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As the number of Hellenes increased, the issue of overpopulation became acute. It should be noted that for two centuries the Greek city-colonies arose on the coasts of all accessible seas. According to the figurative expression of the historian, the Greeks settled around the seas, "like frogs around a swamp." One of them is the Black Sea.
The Northern Black Sea region also fell into the orbit of their colonization. On the Crimean peninsula, large colonial cities - Bosporus, Feodosia, Chersonese - were overgrown with smaller towns and villages. Not only the Hellenes lived there, but also the local population, including the Scythian steppes, with whom the Greeks had a chance to come across. The Scythians were a great people. They settled widely and freely in the belt of the Great Steppe - from the Dnieper to Baikal, numerous and warlike Scythian tribes lived. The Scythians belonged to the Iranian language group of the Indo-European family. Herodotus devoted a whole book to the Scythians, and thanks to him we know so much about the Scythians, and his information, which at first seemed fiction, has been confirmed by archeology.
The Scythians were excellent horsemen and archers. Most of all, the Scythians valued freedom, and therefore neither the Persian king Darius, nor Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, were able to conquer them. King Atey, the creator of the Great Scythian kingdom, the most revered of the Scythian rulers, entered the war with Philip of Macedon, being 90 years old, and fell in battle with a sword in his hand. The most noble and warlike was the tribe of the so-called royal Scythians, who later settled in the Crimea. Later, in a fierce battle with the Sarmatians, the Scythians as a people left the historical arena, but were not destroyed. A particle of Scythian blood also flows in the veins of the East Slavic peoples.
The composition of the army and the nature of the weapons of Scythia determined the tactics of warfare. The Scythians never took part in long, positional battles. The most commonly practiced method of surprise attacks. Mobile Scythian detachments swiftly attacked the enemy army, rained down on him a hail of arrows fired from their horses at full gallop, and also quickly disappeared. Before the enemy had time to come to his senses, the next wave of horse archers prepared for shooting rushed at him - again shelling and rolling back. Foot soldiers and heavy cavalry of the enemy could neither reach the Scythians nor keep up with them. Repeated several times, the attack in waves led to the disorder of the enemy ranks. Hand-to-hand combat completed the rout.
In the war with Darius, the Scythians successfully applied the strategy of false retreat and "scorched earth". Avoiding a general battle with the Persians, with superior enemy forces, the nomads lured the Persians into the waterless steppes. On the way of the enemy, they destroyed wells and springs, burned grass and constantly exhausted the newcomers with sudden raids. The invincible conqueror of Western Asia, Darius, was eventually forced to flee in disgrace from the Northern Black Sea region from the Scythian army.
The rulers of Egypt more than once rushed to the borders of the Scythian state. The historian Herodotus reported that "Pharaoh Sesostris" went to the Scythians. The Roman priest and historian Orosius names the name of another pharaoh - Pharaoh Vesoz. Most likely, these names are a collective name referring to different eras. The Roman Tacitus called more specifically the name of the pharaoh who once won a victory over the Scythians. He writes: “King Ramses took possession of Libya, Ethiopia, the countries of the Medes, Persians and Bactrians, as well as Scythia, and that, moreover, he held in his power all the lands where the Syrians, Armenians and the neighboring Cappadocians live ...” From the inscriptions on the ruins of Thebes, the Roman commander later learned that a huge army once lived here (the figure is called 700,000 people). With this army, the Egyptian king went to conquer the peoples. Moreover, the inscription confirms the familiar truth, namely: all campaigns were carried out for purely conquest and economic purposes. We learn from Tacitus: “The inscriptions were also read about taxes imposed on peoples, about the weight of gold and silver, about the number of armed soldiers and horses, about ivory and incense intended as a gift to temples, about how much bread and all kinds of utensils every people had to supply - and this was no less impressive and plentiful than what is now charged by the violence of the Parthians or Roman power. Conquerors are always and everywhere the same.
Pyramid field
The Scythians were the forerunners of the first state (Cimmerian) in the Russian steppes at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e., and possibly earlier (according to the scientist G. Vernadsky). Herodotus connected the origin of the Scythians with the Dnieper and considered them the most ancient inhabitants of the country, the children of the snake-footed goddess-woman, who in her own way personified "the mother of the damp earth and her productive forces." In this case, it is not even the place where the Scythians live that is important, but the fact that the entire Ancient World recognized their military merits and strategic talents.
The Scythians had full-fledged state formations and a powerful army, which allowed them to carry out a grandiose expansion into Western Asia in the 7th century. BC e. They repeatedly defeated Assyria, Urartu, Lydia, Egypt, which were first-class military states. The Persian rulers, having experienced the onslaught of the Scythian hordes in the 7th century. BC e., they immediately appreciated the advantages of their troops, and it is no coincidence that since then the war chariots traditional for the Middle East have been replaced by more mobile and swift detachments of horsemen-archers in the manner of the Scythian cavalry. According to Herodotus, the king of Media specially invited the Scythians to teach young people the art of archery. Scythian archers were in great demand in Greece as well. Athens during the war with the Persians in the 5th century. BC e. bought hundreds of slaves in Scythia, adding them to the ranks of the Greek army, the city police. The Scythians also influenced the armament of the Greek colonies of the Black Sea region, especially in Tavria. Scythian arrowheads, akinaki swords, and military tactics came into use. The Bosporus brought in a regular cavalry similar to the Scythian and, unlike the rest of the Hellenic states, made the main bet on it. It is known that the Thracians adopted a lot of military techniques from the Scythians, having learned to shoot from a bow while on the move. In part, they also borrowed some of the religious rites of the Scythians, bringing themselves to a state of ecstasy by inhaling the smoke of burned hemp. The Scythians passed on to the Dacians (Northern Thracian tribes) information about the existence of iron weapons and their beliefs.
Scythian king
Scythian weapons, combat techniques for centuries determined the style of war not only of the subsequent nomads of the Great Eurasian steppe, but also of Eastern European knights, as well as the ancient Russian knights, then Russian Cossacks. Well, the strategy of absorbing the enemy's armed forces into the boundless Eurasian space saved not only the Scythians, but also our Russian state more than once.
We emphasize that our distant ancestors soberly looked at the war. Being confident in their abilities, they warned the aggressor that he could be defeated and lose everything he had before the war. Here is an excerpt from Orosius: “In 480 before the founding of the city (Rome), the Egyptian king Vesoz, either wanting to mix the south and north, separated by almost the whole sky and sea belts, or to attach them to his kingdom, was the first to declare war on the Scythians, sending ambassadors in advance declare the enemy conditions of submission. To this the Scythians answered: it is foolish that the richest king undertook a war against the poor, for, on the contrary, he should be afraid that he would not be left in view of the unknown outcome of the war without any benefits and with obvious losses. Then they do not have to wait until they come to them, and they themselves will go towards the prey. They do not hesitate, and action follows the word. First of all, they force Vesoz himself to flee in fear to his kingdom, while the army left behind is attacked and taken away all military supplies. They would also have devastated all of Egypt if they had not been stopped and repulsed by the swamps. Returning immediately back, they conquered all of Asia with endless massacre and made it their tributary. Many believe that the Scythians had a strong military influence on all the tribes of Eurasia. I would especially like to emphasize that the ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo notes, referring to Homer and other sources, the indifference of the Scythians (ancestors of the Slavs) to wealth, luxury, gold. If the Europeans, loving wealth and money, were ready for a dishonorable act when concluding agreements, then the Scythians are the least busy in life with deals and getting money, jointly owning everything except the sword and drinking cup. They were called "wonderful" and "most just" men. Strabo also makes an interesting conclusion regarding the nature of “Western civilization” (at the turn of the old and new eras): “And this opinion still dominates among the Greeks. After all, we consider the Scythians the most straightforward, the least capable of deceit, and also much more thrifty and more independent than we are. Generally speaking, the way of life adopted by us has corrupted the morals of almost all peoples, introducing luxury and a love of pleasure into their midst, and to satisfy these vices, vile intrigues and manifestations of greed that give rise to them. This kind of moral corruption also affected the barbarian tribes, especially the "nomads". Indeed, after getting to know the sea, they not only became morally worse (for example, they turned to sea robbery and killed strangers), but contact with many tribes led them to borrow luxury and mercantile inclinations from them. The ancient researcher adds that this, however, contributes to the softening of morals, but at the same time spoils the Scythians, since "honesty is replaced by cunning."
As the Scythians gain strength, they establish close trade relations with their neighbors. The emergence of a powerful state in the Black Sea regions increased the interest of the Greeks in them, which is also confirmed by the story of Odysseus. As a result, the Greeks of Asia Minor founded a number of colonies along the northern coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, which later became major trading centers (Olvia, Phanagoria, Panticapaeum, Feodosia). True, the historian of antiquity M.I. Rostovtsev argued that it was not clear a priori what connection could exist between the Hellenes and Iranians, who were sitting in the south of Russia in that era, with our history and culture, when we know absolutely nothing about the Slavs and Russians. He wrote: "The appearance of Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea was a decisive moment in the history of the Scythian state." Indeed, in the Kuban, in the Crimea, along the Dnieper, a number of burials of Scythian leaders were found, filled with numerous precious items of weapons, worship and everyday life, works of some Iranian, and some Greek masters. Nevertheless, all this does not allow us to talk about the borrowed nature of the creativity of the Scythians. Moreover, many scientists, analyzing archaeological finds, give the Scythians primacy. Although one thing is certain - the basis of the Greek-Persian-Scythian relations was the centuries-old ties between the cultures of a number of peoples of these regions.
However, neighbors also attacked the Scythian territories. In the story of the ancient Greek writer Lucian "Toksaris or Friendship", the Scythians Dandamis and Amizok test the loyalty of their friendship during the difficult events of the Sarmatian invasion. “Suddenly, the Sauromatians attacked our land among ten thousand horsemen,” says the Scythian Toxaris, “and they say there were three times as many on foot. And since their attack was unforeseen, they put everyone to flight, they kill many brave men, others are taken away alive ... Immediately, the Savromats began to drive the booty, gather the captives in a crowd, rob the tents, took possession of a large number of carts with everyone who was in them. Constant raids led to the capture of the Scythian territory by the Sarmatians. As a result, this ended with the mass migration of Sarmatian tribes to European Scythia - to the Northern Black Sea region and the North Caucasus, the resistance of the Scythians was broken, and the Sarmatians established dominance in Scythia. The legendary Sarmatian queen Amaga freely disposed of power in weak Scythia. According to the legend that the ancient Greek writer conveys in his writings, Amaga saved the Greek city of Chersonesos, then besieged by the Scythians, returned it to the inhabitants, and handed royal power to the son of the murdered Scythian king, ordering him to "rule justly."
Historian T. Rice writes in the book "Scythians: Builders of the Steppe Pyramids" that similar Scythian-Sarmatian trends (life, culture) reached Britain itself, where they were brought by the Vikings, as well as in a roundabout way through Germany. The tribes of the Goths, during their conquests of Southwestern Europe, brought with them their multi-colored jewelry, metal products, and, together with the Scythian-Sarmatian elements that formed their basis, a mixed cultural style (“animal”, since most of the discovered products depicted animals) has spread to many regions. The "animal" style was revived first in Romania, then in Austria and in the Rhineland, from where it came to England, having already absorbed elements from other cultures. Scythian-Sarmatian influence is especially noticeable in Central Europe. According to the researcher T. Rais, this happened due to the infiltration of Eurasian elements into this region during the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods, i.e., starting from about 500 BC. e. The Galyitat Celts led almost the same way of life as the nomads of Eurasia. And many elements of archaeological finds stored in the Museum of Natural History in Vienna show an undeniable similarity with those found in the Chertomlyk burial mound (vases) in Ukraine. The traces of the Scythians lead further. We will also see Eurasian elements on the Abbotsford Cross, which is in the Museum of the Ancient World in Scotland (Abbotsford). It depicts a wild animal in a pronounced Scythian style.
The sensational finds of Scythian gold from the “royal” mound in the Republic of Tuva (2001), shown in the Hermitage, suggest that the areas of both Scythian and Greek influence are wider than previously thought. The Russian-German expedition, conducting excavations in the north of the Republic of Tuva, discovered in the valley of the river. Uyuk (locals call it the Valley of the Kings) "royal" burial of the 7th century. BC e. Judging by the data received, this is how the Scythian tribes buried their dead. Treasures from the burial mound (the diameter of the mound is approximately 80 m), which scientists called Arzhan II (Arzhan I, plundered in antiquity, was excavated 30 years ago), after restoration, were shown at an exhibition in the Hermitage. The costumes of a man and a woman buried there in an elite burial among 5,000 gold plaques, jewelry, utensils and weapons are amazing in their elegance of execution. All this, as well as the golden decoration from the mound, as well as animals made in the Scythian animal style, delight ... Scientists called the find the main archaeological discovery of the 21st century. If this is so, then the assertion that the ancestral home of the Scythians, as the ancient Greeks previously believed, was only the Northern Black Sea region, may need to be reconsidered. These observations also suggest that the course of history in the distant past could have been quite different from what some historians-novelists imagine.
There are different assumptions regarding the time of creation of the found art objects. Some speak of an epoch relating to the beginning of a new era, or even earlier; gold items that were exhibited at the exhibition "Golden Deer of Eurasia" in Moscow (from the mounds of the Don, the Volga region, the Crimea, the Northern Black Sea region, the Urals and Siberia) dated back to the first millennium BC. e., the latest dating - the first century AD. e. Finds from the Maykop mound date back to about the 3rd century BC. e.
The point of view of some scholars that the Scythian culture is only a few hundred years old does not hold water. Such dating, sometimes based on completely random manifestations, breaks the usual framework of world history, reducing it to a negligible amount in time, detracting from the achievements of great civilizations. Fantasists from history tell us that Russia-Horde was called Egypt in the XIV-XVI centuries, that Russia under the name of Egypt is described in the Bible. In their opinion, the gold Scythian ornaments in the "animal" style, which belong to ancient times and are attributed to the mysterious ancient Scythians, were created in Moscow Tartaria and these items allegedly belong to the Horde-Cossack-Tatar culture of the XIV-XVIII centuries. As you can see, new myths are being created in our time, and not without success.
P. Wen, writing about Ancient Greece, in the book “Greeks and Mythology”, speaking of such a “mythical creature”, a certain Faurisson, wrote not without irony: “I believe that this unfortunate man had his own truth. He was like those dreamers sometimes encountered by historians of the last two centuries: anticlericals who deny the historicity of Christ, eccentrics who deny the existence of Socrates, Joan of Arc, Shakespeare or Molière. They are inspired by the search for Atlantis, open monuments erected by aliens on Easter Island. Invading the territory of opponents "with their mania of systematic interpretation", they put "everything in doubt", but they do it extremely one-sidedly, thus giving "a weapon against themselves." But they also have a purpose. The goal is to completely confuse science, deprive it of its supports, and therefore of self-confidence, and thereby plunge people into a state of "intellectual lethargy."
All archaeological finds and the scientific conclusions made on the basis of them testify to the venerable age of the ancestors and the constant interaction, the influence of civilizations on each other.
Many peoples will sing of the battle as a last resort for solving the most pressing issues of human existence. War and death will enter into the customs of many peoples. For example, the Scythians had a custom according to which, at the annual meetings of warriors, the one who killed his first enemy was obliged to drink the blood of his victim in the presence of the ruler and a crowd of envious and admiring spectators. The Scythians believed that in this way they could add the fearlessness of a dead enemy to their own courage. Also, according to custom, after the battle, each warrior had to show the leader the severed head of the enemy, since only then he had the right to his share of the booty. In wartime, the army, gathered from all the parts into which the country was then divided, was divided into divisions, each of which had its own commander. Once a year, all the soldiers gathered at the king's for a feast, and the one who killed the enemy in front of the king or won the court in his presence received the right to use the skull of a dead enemy in everyday life. According to Herodotus, the Scythians scalped their enemies, sometimes made napkins from leather and invariably turned skulls into mugs, setting them in gold, some other valuable material, and wore them hanging from their belts. They used similar "chalices" during the feast, when they drank, swearing an oath of brotherly loyalty or sealing an oath taken by raising a cup full of wine mixed with blood. In this cup they dipped the end of their sword. Such habits are shocking today, but in those days they did not surprise anyone. Let us recall the lines of Blok: “Yes, we are the Scythians! Yes, we are Asians. And further: “We love the flesh - and its taste, and color, / And the stuffy, mortal smell of flesh. Are we guilty if your skeleton crunches / In our heavy, tender paws? Each time has its own customs. However, it was not these morals, but precisely the art of war and power that forced the peoples to respect the Scythians.
At the same time, the Scythians did not shy away from trade, having strong tribal relations with the south (Don, Kuban, Black Sea coast). The southern Scythian peoples (Sarmatians) grew bread and organized large deliveries of grain, butter, and vegetables to the European side. Thanks to the control of trade routes, these peoples had a steady income, which could serve as a connecting thread for uniting into a federal state. Thus, the Scythian king Skilur united the Dnieper and Crimean lands within the framework of Crimean Scythia, subjugated Olbia, fortified the capital - Scythian Naples (within the boundaries of modern Simferopol), created a powerful army and navy that smashed pirates. The more we learn about the past of our peoples, the more we discover grounds for a certain pride. The Roman writer Pompey Strog wrote: “The beginning of their (Scythian) history was no less glorious than their dominion, and they became no more famous for the valor of men than women; in fact, they themselves were the ancestors of the Parthians and Bactrians, and their wives founded the kingdom of the Amazons, so if you analyze the exploits of men and women, it will remain unknown which sex they had was more glorious ... the Scythians achieved dominion over Asia three times; they themselves have always remained either untouched or unconquered by alien dominion. Once upon a time, two kings who dared not to conquer Scythia, but only to enter it, namely, Darius and Philip, hardly found a way to escape from there.
Like Darius and Philip II, the heralds of official (“non-Russian”) history run away from the idea of unity or the well-known identity of the Slavs with the Scythians. Why do the "Scythians" run away from Slavic subjects, why do they say with persistence worthy of better application: "As for ... their (i.e. Scythians) direct connection with the Slavs - as ancestors or opponents, then this is pure fiction." The reason for this blindness is the unwillingness to recognize for Great Asia not only the right to its cultural identity, but also the fear that the strongholds of Europeanism and Atlanticism as the source of the birthright of knowledge, arts, cultures, and civilizations will collapse. It is clear that then Asia will become the leader of the civilizational process in the past and, probably, the leader of the world in the near future.
In the distant past, and even in later times, it was difficult for the West to understand the numerous tribes of Asia. The Roman Tacitus found it difficult to distinguish between the Sarmatians and the Wends, Ptolemy called Sarmatia a rather vast area, including the Dnieper region. The identification of Slavs and Sarmatians in the Eastern European medieval tradition has become almost the norm. Part of the Sarmatians became part of the ethnic symbiosis formed by the Slavic-Iranians (actually the Sarmatians), the Slavic group of the Rus-Rus, who lived in the Meotida region (Sea of Azov), on the famous robber island of Rusia, described by Arab authors. Here the Slavic element, known under the name "Roksolan", prevailed. The word "roxolane" has come down to us in the Greco-Roman transmission. They themselves called themselves Rossalans (Dews plus Alans, that is, plus Iranians, Sarmatians). “Roksolany,” wrote the Russian historian D. Ilovaisky, “was pronounced differently as Rossalany (as the Poles say “Sassy” instead of “Saxons”; similarly, Polesie in the Latin transmission turned to Polexia, for example, in the bull of Pope Alexander IV). This name is complex - like Tauro-Scythians, Celtiberians, etc.” Later, the "small" Scythians with the Sarmatians and the Bosporans resisted the onslaught of the mighty Rome. Tangled Scythian history.
Late antique authors often use the word "Scythians" to designate the northern barbarians. For example, a Constantinopolitan author of the 5th c. Priscus of Panius, speaking of the diplomatic relations of the Eastern Roman Empire with the Huns, more often uses the term "Scythians" than "Huns", and the territory occupied by the power of Attila, as a rule, is called Scythia (Skuqikav). For him, "Scythians" is a collective term, denoting a mixture of several peoples, a kind of polyethnic association. Here it is worth emphasizing, as our historians do, that the main elements that hold together various peoples within the vast Eurasian continent are the territory, in this case "Scythia", and the power that extends to this territory - in this case is represented by the power of Attila.
Time passed. The former greatness is lost. The Scythian kingdom was on the decline. Its defeat was completed in the III-IV centuries. Goths and Huns, who finally destroyed the once mighty empire. A new revival will come only after about two centuries with the integration of the Sarmatians into the Slavic ethnic array. In the Veles Book, the country of the Rossalans is called Ruskolan (Russian Alania). She will soon play a prominent role in the formation of Kievan Rus, this heiress of the Scythian Empire.
The Greeks called the "Scythians" the steppes. They themselves called themselves "chipped". Herodotus wrote down in detail everything that the Greeks knew about the Scythians. He divided them into several nations or tribes. Of these, the royal Scythians lived on the territory of Crimea, who built cities and "considered all other Scythians as their slaves." Nomadic Scythians-herders also settled in the Crimean steppes.
An important role in the social and cultural life of Scythia was played by trade relations with. Wealthy Scythian nobility showed great interest in Greek luxury goods. In exchange for slaves, grain, skins, salted and dried fish, the Scythians received wine, olive oil, art utensils, non-ferrous metal products - electra, gold, silver, bronze. Many have survived to this day, in which archaeologists still find some of these items.
Scythian cities:
- Naples Scythian - the capital of the Crimean Scythia . The settlement is located in a rocky plateau within the boundaries of modern Simferopol. Scythian Naples, referred to in ancient texts as a royal fortress, arose at the intersection of trade routes and became a link between two significant Greek centers of the Northern Black Sea region: Olbia and Panticapaeum (the capital of the Bosporan kingdom).
- Scythian fortress Ak-Kaya located in the Belogorsk region of Crimea near the modern village. Cherry, on the border between the steppe and mountainous parts of the peninsula.
The population that lived here in the III century. BC. - III century. AD called "late Scythians". The fortress arose just in transitional times - at the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. and most actively existed in the "dark ages" - in the III - first half of the II centuries. BC. - Besh-Oba - Crimean "Valley of the Kings", so named by analogy with the valley of the kings in Egypt. The mounds of Besh-Oba have a royal status, as evidenced, first of all, by the height of the earth embankments (up to 8-10 meters). 1996-97 work was carried out to open the central burial of the Besh-Obinsky IV-th mound. Archaeologists have discovered here a complex monumental underground structure, but with a small number of finds and no human remains. For what purpose and where the bones of the royal person buried here were moved, it is still unclear.
- Ust-Alma Scythian settlement is mentioned by Strabo when describing the Scythian fortresses that participated at the end of the 2nd century. BC e. in the war with Diophantus as Palacius. There is an opinion that later it was known to Ptolemy (II century AD) under a different name - Dandaka. It is possible that in ancient times this point also had a different name - Napit (Stefan of Byzantium, V century AD)
- Settlement of Kara-Tobe also belonged to the Crimean Scythians. The settlement is located near the city of Saki, on a low hill near the sea.
LATE SCYTHIAN CULTURE (III century BC - III century AD)
The final stage in the history of the Scythians covers the period from the 3rd century BC. BC. until the 3rd century AD It is characterized by a significant reduction in the territory of their habitat (to the limits of the Lower Dnieper, foothill and northwestern Crimea) and the transition to a settled life.
In the III century. BC. the process of settling the Scythians on the ground begins. Agriculture begins to play a significant role in the economy. This led to the formation of a new complex of material culture, the transformation of social relations and religious ideas. This archaeological culture was called "Late Scythian", this term, on the one hand, emphasizes the ethnic and cultural continuity from the nomadic Scythians, on the other hand, it denotes cardinal socio-economic, political and cultural changes within the Scythian society. What reasons contributed to the reduction of the area of the Scythians and their settling on the ground cannot be unambiguously answered. At the moment, the theory of climate catastrophe put forward by S.V. Pauline. According to this theory, in the III century. BC. in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, a severe drought occurred, which caused serious damage to the economy of the Scythians and led to the consequences described above. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that in the III century. BC. not a single burial complex belonging to the Scythians or Sarmatians has been discovered on the territory of the steppe Ukraine. The first Sarmatian burials appear here in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. Therefore, in the III century. BC. these lands were uninhabited. It is likely that the reason for this was the lack of fertile pastures. In this case, it was not possible to engage in cattle breeding, which was the basis of the economy of nomads.
In the Crimea, the Scythians settled in the foothills in the river valleys. Late Scythian settlements were discovered along the course of the Salgir, Kacha, Alma, Western Bulganak, Beshterek, Zuya, Biyuk- and Kuchuk-Karasu. The settlements were located on the tops of high hills, on capes, or adjoined the steep edge of the plateau. They were reinforced with stone walls with towers, ramparts and ditches. Basically, the settlements were founded in such a way that they were protected from three sides by steep cliffs, in this case, defensive structures were erected on the fourth, gently sloping side. There are cases when a wall or rampart was erected along the entire perimeter of the settlement. Sometimes a second inner line of fortifications was erected on late Scythian settlements, which separated the acropolis. In the North-Western Crimea, in the territories seized from Chersonese, the Scythians used Greek walls, to which earthen ramparts were sometimes sprinkled. The houses were rectangular, with two or three rooms, the exit from which led directly to the street. The walls of such buildings in the lower part were made of large stones, in the upper part they were made of raw bricks. The floors were earthen or plastered with clay. Roofs were made from organic materials, sometimes using Greek tiles. Semi-dugouts are an important element of the Late Scythian culture. They were rectangular or round in plan. The ground part was made of raw brick or poles coated with clay. For household needs, utility pits were made in the settlements. Pottery kilns were opened at the settlements of Tarpanchi and Krasnoye. A glass-making workshop of the 2nd - 3rd centuries was excavated at the site of Alma-Kermen. AD with three ovens. It is associated with the presence of Roman legionnaires in the settlement.
Scythian Naples is considered the capital of the late Scythian state. In addition to Naples, four more settlements were of large size: Ust-Alma, Bulganak, Zalesye, Krasnoe. In addition, there are such settlements as: Kermen-Kyr, Alma-Kermen, Yuzhno-Donuzlav, Belyaus, Kulchukskoe, Tarpanchi, Zuiskoe, Solovyovka, Zmeinoe, Dzhalman, Chaika, etc.
Early funerary monuments of the late Scythian culture of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC. They are represented by single burials under kurgans in stone tombs with multiple burials. The inventory of such burials is not rich. These are mainly ceramic dishes, knives, whetstones and spinning wheels. Sometimes they find beads, bronze jewelry and mirrors. Weapons and horse harness are very rare.
Necropolises were located near the settlements. Among the burial structures, the mausoleum of Scythian Naples stands out. It contained a stone tomb with a royal burial, a carved wooden structure and 37 wooden coffins. The mausoleum was buried during the II century. BC. - I century. AD The central burial in the slab tomb was especially rich. Some researchers believe that it belongs to the Scythian king Skilur. In Naples, crypts of the 2nd - 3rd centuries were discovered. AD, carved into the rock and decorated with frescoes. The most common types of burial structures are crypts and cellars. The crypts had a rectangular entrance pit and a round or oval burial chamber. The chamber was closed with a pledge of stone slabs. Multiple burials were made in them, dozens of skeletons lying in several layers are found in the burial chambers. Such crypts are a characteristic feature of the Late Scythian culture. They begin to be used at the beginning of its formation in the III - II centuries. BC. and continued to build until the II century. AD Undercut graves spread in the 1st century. AD, from the II century. AD they become the dominant type of burial structures at all Late Scythian cemeteries. Their appearance is associated with the migration of Sarmatian tribes to the Crimea. Catacombs are open at some burial grounds (Levadki, Fontany, Belyaus), they differ from crypts in that the entrance pit is located parallel to the chamber, and not perpendicular. The catacombs are typical for the III - II centuries. BC, in the 1st century. BC. stop building them. In addition, the Scythians buried in rectangular pits, pits with shoulders and slab graves. Sometimes there are burials of horses. Children's graves are known. A distinctive feature of the late Scythian culture is the tradition of filling the entrance pits of burials with stones. Along with the dead, various things were placed in the graves. Often it was stucco and pottery, jewelry (rings, rings, bracelets, earrings), clothing items (brooches, buckles, belt tips), sometimes weapons (swords, daggers, spear and arrowheads), household items (mirrors, knives , spinners, grindstones, etc.), there are beads. In the I - II centuries. AD Sarmatian types of things appear in the inventory of burials, signs of Sarmatian culture spread: molded incense burners, pendant mirrors, tamgas, the tradition of embroidering clothes with beads, etc. At the end of the 2nd - 3rd centuries. AD late Scythian cemeteries take on a Sarmatian appearance.
From the beginning of the transition of the Scythians to settled life and the formation of the late Scythian state (III - II centuries BC), they began to actively participate in political processes on the peninsula. In III BC the first armed clashes between the late Scythians and Chersonesus occur, during which the Scythians manage to capture the northwestern Crimea, along with the cities of Kerkenitida and Kolos-Limen, on the ruins of which Scythian settlements appear. In the II century. BC. an ally of Chersonesus, the Kingdom of Pontus, intervenes in this conflict, headed by a talented politician and military leader Mithridates VI Eupator. As a result of the landing of the Pontic troops in the Crimea and their joint actions with the Chersonesites, the Scythians were defeated. During this period, the Scythians maintained active contacts with the Bosporus kingdom up to dynastic marriages. There was an active trade. In exchange for grain and livestock, the Scythians received from the Greeks ceramic products (dishes, tiles, etc.), luxury items, wine, oil, etc. Greek influence affected the architecture of Scythian Naples, the technique of erecting defensive structures (stone walls with towers), and religious beliefs. . The Greeks settled in the Scythian cities, in turn, the Scythians actively populated the agricultural district of the Bosporus. 1st century BC. - I century. AD is the heyday of the Late Scythian state and culture. At this time, the Scythian kingdom reaches its greatest extent. It includes foothills, northwestern Crimea. The southwestern Crimea is actively populated, new settlements are founded, the largest among them are Ust-Alma and Alma-Kermen. The southwestern border of the Scythian kingdom reaches Chersonese itself. Active development of Scythian Naples is underway, existing ones are appearing and expanding. In the 1st century BC. the Scythians intervene in the internal strife in the Bosporus, but not successfully. Collisions with Chersonese lead to the fact that in the 1st c. AD parts of the Roman troops appear in the city. The Romans inflict a series of defeats on the Scythians, capture the settlement of Alma-Kermen, in which the Roman garrison will remain for some time. At the end of I - beginning of II centuries. AD there is a significant reduction in the territory of the late Scythian state, traces of strong fires are recorded in Naples and Ust-Alma, the area of \u200b\u200bthe Bulgonak settlement is reduced to the limits of the acropolis, all settlements in the North-Western Crimea are abandoned. All this is associated with the active promotion of the Sarmatian tribes to the peninsula. From the 2nd century AD the decline of the late Scythian state begins. In the II century. AD, as a result of a series of wars, it was captured by the Bosporus. In the III century. AD Germanic tribes are ready to invade the Crimea. As a result, all Late Scythian settlements perish. Late Scythian culture loses its integrity and ceases to exist.
The bulk of the population of the Northern Black Sea region in the III century. BC e. were still the Scythians. The Scythians and Getae stubbornly repelled all attempts by the Macedonians to penetrate north of the Danube. In 331-330 years. the governor of Alexander the Great in Thrace, Zopirion, who headed with 30 thousand troops to the Scythian steppes, having reached Olbia, died in a battle with the Scythians. Zopyrion's attempt was repeated by Lysimachus, who dreamed of subjugating the entire Pontic coast to his power. In 292 BC. e. he crossed the Danube and moved against the Getae, but was surrounded and forced to abandon his conquest plans. The northern Black Sea region remained outside the powers of Alexander's heirs, its population retained its independence.
A much more serious danger threatened the Scythians from the east. On the southeastern borders of the Scythian steppes, along the southern coast of Meotida (Sea of Azov) and in the North Caucasus, as mentioned above, lived the tribes of Sinds, Meots and Savromats, or Sarmatians.
From the second half of the 4th c. to i. e. Sarmatians begin to put pressure on the Scythians from the east. Greek sources of this time already place the Sarmatians on the right bank of the Tanais (Don), that is, in the territory once inhabited by the Scythians. In their social structure, the Sarmatians were much more primitive than the Scythians. Even the richest of the Sarmatian burials are simpler and more modest than the Scythian ones. The Sarmatians were much less affected than the Scythians by trade relations with the Hellenic world.
The situation began to change in the III-II centuries. BC e. In the II century. significant masses of Sarmatians appear in the steppes west of Tanais. In the peace treaty, which was concluded in 179 BC. e. Pharnaces I of Pontus with the kings of Pergamum, Bithynia and Cappadocia, among the European rulers, the Sarmatian "king" Gatal is mentioned.
The movement of the Sarmatians to the west was associated with the disintegration of their primitive communal relations. The development of cattle breeding and the accumulation of wealth, primarily livestock, leads to the separation of tribal nobility. As the herds increase, there is a need for new pastures; the emerging tribal nobility craves prey, strives for further accumulation of wealth - slaves, precious metals, expensive vessels, fabrics, jewelry. All this pushed the Sarmatians to the lands of the richer Scythians and to the ancient centers of the slave-owning civilization. The ties between the Sarmatians and the Hellenic colonies were strengthened, and Tanais became the main center of the slave trade.
Separate Sarmatian tribes seeped far into the depths of the Scythian steppes. This advance was all the more easy since the population of these steppes continued to be largely nomadic. Although the advance to the west was accompanied by a fierce struggle with the Scythians, it did not at all mean the complete displacement of the Scythian population. Only a part of it retreated under the pressure of the Sarmatians to the west and to the Crimea; many Scythian tribes remained in place and even, in all likelihood, mixed with the Sarmatians, to whom they were close in language. The predominance in the steppes of Eastern Europe begins to move from the Scythians to the Sarmatians. This process finally ends in the II-I centuries. BC e.
Scythian kingdom in Crimea
In IV-II centuries. BC e. many nomadic Scythian tribes move to a settled way of life and begin to engage in agriculture. Large fortified settlements disappear. Instead, a number of small towns appeared on the Lower Dnieper and the Southern Bug, which existed along with open-type settlements. The steppe Crimea becomes the most developed region of Scythia. Here, next to buildings resembling a nomadic yurt, solid stone houses with tiled roofs appear, not inferior to the houses of the Hellenic colonists. Different types of houses and household utensils, as well as the presence of rich and poor burials in the burial grounds, testify to the already advanced property stratification of the Scythian society. As a result of social stratification, the development of slavery and the formation of classes in the second half of the 3rd century. BC e. the Scythian state is formed. It reaches its peak in the 2nd century. BC e. during the reign of Skilur. The capital of the kingdom was the city of Naples, probably founded by Skilur, on the banks of the Salgir (near modern Simferopol). So far, only a small part of Naples has been excavated, but what has been unearthed shows that it was a city of considerable size with densely built-up quarters, with powerful defensive structures. The walls of Naples were built from blocks of stone connected with clay mortar. The population of the city was engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding; in residential areas, many millstones and grain pits were found with the remains of wheat, barley, millet, as well as a large number of bones of domestic animals. There was a local pottery production in the city. Numerous items from Athens, Rhodes, Egypt, Pergamum, Sinope, Black Sea cities indicate the development of trade. Along with the Scythians, the Hellenes also lived in the city. King Skilur began to mint a coin with his name; the inscriptions on the coins were made in iio-Greek and the images had a purely Greek character - this was supposed to ensure circulation in the Hellenic world for Skilur's coin.
Baselsf depicting the Scythian kings Skilur and his son Palak. 2nd century BC e. From a drawing by Blaramberg.
Importance for the study of the Scythian culture of the II century. BC e. has a crypt-mausoleum located in Naples next to the city wall, in which up to 70 burials of the Scythian nobility have been preserved. These burials are very rich: more than 1,300 gold ornaments were found in them. There are many original Scythian features in architecture, building technology, painting, ornamentation.
The need for new lands for fields and pastures, which was felt especially strongly due to the constant influx of new Scythian tribes from the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, from where they were forced out by the Sarmatians, the desire of the Scythian kings to subjugate the nearest centers of trade with the outside world to their power - all this pushed the Scythian kingdom to an aggressive policy , the nearest object of which are Olbia and Chersonese.
Olbia in the IV-II centuries. BC e.
In IV-III centuries. Olbia and Chersonese continued to be independent policies. On the periphery of Olbia, the interaction of the Hellenes and Scythians took place before, and even a mixed (Miksellian) population developed. Now this interaction can be traced in the city itself. It was reflected in the material of the Olbian necropolises. It is quite symptomatic that primitive molded pottery reproduces ancient forms, while pottery made on a potter's wheel reproduces Scythian forms. The interweaving of Hellenic and local elements is also noticeable in the field of applied art. Non-Greek names, which are found in Olbian inscriptions, also testify to the growth in the significance of local elements.
In the second half of the 4th c. in Olbia, internal contradictions and social struggle are aggravated. During the siege of the city by Zopyrion in 331 BC. e. the ruling oligarchy of Olbia was forced to make concessions to the demands of the masses: a cassation of debts was carried out, slaves were freed to replenish the troops and foreigners were endowed with civil rights. Only thanks to this it was possible to defend Olbia from the enemy.
Archaeological data show that in the III-II centuries, the Olbian craft reaches a high technical perfection. Ceramic production is developing rapidly: the percentage of local ceramics in comparison with imported ones is noticeably increasing. All metal objects used in everyday life and in production were produced on the spot. Construction and architecture also reached a high level of development, as evidenced by the mature techniques in the planning of the city and its improvement. The city had fortress walls with towers, public granaries, two markets, warehouses for goods in the harbor, workshops for repairing ships, and moorings. The streets were paved with stone slabs and equipped with gutters.
In the foreign trade of Olbia, Athens fades into the background, but ties with the Hellenistic East - Pergamum, Egypt, with the islands of the Aegean Sea - Rhodes, Thasos, with the cities of the Southern Black Sea coast - Sinope, Heraclea, etc.
The development of slave-owning production and commodity-money relations in Olbia was accompanied by the same phenomena as in other Greek policies: there is an increased concentration of land and the mass ruin of the peasantry, the growth of usury and the debt of a significant part of the civilian population. To prevent the possibility of democratic upheavals, wealthy citizens devoted part of their funds to the needs of the city and handouts to the poorest sections of citizens.
Internal contradictions in Olbia were exacerbated by external difficulties. The onslaught of the Sarmatians from the east set the Scythian tribes in motion. The leaders of the nomadic tribes demanded "gifts" from Olbia, and the city had to not only buy them off with gifts, but sometimes even pay tribute to them. Powerless to fight the growing pressure of the nomads, Olbia in the middle of the II century. BC e. submits to the authority of Skilur and begins to mint his name on his coins.
The Scythians were interested in the existence of Olbia as a craft and trade center as part of their kingdom. The former metallurgical center of the Scythians on the Dnieper (Kamenskoye settlement) was now outside the possessions of the Crimean Scythians, and their military affairs required a large amount of metal products. Probably, just as the mint of Olbia was used to mint the Skilur coin, the craft workshops of Olbia had to satisfy the needs of the Scythian army.
The subjugation of Olbia was beneficial not only to the Scythian kingdom, but in some respects to the citizens of Olbia themselves. It saved Olbia from the raids of nomads and the payment of tribute to them. The inhabitants of Olbia - the Olviopolites, as subjects of the Scythian king, could enjoy advantages in trade with Naples, which met the commercial interests of the Olbian nobility. The kingdom of Skilur was the first local state formation of the Northern Black Sea region, which subjugated the Hellenic colony to its power.
Chersonese and its struggle with the Scythians
Unlike Olbia, Chersonese stubbornly resisted the Scythians. If trade and crafts played an important role in the life of Olbia, then Chersonese was, first of all, an agricultural settlement. He possessed a significant territory, located mainly on the Herakleian Peninsula (south of the Sevastopol Bay). This territory was divided into plots (clerks) that belonged to individual citizens. At present, one "clair" has been examined archaeologically. The total area of \u200b\u200bthis "clair" is about 30 hectares. In the center of it was the manor. Clair was divided, in turn, into a large number of small plots (up to 39), which had various economic purposes: vineyards, fields, orchards and subsidiary plots. Vineyards and orchards occupied more than half of the Clair area. This shows that the agriculture of Chersonesos was basically intensive.
In the second half of the III century. BC e. the Scythians begin to push Chersonese. For defense against external invasions, a wall was being built in the southeastern part of the city, which was supposed to protect the port part of the city, located near the modern Karantinnaya Bay. In addition, Chersonesus turned to the Bosporan kingdom for help. Bosnor, however, was itself in a state of decline and could not provide sufficient effective assistance. In the 80s of the 2nd century, probably through its metropolis of Heraclea, Chersonesus became close to the Pontic king Pharnaces, who sought to present himself as the defender of the Hellenic cities against the surrounding barbarian population.
In 179 BC. e. a special treaty was concluded between Chersonesos and Farnak, a fragment of which was preserved in the Chersonesus inscription. This treaty was directed against the Scythians: Pharnaces undertook to help Chersonese if the neighboring barbarians attacked the city or the territory subject to it. The treaty was useful to Chersonesus; as far as one can judge from the scarcity of sources, the city enjoyed relative calm for several decades. The Scythian offensive resumed at the end of the 2nd century. BC e. By 110-109 years. the possessions of Chersonesus on the northwestern coast of the Crimean peninsula - Kerkinitida, the Beautiful Harbor - were under the rule of the Scythians. Continuing their offensive, the Scythians approached almost the city itself. At the same time, attacks on Chersonese by its other neighbors, the Taurians, intensified. At this critical moment, the Chersonese resorted to extreme measures: they again turned to Pontus for help, but now not on the basis of allied relations, as provided for by the treaty of 179, but on the condition of recognizing dependence on the Pontic king Mithridates VI, whom they proclaimed to their prostates. (defender). Meanwhile, the pressure of the Scythians on the Chersonese possessions did not stop, and, perhaps, even more intensified after the death of their king Skilur (probably in 110-109 BC), who was succeeded by his son Palak. This prompted Mithridates to send a larger force to Chersonese under the command of his general Diophantus. The struggle of the Scythians with Diophantus lasted for several years. During this struggle, King Palak entered into an alliance with the Sarmatian tribe of Roxolans. But, despite the numerical superiority of the Scythians and Roxolans, the victory ultimately remained with Diophantus due to his use of more advanced Hellenistic military equipment against the army of Palak and his allies.
Late Scythians and Sarmatians
Iranian-speaking newcomers - Scythians, who appeared in the Northern Black Sea region as early as the 7th century. BC e., gradually become the new masters of the Crimea, pushing the natives to the foothills. Already in the time of Herodotus, the Scythians in the Crimea gradually settle on the ground, enter into close relations with the inhabitants of the Greek cities. The residence of the Scythian kings from the Dnieper region (Kamenskoye settlement near Nikopol) is transferred to the Crimea: here from the 3rd century. BC e. according to the III century. and. e. there is a state of the late Scythians with its capital in Naples ("New City" - Greek), located on one of the hills within the boundaries of modern Simferopol. The Scythian leaders sought to get closer to the Greek cities of the Bosporan kingdom and Chersonese with their wealth, to make them dependent, to conduct an independent trade in bread, for which they received luxury goods - wine, olive oil, expensive utensils and gold jewelry. Close contact with the Greeks gave the Late Scythian culture a special syncretic character; the Scythian animal style almost disappears, along with the imitation of the Greeks, Sarmatian influences are increasingly manifested, the Hellenistic culture is being barbarized.
The borders of the late Scythian state extended to the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains, in the west - to the coast, in the east they reached Feodosia. The lands of the river valleys of Alma, Kacha, Belbek were especially actively settled in the first centuries of our era, when the Scythians, in turn, began to be crowded out by the Sarmatians. Fortified Late Scythian settlements arose, often in places where the Taurians used to live. They have undergone systematic study relatively recently. Since 1954, the study of the settlement on the left bank of the Alma River, near the village of Zavetnoye - Alma-kermen, began: the remains of a defensive wall and fortifications were preserved here, where residents of an open village took refuge at a time of danger. At the mouth of the Alma, on the very shore of the sea, another settlement of the late Scythians, Ust-Alma, was explored. The well-studied necropolis of this settlement spoke figuratively, so to speak, in the language of funeral rites, about the ethnic diversity of the late Scythian state. The Scythians dug a large and deep crypt, where a corridor led - dromos. The burial chamber with group burials was closed with a large stone slab, and the dromos was filled with stones. With each new burial, the stone blockage in the dromos was dismantled. Near the graves in special pits there are burials of horses. Among the grave goods there are brooches, hryvnias, ornaments made of bronze and occasionally gold. The influx of the Sarmatians is evidenced by a significant number of pit graves characteristic of them: a pit was made along the long side of a narrow grave pit, that is, a chamber where the buried was placed, sprinkling the bottom of the grave with chalk or coal (a cleansing ceremony!), And then covering it with stone slabs, and the entrance the pit was filled with stones. The Sarmatians had a custom of deforming the skull (the head of a newborn was tied with a tight bandage, so that over time it became elongated): hence the abundance of deformed skulls in the Sarmatian burials. There are also slab graves - rectangular pits lined on the sides and covered from above with flat stone slabs, characteristic of the Greeks. Almost every grave of the Ust-Alma necropolis is marked on top with a bunch of stones or one stone without images; at the same time, six tombstones depicting male figures were found at the Alma-Kermen necropolis. The distribution of tombstones depicting warriors is generally characteristic of late Scythian culture.
Written sources testify to the penetration of the Sarmatians into the Crimea, starting from the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. This is a nomadic people, mostly Iranian-speaking, who came to the steppes of the Black Sea region from the Volga and Ural regions. The morals of the Sarmatians, whose women played an active role as priestesses and warriors, as well as their relationship with the Scythians, are vividly illustrated by the well-known story of the Roman historian Polien about the Sarmatian queen Amaga; while her husband indulged in drunkenness, she "she herself placed garrisons in her country, repelled the raids of enemies and helped offended neighbors." In response to the request of Chersonesos for help in the fight against the Scythians, Amaga, at the head of a detachment of equestrian warriors, overcame a long distance, broke into the palace, killed the Scythian king and his retinue, returned the country to the Chersonesos, and "I gave the royal power to the son of the murdered man, ordering him to rule fairly ". Although the image of Amagi is most likely legendary, but the morals and the general historical situation are described correctly - Scythia still has its own king, but the leading political role belongs to the newcomers - the Sarmatians.
In the Sarmatian period, a special style of jewelry, called polychrome, spread in the Black Sea region and Crimea: the surface of gold and metal products in general was decorated with multi-colored inserts of colored paste, turquoise, carnelian, almandine, and garnet. They decorated not only rings, earrings, diadems, but also parts of horse harness, gold lining of sword hilts, and vessels. Apparently, items in the polychrome style, developed by Bosporan jewelers, met the tastes of the Sarmatized population of the beginning of our era no less than items from the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. the tastes of the Scythians.
Later, through the Goths and the Huns, they spread throughout Europe. The growth of the Sarmatian influence is evidenced by tamga-shaped signs on various household items, stone slabs, tombstones. These "mysterious" signs are gradually decipherable: in most cases they are a family or personal brand - tamga - an analogue of a seal or coat of arms.
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