Éléments de l'Iran et du Proche-Orient anciens dans l'art scythe

Animal-style art developed in the Eurasian steppelands between the VIth and IVth centuries B.C. It was characterised by the prevalence of zoomorphic images interpreted in a definite stylistic manner. Some of the iconographic traits and entire compositions were borrowed by the Scythians from the fine arts of the Ancient Orient. However, the perception of Near Eastern elements was conditioned by the Scythians' ideology. The animal style in art reflected their world-view and can be regarded as an individual sign system. Among the method of analysing their semantics, the mythological one has been successfully employed by a number of Soviet researchers. Scythian mythology can be reconstructed on several levels : 1. Scythian proper, based on the use of data on the Scythian religion supplied by the Greek authors ; 2. Indo-Iranian, based on a system analysis of spiritual culture as part of the Indo-Iranian one (Scythian belonged to the Indo-Iranian family of peoples) ; 3. Indo-European, based on using data about Indo-European mythology (Scythians belonged to the Indo- European community) ; 4. Universal, based on using universal mythologemes and notions common to all of mankind at the mythological stage of thinking. This method makes it possible to explain some of peculiar features of scythian art and discover the semantics of individual images and compositions. Representational units and invariant elements of Scythian art correspond to fixed formulas, clichés, epithets of mythological and folklore texts. The zoomorphic images stem from the zoomorphic symbolics of thinking common to the Indo-Iranians and the rest of the Indo-Europeans. The images of the horse, as solar symbol, reflect formulas linked to the god Mithra ; the pairs of opposing horses, images of twins linked with the cult of the world tree and mother goddess ; the image of a three-headed serpent, the combat of the forefather-hero against the serpent ; a combat between two horses, the cult of the water god Tishtriya ; the scene of tearing a hoofed animal by a beast of prey, a symbolic reflection of the rebirth of nature in springtime, the day of spring equinox, linked with the victory of the god substituted by the king at the coronation. Entire compositions reconstruct the universal image of the world : the Chertomlyk Vase and the pectoral from the Tolstaya Mogila, the head-dress of a Saka king from Issyk Barrow and those of Scythian queens symbolise a cosmogramme with the world tree in the centre attached to the Scythian social and cosmogonie system, and make it possible to draw important conclusions on the sacral roles of the king and the queen.