Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Scythian saddle - articles


Salve,
long time ago I put some information and drawings regarding the Scythian pad saddle.

Recently I have been studying articles by Elena V. Stepanova, one fine Russian scholar from Sankt-Peterburg (Saint Petersburg) Russia, where she is the Hermitage Museum curator and scholar.
The articles deal with the saddles that have survived in Pazyryk, Ukok Plateau of Altai Russia, kurhans (kurgans), and other archaeological sites in Central Asia with references to other sites of Eurasian steppe. One article deals with the reconstruction and usage of such pad saddle from the Altai's Pazyryk kurgans discovered long time ago by the Soviet archaeologists led by Rudenko - English translation calls it a soft saddle, but I think this is the wrong terminology... :)

 The articles are very, very interesting and informative,and practical too. For me it means I have got to rethink and redo some of my drawings and comments on the said Scythian saddles,
so you can download the English translation from the Silk Road Foundation , volume 14. - on the reconstruction of one of the  Pazyryk (Barrow nr. 3) saddles, preserved at the Hermitage, and some interesting observations on the Bosporan saddles as visible on that kingdom funerary artwork.

Qin/Chin Shi Huang Di terracotta army of China - cavalry mount wearing a very Scythian saddle, late 3rd c. BC

or you could read the articles from Ms Stepanova's page on Academia, or you could register there and then download these articles one by one.

Getae Thracians - warriors  riding using saddles similar to the Scythian ones in this Letnitsa, Bulgaria find from IVc BC - note that the Thracian horsemen were allies of the Philip IV of Macedon and Alexander III of Macedon and took part in the conquest of Achaemenid Empire
enjoy

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