More than a thousand objects made of precious metals were discovered in the royal burial mound No. 8 of the kurgan complex “Five Brothers”. Among them was a kalathos, a female ceremonial headdress of the Scythian period. The kalathos was adorned with numerous gold plaques.
The central band of the kalathos features a relief pattern of sphinxes and eagle-headed griffins. The plate is framed by a bead-like thick ornament, which mimics a rope. There are holes for fastening punched into the band.
On the lower band, there is a relief pattern depicting a mythological scene — an image of a seated sphinx with outstretched wings and two bodies. Its tail is raised and the head is facing forward, resembling a mask. There is also a rim around the head. The sphinx is portrayed schematically, and the plate again features a bead-shaped border.
The upper band is decorated with zoomorphic and floral motifs. The lower frieze consists of images of human faces, with decorative belts in the lower part. The space between outer semicircular elements is filled with downward-facing palmettes. Fastening holes are punched in the band.
The kalathos features additional decorative strings with amphora-shaped pendants. Each pendant has a base in the form of an arcuate strip. Thin, arcuate, rectangular fasteners with longitudinal recesses in the center are attached to the strings by soldering. The unattached ends of the fasteners have a pointed shape that continues as a thin wire with a circular cross-section. The wire bends upward and presses against the base of the fastener, creating a suspension hook. An amphora-shaped pendant hangs from each fastener. The pendants are hollow and consist of two halves.
The gold band, known as the stlengida, was part of the kalathos headdress and was located at the topmost row of its sewn-on decorations. The ribbon was adorned with a complex vegetal design consisting of acanthus branches arranged in a zigzag pattern. These branches were braided with palmettes, lotus flowers, shoots, and rosettes. The edges of the ribbon were framed by a convex border with oblique notches. The holes for fastening were punched into the ribbon.
The kalathos also featured another element — a veil. This veil was embroidered with 67 golden plaques with the image of Demeter, who was depicted facing the viewer, with prominent facial features. Her hair cascaded in lush waves, framing her face, and curls fell over her shoulders. A veil was draped over her head, and a massive torc — a hoop-shaped ornament — adorned her neck. To the right of her head, there was a torch. The entire design was framed by a border consisting of parallel convex ovals, and holes were punched in the corners of each plaque for fastening.
