Who Built the Scythian and Thracian Royal and Elite Tombs?

This paper discusses the complex and controversial problems of Scythian and Thracian royal and élite tombs of the fifth/fourth centuries BC. The similarities beween them are too great to be explained simply as coincidence. Although the inspiration for the type of chamber tomb might have been local, the architecture, painting and many other features show that Ionian Greeks were constructing them for the local élite. This conclusion is strongly supported by the close similarities between these tombs and those of the rulers and élite of the Bosporan Kingdom in the Kerch and Taman Peninsulas of a similar date.