Denis Topal of the National Archaeology And History Museum Of Moldova: “The overall shape of the ‘fish’ looks like a member of the genus Thunnus, perhaps Thunnus alalunga (Furtwaengler 1883, 6; Radcliffe 1921, 64; Redfern 2000, 408) or Thunnus thunnus: some deep sea or pelagic creature. Ilya Trombitsky, a biologist, believes it can be attributed to the Thunnus thunnus. In his opinion, the artist was guided by a commonly-held notion of such a ‘fish’s’ appearance but without actual knowledge of the same.
The images of rams, and the scenes of a bull being attacked by a lion (and a deer likewise) do indeed find exact analogies in the design of Monteleone chariot of the last quarter of the sixth century BC (Emiliozzi 2011, 36). Similarly for the split-finned tail, Attic rhyta in the shape of a ram’s head are known since the 470s BC. They were possibly inspired by oriental trends in Greek art associated with the Greco-Persian wars (Hoffmann 1961, 21)…
The fish is uncommon in the Eurasian bestiary of the Scythian era (Korolkova 2006, 37), being a peripheral motif in the animal style, and is even more rarely encountered in the Sarmatian period (Polidovich and Malyuk 2016, 209). A.R. Kantorovich (2018, 112) felt that the fish from Vettersfelde was executed in the Thracian or Greco-Thracian manner, but ‘not in any way in the canons of the Scythian animal style’. H. Kühn (1935, 140–2), J. Bouzek (1989, 29) and P. Alexandrescu (1997, 684) assigned the source of the jewellery from the Vettersfelde treasure to one of the Milesian colonies of the Western Black Sea region. The same point of view, reached albeit from a different line of thought, was expressed by A.I. Melyukova (1964, 49) and S.A. Skoriy (1985, 67).
Furtwaengler (1883, 32) and W. Ginters (1928, 18) were convinced of an Ionian origin of the items from Vettersfelde. A. A. Iessen (1947, 84) considered Olbia or Tyras to be the place of production. The analysis carried out by Redfern using the Macro Laser Imaging Technique showed that the items were all made in one workshop, which was not able to be located more precisely than ‘in the Black Sea region’ (Redfern 2000, 417). V. Megaw (2005, 36) also remarked on the Ionian and Persian ‘orientalizing influences’, but linked the origin of artefacts with the Lower Dnieper…
It is important here too to observe that the tuna Thunnus was the symbol of Cyzicus (Greenwell 1887, 22). The tuna, the most important fish for Cyzicus, as well as the sacrificial animal of Poseidon, appears on the coins of this Milesian colony earlier than on the coins of other Mediterranean poleis, back in the sixth century BC (Di Natale 2014, 2831). According to Herodotus, Poseidon was also present in the pantheon of the Royal Scythians under the name of Thagimasades (Hdt. 4: 59). In addition to the tuna, all the other images present on items in the animal style from Vettersfelde find analogies on the Cyzicus coins. There is also direct evidence of a connection between Cyzicus and the Scythians. First, there is the famous episode when the representative of the Scythian royal family, Anacharsis, brought the cult of the Mother goddess to Scythia from this polis (Hdt. 4: 76). Second, Cyzicus minted coins with the image of a Scythian (Rostovtsev 1925, 442; Skrzhinskaya 2001, 223).”
Gold Fish Plaque from Vettersfelde: Ornament of Scythian Shield >
Anacharsis, ‘Ukrainian’ Scythian Philosopher >
“Cradle of Civilizations” book takes a closer look at the history of the region mentioned in the article. “Royal Scythia, Greece, Kyiv Rus” explores the culture of the Royal Scythians.
