The British Museum’s latest exhibition explores the history of the Scythians, the nomadic tribes who lived between 900 and 200 BC. Here is what critics have been saying about it:
The Guardian: **** ” The result is beguiling, but by the end it gets a bit narrow and enclosed. Perhaps that, too, is an accurate reflection of the Scythian world: horses, wine, war and good hemp to smoke – what else do you need?”
The Telegraph: ***** “takes you into territory that feels completely unfamiliar. It takes us inside the totemic mind of the original “threat from the east”, a people remote in time and distance, about whom, without these extraordinary objects, we would know almost nothing.”
The Times: ***** “Dazzling trek through the treasures of a lost empire.”
Evening Standard: **** “knew little about the Scythians before this show but quickly, whether through cheese or gold, became entranced by them.”
Culture Whisper: **** “The true magic of the exhibition can’t be found in the glow of the spectacular gold jewellery, but rather the intimacy with which we can view domestic artifacts – combs, fingernails, a decorated women’s shoe – that offer a glimpse into the tribes’ lost way of life.”
2,500 years ago groups of formidable warriors roamed the vast open plains of Siberia. Feared, loathed, admired – but over time forgotten… Until now.
This major exhibition explores the story of the Scythians – nomadic tribes and masters of mounted warfare, who flourished between 900 and 200 BC. Their lifestyle and ferocity has echoed through the ages. Other groups from the Huns to the Mongols have followed in the Scythians’ footsteps – and they have even influenced the portrayal of the Dothraki in Game of Thrones. The Scythians’ encounters with the Greeks, Assyrians and Persians were written into history but for centuries all trace of their culture was lost – buried beneath the ice.
Scythians: Warriors of Ancient Siberia is on display at the British Museum until the 14th January 2018. For more information and to book tickets visit: http://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/exhibition-tickets/scythians-warriors-of-ancient-siberia