Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/960

 940 SCYTHIA. (^avSp'iyouoi) are the most famnus. Tlipy got their art from Aphrodite, as the}' got their ailment. During the Scythian invasion of Asia, a portion of thp conquerors plundered the temple of the Aphro- dite Urania in Ascalon, for which sacrilege they and their children were afflicted with ^riAfia voOaos, the names of tiie sufferers being 'Evapees (i. 105, 106). The nature of this di]Aeia, voiiaoi has yet to be satisfactorily explained. The sacerdotal and regal relations are curious. When the king ails he calls his priests, who tell him that his ailment comes from some one having fore- sworn himself in the greatest oath a Scythian can take. This is " by the hearth of the king." Take it falsely, and the king will sicken. Upon sickening, however, he sends for the offender, whoin the priests have indicated. The charge is denied. Other priests are sent for. If their vaticinations conf:rm the earlier ones, death and coniiscation are the fate of the perjurer. Otherwise, a third set is called. If these agree in the condemnation of the first, a load of faggots, drawn by bullocks, is brought in, the lying priests have their hands bound behind them, the faggots are set a-light to, the beasts are goaded into a gallop, the flames catch the wind, the men are burnt to death, and the bullocks scorched, singed, or burnt to death also. The sons of the of- fending perjurer are killed, Lis daughters left unhurt. Their oaths were made over a mixture of wine and blood. The swearers to them punctured them- selves, let their blood fiill into a vat of wine, drank the mixture, and dipped in it their daggers, arrows, javelin, and crayapis. The ferocity exhibited in their burials was of the same kind. The tombs of the kings were on the Gerrhus. Thither they were brought to be buried, wherever they might die. They were entombed with sacrifices both of beasts and men, Hippo- thusia, Anthropothysia, and Suttee — all these cha- racterised the funeral rites of the Scythians 5i/coiora- TOl avOpUTTOiV, Language. — The specimens of this fall into two divisions, the Proper and the Common Names. The former are the names of geographical localities and individuals. In one way or the other, they are nu- merous; at least they appear so at first. But we rarely are sure that the ftict itself coincides with the first presumptions. The names of the rivers have been noticed. Of those of the gods, none have been definitely traced to any known language in re- .spect to their meaning. Neither have they been traced to any known mythology as Proper Names. Nest come the names of certain kings and other historical individuals, none of which have given any vei'v satisfactory plac« for the old Scythian. With the Common Names (and under the class of Common Names we may place such Proper Names as are capable of being translated) the results im- prove, though oidy slightly. Of these terms the chief are the following: — (i.) 'Vj^afXTToios ^ Sacred Ways=l'pai"0'Soi, the name of a well-head. [Sees, v.] (ii.) Oiop7raTa= avdpoKT6voi= Men-killers, a name applied by the Scythians to the Amazons. Here olhp = 7nan., iraTo,^ kill (vr. WQ). (iii.) Temerinda^ Slater Maris, applied to the Euxine. This is not from Herodotus, but from Pliny ('i. 7). (iv.) Arimaspi =MiA>v6(pdaiJ.nt,= one-ei/ed = &pLiJ.a^one, anoii= eye. (Herod, iv. 27 ) These will be considered under the head of Ethnology. SCYTHIA. History. — The Herodotean view of tlie Scythians is incomplete without a notice of the historical portion of his account; not that the two parts are, by any means, on the same level in the way of trustworthy information. The geography and descriptions are from contemporary sources. The history is more or less traditional. Taking it, however, as we find it, it falls into two divisions: — 1, The Invasion of Asia by the Scythians; and 2, The Invasion of Scythia by Darius. 1. Invasion of Asia by the Scythians. — In the reigns of Cyasares king of Media and of Sadyattcs king of Lydia, the Scythians inv.ade Asia, bodily and directly. They had previously invaded the country of the Cimmerians, wiiom they had driven from their own districts on the Maeotis, and who were thus thrown southwards. Tlie Scythians pressed the Cim- merians, the Massagetae the Scythians. Chains of cause and effect of this kind are much loved by historians. It is only, however, in the obscure por- tions of history that they can pass unchallenged. The Cimmerians take Saidis dm-ing the last years of the reign of Ardys (b. c. 629.) They are ex- pelled by Alyattes. his son. (Herod, i. 15, 16.) It seems that the Cimmerians were followed up by their ejectors ; inasmuch as five years afte)-wards (u. c. 624) the Scythians themselves are in Media; Cyaxares, who was engaged upon the siege of Nine- veh (Ninus), being called back to oppose them. He is defeated; and the Scythians occupy Asia for 28 years, Cyaxares surviving their departure. From Media they direct their course towards Egypt ; from the invasion of which they are diverted by Psam- mitichus. Their attack upon the temple of the Venus Urania, in Ascalon, during their passage through Palestine, along with its mysterious seqiielae, has been already noticed. The king who led them was named iIadyes. (Herod, i. 103, seqq.) They were ejected B.r. 596. There was a band of Scythians, however, in Bledia, in the reign of Croesus, b. c. 585, the account of which is as follows. Cyaxares, still reigning, re- ceives a company (siXtj) of Scythians, as sup- pliants, who escape (bi.'re|7JA.0e) froin Lydia into Media. He treats them well, and sends his son to them to learn the use of the bow, along with the Scythian language, until he finds that their habits of hunting and robbing are intolerable. This, along with a particular act of atrocity, determines Cy- asares to eject them. They fly back to Alyattes, who refuses to give them up. But Alyattes dies, and the quarrel is entailed upon his son, Croesus. The battle that it led to was fought JMay 28, B.C. 585, when the eclipse predicted by Thales inter- rupted it. The Scythian invasion might easily be known in its general features to both the Greeks of Asia and the Jews; and, accordingly, we find sufEcient allusions to an invasion of northern barbarians, both in the Scriptures and in the fragments of the early Greek poets, to justify us in treating it as a real fact, however destitute of confirmation some of the Herodotean details may have been. (See Mure's Critical History, if c.o. iii. p. 133, seq.) Though further removed from his time than 2. Invasion of Scythia hy Darius. — It is, probably, a mtjre accurate piece of history. Darius invades Scytliia for the sake of inflicting a cha.stisement for the previous invasion of Asia. Tliis had been followed, not by any settlement of the Scythians elsewhere, but by a return home. The strange