Scythian cultural heritage, tattoos and facts
Historical heritage is an integral part of every human culture in which it grows, lives and finds its place under the sun, but when it comes to people whose heritage has been preserved only in certain fragments and whose translation or even explanation today's science struggles to unravel, because often a logical explanation for such development just doesn't exist.
Eurasia (Scythian)
The territories known as modern Siberia, Iran, the Caucasus, India, the borders of Greece and even the borders of Western China were inhabited by the first equestrians, nomadic tribe known as the Scythians. What we call the Scythian culture arose more than 2,500 years ago as a combination of Siberian, East Asian, and Yamnaya Eurasian groups. Like the ancient Scythians, the region had many different languages, great ethnic diversity. All the studies carried out so far confirm that the Scythians were not one homogeneous group.
According to the records of the Greek thinker Herodotus, the Scythian were a nomadic people with their own monarchical hierarchy, a people with a very light (white) skin color, light eye color and red hair, people in whose culture women were in no way different from men.
Historical and archaeological records show that Scythian women enjoyed considerable autonomy and privilege, with which to this day society could not compete. For example, many Scythian women worked alongside men as horse archers and were able to take leading roles in Scythian society. Furthermore, many Scythian burials show that women were often buried with same elaborate offerings as men. Later, in Greek myths, appeared the writings about Amazons, and it is assumed that they are Scythian women. Herodotus mentions the existence of Scythian "kings", using the term "royal Scythians" to refer to this group. He indicated that they were a separate tribe and lived in what is now southern Ukraine, just north of the ancient Greek cities that clustered around the Black Sea. Herodotus stated that they had considerable political and military power and that they were a hereditary elite, but it is unclear what their relationship was with other Scythian tribes.
When a royal Scythian died, a large tomb was prepared, consisting of a large quadrangular hole in the ground. Archaeologists have excavated some of these high-level tombs, called kurgans. One of them, found in southern Siberia, dates back 2,800 years and was wider than the length of a football field. It contained the burial of a man and a woman, and was filled with gold jewelry, weapons, richly decorated cups, and even horses.
The most interesting aspect about the Scythian culture is the well-known tattooing and even the style of beastly drawings. These drawings often coincide with symbols on armor, goldwork or jewelry. Symbolically, there is no concrete clarity or meaning for each of the drawings. It is assumed that the stag and ram symbolize the monarchy, but the beasts of prey warrior’s cruelty, gryphons life after death. Tattoos could be worn not only by men, but also by women, regardless of their status (there are also a couple of dates that describing that newborns were also tattooed to protect them from evil forces). An interesting fact is that a couple of mummies that archaeologists have found are decorated with tattoos in specific places. This includes the shoulders, arms, legs, chest and neck, but not the head or face. Among the mythological beasts were found winged wolves and winged lions. Unanswered question - Why do tattoos of animals often have their bodies turned to other side ? If you know, please write, I didn't find an explanation!
