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SCYTHIANS SCYTHIANS Cyaxares forty years before the eclipse of 585, the in- followed the E. coast of the Black Sea in the eighth surrection of Nabopolassar, dated by Ptolemy's canon in century was probably the last. Down the W. coast of 625, and the united attack of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar the Caspian Sea the Scythian tribes E. of the Don upon Assyria, and the assignment of these prophecies to followed and established themselves E. of the Kimthe same year by an editor apparently dependent on an merians and N. of Mannzans and Medes, whence they early biographer, it seems safer to adhere to the con- apparently extended their power over all Armenia and struction of the history given above. [See, further, CriL Cappadocia. Their old places E. of the Azov Sea were Bib.] taken by a Median people, the Sauromatze or Sarmatians, At most, little knowledge concerning the Scythians could be derived from these biblical references. If the possiblynot before thereturn of Median power. On the plateau through which the Dniester (Tyias), the identification of ASkuza is correct, 9. cuaeiform, the Scytliians are mentioned in cunei- Chinese classical, BouIce8. and form inscriptions, such as I R. 45 col. Bog (Hypanis), the Dnieper (Borysthenes), and the Inguletz (Panticapes) flow, and so far as to the Don (Tanais), the Scoloti took possession of the land, some 227. and Knudtzon, Ass. Gebete, 2.9, settling down to agricultural pursuits, others retaining 35, in a manner that throws light upon the beginnings of their nomadic life. Scythian rule in Asia Minor. The arrival of Milesian colonists (Olbia founded about 650) In a Persian cuneiform inscription at Behistim, Saka huma- created mixed Graeco-Scythian tribes such as the Kallipidae and varka, and Saka tigrakhuda are referred to by Darius, who also Alizones. A kindred Thracian tribe, the Agathyrsi, was subspeaks of the ' Saka at the ends of the earth ' in a hieroglyphic dued. Northwards the territory extended into Ukraine. Belist of nations at the Suez canal. The Scythians are not men- yond their own clans in that direction lived Slavonic tribes, the tioned by name in the Homeric poems, though they may be Neari, the Melanchlaeni, and the Anthropophagi (wrongly so referred to as irrzqpohyoi, 12. 13 5. Strabo (7 3) quotes a direct called). U the Volga there were the Budinae (Permians '?), and reference from Hesiod . but whether this was drawn from an across the era1 the Thyssagetae and Tyrkae Finnish peoples otherwise unknown geiuine ris me idos or from the third ra&' whilst E. of these were the Turkish Argrmpa;i and the Tibeta; Aoyos written about 600 B.c., as &chhoff emends the text, is Issedones, and their neighhours the Ariamasp;e, fighting with uncertain. About 600 R.C. the name occurs in a fragment of griffins for the possession of gold. Alcaeus, and that is probably also the date of the poem of Aristeas of Proconnesns. Bschylus refers to the good laws of The Scythians do not seem to have been driven out the Scythians (Straho, Z.C.), and Hecataeus of Miletus gave of their home in S. Russia, hut rather to have been valuable information concerning them. The most important absorbed in the Sarmatian and then in the Slavonic source is Herodotus. His fourth book is devoted to Scythia. Much of his knowledge is derived from native Scythians in tribes. Olbia, as well as from resident Greeks. Hippocrates also seems The eastern branch of the people was not allowed to have visited Scythia, and, like Herodotus still confined the undisturbed possession of its lands N. of the Jaxartes. name Scythians to the Scoloti. Pseudo-Scyl& (about 337 B.c.) Already in the time of Cyrus and Darius a part of the and Ephorus begin to use it in a somewhat wider sense, though familiar with the character and history of the Scoloti. Scythians had been pressed into Margiana (see 5 17). Some of the representations in art of Scythian life found at and at the end of the third century another part was Kertsch (Panticapaenm), Kum Olha and Altun Olha (see 5 11) forced by the Massagetze into S. Sogdiana, and somebelong to the fourth and third centuries. The Greek inscriptions of Olbia containing Scythian names are not older than the second what later into Bactria. In Bactria these Scythians century B.C. Diodorus adds little to the earlier sources ; but found only a temporary home, as they were driven from Strabo's geography throws much light upon the Scythia of his there by the Massagetz (Yuechi); but they maintained day. The changed conditions there inspired him with undue scepticism as to the accuracy of Herodotus. Trogus Pompeius themselves longer farther east. in Justin, Ptolemy the geographer, Polyaenus, Ammianus In S. Kahulistan, Arachosia 'Drangiana and Sakestan(Ki in) Marcellinus, and others acquaint us with some facts. For the and in KaSmir, Nepal, and Pkjab they &tahlished themserves: history of the eastern Scythians Ktesias is not without value. Finally, they were there also submerged by new powers and Coins give the names of Scythian kings. Of great importance absorbed in the native population. are the Chinese writings of Sse-ma-tsien (about io0 B.c.) translated h Brosset, /ourn. As. ii. 8 4183, and of Panku (about 80 That the Scythians spoke an Iranian language, is A.D.), coth because of their soher descri tions of lands and already evident from Herod. 4 117, where the Sauromatae, peoples, and because of the aid they furnd to the chronology. a Median people, are said to speak the Whilst, in historical times, there have been important ll. Scythian language, though in an imcentres of Scvthian life in Asia Minor and in Euroue. .. and Felatiom. ethnic perfect manner. The Scythian words lo. and in Margiana, Bactria, Kophene, and explained by Herodotus are manifestly migrations of India, the people neither considered Iranian, and the many names of persons and places the scythiass. itself nor was regarded by others as recorded by Greek writers and in the Olbian inscriptions autochthonous in anv of these lands. leave no room for doubt. It is the merit particularly of Even in the territory between the Daiube and the Don, Zeuss and Miillenhoff to have proved conclusively the which might properly be called Scythian, because for so Iranian character of Scythian speech. That the Eastern many centuries the seat of a Scythian civilisation, a Scythians spoke substantially the same language is native tradition declared the Scoloti to be strangers. evident not least from the names of the qt&a kings in Many indications point to the region N. of Jaxartes, India (see Hohann, Syn>che Akfenpersischer A4artyrev, between the Aral Sea and Lake Balkash. in modern Turkestan and the adjoining Khirgis steppe, as the home of the Scythians in the days when their immediate Iranian kinsmen, the Aryan invaders of India, were still their neighbours S. and SE. in the old Airyanem Vaejo. The presence of Mongolian and Tibetan tribes on the NE. and E., and of the kindred 1398). An occasional Scythian loan-word in a neighbouring Slavonic or Turkish dialect cannot affect this result. The discussions of Neumann, Cnno, Fressl, and others, who have tried to invalidate the arguments of Zeuss, would have proved quite futile even if their philological method had been more discriminating. Still it should not he denied that neighhouring dialects of the Sam; family have a tendency to shade off into each other. Massagetz on the SE., occasioned by the expansion of Chinese power, gradually forced a branch of the people across the Urd, the Volga, and finally the Don. The time of this invasion of Western Scythia cannot be determined with certainty ; but it may have occurred as early as in the sixteenth century B.C. (see 5 14). Another Iranian people, the Kimmerians,l occupying the land so far S. as to the Danube, were gradually driven into the Crimea or, at different times and by different roads, into Asia Minor. The Kimmerian invasion that 1 Such names of Kimmerian kings as TeuSpa, Tuktammi (A+3aprs=A+-Saprs, Sayce) and Sandrakhtra, occurring in the seventh century, are clearly Iranian. For determining the ethnic relations of the Scythians the pictorial representations on objects found at Kertsch, Kum Olba, and elsewhere on the Kimmerian Bosphorus are of utmost importance, As the best of these are not later than the fourth centu B.c., apd were probably made for Scolotian grandees (see Xayet, Etudes ZarcMoZogiie, 196fi), they may he taken to represent fairly the Scythian type. The similarity to Russian mujiks in dress, hair, beard, and general appearance, due to climatic :onditions and the same mode of life cannot obscure the fact that the features are essentially Iranian: If they all should prove to be likenesses of Sarmatians, as the later ones probably are, this would not weaken the conclusion, since the Iranian character of the Sarmatians admits of no doubt. Through Herodotus we know that the Scythians worshipped 4335 4336
SCYTHIANS SCYTHIANS Tabiti (‘Iun‘q, Vesta), goddess of the fire ; Papaw (probably Papai or Babai, Zeus), the heaven-father ; 12. Religion. Api (ye), the earth : Oitosyrus (Apollo, possibly descriptive name of Xlithra), the Sun ; Artimpasa (Aphrodite Urania), Venus ; Thamisadas (Poseidon), the Sea ; Herakles and Ares. The Scythians had no images, or altars, or temples. Their chief sacrifices were horses, which they offered in a peculiar manner ; but prisoners inwarwere also at times offered. Only the god of war had a few great shrines. There is evidence of ancestral cults. Divination by rods or linden bark was practised, and the soothsayers formed distinct classes. A comparison with Persian divinities and religious customs shows a remarkable similarity. Whilst a heptad of divinities occurs (‘AB- Gap&), there is no trace of Ahura Mazda. Whether any of the E. Scythians accepted the Mazdayasnian faith, is not known. Buddhism may have made some ro ess amonF the Sse in Kipin and Punjab; but the Yuecii Ens Kaniska (78 A.D.) seems to have been the first monarch officlally to embrace that form of religion. The earlier Greek writers speak in terms of high 13. Character praise of the character of the 8nd civilisation. Fythians, giving instances of their justice, sincerity, love of truth, and sharp intelligence. It is possible, however, that these descriptions have to some extent been coloured by d#rimireasoning as to the virtuesof a nomadic life, such as may still be found in modern works. On the other hand the less flattering tone of later authors was, no doubt due ’in no small measure to their confusion of the Scythian: with their ruder Slavonic, Finno-Ugric, and Turkish neighbours. In Roman times, the conflicts with the Sarmatians naturally added bitterness to the references to Scythians. The Scythians probably possessed, in addition to the general characteristics of all Iranian peoples, some qualities peculiar to that nomadic life so large a part of them continued to lead. The rale which the ASkuza played in Asia, at a time when the Assyrian empire had reached its greatest extent, and in the days of its decad- ence, indicates a somewhat highly developed political organisation and a certain adaptability to conditions of settled life, sagacity as well as energy, diplomacy not ~. . less than enterprise. In Russia the long contact of the Scythms with Greek civilisation, at a time wheii it had attained its very highest development, could not but exercise a profound influence upon them. The antiquities found on the Kimmerian Bosphorus, now in the Hermitage in St. Petenburg, am ly prove what the tastes of Scythian lords were and what enviagle means they had of gratify- ing them. One class of these finds probably represents the work of native artists trained upon Grecian models. These Scythian mastersproduceda type ofart the influenceofwhichmaybe traced beyond (N. of) the Baltic. Since some tribes had for centuries cultivated the soil, and large numbers of Scythians lived in cities many nobles undoubtedly had their residences built by Greed architects. King Skyles had a palace in Olbia Concerning their industrial skill, we have no information, except that they excelled in metallurgy. In Bactria the Scythians became the heirs of another Greek civilisation ; and in India they evidently adapted themselves to native and Greek traditions, not without themselves exerting an iniluence upon the life of Punjab and Sindh. Concerning the period in which the Scythians still had for their neighbours in the Airyanem Vaejo 14. History : (Vendidad, I) the other branches of the Iranian family, before these Lad passed ;:$’ into Sogdiana, Margiana, Bactria, Hyr- cania, Herat, and Kabul, we possess no direct information. The presence of Iranian names in the Amarna Tablets and early Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions indicated by Ball (PSBA, 1882, pp, 4245), Bezold-Budge ( TeZZ el Amama TadZetseis, 1892, p. xiv), Rost (MYAG, 1897), and especially Hommel (Sitz.ber. Bihm. Ges. d. Wisr. 1898), seems to show that Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Elam had already become acquainted with some members of the Iranian familv in the sixteenth centurv R.C. According to the native tradhon of the Scoloti found in Olbia by Herodotus (4 7) the first king of Scythia, Targitaus,, reigned 1000 years befoie Darius Hystaspis ’and no more. We have no means of determining on what data this computation rests and its historical value appears doubtful, Targitaus himself bbing probably a mythical personage. Hommel con- 4337 nects this story with the accounts of a Scythian conquest as far as the Nile and an invasion of Asia to the borders of Syria by an Amazonian queen (Diodorus. 2 43 46), and regards Strabo’s (1516) Idanthyrsus as a mistake for Targitaus. But it is probable that the accounts ir, Diodorus are onty reflections of the invasion in the time of Psammetichus, and that Idan- thyrsus has in Straho received credit for the work accomplished by Madyas. The narratives of the conquest of Scythia by Sesostris (Ramessu 11.) are clearly late exaggerations ; but Honimel’s notahle theory accounting for Iranian names in Kadavaduna (=Cappadoda, a country closely allied to the centre of Hittite power, Melitene, and Cilicia; see Muller Asien, 288,335) by the Scythian character of its people, alsd. tends to explain this confusion of Hittite and Scythian. The people called Gag may prove to be akin to the Kimmerians and forerunners of the AHkuza. As regards the history of the Scoloti in Russian Scythia before their contact with the Greeks in the seventh century, we have no information. From tablets inscribed in the reign of Esarhaddon (681-668) we learn that Scythians had established 16. asianic rule : themselves N. of Lake Urumiah. Protothyas, mIIadyas. Fear is expressed lest the Scythians should break through Mannzean into Assyrian territory, the chief IBpakai is said to be an ally of the Mannzeans, and king Bartatua (Protothyas) is referred to as seeking an alliance and the hand of Esarhaddon’s daughter. That the alliance was concluded is highIy probable. since in 625 Madyas, Protothyas’ son, came to the aid of Assyria by defeating Cyaxares. who was besieging Nineveh, and by checking the advances of Psammetichus in Syria. In consideration of these services, it is natural that the suzerainty of Assyria over Urartu acknowledged by Sarduris 111. should pass to Scythia, and that such states as Cappadocia, Commagene, and Melitene should become tributary. What the relation of Cilicia to the new power was, it would be interesting to know ; but it cannot yet be discerned. The Median border states Atropatene, Matiene, and others are likely to have been subdued. From 625 to 597 Scythian rule in Asia Minor continued. Then the power was broken by Cyaxares. In 591 Scythian refugees from the Median court fled to Lydia for protection ; but Scythians continued to live under Median and Persian domination in Asia Minor. There was a Sacastene in Cappadocia as well as in Armenia. Darius claims to have conquered the ‘ Saka beyond the Sea.’ Bv these he means the Scvthians N. of the 18. Scythi& Euxine. He probadfy also refers to them as the saka tipukhuda, since inR~ssi& the Dictorial remesentations from the Kimmerian Bosporus show that these wore the Phrygian cap. It is to Darius’ campaign into Russia in 512 that we owe the elaborate account of the Scythians by Hero- dotns. That Darius marched as far as to the Volga may be doubted, and some other points in the narrative are manifestly unhistorical. There is no reason, however, to question the important rale ascribed to Idanthyrsus, through whose admit management of the defence Darius was frustrated in his object. His father Saulius seems to have already impressed himself upon the colonists, as his name is especially mentioned No events of any importance, however, have been recorded by the Greek writers before Herodotus who refer to the Scythians. Whether the use by them ofthe name Scythian (P&hp) shows that their knowledge of the people was derived from the Agkuza of Asia Minor, or that Sku-za was as much a native designation of the people as Sko-lot, cannot be determined. The Milesian colonists were, of course, tributary to the Scythian suzerain ; but the relations seem to have been cordial. Only when a king like Skylas forgot his native traditions to the extent of takin part in the Dionysiac orgies in Olbia, the Scythians resented!& proceeding. Friendly relations also pre- vailed between Ariapeithes and Teres of Thrace, in the beginning of the fifth century. It is doubtful whether Spartacus (438-432), the founder of the Bosporanian kingdom, was a Greek or of mixed race. There are some indications that the king whose skeleton was found in a tomb at Kertsch (Panticapieum) had Scythian blood in his veins. The Spartacidae were not a serious menace to Scythian power in the fourth century. Danger threatened first from Macedonia, whose ambitious ruler Philip invaded Scythia and killed ip battle king Ateas in 39, and subsequently from the Sarmatiails who crossed the &on and made themselves during the third century the most important people in the 4338
Page 1 and 2: SCRIP SCYTHIANS like the Scribes re
Page 3: SCYTHIANS SCYTHIANS seven months in
Page 7 and 8: SEA CALVES SEDECIAS for the priests
Page 9 and 10: SELA-HAMMAHLEKOTH SELAH the land of
Page 11 and 12: SELEUCIDB SELEUCIDA an emblem of di
Page 13 and 14: SELEUCIDA SEILEUCIDA Pelusium and o
Page 15 and 16: SELEUCIDE SELEUCIDE Syrian suzerain
Page 17 and 18: SEM SENNACHERIB After the defeat of
Page 19 and 20: SENNACHERIB SENNACHERIB Babylonia.
Page 21 and 22: SENUAH SEPHARAD tended was Seti (th

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