An equestrian nomadic people with ancient Eastern Iranic roots, the Skythians originated somewhere in Central Asia, and moved to the steppe lands in what is now Russia and Ukraine by the Eighth Century BC. Skilled warriors, the Skythians displaced the native Agathyrsi and Kimmerians to become the dominant force on the Eurasian Steppe. Their military exploits were famed; even their name, coming from their word skuoata (‘bowmen’), refers to their martial prowess. Their expansion was ruthless, and they soon covered a vast area from Romania in the west to Kazakhstan in the east, from Siberia in the north to the Levant in the south. Their legends come down to us largely through the historian Herodotos, whose work portrays them as the antithesis to the settled, civilised Greeks. In his view, they are entirely uncivilised, and even ignorant (Herodotos Histories 4.46.1). As he reports, they have ‘neither cities nor forts, and carry their dwellings with them wherever they go: they are accustomed, moreover, to shoot from horseback’, but he grudgingly accepts that their mobility is their great advantage: ‘how can they fail to be unconquerable, or unassailable even?’ (Herodotos Histories 4.46.3).

Herodotos’ report is, however, unfair. The Skythians may not have, on the whole, had cities – though the Bosporan Skythians in the Crimea occupied the luxurious city of Pantikapaion – but their artistic and cultural production was nonetheless impressive. In the absence, exceptions noted, of permanent cities, the Skythians did not often produce large artworks of the type so familiar to the Greeks. But in the place of great statues in marble, the Skythians had small personal items in metal. Skythian metalworking was among the most impressive in the Ancient World, responding to a wealth of foreign influences, and drawing from the Skythians’ own deep history and attachment to the natural world. As a result of their nomadic lifestyle, moving with the herds, the Skythians of the Eurasian Steppe made artworks that were deliberately portable, and especially excelled at making appliqués, small metal plates designed to be attached to clothing, weaponry, or horses. The wealth of Skythian appliqué is extraordinary; the most commonly depicted subjects are the deer and elk on which the Skythians relied for food. Horses and riders were also a common theme, reflecting the centrality of the horse in Skythian society. Other common themes included fights between animals; lions (remembered from the Skythians’ distant past as an Iranian people) hunting deer, humans tackling animals, or even mythical creatures like gryphons.

This unusual bronze comes in a different category entirely: the geometric form. Skythians, so attached to their natural environment, were generally unconcerned with the abstract or geometric. However, shield bosses – another important type of Skythian metalwork – did frequently employ simple geometric shapes. This cross, predating Christian use of the symbol by five centuries or so, may well be an example of a shield boss. Two types of shields were used by the Skythians, known by archaeologists as ‘fencing shields’ or ‘cover shields’. Fencing shields were round, moon-shaped shields, with a notch at the top on which one could rest a spear or sword for jabbing at the enemy. Cover shields were oval shields worn by cavalrymen, designed to be manoeuvrable, able to be positioned from side to side or front to back in battle to provide cover at all angles. Both types of shields were made from wood, and were often covered with metal scales as well as bronze appliqués, providing both additional protection and decoration which might distinguish the higher-ranked chiefs from their warriors. Alternatively, this cross may be a clothing appliqué, applied in all likelihood to the chest area of a high-ranking Skythian’s shirt. The four arms of the cross are decorated with hammered decoration; the upper and lower arms with dotted roundels, the left arm with a series of chevrons, and the right with a zig-zag. The central boss is raised and ringed with dots. If this is, in fact, a shield appliqué, the raised boss (or umbo) would help to deflect downward blows, and provide a solid nub with which to use the shield offensively. Each arm has four small holes for attachment to another material, either cloth or wood.