7/29/2019 A Scythian Vial http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-scythian-vial 1/8 A Scythian Vial Author(s): Erkinger Schwarzenberg Source: East and West, Vol. 44, No. 2/4 (December 1994), pp. 439-445 Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29757163 . Accessed: 15/09/2013 11:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to East and West. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 190 162 192 202 on Sun 15 Sep 2013 11:42:42 AM
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This note is about a smallmetal vessel ? 15 cm high? said to have been found in the
Russian steppe (Figs. 1-6). Its purpose is unclear. The mouth is too narrow for a cup and
the lips too wide tomake drinking easy. Nor can it be called a bottle, since bottles have
cylindrical necks designed to secure the stopper. The rosette impressed on thevessel's bottom
prevents it from standing firmlyupright. It does not have a handle or even loops, but mayhave been suspended by a cord passing around its neck.
Although no measure to the thirstof a warrior or herdsman, anything largerdanglingfrom a buckle would have proved cumbersome on horseback (*). Ifwe could be sure that it
had originally served a strictly functional purpose, we would name it after the shape that it
resembles most, a tumbler perhaps or a beaker. But since we are not, we are free to call it
by a name that doesn't suggest a known type of container. I propose theword vial, since
it derives from thegreekphiale. Herodotus uses theword todescribe ithanging froma Scythian
girdle. Scholars disagree about itspurpose and its shape, pointing out that,unlike thedrinking
horn, itmay well be pre-Scythian (2).The vessel, be it a vial or not, displays a scene?
subject A ? borrowed fromGreek
art,made for the Scythian market and representing Scythians. Now Herodotus' Scythianswere no better than other barbarians in one respect: theyprotestingly yielded to civilization;
they thought theywere refusing the culture thatwas influencing them thewhile. As for
Herodotus himself, he was no better than other, later historians: he took the Scythians at
theirword and constructed an image of what they ought to have been, a useful model for
Greeks to follow. He would have considered our vial, thatwas in factmade about a centuryafter his death, bastard Scythian work. A true Scythian object would have been made out
of pure gold (3).The vial was made either bywrapping a heated bronze sheet around a resiliant bituminous
core and hammering around the outline so as tomake theplanche buckle back, or simply by
pressing into a crude mould. Details were punched or engraved and the bottom added after
removal of the core.
This technique recalls the finebeakers thatwere made in or after the 10th century B.C.in the area around Kirmanshah inwestern Iran (4).Moreover subject B was copied fromone
(*)Herodotus, Histories, IV 10.
(2)H. Kothe, 'Der Skythenbegriffei Herodot', Klio, 51, 1969, p. 80.
(3) Histories, IV 71: silver or bronze vials were banned from royal kurgans.
Figs. 2-6 -ScythianVial', propertyof, and photographsby the author.
of these Transcaucasian imports. On the other hand, the shape of our vial suggests a non
metallic prototype, such as clay or leather, and does not depend from the earlier beakers, with
their drawn-in walls and drop-shaped bottoms.
The grooves? there are nine of them, covering the neck and shoulder?
appear to be
theonly local contribution to a decoration blending Assyrian and Greek motifs. The guillochethat runs around the rim is common to both cultures.
The frieze consists of two scenes each composed of three figures. Subject B is centeredon the figureof a flower made up of two leaves and a bud, derived from the lotus, a motif
common toNear-Eastern art (Fig. 9) (5). The palm-tree growing out of a jar occurs on the
Luristan beakers, upon which two streams ofwater appear to gush out of the rosette resting
on the vessel's rim (Figs. 7a, b, c) (6). The tree reproduced on the vial bears onlya
faintresemblance to a palm, having six frondsdisposed inpairs on three tiers.Moreover, theScythiancraftsman mistook thewavy bands ofwater flowing out of the jar for the sides of amound,
(5) Cf., e.g., an ivory from Nimrud in Baghdad, Inv. 7919. M.V. Seton-Williams, Les tresors de
Baby lone,Luxembourg 1981, p. 159.
(6)Calmeyer, op. cit.,A 13 (NewYork,Metr. Mus.); G 3;H 10.
[3] 441
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significance of that ritual, for thewinged daemons are occasionally replaced by sphinxes or
wild goats (8). A craftsman living far away and, possibly, centuries later did recognize the
eagle-half of the nishrokhon thebeaker, but transformed its lower parts, themighty lion-paws
into a cloddy mountain, replacing the streams of paradise gushing out from under the life
giving tree.
The nishrokh apparently did not remind the Scythian artisan of the griffin, the keeperof the sun's gold,which is a four-leggedcreature, at least inGreek mythology. He transformed
instead its upper half into a bird-man. Shamans disguise themselves into birds in order to
express their ability todepart from theirown bodies and travel abroad, faster than awinged,
Scythian arrow. So swiftlydoes the soul of these medecine-men fly that ithas been known
to appear in two places at practically the same time.
Many myths and fairy-tales, reaching back to the 2nd millennium B.C. and still alive,until recent times at least, describe these imaginary trips (9). The hero becomes a crow and
flies north to bring back the sun's golden rays. He crosses the land of theArimaspians and
themountains guarded by griffins. He reaches the ever-greening grove of the god worshippedby theHyperboreans, whom theGreeks called Dionysus or Apollo.
Drugs much older thanwine sped the shaman to the god's magic mountain, called meru
by vedic authors. As for theplant fromwhich themagic potion was brewed, it is called soma
in theRgveda (10). Our vial may on occasion have contained something stronger thanwater
or milk.
The persons belonging to scene B wear long hair, leather trousers and a sleeved tunic,fastened at ankles and wrists. They are in fact dressed as Scythians. The principal figureis sittingon a grecian throne,with lion-feetrestingdirectly on the floor,unlike those ofAssyrianfoot-stools (n). A second figurekneels in front ofwhat must be themaster of the household
or, perhaps, theking. It isdemurely extending itshands, putting themunto his. Unfortunatelythe particulars of itsdress are not rendered sufficiently accurately to distinguish it from the
other two figures and mark itas definitely female. The sleeves are there,but not the trousers,the feet and toes being hidden by what appears to be a broad-belted skirt.
The clothes of the weaker sex would appear to have been suited to its domestic
chores (12):Herodotus' Scythians were sufficientlyhellenized tobe attracted by theAmazons,
(8)Cf. theCleveland beaker (Calmeyer, p. cit.,pp. 68 f. = H 10) and theone in theKoutoulakis
collection (ibid.,pp. 58 f. = G 3).
(9)One of the strandsmaking up the tale of theArgonauts appears tobe Scythian. The sisterof
Medea Circe is supposed tohavemarried a ScythianKing. Diodorus, LibraryofHistory, IV 45,4 and
47,5. The Scythian word for river danu survives in thenames
of the Danube and of theDon
that theheroes are said tohave rowedup (IV 56,3). In fact theywould have followed theDniepr
? thedeepriver ?
and the Dvina?
these names have a familiar ring? to reach the Baltic at Riga.
Jason transferred his prophetic and shamanic powers to the Argo, that flew faster than an arrow
when heading north. The powersofAristeas (Histories,V 14 f.) and ofAbaris (IV 36) canbematched
with those of contemporary African medicine-men. M. Eliade, Le Chamanisme, Paris 1968.
(10)G.M. Bongard-Levin& E.A. Grantovskij, De la Scythie llnde, Paris 1981, pp. 88 f., 95.
(n) H. Kyrieleis, Throne undKlinen, Berlin 1969, pp. 14 f.
(12)Histories, IV 114.
[5] 443
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Fig. 7-Details from Iranian beakers, after Calmeyer, op. cit.y H 10, G 3, A 13.
while remaining true to theirnomad way of life. Those who succombed to their fateful ttraction
reverted to a barbarous primitivism and became Sarmatians. But even those Scythians who
stopped shortofmarryingAmazons tried to imitate them in theirmartial ways, and wore tightsleeves and narrow trousers (13). The Amazons appear to have been personifications of the
Scythian ideal, as conceived by theGreeks. Sixth-century attic vase-painters represented them
clad in the uniform worn by Scythian archers (14).The gesture of the kneeling figure is reflected in feudal practice (15) As a token of
voluntary bondage, the vassal placed his joined hands into those of his lord. On the vial athird person is seen approaching from the left, arms clasped to chest. Folding ones handsover the breast ingreeting is a custom stillcommon on theAsian continent. Subject B enablesus to add two signs, asmute as they are eloquent, to the Scythian language or to the culture
called Scythian by Herodotus.
Much ofwhat we know about the early history of southern Russia is due toHerodotus,whose curiosity and open-mindedness led him to get interested in barbarians for their own
sake, and not just as defeated enemies. They could henceforth be represented engagednot only in battle but living and resting in their own surroundings. A genre, which mayhave originated inAthens afterHerodotus' visit there,was taken up by the goldsmiths of
Panticapaeum or some other colony producing luxurywares for the Scythian princes. Scene B