Swords and swordsmen in Greco-Scythian Art
Swords and swordsmen in Greco-Scythian Art

Summary/Abstract: In this article, we shall analyse pieces of the late 5th-4th centuries BC of Greco-Scythian art with depictions of bladed weaponry. “Barbarians” armed with swords and daggers were mostly represented by using Greek art templates. The figures are distinguishable by their Scythian “ethnographic” features (costumes, hair, weapons). Despite the usual detailed manner in which individual attire and sometimes even the human faces or other weapons were rendered, the depictions of swords and daggers remain, however, very simplified. It is possible that the Greeks were prevented from depicting a “truly Scythian” sword, which personified the Scythian war god. Still, detailed images of weaponry can be found on the Scythian stelae. This paradox may be explained by both the work of Scythian sculptors and because of the mythological connection between stelae, the identification of swords with the chthonic deity Ares, and the death realm.

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