Scythian nomadism in the narrative of Herodotus

Scythian nomadism in the narrative of Herodotus

by George Hinge

Abstract

In the present lecture, we shall examine three sections of the 4^th book in particular: 4.17-20, .67-73 and .127, with a special emphasis on the question of Scythian nomadism.

The Scythians are considered the typical nomads in all classical literature. They have no cities, but are, in Herodotus's words, pheréoikoi (like the snails in Hesiod). In Hartog's celebrated monograph Le miroir d'Herodote (1980, Engl. 1988), the concept of nomadism is the key to an analysis of the 4th book: The reason of the Scythian excursus is the North Pontic expedition of king Darius, which is meant as a foreplay of the great disasters in Greece in 490 and 480. The most powerful weapons of the Scythians are indeed the nature of the land - emphasised by the rather tedious excursus on the immense rivers of Scythia - and the nomadic life itself, which is pictured in the work of Herodotus as a means of strategy rather than a condition of life.

On two locations, Herodotus stresses the fact that the Scythians don't have any fortified cities (4.46.3, .127.2), but were nomads. However, he varies this simple statement somewhat in the geographical excursus (4.17-20), in which he distinguishes Plough Scythians, Agricultural Scythians, Nomad Scythians, and Royal Scythians. Those categories show different geographic distribution: The farer we come away from Herodotus' point of departure at Olbia, the more primitive the Scythians become (from an agriculturalist point of view of course) - and the less Hellenised they become, too. If Herodotus were writing only a fictitious novel, as it has been suggested, this variation would have been meaningless. Probably, Herodotus is polemising against Hecataeus, who appears to have collected all North Pontic tribes under one heading.

In the forest steppe zone between Dnepr and Don, archaeologists have excavated numerous fortifications and settlements, and they seem to have depended largely on crops. As archaeology cannot of course determine ethnicity, which is after all a matter of linguistically framed construction, it is impossible to say if those fortifications were in fact inhabited by Scythians. Some researchers claim that only the grass steppe in the south was the home of Iranian-speaking Scythians, and that another population, perhaps Proto-Slavs, inhabited the northern forest steppe. Others focus on the unity of the culture in both areas. A probable scenario is that mounted nomads of Iranian origin settled amongst an agricultural population in the forest steppe zone, and that the two populations formed a cultural and economic symbiosis, which must be called Scythian.

When Idanthyrsus in his response to Darius states that the Scythians have no cities and no cultivated earth, it is not perfectly in accordance with reality. And, as we have seen, Herodotus is to some degree aware of this reality. The exclusive nomadism is, as Hartog remarks, a consequence of Darius's attack - an ad-hoc-strategy rather than a way of life. It is, however, also depicted as an ideology, as a general program for the genuine Scythian. A similar disdain for the concept of the city is attributed to the Germanic Tencteri by Tacitus (Hist. 4.64). Both Herodotus and Tacitus demonstrate - probably independently - a good sense of psychology: The absence of urbanised civilisation, which is a lack of cultural maturity in the ethnocentric approach (e.g. in Aristotle), is considered a positive choice in the eyes of the "primitives" themselves. They have no lords but the gods.

According to the speech of Idanthyrsus, Hestia is the god queen among the Scythians. It is at first paradoxical that the hearth should be of such moment in a race, which is notoriously nomadic. Hermes, the god of the uncultivated earth, is, on the other hand, totally absent of the Scythian pantheon. Hartog is making a point of the fact that the most solemn oath is sworn by the hearth of the kings (4.68.1). There were, in other words, no individual hearths among the Scythians, but only the royal hearth, by the virtue of which the Scythians may be considered citizens, as though they were belonged to one city. The question is if the word astós used in the context of the oath must imply the etymological notion of ásty, i.e. the "physical city". If Herodotus' wanted to stress such point, I suspect it would have been more to his taste to utter the paradox of nomads becoming citizens explicitly. The hearth is not only important among the Ossetians - the alleged descendants of the Scythians - a cult of the hearth is also detected archaeologically in the northern forest steppes: In the excavated settlements the ashes seem all to have been poured in one heap, under which altars are often found.

Idanthyrsus claims that the Scythians have no cities or cultivated, for the loss of which they would fear and they have therefore no reason for involving in a fight. The only solid thing they possess is the graves of the forefathers. The royal burials are situated, according to Herodotus, in an area called Gerri. Even though it is in the uttermost north (in fact 40 days up Dnepr, cf. 4.53.4), it is not described as particularly mysterious. The fact that we have not been able to establish the location with any certainty is a problem without any bearing to the narrative of Herodotus itself. Nothing in the text allows the assumption that it is mere fairytale, and the rituals described do seem to agree accurately with the testimony of archaeology and ethnography (e.g. in the modern Ossetian rituals). The so-called Kurgan graves are scattered all over the Scythian cultural sphere, and all these sites have probable been considered the centre of the territory of the local Scythian community. Herodotus's focusing on the distant Gerri alone (in the sepulchral chapters, not in Idanthyrsus's speech!) may be the result of an ethnographic and narratological stereotypy, i.e. Hartog's concept of the "excluded middle".

What is nomadism after all? It is not travelling around without any destination, as in the case of the Scythians avoiding Darius's army. Nomadism is normally a regular alternation of dwelling according to the season. The nomadic population depends typically on more or less domesticated cattle, and often such nomads are in an intimate economic symbiosis with sedentary farmers. The mounted Scythian warrior could of course not stand alone. He might have considered himself the only true Scythian - as in the speech of Idanthyrsus - but this ideological simplification covers a social complexity and specialisation comparable to the urban civilisation.

Texts

Greek text after S. M. Medaglia, Erodoto. Le Storie. Libro IV. La Scizia e la Libia. Mondadori 1993. English translation after G. Rawlinson. Herodotus. The Persian Wars. 1942.

I. Hdt. 4.17-20 (geography of Scythia)

17.1. ἀπὸ τοῦ Βορυσθενεϊτέων ἐμπορίου (τοῦτο γὰρ τῶν παραθαλασσίων μεσαίτατόν ἐστι πάσης τῆς Σκυθίης), ἀπὸ τούτου πρῶτοι Καλλιππίδαι νέμονται ἐόντες Ἕλληνες Σκύθαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτων ἄλλο ἔθνος, οἳ Ἀλάζονες καλέονται. οὗτοι δὲ καὶ οἱ Καλλιπίδαι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα κατὰ ταὐτὰ Σκύθῃσι ἐπασκέουσι, σῖτον δὲ καὶ σπείρουσι καὶ σιτέονται, καὶ κρόμμυα καὶ σκόροδα καὶ φακοὺς καὶ κέγχρους. 2. ὑπὲρ δὲ Ἀλαζόνων οἰκέουσι Σκύθαι ἀροτῆρες, οἳ οὐκ ἐπὶ σιτήσει σπείρουσι τὸν σῖτον ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πρήσει. τούτων δὲ κατύπερθε οἰκέουσι Νευροί, Νευρῶν δὲ τὸ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ἔρημος ἀνθρώπων, ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. ταῦτα μὲν παρὰ τὸν Ὕπανιν ποταμόν ἐστι ἔθνεα πρὸς ἑσπέρης τοῦ Βορυσθένεος.	Above the mart of the Borysthenites, which is situated in the very centre of the whole sea-coast of Scythia, the first people who inhabit the land are the Callipedae, a Greco-Scythic race. Next to them, as you go inland, dwell the people called the Alazonians. These two nations in other respects resemble the Scythians in their usages, but sow and eat corn, also onions, garlic, lentils, and millet. Beyond the Alazonians reside Scythian cultivators, who grow corn, not for their own use, but for sale. Still higher up are the Neuri. Northwards of the Neuri the continent, as far as it is known to us, is uninhabited. These are the nations along the course of the river Hypanis, west of the Borysthenes.
18.1 ἀτὰρ διαβάντι τὸν Βορυσθένεα ἀπὸ θαλάσσης πρῶτον μὲν ἡ Ὑλαίη, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ἄνω οἰκέουσι Σκύθαι γεωργοί, τοὺς Ἕλληνες οἱ οἰκέοντες ἐπὶ τῷ Ὑπάνι ποταμῷ καλέουσι Βορυσθενεΐτας, σφέας δὲ αὐτοὺς Ὀλβιοπολίτας. 2. οὗτοι ὦν οἱ γεωργοὶ Σκύθαι νέμονται τὸ μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ὁδοῦ, κατήκοντες ἐπὶ ποταμὸν, τῷ οὔνομα κεῖται Παντικάπης, τὸ δὲ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον πλόον ἀνὰ τὸν Βορυσθένεα ἡμερέων ἕνδεκα· ἤδη δὲ κατύπερθε τούτων ἔρημός ἐστι ἐπὶ πολλόν. 3. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἔρημον Ἀνδροφάγοι οἰκέουσι, ἔθνος ἐὸν ἴδιον καὶ οὐδαμῶς Σκυθικόν. τὸ δὲ τούτων κατύπερθε ἔρημος ἤδη ἀληθέως καὶ ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲν, ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν.	Across the Borysthenes, the first country after you leave the coast is Hylaea (the Woodland). Above this dwell the Scythian Husbandmen, whom the Greeks living near the Hypanis call Borysthenites, while they call themselves Olbiopolites. These Husbandmen extend eastward a distance of three days' journey to a river bearing the name of Panticapes, while northward the country is theirs for eleven days' sail up the course of the Borysthenes. Further inland there is a vast tract which is uninhabited. Above this desolate region dwell the Cannibals, who are a people apart, much unlike the Scythians. Above them the country becomes an utter desert; not a single tribe, so far as we know, inhabits it.
19.1 τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ τῶν γεωργῶν τούτων Σκυθέων διαβάντι τὸν Παντικάπην ποταμὸν νομάδες ἤδη Σκύθαι νέμονται, οὔτε τι σπείροντες οὐδὲν οὔτε ἀροῦντες, ψιλὴ δὲ δενδρέων ἡ πᾶσα αὕτη πλὴν τῆς Ὑλαίης. οἱ δὲ νομάδες οὗτοι τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἡμερέων τεσσέρων καὶ δέκα ὁδὸν νέμονται χώρην κατατείνουσαν ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Γέρρον.	Crossing the Panticapes, and proceeding eastward of the Husbandmen, we come upon the wandering Scythians, who neither plough nor sow. Their country, and the whole of this region, except Hylaea, is quite bare of trees. They extend towards the east a distance of fourteen' days' journey, occupying a tract which reaches to the river Gerrhus.
20.1. πέρην δὲ τοῦ Γέρρου ταῦτα δὴ τὰ καλε όμενα βασιλήιά ἐστι καὶ Σκύθαι οἱ ἄριστοί τε καὶ πλεῖστοι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους νομίζοντες Σκύθας δούλους σφετέρους εἶναι· κατήκουσι δὲ οὗτοι τὸ μὲν πρὸς μεσαμβρίην ἐς τὴν Ταυρικήν, τὸ δὲ πρὸς ἠῶ ἐπί τε τάφρον, τὴν δὴ οἱ ἐκ τῶν τυφλῶν γενόμενοι ὤρυξαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς λίμνης τῆς Μαιήτιδος τὸ ἐμπόριον τὸ καλέεται Κρημνοί· τὰ δὲ αὐτῶν κατή κουσι ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Τάναϊν. 2. τὰ δὲ κατύπερθε πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον τῶν βασιληίων Σκυθέων οἰκέουσι Μελάγχλαινοι, ἄλλο ἔθνος καὶ οὐ Σκυθικόν. Μελαγχλαίνων δὲ τὸ κατύπερθε λίμναι καὶ ἔρημός ἐστι ἀνθρώπων, κατ᾽ ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν.	On the opposite side of the Gerrhus is the Royal district, as it is called: here dwells the largest and bravest of the Scythian tribes, which looks upon all the other tribes in the light of slaves. Its country reaches on the south to Taurica, on the east to the trench dug by the sons of the blind slaves, the mart upon the Palus Maeotis, called Cremni (the Cliffs), and in part to the river Tanais. North of the country of the Royal Scythians are the Melanchaeni (Black-Robes), a people of quite a different race from the Scythians. Beyond them lie marshes and a region without inhabitants, so far as our knowledge reaches.

II. Hdt. 4.68-73 (oaths and burials)

68.1 ἐπεὰν δὲ βασιλεὺς ὁ Σκυθέων κάμῃ, μεταπέμπεται τῶν μαντίων ἄνδρας τρεῖς τοὺς εὐδοκιμέοντας μάλιστα, οἳ τρόπῳ τῷ εἰρημένῳ μαντεύονται· καὶ λέγουσι οὗτοι ὡς τὸ ἐπίπαν μάλιστα τάδε, ὡς τὰς βασιληίας ἱστίας ἐπιώρκηκε ὃς καὶ ὅς, λέγοντες τῶν ἀστῶν τὸν ἂν δὴ λέγωσι. 2. τὰς δὲ βασιληίας ἱστίας νόμος Σκύθῃσι τὰ μάλιστά ἐστι ὀμνύναι τότε, ἐπεὰν τὸν μέγιστον ὅρκον ἐθέλωσι ὀμνύναι. αὐτίκα δὲ διαλελαμμένος ἄγεται οὗτος, τὸν ἂν δὴ φῶσι ἐπιορκῆσαι, ἀπιγμένον δὲ ἐλέγχουσι οἱ μάντιες ὡς ἐπιορκήσας φαίνεται ἐν τῇ μαντικῇ τὰς βασιληίας ἱστίας καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἀλγέει ὁ βασιλεύς· ὁ δὲ ἀρνέεται, οὐ φάμενος ἐπιορκῆσαι, καὶ δεινολογέεται. 3. ἀρνεομένου δὲ τούτου ὁ βασιλεὺς μεταπέμπεται ἄλλους διπλησίους μάντις· καὶ ἢν μέν καὶ οὗτοι ἐσορῶντες ἐς τὴν μαντικὴν καταδήσωσι ἐπιορκῆσαι, τοῦ δὲ ἰθέως τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτάμνουσι καὶ τὰ χρήματα αὐτοῦ διαλαγχάνουσι οἱ πρῶτοι τῶν μαντίων· 4. ἢν δὲ οἱ ἐπελθόντες μάντιες ἀπολύσωσι, ἄλλοι πάρεισι μάντιες καὶ μάλα ἄλλοι· ἢν ὦν οἱ πλεῦνες τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπολύσωσι, δέδοκται τοῖσι πρώτοισι τῶν μαντίων αὐτοῖσι ἀπόλλυσθαι.	Whenever the Scythian king falls sick, he sends for the three soothsayers of most renown at the time, who come and make trial of their art in the mode above described. Generally they say that the king is ill because such or such a person, mentioning his name, has sworn falsely by the royal hearth. This is the usual oath among the Scythians, when they wish to swear with very great solemnity. Then the man accused of having foresworn himself is arrested and brought before the king. The soothsayers tell him that by their art it is clear he has sworn a false oath by the royal hearth, and so caused the illness of the king- he denies the charge, protests that he has sworn no false oath, and loudly complains of the wrong done to him. Upon this the king sends for six new soothsayers, who try the matter by soothsaying. If they too find the man guilty of the offence, straightway he is beheaded by those who first accused him, and his goods are parted among them: if, on the contrary, they acquit him, other soothsayers, and again others, are sent for, to try the case. Should the greater number decide in favour of the man's innocence, then they who first accused him forfeit their lives.
69.1 ἀπολλῦσι δῆτα αὐτοὺς τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· ἐπεὰν ἅμαξαν καμάρης φρυγάνων πλήσωσι καὶ ὑποζεύξωσι βοῦς, ἐμποδίσαντες τοὺς μάντιας καὶ χεῖρας ὀπίσω δήσαντες καὶ στομώσαντες κατεργνῦσι ἐς μέσα τὰ φρύγανα, ὑποπρήσαντες δὲ αὐτὰ ἀπιεῖσι φοβήσαντες τοὺς βοῦς. 2. πολλοὶ μὲν δὴ συγκατακαίονται τοῖσι μάντισι βόες, πολλοὶ δὲ περικεκαυμένοι ἀποφεύγουσι, ἐπεὰν αὐτῶν ὁ ῥυμὸς κατακαυθῇ. κατακαίουσι δὲ τρόπῳ τῷ εἰρημένῳ καὶ δι᾽ ἄλλας αἰτίας τοὺς μάντιας, ψευδομάντιας καλέοντες. 3. τοὺς δ᾽ ἂν ἀποκτείνῃ βασιλεύς, τούτων οὐδὲ τοὺς παῖδας λείπει, ἀλλὰ πάντα τὰ ἔρσενα κτείνει, τὰ δὲ θήλεα οὐκ ἀδικέει.	The mode of their execution is the following: a waggon is loaded with brushwood, and oxen are harnessed to it; the soothsayers, with their feet tied together, their hands bound behind their backs, and their mouths gagged, are thrust into the midst of the brushwood; finally the wood is set alight, and the oxen, being startled, are made to rush off with the waggon. It often happens that the oxen and the soothsayers are both consumed together, but sometimes the pole of the waggon is burnt through, and the oxen escape with a scorching. Diviners- lying diviners, they call them- are burnt in the way described, for other causes besides the one here spoken of. When the king puts one of them to death, he takes care not to let any of his sons survive: all the male offspring are slain with the father, only the females being allowed to live.
70. ὅρκια δὲ ποιεῦνται Σκύθαι ὧδε πρὸς τοὺς ἂν ποιέωνται· ἐς κύλικα μεγάλην κεραμίνην οἶνον ἐγχέαντες αἷμα συμμίσγουσι τῶν τὸ ὅρκιον ταμνομένων, τύψαντες ὑπέατι ἢ ἐπιταμόντες μαχαίρῃ σμικρὸν τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἔπειτα ἀποβάψαντες ἐς τὴν κύλικα ἀκινάκην καὶ ὀϊστοὺς καὶ σάγαριν καὶ ἀκόντιον· ἐπεὰν δὲ ταῦτα ποιήσωσι, κατεύχονται πολλὰ καὶ ἔπειτα ἀποπίνουσι αὐτοί τε οἱ τὸν ὅρκιον ποιεύμενοι καὶ τῶν ἑπομένων οἱ πλείστου ἄξιοι.	Oaths among the Scyths are accompanied with the following ceremonies: a large earthern bowl is filled with wine, and the parties to the oath, wounding themselves slightly with a knife or an awl, drop some of their blood into the wine; then they plunge into the mixture a scymitar, some arrows, a battle-axe, and a javelin, all the while repeating prayers; lastly the two contracting parties drink each a draught from the bowl, as do also the chief men among their followers.
70.1. Ταφαὶ δὲ τῶν βασιλέων ἐν Γέρροισί εἰσι, ἐς ὃ ὁ Βορυσθένης ἐστὶ προσπλωτός. ἐνθαῦτα, ἐπεάν σφι ἀποθάνῃ ὁ βασιλεύς, ὄρυγμα γῆς μέγα ὀρύσσουσι τετράγωνον, ἕτοιμον δὲ τοῦτο ποιήσαντες ἀναλαμβάνουσι τὸν νεκρόν, κατακεκηρωμένον μὲν τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ νηδὺν ἀνασχισθεῖσαν καὶ καθαρθεῖσαν, πλέην κυπέρου κεκομμένου καὶ θυμιήματος καὶ σελίνου σπέρματος καὶ ἀννήσου, συνερραμμένην ὀπίσω, καὶ κομίζουσι ἐν ἁμάξῃ ἐς ἄλλο ἔθνος. 2. οἳ δὲ ἂν παραδέξωνται κομισθέντα τὸν νεκρόν, ποιεῦσι, τά περ οἱ βασιλήιοι Σκύθαι· τοῦ ὠτὸς ἀποτάμνονται, τρίχας περικείρονται, βραχίονας περιτάμνονται, μέτωπον καὶ ῥῖνα καταμύσσονται, διὰ τῆς ἀριστερῆς χειρὸς ὀϊστοὺς διαβυνέονται. 3. ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ κομίζουσι ἐν τῇ ἁμάξῃ τοῦ βασιλέος τὸν νέκυν ἐς ἄλλο ἔθνος, τῶν ἄρχουσι· οἱ δέ σφι ἕπονται, ἐς τοὺς πρότερον ἦλθον. ἐπεὰν δὲ πάντας περιέλθωσι τὸν νέκυν κομίζοντες, ἐν Γέρροισι ἔσχατα κατοικημένοισί εἰσι τῶν ἐθνέων, τῶν ἄρχουσι, καὶ ἐν τῇσι ταφῇσι. 4. καὶ ἔπειτα, ἐπεὰν θέωσι τὸν νέκυν ἐν τῇσι θήκῃσι ἐπὶ στιβάδος, παραπήξαντες αἰχμὰς ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν τοῦ νεκροῦ ξύλα ὑπερτείνουσι καὶ ἔπειτα ῥιψὶ καταστεγάζουσι, ἐν δὲ τῇ λοιπῇ εὐρυχωρίῃ τῆς θήκης τῶν παλλακέων τε μίαν ἀποπνίξαντες θάπτουσι καὶ τὸν οἰνοχόον καὶ μάγειρον καὶ ἱπποκόμον καὶ διήκονον καὶ ἀγγελιηφόρον καὶ ἵππους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀπαρχὰς καὶ φιάλας χρυσέας· ἀργύρῳ δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ χαλκῷ χρέωνται. 5. ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντες χοῦσι πάντες χῶμα μέγα, ἁμιλλώμενοι καὶ προθυμεόμενοι ὡς μέγιστον ποιῆσαι.	The tombs of their kings are in the land of the Gerrhi, who dwell at the point where the Borysthenes is first navigable. Here, when the king dies, they dig a grave, which is square in shape, and of great size. When it is ready, they take the king's corpse, and, having opened the belly, and cleaned out the inside, fill the cavity with a preparation of chopped cypress, frankincense, parsley-seed, and anise-seed, after which they sew up the opening, enclose the body in wax, and, placing it on a waggon, carry it about through all the different tribes. On this procession each tribe, when it receives the corpse, imitates the example which is first set by the Royal Scythians; every man chops off a piece of his ear, crops his hair close, and makes a cut all round his arm, lacerates his forehead and his nose, and thrusts an arrow through his left hand. Then they who have the care of the corpse carry it with them to another of the tribes which are under the Scythian rule, followed by those whom they first visited. On completing the circuit of all the tribes under their sway, they find themselves in the country of the Gerrhi, who are the most remote of all, and so they come to the tombs of the kings. There the body of the dead king is laid in the grave prepared for it, stretched upon a mattress; spears are fixed in the ground on either side of the corpse, and beams stretched across above it to form a roof, which is covered with a thatching of osier twigs. In the open space around the body of the king they bury one of his concubines, first killing her by strangling, and also his cup-bearer, his cook, his groom, his lacquey, his messenger, some of his horses, firstlings of all his other possessions, and some golden cups; for they use neither silver nor brass. After this they set to work, and raise a vast mound above the grave, all of them vying with each other and seeking to make it as tall as possible.
72.1. ἐνιαυτοῦ δὲ περιφερομένου, αὖτις ποιεῦσι τοιόνδε· λαβόντες τῶν λοιπῶν θεραπόντων τοὺς ἐπιτηδεοτάτους (οἱ δέ εἰσι Σκύθαι ἐγγενέες· οὗτοι γὰρ θεραπεύουσι τοὺς ἂν αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς κελεύσῃ, ἀργυρώνητοι δὲ οὐκ εἰσί σφι θεράποντες), 2. τούτων ὦν τῶν διηκόνων ἐπεὰν ἀποπνίξωσι πεντήκοντα καὶ ἵππους τοὺς καλλιστεύοντας πεντήκοντα, ἐξελόντες αὐτῶν τὴν κοιλίην καὶ καθήραντες ἐμπιπλᾶσι ἀχύρων καὶ συρράπτουσι· 3. ἁψῖδος δὲ ἥμισυ ἐπὶ δύο ξύλα στήσαντες ὕπτιον καὶ τὸ ἕτερον ἥμισυ τῆς ἁψῖδος ἐπ᾽ ἕτερα δύο, καταπήξαντες τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ πολλὰ ταῦτα, ἔπειτα τῶν ἵππων κατὰ μήκεα ξύλα παχέα διελάσαντες μέχρι τῶν τραχήλων ἀναβιβάζονται αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰς ἁψῖδας· 4. τῶν δὲ αἱ μὲν πρότεραι ἁψῖδες ὑπέχουσι τοὺς ὤμους τῶν ἵππων, αἱ δὲ ὄπισθε παρὰ τοὺς μηροὺς τὰς γαστέρας ὑπολαμβάνουσι, σκέλεα δὲ ἀμφότερα κατακρέμαται μετέωρα, χαλινοὺς δὲ καὶ στόμια ἐμβαλόντες ἐς τοὺς ἵππους κατατείνουσι ἐς τὸ πρόσθεν αὐτῶν καὶ ἔπειτα ἐκ πασσάλων δέουσι. 5. τῶν δὲ δὴ νεηνίσκων τῶν ἀποπεπνιγμένων τῶν πεντήκοντα ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀναβιβάζουσι ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον, ὧδε ἀναβιβάζοντες, ἐπεὰν νεκροῦ ἑκάστου παρὰ τὴν ἄκανθαν ξύλον ὀρθὸν διελάσωσι μέχρι τοῦ τραχήλου· κάτωθεν δὲ ὑπερέχει τοῦ ξύλου τούτου τὸ ἐς τόρμον πηγνῦσι τοῦ ἑτέρου ξύλου τοῦ διὰ τοῦ ἵππου. ἐπιστήσαντες δὲ κύκλῳ τὸ σῆμα ἱππέας τοιούτους ἀπελαύνουσι.	When a year is gone by, further ceremonies take place. Fifty of the best of the late king's attendants are taken, all native Scythians- for, as bought slaves are unknown in the country, the Scythian kings choose any of their subjects that they like, to wait on them- fifty of these are taken and strangled, with fifty of the most beautiful horses. When they are dead, their bowels are taken out, and the cavity cleaned, filled full of chaff, and straightway sewn up again. This done, a number of posts are driven into the ground, in sets of two pairs each, and on every pair half the felly of a wheel is placed archwise; then strong stakes are run lengthways through the bodies of the horses from tail to neck, and they are mounted up upon the fellies, so that the felly in front supports the shoulders of the horse, while that behind sustains the belly and quarters, the legs dangling in mid-air; each horse is furnished with a bit and bridle, which latter is stretched out in front of the horse, and fastened to a peg. The fifty strangled youths are then mounted severally on the fifty horses. To effect this, a second stake is passed through their bodies along the course of the spine to the neck; the lower end of which projects from the body, and is fixed into a socket, made in the stake that runs lengthwise down the horse. The fifty riders are thus ranged in a circle round the tomb, and so left.
73.1. οὕτω μὲν τοὺς βασιλέας θάπτουσι, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους Σκύθας, ἐπεὰν ἀποθάνωσι, περιάγουσι οἱ ἀγχοτάτω προσήκοντες κατὰ τοὺς φίλους ἐν ἁμάξῃσι κειμένους, τῶν δὲ ἕκαστος ὑποδεκόμενος εὐωχέει τοὺς ἑπομένους καὶ τῷ νεκρῷ ἁπάντων παραπλησίως παρατίθησι, ὅσα τοῖσι ἄλλοισι· ἡμέρας δὲ τεσσεράκοντα οὕτω οἱ ἰδιῶται περιάγονται, ἔπειτα θάπτονται. 2. θάψαντες δὲ οἱ Σκύθαι καθαίρονται τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· σμησάμενοι τὰς κεφαλὰς καὶ ἐκπλυνάμενοι ποιεῦσι περὶ τὸ σῶμα τάδε· ἐπεὰν ξύλα στήσωσι τρία ἐς ἄλληλα κεκλιμένα, περὶ ταῦτα πίλους ἐρινέους περιτείνουσι, συμφράξαντες δὲ ὡς μάλιστα λίθους ἐκπύρους διαφανέας ἐσβάλλουσι ἐς σκάφην κειμένην ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ξύλων τε καὶ τῶν πίλων.	Such, then, is the mode in which the kings are buried: as for the people, when any one dies, his nearest of kin lay him upon a waggon and take him round to all his friends in succession: each receives them in turn and entertains them with a banquet, whereat the dead man is served with a portion of all that is set before the others; this is done for forty days, at the end of which time the burial takes place. After the burial, those engaged in it have to purify themselves, which they do in the following way. First they well soap and wash their heads; then, in order to cleanse their bodies, they act as follows: they make a booth by fixing in the ground three sticks inclined towards one another, and stretching around them woollen felts, which they arrange so as to fit as close as possible: inside the booth a dish is placed upon the ground, into which they put a number of red-hot stones, and then add some hemp-seed.

III. Hdt. 4.127 (Idanthyrsus' speech)

127.1 πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ Σκυθέων βασιλεὺς Ἰδάνθυρσος ἔλεγε τάδε· "οὕτω τὸ ἐμὸν ἔχει, ὦ Πέρσα· ἐγὼ οὐδένα κω ἀνθρώπων δείσας ἔφυγον οὔτε πρότερον οὔτε νῦν σὲ φεύγω· οὐδέ τι νεώτερόν εἰμι ποιήσας νῦν ἢ καὶ ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐώθεα ποιέειν. 2. ὅ τι δὲ οὐκ αὐτίκα μάχομαί τοι, ἐγὼ καὶ τοῦτο σημανέω· ἡμῖν οὔτε ἄστεα οὔτε γῆ πεφυτευμένη ἔστι, τῶν πέρι δείσαντες μὴ ἁλώῃ ἢ καρῇ ταχύτερον ἂν ὑμῖν συμμίσγοιμεν ἐς μάχην· εἰ δὲ δέοι πάντως ἐς τοῦτο κατὰ τάχος ἀπικνέεσθαι, τυγχάνουσι ἡμῖν ἐόντες τάφοι πατρώιοι. 3. φέρετε, τούτους ἀνευρόντες συγχέειν πειρᾶσθε αὐτούς, καὶ γνώσεσθε τότε εἴτε ὑμῖν μαχησόμεθα περὶ τῶν τάφων εἴτε καὶ οὐ μαχησόμεθα. πρότερον δέ, ἢν μὴ ἡμέας λόγος αἱρέῃ, οὐ συμμίξομέν τοι. 4. ἀμφὶ μὲν μάχῃ τοσαῦτα εἰρήσθω· δεσπότας δὲ ἐμοὺς ἐγὼ Δία τε νομίζω τὸν ἐμὸν πρόγονον καὶ Ἱστίην τὴν Σκυθέων βασίλειαν μούνους εἶναι. σοὶ δὲ ἀντὶ μὲν δώρων γῆς τε καὶ ὕδατος δῶρα πέμψω τοιαῦτα οἷα σοὶ πρέπει ἐλθεῖν, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ὅτι δεσπότης ἔφησας εἶναι ἐμός, κλαίειν λέγω. τοῦτό ἐστι ἡ ἀπὸ Σκυθέων ῥῆσις".

To this message Idanthyrsus, the Scythian king, replied:- "This is my way, Persian. I never fear men or fly from them. I have not done so in times past, nor do I now fly from thee. There is nothing new or strange in what I do; I only follow my common mode of life in peaceful years. Now I will tell thee why I do not at once join battle with thee. We Scythians have neither towns nor cultivated lands, which might induce us, through fear of their being taken or ravaged, to be in any hurry to fight with you. If, however, you must needs come to blows with us speedily, look you now, there are our fathers' tombs - seek them out, and attempt to meddle with them - then ye shall see whether or no we will fight with you. Till ye do this, be sure we shall not join battle, unless it pleases us. This is my answer to the challenge to fight. As for lords, I acknowledge only Jove my ancestor, and Vesta, the Scythian queen. Earth and water, the tribute thou askedst, I do not send, but thou shalt soon receive more suitable gifts. Last of all, in return for thy calling thyself my lord, I say to thee, 'Go weep.'" (This is what men mean by the Scythian mode of speech.) So the herald departed, bearing this message to Darius.

Year 2002