Scythians, who were known as great horsemen and warriors, are portrayed on a variety of artifacts, including this gold comb dating to the late 5th to early 4th century B.C. found in a royal tomb at Solokha, eastern Ukraine.
Awesome. An amazing fact about the Scythians is that the sheer weight of gold recovered from Scythian sites aggregates to more than that of all other ancient cultures -combined-. Serious hoarders, with a love for bling!
If I recall correctly, it was the Scythians who had the golden fleece. Probably the story of Jason and the Argonauts arose from all the gold in the area.
I just wanted to chime in to tell you how awesome you are.
For such ruthless roving killers, spending so much time making an elaborate comb seems a little girly.
“8. ...Such is the account which the Scythians give of themselves, and of the country which lies above them. The Greeks who dwell about the Pontus tell a different story. According to Hercules, when he was carrying off the cows of Geryon, arrived in the region which is now inhabited by the Scyths, but which was then a desert. Geryon lived outside the Pontus, in an island called by the Greeks Erytheia, near Gades, which is beyond the Pillars of Hercules upon the Ocean. Now some say that the Ocean begins in the east, and runs the whole way round the world; but they give no proof that this is really so. Hercules came from thence into the region now called Scythia, and, being overtaken by storm and frost, drew his lion’s skin about him, and fell fast asleep. While he slept, his mares, which he had loosed from his chariot to graze, by some wonderful chance disappeared.
9. On waking, he went in quest of them, and, after wandering over the whole country, came at last to the district called “the Woodland,” where he found in a cave a strange being, between a maiden and a serpent, whose form from the waist upwards was like that of a woman, while all below was like a snake. He looked at her wonderingly; but nevertheless inquired, whether she had chanced to see his strayed mares anywhere. She answered him, “Yes, and they were now in her keeping; but never would she consent to give them back, unless he took her for his mistress...” “
Love Herodotus’ Histories!
“...in an island called by the Greeks Erytheia, near Gades, which is beyond the Pillars of Hercules upon the Ocean... “
