  p.  781  e,  cf.  p.  784  a  ;    Theopomp.  Hist.  125  (vases) ;    Calhx. 

Athen.  5 ,  p.  200  b  (chiton) ;  Plut.  Alex.  32  (iKpapax^wv),  &c.  Another  expression  constantly 

used  to  designate  jewels  and  other  objects  adorned  with  gems  is  5iaAi0o>-,  see  e.  g.  Ditt. 

Syll?  k,  86,  63  (Athens)  ;   588,  4,  184,  198  (Delos),  cp.  Callix.  apud  Athen   5,  p.  197  ft- 

(passim);  Men.  iv,  219  ;  Aristoph.,  fr.  330  (Blaydes)  ;  Ael.  NA.ym.  4  (p.  203,  24)  ; 

fr  272  20  ;  Strabo  xv,  p.  709,  &c.    Note  that  almost  all  these  authorities  mention  Persian, 

Syrian!  Egyptian,  Indian  jewels  and  plate.    A  good  archaeological  instance  is  the  recent 

find  of  silver  plate  and  gold  jewels  in  Thessaly,  Arvanitopullos,  Ath.  Mitt.  1912,  p.  73  ft., 

pi.  VI.    The  date  (second  century  B.C.)  is  given  by  silver  vases  of  Neo-Attic  style,     lnis 

revival  of  the  feeling  for  polychromy  in  the  Hellenistic  world  probably  influenced  (through 

Massilia)  the  ancient  Celtic  metal  industry  (enamel  never  ceased  to  be  used  in  Persia 

and  Egypt,  and  had  a  revival  in  Egypt  under  the  Ptolemies,  instance— the  Meroe  hnd) 

which  was  always  fond  of  bright  colours.    It  gave  rise  just  at  that  time  (third  to  second 

century  B.C.)  to  the  famous  Celtic  enamels  of  Gaul,  Germany,  and  especially  Britain 

(see  British  Museum  Guide,  Early  Iron  Age,  London,   1905,  87  ft.  ;    S.  Reinach,  Rev. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

237 


arch   1905  („),  309  ff.  ;   Kisa,  Das  &!,„(!     n„i,r 

Matnzer  Festschrift,  1902,  53  ff.).     To    hese  Lrl'v  £S,  ¥  3rt  m  generaI>  Reinecke, 

movement  towards  polychromy  in  early  and  S  pnfluences  EuroPe  owed  the  powerfu 
its  turn  prepared  the  ground  for  "he  mrnphKcTo?  $ ""v"?!  S-  ™Vement  f" 
•s  worth  noting  that  Hellenistic  polychrom?  fewds  of  t£  f^  °^°ftC  J^W-  It 
to  South  Russia,  where  thev  mingled  wu-hsTrmSi  u  C  Symn,  kind  found  th™  way 
B.C.  (Artyukhov's  barrow).  The Cel  £  enamSs  "Jf ?£  ^  "  ^  f the  SeCOnd  century 
the  workshop  of  Antheus)  were  also  b  ou/ht Ts0uth  £?,^COnduatf  lhird  century  A"  * 
(scores  of  them  have  been  found  at  Ai-Sr  Ch™  *'  ?/oblbly  by  Roman  s°ld^ 
easdy  distinguishable  from  the  p^J^SS^T'  ^^  ***    But  ^  are 

I^V^5^43^  In-stofthe 

Alans  m  the  conquest  of  Western  Eurone  i.ffi?*  •  Sarmatans  and  especially  by  the 

the  Alans  long  resided  n  S  (L  Schm^  "*T  '  £"  T  muSt  not  ^ that 
Viiher  1909,  p.  4I),  near  OrE  ,  L  AeV  and 0*-^  ^  ?e  ^  pita. 
from  the  Danube      that  they  invaded  iSv    and^T8*"1"  tabe?  ^^^  ^PP^"^ 

the  KU^^^  ThC  "*""  ^UOted  ab-  -  chapter  III,  and 

yet  Jriitem  ^SX^Me^^  °ff  theSe  £eatures  °f  Sumerfcn  fancy  is  not 
Berlin,  xg^.P-vi^X^tS^tl^^l11-  **%*>  Altor^alische  Symbotik, 
MeanwhL5s'ePe  j£t$? gS?  in  P  ShSS^TJ?!"  gSS,l« is  C4erned- 

kovski, '  Archaic  Period  in  Russia  'mT/?(,,  nn  2'  IQJ3.  November,  p.  184 ;  B.  Farma- 
ar^ue  ;  A.  M^^^^  ™*  Volant  •  W 

Kuban  (fifth  to  fourth ^  centurj  b  c  f-fie  a'x  #  Pp.*?"  ^f^  b™  on  the 
(Ashmolean  Museum)  (fift ^centu™  b  c  )-kl '22'  C  &;2V\B,E;  NymPhaeum 
century  b.  c.)-fig.  21,  D  H  fil  22  n  F  f'  w  7  '  Ehsavetinskaya  stamtsa  fourth 
century  b.  c.j-fi|.  2r,  E  '      g'  '     '      '      '  *  ''   DmePer  regi°n  (fourth  to  third 

P^&^s^^SS^S)  A^M.Tallgren,C?/tobn  Tovostine des antiauMs 
^W^HewST^TS^^  '  K  ? T  "  ^ !  Chapitres  d'a^7ologie 
prehistory  au  M^e  Zlija^  F^l^^hoT'  "^  *"*  ^™ 
in  m;  fortLVmrlrtliV"  S  P"  ^  ^  *«  ™nu«  will  be  found 
i932     MeaSeVsho     election     cZTJ^tZ   u\L'Art  ****  VoL   *'  Paris> 

'•cago,  i9I2  ,   CW*  Clay  figures,  1,  Prolegomena  to  the  history  of  Defensive  Armour, 


238  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chicago,  1914  ;  Sino-Iranica,  Chicago,  1919  (all,  except  the  first,  publications  of  the  Field 
Museum  or  Natural  History  in  Chicago,  Anthropological  Series). 

17.  Supposed  influence  of  China  on  South  Russia.  Reinecke,  Zeitschrift  fur  Ethno- 
logie,  xxviii  (1896),  1  ff.  and  xxix  (1892),  141  ff. ;   Miinsterberg,  1.1.,  i,  36  ff. ;   Minns,  280. 

18.  The  '  Siberian  '  plaques  in  China.  Minns,  280  ;  Sir  Hercules  Read,  Man,  1917, 
1  ff.,  pi.  A  ;  Bulletin  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  June  1918,  135  ff. 

19.  Scythian  influence  on  Central  and  Eastern  Russia.  A.  M.  Tallgren,  Die  Kupfer-  und 
Bronzezeit  in  Nord-  und  Ostrussland :  I.  Die  Kupfer-  und  Bronzezeit  in  Nordwestrussland. 
Die  dltere  Metallzeit  in  Ostrussland,  Helsingfors,  191 1  ;  //.  Vepoque  dite  d'Ananino  dans  la 
Russie  orientale,  Helsingfors,  1919  (with  full  bibliography),  cf.  idem,  Collection  Zaoussailov 
au  Musee  historique  de  Finlande  a  Helsingfors,  Helsingfors,  19 18. 

20.  Animal  style  in  the  Perm  district.  Hj.  Appelgren-Kivalo, '  Die  Grundzuge  des 
skythisch-permischen  Ornamentstiles ',  Suomen  Muinaismuistoyhdistyksen  Aikakanskirja 
(Journal  of  the  Finnish  Archaeological  Society),  xxvi  (1912) ;  idem, '  The  Main  Features  of 
the  Scytho-Permian  Ornamental  Style '  (in  Russian),  Proceedings  of  the  Fifteenth  Archaeological 
Congress  at  Novgorod,  1914,  vol.  i ;  A.  Spitsyn,  'Antiquities  of  the  Chud  folk  on  the  Kama 
in  the  Teploukhov  Collection ',  M.A.R.  26,  St.  Petersburg,  1902  (in  Russian). 

21.  North  German  animal  style.  B.  Salin,  Die  altgermanische  Thierornamentik,  Stock- 
holm, 1904;  Appelgren-Kivalo,  '  Om  den  s.  k.  Karolingiska  stilens  ursprung*  (On  the 
Origin  of  the  so-called  Carolingian  Style),  Opuscula  archaeologica  O.  Montelio  dicata,  191 3  ; 
Brogger,  Oseberg-skibet,  Cristiania  (vol.  i,  1918  ;  vol.  iii,  1920). 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  current  view  which  denies  the  existence  of  any  link  connecting  the  history 
of  Slavonic  and  the  history  of  pre-Slavonic  Russia  or  rather  the  possibility  of  finding 
such  links  is  expressed  in  the  leading  works  on  Russian  history,  e.  g.  V.  O.  Kluchevski, 
A  History  of  Russia  (transl.  by  C.  J,  Hogarth),  vol.  i  (London  and  New  York,  191 1)  ; 
S.  Platonov,  Lectures  on  Russian  History,  Petrograd,  1917  (the  latest  edition  accessible 
to  me),  &c.  D.  Bagalei's  point  of  view,  in  his  History  of  Russia,  Charkov,  1912,  is  different : 
but  his  treatment  of  the  two  periods  is  apposition  not  connexion.  The  same  must  be  said 
of  the  works  of  Hrushevski  on  the  history  of  the  Ukraine  (M.  Hrusevsky,  Geschichte  des 
Ukrainischen  Volkes,  i,  Leipsic,  1906,  cp.  Abrege  de  Vhistoire  de  VUkraine,  Paris,  1920). 
The  only  scholars  who  have  felt  (rather  than  proved)  this  connexion  are  the  archaeologists, 
e.  g.  Zabelin  {History  of  Russian  Life)  and  Kondakov.  Compare  my  forthcoming  article, 
'  Les  origines  de  la  Russie  Kievienne  ',  Revue  des  Etudes  Slaves,  1922.  For  the  archaeo- 
logical data  on  which  my  summary  is  based,  see  the  preceding  chapters.  For  the  Germans 
on  the  Dnieper,  see  the  works  of  Arne  quoted  on  ch.  vi,  no.  16. 


INDEX 


Abdera,  229. 

Achaeans,  61. 

Achaemenides,  149. 

Achilles,  White  Island  of,  36. 

Acinaces,  129. 

Acropolis  of  Panticapaeum,  10. 

Adrianople,  230. 

Adriatic  Sea,  16. 

Aegean  civilization,  15,  61,  193  ;    islands, 

32  ;  sea,  147,  152,  153. 
Aegina,  228. 
Aeginetan  standard,  228. 
Aeolian  art,  49  ;  colonies,  55. 
Aeschylus,  37. 
Africa,  North,  119,  131,  141,  186,  187,  190, 

235.  236- 
Agamemnon,  61. 
Agate,  129. 
Agathyrsians,  107. 
Agilulf,  king,  231. 
Agrippa,  151,  153. 
Agnppea,  157. 
Ahuramazda,  104,  180. 
Aia,  62. 

Aietes,  king,  18. 
Af-Todor,  155,  163,  236. 
Akhtanizovka    (Akhtanizovskaya    Stanitsa), 

tumulus,  127, 131, 136, 138, 189, 232, 233. 
Akkerman,  221. 
Alabastron,  175. 
Alans,  114,  116-21,  139,  143,  146,203,  217, 

218,  231,  236  ;  White  Alans,  v.  Roxalans. 
Alcibiades,  67. 
Alexander  the  Great,  70,  84,  86,  98,  109, 

151  ;  portraits,  204  ;  sarcophagus,  111. 
Alexandria,  151,  231,  233. 
Alexandrian  glass,  128,  133. 
Alexandropol,  tumulus,  4,  56,  95,  102,  138. 
Alphabetical   signs,    Sarmatian,    130,    140, 

167,  234  ;  v.  Monograms. 
Alpine  provinces,  215. 
Altai  Mountains,  32,  124,  197,  202. 
Amage,  queen,  156. 
Amazons,  33,  34,  37,  225  ;  representations, 

37- 
Amber,  50,  57,  59,  132,  142. 

Amethyst,  135.* 


102 


Amisos,  10,  63,  67,  82,  162. 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  13,  113. 
Amphipolis,  88. 
Amphorae,  for  wine  and  oil,  48, 

silver,  232. 
Anacharsis,  65. 
Anaitis,  11,  104. 

Ananyino,  find,  206  ;   civilization,  64. 
Anapa,  3,  4,  72,  138,  232,  233. 
Anglo-Saxon  period,  188,  189  ;  polychrome 

style,  191. 
Ani,  220. 
Animals,  representations   of,  11,  16,  24-8, 

5°-2>  54.  56,  58>  59.  89.  97.  99.  I24>  J32> 
136,  138,  139,  171,  185,  186,  192-5,  200, 

205,  207,  233  ;  as  motive  of  ornamenta- 
tion, 51, 173, 188, 193,  194, 196,  198,  200, 
205  ;  fantastic,  50,  53,  140,  142,  192,  195, 
196,  198-200,  207,  236  ;  sacred  or  sym- 
bolical, 29,  56,  108,  192,  198,  200  ; 
winged,  50,  192  ;  row  or  frieze,  22-6,  29, 
52,  138,  188,  192,  201,  202  ;  forming 
a  circle,  192,  195  ;  heraldic  combination, 
24,  28,  40,  51,  192,  193,  196,  200,  201, 
205  ;  fighting,  hunting,  or  devouring 
another  animal,  26,  53,  59,  134,  140,  192, 
193,  195,  201  ;  fighting  with  human 
beings  or  gods,  192  ;  combinations,  24, 
52,  59, 142, 192,  195,  199,  206  ;  combina- 
tions with  human  figures,  24,  59,  192, 
201  ;  network,  192,  193,  206,  207  ;  or 
parts  of  animals  covering  the  surface  of 
an  object  or  of  the  body  of  another 
animal,  52,  135,  193,  195,  200,  203,  206  ; 
contorted  to  suit  a  given  space,  51,  58,  59, 
134,  142,  192,  194,  202,  203,  207,  228  ; 
with  reverted  heads,  58,  59,  192,  194, 
200  ;  biting  its  tail,  195  ;  heads,  48,  50, 
52,  56,  59,  in,  124,  184,  192,  195,  196, 
198-200,  207;  parts,  51,  53,  195,  199, 
200  ;  treatment  of  the  eye,  26,  27 ; 
extremities  as  animals  or  parts  of  animals, 
51,  53,  58,  142,  195,  199,  200,  202,  203, 

206,  207  ;  horns  as  ornamental  motive, 
195,  196,  201-3  ;  combined  with  floral 
motives,  54,  193,  200,  201,  205,  207  ; 
geometrized,  16,  24,  27,  29, 188,  193, 195, 


240 


INDEX 


199-201,  207  ;  combined  with  geometric 
motives,  40,  198  ;  v.  Birds. 

Animal  style,  31,  93,  178,  181,  182,  191-4, 
198,  200,  207,  208  ;  Asia,  Central,  197, 
200,  201 ;  Minor,  102, 193 ;  Assyrian,  50, 
59,  129,  142,  193,  197,  198,  200;  Baby- 
lonian, 198,200;  Bronze  Age,  28, 40, 191 ; 
Chinese,  197-201,  205,  237  ;  Cimmerian, 
40  ;  Elamitic,  191  ;  Germanic,  181,  207, 
237  ;  Greek,  193,  197,  201  ;  Ionian,  52, 
129,  136,  193,  195,  201  ;  Iranian,  136, 
137.  J93-  x97>  2°5  ;  Middle  Ages,  191  ; 
Parthian,  202  ;  Persian,  50,  58,  59,  142, 
193,  201,  202  ;  Primitive,  28,  29,  58,  191, 
236  ;  Sarmatian,  14,  122,  124,  129,  132, 
134,  135,  142,  182,  185,  191,  201-6; 
Scandinavian,  206,  207,  237  ;  Scythian, 
24,  40,  50-9,  89,  X02,  in,  130,  142,  188, 
193,  195-203,  206,  207,  227,  237  ; 
Siberian,  197,  237  ;   Sumerian,  192,  198. 

Antarados,  189. 

Antelopes,  representations,  23,  24. 

Antennae,  90. 

Antes,  219. 

' Ai>r(io')(Ov)  j3(a<nkt(i)s) ,  176. 

'Ai'T(a>vfivov)  (3(a.ai\em),  176. 

Antoninus  Pius,  154,  163,  215. 

Antonovich,  V.,  5. 

Antony,  151. 

Aorsians,  116,  120. 

Aphrodite,  33,  72,  73  ;  representations,  73, 
159  ;   Heavenly,  107  ;  Navapxis,  157. 

Api,  107. 

'ArroA-,  228. 

Apollo,  107,  228  ;  of  Didyma,  236  ;  temple 
at  Phasis,  128. 

' AttoKXoivos  'Hytpovos  efyu  Top.  <t>dai,  128. 

Apollonia,  151. 

Apotropaeic  decoration,  56 ;  eye,  59  ; 
figures,  234. 

Apulians,  82. 

Aquila,  163,  164. 

Arabic  art,  130  ;   lands,  219. 

Aral  Sea,  121. 

Arch  of  Galerius,  13,  119,  169,  231. 

Archeanactids,  67. 

Architectural  style  in  painting,  171. 

Ares,  107. 

Argimpasa,  107. 

Argonautic  expedition,  legend  of,  61,  62. 

Argonauts,  18,  43,  62,  228. 

Ariaramnes,  satrap,  84. 

Arimaspians,  37. 

Aripharnes,  king,  163. 


Armavir,  tumulus,  127,  131,  132,  232,  234. 

Armenia,  wars  of  the  Alans  with,  116,  118  ; 
Cimmerian  invasion,  35  ;  cult  of  the 
Great  Goddess,  73  ;  monarchy,  13,  71, 
158,  159 ;  objects  from,  53  ;  Roman 
armies  in,  154,  234  ;  Scythians  in,  10,  35, 
36,  83,  84  ;  Vannic  kingdom,  35. 

Armenians,  36. 

Armour,  Bosphoran,  169,  171  ;  Roman, 
158  ;  Sarmatian,  120,  143,  144,  169,  177, 
182  ;  Scythian,  54,  55,  57  ;  scale  and 
ring,  46,  159,  169,  204  ;   v.  Corslet. 

Arms,  Chinese,  203,  204  ;  Gothic,  184,  185, 
190  ;  Sarmatian,  123,  125,  129,  183  ; 
Scythian,  100  ;   v.  Weapons. 

Arms  of  Panticapaeum  :  the  griffin  and  the 
lion,  10,  80. 

Arne,  T.,  146,  215,  238. 

Arrian,  13,  63,  113,  118,  120. 

Arrows,  46,  121,  227  ;  with  triangular 
bronze  heads,  55,  122,  204. 

Artemidorus  of  Ephesus,  115. 

Artemis,  33  ;  representation,  72  ;  Agrotera, 
72. 

Artyukhov's  farm,  tumulus,  4,  172,  174, 
189,  232,  233,  236. 

Asandrochos,  king,  152. 

Asandros,  king,  150,  151,  157,  160,  167. 

Ashguzai,  35,  60. 

Ashik,  A.,  2,  175,  176,  178. 

Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford,  4,  11,  193, 
229,  237. 

Asia,  Central,  8,  221  ;  art,  132,  141,  143  ; 
influence  on  China,  204,  205  ;  origin  of 
the  animal  style,  197,  200  ;  of  the 
Sarmatians,  121  ;  political  and  economic 
conditions  in  the  4th  and  3rd  cent.  B.C., 
114,  115  ;  neolithic  pottery,  15  ;  trade 
with  S.  Russia,  164,  210,  213. 

Asia  Minor,  109,  151,  152  ;  animal  style, 
102,  193  ;  art,  49,  53,  in  ;  Bronze, 
Copper,  and  Iron  Ages,  32,  94  ;  Celts  in, 
214  ;  Cimmerians  in,  36,  38,  41  ;  coins, 
79  ;  commercial  relations  with  S.  Russia, 
43.  55.  6l»  62,  64,  83,  in  ;  graves,  77, 
78  ;  Greek  colonies,  12,44,  82  ;  influence 
on  S.  Russia,  55,  208  ;  matriarchy,  33, 
34  ;  names,  168  ;  objects  from,  3,  49,  50, 
53,  80,  141,  182  ;  political  and  economic 
conditions  in  the  5th  and  4th  cent.  B.C., 
68,  70,  71  ;  in  the  1st  cent.  B.C.,  149  ; 
neolithic  pottery,  15  ;  religion,  72,  73, 
179  ;  Scythians  in,  10,  36,  38,  41,  83,  107. 

Aspurgians,  152,  160.  . 


INDEX 


241 


Aspurgos,  king,  152,  153,  156,  166. 

Asses,  representations,  27,  58  ;  v.  Horses, 

Przhevalski's. 
Assurbanipal,  35. 
Assyria,  35,  36,  38,  57,  58,  129,  130,  141, 

193.  IQ7- 
Assyrian  monuments,  38,  56  ;    objects,  51, 

227  ;   sources,  35,  36,  38,  39  ;   style,  50, 

57,  130,  197. 
Assyrians,  35. 

Assyro-Babylonian  art,  50,  200. 
Assyro-Chaldean  weight,  58. 
Assyro-Persian  art,  59  ;   objects,  193,  237  ; 

sculptures,  11  ;  style,  50,  122,  142,  193  ; 

world,  124. 
"Anrat,  234. 

Astara   179  234.  ^^ 

Astarabad,  treasure,  27-9. 
Astarte,  234. 
Ateas,  king,  86. 
Athena,  representations,  54  ;    head,  233  ; 

mastering  a  giant,  137. 
Athenaeum,  67. 

Athenian  art,  109  ;    colonies,  68,  78  ;    in- 
scription, 69  ;  influence  on  Scythian  art, 

54  ;    origin  of  the  Odrysian  kings,  157  ; 

standard,  229. 
Athenians,  67,  85,  109,  156. 
Athens,  commercial  relations  with  S.  Russia, 

68-70,   229  ;    imperialism,   13  ;    objects 

from,    3,    53  ;     political   and    economic 

conditions,  12,  66-8,  89,  90,  147,  148, 

212,  228,  229  ;  supremacy,  67,  68,  78,  85, 

229. 
Atheus,  236. 
Attendants  buried  with  the  master,  45, 47-9, 

99. 
Attica,  82. 
Attic  historians,   69  ;    vases,   53,   54,  74 ; 

Neo- Attic  style,  236. 
Attila,  218. 
Aucissa,  130. 

Augustan  period,  130  ;   sculptors,  78. 
Augustus,  151-3,  157,  158,  166,  214. 
Aurelius,    Marcus,    118,    154,    178,    215  ; 

statues,  159. 
Austria,  131,  141,  187. 
Avars,  219. 
Axes,  Bactrian,  59,  228  ;    Cimmerian,  40, 

41  ;   Elamitic,  58  ;   Persian,  58,  59,  228  ; 

prehistoric,     29,     30  ;      Roman,     158  ; 

Scythian,  50,  193  ;   Vannic,  228. 
Azov  Sea,  32,  33,  39,  42,  43,  62,  64,  65,  95, 

96,  113,  116. 

2353 


Babelon,  E.,  137. 

Babylonia,  25,  57,  58,  80,  108,  141,  193. 

Babylonian    monuments,   25,   59  ;     world, 

Babylono-Assyrian  art,  51,  198. 

Babylono-Persian  sculptures,  10. 

Bactria,  59,  203. 

Bactrian  axe,  228  ;  portraits  of  kings,  204. 

Baden,  236. 

Baer,  K.,  62. 

Bagalei,  D.,  238. 

Balaklava,  62. 

Balkan  peninsula,  85,  94,  139,  214,  230  ; 

rivers,  66  ;    Slavs,  220. 
Baltic  Sea,  206,  210,  213,  215,  219,  222. 
Baluchistan,  59,  115. 
Bartatua,  king,  35. 
Basin,  bronze,  175. 
Baskets  with  fruit,  nuts,  or  eggs,  170. 
Baslieux,  find,  236. 
Bastarnians,  116,  139. 
Batiim,  63. 
Beads,  184  ;    glass,  175  ;    gold,  19-22,  30, 

31  ;   precious  stone,  19-22,  175. 
Bears,    representations,    22,    25,    27,    28  ; 

attacking  a  horse,  205. 
Bedniakovo,  tumulus,  88. 
Belashevski,  N.,  5. 
Belck,  58. 
Belgrade,  220. 

Bells,  bronze,  48,  49,  56,  99,  175. 
Belts,  29,  53,  142,  182,  185,  200,  202,  205  ; 

v.  Clasps. 
Benedite,  A.,  26. 
Berezan,  island,  3,  44,  63,  65. 
Berlin  Museum,  53. 
Berths  cut  in  the  tomb  chamber,  170. 
Besleneevskaya   Stanitsa,  grave,   125,    174, 

232,  233. 
Bessarabia,  16,  40,  226. 
Biers,  49. 
Birds,  representations,  23,  24,  27,  49,  53 

58  ;  heads,  48,  51,  52,  58,  185,  195,  202, 

206,  207  ;  beaks,  52,  195,  200,  206,  207  ; 

eyes,  52,  195  ;  wings,  134  ;  v.  Animals. 
Bisutun  (Behistun),  55,  229. 
Bithynia,  13,  71,  82,  162. 
Bits,  v.  Bridles. 
Black  Valley  (Chernaya  Dolina),  tumulus, 

95.230. 
Blaramberg,  J.  de,  2. 
Bliznitsa,   Bolshaya    (Great),   tumulus,    4, 

73,  76,  81  ;    Malaya   (Little),   tumulus, 

4.76. 


1 1 


242 


INDEX 


Boars,  wild,  representations,  23,  27,  28  ; 

combination  with  a  lion  and  a  goat,  59  ; 

heads,  195  ;  mastered  by  Herakles,  138  ; 

tooth  with  a  gold  mounting,  122. 
Bobrinskoy,  Ct.  A.,  5,  6,  90,  93. 
Boeckh,  A.,  6,  163. 
Boerebista,  king,  151. 
Bondorf,  find,  236. 
Boomerang  as  symbol  of  a  deity,  29. 
Bori,  find,  232,  233. 
Bosphorus,  straits,  61,  62,  67  ;    v.  Kerch, 

straits. 
Bosphorus,  Cimmerian,  straits,  9,   12,  13, 

33.. 37-9.  43.  65,  66,   154;    v.  Kerch, 

straits. 
Bosphorus,  Thracian,  straits,  68,  154,  217. 
Bottles,  gold,  130,  132,  140,  142,  175,  177, 

233  ;  inscribed,  234. 
Bows,    Cimmerian,    41  ;     Sarmatian,    121, 

129,  169  ;   Scythian,  55,  121,  227. 
Bow-cases,  Scythian,  55,  227  ;  v.  Gorytus. 
Boxes,  toilet,  170  ;   of  wood,  171. 
Bracelets,  76,  in,  142,  177,  182  ;  of  beads, 

21,  30,  31  ;  gold,  102,  125,  133,  175,  176, 

187  ;   silver,  79  ;  snake,  53. 
Brandenburg,  93. 
Brenner,  E.,  187. 
Brezovo,  tumulus,  88,  89,  105. 
Bridles,  Assyrian,  56,   130,  227  ;    Hittite, 

56;    Sarmatian,   125,  129,   171,   175-7; 

Scythian,  48,  52,  54,  55,  58,  88,  89,  99, 

102,  in,  134;    bits,  46,  89;  v.  Horse 

trappings. 
Britain,  164,  236. 
British  Museum,  11,  40,  56-8,  108,   133, 

188, 189, 228. 
Bronze  Age,  11,  14,  15,  17,  22,  28-32,  40, 

58,  90,  92,  122,  197. 
Brooches,  gold,   128,   174,.  182,   188,   189, 

233,  236  ;  v.  Fibulae. 
Brooklyn  Museum,  26. 
Brown,  Baldwin  G.,  189. 
Buckinghamshire,  188. 
Buerova  Mogila,  grave,  125,  174,  232. 
Bug,  river,  15-17,  42-4,  63-5,  87,  90,  92, 

94,  96,  145,  201,  212,  213,  221,  230. 
Bulgaria,  42,  77,  88-90,  97,  105,  137,  220, 

224,  232. 
Bulgarian  phalarae,  138,  233  ;  v.  Phalarae. 
Bulgars,  220. 
Bulls,  representations,  22-4,  26,  27,  29,  30, 

192  ;   heads,  56,  105  ;   v.  Oxen. 
Burials,   Caucasian,  29,  30  ;    Hittite,  31  ; 

v.  Graves. 


Byzantium,  14,  155,  208,  220. 
Byzantine  culture,  221  ;  empire,  155,  219- 
22  ;  emperor,  220  ;  reliefs,  231. 

Cabinet  des  Medailles,  Paris,  136,  137. 

Caesar,  Julius,  150,  151,  214. 

Caesars,  names,  150. 

Caesarea,  157. 

Cairo  Museum,  27. 

Callinicus,  Julius,  funeral  inscription,  235. 

Calvados,  187. 

Cameos,  135,  177. 

Candelabra,  bronze,  53,  128. 

Canopy,  funerary,  20,  21,  24,  26,  30,  48-50, 
52.  56>  97.  99.  IC,2,  227,  232. 

Caparison,  97,  130  ;   v.  Horse  trappings. 

Capital,  wooden,  representing  a  besieged 
city,  231. 

Capitol,  Panticapaeum,  158. 

Cappadocia,  82  ;  Cimmerians  in,  36,  40  ; 
cult  of  the  Great  Goddess,  73  ;  economic 
conditions,  162  ;  monarchy,  71  ;  Roman 
armies  in,  118,  154  ;  Scythians  in,  10,  11. 

Cappadocian  art,  11,  53,  139,  193  ;  bronzes, 
40,  56;  colonists  in  the  Crimea,  150; 
satrap,  84. 

Caracalla,  Antoninus,  176. 

Carchemish,  31,  193. 

Caria,  77. 

Carian  legends,  43,  61,  62. 

Carians,  19,  61,  62,  65,  228. 

Carlsruhe  Museum,  236. 

Carnarvon  Collection,  26. 

Carnelians,  beads,  19,  21,  175  ;  fixed  in 
bezels,  178. 

Carolingian  style,  237. 

Carpathians,  mountains,  219,  221. 

Cars,  funeral,  v.  Chariots. 

Carthage,  131,  187,  235. 

Carthaginian  tomb,  187. 

Carts,  funeral,  v.  Chariots. 

Caspian  Sea,  38,  115,  121,  122,  220. 

Cassite  deity,  29. 

Castel  Trosino,  236. 

Cat  tribe,  representations,  195. 

Caucasian  bronzes,  227  ;  burials,  29,  30  ; 
Hermonassa,  19  ;  mountains,  40,  repre- 
sentation, 28. 

Caucasus,  7-9,  54,  55,  136,  208  ;  animal 
style,  31  ;  Argonautic  legends,  62  ; 
Bronze  Age,  28,  32,  40  ;  Cimmerians  in, 
38,  40  ;  Copper  Age,  21,  28,  31  ;  cult  of 
Sabazios,  180  ;  Darius'  expedition,  84  ; 
Greek   colonies,    63,    64 ;     metals,    18  ; 


INDEX 


243 


objects  from,  133,  142,  233  ;  pirates,  63  ; 
Sarmatians  in,  113,  116-18,  128,  144; 
Scythians  in,  83-5,  227  ;  Central  Cauca- 
sus, finds  and  cemeteries,  232  ;  Northern, 
S3  ;  Bronze  Age,  28  ;  Copper  Age,  21, 
22,  28,  29,  30,  32  ;  inlaid  technique,  58  ; 
intercourse  with  the  Crimea,  38  ;  objects 
from,  185  ;  Southern,  Copper  Age,  28  ; 
finds,  53. 

Cauldrons,  102,  130,  138,  139,  205,  227, 
232  ;   inscribed,  130,  140,  233,  234. 

Celt,  bronze,  40. 

Celtic  enamels,  236  ;  fibula,  130  ;  style,  189, 
190,  236  ;  tribes,  87,  145  ;  world,  130. 

Cel to- Germanic  current,  116. 

Celto-Scythians,  139,  145. 

Celts,  116,  139,  172,  213,  214,  230. 

Cemeteries,  excavation,  3,  4,  74,  229  ; 
Bronze  Age,  28  ;  Central  Caucasus,  232  ; 
Copper  Age,  19  ;  crematory,  urn  fields, 
146  ;  Egyptian,  19  ;  Elamitic,  19  ;  Ger- 
man, 214 ;  Gotho-Sarmatian,  185  ; 
Greek,  3,  65,  74,  75,  78,  82,  no,  170, 
229  ;  Mesopotamian,  19  ;  Middle  Dnie- 
per, 213  ;  neolithic,  90  ;  Pontic,  10  ; 
Sarmatian,  125,  143,  144,  164  ;  Scythian, 
10,  52,  54,  97,  163  ;   Thracian,  229. 

Chain  of  gold  tubes,  102. 

Chalcedony,  177,  178. 

Chalcolithic  culture,  5,  15,  17. 

Chaldian  kingdom  of  Van,  35,  58. 

Chalybians,  18,  61. 

Chamber  graves,  v.  Graves. 

Champleve,  v.  Enamel. 

Chariots,  funeral,  45,  48,  49,  52,  56,  76,  97, 
99,  102,  ill,  227. 

Chavannes,  E.,  237. 

Chelidon,  funeral  inscription,  235. 

Chernaya  Dolina,  tumulus,  v.  Black  Valley. 

Chernigov,  185,  215. 

Chersonesans,  148,  149. 

Chersonese,  Thracian,  85,  90. 

Chersonesus,  Byzantine,  155,  217  ;  ceme- 
tery, 3  ;  coins,  72,  73  ;  cults,  72,  179  ; 
Dorian  character,  74  ;  enamels,  Celtic, 
236  ;  economic  conditions,  12,  64,  68,  69, 
76,  164  ;  founded  by  Ionians,  63  ;  Goths 
and,  217,  218  ;  inscriptions,  151,  235  ; 
political  life,  147-151  ;  Scythians  and, 
70  ;   Roman  occupation,  154,  155,  163. 

Chertomlyk,  tumulus,  4,  5,  95,  97,  102,  104, 
109. 

China,  115,  132,  198-205,  210,  233,  237. 

Chinese,  198,  200,  204,  205,  233. 


Chinese  animal  style,  197-201,  205,  237  ; 

art,  132,  197-200,  205  ;   emperors,  160  ; 

funerary  ceremonies,  49  ;   frontier,  114; 

graves,  170,  204,  205  ;  military  life,  203  ; 

objects,  129,  132,  198-200,  204,  205,  234  ; 

sources,    114,    115;     Turkestan,    115; 

Wall,  115,  205. 
Chirpan,  88. 

Chmyreva  Mogila,  tumulus,  0.5,  102. 
Christiania,  207. 
Chthonic  divinities,  73,  179. 
Chu  dynasty,  198-200,  205,  237. 
Chulek,  find,  185,  232. 
Churches,  Christian,  decoration  of,  171. 
Chvojka,  V.,  5,  16,  90,  93. 
Cimmero-Maeotian    population,    65  ;     v. 

Maeotians. 
Circe  island,  62. 
Circlet,  gold,  175,  176. 
Cities,  representations,  besieged,  231  ;  for- 
tified, 160. 
Clamps,  bronze  and  iron,  in  masonry,  78, 

79- 

Clasps,  52,  106,  177,  181,  183,  184;  belt 
clasps,  40,  50,  51,  132-5,  140,  167. 

Claudius,  Emperor,  118,  154. 

Clazomenai,  63. 

Clazomenians,  43,  65. 

Cloisonne,  v.  Enamel. 

Cnidos,  114. 

Coffins,  74-7,  80,  108  ;  wooden,  170,  171, 
175,  178  ;  wooden  painted,  3  ;  wooden 
carved,  gilded,  and  painted,  171  ;  with 
plaster  figures,  172  ;  inlaid,  76,  171. 

Coins,  183  ;  Aeginetan,  228  ;  Athenian, 
229  ;  Bosphoran,  10,  n,  66,  73,  79,  80, 
109,  151,  156-60,  167,  170,  179,  180,  183, 
184,  214,  215,  228,  229  ;  Chersonesus, 
72, 73 ;  Cyzicus,  80 ;  Greek,  95, 130,  229  ; 
Olbia,  216  ;  Pontic,  104  ;  Roman,  141, 
183,184,214,215;  Samos,79,228;  Sas- 
sanian,  234  ;  Scythian,  86,  231  ;  Thra- 
cian, 158  ;  Tyras,  216  ;  v.  Imprints  of 
coins. 

Colchians,  18. 

Collar,  silver,  22. 

Column  of  Trajan,  13,  169. 

Comb,  gold,  102,  108. 

Commagene,  13,  71,  158. 

Commodus,  154,  157,  178. 

Communion,  holy,  or  royal  investiture,  or 
sacred  oath,  representations,  89,  104-6, 

I38>  231- 
Constantine,  217. 


244 


INDEX 


Constantinople,  136,  210,  213,  219,  220. 

Constantius  II,  184,  217. 

Contracted  skeletons,  burials  with,  v.  Graves . 

Contzesti,  find,  105,  232. 

Copper  Age,  4,  14,  15, 19,  21,  22,  28-30,  32, 

34.  5°.  56>  9°»  92,  94.  J9J>  224>  225- 

Coral,  135. 

Corridor  to  the  grave,  49  ;  cut  in  the  rock 
or  earth,  170  ;  lined  with  wood,  47,  48  ; 
of  dressed  stone,  vaulted,  75,  79. 

Corslets,  227  ;  cast  iron,  121,  123  ;  Greek, 
54  ;  scale,  55,  100  ;  scale  or  ring  armour, 
121,  129,  143,  169  ;  v.  Armour  ;  breast- 
plates, v.  Pectorals. 

Costume,  Cimmerian,  40,  41  ;  Bosphoran, 
159,  168,  169,  171  ;  Sarmatian,  130,  231  ; 
Scythian,  55,  57,  73,  102,  104,  227. 

Cotys,  king,  153. 

Cotys,  name,  156. 

Cousinery,  1. 

Cowley,  A.,  167. 

Cremation,  74,  170. 

Cretan  civilization,  15. 

Cretans,  61. 

Crimea,  Bronze  Age,  28  ;    Byzantine,  155, 

217  ;  economic  conditions,  18,  63,  64,  69, 
164;  excavations,  4,  5  ;  finds,  52,  173, 
185  ;   Germans  in,  119  ;   Goths  in,  217, 

218  ;  Greek  cities,  147,  148  ;  intercourse 
with  the  Caucasus,  38  ;  Italian  colonies, 
221  ;  legends,  36  ;  matriarchy,  34  ; 
Mithridates' wars,  116,  149,  150  ;  objects 
from,  54,  80,  97  ;  protected  position,  9  ; 
Romans  in,  118,  154,  155,  163  ;  Scy- 
thians in,  39,  42,  54,  69,  70,  86,  96,  98, 
no,  114,  115,  117,  120,  147,  154,  160, 
162,  163,  165,  168,  226,  231. 

Crowns,  182  ;  funerary,  159,  170,  174-8, 
184  ;  gold,  232  ;  royal  with  the  image  of 
the  Roman  emperor,  158 

Cumans,  221. 

Cumont,  F.,  180. 

Cups,  gold,  45,  48  ;  silver,  48,  123,  175  ; 
with  horned  handles,  91. 

Curtain  of  the  funeral  canopy,  21. 

Curtius,  L.,  192. 

Curule  chair,  158. 

Cylinders,  Babylonian,  59. 

Cyprus,  193. 

Cyzicene  staters,  79. 

Cyzicus,  79,  80,  109,  229. 

Dacia,  118. 
Dacians,  n6,  145. 


Daggers,  Caucasian,  29 ;  Chinese,  ring- 
headed,  204  ;  Egyptian,  stone,  29  ;  Per- 
sian, 228  ;  Sarmatian,  121,  143, 175,  177  ; 
ring-headed,  169,  204 ;  Scythian,  51, 
55  ;  sheaths,  Sarmatian,  124  ;  Scythian, 
51,  52  ;  hilt,  Sarmatian,  177  ;  pommel, 
Sarmatian,  178  ;   v.  Swords. 

Dalton,  O.,  57. 

Dalyi,  find,  40,  226. 

Danube,  region  of  the  river,  ethnological 
and  political  aspect  in  the  2nd  cent.  B.C., 
145  ;  finds,  138  ;  Gaulish  advance,  70  ; 
Germans  in,  214,  218  ;  Getians  in,  87  ; 
Gotho-Sarmatian  civilization,  185,  187  ; 
Greek  colonies,  63  ;  intercourse  with 
S.  Russia,  7,  8,  209  ;  neolithic  civiliza- 
tion, 5,  16  ;  Romans  in,  151,  153,  154, 
215  ;  Sarmatians  in,  13,  1 13-18,  218, 
236  ;  Scythians  in,  83-7,  90,  96,  98  ; 
Thracians  in,  41. 

Danubian  frontier  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
119 ;  Greek  colonies,  63  ;  provinces, 
116-18,  190,  215,  216. 

Dardanelles,  38. 

Darievka,  tumulus,  97,  230. 

Darius,  9,  66,  84,  85,  90,  229  ;  represented 
on  a  vase,  76. 

Dead,  heroized,  painted,  160  ;  stelai,  169. 

Deer,  representations,  46,  50,  53,  207  ; 
devoured  by  a  lion,  201. 

Deev,  tumulus,  95,  230. 

Delos,  70,  81. 

Delphi,  70. 

Demeter,  33,  73,  81,  179  ;  head,  81. 

Desna,  river,  213. 

Diadem,  gold,  20,  21,  23,  30,  31,  49,  51,  88, 
106,  in,  132,  133,  135,  142,  235. 

Aid\idos,  236. 

Didrachms,  silver,  109. 

Didyma,  236. 

Dies,  80,  97. 

Dion  Chrysostom,  165,  167,  169. 

Diodorus,  145,  163. 

Dionysos,    80 ;     triumph,    representation, 

137- 

Diorite,  40. 

Diseases,  personifications,  clay  figures,  170, 
204,  234. 

Dishes,  metal,  184,  217  ;  v.  Plates. 

Disk,  metal,  58. 

Distaff,  175. 

Dnieper,  region  of  the  river,  Bronze  Age, 
17  ;  Celto-Germanic  tribes,  116  ;  Cim- 
merians in,  38  ;    cult  of  the   Supreme 


INDEX 


245 


Goddess,  34,  107  ;  ethnological  and 
political  aspect  in  the  2nd  cent.  B.C.,  145  ; 
excavations,  4,  5  ;  finds,  52,  136,  173, 
187,  188,  195,  234,  237  ;  Finnish  tribes, 
213  ;  Galatian  advance,  87  ;  Gelonians 
in,  213  ;  Germans  in,  98,  118,  146,  208, 
214-16,  219,  238  ;  gorodishches,  230  ; 
Greek  colonies,  44^  63-5,  162  ;  Middle 
Dnieper  civilization,  90-4,  230  ;  neo- 
lithic civilization,  5,  15-17  ;  Russians  in, 
208-10,  218-21  ;  Sarmatians  in,  98,  115, 
116,  118,  145  ;  Scythians  in,  9,  42,  43, 
70,  88,  90,  94-9,  no,  in,  212,  226,  230  ; 
Tartars  in,  221  ;   Thracians  in,  116. 

Dniester,  river,  4, 15, 17,  63,  87,  93,  96,  230. 

Dobrudzha,  42,  86-8,  no,  117,  165,  231. 

Dog,  representation,  108. 

Dolmens,  21,  28. 

Domitian,  118,  154,  158. 

Don,  region  of  the  river,  animal  style,  142  ; 
Cimmerians  in,  42  ;  excavations,  4,  5  ; 
finds,  58,  136,  142,  185-8,  232  ;  Finnish 
tribes,  213  ;  Gelonians  in,  213  ;  goro- 
dishches, 230  ;  Greek  colonies,  69,  85, 
118,  162;  Khazars  in,  220;  Maeotians 
in,  33  ;  polychrome  jewellery,  182,  202  ; 
Sarmatians  in,  14,  85,  98,  1 13-16,  118, 
124-6,  129,  135,  139,  143-5,  J47.  217  ; 
Scythians  in,  9,  42,  43,  70,  90,  95-8,  no, 
m,  144,  212. 

Donets,  river,  136,  213. 

Dorian  colonies,  63,  68  ;   Greeks,  74. 

Dorians,  66. 

Dots,  incised,  137,  138. 

Dover,  189. 

Dragons,  representations,  29,  124,  192, 
198-200,  237. 

Drexel,  F.,  136,  139. 

Dubois  de  Montpereux,  F.,  2. 

Dubrux,  P.,  2. 

Duck,  representation,  22. 

Duodecim  scripta,  170. 

Dynamis,  queen,  150-4,  156,  157,  159,  166, 
179  ;  head,  158. 


Eagles,  representations,  24,  50,  142,  186, 
192 ;  attacking  a  goat,  140  ;  grasping 
a  swan,  140  ;  beaks,  200  ;  eyes,  200  ; 
heads,  50,  in,  203  ;  head  of  an  eagle 
devouring  a  ram's  head,  203  ;   legs,  199. 

Ear  of  corn,  on  coins,  80  ;  on  plaques,  73. 

Ear-pendants,  gold,  175  ;  v.  Earrings. 

Earrings,  30,  31,  79,  11 1  ;   enamelled,  128, 


134  ;  gold,  19,  76  ;  with  the  figure  of  the 

local  goddess,  97  ;  with  lion's  heads,  175. 
Ebert,  M.,  65,  181. 
Egypt,  animal  style,  31,  193  ;   art,  27,  28  ; 

Copper  Age,   19,  22,  24-7,  32  ;    inlay 

technique,  57,  58  ;  neolithic  pottery,  15  ; 

Persian    supremacy,    10 ;     polychromy, 

172,    182,    236 ;     Ptolemaic,    70,    166 ; 

standards,  56  ;   symbolic  figure  of,  204. 
Egyptian  art,  25  ;    dynasties,  36  ;    ivories, 

27  ;    monuments,  25  ;    pots,  28  ;    stone 

daggers,  29  ;   stone  palettes,  24,  26,  27  ; 

vaults,  75,  76,  78,  79,  81. 
Ekaterinodar,  233. 
Ekaterinoslav,  tumuli,  no. 
Elam,  15,  19,  24,  27,  28,  30-2,  58,  59. 
Elamitic  art,   57 ;    seals,   24,   27  ;    proto- 

Elamitic  tablets,  27. 
Elephants,  representations,  25,  28  ;    head, 

137  ;   helmet,  204. 
Eleusino-Orphic  cycle,  paintings,  179. 
Elisavetgrad,  42,  49,  50. 
Elizavetinskaya,   tumuli,  41,  48,   54,   201, 

226,  237. 
Elizavetovskaya  Stanitsa,  tumuli,  124,  143, 

144. 
Elks,  54  ;    representations,  103,  195,  197  ; 

heads,  195,  196. 
Embossed  technique,  27,  51,  53,  89,  129, 

130,  133,  232;  v.  Repousse. 
Enamel,  14,  52, 124, 125,  128,  131, 133, 134, 

135,  142,  173,  174,  178,  182,  189,  190, 

236  ;    champleve,  182,  190 ;    cloisonne, 

50,  52,  57,  124,  134,  182,  185  ;    proto- 

cloisonne,  178. 
Enareans,  105,  231. 
England,  189. 

English  county  of  Kent,  186. 
Entemena  vase,  23,  24,  26. 
Ephesus,  109,  115. 
Ephorus,  83,  104,  108. 
'Epylvos,  234. 
Eros,  gold  statuette,  135. 
Esarhaddon,  35,  38. 
Etruria,  77,  193. 
Etruscan  tombs,  82. 
Etruscans,  82. 
Eudoxos  of  Cnidos,  114. 
Eumelos,  king,  69,  71,  145,  163,  166. 
Eumolpos,  156. 
Eunuchs,  representation,  105. 
Eupator,  king,  156,  158. 
Euphrates,  river,  35,  58. 
Evtvxmvos,  T.  Kdioy,  funeral  inscription,  235. 


246 


INDEX 


Euxine,  33,  36,  68. 

Eyes,  animals',  26,  27 ;  apotropaic,  59 ; 
birds,  52, 195,  200, 205, 207  ;  human,  52. 

Farmak6vski,  B.,  3,  20,  28,  65,  95. 

Fatianovo  civilization,  17. 

Fedulovo,  find,  136. 

Felines,  representations,  v.  Cat  tribe. 

Ferry  of  the  Cimmerians,  37. 

Fibulae,  Celtic,  130  ;  Cimmerian,  40,  226  ; 
English,  189  ;  Frankish,  189  ;  Germanic, 
181,  with  foot  turned  over,  128,  233  ; 
Gothic,  126,  128,  184,  185,  190,  tendril, 
185  ;  Merovingian,  236  ;  Sarmatian, 
128,  130,  175,  182-5,  bronze,  125,  175, 
animal-shaped,  128,  183,  185,  186,  188, 
233,  boss-shaped,  188,  round,  142,  183, 
tendril,  128,  183,  233,  with  inset  stones, 
125,  128,  133,  186-8  ;  Scandinavian, 
207 ;  La  Tene  period,  128,  130,  145 ; 
v.  Brooches. 

Field  Museum,  Chicago,  237. 

Figures,  bronze,  emblematic,  49  ;  clay, 
apotropaic,  234,  ithyphallic,  234,  repre- 
senting the  funeral  procession,  204 ; 
painted,  apotropaic,  234  ;  plaster,  glued 
to  coffins,  172. 

Filigree  technique,  127,  175,  189,  190,  233  ; 
pseudo-,  127,  177,  185,  188. 

Filov,  B.,  88,  89. 

Finnish  North,  191,  219  ;  tribes,  213. 

Fishes,  representations,  covered  with  figures 
of  animals,  52,  193  ;  as  parts  of  another 
animal,  200  ;  on  coins,  80. 

Flasks,  oil,  74. 

Flavian  dynasty,  118,  158. 

Floral  style,  130,  in  painting,  171  ;  motives, 
54, 124, 132, 133, 138, 139, 172, 173, 193, 
196,  200,  207,  232  ;  combined  with 
animals,  v.  Animals. 

Forks,  weapon,  22,  29,  30  ;  as  symbol  of 
a  deity,  29. 

Forts  of  the  Cimmerians,  37. 

France,  141,  186,  189,  220,  236. 

Franke,  O.,  41. 

Frankish  fibula,  189  ;  polychrome  style, 
191. 

French,  brooches,  236  ;  research  work  in 
S.  Russia,  1,  2. 

Friedlander,  G.,  62. 

Frontlets,  v.  Horse  trappings. 

Fundukley,  I.,  5. 

Funerary  ceremonial,  Greek,  74,  76,  170  ; 
Greco-Scythian,    76  ;    Greco-Sarmatian, 


177  ;  of  heroic  Greece,  77  ;  Middle 
Dnieper,  92,  97  ;  Sarmatian,  122,  123, 
125,  126,  129  ;  Scythian,  4,  44-9,  56,  76. 
95>  97>  99  !  Thracian,  88,  89. 

Fur  coat,  22. 

Furniture,  Egyptian,  24,  26. 

Furtwangler,  A.,  42. 

Gaitosyros,  107. 

Galatians,  87,  116,  145. 

Galba,  141. 

Galerius,  arch  of,  13,  119,  169,  231. 

Galiche,  138. 

Galicia,  16,  220,  226. 

Galician  Russia,  221. 

Gallo-German  invasion  of  S.  Russia,  98. 

Games,  170. 

Gandhara,  137. 

Gardner,  P.,  229. 

Gargaza,  163. 

Garnets,  134,  135,  175,  177,  184,  185,  187, 
235  ;  fixed  in  bezels,  175. 

Gaul,  82,  119,  164,  215,  235. 

Gaulish  shields,  169;  style,  190;  tribes,  139. 

Gauls,  70. 

Ge,  107. 

Gebel-el-Araq,  26. 

Gelonians,  107,  213. 

Gems,  79,  129,  132-4,  r73,  188,  190  ; 
•  engraved,  3,  102,  125,  128  ;  Sassanian, 
104  ;   v.  Stones,  precious. 

Geniuses,  evil,  clay  figures,  170. 

Geometric  style,  29,  124,  181,  191,  197, 
198  ;  motives,  15,  16,  31,  41,  56,  91,  124, 
125,  127,  129,  130,  132,  133,  172,  173, 
177,  188-90,  193,  198,  200,  233  ;  com- 
bined with  animals,  v.  Animals. 

Geometrized  human  or  divine  figure,  11,  16, 
200  ;  animals,  v.  Animals. 

Gepaepyris,  queen,  153,  156. 

German  advance  on  the  Roman  Empire, 
214  ;  cemeteries  and  settlements,  214  ; 
population  of  the  Dnieper  region,  215, 
216,  218  ;   research  work  in  S.  Russia,  6. 

Germanic  animal  style,  181,  207,  237  ;  in- 
fluence on  S.  Russia,  184, 208  ;  lands,  138, 
181  ;  North,  181,  191,  209,  219  ;  origin 
of  the  polychrome  style,  181  ;  ruling 
classes,  190,  218  ;  tribes,  5,  13,  70,  87, 
98,  116,  145,  146,  208,  211  ;  world,  130. 

Germans,  117-19,  128,  153,  166,  214,  216, 
218,  219,  222,  233,  238. 

Germany,  42,  139,  146,  164,  187,  206,  236  ; 
South,  146. 


INDEX 


247 


Gerrhoi,  45,  95,  96. 

Getians,  41,  87,  116,  120,  154. 

Geymanov's  settlement,  find,  233. 

Giants,  33,  73  ;  fight  with  Athena,  plaque, 

.J37- 
Gilles,  5. 
Gimir,  36. 
Gimirrai,  35. 
Giraffes,  representations,  28. 

1     Girdle,  106. 
Glass,   164  ;    Greek,   120  ;    Greco-Roman, 
214;  Phoenician,  74;  coloured  or  trans- 
parent inset,  128,  133,  173,  189,  232. 

Glycaria,  167. 

Goats,  representations,  26,  41,  56,  192,  195  ; 
devoured  by  beasts  or  birds  of  prey,  53, 
59,  136,  140  ;   heads,  195  ;   forepart,  53. 

Gods,  Great,  Supreme,  34,  106,  107,  165, 
179,  180,  234  ;  representations,  104,  105, 
159  ;  of  Death,  Chinese,  204  ;  local,  97  ; 
local  in  classical  guise,  137-9,  x59>  J&6  5 
Sun  God,  Oriental,  137  ;  of  vegetation 
and  of  reproduction,  73,  80. 

Goddess,  Great,  72,  73,  105-7,  157,  165, 
179,  180,  234;  representations,  11,  50, 
56,  73,  81,  97,  104,  106,  108,  in,  138, 
159,  179  ;  Mother,  33,  34  ;  Potnia 
Theron,  Mistress  of  Beasts,  Uorma  ®r)pa>r, 
34,  56  ;  representations,  50, 73  ;  Serpent- 
footed,  107  ;  representations,  73,  107, 
108  ;  Supreme,  34  ;  temples  and  sanc- 
tuaries, 33,  72,  73,  107,  179. 

Goetze,  A.,  207. 

Gold  wire  ornamentation,  133. 

Golden  Fleece,  18. 

Golden  Tumulus,  near  Simferopol,  42,  52, 
137,  173,  226  ;  near  Kerch,  77. 

Golubinskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  135. 

Gordian,  183,  184. 

Gorgippia,  4,  72,  77,  157,  162,  164,  165, 
168,  172. 

Gorgippos,  name,  68. 

Gorodishches,  fortified  cities,  90,  229, 
230. 

Gorodtsov,  V.,  17. 

Gorytus,  40,  55,  60,  97,  104,  108,  109,  169  ; 
v.  Bow-cases  and  quivers. 

Goshkevich,  V.,  65. 

Gothic  art,  207,  208  ;  attacks  on  the  Roman 
Empire,  217  ;  Empire,  9,  117,  217,  219  ; 
influence  on  S.  Russia,  184  ;  invasion, 
216,  236  ;  objects,  126, 187,  235  ;  period, 
124,  218  ;   style,  14,  173,  178,  202. 

Goths,  9,  13,   14,   117-20,  153,  155,  177. 


180, 181,  183,  185,  186,  190,  208, 216-19, 
233  ;  Tetraxite,  9,  218. 

Granulation  technique,  51,  127,  133,  188, 
189  ;  pseudo-,  133,  177,  184. 

Grasshopper,  representation,  128. 

Gratian,  188. 

Graves,  excavation,  3,  4,  10  ;  Asia  Minor, 
77,  82  ;  Bronze  Age,  11,  28,  58,  122; 
Chinese,  170,  204,  205  ;  Cimmerian,  40  ; 
with  contracted  skeletons,  8,  17,  19-21, 
31.  39.  9°>  91.  I2°  ;  Copper  Age,  4,  19- 
22,  29-31,  224;  Egyptian,  prehistoric, 
25  ;  Etruscan,  77,  82  ;  Germanic,  214  ; 
Gotho-Sarmatian,  184,  187,  188,  217, 
235  ;  Greek,  65,  69,  73,  74,  76-8,  81,  82, 
142,  161,  168-72,  174-8,  183,  184,  187, 
204,  217,  229,  234,  235  ;  Greco- Scythian, 
76,  78,  81  ;  Macedonian,  77,  82  ;  Middle 
Dnieper,  91-4,  213  ;  Mycenaean,  77,  78  ; 
neolithic,  122  ;  Panticapaean,  11  ;  Per- 
sian, 134,  140  ;    Sarmatian,  122-30,  132, 

J34>  J35.  »4x-3»  x45>  l67.  *74.  J77»  l84> 
187,  204,  231-4  ;  Scythian,  4,  11,  41,  42, 

45.  47-9.  53.  54.  58,  88,  89,  92,  93,  97, 
99-104,  106,  no,  122,  129,  130,  134,  145, 
197,  204,  226  ;  Thracian,  76-8,  82,  88, 
89  ;   Transcaucasian,  58. 

Grave  chambers,  dug  in  virgin  soil,  99,  101, 
103, 123, 126, 169, 170  ;  rock-cut,  10, 170; 
stone-boxes,  21,  22,  28,  painted  stone- 
boxes,  21  ;  of  dressed  stone,  10,  88  ; 
with  wooden  roof,  47  ;  with  flat  roof, 
170  ;  vaulted,  74-9,  82,  97,  170,  174, 
175,  178,  229  ;  double,  78  ;  trenches 
lined  with  wood,  19,  47,  48  ;  lined  with 
reed,  125  ;  house-shaped  (khata),  92  ; 
tent-shaped,  47,  49  ;  with  a  wooden  tent 
inside,  47  ;  with  a  tent  of  dressed  stone 
inside,  47,  48  ;  v.  Tombs. 

Greaves,  55,  100. 

Greco-Iberian  art,  82. 

Greco-Indian  monuments,  137. 

Greco- Italic  civilization,  82. 

Greco-Macedonian  monarchy,  68. 

Greco-Maeotian  state,  72. 

Greco-Thracian  cities,  80. 

Griffins,  representations,  10,  29,  37,  134, 
138,  140,  142,  188,  192,  196,  203,  233  ; 
eagle-headed,  73,  192,  198,  207  ;  lion- 
headed,  10,  58,  80,  192,  198,  200,  204, 
207;  snake,  198  ;  heads,  51,  56,  m,  122, 
195,  203,  206  ;  eagle's,  199,  205  ;  horned 
and  leonine,  73,  199,  200  ;  beaks,  207  ; 
eyes,  205,  207. 


248  INDEX 

Guards,  v.  Swords. 
Gundestrup,  find,  138,  139,  232. 
Gurziif,  185. 
Gutschmid,  A.  von*  60. 
Gynaecocracy,  33. 


Hadaczek,  F.,  16,  40. 

Hadrian,  118,  119,  154,  155. 

Halicarnassus,  68. 

Hallstatt  culture,  90  ;  objects,  93  ;  pottery, 

92  ;  weapons,  90,  92-4,  97. 
Hamadan,  58,  228. 
Hampel,  J.,  188. 
Han  dynasty,  49,  114,  129,  201,  203-5,  234, 

237- 
Handles,  31  ;  animal-shaped,  53,  132,  140, 

186,  representing  the  serpent-footed  God- 
dess, 108  ;  riveted  suspension  tubes,  31. 

Hares,  representations,  53. 

Harness,  76. 

Head,  female,  on  a  garnet,  177  ;  of  the 
Roman  Emperors  on  coins,  crowns,  and 
sceptres  of  Bosphoran  kings,  158  ;  of  the 
Bosphoran  kings  on  coins,  158. 

Hecataeus  of  Miletus,  19,  38. 

Helios,  representation,  105. 

Hellanicus,  18. 

Hellenistic  art,  109  ;  inscription,  179  ; 
jewels,  236  ;  marquetry,  171  ;  monar- 
chies, 13,  71,  72,  98,  109,  150,  157,  166  ; 
period,  70,  82,  83,  114,127,  130,  134,  141, 
161,  168,  170,  172,  178,  182,  190,  201, 
206,  213,  233,  236  ;  vases,  233  ;  work, 
135  ;  world,  182,  236. 

Helmets,  Greek,  used  by  Scythians,  49,  54, 
55,  100;  Sarmatian,  conical,  121,  129, 
143,  169,  adopted  by  the  Chinese,  204  ; 
Sarmato-Roman,  231  ;  Roman,  158  ; 
elephant,  204. 

Heracleia  Pontica,  63,  68,  71,  82,  148. 

Heracleotes,  63. 

Herakles,  33,  73,  107,  156,  157,  230  ;  repre- 
sentations, strangling  a  lion,  138  ;  master- 
ing a  boar,  138. 

Hercules  (irufxivrf,,  157. 

Hermitage,  Museum,  3,  5,  6,  74,  76,  105, 
134,  140,  184,  205,  232. 

Hermonassa,  19,  44,  63,  72. 

Heroa,  Mycenaean,  78. 

Herodas,  mimes,  no. 

Herodotus,  4,  7,  33,  37,  38,  39,  41,  42,  44, 
45,  6o,  64,  65,  83,  84,  95,  96,  104-8,  113, 
157,  212,  213. 

Heroson,  99. 


Heuzey,  L.,  77,  192. 

Hierakonpolis,  25,  26. 

Hieroglyphs,  Hittite,  167,  234  ;  Sarmatian, 
v.  Alphabetical  signs. 

Hilts,  v.  Swords. 

Himner,  224. 

Hippocrates,  pseudo-,  105,  113. 

Histie,  107. 

Histrians,  86. 

Hittite,  Asia  Minor,  179,  193  ;  burials,  31  ; 
civilization,  32  ;  figures,  58  ;  hieroglyphs, 
167,  234 ;  horse  trappings,  56,  227 ; 
standards,  56  ;  works  of  art,  53. 

Hittites,  34. 

Hoernes,  M.,  32. 

Hogarth,  D.  G.,  57. 

Holland,  138,  140. 

Homer,  167. 

Homeric  legends,  37  ;   poems,  76. 

Hooks,  weapon,  29. 

Horn,  drinking,  188  ;   v.  Rhyton. 

Horses,  representations,  195  ;  dying,  134, 
140,  205  ;  attacked  by  a  griffin,  134,  140, 
205  ;  by  a  lion  and  a  bear,  205  ;  catch- 
ing of,  109  ;  Przhevalski's  or  wild  ass,  23, 
27,  28. 

Horses  buried  with  the  master,  45,  47-9,  54, 
76,  88,  97,  99,  105,  121,  125,  232  ;  stalls, 
wooden,  in  the  grave  chamber,  47,  48  ; 
representation  of  the  sacred  spike  with 
a  horse's  skull,  105. 

Horse  trappings,  227  ;  Bosphoran,  167  ; 
Sarmatian,  122,  123,  129,  136,  139,  174, 
182,  184,  206,  adopted  by  the  Chinese, 
204,  205  ;  Scythian,  51,  52,  54,  55,  57,  58, 
89,194,195,237;  Thracian.88,89;  repre- 
sentations, Hittite,  56,  227  ;  v.  Phalarae  ; 
ear-guards,  55,  89  ;  frontlets,  52,  55,  89, 
107,  138  ;  nasals,  89  ;  pectorals,  55  ; 
temple-pieces,  55,  89. 

Horsemen,  representations,  Bosphoran  hop- 
lite,  165;  Sarmatian,  144,  231,  234; 
Sarmato-Bosphoran,  160,  169,  231  ;  Scy- 
thian, 11,  40;  Maeoto-Cimmerian,  40; 
Tanaite,  144. 

Hrushevski,  M.,  238. 

Human  figures,  clay,  16  ;  painted,  25  ; 
half  human,  half  leonine,  the  head 
covered  with  the  elephant  helmet,  204  ; 
combined  with  animals,  v.  Animals ; 
geometrized,  v.  Geometrized. 

Hungarian  find,  42  ;  graves,  Scythian,  227. 

Hungary,  8,  18,  40,  42,  92. 

Huns,  119,  186,  203,  217,  218,  219. 


INDEX 


Hvareno,  105. 

Hydra  devouring  a  goat,  136. 

Hyperboreans,  36. 

Iazygians,  115,  116,  146. 

Iberia,  116,  118. 

Ilmen  Lake,  210. 

Ilyintsy",  find,  97,  104. 

Implements,  bronze,  226. 

Imprints,  from  coins,  171,  174-6,  178,  183, 

184  ;  from  an  Elamitic  seal,  27. 
Incrustation,  technique,  50, 135, 172-4, 235  ; 
style,  painting,  171  ;    v.  Stones,  precious 
and  inlay. 
India,  210,  233. 
Indo-European  migration,  41  ;    tribes,  35, 

39  !   type.  6°  ;   population  pre-,  34. 
Indo-Europeans,  34. 

Inlay,  technique,  51,  57-9,  172  ;  amber,  50, 
57,  59,  142  ;  of  the  coffins,  76,  171  ; 
coloured,  52,  58,  133,  134,  190  ;  enamel, 
142  ;  gold,  40  ;  of  jewellery,  236  ;  onyx, 
51  ;  silver,  59. 
Ionia,  59,  129. 

Ionian  animal  style,  52,  129,  136,  193,  195, 
201  ;  art,  24,  49,  59,  139,  201  ;  character, 
74,  108  ;  cities,  72,  79  ;  colonies,  55,  62  ; 
geographers,     213  ;      Greece,     44,     52  ; 
objects,   108,   196  ;    style,  53,  65,   171  ; 
vases,  3,  63. 
Ionians,  19,  52,  62,  63,  84,  196. 
Irano-Celtic  art,  139. 
Irano-Pontic  cult,  104. 
Iron  Age,  8,  14,  40,  55,  58,  64,  90,  94,  124, 

134,  206  ;  origin,  18,  61,  225. 
Istros,  87. 

Italian  colonies,  221. 
Italy,  13,  66,  82,  119,  129,  141,  150,  166, 

185,  189,  215,  220,  236. 
Ivanovski,  A.,  58. 
Ivory,  25,  26,  27,  226. 

Jade,  204. 

Japan,  199. 

Jars,  for  oil,  74. 

Jason,  62. 

Javelins,  55,  169. 

Jewellery,  3,  235,  236  ;  Gothic,  178,  185  ; 
Greeks, 44, 53, 54,65, 74,76,78,  in,  120, 
125  ;  Greco-Roman,  214  ;  Panticapaean, 
170,  172-4,  177,  178,  182,  185  ;  Sar- 
matian,  14,  124,  125,  127,  129,  132,  134, 
135,    142,    173,    174,    182,    186,    202  ; 


249 


Scythian,  52,  57,  97,  99,  102,  no,  ill, 

t  I?3' 

Jewish  colonists,  150,  179  ;    religion,  179, 

180. 
Jordanes,  219. 
Josephus,  116. 
Justin,  86. 

Kafa,  221. 

Kalekapu,  tomb,  10. 

Kama,  river,  14,  64,  124,  213,  215,  220. 

Kambulta,  cemetery,  232. 

Kamunta,  cemetery,  232. 

Karagodeuashkh,  tumulus,  42,  73,  104,  105 

no,  226. 
Kareysha,  D.,  178. 
Kars,  53. 

Kazanskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  131,  233. 
Kelermes,  tumulus,  4,  41,  49-53,  59,  92, 
Tr  H2,  173.  i93»  !95.  200,  226. 
Kent,  186,  189. 

Kerch,    animal    style,    136 ;     Cimmerian 
objects,    40,    41  ;     destruction    of    the 
tumuli,  79  ;  enamelled  objects,  128,  236  ; 
exploration,  2,  181  ;  finds,  131,  187,  188, 
232»  234.  235  ;  fortification  of  the  penin- 
sula,    160 ;      Museum,      2  ;     protected 
position,  9  ;   Room  in  the  Hermitage,  3  ; 
Straits,   18,  37,  63,  64;    v.   Bosphorus 
Straits  ;  Tatars,  221  ;  v.  Panticapaeum. 
Kerkinitis,  64. 
Khanenko,  B.,  6,  93. 
Kharkov,  17,  29,  140,  225. 
Khatazhukaevski  Aul,  find,  131. 
Khazars,  43,  219,  220. 
Kiev,  16,  86,  90,  93,  97,  98,  131,  140,  208, 

210,  215,  219,  220,  230. 
Kievan  princedom,  211,  221  ;  princes,  216, 

220  ;   Russia,  220,  221. 
Kimmerie,  37. 
Kimmerikon,  37. 
Kinaman,  59,  228. 
Kinch,  F.,  77. 

Kings,  representations,  Bosphoran,  sitting, 
158  ;  _  riding,    158,    159  ;     heads,    158  ; 
Scythian,  on  horseback,  104,  105  ;  stand- 
ing, 104  ;   Thracian,  on  horseback,  138. 
Kirman,  59. 
Kish,  24. 

Knives,    175,    177 ;     mountings    of  stone 
knives,  24,  26,  27,  gold,  175,  filigree,  175. 
Koban,  cemetery,  28,  29,  40,  41,  232. 
Kodjadermen,  tumulus,  224. 
Koehler,  H.,  6. 


2.353 


k  k 


250 


INDEX 


Koehne,  B.,  6. 

Komosarye,  name,  68. 

Kondakov,  N.,  5,  7,  185,  238. 

Kore,  representations,  73. 

Kosciuszko-Waluzynicz,  K.,  3. 

Kossina,  G.,  181. 

Kostromskaya,  tumulus,  41,  46,  226. 

Koudiat-Zateur,  find,  235. 

KprjTu'?,  wall  of  dressed  stone  in  the  tumulus, 

75: 
Ktesias,  84. 

Kuban,  region  of  the  river,  animal  style,  58, 
59,  in,  134,  195,  197,  199,  201-3  ; 
Bronze  Age,  1 1  ;  chalcolithic  civilization, 
17  ;  Cimmerians  in,  42  ;  Copper  Age, 
19,  21,  22,  28,  30-2,  225  ;  economic 
conditions,  18,  162  ;  exploration,  4,  5  ; 
finds,  Sarmatian,  139-42,  177,  187-9, 
204,  231-4,  237,  Scythian,  52,  53,  55, 
57,  102  ;  Goths  in,  119  ;  graves,  Sarma- 
tian, 126,  128-36,  Scythian,  92-4,  99, 
no,  226;  Greek  colonies,  19;  Maeo- 
tians  in,  34,  225  ;  metal  culture,  15  ; 
polychromy,  132-5,  142,  174,  182,  185  ; 
Sarmatians  in,  13,  14,  85,  116,  119,  125, 
143-5,  147,  152,  163,  164,  217,  218  ; 
Scythians  in,  9,  41-4,  54,  213. 

Kubitschek,  W.,  176,  187. 

Kudinetov,  find,  185. 

Kul-Oba,  tumulus,  2,  5,  97,  100,  106,  108- 
10,  131,  193,  232. 

Kurdzhips,  tumulus,  125,  174,  233. 

Ladozhskaya,  find,  233. 

Laestrygons,  62. 

Laibach  moors,  32. 

Lake  or  sea  engraved,  22,  25,  28. 

Lampsacus,  80,  229. 

Lances,  121,  123,  125,  129,  143,  169  ;    v. 

Spears. 
Landscape   elements,   25,    109,   201,   205  ; 

v.  Lake,  Mountains,  Nile,  Rivers,  Trees, 

Water. 
Langeron,  Comte  de,  1. 
La  Tene  period,  82,  128,  130,  145,  236. 
Latins,  82. 
Latyshev,  V.,  6,  7. 
Laufer,  B.,  203,  204,  237. 
Leaf,  Sir  Walter,  62. 
Leonhardt,  10. 
Leucon,  king,  68-70,  81. 
Leucon,  name,  67. 
Limes,  115. 
Linas,  Ch.de,  167,  181. 


Lingotto,  find,  236. 

Lions,  representations,  192,  195,  198,  207  ; 
forming  an  arabesque,  196  ;  a  circle,  195  ; 
Assyro-Persian,  sword-hilt,  devouring  a 
goat,  193  ;  Babylonian  cylinders,  fighting 
with  a  hero,  59  ;  Babylono-Persian,  tomb 
sculpture,  10  ;  Chinese,  132  ;  Cimmerian, 
two  in  a  heraldic  attitude,  40  ;  Copper 
Age,  engraved,  23,  24,  26,  gold,  19,  26  ; 
Olbia,  funerary,  167  ;  Panticapaean, 
coins,  10  ;  Persian,  axe,  combined  with 
a  boar  and  a  goat,  59,  seal,  fighting 
a  king,  123  ;  Sarmatian,  fibulae,  set  with 
precious  stones,  biting  its  tail,  125, 
couchant,  185,  188,  lid  of  a  gold  perfume 
bottle,  140,  of  onyx,  135,  phalara,  strangled 
by  Herakles,  138  ;  Scythian,  10,  pectoral, 
gold,  50,  51,  59,  195,  clasp,  bronze,  two 
biting  each  other's  tails  with  a  lioness  in 
the  middle,  52,  134,  sword  sheath, 
devouring  a  deer,  201  with  reverted 
heads,  forming  the  paws  of  another  lion, 
195,  row,  composing  the  tail  of  another 
lion,  195  ;  Sumerian  seal,  contracted, 
228;  heads,  21,  in,  195;  Greek 
earrings,  175 ;  paws  as  feet  of  a  vase,  175. 

Lioness,  representations,  52,  137  ;  with 
two  lions,  52. 

Lipovets,  230. 

i\l0okoKKi)tos,  AitioVoAAo?,  236. 

Lithuanians,  222. 

Liverpool  Museum,  189. 

Loeper,  R.,  3. 

Lombard  throne,  231  ;  style,  190. 

Louvre,  Museum,  11,  53,  56,  57,  133,  183, 
193,  230,  234, 237. 

Lovech,  88. 

Lozengrad,  77. 

Lucian,  109,  168. 

Lucullus,  149. 

Lusatia,  42. 

Lutsenko,  E.,  4. 

Lycia,  77,  193. 

Lycian  artists,  III  ;  tomb  sculpture,  in. 

Lydia,  12,  36,  44,  193. 

Lysimachus,  king,  87. 


Maass,  E.,  62. 

Mace,  29  ;    head,  25  ;    as  the  symbol  of  a 
deity,  29  ;  mountings  of  handles,  26,  27, 

3°- 

Macedonia,  68,  70,  72,  77,  82,  84-6,  90. 

Macedonian  expeditions,  86  ;  monarchs,  87. 


INDEX 


251 


Macedonians,  86,  98. 

Maeanders,  199  ;  v.  Spirals  and  maeanders. 

Maeotian  aristocracy,   157  ;    cults,  33,  34, 

178  ;    legends,  73,   157  ;    queens,   156  ; 

tribes,  33,  34,  108,  149,  152,  156,  168. 
Maeotians,  12,  33,  34,  39,  42,  65,  68,  107, 

108,  152,  156,  166,  168,  235. 
Maeoto-Cimmerian  chief,  40. 
Maeotis,  33. 
Maidstone,  189. 
Maikop,  19-31,  50,  56,  134,  140,  142,  185, 

200,  202,  205. 
Mangiip,  kingdom,  9,  218. 
Mannaeans,  35. 
Mantle  of  leather  or  fur,  123. 
Marchelepot,  find,  236. 
Marduk,  29. 
Marquetry,  v.  Inlay. 
Marsagetes,  prince,  84. 
Marseilles,  82. 
Marshall,  F.,  189. 
Maryinskaya,  tumulus,  41,  226. 
Mask,  funerary,  gold,  174  ;    Queen  of  the 

mask,  v.  Queen. 
Massagetians,  41,  226. 
Massilia,  236. 
Matriarchy,  33,  34,  113. 
Mats,  47. 
Mattress,  45. 
Maximian,  183. 
Maximin,  119. 
Mayer,  Collection,  189. 
Medallions,  gold,  175  ;  engraved  on  a  glass 

vase,  233. 
Medes  (Madai),  35,  36,  60,  83,  114. 
Mediterranean,  12,  43,  61,  70. 
Medusa,  108  ;  head,  54. 
Melek-Chesme,  tumulus,  77. 
Melgunov's  tumulus,  42,  49-51,  92,  200, 

227. 
Merdjany,  find,  105,  106,  no,  in. 
Meroe,  236. 
Merovingian    art,     188  ;    brooches,    236 ; 

France,  186  ;  style,  178,  191,  202. 
Mesambria,  229. 
Mesopotamia,  animal  style,  31,  192,  197  ; 

Copper  Age,  19,  22,  26,  28,  32  ;   copper 

supply  of,  18  ;    influence  on  Scythians, 

54,  55,  59,  208  ;    neolithic  pottery,  15  ; 

polycnromy,  172  ;  weapons  as  symbols  of 

deities,  29  ;  world  empire,  36. 
Messaksiidi,  Collection,  234. 
Metal  epochs,  15. 
Metope  style  of  decoration,  16. 


Metropolitan  Museum  in  New  York,  199, 

205,  234,  236. 
Meyer,  Mrs.  E.,  Collection,  199,  200. 
Middle  Ages,  5,  121,  134,  169,  173,  181, 

191,  222. 
Migulinskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  135,  140,  142, 

232. 
Mikhalkovo,  find,  40,  41,  226. 
Milesian  colonies,  12,  63-5,  169  ;   legends, 

61,  62. 
Milesians,  18,  43,  62,  64-6. 
Miletus,  63,  66,  109,  228. 
Miller,  A.,  124,  143. 
Miller,  V.,  144,  168. 
Minns,  E.,  7,  55,  60,  205. 
Minoan  epoch,  61. 
Mimissinsk,  197,  202,  237. 
Mirrors,  132  ;  Greek,  175  ;  Sarmatian,  187, 

204,  234  ;   Scythian,  50,  227. 
Mithra,  n,  representations,  104,  105. 
Mithridates  VI  (I),  Eupator,  the  Great,  10, 

70,  116,  136,  148-53,  156,  157,  159,  163. 
Mithridates  VII  (II),  son  of  Aspurgos,  153, 

157,  163,  164,  166. 
Mithridates  of  Pergamon,  151. 
Mithridates,  Mount,  75,  170. 
Mixellenes,  65. 
Models,  clay,  of  a  wagon,  n,  22,  161,  224 ; 

of  a  house,  224  ;   of  a  dwelling  area  on 

piles,  224. 
Moesia,  155  ;  Lower,  117,  118. 
Mongolian,    kingdom,    221  ;     invaders,    9, 

218  ;    theory  of  the  origin  of  the  Cim- 
merians, 225,  of  the  Scythians,  60,  228  ; 

tribes,  43,  114,  115,  117,  120,  219,  220  ; 

type,  40. 
Mongolians,  14,  38,  43,  222. 
Monograms,  Greek,  176  ;  Sarmatian,  badge 

like,  167, 176, 177  ;  v.  Alphabetical  signs. 
Mordvinov's  tumulus,  v.  Black  Valley. 
Morgan,  J.  de,  57. 
Morgan,  J.  P.,  Collection,  236. 
Mosaic,  Alexander,  from  Pompeii,  in. 
Moscow,  221  ;  Archaeological  Society,  6. 
Mother  Goddess,  v.  Goddess,  Great. 
Moult,  187. 
Mounds,  45,  170. 

Mountains,  representations,  22,  25,  28. 
Mountings,  of  knives,  24,  26,  27,  175  ;    of 

mace  handles,  26,  27,  30  ;    of  rhyta,  53, 

174,  232,  233  ;  of  vases,  232,  233. 
Mounts,  strap,  inscribed,  167. 
Mueller,  163. 
Mules,  heads,  56. 


K  k  2 


252 


INDEX 


Mullenhoff,  K.,  60. 

Miinsterberg,  R.,  199,  200. 

Mural  paintings,  v.  Paintings. 

Mycenaean  influence,  32,  61  ;  period,  79  ; 
tombs,  77,  78  ;  world,  193. 

Mycenaeans,  61. 

Mythological  representations,  7,  97,  99,  102, 
105,  107,  108,  136,  149,  159,  171,  186, 
188  ;  v.  Religious  scenes  and  gods. 

Mytilene,  63,  116. 

Mytileneans,  65. 

Nagy,  Geza,  60. 
Naksh-i-Rustam,  55,  229. 
Naramsin,  king,  25. 

NaVK\auos-,  235. 

Necklaces,  21,  30,  31,  76,  79,  100,  m,  175, 

177,  182,  187. 
Nekrasovskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  131. 
Nemirov,  gorodishche,  90,  230. 
Neolithic  Age,  5,  8,  15-17,  32,  90,  94,  122, 

191,  224. 
Nergal,  29. 

Nero,  117,  118,  141,  153,  154. 
Nerva,  215. 
Neumann,  K.,  6. 
Nezhin,  185. 

Nikopol  Room  in  the  Hermitage,  3. 
Nile,  representations,  25. 
Nimes  Museum,  108. 
Nimrud,  57. 
Ninib,  29. 
Ninnus,  36,  226. 
Nordendorf,  find,  187. 
Normandy,  131,  187. 
Norsemen,  210. 
Norway,  207. 
Novgorod,  219,  220. 
Novocherkassk,  treasure,  4,  13,   131,   135, 

140-2,  174,  177,  178,  186,  232,  233. 
Novokorsunskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  234. 
Novorossijsk  (Bata),  63. 
Novoselki,  tumulus,  97,  230. 
Nubia,  26,  27. 
Nymphaeum,  4,  52,  54,  64,  67,  76,  78,  79, 

167,  229,  237. 

Oath,  sacred,  v.  Communion. 

'0/3e\ot  (copper  points),  30 

Odessa,  1,  17,  140  ;  Archaeological  Society, 

6  ;  Museum,  2. 
Odobesco,  A.,  105,  181,  186,  233. 
Odrysian  kings,  157  ;  state,  85,  89,  90,  230. 


Odrysians,  85. 

Odyssey,  36,  62,  228. 

Oguz,  tumulus,  95. 

Oka,  river,  213,  220,  221. 

Olbia,  archaic,  228  ;  cemeteries,  82,  229  ; 
econdmic  conditions,  12,  44,  63-5,  69,  94, 
99,  in,  146,  162,  163,  170  ;  excavations, 
3  ;  finds,  97,  140,  142,  177,  233  ;  Gauls 
in,  70  ;  Getians  in,  116,  120  ;  Goths  in, 
119,  120,  216,  217  ;  Greek  character,  74, 
165,  167  ;  Iranian  names,  60  ;  political 
conditions,  70,  86,  87,  96,  no,  116-20, 
154,  155,  167-9  >  Pontic  garrisons,  149  ; 
Roman  garrisons,  155,234;  Sarmatians  in, 
119,  120  ;  Thracians  in,  145. 

Onyx,  51,  129,  135. 

Openwork  technique,  52,  57,  58,  133,  134, 
142,  167,  174,  182,  186,  190,  227,  233. 

Orekhovo,  138. 

Orenburg,  85,  122-6,  129,  132,  145,  174, 
187,  231. 

Oreshnikov,  A.,  157. 

Orleans,  236. 

Ornaments  personal,  Bronze  Age,  40. 

Orphism,  179. 

Oseberg,  207. 

Ossetian  language,  114  ;   names,  168. 

Ossetes,  114,  144,  218. 

Ostrogoths,  218. 

Ovid,  165,  169. 

Oxen,  representations,  19,  21,  195  ;  v. 
Bulls. 

Oxus,  treasure,  133,  140,  174. 

Oxyrhynchus  papyrus,  18. 

Paintings,  mural,  houses,  81,  171  ;  tombs, 
81,  82,  136,  160,  161,  169,  170,  171,  179, 

?34- 

Pairisades  I,  king,  69,  81. 

Pairisades  III,  king,  69. 

Pairisades,  name,  67. 

Palaeolithic  Age,  5,  32,  191,  192. 

Palettes,  stone,  Egyptian,  24-7. 

Palmettes,  54,  196,  207. 

Pan,  representations,  80. 

Panagurishte,  tumulus,  88,  89,  137,  138. 

Panathenaic  vases,  3,  54. 

Panoply,  Scythian,  48,  55. 

Panthers,  representations,  23,  24,  27,  137  ; 
handles,  186. 

Panticapaeum,  arms,  10,  80  ;  art,  82,  109- 
n,  140  ;  artistic  school,  53,  80,  135,  142, 
164,  165,  172,  231  ;  the  Byzantine  epoch, 
217  ;    Cimmerians  in,  37,  64,  66,  67  ; 


INDEX 


253 


coins,  228  ;  cults,  72,  73,  107,  108, 
165,  179,  234 ;  economic  conditions, 
12,  44,  64,  66,  68-70,  78,  162,  234; 
exploration,  1,  3  ;  funerary  ritual,  76  ; 
Goths  in,  184,  185,  217  ;  influence  on 
Scythian  art,  97,  11 1  ;  Iranian  names, 
60,  168  ;  Milesians  in,  43  ;  name  of,  80, 

158  ;  origin  of,  18  ;  political  conditions, 
12,  66-9,  82,  85,  143,  149,  150,  154,  155, 
165,  167  ;  polychrome  style,  14,  172-4, 
178,  181,  235  ;  representations  of  the 
life  in,  160, 161, 165, 169, 171  ;  Sarmatian 
alphabetical  signs,  130, 167,  234  ;  Sarma- 
tians  in,  120  ;  Sarmatization  of,  141,  155, 
167-9,  J7^>  I^3»  184 ;  similarity  with 
Asia  Minor,  10,  11,  68  ;  Slavs  in,  219  ; 
tombs,  75,  77,  78,  no,  170,  171,  174,  177, 
229;  wall  paintings,  81,  160,  161,  231, 
234  ;  weapons,  129,  204;  v.  Kerch. 

Papaios,  107. 

Paphlagonia,  10,  n,  80,  82,  150,  193. 
Paradise,  representation,  28. 
Parthenos,  34,  72,  148. 
Parthia,  13,  115,  118,  202,  203. 
Parthian  advance,  154  ;  art,  136,  202,  206  ; 
campaign  of  Caesar,  151  ;  kingdom,  118, 

159  ;   monuments,  171. 
Parthians,  85,  116,  121,  153. 

Pastes,  coloured,  178,  182,  190;  v.  Inlay. 

Paterae,  gold,  88,  102,  in,  138,  186. 

Pausanias,  113. 

Pearls,  135. 

Pechenegi,  43,  220. 

Pectorals,  breast-pieces,  50-5,  59. 

Peloponnese,  82,  228. 

Peloponnesian  war,  12,  68. 

Pendants,  58,  102,  125,  135. 

Pergamon,  68,  109,  151. 

Periclean  Athens,  13. 

Pericles,  67,  68. 

Perm,  206,  207,  237. 

Persephone,  179. 

Persia,  10,  12,  83,  98,  149,  229. 

Persian  alphabetical  signs,    167  ;    art,   50, 

55,  59,  60,  197,  201,  236  ;  artabai,  162; 

axes,  58,  59,  228  ;    conquests,  83,  84  ; 

influence,  182  ;  jewels  from  graves,  134, 

140  ;  king,  85  ;  kingdom,  9,  44,  66,  123  ; 

language,  114;    power,  84;    seals,  122, 

123  ;   wars,  66  ;  work,  123,  133. 
Persians,  10,  36,  60,  83,  84,  in,  114,  229. 
Petersburg,  St.,  Archaeological  Society,  6. 
Petroasa  (Petrossa),  treasure,  106,  134,  138, 

186-8,  232,  235. 


Phalarae,  Assyrian,  130  ;  Bulgarian,  137, 
!38,  233  ;  Greek,  136  ;  Sarmatian,  129, 
136-9,  146,  186,  188,  203,  232  ;  Scythian, 
52  ;  v.  Horse  trappings. 

Phanagoria,  3,  4,  19,  33,  43,  44,  63,  67,  69, 
72,  149,  158,  161,  164,  168,  218,  228. 

Pharnaces  I,  king  of  Pontus,  148. 

Pharnaces  II,  son  of  Mithridates,  150,  151. 

Phasis,  river,  61,  128. 

Phialai,  48,  106,  128,  193. 

Philip,  king  of  Macedonia,  84,  86,  90. 

Philippopolis,  88. 

Phoenicia,  193. 

Phoenician  glass,  74. 

Phrygia,  193. 

Pilaster,  bronze,  175. 

Pile  dwellings,  30  ;  model,  224. 

Pins,  22,  31,  175. 

Piraeus,  68. 

Pitt-Rivers  Collection,  26. 

Plants,  painted,  171. 

Plaques,  Assyro-Persian,  122  ;  Bosphoran, 
80,  175  ;  Caucasian,  227  ;  Egyptian,  24, 
27;  Elamitic,  24;  Lombard,  231; 
Roman,  233  ;  Sarmatian,  133,  garment, 
122,  124,  125,  130,  131,  135,  140,  146, 
175.  i77»  178,  182,  184,  187,  234, 
triangular  attached  to  vases,  188  ;  Sar- 
mato-Chinese,  205  ;  Scythian,  52,  97, 
garment,  50, 53, 56, 58, 73, 75, 95.97.  i°2, 
105-8,  130,  triangular  from  a  tiara,  104, 
attached  to  vases,  188  ;  Siberian,  13,  140, 
202,  203,  205,  233,  found  in  China,  237  ; 
Susian,  27  ;  Transcaucasian,  58,  134  ; 
v.  Horse  trappings  and  Phalarae. 

Plates,  silver,  175,  176,  236. 

Plato,  167. 

Plautius  Silvanus,  117,  163. 

Pliny,  154. 

Podolia,  17,  90,  97,  230. 

Pohl  Museum,  Ekaterinoslav,  131. 

Pokrovka,  tumulus,  122,  123,  124. 

Polemon,  king,  152,  154. 

Poles,  48-50,  56,  97,  99  ;  tops,  11,  40,  50, 
52,  56,  59,  in,  199  ;  v.  Rods,  Standards, 
and  Rattles. 

Poles,  222. 

Polish  state,  215. 

Polovtsy,  43,  220. 

Poltava,  42,  51,  86,  90,  96,  97,  215,  230. 

Polyaenus,  33. 

Polybius,  114,  162. 

Polychrome  style,  14,  133,  141,  i72-4>  '77» 
178,  181-3,  185,  186,  189-91,  235,  236. 


254 


INDEX 


Polychromy,  52, 124, 125, 128, 132-5,  140-2, 
172,  173,  182,  188,  189,  202. 

Polycrates,  228. 

Pommels,  v.  Swords. 

Pompeii,  mosaic,  mi 

Pompeian,  pre-,  system  of  mural  decoration, 
81. 

Pompeius  Trogus,  86. 

Pompey,  116,  149,  150,  157. 

Pontic  civilization,  10  ;  coins  and  sculp- 
tures, 104 ;  coastland,  153  ;  letters  of 
Ovid,  165  ;  origin  of  graves,  170  ;  trade, 
229  ;   Greeks,  147  ;   Scythians,  60. 

Ponto-Cappadocian  style,  57. 

rioVros  (YIovtikos),  235. 

Pontus,  analogies  with  S.  Russia,  11,  136  ; 
cult  of  the  Great  Goddess,  73,  162  ; 
legendary,  62  ;  monarchy  in,  13,  68,  71  ; 
political  conditions,  117,  148-50,  152, 
154,  162  ;  Scythians  in,  10  ;  tombs;  77, 
82. 

Poroina,  find,  86,  105,  106,  232. 

Portraits,  of  Alexander  the  Great,  204  ;  of 
Bosphoran  citizens,  169  ;  of  Bactrian 
and  Tibetan  kings,  204. 

Poseidon,  107,  156,  157  ;  2a><rt'i>eaK,  157. 

Posidonius,  139,  145. 

Potnia  Theron,  Uorvia  ®i)pG>v,  v.  Goddess, 
Great. 

Pottery,  neolithic,  incised,  16,  17,  225, 
painted,  15,  16,  224,  spiral  and  maeander, 
5,  16,  17,  90,  91,  Tripolye  type,  16, 
Egyptian  pre-dynastic,  25,  28,  Susian,  16, 
51,  191  ;  from  the  graves  with  con- 
tracted skeletons,  90,  91  ;  chalcolithic, 
5,  15,  17  ;  Bronze  Age,  Hungarian, 
92,  Trojan,  92,  Transcaucasian,  29,  40  ; 
Hallstatt,  92  ;  Middle  Dnieper,  91-4  ; 
La  Tene  period,  145  ;  Sarmatian,  5th 
cent.,  123  ;  Scythian,  4th  cent.,  95  ; 
Greek,  120,  164,  7th  cent.,  44,  93, 
6th  cent.,  44,  63,  65,  78,  Attic,  54, 
Hellenistic,  3  ;  Greco-Roman,  214 ; 
Roman,  3  ;  v.  Vases. 

Poulsen,  F.,  57. 

Priam,  treasure,  30. 

Pridik,  E.,  50,  140,  176. 

Prinz,  H.,  10. 

Pripet,  river,  213,  221. 

Prokhorovka,  tumulus,  123,  124. 

Propontis,  228. 

Protogenes,  70,  87,  99. 

Prussia,  42,  49. 

Psalia,  yj/dhia,  129. 


Psel,  river,  96. 

^wctt/p  fiapfiapiKbs  KiOokoXKos,  236. 

Ptolemaic  Egypt,  70. 

Ptolemies,  70,  236. 

Ptolemy,  the  geographer,  162,  213,  216,  219. 

Pulszky,  1 88. 

Pupienus,  183. 

Purses,  '  lake-dwellers  ',  30  ;    red  leather, 

175- 
Pythodoris,  152. 
Pythodorus,  152. 
Pyxis,  silver,  175. 

Queen  with  the  Golden  Mask,  grave,  131, 

1.74-7- 
Quivers,  40,  46,  55,  100,  129,  160. 

Radyuvene,  find,  88. 

Raermond,  find,  138,  232. 

Ramman-Adad,  29. 

Rams,  representations,  177  ;   head,  203. 

Rattles,  11,  48,  49,  52,  56,  97,  99,  204; 
v .  Pole  tops  and  Standards. 

Raven,  representation,  108. 

Read,  Sir  Hercules,  59,  205. 

Reinach,  S.,  6,  58,  136,  139. 

Reindeer,  54  ;  representations,  195,  197  ; 
heads,  195. 

Reinecke,  P.,  181,  204,  205. 

Reliefs,  55,  in,  144,  229,  231. 

Religious  scenes,  Asia  Minor,  m  ;  Bos- 
phoran, 160,  179  ;  Sarmatian,  137,  138, 
186  ;  Scythian,  89,  104-6,  108,  Hi,  130  ; 
Thracian,  89,  105,  106,  138  ;  v.  Mytho- 
logical representations. 

Repousse  technique,  177,  185,  188,  189, 
233  ;   v.  Embossed. 

Rhescuporis  II,  king,  175-8,  183,  184,  187, 

235- 
Rhescuporis,  name,  156. 

Rhine,  river,  185,  189,  214. 

Rhodes,  70,  147. 

Rhoemetalces,  name,  156. 

Rhyton,  48, 49,  53,86,  104-6,111,  188,232; 

mountings,  53,  174,  232,  233  ;    ends  in 

the  form  of  animals,  53,  105. 
Ribbons,  ornamental  motive,  198,  199. 
Richelieu,  Due  de,  1. 
Riegl,  A.,  173,  181. 
Rings,  19,  30,  88,  89,  175  ;  engraved,  105, 

230  ;  string  of,  30  ;  as  units  of  exchange, 

30. 
Rivers,  engraved,  23,  25,  28. 
Robillard  de  Beaurepaire,  E.  de,  187. 


INDEX 


255 


Rochette,  Raoul-,  2. 

Rods,  gold  or  silver,  19,  20,  30  ;  v.  Sceptres 

and  Poles. 
Roessler,  A.,  58. 
Rohde,  E.,  37. 
Romanesque  art,  208. 
Romny,  97. 
Roof  of  the  grave  chamber,  of  mats,  45  ; 

stone,  170,  flat,  21,  gabled,  21  ;  wooden, 

19,  conical,  47,  gabled,  47. 
Rosettes,   19,  20,  21,  23,  26,  31,  49,  51, 

178. 
Rostahm,  107. 
Rostov,  219. 
Rouen  Museum,  189. 
Roundels,  v.  Horse  trappings. 
Roxalans  or  White  Alans,  115,  116,  146. 
Rudenko,  123. 
Rugs,  47. 

Rumania,  16,  42,  88,  90,  105,  138,  186. 
Runes,  186. 
Rusas  II,  king,  35. 
Ryzhanovka,  tumulus,  97,  230. 

Sabatier,  J.,  2. 

Sabaziasts,  179. 

Sabazios,  180. 

Sabbathiasts,  179,  180. 

Sacians,  10,  60,  83,  114,  197,  229. 

Saitapharnes,  king,  87,  136. 

Sakaia,  religious  festival,  10. 

Sakasene,  10,  36,  83. 

Sakastan,  107. 

Sakerdians,  35. 

Salin,  B.,  181,  207. 

Salmanovo,  tumulus,  225. 

Salonica,  13,  77,  119,  169. 

Samara,  122. 

Samian  coins,  79. 

Samnites,  82. 

Samokvasov,  D.,  93. 

Samos,  228. 

Sanctuaries  of  the  Great  Goddess,  v.  God- 
dess, Great. 

Sandaratians,  87. 

Sandas,  180,  234. 

2dwi,  234. 

Sanerges,  179,  180,  234. 

Saneunos,  18. 

Saratov,  125. 

Sarcophagi,  stone,  170 ;  stone,  painted, 
171  ;  marble,  174  ;  incrusted,  172,  235  ; 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  111. 

Sardinia,  193. 


Sargon  II,  35. 

Sassanid  alphabetical  signs,  234  ;  art,  130  ; 
gems,  104 ;  monuments,  171  ;  Persia, 
191,  202  ;  Persians,  121. 

Satyrs,  representations,  73,  80,  180  ;  heads, 
80,  109. 

Satyros  I,  king,  68,  69. 

Satyros  II,  king,  145,  163,  166. 

Satyros,  name,  67. 

Sauromates  II,  king,  184. 

Sauromates,  name,  156. 

Sauromatians,33,34,  39,  ">7>  "3>  J44>  l56> 
231. 

Sayce,  A.,  167. 

Scabbards,  Chinese,  204  ;  Lombard,  236  ; 
Scythian,  50,  55,  200  ;  v.  Swords. 

Scandinavia,  206,  213. 

Scandinavian  art,  208  ;  chieftains,  219  ; 
countries,  206. 

Scenes  of  life,  of  Asia  Minor,  m  ;  Cim- 
merian, warriors,  40 ;  Greek,  athletic 
contests,  54  ;  Panticapaean,  171,  battles, 
160,  161,  169,  soldiers,  165,  169,  idyllic, 
160, 161  ;  Parthian,  hunters  and  warriors, 
206 ;  Scythian,  97, 104, 108, 109, 1 1 1 ,  149, 
catching  horses,  109,  hunting,  108,  camp, 

108,  109,  battles,  1 08,  warriors,  40,  108, 

109,  racial    representations,    108,    109  ; 
v.  Religious  scenes. 

Sceptres,  29,  30,  56,  88, 100,  105,  159,  175  ; 

with  the  bust  of  a  Roman  Emperor,  158  ; 

v.  Poles  and  Rods. 
Schiefner,  A.,  60. 
Schmidt,  H.,  16. 
Schiirer,  E.,  180. 
Scirians,  87,  116. 
Sclavenes,  219. 
Scopaic  art,  109. 
Scordiscans,  139. 
Scorpion,  king,  25. 
Scribonius,  151,  152. 
Sculptures,   Assyro-Persian,    11  ;     Lycian, 

in  ;   Panticapaean,  171  ;   Paphlagonian, 

10,  11,  80  ;  Pontic,  104  ;   Sinjirli,  58. 
Scylax,  pseudo-,  114,  143. 
Scythia  Taurica,  154. 
Scytho- Assyrian  style,  51. 
Seals,  175  ;  Elamitic,  24,  27  ;  Persian,  122, 

engraved,  123  ;    Sumerian,  25,  228. 
Seistan,  115. 
Seleucus  I,  236. 
Semites,  34. 
Semitic  countries,  182  ;    gods,  234  ;    pre- 

Semitic  population,  34. 


256 


INDEX 


Sennacherib,  35. 

Serbia,  220. 

Serogozy,  tumulus,  95,  102. 

Serpents,  representations,  139  ;  v.  Snakes  ; 

serpent-footed,  73,  107,  108. 
Sesostris,  36,  226. 
Sevastopol,  17. 
Seven  Brothers,  tumulus,  4,  52-4,  78,  122, 

140,  188,  201,  226,  237. 
Severi,  155. 

Severus,  Septimius,  154,  215. 
Sheaths,  v.  Swords. 
Sheep,  representations,  192,  195. 
Shields,  46,  158,  169,  184. 
Ships,  painted,  25  ;   funerary,  207. 
Shirt,  bronze,  55. 
Shugamuna,  29. 
Shumen,  224. 

Shume^ko's  farm,  tumulus,  42,  51,  227. 
Siberia,  animal  style,  58,  178,  197,  201-3,  j  Spartocids,  85,  156,  157 

237  ;    Assyrian  influence   on,   56,    197  ;     Spartocos  I,  king,  67,  68,  70 

commercial  relations  with  S.  Russia,  213  ;  j  Spartocos  III,  king,  69. 


Slavonic    antiquities,    14 ;     country,    42 ; 

culture,  221  ;  federation,  219  ;  race,  211, 

222  ;     Russia,    238  ;     states,    218,    220  ; 

tribes,  5,  98,  210. 
Slavs,  146,  218,  219,  222. 
Sledges,  funerary,  207. 
Smela,  5,  6. 
Snakes,  representations,  28,  192,  198,  200  ; 

v.  Serpents. 
Sofia,  220. 
Solokha,  tumulus,  5,  10,  40,  60,  95,  99-101, 

IO3,    106,    108,    IO9,    III,    l88,    193,   201, 

230,  231. 
Sophia,  S.,  220. 
Spain,    13,   82,    119,    141,   151,   186,  220, 

236. 
Spanish  polychrome  style,  191. 
Spartocid    period,    159,    165,    169,    171  ; 

tradition,  170. 


Iranian  tribes  in,  115  ;  objects  from,  11, 
139-43,  186,  232  ;  polychrome  style,  174, 
177,  182,  190  ;  Roman  coins  and  objects 
in,  141,  215  ;  Sarmatians  in,  121,  143, 
231. 

Siberian  art,  202,  207  ;  finds,  141,  186  ; 
jewellery,  134,  135,  202  ;  plaques,  13, 
140,  202,  203,  205,  233. 

Siciiy,  68,  71. 

Siebenbrunnen,  find,  176,  187,  235. 

Signatures  of  artists,  74,  76,  135. 

Silens,  representations,  73,  80,  180  ;  heads, 
73,  80,  109. 

Simferopol,  42,  52,  117,  137,  163,  226. 

Sindian  princes,  68. 

Sindians,  12,  33,  34,  39,  40,  65,  66,  68. 

Sinjirli,  58. 

Sinope,    10,    62,    63,    67,    82,    162,   228, 

235- , 

Sivwntvs,  235. 

Siracians,  116,  120,  145,  163,  164. 
2ipa.K&v,  163. 

Siren  with  a  lyre,  representation,  138. 
Siverskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  136, 137, 139,  188, 

189,  232. 
Skadovski,  G.,  65. 
Skeletons,    contracted,    painted    red,    v. 

Graves. 
Skiluros,  king,  148,  163,  231. 
Skorpil,  V.,  167. 
Skyles,  king,  65,  no. 
Skythene,  10,  36,  83. 


Spartocos,  name,  67. 

Spears,  29,  30, 41, 45,  55, 158, 160,  175, 177, 

204  ;   v.  Lances  ;   as  symbol  of  a  deity, 

29  ;  heads,  24,  29,  46. 
Sphinxes,  representations,  192,  207. 
Spikes,  decorated  with  human  figures,  22  ; 

sacred  with  a  horse's  skull,  representation, 

105. 
Spiral,  beads,  31  ;  and  maeander  patterns, 

198-200  ;  pottery,  5,  16,  17,  90,  91. 
Spitsyn,  A.,  90,  136. 
Spoons,  silver,  175. 
Spurs,  143. 
Stags,    representations,     137,     193,     195, 

196. 
Standards,  49,  52,  56,  59,   195,  227  ;    v. 

Poles  and  Rattles. 
Starobelsk,  find,  136-8. 
Staromyshastovskaya  Stanitsa,  find,  21,  23, 

27,  3°- 
Stasov,  V.,  7,  136. 
Staters,  gold,  10,  79,  80. 
Statues,  funerary,  144. 
Statuettes,  clay,  female,  22,  31,  32;   gold, 

from  Siberia,  142. 
Stavropol,  find,  125,  132,  138,  187,  231.    • 
Stelai,  funerary,  165,  168,  169,  171,  204; 

painted,  170,  171  ;   of  Naramsin,  25. 
Stephani,  L.,  6,  53,  73,  176. 
Stephanus  of  Byzantium,  18. 
Stern,  E.  von,  3,  7,  16,  40,  64,  65,  178,  181, 

234- 


INDEX 


257 


Stirrups,  121,  130. 

Stones,  precious,  engraved,  234,  and  signed 
by  artists,  76  ;  inset,  14,  57,  125,  128, 
129,  132-5,  142,  173,  174,  177,  178,  182, 
184,  186-90,  232,  233,  235,  and  cut  to 
the  required  shape,  173,  184,  185,  190  ; 
v.  Gems. 

Strabo,  37-9,  115,  116,  139,  160,  162. 
164. 

Straps,  56  ;   mounts,  inscribed,  167. 

Stratocleia,  67. 

Strigils,  74. 

Strips  of  gold,  19. 

Structures,  funerary,  neolithic,  suggesting 
a  Roman  columbarium,  16,  17  ;  stone 
of  the  dolmen  type,  21,  28. 

Stuffs,  Greek  imported,  44  ;   in  the  tombs, 

75- 

Sudak,  221. 

Suevians,  119. 

Sula,  96. 

Sumer,  27,  28,  31,  198. 

Sumerian  art,  57,  192,  198,  236  ;  monu- 
ments, 27,  30  ;  period,  192  ;  seal,  228. 

Sumerian  Babylon,  59. 

Susa,  15,  16,  27,  51,  57,  58,  133,  134,  140, 
174,  191,  227. 

Suuk-Su,  find,  185. 

Svyatoslav,  220. 

Swan,  grasped  by  an  eagle,  gold,  140. 

Sweden,  207. 

Swedes,  222. 

Switzerland,  30. 

Swords,  Assyrian,  129  ;    Bronze  Age,  29 
Chinese,  129, 204  ;  Gothic,  184  ;  Iranian 
102  ;  Middle  Dnieper,  90  ;  Roman,  158 
Sarmatian,  121,  123,  129,  143,  169,  175 
184,  204,  234  ;    Scythian,  55,  100,  227 
sword-sheaths,  Sarmatian,  125,  129,  174 
Scythian,  52,  58,  100,  104,  201  ;    hilts 
Assyrian,  129  ;  Assyro-Persian,  193,  237 
Sarmatian,  129  ;   guards,  Chinese,  stone 
204  ;    Sarmatian,  stone,  129,  169,  204 
Scythian,    gold-plated,    100 ;     pommels 
Assyrian,   129  ;    Chinese,  204 ;    Sarma 
tian,  129,  169,  204  ;  Transcaucasian,  58 
v.  Daggers  and  Scabbards. 

Syracuse,  68,  71. 

Syria,  141,  171,  172,  182,  189,236  ;  North, 
227. 

Syrian  garnet,  177  ;  polychrome  style,  189, 
190,  236. 

Syriscos,  148. 

Szilagy-Somlyo,  find,  185,  187,  188,  235. 

»353 


Tahiti,  107. 

Tablets,  proto-Elamitic,  27. 

Tacitus,  13,  113,  163,  144. 

Taganrog,  find,  136,  185. 

Taman  peninsula,  Bosphoran,  160,  162 ; 
Cimmerians  in,  37,  39,  40,  65,  226 ; 
cults,  33,  72,  73,  80,  107  ;  economic 
conditions,  162,  164  ;  exploration,  3,  4  ; 
Goths  in,  119,  218;  Greco-Cimmerian 
population,  13  ;  Greco-Scythian  tombs, 
75-81  ;  Greek  colonies,  44,  62,  65,  66, 
68,  118,  119;  protected  position,  9; 
Sarmatians  in,  119,  136,  145,  147,  160, 
232  ;  Sarmatization,  125,  172,  174. 

Tanais,  39,  60,  69,  85,  119,  120,  135, 
142-4,  146,  154,  164,  165,  168,  204, 
231. 

Tanaite  reliefs,  144  ;  names,  144. 

Tanaites,  144. 

Taplow  Barrow,  188. 

Tarnovski,  5. 

TapovKas  enoiei,  135. 

Tarsus,  234. 

Tatars,  43,  221,  222  ;  Mountain  Tatars, 
22. 

Taurians,  34,  39,  64,  160,  161,  169. 

Taurida,  87,  97,  no,  136,  230,  233.     • 

Tauro- Scythians,  163. 

Teians,  43,  65. 

Telephos,  myth,  125. 

Tello,  23,  24,  30. 

Temir-Gora,  grave,  40,  226. 

Tent  of  nomadic  type,  painted,  160  ;  tent- 
shaped  graves,  v.  Graves. 

Teos,  63,  228. 

Terra  sigillata,  128,  214. 

Tersk,  185. 

Tetraxite  Goths,  v.  Goths. 

Teuspa,  name,  39. 

Thagimasadas,  107. 

Thates,  river,  163. 

Theiss,  river,  116. 

©TjAeio  vov<tos,  231. 

Themiscyra,  33. 

Theocritus,  109    no. 

Theodosia,  3,  12,  64,  67,  69,  76,  79,  164, 
221. 

Theophanes  of  Mytilene,  116. 

©edy  "Ti/aoro?,  179,  180. 

Thermodon,  river,  61. 

Thessaly,  236. 

Thisamatians,  87. 

Tholos,  77. 

Thothorses,  king,  184. 


258 


INDEX 


Thrace,  animal  style,  89  ;  Cimmerians  in, 
38  ;  coins,  158  ;  corn  trade,  70  ;  political 
conditions,  84,  85,  87,  145,  151  ;  Scy- 
thians in,  83-6. 

Thracian  dynasty  in  the  Bosphorus,  68, 157  ; 
elements  in  the  Bosphoran  population, 
39,  156,  168,  180  ;  god,  80,  180  ;  graves, 
76-8,  82,  88,  89  ;  names,  12,  13,  39,  67, 
68,  135,  144,  153,  156,  168,  226,  234  ; 
objects,  89,  230  ;  origin  of  the  Cim- 
merians, 13,  39  ;  plain,  107  ;  population, 
71,  82,  87,  139  ;  princes,  89,  186  ;  prin- 
cess, 156  ;  religion,  105,  179  ;  tribes,  13, 
41,  77,  90,  94,  116,  117,  149  ;  tumuli,  77, 
82,  88,  229,  230. 

Thracians,9,  39,41,67,70,90,98, 108,  118, 
144,  145,  168,  180,  213,  222. 

Thraco-Cimmerian  population,  11. 

Thraco-Iranian  foundation,  13 ;  dynasty, 
153  ;  costume,  169. 

Thuburbo  Majus,  find,  131,  235. 

Thunderbolt,  representation,  29. 

Thyrsi,  silver,  232. 

Tiara,  97,  102,  104,  105,  234  ;  of  cloth  or 
felt,  20. 

Tiberius  Julius,  name,  158. 

Tibetan  kings,  portraits,  204. 

Tiesenhausen,  B.  von,  4. 

Tiflisskaya  Stanitsa,  tumulus,  127,  131,  136, 
232,  233. 

Tigers,  representations,  198  ;  with  reverted 
heads,  200  ;  heads,  199,  200. 

Timoshevskaya,  find,  233. 

Tirgatao,  queen,  33,  156. 

Titorovskaya,  find,  233. 

Tmutarakan,  219. 

Toilet  articles,  24,  26,  30,  74. 

Tolstoy,  Ct.  I.,  s,  7,  185. 

Tomakovka,  tumulus,  42,  52,  173,  226. 

Tomaschek,  W.,  60. 

Tombs,  carved,  10,  167,  170,  171  ;  family, 
170  ;  painted,  25,  75,  77,  81,  82,  136, 
160,  161,  167-71,  179,  180,  231,  234; 
stones,  167,  168  ;  v.  Graves. 

Tomi,  86,  165,  169. 

Tores,  Sarmatian,  124,  125,  132,  138,  177, 
182,  184,  186,  187,  233  ;  Scythian,  100  ; 
Siberian,  140,  142. 

Toreutic,  10,  11,  81,  82,  109,  133. 

Torki,  43. 

Toronto,  Museum,  233. 

Toys,  170. 

Trajan,  118,  154;  column,  13,  169 

Trajanic  period,  159. 


Tralles,  152. 

Transcaucasia,  18,  28,  29,  38,  40,  58,  65,  83, 

134- 
Transcaucasian  mines,  19,  62  ;  pottery,  29, 

40  ;   tombs,  58. 

Trebizond,  19,  62,  63,  220. 

Trees,  representations,  22,  24,  25,  28,  160. 

Treidler,  H.,  60. 
!  Trerians,  39. 

Triballians,  86. 

Trinkets,  74,  227. 

Tripolye  type  of  pottery,  16. 

Tristia  of  Ovid,  165. 

Triumph  of  Dionysos,  representation,  137. 

Triumphal  types  on  Bosphoran  coins,  158. 

Trojan  pottery,  92. 

Troy,  30,  31,40,  61. 

Tsaritsyn,  125. 

Tsarskaya  Stanitsa,  tumulus,  21,  24,  31. 

Tsarski,  tumulus,  77,  79. 

Ts'in  dynasty,  114. 

Tsukur,  72. 

Tsvetna  (Zvetna),  find,  131,  140,  232. 

Tsymbalka,  tumulus,  95,  107,  138. 

Tube  for  perfume,  135. 

Tumuli,  excavations,  2-5,  13,  44,  45,  88, 
95,  122,  123  ;  Asia  Minor,  77,  82  ; 
Bronze  Age,  28,  over  graves  with  con- 
tracted skeletons,  17,  90  ;  Copper  Age, 
19,  21  ;   Etruscan,  77,  82  ;   Greek,  75-9, 

81,  82,  170,  174,  176,  177;  Greco- 
Scythian,  76,  78,  81  ;  Macedonian,  77, 
82  ;  Middle  Dnieper,  92,  230 ;  Neo- 
lithic, 224,  225,  230  ;  Pontic,  10  ;  Sar- 
matian, 4,  13,  122-4,  I26-9>  T4°>  J42  \ 
Scythian,  4,  5,  10,  11,  41,  42,  44,  45,  47, 

49. 52-5. 59. 76>  92>  95. 97. 99.  IO°.  io4"7. 
no,  115,  122,  124,  230;    Thracian,  77, 

82,  88,  229,  230  ;  v.  Graves  and  Tombs. 
Tunic  embroidered  with  gold,  175. 

1  Turanian  origin  of  the  Scythians,  60. 
Turgai,  122. 
Turkestan,  4,  15,  22,  28,  29,  32,  57,  115, 

197  ;   Chinese,  115. 
Turkish  nomads,  14. 
Turks,  9. 

Turquoise,  19,  135. 
Tuscany,  231. 
Tyche,  representation,  105. 
Tyras,  63,  155,  162,  216,  217,  221. 


Ufa,  122 
Ukraine,  224,  238. 


INDEX 


Ulski,  tumulus,  22,  31,  41,  47,  199,  226. 

Ulysses,  62. 

Uman,  224. 

Untersiebenbrunnen,    131  ;     v.    Sieben- 

brunnen. 
Ur  dynasty,  29. 
Ural,  Cossacks  district,   122 ;    mountains, 

18,  32,  122  ;  river,  122  ;  steppes,  13,  85, 

115,  122,  143,  144. 
Urn,  fields,  5,  146  ;  funerary,  17. 
Uspe,  164. 
Ust-Labinskaya,  find,  128,  140,  177,  233. 


Val  di  Nievole,  find,  231. 

Valens,  188. 

Valentinian,  184,  188,  217. 

Valerius  Flaccus,  13,  113. 

Valmeray,  find,  187. 

Van,  35,  58,  228. 

Vandal  period,  187  ;  polychrome  style,  191. 

Vandals,  119,  236. 

Vannic  kingdom,  38,  226 ;  pre-Vannic 
antiquities,  225. 

Varangers,  210,  213,  214. 

Varus,  153. 

Vases,  clay,  Ionian,  3,  63,  74 ;  black- 
figured,  3,  51,  53  ;  red-figured,  3,  53,  78, 
229  ;  of  the  Kerch  style,  37  ;  in  the 
shape  of  a  sphinx,  painted,  79  ;  Pana- 
thenaic,  3,  54  ;  with  signatures  of  artists, 
Attic,  74,  76  ;  painted  with  reliefs,  175  ; 
painted,  modelled,  and  gilded,  76  ;  in 
the  form  of  animals  and  human  heads, 
128,  233  ;  Chinese,  Han  dynasty,  205, 
206;  glass,  127,  128,  132,  133,  182,  233, 
imitating  metal,  232,  233,  encased  in 
gold,  133,  142  ;  metal,  bronze,  125,  130, 
145,  Chinese,  199,  200,  Ionian,  108  ; 
copper,  20,  30,  31,  48  ;  electrum,  97, 
108;  gold,  3,  19,  30,  31,  50,  130,  134, 
135,  140,  142,  188  ;  sdver,  3,  9,  10, 
19-28,  30,  31,  53,  97,  102,  108,  109,  in, 
130,  175,  231, 232, 236  ;  openwork, 142  ; 
stone,  19  ;  wooden,  188,  plated  with 
gold,  102  ;  sacred,  48,  88,  105,  106,  108, 
128  ;  mountings,  174,  232,  233  ;  v. 
Pottery. 

Vasyiirinskaya  Gora,  tumulus,  4,  76,  81, 
232. 

Vaults  in  graves,  75,  78,  82  ;  barrel,  75,  78, 
79,  170,  175  ;  corbelled  or  Egyptian,  75, 
76,  78,  79,  81  ;  round  semicircular,  77  ; 
stepped,  175 


259 

193 ;' 


Vegetable  decoration,   16,   11 1,   il 

v.  Floral. 
Verkhneudinsk,  find,  203. 
Veselovski,  N.,  4,  5,  19,  54,  126,  140,  231. 
Vespasian,  117. 
Vessels,  v.  Vases. 
Vettersfelde,   find,  42,  49,   52,    173,    193, 

227. 
Viking  funerary  ship,  207. 
Villages  fortified,  painted,  25. 
Visigoths,  218. 
Vistula,  river,  219. 
Vladimir,  prince,  221. 
Vodyanoe,  find,  233. 
Volga,  river,  14,  85,  115,  124,  125,  144,  210, 

213,  215,  219-21. 
Volkov,  Th.,  5,  16. 
Voronezh,  86,  96,  97,  108,  109,  m. 
Voronezhskaya  Stanitsa,  tumulus,  41,  226. 
Vorskla,  river,  96. 
Vozdvizhenskaya    Stanitsa,    tumulus,    127, 

i3T»  I36»  J39>  232>  233- 


Wagons,  funerary,  207  ;  models,  v.  Models. 

Water,  engraved,  24,  25. 

Watzinger,  C,  172. 

Weapons,  Bosphoran,  169,  171  ;  Cim- 
merian, 40,  41  ;  Copper  Age,  19,  29,  30, 
polished  stone,  20  ;  Greek,  74  ;  Greco- 
Scythian,  76  ;  Iron  Age,  61.  Hallstatt 
type,  90,  92-4,  97,  La  Tene,  145  ;  Sar- 
matian,  121,  123-5,  l32>  H3»  l69>  23*  ; 
Scythian,  47,  51,  88,  102,  108,  no,  121, 
227  ;   v.  Arms. 

Weight  in  the  form  of  an  ass,  58. 

Wends,  219. 

Whetstone,  46,  175. 

White  Alans,  v.  Roxalans. 

White  Island  of  Achilles,  36. 

White  Sea,  210. 

Wilamowitz-Moellendorf,  U.  von,  62. 

Witsen,  N.,  140,  141,  232. 

Wolves,  54  ;    representations,  195  ;    heads, 

!95- 
Women  buried  with  the  master,  45,  47,  48. 

Writing  system,  Sarmatian,  234  ;  v.  Alpha- 
betical signs. 


E);/3cuokou,  135. 
Xenophantos,  76. 
Xenophon,  63. 
Xerxes,  9. 


260 


INDEX 


Yanchekrak,  find,  136,  137,  139. 
Yaroslavskaya  Stanitsa,  tumulus,  127,  232. 
Yenissei,  river,  231,  234. 
Yuz-Oba,  tumulus,  75,  77,  79. 


Zabelin,  I.,  4,  5,  238. 
Zahn,  R.,  176. 
Zakim,  find,  53. 
Zela,  150,  235. 


Zeus,  107. 

Zeuss,  K.,  60. 

Znamenka,  tumulus,  95. 

Zopyrion,  86,  90. 

Zoroastrian,  pre-,  world,  11. 

Zorsines,  king,  164. 

Zubov's    farm    (Zubovski),    tumulus,    127, 

128,  131,  189,  232-4. 
Zuevskoe,  find,  206. 
Zvetna,  v.  Tsvetna. 


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Iranians  and  Greeks  i 
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