Goddess Tabiti and Scythian rider, tapestry from the Fifth Pazyryk Kurgan 3rd C. BCE

March 21, 2021

Goddess Tabiti and Scythian rider, tapestry from the Fifth Pazyryk Kurgan 3rd C. BCE

"The large felt rug was neatly rolled up with long thin poles inside. The base of the rug (a cloth of thin white felt, 3mm thick and about 30 sq.m. in area) was covered with colored felt appliqués. The figures, painted with vegetable dyes, are sewn to the rug with twisted sinewy thread.

In two wide friezes, the same scene is repeated many times: a female character in luxurious attire sits on a throne, holding a branch of a mythical plant; a mounted warrior—also in decorated attire, with a compound bow in a harness suspended from his belt—approaches her. In all the scenes the figures are similar, but not identical, demonstrating that they were not made from a single template.

This plot has a pre-Asiatic origin; judging by analogical artifacts, it was also known to the Black Sea Scythians and Sarmatians. It is usually interpreted as an investiture scene where a certain Goddess “hands over” power to a leader.

Fragments of a second, not preserved rug with images of two mythical creatures were sewn on the side of a large rug in ancient times. One was a hind-footed creature with a lion’s body, wings, and a human head with stylized horns (a sphinx). The tail and wing feathers, as well as the clawed feet with spurs, are preserved from the other character. The original composition of the second rug can be read by correlating the fragments sewn into the large rug with the scraps of drapery that survived in the burial chamber; only the sphinx has been fully restored. The second character is a bird with a large hooked beak (conventionally called a phoenix).

The phoenix clutches at the head of the sphinx, which in turn grabs his opponent by the beak. This composition, like the “investiture scene” from the large rug, has early analogues in Western Asia and the Middle East, and was repeated exactly the same way many times. Indeed, the image on the fragmented rug probably originally had the same frieze composition as the large one.

Apparently, the large rug was stretched over the poles that were found wrapped in it, creating a funeral “tent” where the body of the deceased may have been displayed for some farewell ceremonies. It is also possible that the “tent” was placed over the burial chamber and served as a temporary ground structure until the mound was erected over the burial. The fact that the rug had to be repaired and remade using fragments of the second rug proves that these rugs were not made specifically for the funeral but earlier. It follows that the subjects of the images on them should not be interpreted as necessarily related to the burial.

It is interesting to compare the riders depicted on the pile rug with the mounted warrior on the repeated scene of the felt rug.

The carpet-makers of Trans-Asia depicted riders on the felt carpet who were not yet using saddles (on the backs of their horses were archaic large saddlecloth with breastplates), while the saddles depicted on the felt carpet are specially made objects that look similar to those among the Pazyryk finds. The nomads were always somewhat ahead of their sedentary neighbors in terms of horseback riding (and often also weaponry) but borrowed from them for luxury items. For example, in the fifth kurgan were found five cheprak (saddlecloths), two of which are decorated with imported fabrics. Nomads typically did not use cheprak; their presence here is most likely evidence of a temporary strengthening of Pazyryk relations with the Iranian world in the mid-third century BC."

-taken from VoicesOnCentralAsia