The Scythians
“The pastoral manners of the Scythians seem to unite the different advantages of simplicity and refinement.”
-Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 2.
The Steppe Saga takes place among tribes of nomadic horsemen who lived on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe between the 8th c. BCE and the 4th c. CE called the Scythians. A brief introduction…
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.
“The Archers”
The name “Scythian,” (pronounced with a hard “c” as in scale) is said to come from the Greek transliteration Σκῠ́θης (Skúthēs) of the Scythian Skuða, which is itself derived from Indo-European skeud-o (“shooter, archer”), which also gives us our English word shoot. Skuða, “the archers,” may be how they thought of themselves, and certainly what would have been their defining characteristic to others. Called the Askuzai by the Assyrians, they were known as Ashkenaz in the Bible. Several archaeologically distinct cultures have been identified, some of which may be attributed to historically named tribes with some confidence. However, the name Scythian belongs most properly to the tribes living on the Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea in approximately the 8th-2nd c. BCE.
More broadly, historians and anthropologists/archaologists might speak about the “Scythians” or the “Scythian World.” Though comprised of several distinct tribes with minor local and regional variations in things like styles of dress, pottery, or funerary architecture, the cultures referred to under this umbrella, including the closely related peoples known to history as Sauromatian/Sarmatian and Saka, all shared a remarkably similar core culture, economy, artistic style, spoke closely related languages, and appear to have traded extensively with one another. These tribes occupied the whole of the Eurasian steppe from the Danube River to the borders of China, southern Siberia, Northwest India, and ranged across the Caucasus into the Near East. While they likely viewed themselves as distinct from one another, to outside observers they appeared a singular entity, easily distinguished from their settled neighbors by their unique customs and way of life, perhaps much in the same way widely dispersed and fiercely tribal Americans recognize discrete regional, and even urban cultures (e.g. NY vs LA), but many foreigners would likely overlook those nuances and simply lump them all together as “Americans.” Further complicating identification of Scythians, they frequently mixed with peoples bordering their vast territories, even settling and farming in certain circumstances, and it is often difficult to tell just where their defining Scythian nomadism ends and something new begins… Their mobility and adaptability, while simultaneously maintaining a relatively stable and widespread tradition, appears to have been one of the keys to their longevity and success.
The advanced, extremely powerful composite recurve bow they developed and the style of mounted warfare they employed made them one of the most formidable and feared fighting forces of the ancient world. Worn at the left hip, the bow was carried in a gorytos, a combination bowcase and quiver. While they used several types of weapons from horseback including spears and lances and also deployed foot soldiers, it was mounted archery they used to the most devastating effect.
Poignant artworks and images from tombs depict the gorytos of the dead man hanging in the branches of the Tree of Life as if to say he’d “hung up his hat.” A man’s power and purpose in life seem to have been represented by his bow, and these attained some kind of fulfillment as his gorytos was hung up for the last time.
It goes without saying that the Scythians were expert horsemen who selectively bred several specialized types of horses and rode without the aid of stirrups. They also seem to have kept and cared for their favorite horses into advanced age. These horses, dressed lavishly in gold-studded tack or costumed as mythological animals, were the most frequent companions of their owners in the grave.
And because riding a horse and shooting a bow are more about skill than strength, women could and did participate in warfare, too. In southern Ukraine and Russia, some 25% of female Scythian burials excavated contained weapons, armor, and other traditionally male warrior goods, and their skeletons show evidence of horse riding and injuries consistent with battle. It is thought these women were the inspiration for the Greek myths and traveler’s reports about Amazons.
©2018 JM Elliott
Warriors, Oaths, and Blood Brotherhood
War and raiding were constant features of Scythian society. One consequence of their pastoralist lifestyle was that their highly portable wealth in livestock made an attractive target for thieves, and raiding became both a cost of doing business and a necessity of life. Anyone who wanted to survive had to be prepared to defend his own herds and to supplement them when necessary. Even into the modern era, cattle raiding in herding societies around the world is seen as an honorable profession and often viewed almost like a highly competitive sport between rival clans or tribes, undertaken for honor and glory as well as for wealth and sustenance.
The Scythians were also positioned at a natural crossroads at the center of several empires, all with their own designs on their resources. It was an incredibly harsh environment that produced an even more hardy and resourceful people, capable of defending themselves and mounting successful attacks against some of the mightiest armies of the ancient world including a long campaign in the Near East which took them all the way to Egypt, where the Pharaoh Psammetichus eventually bought them off. According to a legend related by Herodotus, they were only finally defeated through deception and treachery—enjoying a feast with the newly conquered Medes, the Scythian chiefs got drunk and were slaughtered by their Median hosts, ending their reign in the region.
When the Persian army under Darius marched against Scythia in 513/12 BCE, he could not catch much less defeat them, and abandoned the campaign in disgrace. But those who did meet them in battle found a well-armed, highly-effective force.
In a society that lacked walls, fortifications, written contracts and laws, courts, police, prisons, etc., one’s honor—the synthesis of personal character and public reputation into precarious status—would have taken on a weight beyond anything we can imagine today. Written accounts from foreign contemporaries speak of the Scythians as being simultaneously fierce and forthright, savage and just.
An emphasis was placed upon the trustworthiness, courage, and honesty of an individual because, in such an independent, self-reliant society, such conduct was all that stood between order and chaos. Within these “honor societies,” warriors often organized themselves into sworn brotherhoods—kin by choice—based upon their perceived courage and character as a necessary means of self-government and for the purpose of keeping external order. These war bands can be thought of like an early pagan version of the Arthurian knights, as they are rooted in the same values and traditions.
©2018 JM Elliott
Barbarians and Greeks
The Scythians were nomads who lived in felt or hide yurt-like dwellings and various types of wagons, and maintained herds of horses, cattle, sheep, and goats. Their diet depended heavily on meat and dairy, including a drink of fermented horse milk, which their Greek neighbors found strange, along with other “uncivilized” habits like wearing pants. It is very likely Scythians (or their predecessors) invented trousers to facilitate riding. Prior to this innovation, legwear amounted to something more akin to individual leggings or chaps suspended from a belt with a skirt draped over the exposed bits, which did little for the rider spending long hours on horseback. Nevertheless, Greeks and Romans never fully adopted trousers, forever associating it with the barbarian costume. Indeed, when ancient Greeks said the word “barbarian” it was likely an image of a Scythian that most sprang to mind. They shunned city life to live on horseback, were fierce fighters who made the skulls of their enemies into drinking cups (a workshop for skull-cups was discovered in the fort at Belsk/Gelonus) and they were practically giants for their time, with remains showing a majority of warriors were heavily built and exceeded 6’, with some exceeding 6’6.
Some tribes also settled full- or part-time and farmed in river valleys and the arable forest-steppe region growing wheat, barley, millet, and other crops. The nomads depended upon the farmers for the small quantities of grain and other produce they needed, and the nomads not only bred livestock and horses, but they maintained extensive trading networks across the steppe and could supply the settlements with a variety of practical and luxury goods. The Scythians also took advantage of the major rivers which crossed their territory North to South both for their abundance of fish, open salt flats, and for access to trade. The port city of Olbia would become the destination for the massive caravan route which led deep into Asia, and which was the precursor to the Silk Road.
The Scythians had a complex relationship with the Greeks whom they permitted to colonize the northern shores of the Black Sea beginning around 800 BCE. Despite the obvious culture clash between them, the contacts between the settled Greeks and the “barbarian” nomads were, for the most part, peaceful and mutually beneficial, at least in their early stages, with trade and intermarriage taking place between the two peoples for centuries. The Greeks depended heavily on the Scythians for goods like grain, leather, timber, and slaves to satisfy the demand back home. In one famous example, 300 Scythian “archers” were bought and brought to Athens to serve as a kind of police force, though it was their horsewhips rather than their bows that they used for crowd control.
Eyewitness Accounts: Library of Contemporary Texts and References
©2018 JM Elliott
The Otherworld
Little is known about the beliefs and religion of the Scythians beyond a brief comparative list of their gods given by Herodotus, and a vivid description of a royal burial provided by him which has been borne out by archaeological excavation.
Burials of kings and chiefs were made in monumental, multi-chambered tombs filled with household goods, gold artifacts, weapons, favorite horses, and sometimes accompanied by sacrificed members of the household. Bodies were elaborately embalmed so that they could make a forty-day journey by wagon around their former territory, and then a mound consisting of stacked blocks of turf like an earthen pyramid (or a stone cairn in the eastern territories) was raised over the tomb, some as high as 20 meters. Some concept of an afterlife is apparent, though where it was located or what it was like is a matter of speculation.
Other finds from burials include a glimpse of fantastical mythic creatures from art and the intricate tattoos preserved on the skin of mummies. The strange but beautiful “Scythian Animal Style” art features stylized predators and prey locked around one another in combat almost like a yin-yang, as well as mysterious hybrid creatures in semi-abstract designs.
No formal priesthood is recorded, but several classical authors refer to a class of transvestite diviners called “anarei” (from Indo-Iranian a - “not”, “un”, and nara - “man”— “not-man”, “un-man”) who were said to serve Artimpasa and used the inner bark or bast of the linden tree to prophecy. Burials of these individuals have been uncovered and in addition to feminine clothing included items such as mirrors and spindles (often used in divination), tattooing kits, and cosmetics such as white face paint.
One of the most enduring mysteries is the identity of the “Scythian Ares” mentioned by Herodotus, the only god in the Scythian pantheon known to be honored with a temple, yet not be named in their own language. He describes an outdoor platform of “brushwood” on which an ancient sword was thrust hilt-down and to which the blood of sacrificial victims was offered, particularly a selection of war captives. After having wine poured over their heads and their throats cut, the blood was poured out over the sword, then their right hands were cut off, thrown in the air, and left where they lay. Similar platforms were constructed in each district, and archaeological evidence has confirmed their existence, albeit made of earth and stone. The name and nature of this god and the purpose of these rituals has never been adequately explained.
Gods mentioned by Herodotus and their Greek counterparts :
Tabiti—“the burning one” —Queen of the gods and the hearth fire — Greek Hestia; Hindu Tapati.
Papaios—“papa” or perhaps “destroyer of sin/the wicked?” —God of the heavens, of law and justice — Greek Zeus
Api/Apia—“water” —Goddess of earth and water; likely the primary “anguipede goddess” (image at left) — Greek Gaia
Goitosyros—“mighty through incantation/invocation?” — Greek Apollo; Norse Odin; Germanic Gaut
Artimpasa— “Mistress of Beasts, e.g. she who ensures the ‘Arta’ (truth, universal order) of the ‘pasa’ (beasts/nature).” —Associated with Scythian diviners called “anareis” and likely the seated figure in the “coronation scenes” — Greek Aphrodite Urania (though she shares practical aspects and a likely etymology with Artemis)
Thagimasidas “wise patron/patron of the wise?” —Patron god of the Royal Scythian tribe — Greek Poseidon—(Could the name be an epithet of a Varuna-like figure?)
“Scythian Ares” — Unknown—The only god with dedicated sanctuaries constructed. Ritual sacrifices in the god’s honor (particularly of the right hand) are comparable to elements of other figures’ traditions (Bagos Papaios, Sabazios, Tyr/Tiw, Gaius Mucius Scaevola, Gothic “Mars,” etc.) There is an intriguing parallel with the Hindu Asi and some make the argument for the Ossetic/Nart hero Batraz because he is a warrior made of steel. And, of course, we assume “Ares” has a Greek origin and etymology, but the Greeks themselves say their Ares comes from Thrace, so perhaps we’ve known the name all along?
Targitau “thunder caller?” — Hero/Storm god —Greek Herakles; Germanic Thor; Celtic Taranis; Hindu Indra