Scythians

Scythianredirects here. For the obsolete stratigraphic

term, see Early Triassic. For the languages, see Scythian
languages.

Gold Scythian belt title, Mingachevir (ancient Scythian kingdom),

Azerbaijan, 7th century BC.

Scythians shooting with the Scythian bow, Kerch (ancient

Panticapeum), Crimea, 4th century BC

classical Scythiansknown to ancient Greek historians

were located in the northern Black Sea and fore-Caucasus
region. Other Scythian groups documented by Assyrian,
Achaemenid and Chinese sources show that they also existed in Central Asia, where they were referred to as
the Iskuzai/Askuzai, Saka (Old Persian: Sak; New Persian/Pashto: ;Sanskrit: aka; Greek: ;
Latin: Sacae), and Sai (Chinese: ; pinyin: Si), respectively.* [9]

Gold Scythian pectoral, or neckpiece, from a royal kurgan in

Tolstaya Mogila, Ordzhonikidze, Ukraine, dated to the second
half of the 4th century BC. The central lower tier shows three
horses, each being torn apart by two grins.

The Scythians (/si.n/ or /si.n/; from Greek , ), also known as Scyth, Saka, Sakae,
Sacae, Sai, Iskuzai, or Askuzai, were a large group of
Iranian* [1]* [2]* [3]* [4]* [5]* [6] nomads who were mentioned by the literate peoples surrounding them as inhabiting large areas in the central Eurasian steppes from
about the 9th century BC up until the 4th century
AD.* [7] Their Scythian languages probably belonged to
the Eastern branch of the Iranian languages.* [8] The

The relationships between the peoples living in these

widely separated regions remains unclear. The term
Scythianis used by modern scholars in an archaeological context for nds perceived to display attributes of the
Scytho-Siberianculture, usually without implying an
ethnic or linguistic connotation.* [10] The term Scythic
may also be used in a similar way,* [11] to describe
a special phase that followed the widespread diusion
of mounted nomadism, characterized by the presence of
special weapons, horse gear, and animal art in the form of
metal plaques.* [12] Their westernmost territories during the Iron Age were known to classical Greek sources
as Scythia.
The Scythians were among the earliest peoples to master mounted warfare.* [1] In the 8th century BC they
possibly raided Zhou China.* [13] Soon after they expanded westwards and dislodged the Cimmerians from
power on the Pontic Steppe.* [14] At their peak, Scythians came to dominate the entire steppe zone,* [15]* [16]
1

ORIGINS

cept Saka, as well as many other words for Scythian,

such as Assyrian Akuz and Greek Skuths, descend from
*skeud-, an ancient Indo-European root meaning propel, shoot(cf. English shoot).* [28] *skud- is the zerograde; that is, a variant in which the -e- is not present. The
Based in Crimea the western Scythians were ruled by a restored Scythian name is *Skuda (archer), which among
wealthy class known as the Royal Scyths. The Scythi- the Pontic or Royal Scythians became *Skula, in which
ans established and controlled a vast trade network (Silk the d has been regularly replaced by an l.
Road) connecting Ancient Greece, Persia, India and Saka, on the other hand, Szemernyi relates to an IraChina, perhaps contributing to the contemporary our- nian verbal root, sak-, go, roam, and hypothesizes
ishing of those civilizations.* [19] The Scythians and set- that the Achaemenids used nomadto refer to the
tled metalworkers producing for them made portable dec- northern tribes, rather than their endonym. The name
orative objects, which survive mainly in metal forming a does appear somewhat further east than the Achaemenid
distinctive Scythian art.* [20] In the 7th century BC they Empire, as the Chinese knew the Asian Scythians as
crossed the Caucasus and frequently raided the Middle Sai (Chinese character: , Old Sinitic *sk). Whether
East along with the Cimmerians, playing an important they adopted the Achaemenid name, or Sakacame
role in the political developments of the region.* [14] to be an endonym, it is not clear. The modern region of
Around 650-630 BC, Scythians briey dominated the Sistan in eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan takes its
Medes of the Iranian Plateau,* [21]* [22] stretching their name from the classical Sakastan (land of the Sakas
power all the away to the borders of Egypt.* [1] After ).* [29]* [30]* [31]
losing control over Media the Scythians continued inter- Sakastan was not the only province of Scythian origin
medling in Middle Eastern aairs, playing a leading role on the eastern margin of the Persian Empire. Accordin the destruction of the Assyrian Empire in the Sack ing to Szemernyi, Sogdiana was named from the Skuda
of Nineveh in 612 BC. The Scythians subsequently en- form. Starting from the names of the province given
gaged in frequent conicts with the Achaemenid Empire. in Old Persian inscriptions, Sugda and Suguda, and the
The western Scythians suered a major defeat against knowledge derived from Middle Sogdian that Old Persian
Macedonia in the 4th century BC,* [1] and were subse- -gd- applied to Sogdian was pronounced as voiced fricaquently gradually conquered by the Sarmatians, a related tives, --, Szemernyi arrives at *Sua as an Old SogIranian people from Central Asia.* [23] The Scythians of dian endonym.* [32] Applying sound changes apparent in
the Asian Steppe (Saka) were attacked by the Yuezhi,
other Sogdian words and inherent in Indo-European he
Wusun and Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC, promting traces the development of *Sua from Skuda,archer,
many of them to migrate into South Asia,* [24]* [25]
as follows: Skuda > *Sukuda by anaptyxis > *Sukua >
where they became known as Indo-Scythians.* [26] Dur- *Suka (syncope) > *Sua (assimilation).* [33]
ing the 3rd century AD, after demise of the Han dynasty
and the Xiongnu, remaining Scythians mounted down
the Pamir Mountains and settled down in the western
Tarim Basin, where the Scythian languages Khotanese 2 Origins
and Tymshuqese are attested in Brahmi scripture from
the 10th and 11th centuries AD.* [25]
2.1 Literary evidence
stretching from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to
the central China (Ordos culture) and the south Siberia
(Tagar culture) in the east,* [10]* [17] creating what has
been referred to as the rst Central Asian nomadic empire.* [14]* [18]

Names

Sulimirski views the Histories of Herodotus as the most

important literary source relating to ancient Scyths.* [27]
Herodotus provides a depiction that can be related to the
results of archaeological research, but apparently knew
little of the eastern part of Scythia. He did say that
the ancient Persians called all the Scyths (Sacae,
Herodotus 7.64). Their principal tribe, the Royal
Scyths, ruled the vast lands occupied by the nation as
a whole (Herodotus 4.20), calling themselves
(Scloti, Herodotus 4.6). Oswald Szemernyi devotes a
thorough discussion to the etymologies of ancient ethnic
words for the Scythians in his work Four old Iranian
ethnic names: Scythian Skudra Sogdian Saka. In
it, the names of Herodotus and the names of his title, ex-

The Scythians rst appeared in the historical record in

the 8th century BC.* [34] Herodotus reported three contradictory versions as to the origins of the Scythians, but
placed greatest faith in this version:* [35]
There is also another dierent story, now
to be related, in which I am more inclined
to put faith than in any other. It is that the
wandering Scythians once dwelt in Asia, and
there warred with the Massagetae, but with
ill success; they therefore quitted their homes,
crossed the Araxes, and entered the land of
Cimmeria.
Accounts by Herodotus of Scythian origins has been discounted recently; although his accounts of Scythian raiding activities contemporary to his writings have been
deemed more reliable.* [36] Moreover, the term Scythian,

2.3

Genetics

3
theTimber Grave(or Srubna) culture (although this is
also associated with the Cimmerians). This second theory
is supported by anthropological evidence which has found
that Scythian skulls are similar to preceding ndings from
the Timber Grave culture, and distinct from those of the
Central Asian Sacae.* [41]

Map of the Roman Empire under Hadrian (ruled AD 117138),

showing the location of the Scythae Basilaei (Royal Scyths)
along the north shore of the Black Sea

like Cimmerian, was used to refer to a variety of groups

from the Black Sea to southern Siberia and central Asia.
They were not a specic people, but rather variety
of peoples referred to at variety of times in history,
and in several places, none of which was their original
homeland* [37] The Bible includes a single reference
to Scythians in Colossians 3:11, immediately after mentioning barbarians, possibly as an extreme example of a
barbarian.* [38]

2.2

Archaeology

Scythian and related archaeological groups in circum- Pontic region, c. 7th to 3rd centuries BC

Others have further stressed that Scythianwas a very

broad term used by both ancient and modern scholars
to describe a whole host of otherwise unrelated peoples
sharing only certain similarities in lifestyle (nomadism),
cultural practices and language. The 1st millennium BC
ushered a period of unprecedented cultural and economic
connectivity amongst disparate and wide-ranging communities. A mobile, broadly similar lifestyle would have
facilitated contacts amongst disparate ethnic groupings
along the expansive Eurasian steppe from the Danube to
Manchuria, leading to many cultural similarities. From
the viewpoint of Greek and Persian ancient observers,
they were all lumped together under the etic category
Scythians.

2.3 Genetics

The approximate extent of Eastern Iranian languages and people

in Middle Iranian times in the 1st century BC is shown in orange

Modern interpretation of historical, archaeological and

anthropological evidence has proposed two broad hypotheses. The rst, formerly more espoused by Soviet and then Russian researchers, roughly followed
Herodotus' (third) account, holding that the Scythians
were an Eastern Iranian group who arrived from Inner
Asia, i.e. from the area of Turkestan and western
Siberia.* [34]* [39]* [40]

Early physical analyses have unanimously concluded that

the Scythians, even those in the east (e.g. the Pazyryk
region), possessed predominantlyEuropioidfeatures,
although mixed 'Euro-mongoloidphenotypes also occur,
depending on site and period.
Numerous ancient mitochondrial DNA samples have now
been recovered from Bronze and Iron Age communities
in the Eurasian steppe and Siberian forest zone, the putative 'ancestors' of the historical Scythians. Compared
to Y-DNA, mtDNA is easier to extract and amplify from
ancient specimens due to numerous copies of mtDNA per
cell.

The earliest studies could only analyze segments of

mtDNA, thus providing only broad correlations of anity
An alternative view explains the origin of the Scythian to modern 'West Eurasian' or 'East Eurasian' populations.
cultural complex to have emerged from local groups of For example, a 2002 study, the mitochondrial DNA of

4
Saka period male and female skeletal remains from a double inhumation kurgan at the Beral site in Kazakhstan
was analysed. The two individuals were found to be not
closely related. The HV1 mitochondrial sequence of the
male was similar to the Anderson sequence which is most
frequent in European populations. On the other hand the
HV1 sequence of the female suggested a greater likelihood of Asian origins.* [42]

HISTORY

an ultimate Eastern European or EurAsian origin, or perhaps, both. This, in turn, might also depend on which
population is studied, i.e. Herodotus' European classical' Scythians, the Central Asian Sakae or un-named nomadic groups in the far east (Altai region) who also bore
a 'Scythiancultural tradition.

More recent studies have been able to type for specic 3

mtDNA lineages. For example a 2004 study studied the
HV1 sequence obtained from a male Scytho-Siberian
3.1
at the Kizil site in the Altai Republic. It belonged to the
N1a maternal lineage, a geographically west Eurasian
lineage* [43] Another study by the same team, again
from two Scytho-Siberian skeletons found in the Altai
Republic, were phenotypically males of mixed EuroMongoloid origin. One of the individuals was found to
carry the F2a maternal lineage, and the other the D lineage, both of which are characteristic ofEast Eurasian
populations.* [44]

History
Classical Antiquity (600 BC to AD 300)

These early studies have been elaborated by an increasing number of studies by Russian scholars. Conclusions
which might be drawn thus far, from an mtDNA perspective, are (i) an early, Bronze Age mixture of both
west and east Eurasian lineages, with western lineages being found far to the East, but not vice versa; (ii) an apparent reversal by Iron Age times, with increasing presence of East Eurasian lineages in the western steppe;
(iii) the possible role of migrations from the sedentary
south: the Balkano-Danubian and Iranian regions toward
the steppe.* [45]* [46]* [47]
Ancient Y-DNA data was nally provided by Keyser et al
in 2009. They studied the haplotypes and haplogroups of
26 ancient human specimens from the Krasnoyarsk area
in Siberia were dated from between the middle of the 2nd
millennium BC and the 4th century AD (Scythian and
Sarmatian timeframe). Nearly all subjects belong to haplogroup R-M17. The authors suggest that their data shows
that between Bronze and Iron Ages the constellation of
populations known variously as Scythians, Andronovians,
etc. were blue- (or green-) eyed, fair-skinned and lighthaired people who might have played a role in the early
development of the Tarim Basin civilization. Moreover,
this study found that they were genetically more closely
related to modern populations of eastern Europe than
those of central and southern Asia.* [48] The ubiquity
and utter dominance of R1a Y-DNA lineage contrasts
markedly with the diversity seen in the mtDNA proles.

Timeline of Scythian kurgans in Asia and Europe * Per Fig.6 of

Alekseev, A. Yu. et al., Chronology of Eurasian Scythian<
Antiquities

Herodotus provides the rst detailed description of the

Scythians. He classes the Cimmerians as a distinct
autochthonous tribe, expelled by the Scythians from the
northern Black Sea coast (Hist. 4.1112). Herodotus also
states (4.6) that the Scythians consisted of the Auchatae,
Catiaroi, Traspians, and Paralatae or Royal Scythians
.
For Herodotus, the Scythians were outlandish barbarians living north of the Black
Sea in what are now Moldova, Ukraine and
Crimea.
Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars
from the Third Century to Alaric, pg. 14

However, this comparison was made on the basis of

STRs. Since the 2009 study by Keyser et al, population and geographic specic SNPs have been discovered which can accurately distinguish between EuropeanR1a (M458, Z280) and South AsianR1a
(Z93)(Pamjav 2012 . Re-analyzing ancient ScythoSiberian samples for these more specic subclades will
further elucidate if the Eurasian steppe populations have Modern scholars have surmised that the sack of the
Western Zhou capital Haojing in 770 BC might have been

3.1

Classical Antiquity (600 BC to AD 300)

Scythian warriors, drawn after gures on an electrum cup from

the Kul-Oba kurgan burial near Kerch, Crimea. The warrior
on the right strings his bow, bracing it behind his knee; note the
typical pointed hood, long jacket with fur or eece trimming at
the edges, decorated trousers, and short boots tied at the ankle.
Scythians apparently normally wore their hair long and loose,
and all adult men apparently wore beards. The gorytos appears
clearly on the left hip of the bare-headed spearman; his companion has an interesting shield, perhaps representing a plain leather
covering over a wooden or wicker base. (Hermitage Museum, St
Petersburg)

Treasure of Kul-Oba, near Kerch

Skunkha, king of the Sak tigraxaud (wearing pointed caps
Sakae, a group of Scythian tribes). Detail of Behistun Inscription.

connected to a Scythian raid from the Altai before their

westward expansion.* [49]
In 512 BC, when King Darius the Great of Persia attacked
the Scythians, he allegedly penetrated into their land after
crossing the Danube. Herodotus relates that the nomadic
Scythians frustrated the Persian army by letting it march Silver coin of King Azes II (ruled c. 3512 BC). Buddhist triratna
through the entire country without an engagement. Ac- symbol in the left eld on the reverse.
cording to Herodotus, Darius in this manner came as far
as the Volga River.
Ukraine to the lower Don basin. The Don, then known
During the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, the Scythians evi- as Tanas, has served as a major trading route ever since.
dently prospered. When Herodotus wrote his Histories The Scythians apparently obtained their wealth from their
in the 5th century BC, Greeks distinguished Scythia Mi- control over the slave trade from the north to Greece
nor, in present-day Romania and Bulgaria, from a Greater through the Greek Black Sea colonial ports of Olbia,
Scythia that extended eastwards for a 20-day ride from Chersonesos, Cimmerian Bosporus, and Gorgippia. They
the Danube River, across the steppes of today's East also grew grain, and shipped wheat, ocks, and cheese to

Greece.
Strabo (c. 63 BC AD 24) reports that King Ateas united
under his power the Scythian tribes living between the
Maeotian marshes and the Danube. His westward expansion brought him into conict with Philip II of Macedon (reigned 359 to 336 BC), who took military action
against the Scythians in 339 BC. Ateas died in battle,
and his empire disintegrated. In the aftermath of this
defeat, the Celts seem to have displaced the Scythians
from the Balkans; while in south Russia, a kindred tribe,
the Sarmatians, gradually overwhelmed them. In 329 BC
Philip's son, Alexander the Great, came into conict with
the Scythians at the Battle of Jaxartes. A Scythian army
sought to take revenge against the Macedonians for the
death of Ateas, as they pushed the borders of their empire north and east, and to take advantage of a revolt by
the local Sogdian satrap. However, the Scythian army was
defeated by Alexander at the Battle of Jaxartes. Alexander did not intend to subdue the nomads: he wanted to go
to the south, where a far more serious crisis demanded
his attention. He could do so now without loss of face;
and in order to make the outcome acceptable to the Saccae, he released the Scythian prisoners of war without
ransom in order to broker a peace agreement. This policy was successful, and the Scythians no longer harassed
Alexander's empire. The Olanesti treasure is unique in
Europe. Discovered in the 1960 the artefacts are dated to
the 5th century BC. The treasure contain six helmets, ve
greaves and an oil lamp. All the pieces are from the army
of the Alexander The Great under Zopyrion command By
the time of Strabo's account (the rst decades AD), the
Crimean Scythians had created a new kingdom extending from the lower Dnieper to the Crimea. The kings
Skilurus and Palakus waged wars with Mithridates the
Great (reigned 12063 BC) for control of the Crimean littoral, including Chersonesos Taurica and the Cimmerian
Bosporus. Their capital city, Scythian Neapolis, stood on
the outskirts of modern Simferopol. The Goths destroyed
it later, in the mid-3rd century AD.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Scythians.
The Goths had displaced the Sarmatians in the 2nd century from most areas near the Roman frontier, and by
early medieval times, the Turkic migration marginalized
Eastern Iranian dialects, and assimilated the Saka linguistically.

4 Archaeology
Archaeological remains of the Scythians include kurgan
tombs (ranging from simple exemplars to elaborate
Royal kurganscontaining the Scythian triadof
weapons, horse-harness, and Scythian-style wild-animal
art), gold, silk, and animal sacrices, in places also with
suspected human sacrices.* [50]* [51] Mummication
techniques and permafrost have aided in the relative
preservation of some remains. Scythian archaeology also
examines the remains of North Pontic Scythian cities and
fortications.* [52]
The spectacular Scythian grave-goods from Arzhan, and
others in Tuva have been dated from about 900 BC onward. One grave nd on the lower Volga gave a similar
date, and one of the Steblev graves from the East European end of the Scythian area was dated to the late 8th
century BC.* [53]
Archaeologists can distinguish three periods of ancient
Scythian archaeological remains:
1st period pre-Scythian and initial Scythian epoch:
from the 9th to the middle of the 7th century BC
2nd period early Scythian epoch: from the 7th to
the 6th centuries BC
3rd period classical Scythian epoch: from the 5th
to the 4th centuries BC

From the 8th to the 2nd centuries BC, archaeology

records a split into two distinct settlement areas: the older
in the Sayan-Altai area in Central Asia, and the younger
For Indo-Scythians and other central and southern Asian in the North Pontic area in Eastern Europe.* [54]
nomadic groups, see
3.1.1

Sakas and Indo-Scythians

Main articles: Sakas and Indo-Scythians

3.2

Late Antiquity (AD 300 to 600)

In Late Antiquity, the notion of a Scythian ethnicity grew

more vague and outsiders might dub any people inhabiting the Pontic-Caspian steppe as Scythians, regardless of their language. Thus, Priscus, a Byzantine emissary to Attila, repeatedly referred to the latter's followers
as Scythians. But Eunapius, Claudius Cladianus and
Olympiodorus usually mean Gothswhen they write

4.1 Kurgans
Main article: Kurgan
Large burial mounds (some over 20 metres high), provide the most valuable archaeological remains associated with the Scythians. They dot the Eurasian steppe
belt, from Mongolia to Balkans, through Ukrainian and
south Russian steppes, extending in great chains for many
kilometers along ridges and watersheds. From them archaeologists have learned much about Scythian life and
art.* [55] Some Scythian tombs reveal traces of Greek,
Chinese, and Indian craftsmanship, suggesting a process

4.3

Bilsk excavations

An arm from the throne of a Scythian king, 7th century BC.

Found at the Kerkemess kurgan, Krasnodar Krai in 1905. On
exhibit at the Hermitage Museum.

of Hellenization, Sinication, and other local inuences

among the Scythians.* [56]
The Ukrainian term for such a burial mound, kurhan
(Ukrainian: ) as well as the Russian term kurgan,
derives from a Turkic word for castle.* [57]
Horseman, Pazyryk felt artifact, c. 300 BC.
Some Scythian-Sarmatian cultures may have given rise to
Greek stories of Amazons. Graves of armed females have
been found in southern Ukraine and Russia. David Anthony notes,About 20% of Scythian-Sarmatianwarrior graveson the lower Don and lower Volga contained
females dressed for battle as if they were men, a style that
may have inspired the Greek tales about the Amazons.
*
[58]

Ordinary Pazyryk graves contain only common utensils,

but in one, among other treasures, archaeologists found
the famous Pazyryk Carpet, the oldest surviving woolpile oriental rug. Another striking nd, a 3-metre-high
four-wheel funerary chariot, survived superbly preserved
from the 5th century BC.

Although some scholars sought to connect the Pazyryk

Excavation at kurgan Sengileevskoe-2 found gold bowls
nomads with indigenous ethnic groups of the Altaic,
with coatings indicating a strong opium beverage was
Rudenko summed up the cultural context in the followused while cannabis was burning nearby. The gold bowls
ing dictum:
depicted scenes showing clothing and weapons.* [59]

4.2

Pazyryk culture

Main article: Pazyryk culture

Some of the rst Bronze Age Scythian burials documented by modern archaeologists include the kurgans at
Pazyryk in the Ulagan (Red) district of the Altai Republic, south of Novosibirsk in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia (near Mongolia). Archaeologists have extrapolated the Pazyryk culture from these nds: ve large
burial mounds and several smaller ones between 1925
and 1949, one opened in 1947 by Russian archaeologist
Sergei Rudenko. The burial mounds concealed chambers
of larch-logs covered over with large cairns of boulders
and stones.

All that is known to us at the present time

about the culture of the population of the High
Altai, who have left behind them the large
cairns, permits us to refer them to the Scythian
period, and the Pazyryk group in particular to
the 5th century BC. This is supported by radiocarbon dating.

4.3 Bilsk excavations

Recent digs(see:Gelonus) in a village Bilsk near Poltava

(Ukraine) have uncovered avast city, with the largest
area of any city in the world at that time (Bilsk settlement). It has been tentatively identied by a team of archaeologists led by Boris Shramko as the site of Gelonus,
the purported capital of Scythia. The city's commanding
ramparts and vast area of 40 square kilometers exceed
The Pazyryk culture ourished between the 7th and 3rd even the outlandish size reported by Herodotus. Its locacentury BC in the area associated with the Sacae.
tion at the northern edge of the Ukrainian steppe would

6 CULTURE AND SOCIETY

have allowed strategic control of the north-south trade- of the Seleucid empire and Greco-Bactrian kingdom in
route. Judging by the nds dated to the 5th and 4th cen- the same area until around 140 BC, and the continued
turies BC, craft workshops and Greek pottery abounded. existence of the Indo-Greek kingdom in the northwestern Indian sub-continent until the beginning of our era.
This testies to the richness of cultural inuences in the
4.4 Tillia Tepe treasure
area of Bactria at that time.
Main article: Tillia Tepe
A site found in 1968 in Tillia Tepe (literally the

Kings with dragons, Tillia Tepe

Royal crown, Tillia Tepe

golden hill) in northern Afghanistan (former Bactria)

near Shebergan consisted of the graves of ve women and
one man with extremely rich jewelry, dated to around the
1st century BC, and probably related to that of Scythian
tribes normally living slightly to the north. Altogether the
graves yielded several thousands of pieces of ne jewelry,
usually made from combinations of gold, turquoise and
lapis-lazuli.
A high degree of cultural syncretism pervades the ndings, however. Hellenistic cultural and artistic inuences
appear in many of the forms and human depictions (from
amorini to rings with the depiction of Athena and her
name inscribed in Greek), attributable to the existence

5 Physical appearance
In artworks, the Scythians are portrayed exhibiting
Europoid traits.* [60] In Histories, the 5th-century Greek
historian Herodotus describes the Budini of Scythia as
red-haired and grey-eyed.* [60] In the 5th century BC,
Greek physician Hippocrates argued that the Scythians
have purron (ruddy) skin.* [60]* [61] In the 3rd century
BC, the Greek poet Callimachus described the Arismapes
(Arimaspi) of Scythia as fair-haired.* [60]* [62] The 2nd
century BC Han Chinese envoy Zhang Qian described
the Sai (Scythians) as having yellow and blue eyes.* [60]
In Natural History, the 1st century AD Roman author
Pliny the Elder characterizes the Seres, sometimes identied as Iranians (Scythians) or Tocharians, as red-haired
and blue-eyed.* [60]* [63] In the late 2nd century AD,
the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria says that
the Scythians are fair-haired.* [60]* [64] The 2nd century Greek philosopher Polemon includes the Scythians
among the northern peoples characterized by red hair
and blue-grey eyes.* [60] In the late 2nd or early 3rd
century AD, the Greek physician Galen declares that
Sarmatians, Scythians and other northern peoples have
reddish hair.* [60]* [65] The fourth-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that the Alans, a
people closely related to the Scythians, were tall, blond
and light-eyed.* [66] The 4th century bishop of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa wrote that the Scythians were fair
skinned and blond haired.* [67] The 5th-century physician Adamantius, who often follow Polemon, describes
the Scythians are fair-haired.* [60]* [68] It is possible that
the later physical descriptions by Adamantius and Gregory of Scythians refer to East Germanic tribes, as the
latter were frequently referred to as Scythiansin Roman sources at that time.

6 Culture and society

6.1 Tribal divisions
Scythians lived in confederated tribes, a political form of
voluntary association which regulated pastures and organized a common defence against encroaching neighbors
for the pastoral tribes of mostly equestrian herdsmen.
While the productivity of domesticated animal-breeding
greatly exceeded that of the settled agricultural societies,
the pastoral economy also needed supplemental agricultural produce, and stable nomadic confederations devel-

6.2

Warfare

oped either symbiotic or forced alliances with sedentary

peoples in exchange for animal produce and military
protection.
Herodotus relates that three main tribes of the Scythians
descended from three brothers, Lipoxais, Arpoxais, and
Colaxais:* [69]
In their reign a plough, a yoke, an axe,
and a bowl, all made of gold, fell from heaven
upon the Scythian territory. The oldest of the
brothers wished to take them away, but as he
drew near the gold began to burn. The second
brother approached them, but with the like result. The third and youngest then approached,
upon which the re went out, and he was enabled to carry away the golden gifts. The two
eldest then made the youngest king, and henceforth the golden gifts were watched by the king
with the greatest care, and annually approached
with magnicent sacrices.* [70]

9
are called Catiaroi and Traspians, and from the
youngest of them the Royaltribe, who are
called Paralatai: and the whole together are
called, they say, Scolotoi, after the name of
their king; but the Hellenes gave them the name
of Scythians. Thus the Scythians say they were
produced; and from the time of their origin,
that is to say from the rst king Targitaos, to
the passing over of Dareios [the Persian Emperor Darius I] against them [512 BC], they say
that there is a period of a thousand years and no
more.* [72]
The rich burials of Scythian kings in tumuli (often known
by the Turkic name kurgan) is evidence for the existence
of a powerful elite. While an elite clan is named in some
classical sources as theRoyal Dahae, the Dahae proper
are generally regarded as an extinct Indo-European people, who occupied what is now Turkmenistan, and were
distinct from the Scythians.
Although scholars have traditionally treated the three
tribes as geographically distinct, Georges Dumzil interpreted the divine gifts as the symbols of social occupations, illustrating his trifunctional vision of early
Indo-European societies: the plough and yoke symbolised the farmers, the axe the warriors, the bowl the
priests.* [73] According to Dumzil, the fruitless attempts of Arpoxais and Lipoxais, in contrast to the success of Colaxais, may explain why the highest strata was
not that of farmers or magicians, but rather that of warriors.* [74]

6.2 Warfare
The Scythians were notoriously aggressive warriors. They
fought to live and lived to ghtanddrank the blood of
their enemies and used the scalps as napkins* [75] Ruled
by small numbers of closely allied lites, Scythians had
Gold clothing appliqu, showing two Scythian archers, 400 to a reputation for their archers, and many gained employment as mercenaries. Scythian lites had kurgan tombs:
350 BC. Probably from Kul-Oba, Crimea. British Museum.
high barrows heaped over chamber-tombs of larch-wood
Herodotus also mentions a royal tribe or clan, an elite a deciduous conifer that may have had special signicance as a tree of life-renewal, for it stands bare in winter.
which dominated the other Scythians:
Burials at Pazyryk in the Altay Mountains have included
some spectacularly preserved Scythians of thePazyryk
Then on the other side of the Gerros we
culture including the Ice Maiden of the 5th century
have those parts which are called the Royal
BC.
lands and those Scythians who are the bravest
The Ziwiye hoard, a treasure of gold and silver metalwork
and most numerous and who esteem the other
and ivory found near the town of Sakiz south of Lake
Scythians their slaves.* [71]
Urmia and dated to between 680 and 625 BC, includes
objects with Scythian "animal style" features. One silver
The elder brothers then, acknowledging the
dish from this nd bears some inscriptions, as yet undesignicance of this thing, delivered the whole
ciphered and so possibly representing a form of Scythian
of the kingly power to the youngest. From
writing.
Lixopais, they say, are descended those Scythians who are called the race of the Auchatai;
from the middle brother Arpoxais those who

Scythians also had a reputation for the use of barbed and

poisoned arrows of several types, for a nomadic life cen-

10

6 CULTURE AND SOCIETY

south Siberian, Uralic and Kazakhstan rock drawings)
some caps were topped with zoomorphic wooden sculptures rmly attached to a cap and forming an integral part
of the headgear, similar to the surviving nomad helmets
from northern China. Men and warrior women wore tunics, often embroidered, adorned with felt applique work,
or metal (golden) plaques.

Scythian bowl, 5th century BC found at Castelu, Romania. In

display at Constana Museum of National History.

tered on horses fed from horse-bloodaccording to

Herodotus and for skill in guerrilla warfare.

6.3

Clothing

According to Herodotus, Scythian costume consisted of

padded and quilted leather trousers tucked into boots,
and open tunics. They rode with no stirrups or saddles, just saddle-cloths. Herodotus reports that Scythians
used cannabis, both to weave their clothing and to cleanse
themselves in its smoke (Hist. 4.7375); archaeology has
conrmed the use of cannabis in funeral rituals.

Persepolis Apadana again serves a good starting point

to observe tunics of the Sakas. They appear to be a
sewn, long sleeve garment that extended to the knees
and belted with a belt while owner's weapons were fastened to the belt (sword or dagger, gorytos, battleax,
whetstone etc.). Based on numerous archeological ndings in Ukraine, southern Russian and Kazakhstan men
and warrior women wore long sleeve tunics that were always belted, often with richly ornamented belts. The
Kazakhstan Saka (e.g. Issyk Golden Man/Maiden) wore
shorter tunics and more close tting tunics than the Pontic
steppe Scythians. Some Pazyryk culture Saka wore short
belted tunic with a lapel on a right side, upright collar,
'pued' sleeves narrowing at a wrist and bound in narrow
cus of a color dierent from the rest of the tunic.
Scythian women wore long, loose robes, ornamented with
metal plaques (gold). Women wore shawls, often richly
decorated with metal (golden) plaques.

Men and women wore coats, e.g. Pazyryk Saka had many
varieties, from fur to felt. They could have worn a riding
coat that later was known as a Median robe or Kantus.
Scythian women dressed in much the same fashion as Long sleeved, and open, it seems that on the Persepolis
men. A Pazyryk burial, discovered in the 1990s, con- Apadana Skudrian delegation is perhaps shown wearing
tained the skeletons of a man and a woman, each with such coat. The Pazyryk felt tapestry shows a rider wearing
a billowing cloak.
weapons, arrowheads, and an axe.
Men and women dressed dierently. Herodotus mentioned that Sakas had high caps and ... wore trousers.
Clothing was sewn from plain-weave wool, hemp cloth,
silk fabrics, felt, leather and hides.
Pazyryk ndings give the most number of almost
fully preserved garments and clothing worn by the
Scythian/Saka peoples. Ancient Persian bas-relief
Apadana or Behistun inscription, ancient Greek pottery, archaeological ndings from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, China et al. give visual representations of these
garments.

Men and women wore long trousers, often adorned with

metal plaques and often embroidered or adorned with felt
appliqus; trousers could have been wider or tight tting
depending on the area. Materials used depended on the
wealth, climate and necessity.
Men and women warriors wore variations of long
and shorter boots, wool-leather-felt gaiter-boots and
moccasin-like shoes. They were either of a laced or simple slip on type. Women wore also soft shoes with metal
(gold) plaques.
Men and women wore belts. Warrior belts were made
of leather, often with gold or other metal adornments
and had many attached leather thongs for fastening of the
owner's gorytos, sword, whet stone, whip etc. Belts were
fastened with metal or horn belt-hooks, leather thongs and
metal (often golden) or horn belt-plates.

Herodotus says Sakas hadhigh caps tapering to a point

and stiy upright.Asian Saka headgear is clearly visible on the Persepolis Apadana staircase bas-relief high
pointed hat with aps over ears and the nape of the
neck.* [76] From China to the Danube delta, men seemed
to have worn a variety of soft headgear either conical
like the one described by Herodotus, or rounder, more
like a Phrygian cap.
6.4 Art
Women wore a variety of dierent headdresses, some
conical in shape others more like attened cylinders, also Main article: Scythian art
adorned with metal (golden) plaques.

Based on the Pazyryk ndings (can be seen also in the Scythian contacts with craftsmen in Greek colonies

6.5

Religion

11
sites with permafrost show rich and brightly coloured textiles, leatherwork and woodwork, not to mention tattooing. The western royal pieces executed Central-Asian animal motifs with Greek realism: winged gryphons attacking horses, battling stags, deer, and eagles, combined with
everyday motifs like milking ewes.

Bronze Ordos culture plaque, 4th century BC; a horse attacked

by a tiger

In 2000, the touring exhibition 'Scythian Gold' introduced the North American public to the objects made
for Scythian nomads by Greek craftsmen north of the
Black Sea, and buried with their Scythian owners under
burial mounds on the at plains of present-day Ukraine.
In 2001, the discovery of an undisturbed royal Scythian
burial-barrow illustrated Scythian animal-style gold that
lacks the direct inuence of Greek styles. Forty-four
pounds of gold weighed down the royal couple in this
burial, discovered near Kyzyl, capital of the Siberian republic of Tuva.
Ancient inuences from Central Asia became identiable in China following contacts of metropolitan China
with nomadic western and northwestern border territories from the 8th century BC. The Chinese adopted the
Scythian-style animal art of the steppes (descriptions of
animals locked in combat), particularly the rectangular
belt-plaques made of gold or bronze, and created their
own versions in jade and steatite.* [77]

Chinese jade and steatite plaques, in the Scythian-style animal

art of the steppes. 4th to 3rd centuries BC. British Museum.
Gold plaque with panther, probably for a shield or breast-plate,
13 in/33 cm long, end 7th-century BC

along the northern shores of the Black Sea resulted

in the famous Scythian gold adornments that feature
among the most glamorous artifacts of world museums.
Ethnographically extremely useful as well, the gold depicts Scythian men as bearded, long-haired Caucasoids.
Greco-Scythianworks depicting Scythians within a
much more Hellenic style date from a later period, when
Scythians had already adopted elements of Greek culture, and the most elaborate royal pieces are assumed to
have been made by Greek goldsmiths for this lucrative
market. Other metalwork pieces from across the whole
Eurasian steppe use an animal style, showing animals, often in combat and often with their legs folded beneath
them. This origins of this style remain debated, but it
probably both received and gave inuences in the art of
the neighbouring settled peoples, and acted as a fast route
for transmission of motifs across the width of Eurasia.

Following their expulsion by the Yuezhi, some Scythians

may also have migrated to the area of Yunnan in southern China. Scythian warriors could also have served as
mercenaries for the various kingdoms of ancient China.
Excavations of the prehistoric art of the Dian civilization
of Yunnan have revealed hunting scenes of Caucasoid
horsemen in Central Asian clothing.* [78]
Scythian inuences have been identied as far as Korea and Japan. Various Korean artifacts, such as the
royal crowns of the kingdom of Silla, are said to be of
Scythian design.* [79] Similar crowns, brought through
contacts with the continent, can also be found in Kofun
era Japan.* [80]

6.5 Religion

Surviving Scythian objects are mostly small portable

pieces of metalwork: elaborate personal jewelry, Main article: Scythian religion
weapon-ornaments and horse-trappings. But nds from The religious beliefs of the Scythians was a type of

12

HISTORIOGRAPHY

8 Historiography
8.1 Herodotus

Scythian artefacts originating from sites in Transylvania, in display at Aiud History Museum, Aiud, Romania.

Herodotus wrote about an enormous city, Gelonus, in the

northern part of Scythia* [83]
Oering pot from a Scythian grave from Alba Iulia, Romania,
6th century BC. In display at National Museum of the Union,
Alba Iulia

Pre-Zoroastrian Iranian religion and diered from the

post-Zoroastrian Iranian thoughts.* [81] Foremost in the
Scythian pantheon stood Tabiti, who was later replaced
by Atar, the re-pantheon of Iranian tribes, and Agni, the
re deity of Indo-Aryans.* [81] The Scythian belief was
a more archaic stage than the Zoroastrian and Hindu systems. The use of cannabis to induce trance and divination
by soothsayers was a characteristic of the Scythian belief
system.* [81]

Language

Main article: Scythian languages

The Budini are a large and powerful nation:

they have all deep blue eyes, and bright red
hair. There is a city in their territory, called
Gelonus, which is surrounded with a lofty wall,
thirty furlongs ( = c. 5.5
km) each way, built entirely of wood. All the
houses in the place and all the temples are of
the same material. Here are temples built in
honour of the Grecian gods, and adorned after the Greek fashion with images, altars, and
shrines, all in wood. There is even a festival,
held every third year in honour of Bacchus, at
which the natives fall into the Bacchic fury.
For the fact is that the Geloni were anciently
Greeks, who, being driven out of the factories
along the coast, ed to the Budini and took up
their abode with them. They still speak a language half Greek, half Scythian.

TheScythian languagesare essentially unattested, and Herodotus and other classical historians listed quite a
their internal divergence is dicult to judge. They be- number of tribes who lived near the Scythians, and presumably shared the same general milieu and nomadic
longed to the Eastern Iranian family of languages.
steppe culture, often called Scythian culture, even
The Scythian languages may have formed a dialect con- though scholars may have diculties in determining their
tinuum: Scytho-Sarmatianin the west and Scytho- exact relationship to thelinguistic Scythians. A partial
Khotaneseor Saka in the east.* [82] They were mostly list of these tribes includes the Agathyrsi, Geloni, Budini,
marginalized and assimilated as a consequence of the late and Neuri.
antiquity and early Middle Ages Slavic and Turkic expansion. Some remnants of the eastern groups have survived Herodotus presented four dierent versions of Scythian
as modern Pashto and Pamiri languages in Central Asia. origins:
The western (Sarmatian) group of Scythian survived as
1. Firstly (4.7), the Scythians' legend about themselves,
the language of the Alans and eventually gave rise to the
modern Ossetian language.
which portrays the rst Scythian king, Targitaus,

8.3

Indian sources

13

as the child of the sky-god and of a daughter of

the Dnieper. Targitaus allegedly lived a thousand
years before the failed Persian invasion of Scythia,
or around 1500 BC. He had three sons, before whom
fell from the sky a set of four golden implements
a plough, a yoke, a cup and a battle-axe. Only the
youngest son succeeded in touching the golden implements without them bursting with re, and this
son's descendants, called by Herodotus the Royal
Scythians, continued to guard them.
2. Secondly (4.8), a legend told by the Pontic Greeks
featuring Scythes, the rst king of the Scythians, as
a child of Hercules and Echidna.
3. Thirdly (4.11), in the version which Herodotus said Scythian artefacts originating from sites in Transylvania, in dishe believed most, the Scythians came from a more play at Aiud History Museum, Aiud, Romania.
southern part of Central Asia, until a war with the
Massagetae (a powerful tribe of steppe nomads who
Now the greater part of the Scythians, belived just northeast of Persia) forced them westward.
ginning at the Caspian Sea, are called Daheans,
4. Finally (4.13), a legend which Herodotus attributed
but those who are situated more to the east than
to the Greek bard Aristeas, who claimed to have got
these are named Massageteans and Saceans,
himself into such a Bachanalian fury that he ran all
whereas all the rest are given the general name
the way northeast across Scythia and further. Acof Scythians, though each people is given a
cording to this, the Scythians originally lived south
separate name of its own. They are all for
of the Rhipaean mountains, until they got into a conthe most part nomads. But the best known of
ict with a tribe called the Issedones, pressed in their
the nomads are those who took away Bactriana
turn by the Cyclopes; and so the Scythians decided
from the Greeks (i.e. Greco-Bactrians), I mean
to migrate westwards.
the Asians, Pasians, Tocharians, and Sacarauls,
who originally came from the country on the
Persians and other peoples in Asia referred to the Scythiother side of the Jaxartes River that adjoins
ans living in Asia as Sakas. Herodotus (IV.64) describes
that of the Sacae and the Sogdians and was octhem as Scythians, although they gure under a dierent
cupied by the Sacae. And as for the Daans,
name:
some of them are called Aparns, some Xanthians, and some Pissures. Now of these the
Aparni are situated closest to Hyrcania and the
The Sacae, or Scyths, were clad in trousers,
part of the sea that borders on it, but the reand had on their heads tall sti caps rising to
mainder extend even as far as the country that
a point. They bore the bow of their counstretches parallel to Aria.
try and the dagger; besides which they carried
the battle-axe, or sagaris. They were in truth
Amyrgian (Western) Scythians, but the Persians called them Sacae, since that is the name
8.3 Indian sources
which they gave to all Scythians.

8.2

Strabo

In the 1st century BC, the Greek-Roman geographer

Strabo gave an extensive description of the eastern
Scythians, whom he located in north-eastern Asia beyond
Bactria and Sogdiana:* [84]
Then comes Bactriana, and Sogdiana, and
nally the Scythian nomads.
Silver coin of the Indo-Scythian King Azes II (ruled c. 3512
BC). Note the royal tamga on the coin.

Strabo went on to list the names of the various tribes

among the Scythians, probably making an amalgam with
some of the tribes of eastern Central Asia (such as the Main article: Indo-Scythians
Tocharians):* [84]

14

Sakas receive numerous mentions in Indian texts, including the Puranas, the Manusmriti, the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata, the Mahabhashya of Patanjali.

9
9.1

Post-classical Scythians
Migration period

See also: Sarmatians, Alans and Ossetians

POST-CLASSICAL SCYTHIANS

Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,

As thou my sometime daughter.* [89]
Characteristically, early modern English discourse on Ireland frequently resorted to comparisons with Scythians
in order to conrm that the indigenous population of Ireland descended from these ancient bogeymen, and
showed themselves as barbaric as their alleged ancestors.
Edmund Spenser wrote that
the Chiefest [nation that settled in Ireland]
I Suppose to be Scithians ... which rste inhabitinge and afterwarde stretchinge themselves
forthe into the lande as theire numbers increased named it all of themselues Scuttenlande which more brieye is Called Scuttlande
or Scotlande.* [90]

Although the classical Scythians may have largely disappeared by the 1st century BC, Eastern Romans continued to speak conventionally ofScythiansto designate
Germanic tribes and confederations* [85] or mounted
Eurasian nomadic barbarians in general: in AD 448 two
mountedScythiansled the emissary Priscus to Attila's
encampment in Pannonia. The Byzantines in this case As proofs for this origin Spenser cites the alleged Irish
carefully distinguished the Scythians from the Goths and customs of blood-drinking, nomadic lifestyle, the wearHuns who also followed Attila.
ing of mantles and certain haircuts and
The Sarmatians (including the Alans and nally the
Ossetians) counted as Scythians in the broadest sense of
Cryes allsoe vsed amongeste the Irishe
the word as speakers of Eastern Iranian languages,* [86]
which savor greatlye of the Scythyan Barand are considered mostly of Indo-Iranian descent.* [87]
barisme.
Byzantine sources also refer to the Rus raiders who
attacked Constantinople cica 860 in contemporary ac- William Camden, one of Spenser's main sources, comcounts as "Tauroscythians", because of their geograph- ments on this legend of origin that
ical origin, and despite their lack of any ethnic relation
to Scythians. Patriarch Photius may have rst applied the
to derive descent from a Scythian stock,
term to them during the Siege of Constantinople (860).
cannot be thought any waies dishonourable,
seeing that the Scythians, as they are most ancient, so they have been the Conquerours of
9.2 Early Modern usage
most Nations, themselves alwaies invincible,
and never subject to the Empire of others.* [91]
Owing to their reputation as established by Greek historians, the Scythians long served as the epitome of savagery
and barbarism.
In the Bible, Paul usesScythianas an example of people whom some label pejoratively, but who are, in Christ,
acceptable to God:
Here there is no Greek or Jew. There is no
dierence between those who are circumcised
and those who are not. There is no rude outsider, or even a Scythian. There is no slave or
free person. But Christ is everything. And he
is in everything.* [88]

Romantic nationalism: Battle between the Scythians and the

Slavs (Viktor Vasnetsov, 1881).

Shakespeare, for instance, alluded to the legend that The 15th-century Polish chronicler Jan Dugosz was the
Scythians ate their children in his play King Lear:
rst to connect the prehistory of Poland with Sarmatians,
and the connection was taken up by other historians and
The barbarous Scythian
chroniclers, such as Marcin Bielski, Marcin Kromer and
Maciej Miechowita. Other Europeans depended for their
Or he that makes his generation messes
view of Polish Sarmatism on Miechowita's Tractatus de
Duabus Sarmatiis, a work which provided a substantial
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom

15
source of information about the territories and peoples of
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in a language of
international currency.* [92] Tradition specied that the
Sarmatians themselves were descended from Japheth, son
of Noah.* [93]

legends of the Celts. In the second paragraph of the

1320 Declaration of Arbroath, the lite of Scotland claim
Scythia as a former homeland of the Scots. According to
the 11th-century Lebor Gabla renn (The Book of the
Taking of Ireland), the 14th-century Auraicept na n-ces
In the 17th and 18th centuries, foreigners regarded the and other Irish folklore, the Irish originated in Scythia and
Russians as descendants of Scythians. It became conven- were descendants of Fnius Farsaid, a Scythian prince
tional to refer to Russians as Scythians in 18th-century who created the Ogham alphabet and who was one of the
principal architects of the Gaelic language.
poetry, and Alexander Blok drew on this tradition sarcastically in his last major poem, The Scythians (1920). The Carolingian kings of the Franks traced Merovingian
In the 19th century, romantic revisionists in the West ancestry to the Germanic tribe of the Sicambri. Gregory
transformed the "barbarian" Scyths of literature into the of Tours documents in his History of the Franks that when
wild and free, hardy and democratic ancestors of all blond Clovis was baptised, he was referred to as a Sicamber
with the words Mitis depone colla, Sicamber, adora
Indo-Europeans.
quod incendisti, incendi quod adorasti.. The Chronicle
of Fredegar in turn reveals that the Franks believed the
9.3 Descent claims
Sicambri to be a tribe of Scythian or Cimmerian descent,
who had changed their name to Franks in honour of their
chieftain Franco in 11 BC.
Tadeusz Sulimirski notes that the Sacae also invaded parts
of Northern India, where it is theorised that a number of
groups may have encountered historical Scythian inuence.* [94]
Based on such accounts of Scythian founders of certain
Germanic as well as Celtic tribes, British historiography
in the British Empire period such as Sharon Turner in his
History of the Anglo-Saxons, made them the ancestors of
the Anglo-Saxons.
The idea was taken up in the British Israelism of John
Wilson, who adopted and promoted the idea that
the European Race, in particular the Anglo-Saxons,
were descended from certain Scythian tribes, and these
Scythian tribes (as many had previously stated from the
Middle Ages onward) were in turn descended from the
ten Lost Tribes of Israel.* [95] Tudor Partt, author of
The Lost Tribes of Israel and Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, points out that the proof cited by adherents
of British Israelism is of a feeble composition even by
the low standards of the genre.* [96]
Scythians at the Tomb of Ovid (c. 1640), by Johann Heinrich
Schnfeld.

Further information: Sarmatism

According to Patrick J. Geary, many of the peoples once

known as the Scythians of Antiquity were amalgamated
into the various Slavic peoples of eastern and southeastern Europe.* [97]

Linguistically, only modern-day Ossetian and Pashto as

A number of groups have claimed possible descent well as Yaghnobi and Pamiri languages are similar to old
from the Scythians, including the Ossetians, Pashtuns (in Eastern Iranian languages once spoken by Scythians.
particular, the Sakzai tribe) and the Parthians (whose
homelands lay to the east of the Caspian Sea and who
were thought to have come there from north of the
10 List of Scythian tribes
Caspian). Some legends of the Poles,* [92] the Picts,
the Gaels, the Hungarians (in particular, the Jassics), the
Agathyrsi
Serbs, Bosniaks and the Croats, among others, also include mention of Scythian origins. Some writers claim
Amyrgians
that Scythians gured in the formation of the empire of
Budini
the Medes and likewise of Caucasian Albania.
The Scythians also feature in some national origin-

Dahae confederacy

16

12
Parni

Indo-Scythians
Kambojas
Gelonians
Massagetae
Apasiacae
Orthocorybantians
Sindi people
Tauri

11

See also

List of rulers of Pre-Achaemenid kingdoms of Iran

12

References

REFERENCES

characterized by the presence of special weapons, horse

gear, and animal art in the form of metal plaques. Archaeologists have used the termScythic continuumin a
broad cultural sense to indicate the early nomadic cultures
of the Eurasian steppe. The termScythicdraws attention to the fact that there are elements - shapes of weapons,
vessels, and ornaments, as well as lifestyle - common to
both the eastern and the western ends of the Eurasian
steppe region.
[13] The Steppe. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
[14] History of Central Asia. Encyclopdia Britannica
Online. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
[15] Beckwith 2009, p. 117The Scythians, or Northern Iranians, who were culturally and ethnolinguistically a single
group at the beginning of their expansion, had earlier controlled the entire steppe zone.
[16] Beckwith 2009, pp. 377380 "... conquest of the entire
steppe zone by the Northern Iranians literally, by the
Scythians"-in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age
[17] Bonfante (2011, p. 71)

[1] Scythian. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved

31 December 2014.

[18] Beckwith 2009, p. 11

[2] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 719724

[19] Beckwith 2009, pp. 5870

[3] West 2009, pp. 713717

[20] Scythian Art. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved 31 December 2014.

[4] Scythia. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia

University Press. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
[5] Saka. TheFreeDictionary.com. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. 1979. Retrieved 24 May 2014.

[21] Ancient Iran: The Kingdom of the Medes.

Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved 31 December 2014.

[6] Sinor (1990, p. 97) All contemporary historians,

archeologists and linguists are agreed that since the
Scythian and Sarmatian tribes were of the Iranian linguistic group...

[22] Beckwith 2009, p. 49

[7] Bonfante (2011, p. 110)

[24] Benjamin, Craig (March 2003). The Yuezhi Migration

and Sogdia. rn ud Anrn Webfestschrift Marshak.
Retrieved March 1, 2015.

[8] Beckwith 2009, p. 61

[9] Drews (2004, pp. 8690)

[23]Sarmatian. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved

31 December 2014.

[10] Davis-Kimball (1995, pp. 2728)

[25] Chinese History - Sai The Saka People or Soghdians

. Chinaknowledge. Retrieved March 1, 2015.

[11] Watson, William, The Chinese Contribution to Eastern

Nomad Culture in the Pre-Han and Early Han Periods,
World Archaeology, Vol. 4, No. 2, Nomads (Oct., 1972),
pp. 139-149, Taylor & Francis, Ltd., JSTOR

[26] Beckwith 2009, p. 85 The Saka, or aka, people then

began their long migration that ended with their conquest
of northern India, where they are also known as the IndoScythians.

[12] Di Cosimo, Nicola, The Northern Frontier in Pre- [27] Sulimirski 1985, pp. 149150.
Imperial China (1,500 - 221 BC)", in: M. Loeuwe,
E.L. Shaughnessy, eds, The Cambridge History of [28] Szemernyi 1980, pp. 4546.
Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to
221BC, 1999, Cambridge University Press 1999, ISBN [29] Rosenberg, Donna (1999). World Mythology: An Anthol9780521470308, online text, Even though there were
ogy of Great Myths and Epics. McGraw-Hill-NTC Pub.
fundamental ways in which nomadic groups over such a
Group. p. 58. Later, in the second century B.C., related
vast territory diered, the termsScythianandScythic
Saka tribes moved southwest from Sakastan to the area
have been widely adopted to describe a special phase that
that become Seistan and Zabulistan on the eastern border
followed the widespread diusion of mounted nomadism,
of Persia

17

[30] Puri, B.N. (1999). The Sakas and Indo-Parthians. In

Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhalovich. The
Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 BC. History of
Civilizations of Central Asia I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers. p. 191. The Indo-Greeks in Kabul impeded
further Saka progress and compelled them to move westwards in the direction of Herat and thence to Sistan. This
country was nally named Sakastan after them.
[31] Hathaway, Jane (2003). A Tale of Two Factions: Myth,
Memory, and Identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen. Albany: SUNY Press. p. 242. Sistan (Sakastan) takes its
name from the Scythians, or Saka
[32] Szemernyi 1980, pp. 2636.
[33] Szemernyi 1980, p. 39.
[34] Szemernyi, Oswald (1980) Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian; Skudra; Sogdian; Sakain:
Sitzungsberichte der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; 371 = Scripta minora, vol. 4, pp. 205193
Azagoshnasp.net
[35] Herodotus 4.11 trans. G. Rawlinson.
[36] Drews (2004, p. 92)

Abaev, V.I. and H. W. Bailey, Alans, Encyclopdia

Iranica, Vol. 1. pp. 801803.; Great Soviet Encyclopedia,
(translation of the 3rd Russian-language edition), 31 vols.,
New York, 19731983.

Willem Vogelsang The rise & organisation of the

Achaemenid empire the eastern evidence (Studies in the
History of the Ancient Near East Vol. III). Leiden: Brill.
pp. 344., 1992 ISBN 90-04-09682-5.

Sinor, Denis. Inner Asia: History Civilization Languages, Routledge, 1997 pg 82 ISBN 0-7007-0896-0 ;
Scythian.(2006). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved September 7, 2006, from Encyclopdia Britannica Premium Service

Masica, Colin P. The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge

University Press, 1993, pg 48 ISBN 0-521-29944-6
[41] Pavel Dolukhanov. The Early Slavs. Eastern Europe from
the initial Settlement to the Kievan Rus. Longman, 1996.
Pg 125

[37] K Kristiansen. Europe Before History. Cambridge University Press. 1998, p 193

[42] Clisson, I. et al. 2002. Genetic analysis of human remains from a double inhumation in a frozen kurgan in
Kazakhstan (Berel site, early 3rd century BC). Interna[38] Colossians 3:11 NIV Here there is no Gentile or Jew
tional Journal of Legal Medicine. 116:304308
. Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
[43] Ricaut, F. et al. 2004. Genetic Analysis of a Scytho[39] Sulimirski, T. The Scythsin: The Cambridge History
Siberian Skeleton and Its Implications for Ancient Central
of Iran; vol. 2: 14999 Azargoshnasp.net
Asian Migrations. Human Biology. 76 (1): 109125
[40] Grousset, Ren (1989) The empire of the Steppes.
Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press; p. 19.
Jacobson, Esther.The Art of Scythians, Brill Academic
Publishers, 1995, pg 63 ISBN 90-04-09856-9

Gamkrelidze and Ivanov. Indo-European and the IndoEuropeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Typological
Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture (Parts I
and II). Tbilisi State University., 1984

Mallory, J.P., In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language

Archaeology and Myth. Thames and Hudson. Read Chapter 2 and see 5153 for a quick reference.(1989)

Newark, T. The Barbarians: Warriors and wars of the

Dark Ages, Blandford: New York. See pages 65, 85, 87,
119139.,1985

Renfrew, C. Archeology and Language: The Puzzle of

Indo-European origins, Cambridge University Press, 1988

[44] Ricaut,F. et al. 2004. Genetic Analysis and Ethnic

Anities From Two Scytho-Siberian Skeletons. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 123:351360
[45] Human migrations in the southern region of the West
Siberian Plain during the Bronze Age: Archaeological,
palaeogenetic and anthropological data : Population Dynamics in Prehistory and Early History New Approaches
Using Stable Isotopes and Genetics. Degruyter.com.
Retrieved 2013-09-08.
[46] Adelaide Research and Scholarship: Mitochondrial
DNA in ancient human populations of Europe. Digital.library.adelaide.edu.au. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 201309-08.
[47] Tracing the Origin of the East-West Population Admixture in the Altai Region (Central Asia)". Plos One. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
[48] Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of
south Siberian Kurgan people. Human Genetics. 126,
Number 3, 395410, DOI: 10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0.
Springerlink.com.
[49] The Steppe: Scythian successes. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
[50] Hughes, Dennis. (1991) Human Sacrice in Ancient
Greece. Routledge pp. 10, 6465, 118.

18

[51] Baldick, Julian. (2000) Animals and Shaman: Ancient Religions of Central Asia. I.B. Tauris. pp.3536.
[52] Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (2001) North Pontic Archaeology:
Recent Discoveries and Studies. BRIL. pp. 5474.
[53] Some problems in the study of the chronology of the Ancient Nomadic Cultures in Eurasia (9th to 3rd centuries
BC). A. Yu. Alekseev, N. A. Bokovenko, Yu. Boltrik, et
alia. Geochronometria Vol. 21, pp 143150, 2002. Journal on Methods and Applications of Absolute Chronology.
[54] A. Yu. Alekseev et al.,Chronology of Eurasian Scythian
Antiquities ...
[55] Boardman & Edwards 1991, pp. 547591
[56] Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, Who Built the Scythian and
Thracian Elite Tombs?" Oxford Journal of Archaeology
17 (1998): 5592.
[57]kurgan.Merriam-Webster, 2002. Webster's Third New
International Dictionary, Unabridged (10 October 2006).
[58] Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and
Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian
Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University
Press. ISBN 0-691-05887-3.
[59] 22, rew Curry PUBLISHED May. Gold Artifacts Tell
Tale of Drug-Fueled Rituals and Bastard Wars"". National Geographic News. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
[60] Day 2001, pp. 5557

12

REFERENCES

[74] Quoted in Wouter Wiggert Belier. Decayed Gods: Origin

and Development of Georges Dumezil's Ideologie Tripartie. Brill Academic Publishers, 1991. ISBN 90-0406195-9. Page 69.
[75] Durant, Will. Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster,
1935. p. 287.
[76] The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Photographic Archives. Persepolis Apadana, E Stairway,
Tribute Procession, the Saka Tigraxauda Delegation. Retrieved 2012-6-27
[77] Mallory and Mair, The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China
and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West,
2000)
[78]Les Saces, Iaroslav Lebedynsky, p.73 ISBN 2-87772337-2
[79] Crowns similar to the Scythian ones discovered in Tillia
Tepe appear later, during the 5th and 6th century at the
eastern edge of the Asia continent, in the tumulus tombs of
the Kingdom of Silla, in South-East Korea. Afganistan,
les trsors retrouvs, 2006, p282, ISBN 978-2-71185218-5
[80] - Sgkohun.world.coocan.jp
[81] J.Harmatta: Scythiansin UNESCO Collection of History of Humanity Volume III: From the Seventh Century
BC to the Seventh Century AD. Routledge/UNESCO.
1996. pg 182

[61] Deaera, aquis, locis 20.17]

[82] Encyclopdia Britannica 15th edition Micropaedia on

Scythian. Schmitt, Rdiger (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Reichert, 1989.

[62] Callimachus. Hymn to Delos. 291

[83] Herodotus 4.108 trans. Rawlinson.

[63] Pliny. Naturalis Historia. 6. 88

[84] Strabo, ''Geography'', 11.8.1. Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2012-09-13.

[64] Clemen. Paedagogus 3. 3. 24

[65] Galen. De temperamentis 2. 5
[66] Ammianus Marcellinus. Roman History. Book XXXI. II.
21. Proceri autem Halani paene sunt omnes et pulchri,
crinibus mediocriter avis, oculorum temperata torvitate
terribiles et armorum levitate veloces.
[67] Gregory of Nyssa. Against Eunomius. 2. 12
[68] Adamantius. Physiognomica. 2. 37
[69] Traces of the Iranian root xaya ruler may persist
in all three names.
[70] Herodotus. History. Book IV, verse 5.
[71] Herodotus. History. Book IV, verses 1920.
[72] Herodotus. History. Book IV, verses 67.
[73] The rst scholar to compare the three strata of Scythian
society to the Indian castes, Arthur Christensen, published Les types du premiere homme et du premier roi dans
l'histoire legendaire des Iraniens, I (Stockholm, Leiden,
1917).

[85] see Zosimus, Historia Nova, 1.23 & 1.28, also Zonaras,
Epitome historiarum, book 12. Also the titleScythikaof
the lost work of the 3rd-century Greek historian Dexippus
who narrated the Germanic invasions of his age
[86] The Ossetes, the only Iranian people presently resident in
Europe, call their country Iriston or Iron, though North
Ossetia now ocially has the designation Alania. They
speak an Eastern Iranian language Ossetic, whose more
widely spoken dialect, Iron or Ironig (i.e. Iranian), preserves some similarities with the Gathic Avestan language,
another Iranian language of the Eastern branch
[87] Bernard S. Bachrach, A History of the Alans in the West,
from their rst appearance in the sources of classical antiquity through the early Middle Ages, University of Minnesota Press, 1973 ISBN 0-8166-0678-1
[88] Colossians 3:111
[89] King Lear Act I, Scene i.
[90] A View of the Present State of Ireland, c. 1596.
[91] Britannia, 1586 etc., English translation 1610.

12.2

Further reading

[92] Andrzej Wasko. Sarmatism or the Enlightenment: The

Dilemma of Polish Culture. Sarmatian Review XVII.2.
[93] Colin Kidd, British Identities before Nationalism; Ethnicity
and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 16001800, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 29
[94] Sulimirski, Tadeusz (1970). The Sarmatians. Volume 73
of Ancient peoples and places. New York: Praeger. pp.
113114. The evidence of both the ancient authors and
the archaeological remains point to a massive migration
of Sacian (Sakas)/Massagetan tribes from the Syr Daria
Delta (Central Asia) by the middle of the second century
B.C. Some of the Syr Darian tribes; they also invaded
North India.
[95] Partt, Tudor (2003). The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth. Phoenix. p. 54.
[96] Partt, Tudor (2003). The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth. Phoenix. p. 61.
[97] The Myth of Nations. Patrick Geary. Page 145 the Slavs..
formed as they were through amalgams of what the Roman sources termed Scythian and Sarmatian and Germannic populations..

12.1

Bibliography

Anthony, David W. (July 26, 2010). The Horse, the

Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from
the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World.
Princeton University Press. ISBN 1400831105.
Retrieved January 18, 2015.
Baumer, Christoph (December 12, 2012). The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors.
I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1780760604. Retrieved January
18, 2015.
Beckwith, Christopher I. (March 16, 2009).
Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton
University Press. ISBN 1400829941. Retrieved
December 30, 2014.
Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S. (1991). The
Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 3. Part 2.
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521227178.
Retrieved March 2, 2015.
Bonfante, Larissa (2011). The Scythians: Between Mobility, Tomb Architecture, and Early Urban Structures. The Barbarians of Ancient Europe: Realities and Interactions. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19404-4.
Davis-Kimball, Jeannine (1995). The Scythians
in southeastern Europe. Nomads of the Eurasian
Steppes in the early Iron Age (PDF). Zinat press.
ISBN 1-885979-00-2.

19
Day, John V. (2001). Indo-European origins: the
anthropological evidence. Institute for the Study
of Man. ISBN 0941694755. Retrieved March 2,
2015.
Drews, Robert (2004). Early Riders: The Beginnings
of Mounted Warfare in Asia and Europe. Routledge.
ISBN 978-0-203-07107-6.
Sinor, Denis (1990). The Cambridge History of
Early Inner Asia. Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-52124304-9.
Sulimirski, T (1985). Chapter 4: The Scyths.
In Gershevitch, Ilya. The Cambridge History of Iran
2. Azargoshnasp.net. pp. 14999.
Szemernyi, Oswald (1980). Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian Skudra Sogdian Saka
(PDF). Verentlichungen der iranischen Kommission Band 9. Wien: Verlag der sterreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften; azargoshnap.net.
Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006).
Encyclopedia of European Peoples. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 1438129181. Retrieved January 16,
2015.
West, Barbara A. (January 1, 2009). Encyclopedia
of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 1438119135. Retrieved January 18,
2015.

12.2 Further reading

Alekseev, A. Yu. et al., Chronology of Eurasian
Scythian Antiquities Born by New Archaeological
and 14C Data. Radiocarbon, Vol .43, No 2B,
2001, p 10851107.
Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. 2002. Warrior Women:
An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden
Heroines. Warner Books, New York. 1st Trade
printing, 2003. ISBN 0-446-67983-6 (pbk).
Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1984). Indo-European
and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Typological Analysis of a Proto-Language
and Proto-Culture (Parts I and II). Tbilisi State University.
Harmatta, J., Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians, Acta Universitatis de Attila Jzsef Nominatae. Acta antique et archaeologica
Tomus XIII. Szeged 1970, Kroraina.com
(German) Jaedtke, Wolfgang. Steppenkind, Piper
Verlag, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-492-25146-4.
This novel contains detailed descriptions of the life
of nomadic Scythians around 700 BC.

20

13

Johnson, James William, The Scythian: His Rise

and Fall, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 20,
No. 2 (Apr., 1959), pp. 250257, University of
Pennsylvania Press, JSTOR
Lebedynsky, I. (2001). Les Scythes: la civilisation nomade des steppes VIIeIIIe sicle av. J.-C.
/ Errance, Paris.
Lebedynsky Iaroslav (2006)Les Saces, Editions
Errance, ISBN 2-87772-337-2
Mallory, J.P. (1989). In Search of the IndoEuropeans: Language Archeology and Myth.
Thames and Hudson. Chapter 2; and pages 5153
for a quick reference.
Newark, T. (1985). The Barbarians: Warriors and
wars of the Dark Ages. Blandford: New York. See
pages 65, 85, 87, 119139.
Renfrew, C. (1988). Archeology and Language: The
Puzzle of Indo-European origins. Cambridge University Press.

EXTERNAL LINKS

1998 NOVA documentary: Ice Mummies:

Siberian Ice Maiden Transcript
on Sarmatian (a related Iranian group) trade and ethnic connections
A chronology of the Scythian antiquities of Eurasia
based on new archaeological and C-14 data, Alekseev, A.Y. et al. A detailed scholarly article on preScythian, early Scythian and classical Scythian archaeological sites and their dating, by the Hermitage
Museum's director of archaeology and others.
Some problems in the study of the chronology
of the ancient nomadic cultures in Eurasia (9th3rd
centuries BC)", Alekseev, A.Y. et al. More of the
same.
Scythian Gold From Siberia Said to Predate the
Greeks A journalist's article on the Arzhan nds,
quoting Hermitage experts
Geldings for the Gods
An Introductory Bibliography on Scythia (French)

Rolle, Renate, The world of the Scythians, London

Ryzhanovka
and New York (1989).
(Russian) Rybakov, Boris. Paganism of Ancient Rus.
Nauka, Moscow, 1987
Torday, Laszlo (1998). Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History. Durham Academic Press. ISBN 1-900838-03-6.

Archaeology abstract of 1997 article

the Ryzhanovka Kurgan in Ukraine
Ryzhanovka
Genetics

13

External links

Haplogroups in India (PDF le)

Scythians overview by Chris Bennet

Y-Chromosome Biallelic Haplogroups

Livius website articles on ancient history, entry on

Scythians/Sacae by Jona Lendering

Unravelling migrations in the steppe: mitochondrial

DNA sequences from ancient central Asians.

The early burial in Tuva

Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history

of south Siberian Kurgan people

Color illustrations of Scythian gold

Published excavations of royal Scythian kurgan
(barrow) at Chertomlyk reviewed
all known Scythian kings listed on Regnal Chronologies
Herodotus, Histories, Book IV translated by Rawlinson, 1942 edition
Livio Stecchini, The Mapping of the Earth:
Scythia: reconstructing the map of Scythia
according to the conceptual geography of
Herodotus
Livio Stecchini, The Mapping of the Earth:
Gerrhos

21

14
14.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Scythians Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians?oldid=668116490 Contributors: Vicki Rosenzweig, Mav, Tarquin, Jeronimo,

Josh Grosse, SimonP, Olivier, Leandrod, Edward, Paul Barlow, Llywrch, Menchi, Wapcaplet, Sannse, (, Gbleem, Ahoerstemeier, Abou
Ben Adhem, , Bogdangiusca, Genie, Charles Matthews, Wikiborg, Reddi, Selket, Pedant17, Tpbradbury, Maximus Rex,
Jose Ramos, Pietro, Joy, Bloodshedder, Irismeister, Wetman, Zestauferov, Rogper~enwiki, Robbot, Dokesa, RedWolf, Goethean, Altenmann, Sam Spade, Lowellian, Dukeofomnium, Jamshid H, Saforrest, Xanzzibar, Cyrius, Yeti~enwiki, Nat Krause, Seabhcan, Woldemar~enwiki, Beardo, Gilgamesh~enwiki, Per Honor et Gloria, Mboverload, Grant65, Chowbok, Confuzion, Pgan002, Mustafaa, WhiteDragon, Ro4444, Mzajac, Bumm13, Kuralyov, Neutrality, Burschik, Kevin Rector, Mike Rosoft, Mr Bound, D6, Freakofnurture,
Pasquale, Rich Farmbrough, Florian Blaschke, YUL89YYZ, Berkut, Maksym Ye., Dbachmann, Mani1, Paul August, Bender235, Snow
steed~enwiki, JamesR1701E, CanisRufus, MBisanz, Carlon, Kwamikagami, QuartierLatin1968, Surachit, Gilgamesh he, Florian Klger,
Art LaPella, Jpgordon, Thu, Shoujun, NetBot, Cmdrjameson, Russ3Z, EvilSuggestions, Ford, Jonathunder, Anthony Appleyard, Alfanje~enwiki, Omerlives, JohnAlbertRigali, Riana, AzaToth, Pouya, Alex '05, JosebaAbaitua, Shoey, Dominic, Ndteegarden, Ghirlandajo,
Axeman89, Sashazlv, Woohookitty, Scriberius, Sburke, Briangotts, Je3000, Nakos2208~enwiki, John Hill, RomeW, G.W., Descendall,
Ilya, BD2412, Amir85, Grammarbot, Dpv, Dvyost, Josh Parris, Rjwilmsi, Angusmclellan, CristianChirita, NatusRoma, Amire80, Hiberniantears, Ligulem, FlaBot, Margosbot~enwiki, MacRusgail, Mehrshad123, The Dogandpony, Codex Sinaiticus, Laur, AmishCellPhone,
Chobot, Shauni, DVdm, Roboto de Ajvol, Maziargh, RussBot, Hede2000, DanMS, Gaius Cornelius, Ksyrie, Theelf29, Alex Bakharev,
Pseudomonas, K.C. Tang, Wiki alf, BGManofID, Markwiki, Veledan, Badagnani, Johann Wolfgang, Nascigl, Aldux, ILDuceMas, Botteville, Igin, Orioane, Deville, Codrinb, Ninly, Lyhana8, Mehrdadd, Hayden120, ManekiNeko, Curpsbot-unicodify, Tajik, TLSuda, Cotoco, CrniBombarder!!!, SmackBot, YellowMonkey, Tom Lougheed, Argyll Lassie, Jagged 85, Srnec, Cool3, Hmains, ParthianShot, Chris
the speller, TimBentley, Enkyklios, Thumperward, Keltica, Hibernian, ImpuMozhi, TheLeopard, MarshallPoe, Colonies Chris, Hongooi,
Liontooth, DarioTW, Flyboy Will, Khoikhoi, TheLateDentarthurdent, Hosseinalizadehgharib, New Rock Star, John D. Croft, Nrcprm2026,
Nepaheshgar, Adrigon, DDima, Etams, Nasz, Mrdallaway, Galut5, Kashk, Johanna-Hypatia, Turlington, Horlo, Breno, Green Giant, Johanthon, Zaparojdik, The Man in Question, PEiP, Mr Stephen, Don Alessandro, Intranetusa, Pejman47, Nonexistant User, Zmmz, Joseph
Solis in Australia, Tony Fox, Khosrow II, Nobleeagle, Friendly Neighbour, CmdrObot, John Riemann Soong, Anacon, Nadyes, Vishal1976,
Richard Keatinge, FilipeS, Cydebot, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Pgtf, Ipsingh, Pejvak, Doug Weller, DumbBOT, Maharaj Devraj, Nadirali,
PKT, Suragette, Anupam, Folantin, Ufwuct, Michael A. White, Nick Number, Matthew Proctor, Valyer, Jas315, Rcduggan, Knotwork,
JAnDbot, Deective, Husond, MER-C, Scythian1, Barefact, GrizzlyBlair, Mardavich, Elder sun, Arash the Bowman, Hannaisttoll, Nyttend,
Sasha l~enwiki, RebekahThorn, Marmoulak, Rhalden, Taamu, Gomm, E104421, Saganaki-, Artemis-Arethusa, Tremello, Rettetast, R'n'B,
CommonsDelinker, AlexiusHoratius, Pomte, Artaxiad, Just nigel, Trusilver, Aleksandr Grigoryev, Geog1, Ian.thomson, Johnbod, Balthazarduju, Aram33~enwiki, Richard D. LeCour, 83d40m, Josephhartman07, Hnaluru, Jstnhorn, Aminullah, Intothere, Idioma-bot, TeamZissou, VolkovBot, Hppboston, Macedonian, Jmrowland, Rokus01, Lovas, Gabhala, Hrothberht, Andrein, Iowamutt, AllGloryToTheHypnotoad, Wingedsubmariner, Blue Dwarf, Cosmos416, Alborz Fallah, Shorn again, Mehmetcy, Smurali49, Don.hitchcock, SieBot, Pkurzweil,
Andrarias, Moonriddengirl, Nz.nico, Gerakibot, AlexanderPar, Til Eulenspiegel, Joe Gatt, Verytas, Lightmouse, Archaeogenetics, Aramgar, Slovenski Volk, Prof saxx, Dipa1965, Athenean, Mr. Granger, Abdulka, Ratemonth, Sevilledade, Bobanni, RafaAzevedo, Kain Nihil,
Lukferi, Aspandyar Agha, 2007 account, Ykhwong, Sun Creator, Enerelt, Iohannes Animosus, Gundersen53, Takabeg, EraNavigator,
SchreiberBike, Grisunge, ChrisHodgesUK, Internetsurferpaul, TatoMykola, Chaosdruid, Robfbms, Catalographer, Dana boomer, Smarkea, Lx 121, Bilsonius, Sumerophile, Stickee, NellieBly, MarmadukePercy, Felix Folio Secundus, Addbot, Imeriki al-Shimoni, GM Red
Wing, Stogerov, Jhylton, Trasman, Dux1000, SwatiAfridi, Ashton1983, Zarcadia, Leszek Jaczuk, Download, CarsracBot, Numbo3-bot,
Ehrenkater, Lightbot, ZedlikBot, Greyhood, Transylvanian11, Luckas-bot, TheSuave, Yngvadottir, Iroony, Againme, N1RK4UDSK714,
AnomieBOT, Tumennokuri, Abstruce, Scythian77, Ulric1313, CreativeSoul7981, Flewis, Hunnjazal, Bouron, Citation bot, ArthurBot,
LilHelpa, Chell and the cake, Xqbot, NisarPakistani, I Feel Tired, Mellsworthy, Orkhan ankara, Zhoulikan, Jackiestud, DSisyphBot,
Ellipi, GrouchoBot, Nicoleoz, Xashaiar, Omnipaedista, Vitalevent4, RibotBOT, SassoBot, Mttll, Geopersona, Huunta, Aurola, Maxtherocker, Jsp722, Ellenois, Ddd0dd, Makhmad, MuhammedAkbarKhan, LucienBOT, Massagetae, SISPCM, Gourami Watcher, Kwiki,
Emperor khosro, Citation bot 1, Poeer, Chae jung, Greiwood, Ghazne, Justpossible, RedBot, Lars Washington, Tim1357, Victor.a.roy,
J-Scythian, Sfarea, Bgkkrock, Lotje, Beadmatrix, Ollios, , Reka1956, Ms. 45, Jansentilanus, HonestopL, EmausBot, John of
Reading, M.Ibrahimkhel, HistoryMA25, Aryamahasattva, Armaiti, Dewritech, ZxxZxxZ, Wikipelli, Grandboss5, Thecheesykid, Malikpannu, Budija, The Scythian, Jewels034, Aeonx, Erianna, Brandmeister, Lagoo sab, Therexbanner, Guilins, Mcc1789, Vox Pluvia, Zoupan,
Ziva Focus, Imorthodox23, Sumitkachroo, Khestwol, ClueBot NG, Iritakamas, Calador2100, Navops47, Alphasinus, Xythianos, Widr,
Rurik the Varangian, Lysozym, Anglo Pyramidologist, Helpful Pixie Bot, Wbm1058, Lowercase sigmabot, BG19bot, Davidiad, Marcocapelle, Joshua Jonathan, Vonuka, Glevum, The Almightey Drill, Xooon, Slymnfb, Esfarain, Dj777cool, HueSatLum, Coner439876991,
Jdog91011, Barbarianhistory, Hmainsbot1, Mogism, Claomh Solais, Muramidase, Hilmorel, Monticores, Jcardazzi, Krakkos, Zyma,
Vortexion, HistoryofIran, Parsia2013, LouisAragon, Urek Meniashvili, ReconditeRodent, Spalagdama, Adjutor101, Tes0001, Xenxax,
Spivorg, Daylight15, User without username, Filedelinkerbot, Lamedumal, Monopoly31121993, Kasparjust, ArordineriiiUkhtt, Alexandritechrysoberyl, KasparBot, Artin Mehraban and Anonymous: 314

14.2

Images

File:Aiud_History_Museum_2011_-_Scythian_Items-3.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Aiud_

History_Museum_2011_-_Scythian_Items-3.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Codrin.B
File:Aiud_History_Museum_2011_-_Scythian_Items.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Aiud_
History_Museum_2011_-_Scythian_Items.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Codrin.B
File:Alba_Iulia_National_Museum_of_the_Union_2011_-_Offering_pot_from_a_Scythian_Grave.JPG
Source:
https:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Alba_Iulia_National_Museum_of_the_Union_2011_-_Offering_pot_from_a_
Scythian_Grave.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work, Codrin.B Original artist: Unknown
File:AzesII.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/AzesII.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: PHG at English Wikipedia
File:AzesIITriratna.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/AzesIITriratna.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

22

14

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Behistun.Inscript.Skunkha.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Behistun.Inscript.Skunkha.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

File:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/ChineseJadePlaques.JPG License: CCBY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Gold_scythian_belt_title_from_Mingachevir,_Azerbaijan.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/
60/Gold_scythian_belt_title_from_Mingachevir%2C_Azerbaijan.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
Urek Meniashvili
File:HorseAttackedByTigerOrdos4th-1stBCE.JPG
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/
HorseAttackedByTigerOrdos4th-1stBCE.JPG License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: self-made, photographed at the British Museum Original artist: PHGCOM
File:KulObaTreasure.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/KulObaTreasure.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: Self-photographed Original artist: PHGCOM
File:MenWithDragons.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/MenWithDragons.jpg License: CC-BY-SA3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:PazyrikHorseman.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/PazyrikHorseman.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Photographed by w:en:User:PHG(?). Uploaded as w:en:Image:PazyrikHorseman.JPG by w:en:User:PHG 9 January
2005. Transferred to Commons 6 March 2006 (upload log) Original artist: w:en:User:PHG
File:Placca_pantera,_da_regione_di_krasnodar,_kurgan_chertomlyk,_oro_a_sbalzo_e_cesellato,_fine_VII_sec_ac..JPG
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Placca_pantera%2C_da_regione_di_krasnodar%2C_kurgan_
chertomlyk%2C_oro_a_sbalzo_e_cesellato%2C_fine_VII_sec_ac..JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original
artist: sailko
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
File:Roman_Empire_125.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Roman_Empire_125.png License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
Andrei Nacu
File:Scythia-Parthia_100_BC.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Scythia-Parthia_100_BC.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:ScythianArchers.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/ScythianArchers.JPG License: CC-BY-SA3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:ScythianC14AsiaEuropeFig6SketchEn_3dGraph.gif
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/
ScythianC14AsiaEuropeFig6SketchEn_3dGraph.gif License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:ScythianGroups.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/ScythianGroups.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Scythian_Warriors.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Scythian_Warriors.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: 2D-to-2D from Kul-Oba (400 to 350 BC) Original artist: Unknown
File:Scythians_at_the_Tomb_of_Ovid_c._1640.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Scythians_at_
the_Tomb_of_Ovid_c._1640.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: [1] Original artist: Johann Heinrich Schnfeld
File:Scythians_shooting_with_bows_Kertch_antique_Panticapeum_Ukrainia_4th_century_BCE.jpg
Source:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Scythians_shooting_with_bows_Kertch_antique_Panticapeum_Ukrainia_4th_
century_BCE.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work, photographed at Muse du Louvre Original artist: PHGCOM

https:

File:ScytianBowl.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/ScytianBowl.JPG License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: CristianChirita
File:Throne_arm.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Throne_arm.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:TilliaTepeCrown2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/TilliaTepeCrown2.jpg License: CC-BYSA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:___.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/%D0%91%D0%BE%D0%
B9_%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D1%81%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%
D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://art.1september.ru/articlef.php?ID=
200702110 Original artist: Viktor M. Vasnetsov
File:_.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/%D0%A4%D1%80%D0%B0%
D0%B3%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%
D0%BB%D0%B8.jpg License: FAL Contributors: - Original artist: .

14.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0