If you carefully look into the mound hills around the fortress of Sudak in the Crimea, or a leisurely walk on the beaches of Koktebel, you will get the fragments of old products Goncharov - glazed ceramics with characteristic green-yellow-brown ornament. It artifacts testifying to stay in these places other civilizations...

About 750 BC to the present black sea coast have the first colony Ionian cities of Metropolitan areas. The ancient Greeks initially put up or have not noticed the ancient name of our Black sea - Pont Aksinsky("inhospitable"). However, because, apparently, today the concept of "rebranding", they followed the formation and flourishing of the black sea cities, went and changed the name of the sea. Since then Pont received the name of the Euxine - "friendly". Indeed - how should we call the land and the sea, which fed the metropolis bread; black sea land have become a real breadbasket for Ancient Greece.

Masters of ancient Greek literature participated in the investigation of colonization of the Black sea; the event was the appearance of the first historical-ethnographic descriptions of the Northern part of the habitable world, belonging to Herodotus, the Term "ecumene" introduced by the ancient Greek geographer Geoteam Miletus to refer known to the Greeks of the Earth with the center in Hellas. It was originally designated the earth, inhabited by Greek tribes, later - earth, inhabited and well-known to humanity in General.

More than ten years Herodotus spent to travel almost every country in Western Asia and, naturally, visited the Northern black sea coast. He watched and studied the customs and customs of other peoples with inexhaustible genuine interest of the researcher, "that past events over time not come into oblivion and great and surprise worthy acts as the Greeks and the barbarians did not remain in obscurity". Another great philosopher of antiquity - Plutarch, called Herodotus "flowerforum" - another lover and admirer other despised educated people of that time and culture. In the fifties of the last century Herodotus had he lived, would be called another Greek word "cosmopolite" for objective respect to a foreign culture.

Unfortunately, originally Slavic lands remained completely unknown "the father of history" - was not reached. Region with Danube river, he says, "apparently uninhabited and boundless". He mentions only one nation, living North of the Danube - Saginov, Iranian-speaking nomadic tribe. Shinny in the times of Herodotus, occupied almost the entire steppe left Bank of the Danube; in the West, their land was extended to the realm of the Adriatic Veneto. From this we can conclude that in the V century B.C. the field of Slavic settlement was still far to the North almost continuous mountain chain - Ore mountains, the Sudeten Tatras, Beskydy and our Carpathians, is stretched on Central and Eastern Europe from West to East.
Much more information to Herodotus managed to collect about Scythia and the Scythians.

II

The Scythians, who ousted in the VIII century BC from the Northern black sea semilegendary Cimmerians, caused a shiver of the Greeks because of their proximity with the Greek colonies in the Crimea. These, as we already know, that they be rich and prosperous, supplied by bread Athens and other Greek cities-States. And jealous of the wealth and the desire to profit always been inherent in humanity. The Scythians were no exception. They had a reputation is brutally brave and ill people, stripped the skin from dead enemies, and drank the wine of their skulls. They fought fiercely, and both on foot and on horseback. Was particularly famous Scythian warriors, whose arrows were smeared with poison, In the image of the lifestyle of the ancient Scythians writers who have never been, in contrast to Herodotus in the black sea, enjoyed "fairy tales": some drew them cannibals, devouring their own children, while others, on the contrary, praised the purity and nisportino Scythian customs and reproached his countrymen because they pollute these innocent children of nature, involving them to the achievements of Hellenic civilisation.

In addition to personal preferences, made Greek writers to emphasize certain features of the Scythian morals, truthful representation of the Scythians prevented one purely objective difficulties. The fact that the Greeks were constantly confused Scythians, who belonged to the Iranian people, with other peoples of the Northern black sea. So, Hippocrates, in his treatise On the air, waters and localities" under the name of Scythians described obvious Mongoloid: "Scythians suitable only for themselves: the color of their skin is yellow; the body fat and fleshy, they beardless that likens them men women".

III

Herodotus was it difficult to say anything definite about the Scythian population. "The number of the Scythians, " he writes, " I could not know with precision, but I heard two different judgments: one, a lot of them, on the other, the Scythians actually little". This is so whether million, or a hundred. Therefore, Herodotus and calls Scythians then all the inhabitants of the black sea steppes, only one people dominating over all others. When describing the lifestyle of the Scythians historian also at odds with itself. Characteristic of the Scythians as poor nomadic people, having neither cities nor fortifications, and living in wagons and eating livestock products - meat, Mare's milk and cheese, may also destroyed a story about the Scythians-plowmen selling bread. Let's not forget and about the art of our ancestors - take the famous Golden pectoral stored in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra; she is not only an example of high jewelry, but also a great illustration of the life of ancient tribes. Detailed image of hunting scenes, other genre of events as possible illustrates not known to Herodotus side of life Scythians.
This contradiction is due to the fact that the ancient writers bad imagined political and social order of nomads. Scythian state was modeled on all other nomadic empires, when one is relatively small in terms of numerical Horde dominated chouplamenina nomadic hordes and settled population.

According to Herodotus, the main Scythian Horde were "Royal Scythians" - their name was "chipped", which historian calls the most valiant and the most numerous. All other Scythians they considered subservient slaves themselves. Kings of Scythian Kolotov dressed with a truly barbaric splendor. On the clothes of one such Bishop of the so-called Kul-Ob graves near Kerch were sewn 266 gold plaques with a total weight of up to one and a half kilograms. Wandered chipped in Northern Tavria. To the East, in the neighborhood with them, lived another Horde, referred to by Herodotus by Scythian nomads. Both Horde and was actually the Scythian population of the Northern black sea.

IV

Scythia stretched to the North is not very far (Dnieper rapids were not known to Herodotus), covering quite narrow at that time the steppe zone of Northern black sea coast. But like any other nomads, the Scythians often went to military raids on their close and distant neighbors. Judging by the archaeological finds, they reached the West basin of the Oder and the Elbe, devastating in the way Slavic settlement. The current territory of the Czech Republic has endured invasions from the end of the VI century B.C. Archaeologists discovered characteristic tips Scythian arrows stuck in trees so-called Sorbian settlements from the outside. Part of the settlements belonging to this time, bears traces of fires or destruction, as, for example, the settlement Vitsin in Zelenogorska region of the Czech Republic, where among other things found skeletons of women and children killed during one of the Scythian raids. However, original and elegant "animal style" Scythian art found many fans among Slavic men and women. Many of the Scythian jewelry on the ground Sorbian settlement testify to the permanent trade relations of the Slavs with the Scythian world of the Northern black sea coast.

Trade was conducted, most likely, through intermediaries, as between the Slavs and Scythians wedged known to Herodotus tribes Alishanov and "Scythian farmers", who lived somewhere on the river bug. It was probably some conquered by the Scythians Iranian-speaking peoples. Further North stretched the earth newrow, for which, according to Herodotus, "is already deserted desert". Historian whether jokingly or seriously complains that to get there it is impossible because of blizzards: "the Earth and the air was full of feathers, and it hinders the vision". About themselves nevrax Herodotus tells hearsay and briefly - what customs they "Scythian", and they sorcerers: "every nevr every year for a few days turns into a wolf, and then takes a human form". However, Herodotus adds that does not believe in this, and, of course, has the right idea. Probably, in this case it was reached in a highly distorted view information about a magical rite or, perhaps, the custom newrow during an annual religious festival to dress in wolf skins.
There has been speculation about Slavic facilities newrow because of the legend about the werewolves were later extremely common in Ukraine. However, this is unlikely. In ancient poetry is a short string with expressive description Nebra: "never-adversary, wearing armor knight". You agree that never sitting on an armored horse, little resemblance to the ancient Slavic as it paint antique sources and archaeology. But it is known that the Celts were skilled metallurgists and the Smiths; the cult of the horse was extremely popular. Therefore, it is more natural to admit when Celticadherence gorodotsky newrow, linking their name with the name of the Celtic tribe nterview.

V

This is Scythia and the adjacent land by Herodotus. In the classical period of Greece, when it was established and formed the ancient literary tradition, the Scythians were the most powerful, and most importantly, the most famous Greek people barbarian Europe. So later the name of Scythia and Scythians were used by ancient and medieval writers as the traditional name of the Northern black sea and the inhabitants of the South of our country, and sometimes the whole unknown world beyond the Carpathians.
Wrote about it already Nestor: Oluchi and tivertsy "sedeju on the Dniester, bug and the Dnieper river to the sea; the essence grads them to this day; before this earth was called by the Greeks the Great Skupi". In the X century Leo the Deacon in his description of the war of Prince Svyatoslav to Bulgarian and the Byzantium Emperor John Timesheet called Russes their own name - 24 times, but the Scythians - 63 times, taraskina - 21 and brands - 9 times, not mentioning the General name of the Slavs.

* * *
Western Europeans very long used this tradition by calling "Scythians" inhabitants of the Moscow state even in the XVI-XVII centuries. The poet Alexander Blok in accordance with "Mongolian" theory of the origin of Scythians, popular in the late XIX - early XX centuries, has given them in his famous poem "slanting eyes", which in fact they never had.

Author: Simonenko
Source: "Interesting newspaper. Riddles civilization" №9, 2012