The matrix-hammered gold plaque was attached to a wooden and leather gorytos. Leather or wooden goryti were designated for bow and arrows. They were worn leftwards, connected to belt.
This gorytos was found in a 20 cm deep cache in a noble Scythian male burial of Melitopol` barrow. Thanks to the cache, the gorytos wasn`t noticed by thieves who robbed all valuables from the barrow in the ancient times. Almost decayed wooden base was decorated by the golden cover. There were approximately 70 arrowheads with shafts remains in the gorytos. They were painted by transversal red stripes.
The golden cover carries some episodes from the myth about Achilles. Emotionality of some heroes was recreated successfully, which brings this piece of toreutics closer to sculptural friezes and monumental painting of High Classical and Hellenistic periods.
Four identical golden covers were found for the entire period of the Scythian barrows research. Three barrows – Chortomlyk, Illintsi, Melitopol – are located in the steppe zone of Ukraine and 8th Pyatybratniy (Five Brothers) – in the Don region. The golden cover from Illintsi was lost during the II World War.
