Pestvidéki Ásványbánya Vállalat

The Hungarian center of the Roman stone-carving art epoch was in Pécs. While its influence was found throughout Dunántúl (Transdanubia) its richest relics are seen in the Cathedral of Pécs. Perhaps even more typical are the sculpted ornaments of the Ják Church. The Esztergom ornamental gate, Porta Speciosa, made in the 12th century, is the highest esteemed example of Romanesque sculpture.

The Hungarian Gothic sculpture developed a style cognizant of the European trends but still preserving the traditions. The bundled pillars’ chapter series in the main sanctuary of the St Mihály Church in Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and scenes from the life of citizens are examples of both progress and tradition. Sculptors Márton (Martin) and György (George) Kolozsvári were the greatest artists of the second half of the 14th century, whose work included the royal statues of István (Stephen), László (Ladislas) and Imre (Emeric), and the equestrian statue of St. László. While these were destroyed around 1600, the surviving creation of the mounted dragon-slayer, the St George statue in Prague, made in 1373, is representative of their superb craftsmanship. In the palace gardens of Visegrád, the octagonal wellhouse, with its finely modeled column capitals, buttresses and waterspouts, was made during the reign of King Zsigmond (Sigismund). The outstanding examples of the architectural sculptures in the royal cities included the Cathedral of Kassa (now Košice, Slovakia), the Black Church of Brassó (now Brasov, Romania), the Lutheran Church of Szászsebes (now Sebes, Romania) and the statues in Buda. The Knights’ Hall of the Vajdahunyad Fortress (now Hunedoara Castle, Romania), and the “Lion-Well” (Oroszlános kút) Visegrád, carved from red marble around 1473, represent the summit of technical and artistic expression.

The masters of woodcarving came primarily from the citizenry from the main centers of Kassa (now Kosiče, Slovakia), the mining towns of Szepesség, Kolozsvár and Sopron. In Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania), urban influences were developed further through the creation of distinctive rural works originating from Csíksomlyó (now Sumuleu Ciuc, Romania). The Maria, Madonna of the Valley was one of the earliest pieces from the 13th century. The Madonna of Toporc appeared in the 15th century. Besides the many luxuriously carved, painted, and gilded triptychs, the works of the eminent master Pál (Paul) Lőcsei, found in the St Jakab Church are memorable. The superbly crafted high altar in the St Jakab Church of Lőcse (now Levoča, Slovakia) and the Lord's Coffin in Garamszentbenedek (now Hronský Beňadik, Slovakia), are in a class by themselves.

The Scythians came into the Pontus region and Asia Minor in the 8th century B.C. They moved into the northern part of the Black Sea and the Kuban-Don regions in the 7th-6th centuries B.C., displacing the Cimmerians. In 640 B.C., the Babylonians under king Nabopolassar united with an army of the Medes under Cyaxares and, with a contingent of Scythians from the Caucasus, destroyed Nineveh. The Scythians attacked Northern Iran (Media) and from there waged devastating campaigns into Mesopotamia, Syria and Asia Minor, attacking the Assyrian Empire in 612 B.C. They clashed with the Persians, and Cyrus the Great was killed in a local conflict with the Sakas in 529 B.C. Darius I also conducted a hopeless war against them in 516 B.C. Later the Scythians spread westward, north of the Black Sea, crossed the Carpathian Mountain Range and occupied Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania), and most of the Great Hungarian Plain.

In the 5th century, Herodotos, known as the Father of History, traveled in the vicinity of the Black Sea and in the land of the Scythians. His stories about the Scythians’ customs were later validated by modern archeology.

A detached branch of the Royal Scythians ventured north in the middle of the 7th century B.C., and settled around the lower tributaries of the River Ob in Siberia. The recently excavated Scythian graves in Pazyryk attest to their presence there. They ruled over Asia for 28 years. They led military campaigns all over Asia Minor, through Mesopotamia and Syria to Egypt. Darius led an unsuccessful military expedition against them at the end of 6th century BC. In the days of the Assyrian king Assarhaddon, ca. 679 B.C., the ancient Israelite city of Beth-She’an fell to the invading Scythians, who built there a city that became known as Scythopolis. Following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Middle East, during the Seleucid era in the 4th century B.C., the Greeks and allied peoples established in Palestine 10 cities, called Decopolis, of which Scythopolis was one. It later passed from Greek to Roman, then to Byzantine, and finally to Islamic rule and flourished until an earthquake destroyed it around 749 A.D. It is now called Beisan.

From the 3rd century B.C. onwards, Neopolis on the Crimean Peninsula was the capital of the Royal Scythians, who lived in the region until the Sarmatians replaced them. Following the war between the Cimmerians and Scythians living on the northern shores of the Black Sea, the advance guards of the Scythians, the Agatirs, were already in the Carpathian Basin, at the headwaters of the River Maros, around 550 BC. Other Scythian peoples followed them later. In 500 BC, they already held the larger southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain (Nagy Alföld), and their smaller units advanced as far as the Rivers Vág, Nyitra and Garam. They occupied the banks of the River Dráva, and the upper course of the Száva River. Their practice of mainly animal husbandry and craftsmanship did not disturb the local population of Transylvania (Erdély) or the people of Transdanubia (Dunántúl). Subsequently they established a large commercial network with peoples living near and far. Their closest group, the Szeklers, kept not only their beliefs in the Scythian legend of origin, but also their Szekler names and their geometric runic script. One of their groups called “Úz” somehow survived in Transylvania. The Scythian state flourished in the 2nd century BC; but their empire collapsed in the 3rd century AD under the pressure of the great East-West migration.

The Scythians lived in tribal societies. Every now and then, new tribal coalitions were formed, and even new languages developed among them. Curtius wrote (1st century A.D.) that: “The Scythians, Dahae, Massagates and Sacas were of the same nation.”

The first to describe the life style of these tribes was the Greek historian, Herodotus of Halicarnassus in Book IV of his Persian Wars. Although he concentrates on the tribes living in modern Ukraine, which he calls Scythian, we may extrapolate his description to people in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and possibly Mongolia, even though Herodotus calls these eastern nomads Sacae. However, just as the Scythians and the Sacae shared the same life style, they had the same name: in their own language they called themselves Skolot. The Persians rendered it as Saka, the Greeks as Skythai, the Chinese called them, at a later stage in history, Sai; the Assyrians called them Ashguzai. In the Old Testament they appear as Ashkenazi. Babylonian inscriptions refer to them as Umman-manda. Their empire, at different times, reached to China and India in the east, to Mesopotamia and Persia in the south, to Siberia in the north and to present day Hungary in the west.

The Scythians, founders of the Eurasian equestrian civilizations, developed the mounted battle technique of the steppes that determined the outcome of wars for several centuries. They invented the saddle, the bridle and iron bit. They were armed with battle-axes, long lances, and short composite or reflex bows made of wood, bone, horn and sinew, with triple-edged arrowheads of stone, bronze and iron. These reflex bows were deadly instruments that could shoot arrows as far as several hundred meters. In battle the Scythians wore peaked bronze helmets and chain-mail jerkins over short, belted jackets and tight felt trousers with knee-high, softsoled boots. Their shields were made of leather, wood or iron. Arrows and bow were carried in a gorytos (bow case) slung from the left side of the belt. Scythian horses were also outfitted in ornate costumes and were seen ridden for the first time among the peoples they descended upon. These terrifying apparitions must have given rise to the various Centaur-myths. One of their fighting techniques was shooting backwards over their horses’ croups as they turned away from the enemy, feigning flight. Each man had at least one personal mount; but the wealthy owned large herds of horses, chiefly Asian ponies called taki.

The noble ladies wore long, loose garments, multi-stranded necklaces of gold and semi-precious stones, embroidered leather slippers and high, elaborate, jewel-encrusted headdresses. When they rode they were dressed in hip-length, snow-white felt stockings – decorated with appliqués of animals – with skirts over them. Both men and women were heavily tattooed.

Gold played a vital role in the myths of the Scythians. One of the myths that appear in Herodotus involves four golden objects: a plough, a yoke, a battle-axe and a drinking cup. These fell from the sky and three brothers rushed forward to retrieve them. When the two older brothers approached them however, the objects burst into flame. And so only Colaxais, the youngest brother, succeeded and thus became king. This myth, according to some scholars, explains the division of the Scythians into four tribes: the labourers, the farmers, the nomads, and the Royal Scythians, who ruled over the rest.

We learn from Herodotus that the nomad tribes “Having neither cities nor forts, (they) carry their dwellings wherever they go, their wagons, the only houses they possess…”. Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) later expanded Herodotus’ account: “The smallest of these wagons have four wheels, but some have six; they are covered with felt, and are constructed in the manner of houses, some having but a single apartment, and some three; they are proof against rain, snow and winds. The wagons are drawn by yokes of oxen…” The other tribes lived in fortified settlements.

Active trading took place with Greece, the Crimea, Bactria and Assyria.

As they left behind no written records, their language too has remained a controversial issue. The 19th century pan-Indo-German (European) movement attempted to populate the entire Eurasia with “superior Aryan” races and languages, and declared the Scythians an Indo-European race and their language to be an Iranian dialect (Müllenhoff and Zeuss). However, apart from a few common words recorded by Herodotus, there are about eight greatly distorted (Hellenized) personal names, of which only two could be termed as Indo-Aryan (Götz). One of their kings was called Skylas; another Prothotyes (Parta-tua or Barta-tua), whose son’s name was Mady-es (the –es, -as, -us Greek endings can be dispensed with). Bilingual texts perceived to be Persian-Scythian have not been deciphered to this day. The Persians never considered the Scythians a related people; they later referred to the Turks as “Sakas”.

Scythian gold and silver ornaments, ivory carvings and ornamented vessels are outstanding works of art, showing strong Mesopotamian, Urartian and Greek influences. The favorite decorative motives were birds, panthers, griffins, winged lions, stags, and the tree of life. Their totem animal was the stag, of which superbly crafted gold examples came to light in Russia, as well as in Hungary.

Some of the more famous Scythian burial mounds or kurgans in Asia and Europe are: (1) in the Kuban-region in the Northern Caucasus: Kelemers; (2) in the Dnieper-region: Melgunov, Chertomlik and Soloha; (3) in the Don-region: “Five Brothers” and Oguz; (4) in the Crimean Peninsula: Kul-Oba and Dort-Oba; (5) in the Carpathian Basin (Hungary): Tápiószentmárton, Zöldhalompuszta and Szentes-Vekerzug; (6) in Asia – Pazyryk, Katanda and Basadra. From the 6th century B.C. Ziwiyeh kurgan, located near Lake Urmia in Azerbaijan, a gold seal came to light displaying five tulips rising from a common stem. This is the earliest known representation of the flower.

Scythian royalty - kings and queens, princes and princesses – interred in these kurgans were magnificently fitted out with gifts of gold and silver objects, jewelry, beautifully woven and appliquéd carpets and saddle covers, silks from China, foodstuff, wagons, gold-inlaid iron daggers, elaborately carved bridles, drinking horns, wine flagons, gold and silver cups, as well as fully caparisoned horses, women (probably concubines) and servants, all killed and placed next to their royal masters.

The most famous Scythian find was the cache of gold found in Siberia at the beginning of the 18th century, 120 objects in all. They are now in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

According to the Greeks, the Scythians adored the Sun god (Oetosyrus), the god of Fire (Tabiti), the god of Heaven (Papeus), and the Earth goddess (Apia). Their kings were also their High Priests. The Scythians had shamans, practicing sorcery and witchcraft, as well as augury, but had no temples or altars.

The Scythians practiced a rite of brotherhood, “a compact sealed with blood”, immortalized by a 2-inch gold plaque from the 4th century B.C., showing two warriors drinking from a common vessel. Herodotus described it thus: “They pour into a great cup wine mingled with the blood of the parties to the oath. They dip their weapons into it and then drink.”

Hungarian folk traditions, as well as mediaeval and later chroniclers – Anonymus, Kézai, Bonfini, etc. - maintain that the Magyars came from the land of Scythia, and are derived from the Scythian (szittya) nation. These traditions must have had some historical foundation; for wherever the proto-Magyars lived, they must have belonged at one time or another to the vast Scythian empire. There are many common elements in their manner of warfare, customs, religious traditions, art, and attire.

For instance, according to one of the Hungarian “Miraculous Stag” legends, it was a stag that led the two brothers, Hunor and Magor into the Maeotis-marshes (Sea of Azov region on the Crimea), where they found the beautiful daughters of king Dula (probably of the Alans), abducted them and married them; thus they became the ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars.

According to the 12th century chronicler, Anonymus, the Magyars originally resided in Scythia, which they called Dentü-Moger. There the Leaders of the seven tribes entered into a “Blood Covenant” in the Scythian manner before they undertook the conquest of the Carpathian Basin in A.D. 895-896.

According to the Legend of St Gellért (Saint Gerard), the Hungarians rebelled against King Péter and defiantly returned to the adoration of the Scythian gods. The Hungarian chronicles and legends, together with the Codices of the Árpád era, as well as Bonfini refer to the same rebellion and stated “…the Hungarians relapsed into pagan tradition and turned again to the Scythian gods”. The affair of their pagan belief was lost forever with János, son of the rebel chief Vata. Today only fragments of the memory of this rebellion survive in the legends, folk recollections and inadvertently through the use of the common language.

The Magyars’ manner of equestrian warfare and their weaponry – battle-axes (fokos), composite or reflex bows – were nearly identical to those of the Scythians. Their custom of shooting backwards with their deadly arrows on the pursuing enemy was a similar technique. The Hungarian saddles of the 9-10th centuries are hardly distinguishable from the Scythian ones. Their manner of attire also shows numerous similarities – peaked helmets, trousers, belted jackets, high boots and bow cases. Especially the women’s tall headdresses show remarkable likeness to those worn in certain Hungarian regions.

Scythian ornamentation and motifs: winged lions, the gyrfalcon (turul), griffins, the tulip, the tree of life – and especially the stag, all have their Hungarian counterparts.

The ancient Magyars also adored the Sun, Fire and the Earth. Their Supreme Chief – the Kündü – was called “Son of the Sun” (Nap Fia). In ceremonial processions they carried a golden Sundisk before him. Their custom of burying their dead soldiers and princes with their mounts too has a Scythian analogy.

The last Scythian king was Palak(us).

They rode out of history as Scythians in the 2nd century B.C., only to reappear later as Sarmatians, Parthians, Huns, Sabirs, Avars and Magyars. They left behind no written record. All they left were some of the finest gold artifacts in the world. – B: 1020, 1230, 1138, 1141, 1153, 7617, T: 7617, 3240.→Scythia; Scythian-Hungarian Runic Writing; Wondrous Stag Legend; Blood Covenant or Treaty; Pre-Scythians; Chorezm; Pazyryk Scythian Graves, Alma-Ata, Runic Inscription Russia; Szamosközi, István (2); Sarmatians; Szeklers; Transylvania; Bonfini, Antonio.