The semiwild horse herds grazing on their own in mountain pastures and grassy steppes had to defend themselves from predators and other herds. Caspian and Siberian tigers, snow leopards, Asiatic lions, Eurasian bears, and wolves were dangerous predators, and many Scythian artworks depict these wild animals taking down horses as well as stags and rams. As one ancient writer remarked, the land around the Caspian Sea was known for fine Nisaean horses and for “thousands of tigers and other wild beasts.” Scythian horses were capable of fighting off predators; perhaps some of the animal decorations and masks on sacrificed horses honored such encounters.26
But the Scythian imagination also pictured monsters preying on their horses. Examples of such imaginary scenes appear on numerous artifacts recovered from kurgans, including the Chertomlyk vase, showing griffins, fantastic four-legged creatures with talons and cruel beaks, leaping onto the backs of struggling horses and tearing open their necks. Did images of griffins and similar creatures illustrate oral legends that no longer survive.? Ancient Scythian folklore was recorded by the Greek traveler Aristeas. Fragments of his epic about Central Asian nomad life, preserved by Herodotus, tell of nomads battling terrifying gold-guarding griffins beyond the Altai Mountains. According to the Issedonians (who dwelled between the Tien Shan and Altai mountains), a neighboring
FiG. 11.4. Mounted Amazon with pointed axe fighting a griffin in a barren landscape. Red-figure kylix (drinking cup), Greek, fourth century BC, Jena Painter, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lillie Pierce Fund, 01.8092. Photograph © 2014 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Tribe called the Arimaspi (“Owners of Many Horses”) prospected for gold in deserts guarded by griffins. The griffins were said to have bodies like wolves, lions, and tigers but with beaks like eagles. Artists in Greece were familiar with some of these exotic Scythian stories, since numerous vase paintings show scenes of Amazons on horseback and on foot fighting griffins in rocky landscapes with dead trees. The Amazon in fig. 11.4, for example, wears flamboyantly patterned leggings and tunic, a soft pointed cap with earflaps, and short laced boots. Her thick-necked stallion has a short bridle with a kind of halter under the neck (his hooves are very pointed, an impractical aesthetic detail). She keeps the reins tight as he lunges forward past the rock outcrop, rolling his eyes as she turns and raises a pointed battle-axe against the attacking griffin behind them.27
World History
