Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the scythians as others saw them
There are several different versions of these events recorded by Greek writers, the
best known being the account given by Herodotus. The essence of the story is that
the Scythians, led by their king Madyes, overthrew the Medes and began a twentyeight-year
rule of Asia ‘during which time their insolence and oppression spread ruin
on either side’. Having established themselves, they set out to invade Egypt but were
bought off by the pharaoh Psammetichus. On their return to Asia Minor they plundered
the temple of Aphrodite Urania at Ashkelon. By this time the Medes had grown
in strength and had opened negotiations with the Scythians. The Scythian elite were
invited to a great feast at which they succumbed to the delights of alcohol and were
promptly slaughtered by their hosts. Those who survived fled back to their homeland
where they met opposition from the younger generation—the children of their wives
and slaves they had left behind. But the returning warriors overcame their opponents
by using whips, a symbol of their superiority over slaves. A different version of the
story, recorded by Pompeius Trogus, tells of two Royal Scythian youths, Plynos and
Scolopitus, who, exiled from their homeland, led an expedition to Cappadocia where
they raided for many years. Eventually they were killed by trickery and their wives
took up arms, becoming the first Amazons.
Herodotus’ version of events, drawn from tales that would have been circulating
for nearly two centuries before he encountered them, has a ring of truth to it. The
break-up of the Assyrian empire provided the opportunity for young Scythians to
leave their homeland somewhere around Lake Urmia, between the Zagros Mountains
and the Caspian Sea, and to range widely across the remnants of empire, some
bands returning home several years later to a less than friendly reception.
Echoes of these events are also to be found in the Hebrew literature, preserved
in the Old Testament in Genesis and the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In Genesis,
written in the eighth or seventh century, various ‘people of the north’ are listed,
including the people of Gomer, cognate with the Assyrian Gimmirai (Kimmerians),
and the Ashkenaz (Ashguzai in Assyrian), who were the Scythians. The prophet Jeremiah
conjures up the fearsome vision that God will send these violent northerners
to punish the people of Israel:
Thus saith the Lord, behold a people cometh from the north country … They lay hold
on bow and spear, they are cruel and have no compassion; their voice is like the roaring
sea and they ride upon horses; set in array, as a man for war against thee, O daughter
of Zion… . Go not forth into the field nor walk by the way; for there is the sword of the
enemy and terror on every side.
(Jeremiah 6:22–3, 25)
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