Scythian religion

The Scythian religion refers to the beliefs, stories, and ceremonies of the Scythian cultures, a group of ancient people who lived in Central Asia and the Pontic–Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe. These people spoke a language called Scythian.

Scythian religion likely grew from older beliefs shared by many early peoples and was connected to traditions of people living around the same time in Eastern Iranic and Ossetian areas. The ideas and stories from Scythian religion may have also influenced later beliefs of Slavic, Hungarian, and Turkic peoples.

The religion included many rituals and myths that helped explain the world and life to the Scythians. It was an important part of their culture and daily life.

Development

The Scythian religion began from ancient Iranic origin traditions. It was also shaped by the beliefs of people they met, like the Thracian peoples in the western Pontic steppe.

Many Scythian gods were similar to gods from Thracian cultures, including those in Anatolia. Some god names were even Thracian. The Scythian goddesses and their special rituals also had connections to Thracian and Anatolian customs.

When the Scythians lived in Western Asia, their religion was influenced by ancient Mesopotamian and Canaanite beliefs.

Cosmology

The Scythian people believed the universe had three parts. They thought of the sky above, the space in between, and the earth below. This idea was shared by other ancient groups like the Vedic and Avestan traditions.

Pantheon

The Scythians were an ancient group of people who had their own gods and goddesses. The writer Herodotus wrote that they believed in seven main deities, like other ancient cultures. These gods and goddesses were important to the Scythians and were thought to control different parts of the world.

The Scythians believed in:

1. Tabiti - The goddess of fire and the hearth, representing warmth and home.
2. Api - The goddess of Earth and water, seen as the mother of all life.
3. Papaios - The god of the sky, often seen as the father in creation stories.
4. Targitaos - The ancestor of the Scythian kings.
5. The Scythian god of war - Similar to the Greek god Ares.
6. Goitosyros - Possibly a sun god.
7. Artimpasa - A goddess of fertility and leadership, with powers over growth.

There was also an eighth deity, Thagimasadas, worshipped only by the Royal Scythians. These gods and goddesses helped the Scythians understand the world and their place in it.

Mythology

The genealogical myth

Main article: Scythian genealogical myth

The Scythian genealogical myth was an important story in Scythian culture. It told how the Scythians began and was well-known among the Scythians and the Greeks who lived near them. This myth linked the Scythians to a god named Targī̆tavah and a goddess with snake legs connected to Artimpasa. It also showed how the world was divided into the sky, the earth, and the world below, and how Scythian society was divided into warriors, priests, and farmers.

The Polar Cycle

The Polar Cycle is another myth told by ancient Greek writers. It speaks about the origins of the Scythians from Central Asia and comes from stories in Central Asia and Siberia.

According to this myth, the Issedones lived east of the Scythians when they were still in Central Asia. Farther east lived the one-eyed Arimaspi, followed by a desert guarded by fierce griffins that kept gold. Beyond this desert were the Riphaean Mountains, covered in snow and impossible to cross. Past these mountains lived the Hyperboreans on the edges of a frozen sea.

In the land of the Hyperboreans, the sun rose in spring and set in autumn, giving six months of daylight and six months of darkness. The Hyperboreans were thought to live in a perfect world where the land was always warm, crops grew without work, and there were no bad winds. The people lived very long lives in happy, healthy conditions.

The Riphaean Mountains played a key role in this myth. They separated the known world from a magical land beyond the North Wind. The Hyperborean land had endless sunshine and warmth, rich soil, and people who lived like gods without any suffering, sickness, or hardship. Their lives were long and filled with feasts, songs, and music.

Some parts of this myth are similar to stories from Indic traditions, which talk about days and nights lasting six months and Mount Meru at the north edge of the world, surrounded by ice. Divine beings lived there, and the mountain was too cold and high for ordinary people to reach.

Similar ideas also appeared in Avestan mythology.

Cult

Scythian religion was the set of beliefs and practices of the Scythians, an ancient group of people who lived in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They believed in many gods, including an important god of war shown by a sword.

The Scythians did not usually make statues of their gods. Instead, they built special places called shrines for their war god. These shrines had a sword placed on a high platform made of brushwood. Shrines like these were found across Scythian lands.

One famous shrine was at Hylaea, where altars stood for several important gods. Women took part in rituals there. Other important places for rituals included Tyras and Exampaeus.

Practices

Scythians performed animal sacrifices for their gods. They tied the animals and then killed them. The meat was cooked and shared in a special way.

Some Scythian groups had special rituals, such as using plants in ceremonies to create a special feeling.

Clergy

Scythian priests had important roles in their communities. Some were known as Anarya, who had special duties. Others, like the Agaroi, knew how to use plants for healing.

Festivals

Scythians held festivals to honor their gods. One important festival added more brushwood to the shrine of their war god each year. They also had ceremonies where people who had fought in battles could join a special drink together.

Other festivals happened every few years, like one the Gelonians tribe performed.

Customs

The Scythians had special traditions for their kings and important people. One key tradition was a ceremony where the king was seen as marrying a goddess. This was shown through special rings and symbols that were passed down through generations.

Gold was very important to the Scythians, especially for their kings. They believed gold gave them strength and victory in battle. Because of this belief, Scythian kings surrounded themselves with gold objects and avoided direct contact with ordinary people, using messengers instead.

Scythians had unique ways to honor the dead. When someone died, their bodies were treated with special care. They were embalmed and wrapped in wax. The deceased were placed in wooden structures with their prized possessions, and sometimes horses were buried with them.

Burial mounds, called kurgans, were built over the graves of important people. These mounds were often large and made with bricks and stone. Inside these mounds, the dead were buried with their belongings, including gold and clothing, showing how much they valued the afterlife.

The Scythians also had special customs after funerals. People would cleanse themselves in different ways—these rituals helped them feel clean and ready to move forward after the loss of a loved one.

Religious syncretism

The Ancient Greeks who lived near the Black Sea learned from and shared beliefs with the Scythians. They made a special place called Hylaea where Greeks and Scythians came together to honor their gods.

They worshipped Borysthenēs, a Scythian ancestor-god called Targī̆tavah, whom the Greeks saw as Hēraklēs. They also honored the Snake-Legged Goddess, whom the Greeks saw as Cybele.

The Greeks in Pontic Olbia linked the Snake-Legged Goddess to their own goddesses Cybele, Demeter, and Hecate. They built temples and sacred places for these goddesses.

The Greeks also brought their god Apollo to Scythia, and some Scythians began to honor him. This mixing of beliefs shows how the Greeks and Scythians shared and changed each other’s religious practices.

Typographical note

This article uses special letters to show sounds in the Scythian language. It uses a special symbol ⟨ϑ⟩ to show a sound like "th" in "think," and another symbol ⟨θ⟩ to show a sound like "t" with a puff of air, like in the Greek language.