The Scythians: Nomad Warriors of the Steppe

What an exciting story! The author takes us into a culture that had no written language, and shows connections to other societies past and present.

The Scythians are not the focus of most other historical works. This book is well written and wonderfully produced (beautiful illustrations and insightful diagrams and maps). The author provides in depth consideration of the history of the Scythians, and of the history of the historical study of the Scythians (thank you Tzars). All the relevant issues are dealt with; culture, general movement of peoples, terrain and its relationship to these peoples, religious beliefs, interactions with other cultures of the period, etc etc. No stone is left unturned, if there is a stone to turn that is (as in historical work sometimes the stones are just not there). I am pleased to have this book in my library.

The book summarizes most of what is known about the Scythians. Occasionally it spends perhaps too much time discussing the layout and contents of each kurga ("burial site"), but I suppose that's all the historians / archaeologists have to work with. The bigger issue is that the maps tend to have poor color selections which can be hard to see against the background colors, and sometimes the colors are too close to each to tell them apart.

It's a beautiful book, and I can't wait to have a look inside, sold to me in "new" condition.....however in taking it out of the shipping box, the front dust jacket is bent, and it has some dried substance on the back and greasy fingerprints on front & back dust jacket..... and now I've set it aside & am contemplating returning it, kind of worried & sick to my stomach. In this day & age of Covid, amazon's suppliers & packers should be much more careful about things like that & should wash their hands! Really???? Quite bummed out because I really wanted to read this book.

I would have to admit that any historic book that delves into archeology tend to be dry and monotonous to read. However, this author has done what I had thought nearly improbable, he blends archeology and ancient texts to tell the story of the ancient people in a way that is captivating and not mind-numbing.

A well consructed and well written monograph that shines a powerful and rare illumination upon the long and largely unknown story of a region and it's mysterious peoples. A very nice read. I knew nothing about the Scythians before I read this book.

Cunliffe is my favorite author.

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This is a review based on historical accounts and archeology. Good as far as it goes. Would be interesting to know what genetic studies have disclosed about Scythians and their descendants.

Keeping track of modern man with all our various records is a challenge but keeping track of early nomadic communities who left relatively few remains is demanding of the most incredible archaeology. Cunnliffe’s customary excellence and honesty and detailed analysis makes this a great read of those who left no cities to admire but who were admirable nevertheless

The effortless, detailed scholarship of Cunliffe is astounding, when talking about Celts, or in this case the ScythiansHe seamlessly brings the classical texts, and archaeology together to give a vivid and, compelling picture of the Scythian people, their interaction with the rest of the world, and leaves a view that there is lots more to be done in the discovery of these pointed hatted warriors, who easily defeated the Persians 20 years before Marathon.

This book is so lavishly illustrated that it is like a tour through not just one but numerous museums, accompanied by a guide who is a leading expert in the field. The paperback is a bargain for a thing of such beauty and fascination.

Excellent graphics and a fascinating and comprehensive account by one of the country’s outstanding archaeologists.