Great Scythia! Scythian civilization. History and culture Dwelling of the Scythians
D. Raevsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences.
Scythian warriors. This detail of the image on the bowl from the Gaimanov Mogila mound clearly demonstrates the Caucasian type of the Scythians. IV century BC X.
Fragment of the golden sheath of the ceremonial sword. In their decoration, a strong influence of Assyrian-Urartian art is noticeable - the result of the campaigns of the Scythians in Southwest Asia. Barrow Cast (Melgunovsky). End of the 7th century BC X.
Bone cheekpiece, decorated in "animal style". Middle Dnieper. VI century BC X.
Bronze pommel. Ulsky Kurgan (Kuban region). VI century BC X.
Bronze horse forehead. Prikuban. 5th century BC X.
Silver vessel with a hunting scene. Kurgan Kul-Oba. IV century BC X.
Bronze censer. Kurgan Chertomlyk. IV century BC X.
Such cauldrons are an integral part of the life of nomads. Lower Dnieper. V-IV centuries B.C.
"Panther". Bronze plaque from the Arzhan burial mound (Tuva). Presumably the 7th century BC The finds, which brought the excavation of the Arzhan mound, allowed some scientists to place the birthplace of the art of the "animal style" in Central Asia.
Horse breeding is the basis of the economy of the nomadic Scythians. Scythian with a horse. Detail of the decor of a silver amphora from the Chertomlyk mound. IV century BC X.
Among the many peoples who once inhabited the territory of present-day Russia, and then disappeared from the historical arena, the Scythians who lived in the 1st millennium BC. in the steppes of the Black Sea, Azov and Ciscaucasia, they stand somewhat apart and attract, perhaps, the greatest attention. This is determined by long-established ideas about a special historical connection between Scythia and Russia.
Inherited from distant historical eras, this romantic version has long lived in our literary tradition. "My Distant Ancestors!" - Valery Bryusov addressed the Scythians in his poems. And almost everyone knows the lines of Alexander Blok:
Yes, we are the Scythians! Yes, Asians are we
With slanted and greedy eyes!
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe "slanting eyes" of the Scythian is a frank anachronism in the mouth of the poet. Back in the first third of the 19th century, when reliable images of the Scythians were first found in the ancient burials of the Black Sea region, science received indisputable evidence that this people belonged to the Caucasians. One of the first and most interesting finds is the famous electric vessel (made of a natural alloy of gold and silver). It was discovered in 1830 during the accidental excavations of the Scythian mound Kul-oba in the vicinity of modern Kerch (now it is kept in the Special Storeroom of the State Hermitage). The faces of the seven characters depicted on this vessel are executed with the utmost care by an unnamed Hellenic master. One has only to look at them to discover the complete inconsistency of ideas about the Scythian as the owner of "slanting eyes".
What was the reason for this very perception of the Scythian in the poet's mind? Apparently, a stable image of the Black Sea steppe - this kind of corridor, along which waves of Asian conquerors rolled over Europe one after another. Many of them really belonged to the Mongoloid race. And although the history of these tribes dates back to a much later time than the Scythian era, this forced, nevertheless, to perceive the Scythians as one of these waves. Moreover, this idea was "worked" not only by the analogy with the Middle Ages, but also by quite numerous direct evidence of the ancient authors about the origin of the Scythians.
The Scythians appeared on the historical scene in the 7th century BC. It was then that the ancient world, to which we owe most of the information about this people, came into real contact with the Scythians. Moreover, this contact took place almost simultaneously on two different "historical roads". It was in that century that the Greek colonists, who penetrated in search of land suitable for settlement in the most diverse regions of Southern Europe and Western Asia, began to develop the northern and northeastern coast of the Pontus Euxine - Black Sea. Here they settled in the immediate vicinity of the Scythians. The memory of this colonization is preserved by the ruins of the ancient Greek cities of the Black Sea region - Olbia (near modern Ochakov), Tyra (in the lower reaches of the Dniester), Panticapaeum (on the site of modern Kerch) and others. During the excavations of these cities, various traces of contacts of their population with the Scythians are found. But, on the other hand, at the same time, the Scythians, making warlike raids on the countries of the Middle East, reached Asia Minor and found themselves in sight of the inhabitants of the Hellenic cities of its western coast - Ionia. The first information about the Scythians, recorded in Greek literature, belongs to this time.
As the Hellenes settled in the Northern Black Sea region, ancient Greece became acquainted with other Eastern European peoples and their eastern neighbors. But the Scythians remained in the representation of the ancient world as a kind of symbol of the northern part of the inhabited land. Some ancient authors - for example, the historian of the 4th century BC Ephorus, describing this land, represented it as a kind of quadrangle, each side of which is associated with one of the most famous peoples: the northern regions, according to the picture he painted, are inhabited by Scythians, while the southern, western and eastern regions are, respectively, Ethiopians, Celts and Indians ... For this reason, the name of the Scythians in the ancient world acquired a generalizing meaning and was often applied to the most diverse peoples of Northern and North-Eastern Eurasia. Greek and Roman authors sometimes referred to as Scythia all the space lying between the area inhabited by real, historical Scythians in the Black Sea region and the country of mythical Hyperboreans, supposedly inhabiting the coast of the North Ocean.
In ancient geography, there was an idea of \u200b\u200bEuropean (Black Sea-Azov) Scythia and Asian Scythia, stretching from the Hyrcanian (Caspian) Sea to the borders of Seriki (China). Thus, those who today speak of the special Eurasian character of the Russian state are operating, in essence, with the same geographical categories that for the ancient world stood behind the name "Scythia".
Scientists of medieval Europe, largely relying on the traditions of antiquity and using its terms, continued to call the lands lying north of the Black Sea, Scythia, although the real Scythians had already left the historical scene by this time. Naturally, the most notable state formation of this territory - Ancient Russia was often called by this name. And the Old Russian scribes themselves sometimes found themselves under the influence of such an identification. Here's an example. The early Christian tradition, according to which one of Jesus' disciples - the Apostle Andrew the First-Called - preached "among the Scythians", that is, on the shores of the Black Sea, in the Russian chronicles turned into a story about how Andrew, with his sermon, visited the vicinity of present-day Kiev and even reached Novgorod, in other words - to the main centers of Ancient Russia.
When Russia began to form its own school of national history, it was at first under the strong influence of the same ancient tradition. For example, M.V. Lomonosov, referring to the search for "the ancient ancestors of the present Russian people", believed that among them "the Scythians were not the last part." With the development of historical science, refinements were made to this concept. Especially important here was the discovery of linguists who were able to analyze the meager remnants of the Scythian language that have survived to this day in the transmission of the same ancient authors and in ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions. Mostly these are personal names and place names. It turned out that in terms of language the Scythians belonged to the peoples of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Europeans, who in ancient times settled over much larger territories than now. Consequently, there is no direct ethnogenetic connection between the Scythians and the East Slavic population of Ancient Rus (and its direct descendants - Russians and Ukrainians), which, however, in no way denies the right of these peoples to count the Scythians among their cultural predecessors.
The most detailed and valuable information about the Scythians - their history, life, traditions - was preserved for us by the Greek historian of the 5th century BC. Herodotus. He reports that the nomadic tribes of the Scythians once lived in Asia, but then, pressed by the people of the Massagetae, crossed the Araks River and invaded the regions of the Northern Black Sea coast, previously inhabited by the Cimmerians. When the Scythians approached, Herodotus says, the Cimmerians left their country (here the historian gives some colorful details of this event, apparently going back to the oral epic legends of the inhabitants of the Black Sea region) and fled through the Caucasus Mountains to Western Asia. Pursuing them, the Scythians found themselves on the territory of the states of the Middle East, which for many years instilled fear with their raids and the collection of tribute. But then, after several military and other setbacks, they returned to the Black Sea steppes. Here their state stretched from the lower reaches of the Istra (modern Danube) to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov (in ancient times it was called Meotida) and Tanais (Don).
No less interesting is the story of the Hellenic historian Diodorus of Siculus. He lived in the 1st century BC, but in his writings he made extensive use of the sources of earlier authors. Diodorus also claims that the Scythians once lived near the Araks River. They were then a weak and small people, despised for their dishonor. But then they gained strength and conquered lands up to the Caucasus Mountains and the Tanais River. Later, the Scythians, according to Diodorus, extended their dominion to the regions west of Tanais up to Thrace (northeast of the Balkan Peninsula), then invaded Western Asia, even reaching the banks of the Nile. Remote fragmentary information, echoing the story, we find in other ancient authors.
These facts, taken together, at first glance paint a fairly coherent, logical and complete picture. However, a careful analysis of the historian reveals many white spots, and even outright discrepancies in it.
One of the most unclear remains the question of where exactly one should look for that ancestral home of the Scythians, from where they once began their advance to the Black Sea steppes, to the land of the Cimmerians. The words that she "was in Asia" are too general, especially when you consider that for the ancient Greeks Asia began immediately after the Don. The remark of Herodotus and Diodorus that the area of \u200b\u200bthe original habitation of the Scythians was near the river Araks does not help much either. It is not clear which river is meant. It is quite obvious that we are not talking about the Transcaucasian river that bears this name today, because all ancient authors are unanimous that the Scythians penetrated south of the Caucasus only at the next stage of their migration, pursuing the Cimmerians. Modern researchers do not have a consensus about which river is hidden by Greek authors under the name of Arake. Some believe that this is the Amu Darya, others identify with the Syr Darya, and finally, the third call the Volga. Each of the points of view is based on its own arguments, but none of them can be considered fully proven yet.
Herodotus' story about the beginning of Scythian history raises other questions as well. For example, if you believe that before the Scythian invasion the Cimmerians inhabited the lands that later began to be called the Black Sea Scythia, then it is not clear how the Cimmerians, fleeing from the Scythians moving from the east, could cross the Caucasian ridge. Indeed, in this case, it turns out that the Cimmerians were essentially running towards their pursuers.
The more such ambiguities were found in the stories of ancient authors about the origin of the Scythians, the more obvious it became that these evidences require serious verification. It should also not be forgotten that most of these stories were born much later than the events about which they tell. The same Herodotus attributes the arrival of the Scythians to the Black Sea region and their subsequent invasion of Western Asia to the time when the king Kiaksar ruled in Media, one of the ancient Eastern states that suffered from the Scythian raids. Therefore, we can talk about the last decades of the 7th and the very beginning of the 6th century BC. The events of interest to us are at least a century and a half away from Herodotus himself, and even from Diodorus by almost six hundred years.
In other words, all the listed authors drew the information they reported about the events of interest to us from some earlier sources, possibly oral legends. This explains the urgent need to verify the measure of reliability of ancient information about the early history of the Scythians.
What are the ways to carry out such a check?
Very valuable information was found by modern science in the ancient Eastern cuneiform texts, primarily Assyrian. They mention many times military units consisting of representatives of the Gimirri and Ishkuz peoples, in which the already familiar Cimmerians and Scythians are easily guessed. These messages not only confirmed the authenticity of the stories of ancient authors about the invasions of these peoples into Southwest Asia, but made it possible to somewhat clarify the dating of these events. Thus, the earliest mention of the Cimmerians in Assyrian texts refers not to the second half of the 7th century BC, but to 714, and the Scythians - to the 670s BC. Apparently, the ancient authors somewhat "compressed" the events of interest to us in time, drawing numerous campaigns, which took almost a century and a half, as a one-time invasion.
Unfortunately, very few cuneiform texts have survived that contain information about the Scythians. It is impossible to reconstruct the real history of the stay of the Scythians in Western Asia from these random passages. There are no reports of where they came from either. New materials are needed. They can be expected mainly from archeology, the role of which in illuminating the issues of interest to us can hardly be overestimated. However, unfortunately, archeology is not omnipotent here either.
The Scythians, as you know, were mainly a nomadic people who had almost no permanent settlements, especially cities. Therefore, most of the finds of Scythian antiquities were made during excavation of burials. To this day, in the steppes of the Black Sea and Ciscaucasia, mounds rise - artificial hills, poured over the graves in ancient times. The first excavations of Scythian burial mounds date back to the second half of the 18th century. So, in 1763, in the vicinity of the city of Elisavetgrad, a mound was excavated, which went down in history as Litogo. It is also called Melgunovsky, after General A.P. Melgunov, the initiator of these excavations.
Already the first excavations brought a fairly diverse set of ancient objects, including precious ones, by which it was possible to determine that the burial belonged to a leader or military leader of the Scythian era. For researchers, it is especially interesting that among the finds from the Melgunov kurgan there are things made in the ancient Eastern style. Thus, from its very first steps, Scythian archeology provided researchers with confirmation of the reports of ancient authors about the Scythian campaigns in Southwest Asia. Subsequently, the number of such confirmations increased significantly.
During the 19th - early 20th centuries, a number of so-called royal burial mounds were excavated - burials of representatives of the Scythian nobility. The finds from them are the pride of Russian and Ukrainian museums. Already in our centuries, numerous burial grounds of ordinary Scythians began to be systematically excavated, and now it can be argued that the culture of the Scythians of the Black Sea region is known to us in sufficient detail (however, the vast majority of the investigated burials date back to the time of the greatest prosperity of the Scythian kingdom - to the 4th century BC) ... Based on the finds from these burials, archaeologists were able to isolate monuments from earlier periods - the 7th-5th centuries.
What was the material culture of the Black Sea Scythians? The so-called Scythian triad is especially famous: weapons, attributes of horse dress and a peculiar art, called the Scythian "animal style" - a bright set of very specific objects.
According to Herodotus' definition, “every Scythian is an equestrian shooter,” and archaeological finds confirm this. In almost every burial, remains of a bow and bronze arrowheads (two-bladed in early graves, three-bladed or triangular in later times) are found. Akinak, a short sword with a handle of a special shape, was also a characteristic weapon of the Scythian. Known Scythian warriors and long swords, of which, perhaps, the most famous were found in the already mentioned Melgunovsky mound and in one of the mounds of the Kelermes burial ground in the Kuban region. Both of these swords are decorated in the ancient Eastern, Assyrian-Urartian style and date back to the time of the invasion of the Scythians into Western Asia, where local craftsmen made these swords, probably by a special order for the Scythian leaders. Scythian warriors used both iron spears and battle axes - a weapon that appears even in Scythian mythology as a symbol of the military class.
Another element of the Scythian triad is horse equipment. During the Scythian era, they changed significantly. The most important details of the Scythian horse bridle are the bit and cheekpieces (special rods located on the sides of the horse's mouth and used to connect the bits with headband belts and with reins). At first, the horse gear of the Scythians was bronze (cheekpieces, however, were also made of bone), later an iron bridle came to replace it. The shape of the horse harness is a fairly clear chronological indicator that makes it possible to more or less accurately date each Scythian burial containing these objects.
But, perhaps, the most striking element of the Scythian triad - and indeed of the entire culture of the Scythians as a whole - is the so-called art of the animal style. The Scythians did not know monumental art, with the exception of stone statues, which they installed on the top of the mound. We can judge the skill of Scythian artists only by works of small forms, by what in our time is called decorative and applied art. For reasons that are not yet completely clear to researchers, there are almost no images of humans in the Scythian decorative art, but mainly images of animals. Moreover, both the set of embodied characters and their poses and methods of pictorial interpretation were strictly canonical, hence the term - "animal style".
This is indeed a very specific artistic manner. Her favorite motives are deer (to a lesser extent - other ungulates), predators (mainly from the cat breed) and a bird of prey. They were used to decorate weapons, horse equipment, ritual items, and clothing details. The material for the works of the "animal style" were gold, bronze, and bone.
What else is characteristic of Scythian material culture? Large bronze cauldrons are an attribute of nomadic life and the so-called pommels that crowned the ritual pillars used in performing various rituals. The tops were made of bronze or iron, decorated with sculptural images in the "animal style".
As historians accumulated more and more material about the Scythian culture, there was a growing desire to solve the riddle left to us by ancient authors: to determine where the ancestral home of the Scythians was and to clarify the time of their movement to Eastern Europe. It would seem that answering these questions is not so difficult. Archaeological research, in fact, showed that objects similar to the Scythian were at that time in a wide range throughout the Eurasian steppe belt - both in the western (European) and eastern (Asian) parts. Such cultural uniformity, traced over a vast territory, even gave rise to a special term - "Scythian-Siberian cultural and historical unity." In these conditions, archaeologists saw their task in comparing the dates of the monuments of this circle, to reveal where exactly such a culture appeared first of all, and thus to localize the ancestral home of the Scythians. And since the evidence of ancient authors speaks of the arrival of this people from Asia, it seemed obvious that the earliest traces of this culture should be sought somewhere in the east of the Eurasian steppes.
At different times, various places of the studied space claimed the role of the ancestral home of the Scythians. In the 1960s, remarkable finds in the Tagisken and Uygarak burial mounds in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya gave rise to a hypothesis about the formation of the Scythian culture in these western regions of Central Asia. By the mid-1970s, after sensational finds in the royal burial mound of Arzhan (the territory of modern Tuva), Central Asia attracted the attention of archaeologists. There was even a whole archaeological school, whose representatives believe that it was in the depths of Central Asia that that Scythian culture was born, which then spread throughout the Eurasian steppes and was already in finished form brought to the Black Sea region and the Ciscaucasia.
Unfortunately, both the first and the second, and many other hypotheses raise serious objections. Most importantly, the Scythian-Siberian cultural and historical unity upon closer examination is by no means as homogeneous as it might seem at first glance. The tribes inhabiting the vast territory of the Eurasian steppes are undoubtedly distinguished by a certain cultural uniformity. But a careful analysis reveals significant differences between them. The same "Scythian triad", characteristic of all, in different territories has its own, purely distinctive features. In essence, we have the right to speak not about a single "Scythian culture" in this whole vast space, but about several independent cultures that entered into interaction, influenced each other, but at the same time retained their originality.
The “animal style” of the Scythian era is especially indicative in this respect. Like other elements of the triad, it became widespread in various cultures of that era. But in no region of Eurasia we will not find monuments that could be considered a form of art, familiar to us from finds from the Black Sea Scythia. The same applies to the finds from the Arzhan burial mound, even if they actually precede the Black Sea ones in time.
Recently, another hypothesis has appeared about the emergence of the Scythian culture, based on the criticism of the previous ones. Its supporters believe that this culture was not formed somewhere in the east of Eurasia, from where it was brought to Europe in a finished form, but took shape in the south of Eastern Europe during the era of the Scythian-Cimmerian invasions of Southwest Asia. Moreover, under the strong influence of ancient Eastern cultures, which the Scythians came into contact with at that time. This is how, in particular, that version of the animal style that belongs to the Scythians of the Ciscaucasia and the Black Sea region arose. Other elements characteristic of the Scythian culture developed at this time on a local East European basis. The zone of formation of this early Scythian culture was mainly the steppes of the Ciscaucasia, from where the Scythians invaded the countries of the Middle East.
Around the same time, other cultures of Scythian-Siberian unity were also formed. The similarity between all these cultures can be explained not so much by the presence of some common center as by the closest contacts between the inhabitants of different areas of the Eurasian steppe. In the conditions of a nomadic life, such contacts led to a very rapid spread of various cultural phenomena throughout the steppe belt.
As for the ancient legends about the arrival of the Scythians from Asia, then, obviously, this resettlement took place, but it took place when the established Scythian culture simply did not exist. It is very difficult to trace this resettlement by archaeological methods. After all, it was the movement of tribes within the zone of distribution of fairly homogeneous cultures at the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages. At that time, such movements between the Don and Volga rivers were quite frequent. The memory of one of them, apparently, was preserved by the Scythian tradition, which was later perceived and recorded by ancient historians.
This is the picture today. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to read new pages of such a distant in time, but so attractive for us national history.
The origin of the Scythians
“Almost each of the researchers, to one degree or another in contact with the history and archeology of the Scythians, expressed, at least in passing, his views on the ethnogenesis of the latter,” notes the famous Ukrainian archaeologist V.Yu. Murzin. "And this is quite understandable, because without defining one's attitude to this problem, one cannot successfully engage in the study of even a single particular issue of Scythian archeology and history."
Let me remind you that the problem of the origin of the Scythians and their culture has not been solved in any convincing way to this day. The abundance and contradictions of existing points of view on this matter are simply amazing. However, most of the opinions of scientists in one way or another adhere to one of the two traditionally opposed hypotheses.
The first hypothesis is so-called autochthonous - most detailed was substantiated by B.N. Grakov. He believed that the direct ancestors of the Scythians were the tribes of the Srubna culture of the Bronze Age, who penetrated the Northern Black Sea region from the Volga region. This penetration was very slow and long (from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC), and the migration of the Scythians mentioned by Herodotus “from Asia” (and “Asia” for ancient geographers began immediately after Don Tanais) is only one of its waves most likely the last one. Srubniki migrants met in the steppes of the Black Sea region with earlier settlers from the same regions, and on the basis of the merger of these related groups, an ethnically homogeneous population of the Scythian time was formed, speaking one of the dialects of the Northern Iranian language. It was the culture of the Timber tribes, which experienced significant changes during the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age and from a semi-sedentary lifestyle to genuine nomadism, that, according to B.N. Grakov, the basis of the Scythian culture proper. True, he considered the art of the Scythians (animal style) and some forms of their weapons to be brought from somewhere outside.
TO grakovo hypothesis adjoins western Asia version the famous Leningrad archaeologist, specialist in the Scythians and Khazars M.I. Artamonov. According to his point of view, the Srubnaya culture of the Bronze Age immediately preceded the Scythian culture in the Northern Black Sea region and in many respects predetermined its main features. However, the emergence of the Scythian culture proper in the 7th century. BC e. and, especially, such a striking feature as the animal style of M.I. Artamonov connected with the influence of the developed civilizations of Asia Minor.
Second hypothesis. The recognized leader of a group of scientists who defend the legitimacy of the so-called central Asian hypothesisA.I. Terenozhkin. According to this researcher, there is no ethnic or cultural continuity between the population of the Northern Black Sea coast of the pre-Scythian and Scythian times. Scythians come to the region from the depths of Asia in the 7th century. BC e. They brought with them a basically formed culture represented by the famous triads, characteristic type of weaponry, horse harness and artistic animal style.
Fig. 52. Images of the Scythians in Greek art. Drawings by Gerlinde Thomm, Gapingen
In the above hypotheses, the question of the Cimmerians, the predecessors of the Scythians in the Northern Black Sea region, is also interpreted in different ways, which are reported to us by ancient Eastern and Greek written sources.
A.I. Terenozhkin insists on the complete cultural and ethnic difference between the Scythians and the Cimmerians and believes that the latter belonged to the most recent monuments of the local Srubnaya culture (Chernogorovsky and Novocherkassky complexes). According to B.N. Grakov, both the Scythians and the Cimmerians are direct descendants of the Srubniks, so they have a common culture and, most likely, are ethnically related. Finally, M.I. Artamonov believed that the replacement of the Cimmerians by the Scythians in the Black Sea steppes took place in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e., and saw in the Cimmerians the carriers of the catacomb culture, who were ousted (and partially destroyed) by new waves of nomadic "loggers", to whom he attributed the Scythians.
Despite the apparent incompatibility of the reconstructions of the ethnogenesis of the Scythians discussed above, there is a certain similarity in the views of their supporters. Its essence lies in the fact that most archaeologists, regardless of what concept they adhere to, still believe that the formation of the Scythian culture occurred as a result of the interaction of both local and newcomer nomadic tribes. So, A.I. Terenozhkin never denied the role of the local (Cimmerian) substrate in the formation of the Scythian ethnos, and B.N. Grakov, in turn, admitted the participation of a certain newcomer component (“Scythian-royal”) in the final formation of the Scythian tribes. “There is hardly any doubt about that,” wrote B.N. Grakov, - that the historical Scythians were formed from alien Iranian tribes and their autochthonous predecessors, perhaps Iranian or Thracian in language ”.
The differences between the supporters of the two concepts do not seem so insurmountable. In principle, they can be reduced to two points:
1) scientists differently assess the influence of local and alien tribes on the formation of the Scythian ethnos;
2) there is still no consensus on the question of where the migrants came from to the Black Sea steppes. So, B.N. Grakov believed that these tribal movements took place within the territory occupied by the Srubna culture, and linked the appearance of the "Scythians-tsarist" in the Black Sea steppes with the second wave of migration to the west of the Timber tribes of the Volga region.
In turn, A.I. Terenozhkin wrote that the origins of the migration of the Scythian tribes proper must be sought in the deep regions of Asia, where, in his opinion, long before the 7th century. BC e. a number of elements of Scythian culture were formed - types of weapons, horse harness and “animal style”.
Fig. 53. Images of the Scythians in Greek art. Drawings by Gerlinde Thomm, Götingen
The discovery of the Arzhan burial mound in Tuva (IX-VIII centuries BC) played an important role in solving the problem of the origin of the Scythians. “In this burial monument, dating from the time of the existence of the antiquities of Chernogorovka - Novocherkassk treasure in the Northern Black Sea region, fully developed samples of material culture of the Scythian type, as well as products made according to the canons of the Scythian animal style, were discovered, - V.Yu. Murzin. These findings fit well into the scheme of A.I. Terenozhkin, according to which the formation of the Scythian culture proper took place in the interior regions of Asia somewhat earlier than the 7th century. BC e. ".
But before we finally be convinced of the degree of validity of the facts of each of the named hypotheses, let us turn to the old chronicles and, mainly, to the "History" of Herodotus.
The Scythians say that their people are younger than all the others and came about as follows: in their land, which was a waterless desert, the first man was born, named Targitai; the parents of this Targitai they call, in my opinion, is incorrect,
Zeus and daughter of the river Borisfena. Such an origin was, according to them, Targitai, and he had three sons: Lipoksai, Arpoksai and the younger Kolaksai. Under them, golden objects fell from heaven onto the Scythian land: a plow, a yoke, an ax and a bowl. The eldest of the brothers, the first to see these objects, came closer, wanting to take them, but as he approached the gold ignited. Upon his removal, a second came up, but the same thing happened with gold. Thus, the gold, igniting, did not allow them to come to him, but with the approach of the third brother, the youngest, the burning stopped, and he took the gold to him. The elder brothers, realizing the significance of this miracle, transferred the whole kingdom to the younger. And from Lipoksai-de those Scythians who bear the name of the genus Avhats originated; from the middle brother Arpoksai - those who are called Katiars and Traspias, and from the younger brother - those who are called Paralats; the common name of all of them - chipped off after the name of one king; the Scythians called them the Greeks<…>
This is how the Scythians tell about their origin; they were years old from the beginning of their existence, or from the first king of Targitai to the campaign against them Darius, in their words, in round numbers no more than a thousand, namely that much.
This legend was preserved for us by Herodotus, who, during his numerous travels, visited the Northern Black Sea region, or rather, the Greek city of Olbia (at the mouth of the Dnieper-Bug estuary), where he could personally observe the life of the Scythians and, through translators, write down their most interesting stories.
But there is another, Hellenic, version of the myth about the origin of the Scythians, which has also come down to us in the presentation of the "father of history":
Hercules, chasing the bulls of Geryon, arrived in a country occupied by the Scythians and which was not yet inhabited at that time ... and since a blizzard and frost overtook him, he wrapped himself in a lion's skin and fell asleep, and at this time his horses miraculously the pasture disappeared.
The reader will immediately note the incongruity: Hercules drove the bulls, his horses disappeared. This should not be embarrassing: in myths about gods and heroes, this is not the case.
Waking up, Hercules began to look for them and, having traveled all over the earth, finally came to the so-called Polesie (Gilea); here he found in a mixed-breed cave a creature, half-virgin and half-echidna, whose upper body from the buttocks was female, and the lower one was serpentine. Seeing her and being amazed, Hercules asked if she had seen lost mares somewhere; to this she replied that she had the mares, but that she would not give them to him before he communicated with her; and Hercules communicated, de for this fee, but she kept putting off the return of the horses, wanting to live as long as possible in connection with Hercules, while the latter wanted to get them and leave. Finally, she returned the horses with the words:
“I saved you these horses that wandered here, and you repaid me for it: I have three sons by you. Tell me what to do with them when they grow up; Should I settle here (I alone own this country) or send it to you? " So she asked, and Hercules, they say, said to her in response: “When you see your sons matured, do the best of all: look, which one of them will pull this bow like this and gird himself in my opinion with this belt, and provide this one for living. land, and who will not be able to fulfill the tasks I proposed, they left the country ... "
At the same time, Hercules pulled on one of the bows (until then he wore two), showed the method of girdling and gave her a bow and a belt with a gold bowl at the end of the buckle, and then left. She, when the sons born to her matured, gave them names, one - Agathirs, the next - Gelon, the youngest - Scyth, and then, remembering the behest of Hercules, carried out his commission. Two of her sons - Agafirs and Gelon - who were unable to fulfill the proposed feat, were expelled by their parent and left the country, and the youngest - Scythian, having completed the task, remained in the country. It was from this Heracles son of Scythian that all the ruling Scythian kings originated, and from the cup of Hercules - the custom that still exists among the Scythians to wear bowls on their belts. This is the story of the Greeks living near Pontus (the Black Sea).
In support of the fact that this version of the myth was really widespread in the Northern Black Sea region and, in particular, among the Greeks who lived there, we can refer to the images of the serpentine goddess discovered during archaeological excavations ...
Herodotus himself preferred the third legend, and in this he is supported by many modern scientists:
There is, however, another story that I myself most trust. According to this story, the nomadic Scythians who lived in Asia, being pressed by the war from the Massagetae, crossed the Arak River and withdrew to the Cimmerian land.
Now let's give the floor to the main defender central Asianversions about the origin of the Scythians A.I. Terenozhkin: “Despite the fact that the Cimmerian tribes and their culture,” he writes, “chronologically closely merge with the Scythians and at some time at the beginning of the 7th century. BC e. even, as it were, they touch each other, each of them, from these cultures, has its own, clearly expressed individual features, which can be traced in weapons, horse harness, and objects of art. The culture of the Scythian type cannot be genetically derived from the Cimmerian one. It seems only probable that the emergence and spread of the Scythian culture is associated with a new migratory wave of Iranian-speaking nomads who brought with them new forms of Scythian material culture and the Scythian animal style. The appearance of the Scythians in the historical arena dates back to the 7th century. BC e. ".
It seems to me that at the moment, given all the information currently available, central Asian the hypothesis of the origin of the Scythians is more preferable than autochthonous. In order to support this point of view with facts, it is necessary to highlight the characteristic features of the Scythian culture and prove that hordes of Iranian-speaking nomads-Scythians from Asia brought them to the Northern Black Sea region in a ready-made and formed form.
As noted above, the face of the Scythian culture is determined, first of all, by triad: typical types of weapons, types of horse harness and animal style. TO scythian triad some scholars are now adding two more features: bronze cast cauldrons and bronze disc-shaped mirrors with a handle in the form of two vertical columns. Nevertheless, it is necessary, in my opinion, to more accurately formulate all the characteristic features of the early Scythian culture, as included in triad, and complementary to it.
Kiev archaeologist V.Yu. Murzin proposed the following list of features to distinguish the Scythian ethnos in Eastern Europe:
1) mirrors (bronze disc-shaped with a vertical handle);
2) dishes (stone);
3) arrowheads (bronze two-bladed socketed);
4) swords ("butterfly-shaped" and "kidney-shaped" crosshairs);
5) slotted bronze tops made in the form of animals (the so-called zoomorphic tops);
6) bridle set (bronze stirrup-shaped bits and three-hole cheekpieces);
7) stone sculptures depicting people (anthropomorphic sculptures).
At the same time, he confidently speaks in favor of the "East Asian" origin of such features of the Scythian culture as stone dishes, bronze disc-shaped mirrors, bronze two-bladed arrowheads, stirrup-shaped bits and three-hole cheekpieces.
Fig. 54. Bronze slotted tops of the Scythians
Petersburg scientist V.Yu. Zuev refers to the "own Central Asian culture" of the early Scythians "deer stones", features of burial structures, a set of bronze arrowheads, picks, axes, bronze helmets, horse harness, bronze disc-shaped mirrors, animal style, stone dishes.
The already mentioned scythologist A.Yu. Alekseev, having subjected this entire list of features of the archaic Scythian culture to a thorough analysis, came to the following conclusions:
1) "deer stones" are undoubtedly of Central Asian origin, and in Eastern Europe they appear at the turn of the 8th-7th centuries. BC e .;
2) analogues of anthropomorphic sculptures of the early Scythian era can be found in archaeological sites of 1200-700 years. BC e. in Xinjiang (North China);
3) bronze cast cauldrons are also clearly of Asian origin. Their earliest examples are known in the Minusinsk Basin and in Kazakhstan; and in the west they first appear not earlier than the middle of the 7th century. BC e. (Kelermes burial ground in the Kuban region);
4) prototypes of disc-shaped bronze mirrors with a vertical handle are known in Central Asia and North China as early as the 12th – 8th centuries. BC e. Analysis of the bronze composition of some mirrors found in Eastern Europe, for example, in the Perepyatikha burial mound in the Ukraine, showed the presence of an alloy characteristic of Mongolia and northern Kazakhstan;
5) slotted bronze tops also have Central Asian counterparts (for example, the Korsukovsky treasure in the Baikal region, VIII century BC);
6) bronze helmets of the "Kuban" type were common in Eastern Europe in the 7th - early 6th centuries. BC e., and the source of their origin was in Central Asia and Northern China (Zhou era);
7) bimetallic picks (i.e. made of an alloy of iron and bronze) are well known since the 7th century. BC e. in Central Asia and South Siberia.
The same can be said about other characteristic features of the Scythian archaic: stone dishes, horse bridle, zoomorphic art - all have clear Central Asian roots.
Strong new arguments for central Asian hypotheses of the origin of the Scythians brought finds in the Arzhan burial mound (Tuva), where in the burial chamber of the IX-VIII centuries. BC e. many typical objects of the Scythian triads and "deer stone".
Thus, in a multi-year dispute between supporters autochthonous and central Asian versions of the origin of the Scythians and their culture, the scales are increasingly tilted in favor of the "Asians". Consequently, in the Scythians one can see newcomers from Asia (in which both archaeological data and the evidence of ancient authors are in solidarity). Most likely, the ancestral home of the Scythians was located somewhere within a fairly vast Asian territory: between Tuva, Northern Mongolia, Altai, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. There they lived surrounded by tribes related to them in culture and language: Sakas, Massagets, “Pazyryks” (inhabitants of Altai). Diodorus Siculus, author of the 1st century. BC e., reports that the Scythians originally occupied the territory on the river. Arake (modern. Syr-Darya), and then "captured the country to the west of Tanais" (ie, the river Don). What made these warlike nomads leave their homeland and seek their fortune in the distant western lands? One explanation, as noted above, comes from Herodotus. “The nomadic tribes of the Scythians,” he writes, “lived in Asia. When the Massagets drove them out of there by military force, the Scythians crossed Arake and arrived in the Cimmerian land (the country now inhabited by the Scythians, as they say, from ancient times belonged to the Cimmerians). " And what reasons prompted the Massagetae themselves - the closest relatives of the Scythians - to take the migration path?
Both in ancient times and in the Middle Ages, the nomads of Eurasia waged a constant struggle among themselves for more extensive and fertile pastures for livestock, watering places, places rich in game and fish. There were other reasons for enmity: the rivalry for dominance in the region between the leaders of the tribes, the abduction of women, etc. But very often nature intervened imperiously in these purely human passions. Merciless drought in summer, heavy snowfalls in winter, epidemics among animals led to the mass death of the main wealth of the nomads - livestock, and, consequently, to impoverishment, hunger and disaster of this nomadic community.
There is a very plausible version that at the end of the 9th century. BC e. the Chinese emperor Suan made a large punitive campaign against the nomadic tribes of the Hi-ung-nu, who constantly disturbed the northern borders of the state with their raids. The campaign was successful. The warlike barbarians were pushed back far to the west of the agricultural oases of the Celestial Empire. But this event, according to the "domino law", set in motion the whole immense Eurasian steppe. Each nomadic tribe attacked its western neighbor, trying to take possession of its pastures. And around 800 BC. e., according to scientists, the Asian steppes were struck by a severe drought, after which the movement of nomadic hordes to the west increased even more. Now it becomes clear why the Massagets were drawn into this stormy stream of immigrants, who, in turn, attacked the Scythians, and those attacked the Cimmerians. What do we know about this people - the predecessors of the Scythians and their rivals for the possession of the Northern Black Sea region?
First of all, Herodotus reports on the Cimmerians in his History. Having said that, pressed by the Massagets, the Scythians invaded the country of the Cimmerians, he continues:
With the approach of the Scythians, the Cimmerians began to hold advice on what to do in the face of a large enemy army. And so at the council, opinions were divided (the dispute was between the rulers of the Cimmerians and ordinary communes. - V.G.).
Although both sides stubbornly stood their ground, the proposal of the kings won. The people were in favor of retreat, considering it unnecessary to fight with so many enemies. The kings, on the other hand, considered it necessary to stubbornly defend their native land from invaders. So, the people did not heed the advice of the kings, and the kings did not want to obey the people. The people decided to leave their homeland and give their land to the invaders without a fight; the kings, on the other hand, preferred to lie on the bones in their native land rather than flee with the people. After all, the tsars understood what great happiness they experienced in their native land and what troubles await the exiles deprived of their homeland. Having made such a decision, the Cimmerians divided into two equal parts and began to fight among themselves. All those who fell in the fratricidal war were buried by the Cimmerian people by the Tiras River (Dniester - V.G.): the tomb of the kings there can still be seen. After that, the Cimmerians left their land, and the Scythians who came took possession of the uninhabited country.
There is no doubt that we have before us a purely legendary story, where grains of truth are hidden under a thick layer of mythological fiction: I mean both the “fratricidal war” and the total exodus of the Cimmerians from their native land. Most likely, the Scythians met stubborn resistance from a rather strong enemy in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region and, not without difficulty, defeating him, partially exterminated, and partially included in their horde.
Archeology gives us much more real information about the Cimmerians. “Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians,” says the book “Great Scythia”, written by a group of leading Ukrainian researchers, “are among the first historical peoples of Eastern Europe. This means that it is with them that the written history of the ancient population of the region begins. "
Fig. 55. The image of the Cimmerians on the Assyrian stone relief.
VII century. BC e.
The Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians were the first nomads of the Eastern European steppes - the so-called early nomads (in contrast to the medieval nomads). Finally, nomadism (nomadism) took shape at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. e. And at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. iron products (weapons, tools, horse harness) are widely used by the population of the northern Black Sea region. The peculiarities of the nomadic economy influenced not only the everyday life of the nomads, but also brought up the peculiarities of their character. “The constant readiness to protect their main wealth - cattle from predatory animals and no less predatory neighbors, has shaped every man from childhood into a staunch warrior and a wonderful rider. It is not surprising that these people who literally grew up on a horse and, as it were, merged with him, easily turned from peaceful shepherds into a disciplined, mobile and formidable army. "
As a certain historical people, the Cimmerians were formed from the descendants of the population of the Srubnaya culture and related tribes from the eastern regions of Eurasia, who advanced to the Black Sea steppes at the very beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e.
The earliest mentions of the Cimmerians are found in the Iliad and Odyssey. In the first of them, although the term "Cimmerians" is not used, we quite clearly see this people in the "wondrous men of the Hippemolgus":
Zeus, and Trojan and Hector to the camp of the Achaeans, bringing,
I left them before the courts, troubles and battle labors
To eat continuously; and he turned away his bright eyes
In the distance, contemplating the land of the Frakian, horse riders,
Medes, hand-to-hand fighters, and wondrous men of the Hippemolgs,
The poor, who ate only milk, the fairest mortals.
He never bowed his luminous eyes to Troy ...
As for the "Odyssey", then, judging by the text of the poem, its protagonist managed to visit a distant Cimmerian country:
In the meantime, the sun went down, and all the roads were darkened.
Soon we came to the deep-flowing waters of the Ocean;
There Cimmerians a sad area covered forever
Wet fog and haze of clouds; never shows
The eye of the people of the radiant Helios face, the earth
He leaves, rising to the stars of the abundant sky,
From heaven eh, abundant stars, descends, turning to the earth;
A bleak night has surrounded the living there from time immemorial.
More specific information about this people appears in the Middle Eastern written documents - reports of Assyrian intelligence officers and diplomats, as well as in Babylonian chronicles, noting, starting from the VIII century. BC e., the penetration of units of the Cimmerian cavalry into the territory of Asia Minor. At the beginning of the next, VII century. BC e., they attack the borders of Assyria, destroy the Phrygian kingdom in the center of Anatolia and fight with Lydia, and the Lydian king Gig died in the battle with the Cimmerians. The Cimmerian invasion was so devastating, and the appearance of the equestrian northern barbarians was so unusual that echoes of those distant events were preserved not only in ancient chronicles, but also in popular memory. It is not by chance that the name of the Cimmerians acquired a common sense in the Old Georgian language, where the word "gmiri" ( gmiri) corresponded to the concept of "hero".
A fairly complete picture of the culture of the Cimmerians is provided by the materials of Cimmerian burials discovered in the south of Eastern Europe - from Bulgaria in the west to Dagestan in the east. Such burials are located either under low embankments, or arranged in mounds of previous eras.
Fig. 56. Image of Cimmerian horsemen on an Etruscan vase. VI century BC e.
The grave pits are rectangular or oval in shape. The buried lie on their backs or on their sides with their heads, as a rule, to the west. In male burials, a set of armaments of the Cimmerian warrior and bronze bridle accessories - a bit and cheekpieces - are common. The armament of the Cimmerian warrior consisted of a bow and arrows with bronze or iron tips, a spear with an iron tip, an iron or bimetallic (iron - bronze) dagger or sword (the length of the sword reached 1 m). Male burials are sometimes accompanied by burials of riding horses. The inventory of female burials is much more modest and consists mainly of molded utensils with a polished surface.
The basis of the economy of the Cimmerian tribes was nomadic cattle breeding, the leading role was assigned to horse breeding. It provided warriors and shepherds with riding horses, supplied them with food (milk, kumis, cheese). The Cimmerians in Homer's Iliad are called “wondrous milking mares” and “milky beetles”.
War played a significant role in the life of the Cimmerians. Trips to the distant countries of Western Asia opened up wide opportunities for the nomads for robbery and collection of tribute. The population of the right bank of the Dnieper was also under constant pressure from the Cimmerians. Here at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Inhabited by the tribes of the Black Forest culture, which most researchers consider proto-Slavic. Here was one of the most developed agricultural centers in Eastern Europe. It was in the Cimmerian time in the southern regions of this agricultural zone, adjacent to the border of the Steppe and Forest-steppe, that well-fortified settlements began to appear to protect against nomads.
The easy alienation of the main wealth of the nomads - livestock, led to the concentration of herds in the hands of individual clans, which caused the property and social stratification of Cimmerian society. Military campaigns also contributed to its deepening, since rich booty fell primarily to noble warriors. This process found its material reflection in the appearance of the graves of the military aristocracy with a rich and varied inventory, including items made of gold, which stood out noticeably against the background of other Cimmerian burials. At the head of the Cimmerian association were the leaders - "kings", as they are sometimes called in written sources. The names of some of them have come down to us - Teushpa, Shandakshatra, Ligdamis.
Cimmerian art was of an applied nature. The most common was the geometric style. Ornaments consisting of circles, spirals, rhombuses, squares and their various combinations were used to decorate the surface of weapons such as sword handles, as well as bridle details (for example, carved bone bridle plaques in the Ash Mound).
The Cimmerians and Scythians were Iranian in language. And if for the Cimmerians this conclusion is based more on witty guesses and assumptions, then in relation to the Scythians this was convincingly proved at the end of the 19th-20th centuries. our outstanding scientists-linguists, including such as V.F. Miller and V.I. Abaev and others.
Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonik (XII century A.D.), clearly having some early, unknown sources, wrote the following about the Cimmerians:
The geographer also says about hippiemolgus that they eat horse meat, mare's cheese, milk and sour milk, which is considered a delicacy for them.
This is in relation to the fact that they are mammals. The fairest geographer calls them because they, having provided the land to the farmers, themselves live in the mountains, having appointed them a moderate tribute for satisfaction daily necessities of life, and if they do not give tribute, then they are at war with them<…> The geographer also reports the following: these peoples live on carts and eat meat from domestic animals, milk and cheese, mainly mare, without knowing about supplies and petty trade, except for the exchange of goods for goods; The fairest, he says, they are because they do not engage in trade and save money, but they possess everything together, except for the sword and the cup ...
In conclusion, we can say that the first precisely dated mention of the Cimmerians, namely the country of Gamir, dates back to 714 BC. e., and it is associated with the defeat of the cavalry Cimmerian troops of the Urartian king Rusa I.
Fig. 57. Typical things of Cimmerian culture
Thus, the geography of these events is more likely associated with the western regions of the Caucasus, where the country of Gamir was probably located.
Based on the information of Herodotus, it can be assumed that the Cimmerians appeared in Western Asia before the Scythians, and the gap between the appearance of these two groups of nomads, already according to the data of ancient Eastern chronology, reached approximately four decades. The history of the nomads, preceding the Near Asian stage, is usually also set forth according to Herodotus, for whom the Cimmerians in the Northern Black Sea region were an undoubted historical reality. Appearing from the east, "from Asia", the Scythians drove out the Cimmerians, and ultimately both ended up in Transcaucasia and Western Asia, where their historical destinies almost did not intersect.
So, the Scythians appeared on the historical arena at the end of the VIII-VII centuries. BC e., just at the time when two events occurred that played a huge role in world history. The first was the development and widespread gland as the main material for the manufacture of tools and weapons. The predecessors of the Scythians (including, in part, the Cimmerians) also used bronze tools and weapons. Although iron began to be used in some regions of the world as early as the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e., it received universal distribution only at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. The mastery of iron metallurgy and the use of iron tools gave a powerful incentive to many branches of human activity, since iron tools (and weapons) are much more effective than bronze ones. The possibilities of agriculture have significantly expanded, the proportion of crafts equipped with new tools has sharply increased, and the development of military affairs has received a colossal impetus.
Among the Scythians, all the most important tools of labor, all weapons (except for arrowheads) and all horse harness were made of iron. Moreover, the Scythian craftsmen not only knew how to obtain iron from ore and forge the necessary items from it, but also to give their products certain properties by means of more or less enrichment of the metal with carbon, carburizing, different methods of hardening, etc.
Second the most important event associated with the appearance of the Scythians in the Eastern European steppes was the emergence of nomadic cattle breeding. This form of economy developed from pastoralism and was distinguished by a number of specific features. Nomads, or nomads, are characterized, first of all, by breeding livestock, as the main or even the only kind of economic activity, year-round keeping of cattle on grazing outside of the beef, regular seasonal migrations in which all members of the community or family group participate, the absence of permanent settlements an economy that almost completely provides food, clothing, materials for dwellings. Hunting was usually an auxiliary means of earning a livelihood for the nomads. Of course, the nomads could not completely do without agricultural products, without complex handicraft products.
Usually nomads acquired these products and things necessary for them from neighboring sedentary tribes and peoples, sometimes in the form of tribute, and sometimes with the help of direct violence and plunder. The development of nomadism presupposes the presence of contacts between nomadic and sedentary populations, often in the form of political domination of nomads over agricultural regions. The nomads who dominated the Scythian society, first of all, the "royal Scythians", also subjugated the agricultural tribes of Scythia, the non-Cythian population of the Forest-Steppe and, in addition, carried out constant trade, political and cultural ties with the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region. But this part of the ancient world, located on the "very edge of the oecumene", will be discussed below.
Fig. 58. Image of a Cimmerian on a Greek vase. VI century BC e.
A necessary prerequisite for the development of nomadism is a geographic environment that contributes to the development of a certain economic structure. The vast treeless areas of the south of Eastern Europe and the adjacent regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan were the best suited for the economy of the nomads. Covered with steppe vegetation, sufficient for feeding huge herds and flocks, but of little use for agriculture, these boundless spaces became a natural arena for distant migrations and for whole millennia (almost until the 19th century A.D. inclusive) became the main zone of steppe nomadic cattle breeding. The Scythians were only the first, but by no means the last nomads of the Eastern European steppes. After them, in the same places, the Sarmatians, Alans, Huns, Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsians roamed with their herds.
We know quite well the appearance of the nomadic Scythians. They are accurately depicted by Hellenic craftsmen on precious items that archaeologists have repeatedly found in the burial mounds of the highest Scythian nobility. Anthropological reconstructions based on bone remains (first of all, skulls) from graves and burials of the 7th – 2nd centuries give a lot. BC e. Unfortunately, few such reconstructions have been done so far. We can name as an example the portraits of the late Scythian kings Palak and Skilur (II century BC), created by the outstanding Russian anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov. His students (G.V. Lebedinskaya, T.S.Balueva, and others) also carried out a number of works in this direction (a sculptural portrait of a Scythian warrior of the 4th century BC and graphic portraits of Scythians and Scythians of the same time according to data finds in the mounds of the Middle Don).
The Scythians were people of medium height and strong build. “Yes, we are Scythians, yes, we are Asians with slanting and greedy eyes” - this poetic image created by Alexander Blok does not correspond to reality: as can be seen from anthropological materials, the Scythians did not have any slanting eyes or other Mongoloid features. Scythians are typical Caucasians. By language, they belonged to the North Iranian group. Of the currently existing peoples, the Ossetians are the closest to them in language - the descendants of the Sarmatians, the closest relatives of the Scythians.
Fig. 59. Reconstruction of a portrait of a Scythian warrior of the IV century. BC e. Kurgan number 12 near the village. Ternovoe
Scythians wore long hair, mustache and beard, dressed in leather, linen, woolen or fur clothes. The male costume consisted of long, narrow pants tucked into boots or worn outside, a jacket or caftan, belted with a leather belt. This costume was complemented by low soft boots and a felt hood. We know much less of women's clothing. In general, it consisted of a long dress and an upper cape. Scythian clothing was decorated with an ornament of patterns embroidered with colored threads. The Scythians also adorned themselves with beads, bracelets, earrings, temporal pendants, breast medallions, torcs and necklaces.
The external goodness of Scythian portraits and images should not mislead us. From the reports of the Assyrians, Jews, Greeks and Romans, it is known that they were an unbridled and cruel people who took pleasure in war, robberies and scalping of defeated enemies. More than once their courage in battle, indomitable thirst for victory aroused admiration and fear even among the inhabitants of the powerful powers of the East - Assyria, Media, Urartu, Babylon and Egypt. And it is not at all accidental that the first entry of the Scythians into the historical arena in the 7th century. BC e. was associated just with their devastating invasion on the territory of the ancient civilizations of Transcaucasia and Western Asia.
From the book Hieroglyphics author Nile Gorapollo From the author's book From the author's bookChapter 4 "Under the clink of swords and the singing of arrows": the political history of the Scythians Born in the snow for the horrors of war, There fierce sons of cold Scythia, Hiding behind the Istria, expect prey And the villages are threatening every moment ... their books
From the author's bookChapter 6 Economy and life of the Scythians He loved the dark nights in the tent, Steppe mares flooded neighing, And before the battle wolf howl, And kites on the gloomy hillock. The passion of violent power was trying to quench, He galloped after the enemy like a frenzy, So that the audacity of the chase
From the author's bookChapter 7 Power and Warrior in the Kingdom of the Scythians As if from childhood I was accustomed to battles! Everything in the expanse of the steppes is dear to me! And my voice is right in tune With a deafening swearing howl ... V.
From the author's bookSocial system of the Scythians Political domination in Scythia belonged to the royal Scythians, who considered all the tribes subject to them to be their slaves, but, apparently, they were rather tributaries. Power in the country belonged to a family of Scythian kings who shared their rule
From the author's bookScythian warfare And yet the main support of the power of Scythia and its kings was a large and well-armed army, consisting mainly of cavalry. From the moment the Scythians entered the arena of world history, they act as a powerful military association,
From the author's bookOrigin Initially, general education was all-estates. Whoever the parents of a clever boy who wanted to teach him were, he could shave off a tonsure on the top of his head and dress in a black cassock, because in the Middle Ages all students were clergy. Further it
From the author's book30. Ancient origins To indicate ancient origins, a bundle of papyrus is drawn. In this way they show the first food, for no one can find the beginning of food.
- OK. 700-600 years BC e. - Scythian warriors attack the surrounding lands.
- 514 BC e. - the Scythians repel the attack of the Persians.
- OK. 400-300 BC BC e. - the era of prosperity of the Scythians.
- 110-106 years BC e. - the Scythians are defeated.
Around 300 BC e. the power of the Scythians is waning, and soon they find themselves under the rule of King Mithridates, the ruler of the country south of the Black Sea. Finally, the Scythians as an ethnic group disappeared during the Great Migration.
Bosporan kingdom
In the VI century. BC. representatives of the Scythian tribes and Greeks on the eastern coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov form the Bosporus kingdom (the capital is Panticapaeum). The first recognized state on the territory of modern Russia and Ukraine.
One of the main cities of this state was Hermonassa (6th century BC), which from the very beginning had two-storey stone houses with ovens and granaries.
In the VI century. The Bosporan cities were conquered by the Turkic Khaganate and the new state was named Tumentarkhan. After the collapse of the kaganate, Tumentarch became Khazar and from the 9th-10th centuries. often appears in sources as Samkerts. The city functions primarily as a shopping center, while remaining multiethnic - there are traces of Greeks, Armenians, Khazars, Alans.
Burials (funerals) among the Scythians
The deceased Scythian leader was buried along with his most valuable property under a huge burial mound (mound).
During the funeral of the Scythian leader, his body was covered with gold plaques, bracelets and necklaces. Servants were sacrificed so that in the afterlife they could serve their leader. The leader's horses were also killed and buried with him, having previously put them in order - they washed, combed their manes. Thus, a year later, having killed 50 men and horses, they laid them around the mound along with gold jewelry.
A short talk about the Scythians will help you prepare for your history lesson. You can also find out where the Scythians lived and what they did.
Message about the Scythians
At the beginning of the 7th century BC, nomadic tribes appeared in the steppes of the Black Sea region. These were the Scythians. They belonged to the Iranian-speaking group. The Scythians dominated the territory of Ukraine for about 300-400 years, leaving behind a great legacy. In the period of the 5th-4th centuries, these tribes gradually switched to a sedentary way of life and created entire settlements along the lower Dnieper and in the Crimea. The Kamenskoye settlement was the largest and was the main center of handicraft, supplying the steppe tribes with iron products.
What did the Scythians do?
The culture of the Scythians is represented by molded ceramics, amphoras, pottery, metal household items, and tools. Everything was found in the places of settlement of the tribes and their burial monuments. This is evidence that they were skillful, resourceful people.
Labor activity materialized in everyday life and economy (except for the famous military craft). The main occupation of the Scythian population is nomadic herding. It was based on the year-round keeping and breeding of sheep, horses and cattle. For a long time this type of economy was dominant. In the middle of the 5th century BC, semi-nomadic cattle breeding arose in the Dnieper valley. Before the death of Great Scythia, these 2 types of economy were the basis of the Scythian economy.
At the turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC, another branch of the Scythian economy was formed - agriculture, focused on the cultivation of feed for feeding livestock in winter. The tribes began to stock up on millet and hulled barley. Then they began to grow grain for themselves. The land was cultivated with fallow, having previously burned out the grass stand on the site. After two years of operation, this site was turned into a pasture. And only after 10 years the land was cultivated again.
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Based on the works of G.V. Vernadsky and other historians of the 19-21 centuries. Southern Russia was first politically organized Cimmerians (1000 - 700 BC), then by the Scythians (700 - 200 BC) In the 7th century BC. there is an invasion of the Scythians from Eastern Europe and forever knocks the Cimmerians out of the Crimea ... In Europe, the Cimmerians fought longer. In alliance with the Teutonic tribes "Cimbri", as the Romans called them, continued to successfully fight against Ancient Rome for several more centuries. But in 101 BC. Roman consul Guy Marius wins the final victory at Wercellus: “more than 65 thousand barbarians were killed, and the rest were sold into slavery” ... This is where the history of Cimmeria ended. Yes, we are Scythians!For many centuries scientists have been breaking spears trying to understand the origin of the Russian people. And if the research of the past was based on archaeological and linguistic data, today even genetics have taken up the task. From the Danube
Of all the theories of Russian ethnogenesis, the Danube one is the most famous. We owe its appearance to the chronicle collection "The Tale of Bygone Years", or rather to the centuries-old love for this source of Russian academicians. The chronicler Nestor determined the initial territory of the settlement of the Slavs by territories along the lower reaches of the Danube and Vistula. The theory of the Danube "ancestral home" of the Slavs was developed by such historians as Sergei Soloviev and Vasily Klyuchevsky. From the Carpathian region, according to Klyuchevsky, in the 7th-8th centuries, the Eastern Slavs settled in the East and North-East to Lake Ilmen. Many historians and linguists still adhere to the Danube theory of Russian ethnogenesis. A great contribution to its development was made at the end of the 20th century by the Russian linguist Oleg Nikolaevich Trubachev. One of the most fierce opponents of the Norman theory of the formation of Russian statehood, Mikhail Lomonosov, leaned towards the Scythian-Sarmatian theory of Russian ethnogenesis, about which he wrote in his “Ancient Russian History”. According to Lomonosov, the ethnogenesis of Russians occurred as a result of the mixing of the Slavs and the Chudi tribe (Lomonosov's term is Finno-Ugric), and he named the interfluve of the Vistula and Oder as the source of the ethnic history of Russians. Supporters of the Sarmatian theory rely on ancient sources, and Lomonosov did the same. He compared Russian history with the history of the Roman Empire and ancient beliefs with the pagan beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, finding a large number of coincidences. The fierce struggle against the adherents of the Norman theory is quite understandable: the people-tribe Rus, according to Lomonosov, could not have originated from Scandinavia under the influence of the expansion of the Vikings-Normans. First of all, Lomonosov opposed the thesis about the backwardness of the Slavs and their inability to independently form a state. Scythians - a mysterious ancient people |
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On horses, fast as the wind, riders rush, leaving behind clouds of dust. These are the nomadic tribes returning with the plundered goods. From 700 to 300 BC e. they dominated the steppes of Eurasia. Then they disappeared, leaving a mark on history. They are even mentioned in the Bible. They were the Scythians .Scythian tribesThucydides (IV century BC) argued that no kingdoms could compare with the Scythians in terms of military strength and number of troops. In Asia, he wrote, there is no people who could confront one on one with the Scythians if they were unanimous. The military experience of the Scythians was absorbed by the troops of Genghis Khan through the peoples who entered his empire.
For centuries, their tribes, with huge herds of wild horses, roamed the vast steppes stretching from the Carpathians to what is now known as southeastern Russia. By the 8th century BC. e. as a result of the military campaign undertaken by the Chinese emperor Xuan, they were pushed westward. Having settled on new lands - in the foothills of the Caucasus and on the territory of the Northern Black Sea coast - the Scythians expelled the Cimmerians who lived there. In search of treasures, the Scythians captured and plundered the Assyrian capital Nineveh. Later, having united with Assyria, they attacked Media, Babylonia and other ancient states. Even the northern part of Egypt was subjected to their raids. The very name of the city of Scythopolis (northeastern Israel), formerly known as Beth-San, suggests that, most likely, this city was also once captured by the Scythians. Over time, the Scythians settled in the steppes in the territory that is now occupied by Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and the southern part of Russia. Such a favorable location brought them considerable income: they became intermediaries between the Greeks and the tribes of grain growers who lived in the territory that is now occupied by Ukraine and the southern part of Russia. In exchange for grain, honey, fur and cattle, the Scythians received wine, textiles, weapons and jewelry from the Greeks. So the Scythian tribesmade themselves a huge fortune. Scythians - life in the saddle
A horse was for the Scythian warriors what a camel was for the inhabitants of the desert. The Scythians were known as excellent riders. They were among the first to use saddles and stirrups. They ate horse meat and drank mare's milk. It is known that the Scythians sacrificed horses. When a Scythian warrior died, his horse was stabbed and buried with all the honors. Together with the horse, a harness and a blanket were also put into the grave.
According to the historian Herodotus, the Scythians had cruel customs, for example, they made drinking cups from the skulls of their victims. They slaughtered their enemies mercilessly, using iron swords, battle axes, spears, and triangular arrows to rip apart the tissues of the body. Scythian tombs for eternity
Wormwood, dusty and
feather grass, top hiding in the fog
 The Scythians practiced witchcraft and shamanism, and also worshiped fire and the mother goddess. The graves of the Scythians were considered dwellings for the dead. Slaves and pets were also sacrificed to the deceased master. Jewelry and servants, according to the beliefs of the Scythians, were to "go" after the owner to the "other world". The skeletons of five of his servants were discovered in the tomb of a Scythian king. Their feet were turned to their master, as if at any moment these loyal subjects were ready to rise and serve him.
When the king was dying, the Scythians did not skimp on sacrifices, and during mourning they blew themselves and cut their hair. Here is what Herodotus reports: "They cut off a piece of their ear, cut off the hair on their head in a circle, make an incision in their arm around them, scratch their forehead and nose, and pierce their left arm with arrows." The Scythians left behind thousands of kurgans (burial mounds). Items found during excavations of Scythian burial mounds introduce us to the life, way of life and culture of this ancient people. In 1715, the Russian Tsar Peter I began to collect Scythian treasures, and now these masterpieces of ancient art are presented in museums in Russia and Ukraine. The products, made in the animal style characteristic of the Scythians, depict figures of such animals as a horse, eagle, falcon, cat, panther, elk, deer, vulture and griffin (a winged fantastic monster with a lion's body and an eagle's head). The Bible and the Scythians
There is only one direct mention of the Scythians in the Bible. In Colossians 3:11 we read: "Where there is no Greek, no Jew, no circumcision, no uncircumcision, a foreigner, a Scythian, a slave, a freeman, but Christ is all and in everything." When the apostle Paul wrote this letter, the word "Scythians" ceased to be ethnic in nature and was applied to uncivilized people. Some archaeologists believe that the name "Askenaz" mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27 is the equivalent of the Assyrian word "Ashkuz", which was used to refer to the Scythians. According to cuneiform tablets, in the 7th century BC. e. this people, together with the kingdom of Mana, united against Assyria. Before Jeremiah began to prophesy, the path of the Scythians to Egypt passed through the Jewish land, but the Scythians did not cause any harm to its inhabitants. Therefore, for many, Jeremiah's prophecy about the attack on Judas by the people from the north seemed incredible (Jeremiah 1: 13-15). Some biblical scholars believe that Jeremiah 50:42 speaks of the Scythians: "They hold a bow and a spear in their hands; they are cruel and merciless; their voice is as loud as the sea; they ride on horses, lined up as one person to fight with you, daughter of Babylon ". However, first of all, these words refer to the Medes and Persians, who captured Babylon in 539 BC. e. The Scythians contributed to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Nahum about the destruction of Nineveh (Nahum 1: 1,14). The Chaldeans, Scythians and Medes ravaged Nineveh in 632 BC. e., which led to the collapse of the Assyrian Empire. The mysterious disappearance of the Scythians
The Scythian people disappeared from the face of the earth. But why? "To be honest, this question remains a mystery," says a leading Ukrainian archaeologist. Some researchers are convinced that the Scythians were destroyed by their irrepressible love of luxury, and between the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. e. they were driven out by the Sarmatians, a union of nomadic tribes. Other researchers believe that tribal wars were the reason for the disappearance of the ancient Scythians. Still others believe that the Scythians became the ancestors of the Ossetians. Be that as it may, this mysterious ancient people left an indelible mark on history - even the word "Scythian" has long become a household word, synonymous with the word "cruel" |
For almost a millennium, the Scythians dominated the present territory of Russia. Neither the Persian Empire nor Alexander the Great could break them. But suddenly, overnight, this people mysteriously disappeared into history, leaving behind only majestic burial mounds ...
Who are the Scythians
Scythians are a Greek word used by the Greeks to designate nomadic peoples living in the Black Sea region between the streams of the Don and Danube rivers. The Scythians themselves called themselves Saki.
For most Greeks, Scythia was an outlandish land inhabited by "white flies" - snow, and the cold always reigned, which, of course, did not correspond to reality.
It is this perception of the country of the Scythians that can be found in Virgil, Horace and Ovid. Later, in the Byzantine chronicles, the Slavs, Alans, Khazars or Pechenegs could be called Scythians.
And the Roman historian Pliny the Elder wrote back in the 1st century AD that “the name“ Scythians ”passes to the Sarmatians and Germans,” and believed that the ancient name was fixed for many of the peoples most remote from the Western world.
“Oleg went to the Greeks, leaving Igor in Kiev; He took with him a multitude of Varangians, and Slavs, and Chudi, and Krivichi, and Meru, and Drevlyans, and Radimichs, and Polyans, and Northerners, and Vyatichi, and Croats, and Dulebs, and Tivertsy, known as Tolmachi: all of them were called Greeks "Great Scythia".
It is believed that the self-name "Scythians" means "archers", and the beginning of the emergence of the Scythian culture is considered to be the 7th century BC.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus, in whom we meet one of the most detailed descriptions of the life of the Scythians, describes them as a single people, breaking up into various tribes - Scythian farmers, Scythian plowmen, Scythian nomads, royal Scythians and others. However, Herodotus also believed that the Scythian kings are the descendants of the son of Hercules, a Scythian.
The Scythians for Herodotus are a wild and rebellious tribe. One of the stories tells that the Greek king lost his mind after he began to drink wine "in the Scythian way", that is, without diluting, as was not customary among the Greeks: "Since that time, as the Spartans say, every time when they want to drink stronger wine, they say: "Pour in the Scythian way."
Another demonstrates how barbarous the Scythian customs were: “Each has many wives according to custom; they use them together; they enter into a relationship with a woman, putting a stick in front of the house. " At the same time, Herodotus mentions that the Scythians also laugh at the Hellenes: "The Scythians despise the Hellenes for their Bacchic frenzy."
Wrestling
Thanks to the regular contacts of the Scythians with the Greeks, who are actively colonizing the surrounding lands, ancient literature is rich in references to the nomadic people. In the 6th century BC. the Scythians drove out the Cimmerians, defeated Media and, thus, took possession of all of Asia.
After that, the Scythians retreated to the region of the northern Black Sea region, where they began to meet with the Greeks, fighting for new territories.
At the end of the 6th century, the Persian king Darius went to war against the Scythians, but despite the crushing power of his army and a huge numerical superiority, Darius did not manage to quickly crush the nomads.
The Scythians chose a strategy of exhausting the Persians, endlessly retreating and circling around the troops of Darius. Thus, the Scythians, remaining undefeated, earned themselves the fame of impeccable warriors and strategists.
In the IV century, the Scythian king Atey, who lived for 90 years, united all the Scythian tribes from the Don to the Danube. Scythia during this period reached its highest flowering: Atey was equal in strength to Philip II of Macedon, minted his own coin and expanded his possessions. The Scythians had a special relationship with gold. The cult of this metal even became the basis for the legend that the Scythians managed to tame the griffins guarding gold.
The growing power of the Scythians forced the Macedonians to undertake several large-scale invasions: Philip II killed Atheus in an epic battle, and his son, Alexander the Great, went to war against the Scythians eight years later. However, the great commander failed to defeat Scythia, and had to retreat, leaving the Scythians unconquered.
During the II century, the Sarmatians and other nomads gradually pushed the Scythians out of their lands, behind them were only the steppe Crimea and the basin of the lower Dnieper and Bug, and as a result, Great Scythia became Small. After that, Crimea became the center of the Scythian state, well-fortified fortifications appeared in it - the fortresses of Naples, Palaky and Hub, in which the Scythians took refuge, fighting with Chersonesos and the Sarmatians.
At the end of the II century, Chersonesos found a powerful ally - the Pontic king Mithridates V, who went to war against the Scythians. After numerous battles, the Scythian state was weakened and drained of blood.
The disappearance of the Scythians
In the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, it was already difficult to call the Scythian society nomadic: they were farmers, rather strongly Hellenized and ethnically mixed. The Sarmatian nomads continued to press the Scythians, and in the III century the invasion of the Crimea by the Alans began.
They devastated the last stronghold of the Scythians - Scythian Naples, located on the outskirts of modern Simferopol, but could not stay for a long time on the occupied lands. Soon, the invasion of these lands began by the Goths, who declared war on the Alans, and the Scythians, and the Roman Empire itself.
The attack on Scythia was thus struck by the invasion of the Goths around 245 AD. All the Scythian fortresses were destroyed, and the remnants of the Scythians fled to the south-west of the Crimean peninsula, hiding in remote mountainous areas.
Despite the seemingly obvious complete defeat, Scythia did not last long. The fortresses that remained in the southwest became a refuge for the fleeing Scythians, and several settlements were founded at the mouth of the Dnieper and on the Southern Bug. However, they too soon fell under the onslaught of the Goths.
The Scythian war, which after the events described by the Romans with the Goths, got its name due to the fact that the name "Scythians" began to be used to designate the Goths who defeated the real Scythians.
Most likely, there was a grain of truth in this false naming, since thousands of defeated Scythians joined the Gothic troops, dissolving in the mass of other peoples who fought with Rome. Thus, Scythia became the first state to collapse as a result of the Great Migration.
The Goths completed the case, the Huns, who in 375 attacked the Black Sea region and killed the last Scythians who lived in the Crimea mountains and in the Bug valley. Of course, many Scythians again joined the Huns, but there was no longer any question of any independent identity.
Scythians as an ethnos disappeared in the maelstrom of migrations, and remained only on the pages of historical treatises, with enviable persistence continuing to call all new peoples "Scythians", usually wild, rebellious and unbroken.
As already mentioned, the political organizing power of the Scythians in southern Russia was replaced by the Sarmatians (200 BC - 200 AD),
then followed by the Goths (200 - 370 AD),
replaced by the Huns (370 - 454 AD).
In most cases, the overwhelming mass of the local population, recognizing the political control of the aliens, desperately held on to their old houses or settled again near their former habitats. In turn, each newly arrived group added a new ethnic touch to the many already existing. So, in addition to the initial mass of the local population of South Russia, which Nikolai Mar called yafetids, an ethnic superstructure of a varying nature gradually formed, but on the whole there was a certain sequence of racial tension. Returning to the Cimmerians, one can accept the opinion that they were only the ruling class of the country. The problem of their ethnic origin is thus narrower than the question of the ethnic basis of the population of South Russia as a whole.