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{{Ethnic group|
|group=Scythians
|image=[[Image:Scythia-Parthia 100 BC.png|350px]]<br>Approximate extent of Scythia and [[Sarmatia]] in the 1st century BC.
|poptime=Unknown
|popplace=Eastern Europe<br>Central Asia<br>Northern India
|langs=[[Scythian language]]
|rels=[[Animism]]
|related=
*[[Sarmatians]]
*[[Dahae]]
*[[Sakas]]
*[[Indo-Scythians]]
*[[Massagetes]]
}}
The '''Scythians''' (also '''Scyths''', from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{polytonic|Σκύθης}}), a [[nation]] of horse-riding [[nomadic pastoralists]] who spoke an [[Iranian languages|Iranian language]]<ref>Scythian, member of a normadic people originally of Iranian stock who migrated from Central Asia to southern Russia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC - ''The New [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]'', 15th edition - Micropaedia on "Scythian", 10:576</ref>, dominated the [[Pontic steppe]] throughout [[Classical Antiquity]]. By [[Late Antiquity]] the closely-related '''[[Sarmatians]]''' came to dominate the Scyths in this area. Much of the surviving information about the Scyths comes from the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] (c. 440 BC) in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', and archaeologically from the exquisite goldwork found in Scythian [[kurgan|burial mounds]] in [[Ukraine]], [[Tuva]], and [[Southern Russia]].
Also, since ancient times non-Scyths have used the name "Scythian" more broadly to refer to various peoples seen as similar or identical to the Scythians, or who lived anywhere in a vast area covering including present-day Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia — known until medieval times as '''[[Scythia]]'''. The name was also used among early scholars studying the [[Proto Indo-European]]s, and the '''Scythians''' are still considered a reasonable analogue for their [[Proto Indo-European]] ancestors.
== History and archaeology==
===Origins and pre-history (to 700 BC) ===
[[Image:Behistun.Inscript.Skunkha.jpg|thumb|170px|[[Skunkha]], king of the ''Sakā tigraxaudā'' ("wearing pointed caps Sakae", a group of Scythian tribes). Detail of [[Behistun Inscription]].]]
[[Image:Tigraxauda.jpg|thumb|The ''Tigrakhauda'' ([[Scythian]]) relief of eastern stairs, [[Apadana]].]]
Scholars generally classify the [[Scythian language]] as a member of the [[Eastern Iranian languages]], and the Scythians as a branch of the [[ancient Iranian peoples]] expanding into the steppe regions north of [[Greater Iran]] from around 1000 BCE.<ref>
[[Oswald Szemerényi]], "Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka" (''Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' 371), Vienna, 1980 = ''Scripta minora'', vol. 4, pp. 2051-2093. [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm]
;
Sulimirski, T. "The Scyths" in ''Cambridge History of Iran'', vol. 2: 149-99 [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm] </ref> <ref> Grousset, Rene. "The empire of the Steppes", Rutgers University Press, 1989, pg 19
;
Jacbonson, Esther. "The Art of Scythians", Brill Academic Publishers, 1995, pg 63 ISBN 90-04-09856-9
;
Gamkrelidze and Ivanov ''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., 1984
;
Mallory, J.P. . In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language Archeology and Myth. Thames and Hudson. Read Chapter 2 and see 51-53 for a quick reference.(1989)
;
Newark, T. ''The Barbarians: Warriors and wars of the Dark Ages''. Blandford: New York. See pages 65, 85, 87, 119-139. ,1985
;
Renfrew, C. ''Archeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European origins''. Cambridge University Press, 1988
;
[[Vasily Abaev|Abaev, V.I.]] and H.W. Bailey, "Alans," ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'', Vol. 1. pp. 801-803. ;
''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'', (translation of the 3rd Russian-language edition), 31 vols., New York, 1973-1983.
;
Vogelsang, W J ''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 ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved [[September 7]], 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service
;
Masica, Colin P. ''The Indo-Aryan Languages'', Cambridge University Press, 1993, pg 48 ISBN 0-521-29944-6
</ref>
The ''Histories'' of Herodotus provide the most important literary sources relating to ancient Scyths. According to Sulimirski
<ref>
Sulimirski, T. "The Scyths," in ''Cambridge History of Iran'', vol. 2: 149-99, http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm
</ref>
, Herodotus provides a broadly correct depiction but apparently knew little of the eastern part of Scythia. According to Herodotus the ancient Persians called all the Scyths "Saca" (Herodotus .VII 64). Their principal tribe, the ''Royal Scyths'', ruled the vast lands occupied by the nation as a whole (Herodotus .IV 20); and they called themselves ''Skolotoi''. [[Oswald Szemerényi]] devotes a thorough discussion to the etymology of the word ''Scyth'' in his work "Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka".
<ref>
[[Oswald Szemerényi]], "Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka" (''Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' 371), Vienna, 1980 = ''Scripta minora'', vol. 4, pp. 2051-2093. http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm
</ref>.
The Scythians first appeared in the historical record in the beginning of the first millennium.
<ref>
[[Oswald Szemerényi]], "Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka" (''Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' 371), pg 5-6, Vienna, 1980 = ''Scripta minora'', vol. 4, pp. 2051-2093. http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm
</ref>
. But Herodotus (IV. 11)
<ref>
[[Oswald Szemerényi]], "Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka" (''Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' 371), pg 5-6, Vienna, 1980 = ''Scripta minora'', vol. 4, pp. 2051-2093. http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm
</ref>
reported a version according to which:
{{cquote| The nomadic tribes of Scythians who lived in Asia were hard-pressed by the [[Massagetae]] tribes, were forced across the [[Araxes]] into [[Cimmeria]]. There is also another different 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 quit their homes, crossed the Araxes, and entered the land of Cimmeria.}}
Around 770 BCE, the Scythians (led by Ishpaki — Old Iranian ''*Spakaaya'') in alliance with the Mannaens attacked [[Assyria]]. The group first appears in Assyrian annals under the name ''Ishkuzai''. According to the brief assertion of [[Esarhaddon]]'s inscription, the Assyrian empire defeated the alliance. Subsequent mention of Scythians in [[Babylonia]]n and Assyrian texts occurs in connection with [[Medes|Media]]. Both Old Persian and Greek sources mention them during the period of the [[Achaemenid]] empires, with Greek sources locating them in the steppe between the [[Dnieper]] and [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] rivers.
=== Classical Antiquity (600 BC to AD 300)===
[[Herodotus]] provides the first 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.'' 4.11-12). Herodotus also states (4.6) that the Scythians consisted of the [[Auchatae]], [[Catiaroi]], [[Traspians]] and [[Paralatae]] or "Royal Scythians". Throughout his work Herodotus specifically distinguished between the nomadic Scythians in the south and the agricultural Scythians to the north.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
[[Image:Scythian Warriors.jpg|thumb|349px|Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an [[electrum]] cup from the [[Kul-Oba]] [[kurgan]] burial near [[Kerch]]. The warrior on the right strings his bow, bracing it behind his knee; note the typical pointed hood, long jacket with fur or fleece 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)]]
[[Image:KulObaTreasure.jpg|thumb|Treasure of [[Kul-Oba]], near [[Kerch]].]]
In 512 BC, when king [[Darius the Great|Darius]] the Great of [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]] attacked the Scythians, he allegedly penetrated into their land after crossing the [[Danube]]. Herodotus relates that the nomad Scythians succeeded in frustrating the designs of the Persian army by letting it march through the entire country without an engagement. According to Herodotus, Darius in this manner came as far as the [[Volga]] river.
During the [[5th century BC|5th]] to [[3rd century BC|3rd centuries]] BC the Scythians evidently prospered. When Herodotus wrote his ''Histories'' in the 5th century BC, Greeks distinguished [[Scythia Minor]] in present-day [[Romania]] and [[Bulgaria]] from a [[Scythia|Greater Scythia]] that extended eastwards for a twenty-day ride from the [[Danube River]], across the steppes of today's Ukraine to the lower [[Don River, Russia|Don]] basin. The Don, then known as ''[[Tanais|Tanaïs]]'', has served as a major trading route ever since. The Scythians apparently obtained their wealth from their control over the [[slave trade|slave-trade]] from the north to Greece through the Greek [[Black Sea]] [[apoikia|colonial ports]] of [[Olvia]], [[Chersonesos]], [[Cimmerian Bosporus]], and [[Gorgippia]]. They also grew grain, and shipped [[wheat]], flocks, and [[cheese]] to Greece.
[[Strabo]] (c. 63 BC - 24 AD) reports that king [[Ateas]] united under his power the Scythian tribes living between the [[Maeotian marshes]] and the [[Danube]]. His westward expansion brought him in conflict 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.
By the time of Strabo's account (the first decades of the first millennium AD), the Crimean Scythians had created a new kingdom extending from the lower [[Dnieper River|Dnieper]] to the [[Crimea]]. The kings [[Skilurus]] and [[Palakus]] waged wars with [[Mithridates VI of Pontus|Mithridates the Great]] (reigned 120–63 BC) for control of the Crimean littoral, including [[Chersonesos]] and the [[Cimmerian Bosporus]]. Their capital city, [[Scythian Neapolis]], stood on the outskirts of modern [[Simferopol]]. The [[Goths]] destroyed it much later, in the 5th century AD.
===Sakas===
{{main|Sakas}}
Asians, especially [[Persians]], knew the Scythians in Asia as [[Saka]]s. The Indo-Scythians had the name "Shaka" in [[South Asia]], an extension on the name "Saka". [[Herodotus]] describes them as Scythians, called by a different name:
:"The Sacae, or Scyths, were clad in trousers, and had on their heads tall stiff caps rising to a point. They bore the [[bow (weapon)|bow]] of their country 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 which they gave to all Scythians." (Herodotus VII. 64)
Although the Shakas had a reputation as fierce and war-like, one of the greatest sages of peace, the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], may have descended from this tribe: he had the title ''Shakyamuni'' which means "Shaka monk".
===Indo-Scythians===
{{main|Indo-Scythians}}
[[Image:AzesIITriratna.jpg|thumb|300px|Silver coin of King [[Azes II]] (r.c. 35-12 BCE). Buddhist [[triratna]] symbol in the left field on the reverse.]]
In the 2nd century BC, a group of Scythian tribes, known as the [[Indo-Scythians]], migrated into [[Bactria]], [[Sogdiana]] and [[Arachosia]]. The migrations in 175-125 BC of the [[Kushan]] (Chinese: "[[Yuezhi]]") tribes, who originally lived in eastern [[Tarim Basin]] before the [[Huns]] (Chinese: "[[Xiongnu]]") tribes dislodged them, displaced the Indo-Scythians from [[Central Asia]]. Led by their king [[Maues]], they ultimately settled in modern-day [[Punjab region|Punjab]] and [[Kashmir]] from around 85 BC, where they replaced the kingdom of the [[Indo-Greeks]] by the time of [[Azes II]] (reigned circa 35 - 12 BC). Kushans invaded again in the 1st century, but the Indo-Scythian rule persisted in some areas of Central [[India]] until the 5th century.
Hellenic-Scythian contact still focused on the Hellenistic cities and settlements of the [[Crimea]] (especially in the [[Bosporan Kingdom]]). Greek craftsmen from the colonies north of the Black Sea made spectacular Scythian-style gold ornaments (see below), applying Greek realism to depict Scythian motifs of lions, antlered reindeer and [[griffin|gryphon]]s.
=== 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". In [[Attila]]'s regime [[Edekon]] was the king of [[Scythians]].
Meanwhile he was the head of Attila's bodyguard. [[Edekon]] was bribed to assassinate [[Attila]] by [[Crysaphius]] and [[Vigilius]]. But he remained loyal to Attila and informed him about the conspiracy. [[Attila]] ordered the execution of [[Vigilius]]. {{Fact|date=April 2007}}
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 East Iranian dialects, and assimilated the [[Saka]] linguistically.
== Archaeology==
Archaeological remains of the Scythians include [[kurgans|kurgan]] tombs (ranging from simple exemplars to elaborate "Royal kurgans" containing the "Scythian triad" of weapons, horse-harness, and Scythian-style wild-animal art), [[gold]], [[silk]], and animal sacrifices, in places also with suspected [[human sacrifice]]s. [[mummy|Mummification]] techniques and [[permafrost]] have aided in the relative preservation of some remains. Scythian archaeology also examines the remains of North Pontic Scythian cities and fortifications.
[[Carbon-14 dating]] of kurgans has allowed archaeologists to trace their emergence in the [[Sayan Mountains|Sayan]]-Altay area from about 3,000 BC, and their westward spread starting about 900 BC.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
The spectacular Scythian grave-goods from Arzhan, and others in [[Tuva]] have been dated from about 900 BCE onward. One grave find on the lower Volga gave a similar date, and one of the Steblev graves from the eastern, European end of the Scythian area was dated to the late 8th century BCE.
<ref>SOME PROBLEMS IN THE STUDY OF THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT NOMADIC CULTURES IN EURASIA
(9TH - 3RD CENTURIES BC. A.YU.ALEKSEEV, N.A.BOKOVENKO, YU.BOLTRIK, et alia. GEOCHRONOMETRIA Vol. 21, pp 143-150, 2002. Journal on Methods and Applications of Absolute Chronology. Available at http://www.geochronometria.pl/pdf/geo_21/geo21_17.pdf </ref>
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 centuries 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 century BC to the 2nd century BC, archeology records a split into two distinct settlement areas: the older in the Sayan-Altai area in Central Asia, and the younger in the North Pontic area in Eastern Europe<ref>A. Yu. Alekseev ''et al.'', "Chronology of Eurasian Scythian Antiquities..."</ref>.
=== Kurgans ===
{{main|Kurgans}}
[[Image:throne arm.jpg|thumb|260px|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]].]]
Large burial mounds (some over 20 metres high), provide the most valuable archaeological remains associated with the Scythians. They dot the south Russian steppe, extending in great chains for many kilometers along ridges and watersheds. From them archaeologists have learnt much about Scythian life and art.
<ref>
John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, N. G. L. Hammond. ''The Cambridge Ancient History''. Cambridge University Press. Jan 16, 1992, pg 550.
</ref>
The Russian term for such a burial mound, ''kurgan'', derives from a [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] word for "castle".
<ref>
"kurgan." Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (10 Oct. 2006).
</ref>
=== Tamgas ===
Scythian tribes and clans have left behind them as important ethnological markers their ''[[tamga]]s'' (brand-marks which identify individual possession), a must for pastoral societies with shared grazing-ranges. An alternative point of view sees tamgas as a real [[writing system|script]] consisting of syllables and several [[logogram]]s. Tamgas allow reconstruction of movements and family links where no written records have survived.
Besides identifying property, tamgas marked participation of members of the clan in collective actions (treaties, religious ceremonies, fraternization, public functions), and served as symbols of authority for minting coins. The tamga forms stayed unchanged for about 2000 years within kindred ethnic groups, but after the decline of some famous clan another clan would adopt its tamga.
Wide use of tamgas originated from western [[Turkestan]] and [[Mongolia]] no later than the beginning of the 6th century BC.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Analysis of tamgas for most powerful clans and for the kings of the [[Cimmerian Bosporus|Bosporus]] has allowed scholars to define precisely their genealogy and their relations with territories from where their forefathers migrated to Europe: [[Khwarezm|Chorasm]], [[Kang-Kü]], [[Bactria]], [[Sogdiana]].
<ref>
S. A. Yatsenko, ''Tamgas ...''
</ref>
=== Pazyryk culture ===
[[Image:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|thumb|230px|Horseman, ''[[Pazyryk]]'' felt artifact, ca. 300 BC.]]
{{main|Pazyryk}}
Some of the first [[Bronze Age]] Scythian burials documented by modern archaeologists include the [[kurgan]]s at [[Pazyryk]] in the [[Ulagan]] district of the [[Altay Republic]], south of [[Novosibirsk]] in the [[Altay Mountains]] of southern [[Siberia]]. Archaeologists have extrapolated the [[Pazyryk culture]] from these finds: five 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 [[cairn]]s of boulders and stones.
Pazyryk culture flourished between the [[7th century BC|7th]] and [[3rd century BC|3rd]] centuries BC in the area associated with the ''[[Sacae]]''.
Ordinary Pazyryk graves contain only common utensils, but in one, among other treasures, archaeologists found the famous [[:Image:Scythiancarpet.jpg|Pazyryk Carpet]], the oldest surviving wool-pile [[oriental rug]]. Another striking find, [http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm88_0_0_17_0.html a 3-metre-high four-wheel funerary chariot], survived superbly preserved from the 5th century BC.
Although some scholars sought to connect the Pazyryk nomads with indigenous ethnic groups of the Altay, Rudenko summed up the cultural context in the following dictum:
<blockquote>
All that is known to us at the present time about the culture of the population of the High Altay, 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 fifth century BC. This is supported by radiocarbon dating.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
</blockquote>
=== Belsk excavations ===
Recent digs{{Fact|date=February 2007}}(see:[[Gelonus]]) in [[Belsk]] near [[Poltava]] (Ukraine) have uncovered a "vast city", with the largest area of any city in the world at that time. It has been tentatively identified 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 even the outlandish size reported by [[Herodotus]]. Its ___location at the northern edge of the Ukrainian steppe would have allowed strategic control of the north-south [[trade]]-route. Judging by the finds dated to the [[5th century BC|5th]] and [[4th century BC|4th]] centuries BC, craft workshops and Greek pottery abounded.
=== Tillia tepe treasure===
[[Image:MenWithDragons.jpg|thumb|250px|"Kings with dragons", Tillia tepe.]]
{{main|Tillia tepe}}
A site found in 1968 in [[Tillia tepe]] (literally "The golden hill") in northern [[Afghanistan]] (former [[Bactria]]) near [[Shebergan]] consisted of the graves of five women and one man with extremely rich jewelry, dated to around the 1st century BCE, and generally thought to belong to Scythian tribes. Altogether the graves yielded several thousands of pieces of fine jewelry, usually made from combinations of [[gold]], [[turquoise]] and [[lapis-lazuli]].
[[Image:TilliaTepeCrown2.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Royal crown, Tillia tepe.]]
A high degree of cultural [[syncretism]] pervades the findings, however. [[Hellenistic]] cultural and artistic influences 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 of the [[Seleucid empire]] and [[Greco-Bactrian]] kingdom in the same area until around 140 BCE, and the continued existence of the [[Indo-Greek kingdom]] in the northwestern Indian sub-continent until the beginning of our era. These artifacts also appeared intermixed with items coming from much farther afield, such between as a few Chinese artifacts (especially Chinese [[bronze mirror]]s) as well as a few [[India]]n ones (decorated ivory plates). This testifies to the richness of cultural influences in the area of [[Bactria]] at that time.
===Ordos culture===
[[Image:BronzeManOrdos3-1stCenturyBCE.JPG|thumb|200px|Bronze statuette of a man, Ordos, 3-1st century BCE. [[British Museum]].]]
{{main|Ordos culture}}
The Ordos people were horse nomads would lived in the area of the [[Ordos Desert]], in the south of the [[Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region]] of the [[People's Republic of China]], about 300 kilometers from modern [[Beijing]]. They occupied the area from the 5th century BCE to the 1st-2nd century CE. The Ordos people represented in archaeological finds tend to display Europoïd features, and are thought to be of [[Scythian]] affinity.<ref>"Europoid faces in some depictions of the Ordos, which should be attributed to a Scythian affinity", Iaroslav Lebedynsky, p125</ref> The weapons, found in tombs throughout the steppes of the Ordos, are very close to that of the Scythians, especially the [[Sakas]].<ref>Iaroslav Lebedynsky, p127</ref>
==Scythian influences==
===China===
[[Image:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG|thumb|250px|Chinese [[jade]] and [[steatite]] plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th-3rd century BC. [[British Museum]].]]
Ancient influences from Central Asia became identifiable in China following contacts of metropolitan China with nomadic western and northwestern border territories from the 8th century BC. [[Gold]] entered China from Central Asia between the 8th and the 7th centuries, and Chinese jade-carvers began to make imitations of the designs of the [[steppe]]s. 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]].<ref>Mallory and Mair, ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West'', 2000)</ref>
Following their expulsion by the [[Yuezhi]], some Scythians may also have migrated to the area of [[Yunnan]] in southern China. Excavations of the prehistoric art of the [[Dian Kingdom|Dian]] civilization of Yunnan have revealed hunting scenes of [[Caucasoid]] horsemen in Central Asian clothing.<ref>"Les Saces", Iaroslav Lebedynsky, p.73 ISBN 2877723372</ref>
===Northeastern Asia===
[[Image:Sillacrown.jpg|170px|thumb|A [[Crown of Silla]].]]
Scythian influences have been identified 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.<ref>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 trésors retrouvés", 2006, p282, ISBN 9782711852185</ref> Similar crowns, brought through contacts with the continent, can also be found in [[Kofun era]] [[Japan]]. Such contacts are not so surprising, as the [[Korean language]] itself, and sometimes even [[Japanese language|Japanese]], are considered as [[Altaic languages|Uralo-Altaic languages]], related to [[Magyar language|Magyar]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]] or [[Mongolian language|Mongol]].<ref>Scythian artifacts "remind us of the artistic tradition of [[Korea]] during the Three Kingdoms (1-8th century), which is not so illogical since Korean pertains to the same Uralo-Altaic languages as Magyar, Turk or Mongol". Pierre Cambon, in "Afganistan, les trésors retrouvés", 2006, p25, ISBN 9782711852185</ref>
==Scythian language ==
{{main|Scythian languages}}
The [[Scythian languages|Scythian language]] and its various dialects formed part of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language-family. The personal names found in the contemporary Greek literary and [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] texts suggest that the language of the Scythians and the [[Sarmatians]] (who spoke a dialect of Scythian according to [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=4.117 ''Hist''. 4.117 Herodotus]) belonged to the [[Northeast Iranian]] branch. An alternative theory suggests that at least some Scythian tribes, such as the [[Meotians]] ([[Sindi (people)|Sindi]]), spoke [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] dialects.
<ref>
Rjabchikov 2004
</ref>
=== Naming and etymology ===
The Scythians known to [[Herodotus]] (''Hist''. 4.6) called themselves '''Skolotoi'''. The Greek word '''Skythēs''' probably reflects an older rendering of the very same name, *''Skuδa-'' (whereas Herodotus transcribes the unfamiliar {{IPA|[ð]}} sound with [[Lambda|Λ]]; ''-toi'' represents the North-east Iranian plural ending ''-ta''). The word originally means "shooter, archer", and it ultimately derived from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root *''skeud-'' "to shoot, throw" (compare [[English language|English]] ''shoot'').
<ref>
[[Oswald Szemerényi]], "Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka" (''Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' 371), Vienna, 1980 = ''Scripta minora'', vol. 4, pp. 2051-2093. http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm
</ref>
The [[Sogdian]]s' name for themselves, '''Swγδ''', may represent a related word (*''Skuδa'' > *''Suγuδa'' with an [[Anaptyxis|anaptyctic vowel]]). The name also occurs in [[Akkadian language|Assyrian]] in the form '''Aškuzai''' or '''Iškuzai''' ("Scythian"). It may have provided the source for biblical [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] '''Ashkenaz''' (original *אשכוז ''’škuz'' got misspelled as אשכנז ''’šknz''), later a Jewish name of the Germanic areas of Central Europe and hence a self-descriptor of the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Central European Jews]] who lived there among the ''Ashkenazim'' ("Germans") at that time called Teutons or Wendels.
The Old Persians used another name for the Scythians, namely '''[[Saka]]''', which perhaps derived from the Iranian [[verb]]al root ''sak-'' "to go, to roam", i.e. "wanderer, nomad". The Chinese knew the Saka (Asian Scythians) as [[Sai]] ([[Chinese character]]: 塞, Old Sinitic ''*sək'').
== Scythian society ==
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 [[Domestication of the horse|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 developed 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<ref>
Traces of the Iranian root ''xšaya'' — "ruler" — may persist in all three names.
</ref>:
<blockquote>
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 fire 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 magnificent sacrifices.
</blockquote>
[[Image:ScythianArchers.JPG|thumb|150px|Gold clothing appliqué, showing two Scythian archers, 400 to 350 BCE. Probably from [[Kul-Oba]], [[Crimea]]. [[British Museum]].]]
Although scholars have traditionally treated the three tribes as geographically distinct, [[Georges Dumézil]] interpreted the divine gifts as the symbols of social occupations, illustrating his [[trifunctional hypothesis|trifunctional vision]] of early [[Proto-Indo-European society|Indo-European]] societies: the plough and yoke symbolised the farmers, the axe — the warriors, the bowl — the priests.
<ref>
The first scholar to compare the three strata of Scythian society to the Indian [[caste]]s, [[Arthur Christensen]], published ''Les types du premiere homme et du premier roi dans l'histoire legendaire des Iraniens'', I (Stockholm, Leiden, 1917).
</ref>
According to Dumézil, "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."
<ref>
Quoted in Wouter Wiggert Belier. ''Decayed Gods: Origin and Development of Georges Dumezil’s "Ideologie Tripartie"''. Brill Academic Publishers, 1991. ISBN 90-04-06195-9. Page 69.
</ref>
Ruled by small numbers of closely-allied élites, Scythians had a reputation for their [[Archery|archers]], and many gained employment as [[mercenary|mercenaries]]. Scythian élites had [[kurgan]] tombs: high barrows heaped over chamber-tombs of [[larch]]-wood — a deciduous conifer that may have had special significance as a tree of life-renewal, for it stands bare in winter. Burials at [[Pazyryk]] in the [[Altay Mountains]] have included some spectacularly preserved Scythians of the "Pazyryk culture" — including the [[Ice Maiden]] of the 5th century BC.
Scythian women dressed in much the same fashion as the men, and at times fought alongside them in battle. A Pazyryk burial found in the 1990s confirms this. It contained the skeletons of a man and a woman, each with weapons, arrowheads, and an axe. "The woman was dressed exactly like a man. This shows that certain women, probably young and unmarried, could be warriors, literally [[Amazons]]. It didn't offend the principles of nomadic society", according to one of the [[archaeologist]]s interviewed for the [[1998]] [[NOVA (TV series)|NOVA]] documentary "Ice Mummies". Scythian warrior-women have become popular contenders for the honour of having inspired the [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]] of the [[Amazons]]. The work of Jeannine Davis-Kimball (''Secrets of the Dead'', [[August 4]], 2004) assembles archaeological evidence that the [[Sarmatia]]ns may have provided another source for the Greek tales.
As far as we know, the Scythians had no [[writing system]]. Until recent archaeological developments, most of our information about them came from the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]]. The [[Ziwiye hoard]], a treasure of gold and silver metalwork and ivory found near the town of [[Sakiz]] south of [[Lake Urmia]] and dated to between 680 and 625 BC, includes objects with Scythian "[[animal style]]" features. One silver dish from this find bears some inscriptions, as yet undeciphered and so possibly representing a form of Scythian writing.
[[Homer]] called the Scythians "the mare-milkers". [[Herodotus]] described them in detail: their 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 (drug)|cannabis]], both to weave their clothing and to cleanse themselves in its smoke (Hist. 4.73-75); archaeology has confirmed the use of cannabis in funeral rituals. The Scythian philosopher [[Anacharsis]] visited [[Athens]] in the 6th century BC and became a legendary sage.
Scythians also had a reputation for the use of barbed and poisoned arrows of several types, for a [[nomadic]] life centered around horses — "fed from horse-blood" according to Herodotus — and for skill in [[guerrilla warfare]].
=== Art ===
{{main|Scythian art}}
[[Image:solokhacomb.gif|thumb|The [[Hermitage Museum]] has preserved by far the greatest collection of Scythian gold, including one of the most famous of all Scythian finds: the golden comb, featuring a battle-scene, from the 4th century ''[[Solokha]]'' royal burial mound.]]
Scythian contacts with craftsmen in Greek colonies 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 [[Caucasoid]]s. "Greco-Scythian" works depicting Scythians within a much more [[Ancient Greece|Hellenic]] style date from a later period, when Scythians had already adopted elements of Greek culture.
Scythians had a taste for elaborate personal jewelry, weapon-ornaments and horse-trappings. They executed Central-Asian animal motifs with Greek realism: winged [[griffin|gryphon]]s attacking horses, battling [[stag]]s, [[deer]], and [[eagle]]s, combined with everyday motifs like milking [[sheep|ewe]]s.
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 flat plains of present-day [[Ukraine]], most of them unearthed after 1980.
In 2001, the discovery of an undisturbed royal Scythian burial-barrow illustrated for the first time Scythian animal-style gold that lacks the direct influence of Greek styles. Forty-four pounds of gold weighed down the royal couple in this burial, discovered near [[Kyzyl]], capital of the [[Siberia]]n republic of [[Tuva]].
== Historiography ==
=== Herodotus ===
Herodotus wrote about an enormous city, [[Gelonus]], in the northern part of Scythia (4.108):
:"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 [{{Polytonic|τριήκοντα σταδίων}} = ca. 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, fled to the Budini and took up their abode with them. They still speak a language half Greek, half Scythian." (transl. Rawlinson)
Herodotus and other classical historians listed quite a number of tribes who lived near the Scythians, and presumably shared the same general milieu and nomadic steppe culture, often called "Scythian culture", even though scholars may have difficulties in determining their exact relationship to the "linguistic Scythians". A partial list of these tribes includes the [[Agathyrsi]], [[Geloni]], [[Budini]], and [[Neuri]].
Herodotus presented four different versions of Scythian origins:
# Firstly (4.7), the Scythians' legend about themselves, which portrays the first Scythian king, Targitaus, 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 fire, and this son's descendants, called by Herodotus the "Royal Scythians", continued to guard them.
# Secondly (4.8), a legend told by the [[Pontic Greeks]] featuring Scythes, the first king of the Scythians, as a child of [[Hercules]] and a monster.
# Thirdly (4.11), in the version which Herodotus said he believed most, the Scythians came from a more southern part of Central Asia, until a war with the [[Massagetae]] (a powerful tribe of steppe nomads who lived just northeast of Persia) forced them westward.
# Finally (4.13), a legend which Herodotus attributed to the Greek bard [[Aristeas]], who claimed to have got himself into such a Bachanalian fury that he ran all the way northeast across Scythia and further. According to this, the Scythians originally lived south of the [[Rhipaean mountains]], until they got into a conflict with a tribe called the [[Issedones]], pressed in their turn by the [[Cyclops|Cyclopes]]; and so the Scythians decided to migrate westwards.
[[Persians]] and other peoples in Asia referred to the Scythians living in Asia as [[Saka]]s. [[Herodotus]] describes them as Scythians, although they figure under a different name:
:"The Sacae, or Scyths, were clad in trousers, and had on their heads tall stiff caps rising to a point. They bore the bow of their country 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 which they gave to all Scythians." (Herodotus 4.64)
=== Strabo ===
In the 1st century BCE, the Greek-Roman geographer [[Strabo]] gave an extensive description of the eastern Scythians, whom he located in north-eastern Asia beyond [[Bactria]] and [[Sogdiana]]:
:''"Then comes [[Bactria|Bactriana]], and [[Sogdiana]], and finally the Scythian nomads."'' ([http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.8.1 Strabo, ''Geography'', 11.8.1])
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 [[Tocharians|Tochari]]):
:''"Now the greater part of the Scythians, beginning at the [[Caspian Sea]], are called [[Dahae]], but those who are situated more to the east than these are named [[Massagetae]] and [[Sakas|Sacae]], whereas all the rest are given the general name of Scythians, though each people is given a separate name of its own. They are all for the most part nomads.
:''But the best known of the nomads are those who took away [[Bactria|Bactriana]] from the Greeks (i.e. [[Greco-Bactrians]]), I mean the [[Asii]], [[Pasiani]], [[Tocharians|Tochari]], and [[Sacarauli]], who originally came from the country on the other side of the [[Jaxartes]] River that adjoins that of the [[Sacae]] and the [[Sogdians|Sogdiani]] and was occupied by the Sacae.
:''And as for the [[Däae]], some of them are called [[Aparni]], some [[Xanthii]], and some [[Pissuri]]. Now of these the Aparni are situated closest to [[Hyrcania]] and the part of the sea that borders on it, but the remainder extend even as far as the country that stretches parallel to [[Aria]]." ([http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.8.1 Strabo, ''Geography'', 11.8.1])
=== Indian sources ===
[[Image:AzesII .jpg|thumb|301px|Silver coin of the [[Indo-Scythian]] King [[Azes II]] (r.c. 35-12 7BC). Note the royal tamga on the coin.]]
{{main|Indo-Scythians|Invasion of India by Scythian Tribes}}
[[Saka]]s receive numerous mentions in Indian texts, including the [[Puranas]], the [[Manusmriti]], the [[Ramayana]], the [[Mahabharata]], the [[Mahabhashya]] of [[Patanjali]], the [[Brhat Samhita]] of [[Vraha Mihira]], the [[Kavyamimamsa]], the [[Brhat-Katha-Manjari]] and the [[Kaṭha]]-[[Saritsagara]].
=== Hebrew Bible ===
The people briefly mentioned in the [[Bible]] as "Ashkenaz" — perhaps as a result of ancient [[Hebrew alphabet]] misreading: <big>אשכנז</big> instead of the correct <big>אשכוז</big> (= ''Ashkūz''), in ''Genesis'' x. 3 and ''I Chronicles'' i. 6 — traced their ancestry back through [[Gomer]] to [[Noah]]'s third son, [[Japheth]]. The Book of ''[[Jeremiah]]'' li. 27, 28, mentions ''[[Ashkenaz]]'' in connection with the kingdoms of [[Ararat]] and [[Minni]] (in the [[Taurus Mountains]]), together with the [[Medes]] — and portrays them all as hostile to Babylon.
== Genetics ==
Genetic research in modern populations reveals<ref>Semino et al. [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/Science_2000_v290_p1155.pdf The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic ''Homo sapiens sapiens'' in Extant Europeans: A Y Chromosome Perspective], ''Science'', '''290''', 1155-1159, 2000</ref> that the same paternal [[Y chromosome|Y-chromosome]] [[Haplogroup R1a (YDNA)|haplogroup (R1a1)]] represents a genetic lineage currently found in [[central asia|central]], [[western Asia|western]] and [[south Asia]], and in [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] populations of [[Europe]]. The simplest explanation of this distribution involves this Y-chromosome mutation originating in people of the [[Yamna|kurgan-building culture]] of prehistoric Scythia.
== Post-classical "Scythians" ==
=== Migration period ===
Although the classical Scythians may have largely disappeared by the 1st century BC, Eastern Romans continued to speak conventionally of "Scythians" to designate mounted [[Eurasia]]n nomadic barbarians in general: in 448 AD two mounted "Scythians" led the emissary [[Priscus]] to [[Attila]]'s encampment in [[Pannonia]]. The Byzantines in this case carefully distinguished the Scythians from the Goths and [[Hun]]s who also followed Attila.
The [[Sarmatians]] (including the [[Alans]] and finally the [[Ossetians]]) counted as Scythians in the broadest sense of the word — as speakers of Northeast Iranian languages — but nevertheless remain distinct from the Scythians proper.
<ref>
The Ossetes, the only Iranian people [[as of 2007|presently]] resident in Europe, call their country ''Iriston'' or ''Iron'', though [[North Ossetia]] [[as of 2006|now]] officially has the designation ''[[Alania]]''. They speak an North-Eastern Iranian language [[Ossetic]], whose more widely-spoken dialect, ''Iron'' or ''Ironig'' (i.e. Iranian), preserves some similarities with the [[Gathas|Gathic]] [[Avestan]] language, another Iranian language of the Eastern branch.
</ref>
Byzantine sources also refer to the [[Rus' (people)|Rus]] raiders who [[Rus'-Byzantine War (860)|attacked Constantinople around 860 AD]] in contemporary accounts as "[[Tauroscythians]]", because of their geographical origin, and despite their lack of any ethnic relation to Scythians. [[Patriarch Photius]] may have first applied the term to them during the [[Siege of Constantinople (860)]].
=== Early Modern usage ===
Owing to their reputation as established by Greek historians, the Scythians long served as the epitome of savagery and barbarism in the early modern period. [[Shakespeare]], for instance, alluded to the legend that Scythians ate their parents in his play ''[[King Lear]]'':
:''The barbarous '''Scythian'''''
:''Or he that makes his generation messes''
:''To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom''
:''Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,''
:''As thou my [[Cordelia|sometime daughter]].''<ref>[[King Lear]] Act I, Scene i.</ref>
Characteristically, early modern English discourse on [[Ireland]] frequently resorted to comparisons with Scythians in order to confirm 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 firste inhabitinge and afterwarde stretchinge themselves forthe into the lande as theire numbers increased named it all of themselues Scuttenlande which more brieflye is Called Scuttlande or Scotlande" (''A View of the Present State of Ireland'', c. 1596).
As proofs for this origin Spenser cites the alleged Irish customs of blood-drinking, nomadic lifestyle, the wearing of mantles and certain haircuts and
:"Cryes allsoe vsed amongeste the Irishe which savor greatlye of the ''Scythyan'' Barbarisme".
[[William Camden]], one of Spenser's main sources, comments on this legend of origin that
:"to derive descent from a Scythian stock, cannot be thought any waies dishonourable, seeing that the Scythians, as they are most ancient, so they have been the Conquerours of most Nations, themselves alwaies invincible, and never subject to the Empire of others" (''Britannia'', 1586 etc., English translation 1610).
[[Image:Бой скифов со славянами.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Romantic nationalism]]: ''Battle between the Scythians and the Slavs'' ([[Viktor Vasnetsov]], 1881).]]
In the 17th and 18th centuries, foreigners regarded the [[Russia]]ns as descendants of Scythians. It became conventional to refer to Russians as Scythians in 18th century poetry, and [[Alexander Blok]] drew on this tradition sarcastically in his last major poem, ''The Scythians'' (1920). In the nineteenth century, romantic revisionists in the West transformed the "[[barbarian]]" Scyths of literature into the wild and free, hardy and democratic ancestors of all blond [[Indo-Europeans]].
=== Descent-claims ===
Some modern ethnic groups have claimed descent from the Scythians as a means to extend back in time their national history, and to provide a prestigious connection with classical antiquity.
The Scythians feature in some post-[[Medieval]] national origin-legends of the [[Celts]].
British historian [[Sharon Turner]] in his ''[[History of the Anglo Saxons]]'', concluded
:''“The migrating Scythians crossed the Araxes, passed out of Asia, and suddenly appeared in Europe in the sixth century B.C.”
Citing many ancient sources, [[Sharon Turner|Turner]] identified the Scythians ("Sakai") as the ancestors of the [[Anglo Saxons]]. However, that conclusion remains controversial.
Traditions of the Turkic [[Kazakhs]] and [[Yakuts]] (whose endoethnonym is "''Sakha''"); and the [[Pashtuns]] of Afghanistan connect these peoples to Scythians. Some legends of the [[Picts]]; the [[Gaels]]; the [[Magyars|Hungarians]]; [[Serbs]] and [[Croats]] (among others) also include mention of Scythian origins. In the second paragraph of the 1320 [[Declaration of Arbroath]] the élite of [[Scotland]] claim Scythia as a former homeland of the Scots. Some [[Romantic nationalism|romantic nationalist]] writers claim that Scythians figured in the formation of the empire of the [[Medes]] and likewise of [[Caucasian Albania]], the precursor in antiquity of the modern-day [[Azerbaijan Republic]]. Claims of Scythian origins also play a role in both [[Pan-Turkism]] and [[Sarmatism]].
The [[Merovingian]] kings of the [[Franks]] traced their ancestry to the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribe of the [[Sicambri]]. [[Gregory of Tours]] documents in his ''History of the Franks'' that when [[Clovis]] was baptised, he was referred to as a Sicamber with the words ''"Mitis depone colla, Sicamber, adora quod incendisti, incendi quod adorasti."'''. The [[Chronicle of Fredegar]] in turn reveals that the Merovingians believed the 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.
==References==
{{reflist}}
== 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 1085-1107.
* 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 József Nominatae. Acta antique et archaeologica'' Tomus XIII. Szeged 1970 [http://www.kroraina.com/sarm/jh/]
* Lebedynsky, I. (2001). "Les Scythes : la civilisation nomade des steppes VIIe - III siècle av. J.-C." / Errance, Paris.
* Lebedynsky Iaroslav (2006) "Les Saces", Editions Errance, ISBN 2877723372
* Mallory, J.P. (1989). ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language Archeology and Myth''. Thames and Hudson. Chapter 2; and pages 51-53 for a quick reference.
* Newark, T. (1985). ''The Barbarians: Warriors and wars of the Dark Ages''. Blandford: New York. See pages 65, 85, 87, 119-139.
* Renfrew, C. (1988). ''Archeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European origins''. Cambridge University Press.
* Rolle, Renate, ''The world of the Scythians'', London and New York (1989).
* Rjabchikov, S. V., ''The Scythians, Sarmatians, Meotians and Slavs: Sign System, Mythology, Folklore''. Rostov-on-Don, 2004 (in Russian)
* [[Rybakov, Boris]]. ''Paganism of Ancient Rus''. Nauka, Moscow, 1987 (in Russian)
* Sulimirski, T. "The Scyths", in ''Cambridge History of Iran'', vol. 2: 149-99 [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm]
* Szemerényi, O., "Four Old Iranian Ethnic Names: SCYTHIAN - SKUDRA - SOGDIAN - SAKA", Vienna (1980) [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth_main.htm]
* Torday, Laszlo (1998). ''Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History''. Durham Academic Press. ISBN 1-900838-03-6.
* Yatsenko, S. A., "Tamgas of Iranolingual antique and Early Middle Ages people". Russian Academy of Science, Moscow Press "Eastern Literature", 2001 (in Russian)
== External links ==
* [http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/562 "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 pre-Scythian, early Scythian and classical Scythian archaeological sites and their dating, by the Hermitage Museum's director of archaeology and others.
* [http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/431 "Some problems in the study of the chronology of the ancient nomadic cultures in Eurasia (9th - 3rd centuries BC)", Alekseev, A.Y. et al] More of the same.
*[http://www.fotuva.org/history/archaeology.html "Scythian Gold From Siberia Said to Predate the Greeks"] A journalist's article on the Arzhan finds, quoting Hermitage experts
* [http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20246739-5003419,00.html A Scythian warrior found at a height of 2600 metres in the Altay Mountains in an intact burial mound] (August 25, 2006)
* [http://www.museum.com.ua/expo/varvar_en.html "Coins of Barbarous Tribes of the Northern Black Sea Region"]
* Rjabchikov, Sergei V. [http://public.kubsu.ru/~usr02898/slavonic.htm "The Slavonic Antiquity: Scythians, Sarmatians, Meotians and Slavs"] A collection of articles on deciphering of the Scythian/Sarmatian language and script.
* [http://www.anthroglobe.ca/docs/Sergei/scythian-sarmatian-thunderstorm.htm Rjabchikov, S.V., 2005. On Scythian, Sarmatian and Meotian Records about Thunderstorm. AnthroGlobe Journal, 2005]
* [http://www.anthroglobe.ca/docs/Sergei/scythian-sarmatian-Russian-mythology-fairytales.htm Rjabchikov, S.V., 2001. The Scythian and Sarmatian Sources of the Russian Mythology and Fairy-Tales. AnthroGlobe Journal, 2001]
* [http://www.lost-civilizations.net/scythians.html Scythians overview] by Chris Bennet
* [http://www.livius.org/sao-sd/scythians/scythians.html ''Livius'' website articles on ancient history, entry on Scythians/Sacae] by Jona Lendering
* [http://www.fotuva.org/history/archaeology.html The early burial in Tuva]
* [http://www.silk-road.com/artl/scythian.shtml Scythian myth and culture; map]
* [http://www.pitt.edu/~haskins/ Color illustrations of Scythian gold]
* [http://antiquity.ac.uk/reviews/taylor.html Published excavations of royal Scythian kurgan (barrow) at Chertomlyk reviewed]
* [http://www.hostkingdom.net/siberia.html#Scythians all known Scythian kings listed on ''Regnal Chronologies'']
* [http://herodot.georgehinge.com/hdt4.html Herodotus, ''Histories, Book IV'' - translated by Rawlinson, the 1942 edition]
** [http://www.metrum.org/mapping/scythia.htm Livio Stecchini, "The Mapping of the Earth: Scythia"]: reconstructing the map of Scythia according to the conceptual geography of [[Herodotus]]
** [http://www.metrum.org/mapping/gerrhos.htm Livio Stecchini, "The Mapping of the Earth: Gerrhos"]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2517siberian.html 1998 NOVA documentary: "Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden"] Transcript
* [http://www.nbz.or.jp/eng/pdffiles/hallandyablonsky1998.pdf on Sarmatian (a related Iranian group) trade and ethnic connections]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scythia/ Scythia Group (a Yahoo group for discussing the Scythians)]
;Ryzhanovka
* [http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=9709/abstracts/scythians ''Archaeology'' abstract of 1997 article]
* [http://www2.uj.edu.pl/IRO/NEWSLET/IRC9/Chochorowski.html the Ryzhanovka Kurgan in Ukraine]
;Genetics
* [http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Kivisild2003b.pdf Haplogroups in India] (PDF file)
* [http://www.roperld.com/YBiallelicHaplogroups.htm Y-Chromosome Biallelic Haplogroups]
[[Category:Scythians| ]]
[[Category:History of Russia]]
[[ang:Sciþþie]]
[[bg:Скити]]
[[ca:Escites]]
[[cs:Skythové]]
[[da:Skyter]]
[[de:Skythen]]
[[el:Σκυθία]]
[[es:Escitia]]
[[eo:Skitoj]]
[[fa:سکاها]]
[[fr:Scythes]]
[[ko:스키타이]]
[[it:Sciti]]
[[he:סקיתים]]
[[nl:Scythen]]
[[ja:スキタイ]]
[[no:Skytia]]
[[pl:Scytowie]]
[[pt:Cítia]]
[[ro:Sciţi]]
[[ru:Скифы]]
[[sk:Skýti]]
[[fi:Skyytit]]
[[sv:Skyter]]
[[uk:Скитія]]
[[zh:赛西亚]]
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