Just as the mythic Greek archer Heracles girded himself with a massive belt and buckle, his Amazon adversary Queen Hippolyte also possessed a fabulous war belt, and so did her sister, Melanippe. Observations of barbarian women archers’ beautifully wrought belts and buckles may well
Have influenced the myth about Hippolyte’s belt (chapter 15, plate 7 and fig. 15.1). The graves of armed women of the steppes have yielded a wide variety of leather belts and baldrics (diagonal shoulder straps) with hooks for carrying weapons and gear, as well as numerous worked gold and bronze buckles of different sizes and shapes. Fighting belts were reinforced with plaques of iron, bronze, and gold (Chapter 12). Another influence on the myth may have been the magnificent bronze belts worn by mounted archers of Urartu, a mysterious nomad culture (ninth to sixth centuries BC) of eastern Turkey and Armenia (traditional Amazon territory). Urartu was known for spectacular metalwork. Their archers wore very wide (five - to six-inch) belts made of thin sheets of bronze with fabric backing and hooks for lacing, decorated with plain bands or fine repousse reliefs of rows of archers in trousers and pointed helmets with quivers, shields, and bows, riding galloping horses. The Urartu belts come in large and small waist sizes to fit men and women, and some have been found in women’s graves. The topless Amazon stringing her bow on the coin in Figure 13.2 Appears to wear a wide, banded belt similar to those of Urartu.17
A recent archaeological find may be related to a curious detail in Herodotus’s description of Scythian belts. A tiny gold cup was attached to the tongue of the buckle of Heracles’s belt inherited by Scythes. According to Herodotus, “This explains why to this very day Scythian archers suspend small golden cups on their belt buckles.” Since male and female Scythian archers dressed alike, presumably women’s belts were similarly equipped. No artistic representations of this little cup are known, but an intriguing item appears in the excavation report (2004) of the richest Scythian grave ever excavated in Siberia (Arzhan 2, burial 5, 650-600 BC), which held a couple and their arrows, quivers, and daggers. On the woman’s belt was a gold-encrusted dagger (Chapter 4) and a “miniature golden cauldron.” This apparent link to Herodotus’s description of a little gold cup on Scythians’ belts had gone unnoticed by the archaeologists. What was the purpose of the miniature golden vessel.? We know that Scythian archers (again, presumably both male and female) were reputed to dip their arrows in a nasty poison concocted from viper venom. To avoid self-injury with pretreated arrows, a prudent archer might poison the points just before shooting. Could the tiny vial or cup have contained the arrow drug.?18
An alternative potential use for the miniature cup might be related to another Scythian custom described by Herodotus: blood oaths. To make a binding pact, the Scythians “stab themselves with their awls or make a small cut with their knives.” They stir the blood, using the tips of their dagger or sagaris (battle-axe), and drink it together. An ancient Chinese source (Han Dynasty) described the Xiongnu nomads sealing a treaty by ceremonially dipping a sword tip in wine drunk from an enemy’s skull. Herodotus, interviewing settled Royal Scythians, said that they used a “large earthenware cup” and mixed the blood with wine. The Roman writer Lucian, in his “Scythian Dialogue,” related several examples of the deep bonds of brotherhood forged by this blood ritual. A famous gold plaque from Kul Oba Kurgan shows two “blood brothers” sharing a drinking horn. Awls, knives, and earthenware cups are among the grave goods of both men and women in many Scythian burials. A mounted nomad archer on the steppes would be likely to carry an awl, a knife, and a battle-axe, but not a large clay cup (or skull or wine, for that matter). The need to seal a blood pact might arise anytime, anywhere. A small golden cup attached to one’s belt would be handy for blood oaths.19
Strong bonds of sisterhood are emphasized in Greek myths and historical accounts of Amazons, who were perceived as Scythian women. Their devotion to one another on the battlefield is evident in many vase paintings showing Amazons carrying their fallen companions. Ancient women warriors were tattooed, wore trousers, wielded “manly weapons,” and went to war like men. Did ancient women warriors also participate in blood oath rituals.? It is worth contemplating, in view of the new discovery of the tiny gold cup on the Scythian woman’s belt.
World History
