Because it was a primary weapon of the Scythians, a sword was frequently placed in warrior graves.
This sword and scabbard were found in Tovsta Mohyla barrow, just before the entrance to the grave of the Scythian king. The sword was enclosed in a wooden scabbard (fragments of wood and leather survived on an iron blade) covered with a golden plaque, which repeats the form of a scabbard.
The relief over the blade features multiple scenes of animal combat: proceeding from the crossguard, two cocks are posed beak to beak; a griffin attacks a stag; a lion and a griffin attack a horse; a spotted leopard attacks a stag; and a spotted leopard and lion confront each other. On the flap, a horned lion-griffin, whose legs end in talons, crouches with the flared wing as if ready to spring. Its undulating tail ends in a serpent head. The hole at the edge of the flap was used to secure it to a belt. The sword hilt is decorated with a round pommel featuring a crouching stag, a lioness bringing down a goat and the Greek god Pan flanked by two recumbent goats.
Related images are known in Greek-Scythian art of the 4th century BC. They had symbolic meaning for the Scythians. But the image of Pan and the brawl of two cocks were discovered for the first time on such types of Scythian armament pieces.
