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, which was part of a bigger family of languages known as Eastern Iranic.

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, shaping how they understood nature, the spirits, and their place in the world.

Development

The Scythian religion came from ancient Iranic origin traditions and was shaped by the beliefs of people they encountered, like the Thracian peoples living in the western Pontic steppe. Many of the Scythian gods matched gods from Thracian cultures, including those in Anatolia, and some god names were even Thracian. The Scythian goddesses and their special rituals also had ties to Thracian and Anatolian customs.

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

Cosmology

The Scythian people believed the universe was made of three parts, much like other ancient groups such as the Vedic and Avestan traditions. These three parts were the sky above, the space in between, and the earth and world below.

Pantheon

The Scythians, an ancient group of people, had their own set of gods and goddesses. According to the writer Herodotus, they believed in seven main deities, similar to how other ancient cultures had their own pantheons. These gods and goddesses were important in Scythian life 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 sovereignty, with powers over growth and leadership.

There was also an eighth deity, Thagimasadas, worshipped only by the Royal Scythians. These gods and goddesses were part of the Scythians' understanding of the world and their place in it, connecting them to nature and the cycles of life.

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. Their worship focused on many gods, but one important god of war was represented by a sword.

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

One famous shrine was at Hylaea, where altars stood for several gods important to the Scythians. Women took part in rituals there. There were also important places like Tyras and Exampaeus, where rituals and ceremonies happened.

Practices

Scythians performed animal sacrifices for their gods, tying the animals and then killing them. The meat was cooked and shared in a special way.

Some Scythian groups had special rituals, such as flagellation for boys as part of worship. They also used plants for rituals to create a special feeling.

Clergy

Scythian priests played important roles in their communities. Some were known as Anarya, who were seen as a third gender and 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 involved adding 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, which was similar to festivals honoring a Greek god.

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 passed down through generations, representing the king's power and connection to the divine.

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, filled with fragrant herbs, and wrapped in wax. The deceased were placed in wooden structures with their prized possessions, and sometimes horses were buried with them to accompany the person in the afterlife.

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

The Scythians also had special customs after funerals. People would cleanse themselves in different ways—men using steam baths with special herbs, and women using a paste made from wood and fragrance. 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 built a special place called Hylaea where both Greeks and Scythians came to honor their gods. They worshipped Borysthenēs, a Scythian ancestor-god called Targī̆tavah (seen as Hēraklēs by the Greeks), and the Snake-Legged Goddess (seen as Cybele by the Greeks).

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, showing their mixed worship.

The Greeks also brought their god Apollo to Scythia, and some Scythians began to honor him too. This mix 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.