Pages: 51-64 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2435164
Currently, new trends in social sciences have emerged, such as eirenology, paxilology and “anthropology of war”. The role of weapons in rituals associated with peace negotiations is a significant part of semiotic weapon status. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of Scythian weapon ornamentation that can be described as a system of symbols. By analyzing a proprietary database of Scythian weapon ornamentation dating back to the 7th—4th centuries BC, the authors examined the phenomenon of the presence of various artistic traditions, including Scythian, Assyro-Urartian, Greek, Scythian-Greek, Scythian-Greek-Persian and Persian traditions, which could only exist at the time of peace. The ornamentation of Scythian weapons was considered as a system consisting of subsystems, and a standardized description was created. It was revealed that according to Scythian tradition, the adornments were applied directly to the weapon or its structural element (figurate shape), while in foreign or mixed traditions, it was added to overlays. The Scythians took into account the placement of an item on the warrior’s body, while weapon masters of foreign cultures treated an item as a canvas. It was observed that zoomorphic images such as birds of prey, bovids, felines, canines, hares and rams were frequently used in the ornamentation, and statistical patterns of zoomorphic images were the same in both mixed traditions and in the Scythian one. The material used in ornamentation and the narrative were important to Scythians.
Keywords: Scythia, 7—4 centuries BC, eirenology, weapons, adornments, system of symbols, database, standardized description, visual tradition, semantics of images
Information about authors:
Yulia Kokorina (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences, Doctor of Philological Sciences. Moscow Polytechnic University. Bolshaya Semyonovskaya St., 38, Moscow, 107023, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2496-3958
Iuliia Likhter (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. “Archaeological research in construction business” LTD. Savvinsky line, house 2-4-6, building 4, Moscow, 119435, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-4795-7398