NEWS AND VIEWS: Scythian treasures: a viewer's perspective (01/23/00)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Scythian treasures: a viewer's perspective

by Natalia Lysyj

AUSTIN, Texas - After having read an article in The Ukrainian Weekly (November 7, 1999) about the exhibit "Gold of the Nomads" to open at the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas, our family went to view the exhibit in December. Having viewed Scythian art during a previous tour in this country in 1975 under the heading of "From the Land of the Scythians: Ancient Treasures from the Museums of the USSR", our excitement and curiosity were aroused as to what the new archeological finds would be and how the current exhibit of the "Gold of the Nomads" would be presented.

The previous exhibition in 1975 displayed art which, while excavated in Ukraine, was kept primarily in museums in Russia. The current exhibition, on the other hand, came from archeological institutions in Ukraine representing recent discoveries. This exhibit received favorable coverage in The New York Times in which the writer acknowledges that the information now known goes well beyond what was known in 1975 about Scythian warriors, who are characterized as the "spiritual ancestors of Cossacks."

San Antonio, home of the historic Alamo, was the first city to present this exhibit. From here it will travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Grand Palais in Paris.

San Antonio provided a good start for this voyage of ancient art from Ukraine. This multicultural city boasts many historical and architectural attractions, among them the famous River Walk. Located one level below the busy streets of downtown, it is a marvel of engineering, where the river meanders among the giant cypress trees and palms, edged by grand hotels, open air theaters, sidewalk cafes and cabarets. It is a world in itself, a few steps below the city streets, removed from the bustle of a large metropolis.

The San Antonio Museum of Art is housed in a converted old brewery building: a tall, windowless, sand-colored structure with a southwestern flavor. The setting itself added to our anticipation of what we were about to see. The entrance area to this special exhibit was darkened, as if entering a tomb. In the entrance alcove a video screen and some chairs were set for the public to preview what they are about to see: a short film, beautifully narrated and colorfully presented about the geography of Ukraine and a brief overview of the Scythian culture and their relationships with the ancient Greek civilization.

A large wall map of Ukraine was dotted with the sites of the numerous burial mounds (kurhany). The museum brochure states the following about the location of the culture: "At its height, Scythian rule extended throughout the region of modern Ukraine - from the Danube River in the west to the Don River in the east, and from the area surrounding modern Kyiv in the north to the Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea in the south." The dots on the map showed that the majority of the kurhany are located on the left bank of the Dnipro River.

Full-size mannequins, one of a male warrior in armor, another of a female in festive dress decorated with golden ornaments, greeted the visitors. A striking element about the warrior's armor was the application of small metallic discs in his helmet, vests and the back shield that made the protective garment flexible to movement, unlike the solid armors of the medieval Europe. The amount of golden relics and their intricate workmanship was spectacular. Some of the unusual items such at the gold and silver boar and a sphinx of gold and enamel inlays leave a lasting impression. Uses of special pottery and horse implements were well marked and explained, excavation sites dotted on maps of Ukraine.

Seeing a "baba" - one of the stone monoliths that dot the steppe of Ukraine - on display reminded us of our parents' stories, who, as children playing in the fields of Ukraine, were told to show respect to these monoliths because they were supposed to be markers of the ancient Kozak "mohyly" (gravesites). We were amazed to find out that in fact the "baba" depicts effigies of Scythian warriors. What puzzles us, however, is how did the word "baba," in Slavic languages a word for an old woman or a grandmother, make its leap from the male warrior "baba" of the Scythians - something for scholars to explain to us.

Throughout the exhibition period, the San Antonio Art Museum has been presenting a series of gallery talks, lectures and performances based on the Scythian exhibit. Some of the lecture titles, reflecting intriguing and interesting ideas, were based on Herodotus' writings and anthropological research: "Refleshing Scythian Bones: Seeking the Sources of Tradition," "Scythian Cowboys: The Horse Culture of the Nomadic Scythians," "A Cup of Kindness: Mood Altering Substances and Scythian Art," "Relations Between Scythian and Near Eastern Art" and "The Art of the Scythians."

The San Antonio Shoestring Shakespeare Company staged series of original plays based on the exhibition with such titles as "History Meets the Scythians," and "Scythia Rediscovered." Additionally, metal workshops in Scythian-style ornaments were held for adults and family-oriented groups in November and December of last year.

The museum gift shop offered for sale replicas of Scythian jewelry and coins. Having sported a brooch of a sitting stag with a giant antler rack on its head shaped like two antlers followed by three circles during the Christmas season, some people asked me if it was a "millennium" stag. No, I replied, it is a copy of an artwork by ancient people who over two millennia ago lived in Ukraine, the land of my ancestors.

All in all, the exhibition of ancient art from Ukraine in San Antonio was highly informative, well-developed and well-tagged. Hopefully this current tour of the Scythian treasures will excite and fire the imagination of archeologists and sponsors to pursue excavation of those numerous Scythian mounds to foster new discoveries and knowledge about ancient civilizations in Ukraine.

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