Barry Cunliffe, the Emeritus Oxford University Professor of European Archaeology, has form where the Scythians are concerned. His wonderfully full, commented bibliography (called Further Reading here) includes numerous examples of what we must now regard as his preparatory studies for this splendid volume under review. It is splendid in several ways, but not least in the number, range, and quality of its illustrations. (It takes six pages to list their sources, and the mere assemblage of them from a heterogeneous multiplicity of origins will have been a Herculean task.) Given all that, the book’s cover price is almost ridiculously low for what is also a beautifully produced hardback, so one can only assume that the publishers are anticipating or hoping for a large volume of sales.

Yet, though very clearly written and argued, this is not exactly a trade book for the general reader, let alone a coffee table book. Indeed, such readers might—as Professor Cunliffe himself recommends—be well advised to consult a good exhibition catalogue as “an ideal way to gather first impressions of the Scythians and their remarkable way of life.” There have been a number of Scythian-related exhibitions over the years, including a recent excellent one at the British Museum in 2017. I myself first encountered the Scythians—or rather their startlingly brilliant material remains—firsthand in 1975 in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), where I was privileged to be given a private tour by the late Professor Kseniya Gorbunova. But the more one