Zaria was a princess-not by blood but by capture. She was abducted in her teens from the western Slavic tribes and kept as a virgin by the powerful warring king, Sharvur. Cruel and strategically gifted, his Scythian armies controlled all the territo...
For those of us beguiled by the speculative life of "Zaria," the "Tattooed Princess," and her possible adventures in the ancient world, we would like to know she lived on romantically and vivaciously to an advanced age. Sadly, however, this was not the case.
In 1993, on the bleak and frozen steppes near the border of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia—high in the Altai Mountains, a circular tomb, was found in the icy tundra. In what was obviously a royal burial chamber, the body of a young woman, remarkably preserved in the ice was unearthed by Russian archaeologists. What was most remarkable about her were the fanciful and compelling tattoos still visibly embellished over her arms, back and shoulders. The imaginative designs and beast-like creatures found etched upon the young woman has puzzled and inspired many historians, mythologists and anthropologists for decades. The mysterious body art which she carried to her grave some 2500 years ago, is thought by many to be the most fanciful of its type ever discovered from past cultures.
The woman's apparel and attending objects found carefully placed with her, suggested much preparation and worldly wealth for this "Siberian Ice Princess" as she was also called in years past. According to the team of international specialists who examined the site, there was evidence that the young woman was royally interred with much pre-planning and care. The nature of the site was indicative of great reverence and respect for the decorated person laid to rest within. Nearby, in other graves, were found the frozen bodies of two men, also with imaginative shoulder tattoos and six horses to accompany them into the afterlife.
It was speculated by forensic scientists that the woman in question had died somewhat mysteriously in her early twenties. And this, while occupying some significant position of power or worship among the horse-loving Pazyryk nomads who roamed this vast region above the Black Sea---some two and a half millennia before our time.
But who was she? What did she accomplish in her young life that warranted such admiration among these warring peoples known for their constant raids and incursions upon other cultures of Eurasia? The fact that the Tattooed Princess' DNA did not match the Pazyryk people who eventually interred her, suggests perhaps that she was originally taken as a slave into their society and was possibly elevated by some series of deeds to a high rank. What remains equally mysterious is how and why the "princess" died so young. Once again, speculation runs high and wide, though recent forensic evidence into her find suggests she may have died of natural causes.
In a land known also to be the home territories of the legendary Amazons—that all-female nomadic culture from the same time period, one can only wonder what influence these brave women may have had upon the princess' strength and character, especially to be revered with such respect in death.
One thing that can be assured about our fanciful "Zaria," was that the young woman lived a full and exciting life to be elevated from possible sex-slave to royal personage of a dominant and foreign culture. We can only hope that her story was as rich and meaningful as we surmise in the world of fantasy—and just maybe, it was even richer, more meaningful, and ultimately as romantic.
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