The Scythians
Lost Civilizations
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Reaktion Books
Publishing:15th Jun '26
£18.00
This title is due to be published on 15th June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
The Scythians offers a bold new take on the horse-riding peoples who once inhabited the vast steppe lands from the Black Sea to the Siberian Altai. Drawing on archaeological finds, ancient texts and comparative insights, Caspar Meyer shows how these communities forged dynamic networks rooted in art, mobility and interspecies relationships. He brings ancient and modern encounters with the Scythians into dialogue – from Herodotus’ ethnography to modernist art and contemporary national imaginations – revealing how their literary and visual afterlives continue to shape our understanding. Long reduced to barbarian stereotypes, the Scythians emerge as cultural innovators and co-creators of Eurasian history. Lively, accessible and thought-provoking, this book opens up a world in which people and things move together in unexpected and transformative ways.
"This bold and ambitious book brings to life the horse-riding peoples of the Eurasian steppe while also exploring the political conditions that have shaped their discovery and study from Imperial Russia to the present. It offers a nuanced account of Western, Russian, and Ukrainian scholarship, presenting major anthropological theories accessibly and vividly illustrating how textual sources and archaeology together illuminate the past." - Karen S. Rubinson, Research Associate, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University
"Highly evocative, insightful and utterly compelling, Caspar Meyer’s fascinating reassessment of Scythian civilization reshapes our understanding of how Scythian nomads experienced their world. A masterful and often intimate portrait of steppe nomad society, Meyer’s book challenges modern preconceptions and assumptions concerning both their way of life and our own. An astonishing tour de force." - Joseph Skinner, Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek History, Newcastle University
ISBN: 9781836391937
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
240 pages