In their latest exhibition the British Museum has borrowed a collection of golden Scythian artifacts from the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg in an attempt to explain the functioning of this most mysterious of Central Asian tribes. The Scythians ruled a huge area at the turn of the millenia, stretching from China through the Steppes to the Black Sea, yet left no written language to describe their history or way of life. In fact the only evidence that they existed at all are found in the petroglyphs dotted around the Mongolian and Siberian Steppes and in the well preserved contents of their burial mounds.
The Siberian permafrost has done wonders for preserving the grave goods which, when combined with the remoteness of the burial locations, have resulted in some spectacular finds. None more so than the creepy preserved skin of one of the buried, replete with still visible tattoos. Another has the nearly perfectly preserved death mask fixed to the skull of the owner. The mask gives a good impression of what that person may have looked like, and to stare at it is to look at the face of a ghost, a long dead warrior from a forgotten time.
The occasional well preserved examples of skull and flesh aside the majority of the exhibition was focused on exploring the incredibly craftsmanship of the Scythians. Gold was their mineral of choice and considering the number of them, large ornamental belt buckles appear to have been a mainstay. Quite how you sit on a horse without the huge ornately carved buckles digging into you is a mystery. Each one depicted an aggressor animal like a tiger or a lion, attacking another creature like a camel, all in beautiful swirls of limbs and gold.
It seems that the constant movement required of nomadic life meant that being able to make weapons, clothes, jewelry, saddles and rugs was very much just a way of life. That and the horses, which like their antecedents on the Steppes, made them very formidable warriors indeed. The Persian king Darius I made the mistake of invading their lands and was beaten twice. The Greeks remarked, somewhat prophetically, that if only the Scythian tribes could unite they would be unstoppable. Something that Genghis Khan was to discover a thousand years later. Coupled with fighting the Scythians also appeared to have something of a reputation for drinking. One Greek poet is known to have remarked at dinner that his guests shouldn't drink themselves stupid, like Scythians, again.
This was a very well put together exhibition which gives a fantastic insight into an obscure, almost forgotten people. All the artifacts are well labelled and the introductions to each section hung on the walls where informative, without being overwhelming. The only criticism was the lack of an obvious path around some rooms with the result that the exhibits got quite congested times. This minor gripe aside this is a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon uncovering a hard drinking and fighting nomads, who yet managed to produce items of extraordinary beauty.
The occasional well preserved examples of skull and flesh aside the majority of the exhibition was focused on exploring the incredibly craftsmanship of the Scythians. Gold was their mineral of choice and considering the number of them, large ornamental belt buckles appear to have been a mainstay. Quite how you sit on a horse without the huge ornately carved buckles digging into you is a mystery. Each one depicted an aggressor animal like a tiger or a lion, attacking another creature like a camel, all in beautiful swirls of limbs and gold.
It seems that the constant movement required of nomadic life meant that being able to make weapons, clothes, jewelry, saddles and rugs was very much just a way of life. That and the horses, which like their antecedents on the Steppes, made them very formidable warriors indeed. The Persian king Darius I made the mistake of invading their lands and was beaten twice. The Greeks remarked, somewhat prophetically, that if only the Scythian tribes could unite they would be unstoppable. Something that Genghis Khan was to discover a thousand years later. Coupled with fighting the Scythians also appeared to have something of a reputation for drinking. One Greek poet is known to have remarked at dinner that his guests shouldn't drink themselves stupid, like Scythians, again.
This was a very well put together exhibition which gives a fantastic insight into an obscure, almost forgotten people. All the artifacts are well labelled and the introductions to each section hung on the walls where informative, without being overwhelming. The only criticism was the lack of an obvious path around some rooms with the result that the exhibits got quite congested times. This minor gripe aside this is a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon uncovering a hard drinking and fighting nomads, who yet managed to produce items of extraordinary beauty.
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