Author Talk | The Scythians | Barry Cunliffe

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Brilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.
Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather different - both communities benefiting from trading with each other. This led to the development of a brilliant art style, often depicting scenes from Scythian mythology and everyday life. It is from the writings of Greeks like the historian Herodotus that we learn of Scythian life: their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting, and their ambivalent attitudes to gender. It is a world that is also brilliantly illuminated by the rich material culture recovered from Scythian burials, from the graves of kings on the Pontic steppe, with their elaborate gold work and vividly coloured fabrics, to the frozen tombs of the Altai mountains, where all the organic material - wooden carvings, carpets, saddles and even tattooed human bodies - is amazingly well preserved.
Barry Cunliffe here marshals this vast array of evidence - both archaeological and textual - in a masterful reconstruction of the lost world of the Scythians, allowing them to emerge in all their considerable vigour and splendour for the first time in over two millennia.
Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford.
Barry Cunliffe taught archaeology at the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, Governor of the Museum of London, a Commissioner of English Heritage, and a Trustee of the British Museum. His many publications include Facing the Ocean (2001), The Druids: A Very Short Introduction (2010), Britain Begins (2012), By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean (2015), and On the Ocean (2017), all published by Oxford University Press. He received a knighthood in 2006.
© Oxford University Press

[@ohsusanah4013]

This is my favorite lecture on the Scythians and I've watched it several times. Nothing brings a culture to life better than an author-historian who loves his job and his subject

[@gasfrommyanusi0i594]

i love learning about the scythians

[@MeanBeanComedy]

These are my ancestors. Gotta love em.

[@GTKJNow]

Thumb up for telling truth about Cyrus. I am going to subscribe to this guy even though he's not quit an eloquent speaker (I am sure Apostle Paul was worse) but appears to be an expert on Scythians unlike utuber Kings and Generals

[@wenaolong]

It's harder to hit a moving target. Mobility and agility are great offensive capabilities as well.

[@johnsonhunglo1993]

Today's high school students don't realize that Dr. Cunliffe is typical of the teachers that we had in high school!!!! The teachers were prepared, organized, and capable of spinning a good story to get your attention!!! Thanks, Dr. Cunliffe!!!

[@johnharris5975]

Amazing lecture. Thank you!

[@christianfrommuslim]

Great job! Scythians have fascinated me since the 1975 exhibition which toured USA.

[@archaicanarch5567]

Brilliant presentation, sir.

[@raymonddunne7153]

Loved this. Outstanding presentation.

[@DavidValdezBigWaveDave]

Absolutely lovely, I really appreciate the presentation

[@natureandflowers376]

Excellent information, Jatt community of Punjab are descendents of Scythians.

[@svetlinsofiev6729]

Great lecture man

[@robertko2164]

Super

[@0the0ambient0]

Started reading this book recently. It's fantastic imho.

[@mrroyale5688]

Hungarians were first identifiably called Scythians by the Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise. From the Middle Ages to the present day we consider ourselves as such. Even today some of us know and use our Scythian symbols.