Scythians

Scythians
A Scythian with a domesticated horse (reconstruction by Dimitri Pozdniakov)
Total population
Unknown
Regions with significant populations
Eastern Europe
Central Asia
West Asia
Southern Asia
Languages
Scythian languages (Northeastern Iranic subfamily)
Religion
Scythian religion
Related ethnic groups

The Scythians were an Iranic nomadic Eurasian people.

History

Historical spread of Iranian peoples/languages: Scythia, Sarmatia, Bactria and the Parthian Empire in about 170 BC (evidently before the Yuezhi invaded Bactria). Modern political boundaries are shown to facilitate orientation.
Scythians Flag of Map Period of Ateas.

The Scythians were nomadic, famous for being skillful at horse riding, who dominated the Pontic steppe (modern Ukraine and Southern Russia) throughout the ancient world. By the 2nd century AD the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scyths in this area.

Most information about the Scyths comes from the famous Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 BC) in his chronicle Histories, and from archaeologically from the beautiful goldwork found in Scythian Kurgan burial mounds in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and southern Russia.

Genetic makeup of the Saka and Scythian cultures: The Scytho-Siberian world is characterized by an admixture cline between Western Steppe Herders (Steppe MLBA/Sintashta/Andronovo/Srubnaya) and Khövsgö LBA herders (Mongolia), with additional varying degrees of BMAC-like (Neolithic Iranian) ancestry. Iron Age Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan and Kisrov Kushan samples displayed a similar pattern of Steppe MLBA and BMAC-like ancestries, but lacked the Khövsgöl LBA component.

Military

The Scythian Army was the main force of the Scythians. The Scythian Army were not paid wages but food and clothes. Greek-style bronze helmets and jerkins were common among some soldiers.

Weapons

Scythian soldiers typically used double-curved bow, trefoil-shaped arrows and Persian swords.

Custom

Every Scythian had at least one mount for oneself, while members of the Scythian upper class could have a large amount of horses.

As for burial, family members of a dead men were sometimes sacrificed. Scythian artifacts showed a certain level of influences from Greek culture.

References

  1. ↑ Beckwith, Christopher I., and Gisaburo N. Kiyose. "Apocope Of Late Old Chinese Short* ă: Early Central Asian Loanword And Old Japanese Evidence For Old Chinese Disyllabic Morphemes." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 71.2 (2018): 145-160.
  2. ↑ Foltz, Richard. "Scythian Neo-Paganism in the Caucasus: The Ossetian Uatsdin as a'Nature Religion'." Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture 13.3 (2019).
  3. ↑ STEPANOV, TSVETELIN. "‘SCYTHIAN’ROOTS OF THE BULGAR RELIGION." С 42 Скифия: Образ и историко-культурное наследие. Матери-алы конференции 26–28 октября 2015 года/Под ред. ТН Джаксон, ИГ Коноваловой, АВ Подосинова.—М.: Ин-ститут всеобщей истории РАН, 2015.—132 с.. Vol. 26. 2015
  4. ↑ Scythians are pronounced /'sɪθɪən/ or /'sɪðɪən/
  5. ↑
    • Neumann, Iver B., and Einar Wigen. "The importance of the Eurasian steppe to the study of international relations." Journal of International Relations and Development 16.3 (2013): 311-330.
    • Crowe, David M. "The Kazaks and Kazakstan: The struggle for ethnic identity and nationhood." Nationalities Papers 26.3 (1998): 395-419.
    • KIYOSE, CHRISTOPHER I. BECKWITH–GISABURO N. "Apocope of Late Old Chinese short* ă: Early Central Asian loanword and Old Japanese evidence for Old Chinese disyllabic morphemes."
  6. ↑ Scythian, member of a nomadic people originally of Iranian people 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
  7. ↑ Scythian mummy shown in Germany, BBC News
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Scythian | People, History, & Facts". Britannica. Retrieved April 28, 2025.