Ukrainian Post issued a souvenir sheet "Pectoral" displaying "the most significant", according to experts, archeological find of the twentieth century – the breast ornament of Scythian king from the Tolstaya Mogyla mound.
Pectoral (from Lat. Pectorale - "concerning the chest, relating to chest") is a breast ornament which could be part of the defensive ammunition of a warrior. Probably it comes from the military equipment protecting the upper part of the chest, the throat and the shoulders.
The pectoral from the Tolstaya Mogyla mound is the decoration of Scythian king made from the gold of 958 order weighing 1150 g and having diameter of 30.6 cm which was found by the Ukrainian archeologist Boris Mozolevskiin June 21, 1971 during the excavation of the Tolstaya Mogyla mound in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The find is dated by the IV century BC and is stored at the State Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine in Kiev.
The pectoral consists of three moonlike tiers interconnected by golden braids. The lower tier depicts animalistic scenes in volving mythologic aland realistic animals. The middle tier features floral motifs. On the top there are scenes involving the Scythians and their domestic pets. There are several versions of interpretations of the depicted subjects.
According to one of them, the pectoral depicts everyday scenes from the life of the Scythians. According to another – Scythian legend about the Golden Fleece and two brothers who were seeking for it. Also, there is a version that the decoration is a map of Great Scythia and the Scythian calendar.
