If you try to say something about the Scythians, Blok's immortal poem will first come to mind: “Yes, we are the Scythians! Yes, we are Asians! " But how "slanted and greedy eyes" did the real Scythians look at the world? What can we remember about them, except for the vague images of steppe horsemen and overgrown with grass mounds? There is no need to be ashamed, if nothing else - many scientists are struggling with the mystery of the origin of the Scythian culture and its disappearance …
RED-HAIRED STEPPES
Leaving poetry aside, what can we say for sure about the Scythians? At first glance - not so little. It was an ancient Iranian-speaking people, consisting of many small and large tribes that lived on the territory of the Northern Black Sea region from the Danube to the Don. The Scythians existed on a solid time span from the VIII century BC. until the 3rd or 4th century A. D. - over a thousand years! Despite the prevailing image of fierce warlike nomads, among the steppe tribes there were quite peaceful representatives - both Scythian farmers, plowmen, who were ruled by the so-called "royal Scythians". Although it was thanks to the art of war that the Scythians inscribed themselves in history - but more on that later.
Speaking about "slanting and greedy eyes" Blok took on trust a well-known error. The anthropological type of the Scythians was quite Europoid - light blue eyes, red hair, a tall build. Of their culture, the most famous are items in the "Scythian-Siberian animal style" - jewelry made of gold and silver, iron and bronze. Handles of swords, plaques for horse harness, women's jewelry, bracelets, buckles, patterns of armor - they depicted real and fantastic animals, standing separately or coming together in a fight. The animals most often froze in characteristic poses, in motion or from the side, but with their heads turned towards the viewer. These cultural objects are so recognizable that they are included in the archaeological "Scythian triad", which determines whether a particular burial belongs to the Scythians. Animal style? Check mark. Horse gear? Second check mark. Iron weaponsespecially the akinak sword? Yes, exactly, the Scythians are buried here! The method works flawlessly.
RIDDLE PEOPLE
Problems begin at the moment when scientists begin to ask leading questions about the absolutely certain Scythians, receiving rather vague data in response, partly based on myth. It is incredibly difficult to find out something about the tribes without writing, the description of which from the modern civilized countries sounds something like "a horde of freaks galloped over and robbed us to the bone"! If it were not for Herodotus with his legendary "History", and a small number of authors, we would only have been left with mounds, settlements and settlements, according to which we can only get a very limited idea of life. Take at least the name - "Scythians". Either it came from the ancient Indo-European root "shoot", which would be more than logical for the people, who almost invented horse archers. Or, as follows from the antique commentaries on the Iliad,the Scythians were the first to start cutting their hair short, and their self-name translates as "cropped". Or maybe the word came from the Wakhan word for "hat"? Indeed, the Scythian headdresses had a very prominent shape, and every man wore a hat …
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Okay, let's leave the puns alone, what about where the Scythians came from? From Asia, right? Well … in general, yes. The only question is how long it took, and where did they form their distinct culture. One theory, autochthonous (from the Greek word for "local, indigenous"), suggests that the ancestors of the Scythians migrated extremely slowly over many centuries to the Northern Black Sea region from the Volga region, mixed with their related local tribes and finally oskifed. They learned how to work iron, to fight on horseback and make "animal" jewelry on the spot. That is, on the one hand, they seem to be Asians, and on the other, they are quite Europeans, in appearance, for sure. Another theory, equivalent to the first, states the opposite - the Scythians did not invent anything on the spot, but brought everything with them! Came to the specified region somewhere in the 7th century BC.already with horses, iron and animal style, and there they remained to live, displacing or enslaving the indigenous inhabitants. By the way, Herodotus pointed to this, but why should he lie? The funny thing is that reliable evidence is found for both theories, and archaeologists still cannot come to an unambiguous opinion.
PEOPLE OF WAR
It so happened that when talking about the culture of nomads - or, at least, a steppe civilization that adores horses - one cannot do without rivers of blood, burned cities and bowls made of enemy skulls. The same Herodotus declared that the Scythians not only depicted animals on bridles and bracelets, but also behaved like them. The young man was obliged to drink the blood of the first enemy he killed, a share in the booty could only be claimed by presenting a severed head, and the right to participate in feasts was "bought" by the blood of the enemy. Why spend on tailoring a horse hide when you can skin the dead? Scalps will go for raincoats, skin from hands - for quiver covers, yes, after all, why not cover boards with human skin for the sake of intimidation? Rough, but damn effective. The main thing - there would be someone to fight with, but this issue was solved simply …
Having overcome the passes of the Main Caucasian Range, the Scythians in the 7th century BC. poured into the Transcaucasus an uncontrollable avalanche. They destroyed the ancient state of Urartu so qualitatively that even ancient authors completely forgot about it! Under their blows the cities of Palestine and Assyria, Media, Phenicia shuddered … Scythians, of course, did not rob and kill everyone in a row, like some kind of orcs, but for a long time acted as the main military threat to the region. They entered into alliances with some countries against others, received rich gifts at the mercy - this is what, for example, the wise Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus I did - and preserved his kingdom. The Medes and Babylonians understood the benefits of the Scythians most quickly - having united with the equestrian arrows, they finally defeated the once invincible Assyria, wiping it off the face of the earth. Then the Median king Kiaksar invited the Scythian leaders and governors to a friendly feast … and killed them all to a man. The Scythians were forced to return to the Northern Black Sea region, despite the fact that they managed to do a lot of things.
WRONG WALK
Perhaps, the formidable steppe warriors would soon be forgotten, but about a hundred years later, the Persian king Darius I Gistap decided that those would make a good punching bag. Do you need someone to train an exorbitantly bloated army before a campaign on mainland Greece? The Persian ruler gathered an army of 700 thousand people and moved it to the Scythian steppes - through the Bosphorus, Thrace and, finally, the Danube. The Scythians were aware of his plans and, after consulting, sent 200 thousand horsemen in response. The ratio, of course, is not as impressively unequal as in the case of 300 Spartans, but the result is much better! The Scythian army gnawed at Darius's hulking foot soldiers day and night, exhausting them and raining down arrows in the distance. The Scythians burned fields, poisoned reservoirs, constantly lured individual enemy units into ambushes and did not stop for a second. In the end, the disgraced Persians, having not won a single battle and without capturing any prey, having suffered monstrous losses, returned home. The Scythians, on the other hand, existed relatively calmly for many more centuries, in the end, dissolving in history as mysteriously as they appeared in it. Although, they did not dissolve so much. We remember, after all, Blok's poem. And poetry of such power, it happens, and in itself is akin to historical evidence.it happens, and in itself is akin to historical evidence.it happens, and in itself is akin to historical evidence.
Maxim Filaretov