In the history of mankind, there were many peoples who disappeared without a trace, leaving only their names in memory of posterity - real or invented by enemies. But we know that there were once Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians. You can recall many more names, but these three, which many have heard of, are enough.
These were nomadic peoples, they did not need writing. Well, where will you keep manuscripts or stone slabs with hieroglyphs, if just a little something - riding a horse and galloped off to rob someone! After all, the nomads lived by their own rules, and according to them, we will take away everything that can be taken away! If you are weak, we will kill you or take you into slavery!
Therefore, we can learn about some ancient peoples only from their neighbors, and even better - from their enemies. For example, the great people of the Hittites, the creators of a huge empire and rivals of Ancient Egypt, scientists were able to study only after the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Assyrian cuneiform were deciphered. In the documents of that time, important texts were devoted to the Hittites.
The Greeks helped us a lot in understanding the ancient world. They were scientific-minded and created geography.
Ancient world according to Herodotus
Such great travelers and writers as Herodotus left multivolume descriptions of the world as it was two and a half thousand years ago. The diaries and descriptions of the campaigns of Alexander the Great gave historians a lot. Alexander loved scientists and received a good education himself. Suffice it to say that his mentor was Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of antiquity.
Today archaeologists and historians go hand in hand, restoring history and way of life, seemingly without a trace of disappeared peoples. If we have learned something from the notes of Herodotus or cuneiform documents from the Persian or Babylonian archives, then it makes sense to find other traces.
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The archaeologist Schliemann once followed this path. He believed Homer and decided that Homer did not invent a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, but described the actual events. So he went to look for Troy, and then Mycenae, using Homer's poems as guides.
And he found more than any other archaeologist, although all archaeologists at first laughed at him.
Unfortunately, no Schliemann would have helped to find traces of the Scythians. At least so far no one has succeeded. Even if you look at the maps of the Scythian country, you see that each scientist draws his own country.
The Scythians were nomads and for hundreds of years of their domination in the steppes of the present Ukraine and the North Caucasus, they never bothered to build a single city. They seemed to be telling their neighbors: try, build and pay us tribute, and then we will decide what to do with you - whether to take money and livestock, or rob you and ruin you.
Where they came from, where they lived before, what language they spoke, what gods they worshiped - until now, much has to be guessed.
What is known for certain?
Scientists tend to trust the story of Herodotus about the first clash of the Scythians with the Cimmerians - a people who inhabited the steppes north of the Black Sea three thousand years ago. After all, Herodotus, an intelligent and meticulous man, went to Olbia, a Greek colony on the site of present-day Odessa * and there he asked knowledgeable people. Most likely, he met with the Scythians. That is, none of the scientists came closer to him with this mysterious people.
According to Herodotus, in the VIII century BC, the Scythians, who were pressed by their neighbors in the steppes south of the Urals, moved to the West. And they entered the land of the Cimmerians. The Scythians and Cimmerians, apparently, belonged to the vast family of Indo-Aryan peoples, and their society, as until recently in India, was divided into three classes or groups - priests, warriors (or kings) and common people - Vaisyas. The priests prayed and were engaged in spiritual affairs, the warriors constituted an army, a professional squad, or rather, its top, a command layer. In case of danger, all the men of the tribe took up arms and became soldiers. Well, the vaisyas, of course, grazed herds, made skins, molded pots - you never know what the common people have to do!
It can be seen that the Cimmerians understood that the Scythians were much stronger than them and would not be able to resist. And the people wanted to live. Gathered a general meeting. The generals announced that they intend to fight to the last Cimmerian. Honor did not allow them to retreat. Such brave generals were in the Cimmerian tribe! The vaisyas decided otherwise. Let us leave, they said, there are a lot of steppes and fat pastures in the world, it will be enough for our lifetime, but not enough, we will find someone weaker and take it away from them.
Vaisyevs, as you might guess, were much more than commanders.
Have voted.
The warriors were in the overwhelming minority.
Ah well! - they were offended and began to draw lots. Divided into red and white, equally. And they began to fight to the death among themselves.
The generals of the Cimmerians fought to the last drop of blood. And only when the last of the militarists died of wounds, the people, who did not show proper patriotism, but remained alive, gathered their wagons, herds and households and, hastily buried them in the generals' common grave, set off on their way.
This story is instructive, like many stories associated with the Scythians and their relatives, who knew how to speak aphorisms and perform memorable acts.
But nevertheless, the people who let their generals perish, but did not die themselves, are rare in the history of mankind, because most often the generals do not ask the people whether they want to fight or not. They just grab the young men, give them a sword or a machine gun, and if the young man does not want to kill, he himself is shot for treason to the generals. And if you don't shoot, others will follow his example, and the generals will have no one to command.
Of course, the Cimmerians soon had new generals, no smarter than the previous ones, but much more cautious.
This is known from the reports of Assyrian spies, which have been preserved in the royal archives and have been deciphered by scientists today. And the reports of spies are the most accurate and reliable source. Indeed, unlike all others, spies get paid for telling the truth. But, of course, only for kings and only in secret. Here's what one of them writes:
“Concerning the news about the Urartian (Armenian) king. As he went to the country of Gamir (Cimmerians), his troops were completely killed there. The king himself fled and returned to his country."
Apparently, the Cimmerians settled in present-day Georgia, and the blood of this intelligent people still flows in the blood of Georgians.
By the way, a few decades later, the Cimmerians defeated the army of the richest Phrygian king Midas, the very character of ancient history. And they taught the Phrygians to wear their red caps, which, as a symbol of love for freedom, survived until the French Revolution.
In the middle of the 7th century BC in Assyria they started talking about the Scythians. Assyria in those years was desperately at war with the neighboring country of Media. So, the Scythians - wild, brave horsemen - were used to their advantage by both sides. Either the Scythians fight with the Medes against Assyria, or they save the capital of Assyria, Nineveh, from the siege of the Medes. If their services were not needed, then the Scythians themselves went to fight and plunder. They were unfaithful and even dangerous allies. And not because the Scythians were bad people - they just lived by their own laws and did not respect those who paid them or tried to bribe them.
Even the name of the Scythian king of those times is known - his name was Madiy. Under him, the Scythians became so strong that they reached Egypt in their raids and frightened the Egyptians to death. Herodotus writes that "Pharaoh Psammetichus, coming out to meet them with gifts and requests, convinced them not to advance further."
But several more years passed, and the Scythians again changed sides and, together with the Medes, captured Nineveh. Gloriously they robbed and killed there!
In the end, everyone was so tired of the Scythians that the peoples of the Middle East dreamed of how to get rid of dangerous nomads. The Median king Kiak-sar found a way out. He offered the Scythians fabulous gifts if they would help him in the war. The Scythians became interested in such a proposal and agreed to go to his capital for negotiations.
But since the Scythian leaders did not trust each other either and were eager for gifts, no one wanted to stay in their camp. We all went, especially since there you could eat and drink well.
When the dead drunken Scythian leaders fell off the table, Kyaksar gave his soldiers the order to slaughter all the Scythians in their sleep. And then the Median troops went on a campaign and soon reached the camp of the Scythians, who slept, not suspecting anything.
Many Scythians died that day. There was no one to command them - all the leaders were killed.
And Herodotus writes: "Thus, the Medes saved their kingdom and took possession of the lands that they owned before the arrival of the Scythians."
Summing up the history of the campaigns of the Scythians to the south, Herodotus described their role and behavior as follows: “The Scythians ruled over Asia for twenty-eight years and devastated everyone with their violence and excesses. They collected tribute from everyone, but, in addition to tribute, they raided and plundered, taking away everything that the peoples possessed."
These are all words. And the evidence?
There was also evidence. Scientists know what the weapons of the Scythians were, for example, what were their arrowheads - you cannot confuse them with others.
So, during the excavations of different cities, Scythian arrowheads were found. They are everywhere - in the cracks between stones, and on the streets of Median and Armenian cities …
The Scythians did not need writing, did not favor cities, did not know borders and did not care about history. Maybe Alexander Blok was right, joining those who believed the Scythians to be the ancestors of the Slavs and attributed to the Slavs recklessness, contempt for order and science - "we are not to blame, the Scythians put it in us!" Ancestors are not ancestors, but some share of Scythian blood certainly flows in us. After all, peoples do not disappear without a trace, they dissolve in other peoples, now in the victors, now in the vanquished.
Having plundered and fought in the south up to the Nile valley, the Scythians returned home at the turn of the 6th century BC, but then, as Herodotus assures, they had to again enter a desperate war - it turns out, the wives of the Scythians, whom they did not take with them to the war, missed men and became friends with slaves. And when the husbands returned, squandering their spoils along the way and bringing with them only boastful tales of past victories, the wives did not want to part with their new husbands. The victory was given to the Scythians with great difficulty, the wives submitted, but then a new attack appeared - the Persians.
Scythian archer
For the Persians, the main enemy was not the Scythians, but the Greeks. But in order to defeat the Greeks, Darius decided first to defeat the Scythians, who supplied the Greeks with wheat. There will be no wheat, the Greeks will starve and surrender to the mercy of the Peridian conqueror. Wheat was sown and mowed not by the Scythians themselves, but by the tribes they conquered that lived in the southern steppes and fed the brave warriors.
Darius crossed the Bosphorus on a bridge built by the Greek engineer Mandrakles, passed the territory of present-day Bulgaria, then invaded the steppes of present-day Ukraine. But the Scythians were in no hurry to fight the mighty Darius. After all, they, like the Cossacks in the Russian army, were good for quick raids, and in an open battle with an organized disciplined army, they were inevitable defeat.
Therefore, the Scythians rolled back to the north, and the bulky Persian army darkly advanced after them. Offended by such a reluctance to fight, Darius bombarded the Scythians with insulting letters, and they answered like this:
- We, the Scythians, have neither cities nor arable lands to hurry to battle with you …
There are two options for subsequent events. According to the first, Darius was exhausted and was forced to retreat, then the Scythians attacked his troops and killed many in raids and night raids. There is also another version. The Persians nevertheless caught up with the Scythians, and the armies lined up for battle. But then a hare galloped between the troops in the neutral zone. The Scythians forgot about the battle and, with a hoot, rushed after him - with the whole army!
Then Darius spat in indignation and ordered to return home - it is even a shame to fight with such an enemy!
Such a life suited the leaders, who had numerous herds, luxurious tents, and many slaves. And they were interested in the fact that there were no literate and learned people among the Scythians. These were more dangerous than the Persian cavalry. After all, they can question the laws of their grandfathers - they will want to build cities, write books and introduce new laws. And then the generals will lose power!
At least two cases are known when Scythian nobles, having been captured or left for the Greeks, were introduced to the sciences and arts there. For example, Tsar Skila was killed by his own subjects when they learned that he was leaning towards city life, and the remarkable scientist and inventor of the potter's wheel and anchor, philosopher and orator Anarhasis was shot from bows.
Just imagine: centuries pass, many Greek cities appear in the Crimea and on the shores of the Black Sea, Caucasian peoples also develop culture, and if the Assyrians and Medes used to use the Scythians in their wars, now such fortresses have grown in Georgia and Armenia, that the Scythians had nothing to do there. And from the east, the Sarmatians were already moving, a people who, by the way, served as a source of legends about the Amazons, because, unlike the Scythians, Sarmatian women went on campaigns, participated in battles, and even mounds are known where Sarmatian warriors are buried. The Sarmatians ousted the Scythians from the most fertile steppes, and they sat for some time in the Crimea.
After the disappearance of this people, it passed into legends and became a people-mystery. After all, we do not know a single word written by the Scythians. Only the Greeks told us about them. And when millennia passed, the words of the Greeks began to seem like fairy tales. And the story of the hare that ran past the army, and the story of the Scythian king, who handed his sons a bunch of vines and ordered them to break. The sons could not do this. But it was not difficult to break a bunch on a branch. “So it is in life,” said the king. "As long as you are together, you are invincible!"
For two thousand years, no one knew anything about the Scythians, except what Herodotus told. But at the beginning of the 18th century, the inquisitive Peter the Great found out that robbers were brought up in southern Siberia who were digging up mounds and finding fabulous treasures there.
A strict investigation was arranged. The robbers and buyers of gold were found, punished, the goods were confiscated and sent to St. Petersburg. This is how the first collection of "Scythian gold" appeared in the Hermitage, the first among many subsequent ones.
And it turned out that the Scythians left behind a golden trace
And in 1929 the archaeologist Rudenko found a whole family of burial mounds in the Altai Pazyryk valley. They were poured in places of permafrost, which preserved and saved from destruction not only the jewelry of the Scythian leaders, but also clothes, carpets and many wooden products.
But the most surprising find was a velvet carpet, on which figures of a deer, griffins and two warriors are depicted in a floral pattern. One of them rides, the other leads the horse by the bridle.
Many gold and silver jewelry is created in the same style, called the "animal style" - these are rough, but surprisingly lively images of animals.
But the main word about the ancient Scythians was nevertheless said not by them themselves, but by their neighbors - the ancient Greeks, the inhabitants of the colonies founded by the Greeks along the shores of the Black Sea.