Once upon a time, starting from the second half of the VIII - early VII century. BC e., in the vast expanses of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eurasia from the Black Sea coast to the Sayan-Altai, mysterious peoples roamed. Ancient writers and historians called them "Scythians".
But the ancient authors themselves put different meanings into this concept. The "Scythians" also meant the tribes that lived only in the region of the Northern Black Sea region, and other peoples who lived in territories that were quite distant from each other. Later, the term "Scythians" was often applied to all peoples inhabiting the Eurasian steppes, whether they were nomadic tribes or our ancestors, the Slavs. Even the Russian state in some medieval writings was called Scythia.
Centuries passed. For a long time, the Scythians remained a mystery. Back at the beginning of the XX century. this image remained steeped in legends and served as a fertile ground for poets, writers and artists. Everyone knows the famous lines of Alexander Blok: “Yes, we are the Scythians! Yes, we are Asians! With slanted and greedy eyes!...
But what was the real appearance of the Scythians, where did they come from and where did they disappear in the waves of history?
There is no final answer to all the questions of Scythian history, and it is hardly possible to get them. But much was allowed to be learned by archeology, which discovered the wonderful world of Scythian burial mounds, samples of magnificent unique art, grandiose burial structures. The antiquities of the Scythians became known to science already in the 18th century. But the scientific base of Scythian archeology was created in the XX century. through the efforts of many scientists. Thanks to archeology, the meager lines of ancient writings about the Scythians also sounded in a new way.
In modern science, both narrow and extended interpretations of the concept of "Scythians" are accepted. In the first case, "Scythians" is the name of only one people of the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region between the Danube and Don.
Then other representatives of various cultures related to the Scythians are called the peoples of the Scythian world. These are the Savromats who lived to the east of the Black Sea Scythians, the Saks in the steppes of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the Meots in the Kuban region and others, whose names have not been preserved in history.
In the second case, they are called all the peoples who lived on a vast territory, but once had a common origin and had similar features of the economic structure and culture. The closeness of culture is expressed in some features of everyday life, rituals and worldview. In archeology, all these features are combined in the so-called "Scythian triad".
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It includes weapons (bronze arrowheads, iron daggers and swords, battle axes), horse equipment (a kind of bridle) and art objects of the Scythian animal style. Very similar types of these objects were widespread in the cultures of the peoples who inhabited the steppe and forest-steppe of Eurasia from the second half of the 8th century. BC e. until the first centuries of the new era. Together, these grains of knowledge open before us a world that has retained its originality for many centuries and has left its special page in the annals of world civilization.
The origin of this culture and their further fate are extremely mysterious. The reason for this is the lack of a written language among the peoples of the Scythian world and contradictory data about the Scythians in the stories of other peoples.
Studying ancient texts in which ancient and eastern historians mention the names of the Scythian leaders, some Scythian words, scientists can still understand something about the origin of the Scythians. They spoke the language of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family, and other peoples of the Scythian world had similar languages.
But where and when did the representatives of the Scythian culture come to the European steppes, where did the ancient Greeks meet them, who left the most complete descriptions of this people? Before the arrival of the Scythian tribes here, there lived peoples who also spoke Iranian languages. The most famous of these were the Cimmerians. The history of the Cimmerians is also full of secrets. To date, it has not been precisely established who the Cimmerians are. Some researchers believe that the Cimmerians are nomadic peoples, related to the Scythians, who existed with them at the same time. Other scholars suggest that the concept of "Cimmerians" may be one of the names of the ancient Scythians themselves. According to the legend cited by the Greek historian of the 5th century. BC e. Herodotus, the Scythian nomads who came from Asia, expelled the Cimmerians from the territory of the Northern Black Sea region. But the same Herodotus in his "History" also cites other legends of the Scythians. According to them, this civilization in the Northern Black Sea region has lived forever.
Legends do little to help resolve the issue of the origin of the Black Sea Scythians. Archaeological sources do not give a direct answer either. After all, most of the Scythian tribes led a nomadic economy and could move over great distances in a short time. And it is very difficult to single out their ancestors among the many related tribes with similar cultural features. Still, most scientists are inclined to believe that the main core of the Scythians of the Black Sea region were tribes that came from the east, from across the Volga.