Archeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered the grave of a gold-clad ancient Scythian warrior who has already earned himself a nickname: "The Sun Lord." Researchers uncovered the find in a Scythian grave consisting of seven burial mounds in Karaganda Region east of the capital, Astana.
The opulence of the warrior's burial indicates that he was a leader as well as a fighter, expedition leader Arman Beysenov explained. "He was probably a ruler and a warrior simultaneously," Beysenov said in remarks quoted by the Kazinform news agency on July 16. "The person's torso was entirely covered with gold. The figure of a leader like this was associated with the sun. He was a sort of 'sun lord.'"
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Haven't found any pics yet, but I'll keep looking. In the meantime (although it's nothing more than speculation), I'm betting it will be as impressive as the Scythian Golden Man.....
- 2 votes
I couldn't find a picture either, however, this one might offer a reasonable comparison.
Strabo, the Greek geographer who lived in the beginning of the current era, wrote of the Sarmatians and the "Celtic Scythians" whose territory extended from above the Danube eastward to the Volga, and from north of the Dnieper into the Caucasus. These were the tribes from whom came the original myths on which the Arthurian legends were based, superb warriors and horse lords who literally worshiped the sword. The accounts of how their armor was fashioned are particularly fascinating:
The Sauromatae have no iron, neither mined by themselves nor yet imported. They have, in fact, no dealings at all with the foreigners around them. To meet this deficiency they have contrived inventions. Their breastplates they make in the following fashion. Each man keeps many mares, since the land is not divided into private allotments, nor does it bear any thing except wild trees, as the people are nomads. These mares they not only use for war, but also sacrifice them to the local gods and eat them for food. Their hoofs they collect, clean, split, and make from them as it were python scales. Whoever has never seen a python must at least have seen a pine cone still green. He will not be mistaken if he likens the product from the hoof to the segments that are seen on the pine cone. These pieces they bore and stitch together with the sinews of horses and oxen, and then use them as breastplates that are as handsome and strong as those of the Greeks. For they can withstand blows of missiles and those struck in close combat.
- 4 votes
I have read of the Sarmatian scale armor before, and even see a couple of recreations. I love that the Sarmatian cavalry auxiliaries (heavy cavalry or cataphracti) that the Romans brought to Britain are thought by some to have been the inspiration for the Arthurian myth.
I recognize, of course, that there are as many sources for the myth as there are versions of the Arthurian legend, but this is one that I quite like.
About ten years ago I read Gillian Bradshaw's Island of Ghosts...just fiction, but it's really enjoyable, and deals with exactly this subject.
- 3 votes
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