A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2005)

Régészet - János Makkay: The Miracle Stag in Ancient Greek mythical stories and their Indo-Iranian counterparts

The Miracle Stag The origin of the belief in antlered hinds and masked horses: Indo-Iranian (Scythian and other) finds and sources a. A gilded silver breastplate excavated in the Seven Brothers kurgan cemetery (the Kuban area, Krasnodar territory), dating to the 5

th century B.C., showing an antlered stag suckling its calf.

18 In the lower part of the plate there can be seen the figure of an eagle with expanded wings (Fig. I). The barrow yielded a whole series of remarkable vessels made of precious metals. Amongst them there were silver and gold rhytons imported from Achaemenid Persia, and also very rare silver-gilt Attic bowls. Another interesting artifact is a silver kylix of the third quarter of the fifth century B.C., from tumulus 6. The multifigured composition in the central part of it probably depicts a scene from the story of Odysseus and Penelope. b. Tumulus 4 of the same kurgan-cemetery (the Seven Brothers kurgans) yielded a horse bridle frontlet made of bronze, and representing the head of a fantastic bird (eagle) wearing stag antlers on the top of its head (Fig. 2), and also a number of smaller bronze frontlets of similar construction, representing stags' heads (Figs. 3-4) (GALANINA-GRACH 1986. Figs. 68-69. on p. 69.). c. Several composite masks, made from metal, leather and fur, and applied on horse heads, were found in Pazyryk burials. One of them came from kurgan 1, and shows an animal combat motiv, the tight of a deer and a winged lion-griffin with a tiger (Fig. 5)(RUDENKO 1953. 219-220., Fig. 134., PI. 71: 2.). The same kurgan grave yielded other horse masks or headdresses, made mostly of leather ls The excavations of V. Tiesenhausen, 1878. LÁSZLÓ 1967. Fig. on p. 37. LÁSZLÓ 1970/1974. = LÁSZLÓ 1974. Fig. 53. on p. 100. The gilded silver piece was found in the second kurgan (with its height of 18 m it was the biggest barrow of the site) and decorated a short mantle made of leather: ARTAMONOV 1970. 38.. and PI. 113. Originally published by Ellis H. Minns (MINNS 1913. PI. 105.). For the excavations of the kurgan see GALANINA-GRACH 1986. 7. (with a photo from the time of the 1873 excavations), 61-62., PI. 117. 17