SCYTHIAN HORSE ARCHER (scythian warrior)

The people of this land were numerous and migratory, leading to great discrepancies in the accounts of ancient writers regarding the innumerable nations there.⁸ Known tribes included the Sacæ, Massagetæ, and Dahæ, as well as the Essedones, Ariacæ, and Rhymmici.⁸ Other groups mentioned were the Pæsici, Amardi, Histi, and Edones, alongside the Camæ, Camacæ, Euchatæ, and Cotieri.⁸ The Anthusiani, Psacæ, Arimaspi, and Antacati, along with the Chroasai and Œtei, also inhabited this area.⁸ Persians referred to these peoples by the general name Sacæ, while ancient writers gave the inhabitants the name Aramii.⁸ The local inhabitants called the Persians Chorsari, and the Tauri were identified as a Scythian nation in this context.^8,10

The Scythians waged war against Rhesus just before he left for Ilium, though Rhesus killed many of them and caused great bloodshed in their land.¹¹ Rhesus conquered the Scythians and took their children as hostages, imposing a yearly tribute on them for his house.¹¹ Heracles slept in the region after covering himself with his lion's skin, and Scythia expressed sympathy for him while he was chained on Caucasus.^6,12 The transformed cow wandered through this region after crossing the Bosphorus, while Medea brought wolfsbane from the shores of the area.^13,14 The terrible wind Boreas invaded the territory, and the region contained a stony field where Famine was found.^15,9

The Scythians were the first people to establish common laws, yet they became the most miserable nation due to their extreme insolence.¹⁶ They were the first men to abandon themselves wholly to luxury, indulging in it more than any other nation with great resources.¹⁶ Their chief men still displayed traces of this luxury in their apparel and lifestyle, and they cut off the noses of men wherever they traveled.¹⁶ Descendants who emigrated derived their name from this specific treatment, and Scythian wives tattooed the bodies of Thracian wives using buckle tongues.¹⁶ The people butchered frozen animals with knives instead of using hounds or nets, and heaved whole oak-logs and elm-trees onto their hearths for fire.¹⁷ They soured their wine-cup with barm and served it in festive glee, while the intense heat rendered the natural coldness ineffective against flames.^17,18

The Scythians ruled over other nations in a tyrannical manner, with their command characterized by painful offices of slavery.¹⁶ The Scythian king dispatched Anacharsis to study Greek customs, and the inhabitants carried vessels on their belts due to an ancestral event.^19,20 The eldest Scythian attempted to take fallen gold objects but was burned by them, and Cimmerian walls and a ferry existed within the region.^21,22 The river Hypanis originated from within the region, and the life and habits of the people here resembled those of Parthia.^23,8 When the Persians pursued them, the Scythians retreated northward into their own lands, maintaining a one-day distance from the invading force.^24,25 They guided the Persians from the Neuri lands into Scythia, but they refrained from a second attack on the Agathyrsi territory.²⁶ The Scythians devised a strategy to prolong the Persian presence in the area, intending to cause distress through a shortage of necessities.²⁷