#scythians

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Howling Wolf Figurine from Siberia, c.500-200 BCE: this carving measures just 11 cm (about 4 inches) tall, and it was created nearly 2,500 years ago

The figurine was crafted from a piece of wood and decorated with bits of shell inlay.

According to the Cleveland Museum of Art:

The subject, size, materials, and naturalistic style suggest that this small sculpture was made by one of the nomadic peoples of Western and Central Asia—perhaps the Scythians, who, with the Medes, conquered the Assyrians.

Sources & More Info:

Cleveland Museum of Art: Howling Wolf

[city-of-ladies]

"The burials of the Scythian female warriors were not part of isolated group or individual burials, they were dispersed among male burials. Number of female burials with weapons in cemeteries was rather uneven. In some cemeteries such burials were represented by whole groups (cemetery near Lyubimovka village, cemetery of Chertomlyk, cemetery near Zelenoje village, cemetery Mamay-Gora, Skelki cemetery, Elizavetovsky cemetery). In several groups there were from one to three burials, in others they were absent.

The most representative series of graves was discovered in the largest cemetery in the north Pontic area – Mamay-Gora. Among the 317 Scythian burials 12 belong to the Amazons. Given the fact that the cemetery studied 110 male and 135 female burials, we can conclude that every tenth soldier was a woman. At the same time, every 11-th woman had a weapon and performed military service. Skelki cemetery, located on the bank of the Kakhovka water reservoir, is one of the largest necropolises without mounds of the Lower Dnieper area in the Scythian times. Fifty-three Scythian graves were investigated there. Almost a half of the women (11) were armed. Moreover there was a little girl buried with weapons. There were 22 warriors that were buried in the cemetery, consequently every second soldier was a woman and every third woman carried weapons. Among the investigated necropolises of Steppe Scythia the highest percentage of the Amazons graves was registered in the cemetery of Skelki. At the same time in the Don region, 147 burial complexes with armaments were excavated in Elizavetovskoe cemetery. And 35 belong to the Amazons. (...)

Despite of the numerous facts, that seem obvious, the question of the direct participation of the Scythian women in combat is still open. The most compelling argument is the existence of wounds on the Amazons` bodies. The analysis of anthropological materials showed that the women had the injuries of the "military" character. There are three types of injuries: 1 – the wounds made with arrows; 2 – loss or fractures of the extremities; 3 – chopped wounds on the skull and extremities. Thus the first type of the injuries (the wounds from arrows) is presented by three options: the damage of the bone tissue; the penetrating wound of the skull or the soft tissue damage. The burial complexes of the Scythian Amazons show that their injuries are quite diverse and therefore they have been obtained in different conditions. Quite important is the fact that these graves are fixed in the different regions of Scythia and indirectly point out the probable places of the armed clashes. Amazon graves with the traces of wounds are as well known in the Asian part of Scythia. Sarmatian women also had them.

Thus, in the issue of the excavations in various regions of the European Scythia it became obvious that there were women among the nomads, who clearly were not only caring weapons just as men (and along with them), but also took part in the military conflicts. It is due to the participation in the conflicts that these women were buried in accordance with the traditional funeral rites of Scythian warriors – following the same rituals with the same honors and, most importantly, with a personal weapon. (...)

And yet we may consider “amazonship” as the general-historical phenomenon. In any society where men are involved in armed conflicts, women should defend their home, family (children and old people), herds. Thus, while some women were involved in defending, others took part in fighting equally with men. It is typical for many nations actually in the course of the entire history of mankind."

Elena Fialko, "Scythian female warriors in the South of Eastern Europe"

[worldhistoryfacts]

In the Greek sources, the Scythians are often out there on the fringes of civilization, elusive and unknowable. The Greeks liked to portray them as barbarian foils who revealed the essential nature of Greek civilization. But what can we really know about the Scythians and their way of life?

We can see the prevalence of horses in their art:

And, in fact, all sorts of animals:

We can see their interaction with the Greeks, too, in the goods that the two societies exchanged:

For much more on the Scythians as portrayed by others and themselves, read this week's newsletter:

The Scythians Are Still Elusive

Steppe nomads through the eyes of others

[vintage-ukraine]

Ukrainian archaeologist Borys Mozolevsky posing with the Scythian Golden Pectoral, a 4th Century BC solid gold neckpiece he discovered in 1971 inside the Tovsta Mohyla burial mound

[memories-of-ancients]

Sword with gold hilt and scabbard, uncovered in Ukraine, Scythian, circa 400 BC

[ehresherpa]

Bronze figurine of warrior from Gigatl', Tsumada district, north-west Dagestan, Russia.

Various interpretations and dating from researchers propose that the figurine is a depiction of the ancestral Scythian deity named Targitaos or Scythes, (the ancient Greeks identified him with their own hero Hēraklēs/Heracles) or it represents a high-born Scythian warrior from the period of early Scythian campaigns in Near Asia, in the 8th-7th centuries B.C. The date of the figurine is proposed to be from the second half of the 7th-6th centuries B.C.

[diemelusine]

Scythians at the tomb of Ovid (c. 1640) by Johann Heinrich Schönfeld. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

[mikeybooch]

Do you happen to know how amazonians makeup and clothing would look like? I've seen a specific head wear drawn around a lot but I would like more information if you'd have it:))

So, the Amazons were a fictional race of people from Ancient Greek literature. Artistic evidence from the time supports that they are based off of the Scythians, a nomadic people who inhabited lands within the Eurasian steppe. 

Depictions of Amazons from Ancient Greek artwork compared to reconstructed archaeological illustrations of a female Scythian mounted archer and a Scythian queen by Angus McBride.

As is the case with many nomadic cultural groups, gender roles were less defined, so you see a lot of women performing the same/similar tasks as men. My cheeky little head cannon is the Ancient Greeks fought and lost against Scythian warriors, realized some of them were women, and decided to channel their rage into writing stories about an exotic tribe of all-women warriors that were summarily killed and assaulted by Greek heroes. 

For a throwback, check out my Scythian reimagining of Wonder Woman

All that to say, as they are fictional you can sort of do with them what you like! I tried doing some quick research on Scythian cosmetics, but couldn’t really find anything concrete. Herodotus speaks of a sort of ancient face mask Scythian women applied to keep their skin smooth (you can find that here), but doesn’t seem to say anything about specific cosmetics. And I found sources talking about boxes that could be used for storing cosmetics found in the graves of Scythian women, but without any sort of clear evidence as to what was in those boxes and how the cosmetics may have been applied, we can only speculate.

Cosmetics— for upkeep (face creams, moisturizers, and the like) as well as enhancement (eyeliner, lip coloring, and blush) are pretty universal, and depending on the culture/time period were applied by men and women throughout history so it wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility to say Amazons would have worn make up. I doubt they would have worn anything extensive during battle, but during times of leisure or celebration eyeliners, lip coloring, or blushes could have been used. 

Being a nomadic people, the Scythians, and by extension, their fictional counterparts the Amazons, could have traded with people like the Greeks for cosmetics (some of the Scythian grave goods include Greek-style cosmetics jars), or for more costly ingredients that would have produced a higher quality, more pigmented make up. 

In terms of bodily adornment, the Scythians, both men and women, did have tattoos. So those could also be included any designs for a more historically researched (and badass) Amazon.

As far as headwear goes, the pointed caps with side flaps are fairly common for that region and time period (sometimes known as a Phrygian cap). It’s difficult to know what the little scalloped edges that occasionally appear on the cap represent, but Theoi (in the article for Artemis) identifies it as an animal-pelt cap, so maybe the edge is meant to be fur? I've included an illustration of one made of cowhide worn by a Thracian warrior. 

I recently drew a similar cap for my mermaid Artemis, interpreting those edges as the spines of a fin.

As I said above, the illustrations are by Angus McBride and are featured in the Osprey Men-At-Arms books. The books are pretty pricey for their small size, but they are filled with archaeological information, photographs, drawings, and full color illustrations (but you can also find a lot of the illustrations from the series online).