Continuation, read the beginning in the articles: Price of victory. Scythian tactics in the wars of 1812 and 1941-1945. / Masters of the steppe. Who are the Scythians, where did they come from and where did they go? / How Alexander the Great awarded Russian princes with a diploma. / Masters of the steppe. Legends and myths about Scythia.
Is the element of Scythian decoration a golden fleece?
Ancient Greeks about the Scythians
As I have already noted in other articles, the ancient Greeks did not hesitate at all to take all the surrounding peoples from their loved ones (how did the Jews later on - an interesting similarity, right?). So they, of course, produced the Scythians from Zeus or from Hercules (in different versions). Two legends about the origin of the Scythians were told to the world by Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. e.
According to the first legend, Zeus and the daughter of the river Borisfena had a son, Targitai, and then everything is like in Russian fairy tales: he had three sons Lipoksai, Artoksai and Kolaksai. The gods threw them from the sky (in Slavic legends there are many similar moments) golden (sacred) objects: a plow, a yoke, an ax and a bowl (they represent all spheres of human life).
Only Kolaksai (the younger son - a familiar turn?) Could take them and became a Scythian king. Three brothers became the ancestors of the three Scythian peoples, while Herodotus clarified that “the common name of all of them is chipped, after the name of one king; the Greeks called them the Scythians. "
Map of the Greek concept of Scythia and adjacent peoples.
Promotional video:
According to the second, Hercules "chasing the bulls of Geryon", found himself behind some, in a deserted (when were these desert steppes?) Country, froze, fell asleep, and when he woke up … his HORSES were hijacked. As a result of the search for bulls (horses), Hercules found a half-maiden-half-snake, which admitted to the hijacking, but agreed to give only after he (Hercules) "communicated" with her.
Before this case, he was a big fan, in addition, was not noticed in the overestimated requirements for "reported". Everything worked out for them, so well that it dragged on for many years, well, as usual, three sons were born: Agafirs, Gelon and Scyth. Daddy suddenly needed to go to Hellas, the horses (bulls) were still given to him, and when asked what to do with his sons, he answered:
Having said this, Hercules held out to the half-maiden a bow and a belt with a gold bowl at the end of the buckle. Do I need to clarify who was able to fulfill the order of the legendary parent? So the Scythian became the ancestor of the Scythian royal dynasties, and all the Scythians began to wear bowl-shaped buckles on their belts.
Where now, brother?
Ancient Slavs about the Scythians
But not all the same Greek myths listen? We also have our own (not lost) legends. The chronicle "The Legend of Slovenia, Ruse and the city of Slovensk" reads:
After battle.
One of the many variants of the map of Scythia.
Great steppe
Herodotus correctly made a reservation that the Greeks who settled with them called the Scythians nomads, they called themselves differently, for there were a great many peoples of the Scythian clan. Below is the material of the historian D. Belousov from his book "Masters of Eurasia".
“For example, the Persians, called the Scythians - Saki, and the Scythians themselves, who were 72 clans, called themselves by clan (Avhats, Katiars, Paralats, etc.).
Scythia was divided by ancient historians into external and internal. In the 5th century BC. Scythian peoples lived not only in the southern regions of our country, but also far in the north, up to the shores of the Northern (Kronian or Scythian) Ocean. Moreover, in Herodotus, the Scythians worship one god (unlike the Hellenes), and the symbols of this god are pyramids / mounds with a cross (!) On top.
Ivan Evseevich Koltsov (1926-2012 gzh, author of works on ancient history, member of the Geographical Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences) divided the Scythians and related tribes into 23 nationalities (see map):
1 - Dnieper Scythians; 2 - neurons; 3 - agathirs; 4 - androphages; 5 - melanchlens; 6 - gelons; 7 - boudins; 8 - Sarmatians; 9 - brands; 10 - tissagets; 11 - irks; 12 - breakaway Scythians; 13 - argippaeus; 14 - Issedones; 15 - arimasp; 16 - Hyperboreans; 17 - ancestors of the Kalmyks; 18 - massagets; 19 - royal Scythians; 20 - Yenisei Scythians; 21 - Scythians of Indigir; 22 - Trans-Volga Scythians; 23 - Volga-Don Scythians.
The Scythians became friends with the Celts, who spread along the Danube. The sphere of influence of Great Scythia in the south included Iran, North India and the northwestern (in the future) Chinese kingdoms. At the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. In these countries, dynasties ruled, which were founded by the steppe "Aryans" (read more: White nomads of Eurasia. What did historians hide from us? - AI).
Scythian Amazon.
This world is "very similar archaeological cultures": the Sakas in Kazakhstan, the Savromats in the Trans-Volga and Southern Urals, the Pazyryk culture of Gorny Altai, the Tagar culture in the Minusinsk depression, the culture of the Ordos plateau, etc.
The existence of the Scythian-Siberian cultural and historical unity was proved back in the 19th century by N. M. Yadrintsev (Russian publicist, writer, explorer of Siberia and Central Asia, 1842-1894) and his Western associates P. Reinike and E. Minz.
In the ultra-long strip of the South Siberian forest-steppe, in the comfortable climatic conditions of the Indo-Aryans, up to tens of millions of people have multiplied. According to scientists, by the 5th century. BC. the Scythian-Siberian world was inhabited by 60–70 million people.
Mighty Scythia of the Scythian-Siberian world in the 5th century BC consisted of 7 main Scythian kingdoms, stretching in a wide strip from the Carpathians to Lake Baikal. Its southern borders ran: north of the Black Sea; north of the Caspian Sea, Aral; south of Balkhash and Baikal."
To be continued.