Greetings or should I say Khai'rete,
I found this article on a calendar site link posted by Pelgr003:
Maslyanitsa means butter in Russian, and it is also the name of the festival that says goodbye to winter and welcomes summer. From Moscow to St. Petersberg, Russians celebrate Butter Week just before their Lent fast days. Monday is the high point of celebration, when people cook pancakes, or blini, served with honey, caviar, fresh cream and butter. The more butter there is, the hotter the sun is expected to be in the coming summer.
Russians in the regions of Uzbek, Bashkir, and Kirgiz still drink mares' and donkeys' milk and turn it into kumyss, a powerful fermented liquor or spirit, often served with lumps of butter in it. Kumyss is mentioned in reports from Christian missionaries in central Siberia in 1253; Marco Polo wrote in 1298 that Genghis Khan kept a stable of ten thousand white horses for the production of kumyss. This is probably the same drink as the oxygala ("sharp milk") which the ancient Greeks knew from the horse‑riding and "butterophagous" Scythians. Herodoms had reported that the Scythians used to blind their slaves and then make them sit round wooden barrels full of marcs' milk and "stir them round and round; the stuff that rises to the top is skimmed, and considered more valuable than what sinks to the bottom." The Scythians ate horse meat and horse butter and drank horse buttermilk and oxygala, using strainers to remove the scum; many of these strainers of bone, and kumyss or oxygala jars with sieves built into them, have been found in Scythian tombs, together, sometimes, with the tattooed bodies of the Scythians themselves, preserved in the icy soil of central Russia.[url:3jnx0mlb]http://webexhibits.org/butter/countries-russia.html[/url]
I assume marc did not supply the milk, it was a typo for mare (at least I hope so :lol: )
It also leaves me wondering if the slaves were actually sitting in the barrels being stirred 'round and round' :roll: :lol:
regards
Arthes
Small correction here Cristina.
My wife says Maslo is butter and the word can be used to describe oily staff.
Maslyanitsa is the name of the festival that it was part of the pagan spring celebrations.
Kumyss is more associated with the Mongoloids rather that the tribes of Iranian stock.
If the bodies were permannetly tatooed and not just painted, then the poor wreches were slaves that were entombed to serve their masters in eternity.
I wouldn´t be surprized though, Skythians are the inventors of scalping!
Kind regards
Stefanos
"If the bodies were permannetly tatooed and not just painted, then the poor wreches were slaves that were entombed to serve their masters in eternity"
How is that Stefanos? I have only a passing knowledge on Scythians, but I always thought it was a mark of aristocracy to display extensive ellaborated tattoos, could you please enlight me on the subject?
Celts and Skythians would enter the batle in "battle-paint" to be protected from enemy magic. But epics mention the appications and re-application of this paint , pretty much like makeup.
Avars in Dagestan and Iverians in Georgia who claim ancestry from the Skythians have an elaborate make up for women in festive ocasions.
But generally it was standart practice to mark the animals and slaves - they were considerd the same in ancient times.
The epic "knight in panther skin" by Roustaveli describes him to use magic symbols on his face and states were "they faded"
The most startling case was in the steppes of Melitopol were in 1980 they discovered a Skythian grave were a certain high lady was buried with her hand maidens. My wife told me it was big news about the "Skythska Baba " in the science coloumn in the soviet papers at the time. The corpses were semi-mumified and tatoos were found on the slaves not the lady.
Elaborate face scars are ascociated with the Huns if we belive Procopios.
There was a tendency to call the Hun mercenaries "skythians", thats why later sources consider it standard practice.
Hope I answered your question
Kind regards
Stefanos
Quote:I wouldn´t be surprized though, Skythians are the inventors of scalping!
I often have thought on the similarities between the Amerindians and the Scythians - similar taste in clothes, horseback archery and scalping and of course, war paint.
I was also under the impression that Scythians of high birth or the warriors wore tattoos....?
According to ancestry and legend, I can probably claim some Alani/Scythian ancestry....
I don't have the urge to cover myself in tattoos, but have always liked having hair past my shoulder blades ..... :roll:
regards
Arthes
Whoops Cristina! If you dont have the urge to cover yourself with tatoos it means your great grandmothers were high ladies.
Skythian Ladies were not to be crossed.
Herodotus says that Tomiri queen of the Massagetae had Cyrus the great drowned in an wine skin filled with the blood of his slain bodyguards!
And had her tent repaired with the skins of flayed Persians!!
It was revenge for her son who died in Battle. Thats an overreacting mother to say the least!
Tomiri -> Gergian-Russian=Tamara, Ossetian-Armenian=Thamar.
Th like Thursday. You see the name survives even today.
Skythians were Indoeuropean not Mongoloid.
Chance that Amerindians were a scared lot who tried to run away from such terrible people :twisted:
Kind regards
Stefanos
Interesting outfit....the cap is rather nice
[url:15534ev0]http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/&$+with+all_unique_id_index+is+$=OBJ3114&submit-button=summary[/url]
Good link. One of the Best Skythian representations.
MY friend George speculates that the decoration patern of his clothes denotes his clan or tribe pretty much like the scotish tartan.
Kind regards
Stefanos
Stehpanos could you tell me where you have got your evidence for the slaves being tatooed and not thier masters? how wide a territory would you define as Scythian? In particular would you include or exclude the Pazyryk burials excavated by Rudenko and others?
regards
Matthew
Well the info were mentioned to me by my wife who read me some old newspapers of the Gorbatchev era. I am no professional archeologistst and I usually trust others view on subjects that I have no real 1st hand experiance.
On defining Skythian territory I follow the theory that a nomadic people can leave their mark on a wider territory than settled people so I abide by the view that wants them roaming at times from the modern Chinese border to the delta of Danube. Not necesarily at the same time. Their boundary on the north would be defined by the Eurasiatic forest (taiga) of the time and the ability of the proto-slavic tribes to repel them.
I was thinking that the Cavalli-Sfortza genetic map might help but I am not sure if they give enough evidence to pin-point exactly the ancient Skythian anthropologicaly. Caucasian and Trans-Caucasian nationalities espacially the Iranic-speaking ones trace their origin to the Skythians and some of their customs have similarities to what ancient writers mention.
http://uk.encarta.msn.com/text_76157878 ... n_Age.html
http://www.turanianhorse.org/scythians.html (argue mongoloid origin)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcript ... erian.html
(controversy)
http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/ice2 ... ion36.html
questioning their ability with the colour
Most say that the warrior was not a lord but a "mameluk" typ bodyguard of the princess. Tattoo bussinesses have their interest too.
Keep in mind that it is aregion that big interests conflict and the views are not always objective.
Kind regards
Stefanos
Thank you for the article links Stephanos. On the subject of soviet era newspapers (in fact newspapers from any period or place) What were they saying? did they have a notable bias that would support the soviet view of their history?
The male you refer to at the end of your post, is that from the burial that had a large number of gold boars found with it? (they could of been deer, i forget) The examples i am most familiar with (which isnt a great deal) are the male found in 1948 by Sergei I.Rudenko with the extremely well preserved tattoo's covering most of his body; the left side being in a worse state of preservation than the right, and the female found in 1993 in Siberia; found in a larch log casket, with tattoo's on both arms.
Id have to say that i personally disagree with the idea that all of these individuals were slaves, but it would be an interesting theory to test. Perhaps some study of the condition of bones and teeth, but to do that you'd have to be able to establish if there was any differentiation. This is an area that particularly interests me, i did a presentation in my first year that used the pazyryk mummies as examples. Now to find a copy of Rudenko's book! Could anyone recommend any further books on the subject, as a lot of the internet sites that deal with the subject are less than satisfactory. Remaining on the subject of Scythians, does anyone have any idea about the sorts of costs needed to put together a Scythian portrayal?
Many thanks
Matthew
Khairete
Quote: Remaining on the subject of Scythians, does anyone have any idea about the sorts of costs needed to put together a Scythian portrayal?
Many thanks
Matthew
I am just setting out to do that myself....on a budget unfortunately...juggling with my budget late Roman....!
Bows on average cost between £100-200 although I have just found one from Archery World at £58.00 plus vat between 15 - 30 poundage. (Which will also suit my back problems) Of course you have to make sure that any 'modern' bits are covered with leather or something, unless you can run to having one custom built.
Eagle Classic Archery are closing down their archery section....bow is £99.00 plus 12.00 postage
see here.....
http://www.samarkandia.com/en/peuple-1.php
There are also stockists of Kassai Scythian bows for around $200 and Quadrex, although I have heard the Grozer Scythian is better
The Hoplite Association get theirs from Steve Ralph, who has some offered at £80.00 but not sure if that is still current.
http://www.steveralphs.com/
check out their Scythian page, if you have not already done so
http://www.4hoplites.com/Scythians.htm
You need a goryat too...for a bow.
The Sword either the Akinakes type or the Greek Falcata style, or the axe that is so often portrayed on the Greek vases, up to £200 ish
The clothes are wool, hemp and leather and possibly pure linen, - if you can get to Ikea, they do the best and cheapest linen, I am always being told.
Also have a look at
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hopwood/kat/
regards
Arthes
Ive been watching Grozers site for a few years now salivating over some of the bows
what exactly is a Goryat? Im hoping to get involved with my local archery club in the new year before i buy a bow though. Ive been told the same about Ikea, but whenever ive been down there the stuff i want is either out of stock or theyve changed the range.
Many thanks
Matthew
Mathew as for the reconstruction swords with longer blade than akinakes have been found in grave of nobles. Skythians controled an extensive trade network so if you are not a purist Celtic, Greek or even Chinese sword could be available. A russian book about hoplite armies (ARMIA DREVNEY GRETSII 2004 issue) making use of the Pazyryk fasmatoskopy analysis recreated a Skythian archer in Athenian service.
I also agree with you that some times soviet sources can be VERY biased.
The only clear case of horse culture tatoos on nobles are the Huns not Skythians but if memory serves me even Procopios (eye witness) does not mention tatoos on Atilla.
The word mameluk (slave soldier) appears in Caucasus an Kama river dialects earlier than the Crusades. Herodotus says a clan called "Royal Skythians" views all other Skythians as their slaves. So the tatooed guy might just might be the slave bodyguard of the princess. That is why I do not dismiss the soviet report entirely. If I recall the lady was not tatooed.
I asked my wife to do a google.ru search and many tattoo parlors were advertising Skythian Pazyryk type tatooes. That might have to do something with the consept of aristocracy marking-only daughters of "New Russians" can afford very extensive tatooing in former CIS!!
As I said elaborate folk make up for ladies exists even today in cultures traced to the Skythians and there are some Georgian epics mentionig application and reapplication of "battle marks" and in the link I gave there are people arguing if the dead are mongoloids not indo-european as the Skythians were.
Plus feell free to accept or dismiss the following because I cannot easily verify. 8 years ago I visited one of the famous Meteora monasteries.
In their library there were fragments of a book attempting to copy a translated 2nd century A.D. "slavers-manual". Permanent marking (tattooing) was mentioned as effective slave control and the "Colchians" were mentioned as an example. Since I cannot verify I do not press the point here.
Kind regards
Stefanos
That slavers manual sounds fascinating. Could you tell me more about the melitopol example? The male and female burial i mentione was found in the Tuva region near Arzhan were only skeletal remains with no tattoo's, memory playing tricks with me.
Im currently going through several articles relating to the Pazyryk burial mound 2, and the Burial Mound 1 of the Ak-Alakha Burial Ground 3. Will come back to this topic when ive finished with these.
"Two years after the discovery of the "Ice Maiden" Dr. Polosmak's husband, Vyacheslav Molodin, found a frozen man, elaborately tattooed with an elk, with two long braids that reached to his waist, buried with his weapons. " Found this in connection with an article on the internet relating ot the above female burial, doesent mention if they were in the same mound at all, would be interesting if they were.