Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

of gods, beliefs, and art
river god can hardly have a status equivalent to the great earth mother. Others have
argued, more reasonably, that she is more likely to be Argimpasa. Another question
is whether Targitaos can be regarded as cognate with Scythian Hercules. While there
is a certain logic to the suggestion, Targitaos sits uncomfortably as one of the four
deities of the third range. These are matters unlikely ever to be resolved. Where gods
are concerned there is always ambivalence and confusion.
Another issue, which is sometimes debated, is whether there is some symbolic
significance in Targitaos having three sons. Could they represent the three zones of
the cosmos or the three levels into which society was divided—warriors, priests, and
agriculturalists? But this is asking too much of the sparse evidence. What we are dealing
with in the origin myth is a broad cosmology shared across much of the Indo-
Iranian world onto which are grafted scraps of local folk memory moulded into a
satisfying and memorable narrative. Such creative confusion does not benefit from
too rigid an analysis.
Relating to the Gods
Belief in the gods takes with it the need for humans to develop systems to help the two
worlds to communicate. Herodotus is clear that the Scythians have no images, altars,
or temples except structures devoted to the worship of Ares. He was contrasting the
Scythians to the well-furnished, monumentalized religion of the Greek world. At this
level of comparison he was right—a nomadic people are hardly likely to have created
large building complexes adorned with statues, but this does not mean that they had
no sacred locations offering structure to the landscape through which they moved.
Indeed, he specifically describes the places where Ares was worshipped. They were
fixed locations at which sacrifices to the god took place and they existed in every district,
at the seat of government:
It is a pile of brushwood made of a great quantity of bundles, in length three furlongs, in
height somewhat less, having a square platform at the top. Three sides are precipitous,
while the fourth slopes so that men may walk up it. Each year a hundred and fifty
wagonloads of brushwood are added to the pile, which sinks continually by reason of
the rain. An ancient iron sword is planted on the very top of the mound and serves as
an image of Ares. Yearly sacrifices of cattle and horses are made to it.
(Hist. iv. 62)
Leaving aside the measurements, which are clearly exaggerated, it is a credible
description of a high place. Its annual renewal, by bringing in more brushwood,
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