Scythians
The Scythians[4] were an Iranic nomadic Eurasian people.[5]
| File:A Scythian (reconstruction by Dimitri Pozdniakov).jpg A Scythian with a domesticated horse (reconstruction by Dimitri Pozdniakov) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Unknown | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Eastern Europe Central Asia West Asia Southern Asia | |
| Languages | |
| Scythian languages (Northeastern Iranic subfamily[1]) | |
| Religion | |
| Scythian religion[2][3] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
|
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History
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The Scythians were nomadic, famous for being skillful at horse riding,[6][7] who dominated the Pontic steppe (modern Ukraine and Southern Russia) throughout the ancient world. By the 2nd century AD the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scyths in this area.
Most information about the Scyths comes from the famous Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 BC) in his chronicle Histories, and from archaeologically from the beautiful goldwork found in Scythian Kurgan burial mounds in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and southern Russia.
Military
The Scythian Army was the main force of the Scythians.[8] The Scythian Army were not paid wages but food and clothes.[8] Greek-style bronze helmets and jerkins were common among some soldiers.[8]
Weapons
Scythian soldiers typically used double-curved bow, trefoil-shaped arrows and Persian swords.[8]
Custom
Every Scythian had at least one mount for oneself,[8] while members of the Scythian upper class could have a large amount of horses.[8]
As for burial, family members of a dead men were sometimes sacrificed.[8] Scythian artifacts showed a certain level of influences from Greek culture.[8]
Related peoples
Scythians Media
- Herodotos Met 91.8.jpg
The 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus is the most important literary source on the origins of the Scythians
- Arzhan animal ring.jpg
Curled-up feline animal from Aržan-1, circa 800 BC.
- KulObaTreasure.jpg
The Scythian Snake-Legged Goddess and other artifacts, from Kul-Oba.
- Kimerian.jpg
An Assyrian relief depicting Cimmerian mounted warriors
- Britishmuseumbintepehorserelief.jpg
A relief depicting mounted Lydian warriors on slab of marble from a tomb
- Qyzqapan tomb relief 2.jpg
The Median king Cyaxares
- Scythian kingdom in the Pontic steppe - detailed.jpg
The Scythian kingdom in the Pontic steppe at its maximum extent in the 6th century BC
- Etruscan bronze funerary urn with Scythian mounted archer, mid-5th century BCE.jpg
Scythian mounted archer, Etruscan art, early 5th century BC.
Red-figured amphora with a Scythian warrior, 480-470 BC, from Athens
References
- ↑ Beckwith, Christopher I., and Gisaburo N. Kiyose. "Apocope Of Late Old Chinese Short* ă: Early Central Asian Loanword And Old Japanese Evidence For Old Chinese Disyllabic Morphemes." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 71.2 (2018): 145-160.
- ↑ Foltz, Richard. "Scythian Neo-Paganism in the Caucasus: The Ossetian Uatsdin as a'Nature Religion'." Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture 13.3 (2019).
- ↑ STEPANOV, TSVETELIN. "‘SCYTHIAN’ROOTS OF THE BULGAR RELIGION." С 42 Скифия: Образ и историко-культурное наследие. Матери-алы конференции 26–28 октября 2015 года/Под ред. ТН Джаксон, ИГ Коноваловой, АВ Подосинова.—М.: Ин-ститут всеобщей истории РАН, 2015.—132 с.. Vol. 26. 2015
- ↑ Scythians are pronounced /'sɪθɪən/ or /'sɪðɪən/
- ↑ * Neumann, Iver B., and Einar Wigen. "The importance of the Eurasian steppe to the study of international relations." Journal of International Relations and Development 16.3 (2013): 311-330.
- Crowe, David M. "The Kazaks and Kazakstan: The struggle for ethnic identity and nationhood." Nationalities Papers 26.3 (1998): 395-419.
- KIYOSE, CHRISTOPHER I. BECKWITH–GISABURO N. "Apocope of Late Old Chinese short* ă: Early Central Asian loanword and Old Japanese evidence for Old Chinese disyllabic morphemes."
- ↑ Scythian, member of a nomadic people originally of Iranian people who migrated from Central Asia to southern Russia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC - The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition - Micropaedia on "Scythian", 10:576
- ↑ Scythian mummy shown in Germany, BBC News
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 "Scythian | People, History, & Facts". Britannica. Retrieved April 28, 2025.
