Masters of Gold

Peter the Great. Father of the Fatherland and Emperor of All Russia, spent most of his reign (1682-1725) trying to imitate the culture of the West, but he also kept a cold eye on the East. In Siberia great bands of plunderers were digging up the tombs of a civilization that had disappeared from the pages of history by the 4th century A.D. The looters were after gold, and the tombs were rich in that. Being a practical man, Czar Peter simply gave orders that the looters be looted in turn. Soon plaques and buckles were pouring into the imperial coffers. Thus began the world's greatest collection of Scythian art, now in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.

The Scythians were nomads who left traces of themselves all the way from the borders of modern China to the banks of the Danube. Though they possessed neither writing nor coinage, they caught the fancy of the higher civilizations that they came in touch with. To the Scythians, Herodotus devoted a volume so filled with tales of fabulous treasure that for cen turies historians suspected that the old master had made the whole book up. When archaeologists, 150 years ago, began exploring the tombs that bandits had discovered, Herodotus was vindicated.

Those Who Must Die. Almost every ancient tribe had a bloody custom or two, but the Scythians seemed to combine them all. They not only scalped their fallen foes but also drank their blood. A man who slew an enemy in the sight of the king was allowed to keep his victim's skull as a drinking bowl. When the king pronounced the death penalty on a person, he also automatically condemned to death all of the man's male relatives. Scythian kings never died alone. The head groom, the head cupbearer, the head cook and at least one wife were killed when he died.

Above all things--perhaps even above the great goddess of fire herself--the Scythians adored decoration and adornment, and from this came their one important legacy. Even their arrows, though likely to be lost after one shot, bore intricate designs. No great warrior's belt or horse's harness lacked gold plaques. Being nomads, the Scythians found their outlet not in statues or cities but in things that could be worn. Whatever talent might have poured into architecture or grand statuary went into the molding of sculptures of gold.

Kingdom of Fantasy. These works rarely showed gods, nor did they often portray men, as in the combat scene surmounting the golden comb (see color). The favorite subjects of the Scythians were animals, and few civilizations created an animal kingdom with a more graceful sense of fantasy. A boar's mane is not just so much wild and scraggly hair, but a crescent of curls to be worn like a crown. A tiger's body is as supple as an accordion: every muscle, every rib, every stripe is there. A deer, though kneeling, seems to be darting through the air while its antlers ripple and bend like plumes. This quivering creature defies and submits at the same time, as if knowing that from the same hand it will receive both death and immortality.

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