Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/957

 SCYTIIIA. a point npon wbicli Strabo enlarp;cs (vii. 3. §§ 7,8). They are Humaxobii (Jv anrjvais oi'/ci' exoi'Te j), iind ayauoi. Aeschylus mentions them as evfofxot. The apparent simplicity of their milk-drinking habits {;ot them the credit of being men of mild and inno- cent appetites with Ephorus (Strab. vii. p. .302). who contrasts them with the cannibal Sarmatae. There was also an apparent confusion arising out of the likeness of Nd^aSes to 'Nofxiot (from v6fMos = law). The Prometheus of Aeschylus is bound to one of the rocks of Caucasus, on the distant border of the eaith, and the inaccessible desert of the Scythians. Such are the Scythae of Aescliylus and Hesiod. Tiie writers of the interval, who knew them as the invaders of Asia, and as historical agents, must have liad a very different notion of them. Fragmentary allusions to the evils inflicted during their inroads are to found in Callinus, Archilochus, &c. The notice of them, however, belongs to the criticism of the historical portion of the account of Tkans-Danubian Scythians of Herodotus: ScoLOTi: Scythians of Hippocrates. — Much of the Herodotean history is simple legend. The strange stoiy of an intermarriage of the females who, whilst their husbands were in Asia, were left behind with the slaves, and of the rebellion therein originating having been put down by the exhibition, on the part of the returning masters, of the whips with which the backs of the rebels had been pre- viously but too familiar, belongs to the Herodotean Scythians (iv. 1 — 6). So do the myths conceniing the origin of the nation, four in number, which may be designated as follows: — 1. The Account of the Scythians themselves. — This is to the eifect that Targitaus, the son of Zeus by a daughter of the river Borysthenes, was the father of Leipoxais, Arjwxais, and Cohxais. In their reign, there fell from heaven a yoke, an axe (crdyapis), a plough share, and a cup, all of gold. The two elder failed in taking them up; for they burnt when they approached them. But the younger did not fail ; and ruled accordingly. From Lei- poxais descended the Auchaetae (7eVos); from Ar- poxais the Catiari and Traspies; from Colaxais the Paralatai. The general name for all is " Sco- loti, whom the Greeks call Scythae." This was exactly 1000 years before the invasion of Darius. The gold was sacred; the country large. It ex- tended so far north that the continual fall of -feathers (snow) prevented things from being seen. The number of the kingdoms was three, the greatest of which had charge of the gold. Of this legend, the elements seem partly Scythian, and partly due to the country in which the Scythians settled. The descent from the Borysthenes belongs to this latter class. The story of the sons of Targitaus is found, in its main features, amongst the present Tartars. In 7a?*^itaus more than one commentator has found the root Ttirk. The threefold division reminds us to the Great, I^Iiddle, and Little Hordes of the Kir- ffhiz; and it must be observed that the words great- est and middle {fifyiaTT] and fJiiai]) are found in the Herodotean account. They may be more tech- nical and definite than is generally imagined. In the account there is no p]poiiymus, no Scytha, or even Scolotos. There is also the .statement that the Scythians are the ymmgest of all nations. This they might be, as immigrants. 2. The Account of the Pontic Greeks. — This is to t!ie eflect that Agathyrsus, Gelonus, and Scythes (the youngest) weie the sons of Hercules and SCYTHL. 937 Echidna, the place where they met being the Ilylaea. The son that could draw the bow was to rule. This was Scythes, owing to manoeuvres of his mother. He stayed in the land : the others went out. The cup appears here as an emblem of authoiity. 3. The Second Greek Account. — This is historical rather than mythological. The Massagetae press the Scythians upon the Cimnierii, the latter flying before them into Asia. This connects the history of the parts about the Bosporus with Media. The inference from the distribution of the signs of Cim- merian occupancy coiifirms this account. There were the burial-places of the Cimmerii on the Tyras; there was the Cinmierian Bosporus, and between them, with Cimmerian walls, Scythia (// 'S.KvQuni). This is strong evidence in favour of Scythian ex- tension and Cimmerian preoccupancy. 4. The Account qf Aristeas of Proconnesvs. — This is a speculation rather than either a legend era ])iece of history. Aristeas (Blure, History of Greek Literature, vol. ii. 469, seq.) visited the country of the Issedones. North of these lay the Ari- maspi ; north of the Arimaspi the Jloriophtludmi; north of the Monophthalmi the Gold-guarding Grif- fins (Tf){jms xP^o^oipaXaKoi); and north of the.se, the Hyperborei. The Hyperborei made no movements; but the GriiSns drove the Monophthahni, the Mono- phthalnu the Arimaspi, the Arimasj.i the Issedones, the Is.sedones the Scythians, the Scythians the Cim- merians, the Cinmierians having to leave their land; but they, as we learn elsewhere, attack the Jledes. (Herod, iv. 5 — 16). No one had ever been further north than Aristeas, an unsafe authority. The in- formation of Herodotus himself is chiefly that of the Greeks of the Borysthenes. He memions, however, conversations with the steward of one of the Scythian kings. The Emporium of the Borystheneitae was central to the Scythia of the sea-coast. In the direction of the Hypanis, i. e. west and north-west, the order of the population was as follows: the Callipidae and Alazones ("EAAr/j/es 'ZKvdai), sowers and con- sumers of corn; to the north of whom lay the Scythae Aroteres, not only sowers of corn, but sel- lers of it; to the north of these the Neuri; to the noi'th of the Neuri either a de.'-ert or a terra incog- nita (iv. 17, 18.) The physical geography helps us here. The nearer we approach the most fertile province of Modern liussia, Podolia, wherein we place the Scythae Aroteres, the more the Scythian character becomes agricultural. The Hellenes Scy- thae (Callipidae and Alazones) belong more to Kherson. That the Hellenes Scythae were either a mixed race, or Scytliicised Greeks, is unlikely. The doctrine of the present writer is as follows: seeing that they appear in two localities (viz. the Govern- ments of Kherson and Caucasus); seeing that in each of these the populations of the later and more historical jjcriods are Alani (I'toleniy's form for lho.se oi Kherson is Alauni); seeing that even the Alani of Caucasus are by one writer at lea.st called aKj]. evTe^ 'AAaiii'oi; seeing that the root AAai/migiit have two plurals, one in -ot and one in -es, he ends in seeing in the Hellenic Scythians simply certain Scy- thians of the Alan name. Neither does he doubt about Geloiii being the same word, — forms like Chuni and Hunni, Arpi and Caijii bring found for these jiart-s. At any rate, the locality for the Callipidae and Alazones suits that of I'toleiny's Alauni, whilst that of the Scythian Greeks and (ieloni of Caucasus suits that of the Alans of the fourth and lif.h centuries.