Scythian female headdress in a form of a high hat / kalathos, decorated with gold sewn-on plaques, necklace-like ornaments, ear- or temple-pendants.
“earrings, which, according to some researchers, were given to women at weddings. They are made in the shape of a crescent moon, on the horns of which are two ducks. They represent a married couple. And on the ten pendants attached to the earrings, small chicks are attached. They symbolize children. Imagine: a woman goes with such earrings, and the pendants on them gently ring. This bell is like a kind of melody, which is a prayer of a woman to the gods with a request for the health and well-being of her children. These earrings may seem heavy, but they are empty inside. So they weigh about 10 grams. But this is not so little. Therefore, there is a version that women did not wear them on their ears, but clung to the headdress on both sides. Note that what we call “Scythian gold” was made mostly by Greek masters to order the Scythians.”
“The wide gold cover of the Scythian headdress presented here shows a whole plot scene: a woman sitting on a throne with a cup and a mirror in her hands. At her feet is a man with a horn (rhyton), probably filled with wine. And the figures of some people – honor. Some scholars believe that this is the scene of the secret wedding of the goddess and the Scythian king. According to another interpretation of researchers, this is an image of the afterlife: the ancestor of the Scythian kings Kolaksai after his death appeared before the goddess of the afterlife. She looks in the mirror and sees in it the way of life of Kolaksai.”[Igor OSIPCHUK, “FACTS”]
Reconstruction of Scythian women’s headdresses (based on the materials of Chervonoperekop mounds); Lyubov Klochko
- Types of decorative elements in headwear of the Scythian women/ТИПЫ ДЕКОРАТИВНЫХ ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ В ОФОРМЛЕНИИ ГОЛОВНЫХ УБОРОВ СКИФЯНОК – Tyragetia, s.n., vol. VII [XXII], nr. 1, 2013, 19-28.
Liuba Klochko https://www.academia.edu