“Scythians is a name given them by the Greeks”

Description

This book examines a selection of barrow burials of the West Eurasian steppe, considering their meaning in the spatial and cultural sense and discussing the interpretation of their ethnic markers. The finds at Kelermes illustrate the early period (7th-6th Century BC), with reference to the finds at Litoj and Witaszkowo (Vettersfelde). Kul-Oba has been chosen for its geographical position very near the Greek poleis, on the assumption that this has produced peculiar patterns of composition compared to other so-called ‘Scythian’ burials. The four other barrows examined are placed close to each other on the Middle Dniepr. The author introduces the main theoretical and methodological problems, discusses the historiography of the subject and offers an analysis and interpretation of the archaeological material, with a focus on recurrent expressions concerning cosmology and the relation between the world of the Saka and the world of the Greeks, and contextualizes these within their broader contexts.