„Scythian‟ Archers on Late Archaic Attic Pottery. A Reappraisal

Abstract

The representations of the so-called „Scythian‟ archers on late archaic Attic pottery form a set of evidence whose historical interpretation is very difficult, as the iconographic repertoire is complex and there are no significant literary sources to shed light on its meaning. According to the answers they give to questions such as whom the Attic painters intended to depict and what were the actual sources of inspiration for the „Scythian‟ archers, the modern essays of interpretation range from a „photographic‟ view to a „structuralist‟ perspective. However, the methods used until now for analysing the relevant pots are deemed not to be enough and a new methodology, inspired by semiotics and linguistics, is proposed.