Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bodies clothed in skins
the seasons are not great. For these reasons their shapes are gross and fleshy’ (On Airs,
Waters, and Places, 19). In the words of Greek medicine the cold, damp environment
affects the humours of the body leading to ‘softness and moistness’.
But Pseudo-Hippocrates is sufficient of an empirical scientist to realize that lifestyle
also has a direct effect on physical wellbeing:
The Scythians … are called nomads because they have no houses but live in wagons. The
smallest have four wheels, others have six wheels. They are covered over with felt and
are constructed like houses, sometimes in two compartments and sometimes in three,
which are proof against rain, snow, and wind. The wagons are drawn by two or by three
yoke of hornless oxen… . Now in these wagons live the women, while the men ride on
horseback followed by their sheep, cattle, and horses. They remain in the same place just
as long as there is sufficient fodder for their animals: when it gives out they move on.
(On Airs, Waters, and Places, 18)
It is because of this kind of existence, he says, that they grow up fat and flabby. They
sit about too much. ‘The young males, until they are old enough to ride, spend most
of their time sitting in the wagons and they walk very little since they are so often
changing their place of residence. The girls get amazingly flabby and pudgy.’ And
being out in the open air, ‘the cold causes their skin to be burnt and reddened’. He
might have added that a predominantly milk- and meat-based diet would have been
one of the contributing causes of weight gain.
He also comments on the low level of fertility among the Scythians: ‘people of
such a constitution cannot be prolific’. Obesity, he argues, reduces sexual desire
among both men and women, and men showed a tendency to impotence caused,
he believed, by horse-riding. Another effect of constantly being in the saddle was
varicose veins ‘because their feet are always hanging down from their mounts. This
is followed by lameness and, in severe cases, those affected drag their hips.’ To treat
this, the Scythians cut the vein behind the ears—an act which Pseudo-Hippocrates
thought contributed to impotence. He has more to say on this subject as we will see
later (below, pp. 219–20).
Altogether it is not a particularly flattering picture. The dumpy, bow-legged Scythians
unable to grow facial hair and too exhausted for procreation. But how true is it?
The writer is stressing characteristics which enable him to distinguish between the
urban Greek and the barbarian nomads. This is what any classical observer would
do to distance self from ‘other’, but there is clearly a scientific mind at work, carefully
noting differences and attempting to explain them in terms of the science of the
times. A sedentary lifestyle does lead to obesity and excessive horse-riding in tight
trousers does cause the testes to overheat, leading to a reduced sperm count. This
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