Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the scythians as others saw them
Deciduous forest
Forest steppe
Steppe and semi-desert
Semi-desert and desert
Mountains
A N D R O P H A G
( U N
I
I N H A B I T E D )
0 300 miles
0 300km
B U D I N
I G E L O N I
NEURI
I
M E L A N C H L A E N
Tanais (Don)
Volga
Carpathians
Istr u s (Danube)
Tyras (Dniester)
Hypanis (Bug)
S
K
Y
AROTERES
A L I Z O N E S
KALLIPPIDAI
Tyrilai
Barythenes (Dnieper)
T
Olbia
HYLAIA
H I
SKYTHAI
GEORGOI
Karklnitis
A
SKYTHAI BASILEIOI
SKYTHAI NOMADES
SKYTHAI NOMADES
T A U R
CHERSONESOS
TREKHEE
I
Lake
Maeotis
Bosporos
K
S A R M ATA E
immerios
MAEOTAE
SINDI
S A U R O M ATA E
N
Pontos Euxeinos
C a u c a s u s
2.6 Herodotus’ description of the Scythians of the Pontic steppe mentions different tribes, which can be
placed approximately in the modern landscape.
Herodotus says they were different from the Scythians. It is a small detail but hints
that Herodotus was assessing evidence for himself rather than simply following
others.
As a source for Scythian ethnography, Herodotus is invaluable and we will have
cause to return to his descriptions many times in later chapters. He also provides
some historical facts and an, albeit sketchy, outline of the many different nomadic
tribes of the Pontic steppe and Central Asia.
There is one further text which should be mentioned, a work called On Airs,
Waters, and Places ascribed to Hippocrates, the Greek doctor who presided over the
famous medical school on the island of Kos in the fifth century. It is one of many
treatises belonging to the school but is unlikely to have been composed by Hippo-
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