Скифские цари и номархи — «держатели котлов»
Scythian Kings and Nomarchs — “Cauldron Holders”

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the discussion connected with the definition of the social status of the buried, whose attributes in Scythia were bronze cauldrons (heads of families or representatives of the authorities, indicated by Herodotus: kings and nomarchs). The kingdom was the largest administrative unit for the Scythians and this information makes it easier to distinguish the royal barrow, unlike the burials of the nomarchs. The size of the royal barrow is determined by the number of the population subject to the deceased king. The connection between the king authorities, the number of Scythians and the bronze cauldron (the symbol of the number of societies), discovered by written sources, led to the assumption that the head of the socius could be the “holder” of this symbol, and be buried with it. The archaeological manifestation of the existence and size of the Scythian socii is the barrow cemetery. In some mounds bronze cauldrons were found. Earlier, supported by the archaeological material, the relationship between the two components was traced: the size of socius and the cauldron as a probable indicator of its size. The Concentration of several cauldrons (3 or more) under one mound, correlated with the “royal” burial, indicates the existence of large associations (kingdoms). Their smaller number of them in the graves testifies both to the burials of the nomarchs (1 cauldron), and to the merging of the nomas (2 cauldrons). However, not every ancestor could be a nomarch, which is confirmed by data on the cemeteries where no bronze cauldrons were found.

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