Scythian animal style

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c. 700 BC – 200 BC · Eastern Europe & Russia · decorative arts, sculpture · origin: Arzhan kurgan, Tuva

Coiled and twisted beasts in gold and felt — the art of the Great Steppe's nomads

How to recognise it

• Stag with folded legs and wave-like antlers
• Predator curled into a ring
• Body twisted, hindquarters flipped
• Combat scenes: griffin mauling a hoofed beast
• Small portable pieces: plaques, combs, harness

Why it emerged

Nomads carried everything with them, so art lived on clothing, weapons and horse gear. Animals were amulets and clan emblems, while gold came through trade with Greek colonies and Persia.

Examples

Kul-Oba stagc. 400 BCGold stag plaque from the barrow dug in 1830 — the find that revealed Scythian goldSolokha combc. 400 BCScythians fighting in gold — Greek smiths working to steppe patrons' tasteTovsta Mohyla pectoralc. 350 BCThree-tier gold pectoral: Scythian daily life up to griffins tearing horsesPazyryk carpetc. 400 BCThe world's oldest pile carpet, preserved in a frozen burial moundIssyk Golden Manc. 400 BCA warrior in clothing set with 4,000 gold plaques — now a national symbol of Kazakhstan

How it spread

• 800 BC Arzhan, Tuva
• 650 BC Kelermes, Kuban
• 400 BC Lower Dnieper
• 400 BC Kerch (Panticapaeum)
• 400 BC Pazyryk, Altai
• 400 BC Issyk, Zhetysu
• 400 BC Ordos

Meanwhile elsewhere

• Mesopotamian art Middle East
• Ancient Egyptian art Africa
• Shang and Zhou bronzes Asia
• Olmec art Americas
• Nok terracottas Africa
• Ancient Greek art: Archaic and Classical Europe
• Hellenistic art Europe
• Ancient Roman art Europe

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English)

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