The Agathyrsi (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: ;
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ) were a people belonging to the
Scythian cultures
The Scytho-Siberian world was an archaeological horizon which flourished across the entire Eurasian Steppe during the Iron Age from approximately the 9th century BC to the 2nd century AD. It included the Scythian, Sauromati ...
. The Agathyrsi were a people of mixed
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
Scythic and
Geto-
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
origin whose bulk were Thracian while their aristocracy was closely related to the
Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
.
Name
The name () is the Hellenized form of a
Scythian
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
name whose original form is not attested. The linguist
Alexis Manaster Ramer
Alexis Manaster Ramer (born 1956) is a Polish-born American linguist (PhD 1981, University of Chicago).
Work
Ramer has published extensively on syntactic typology (esp. in relation to Australian, Eskimo, and Austronesian languages); on phonol ...
has reconstructed it as or , or as or , meaning "prospering the friend/socius", with the final part modified into , referring to
the composite vegetal wand of Bacchus, in Greek because the ancient Greeks associated Scythian peoples with
Bacchic rites.
Location
At the time when the Greek historian
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
described them, in the 5th century BC, the Agathyrsi occupied the region around the source of the
Maris river, in the mountainous part of ancient
Dacia
Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It ...
now known as
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
in what in the present-day is the state of
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
, as well as in the regions corresponding to modern
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
and possibly
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
.
History
The Agathyrsi were the oldest Scythian-related Iranian population to have dominated the
Pontic Steppe
Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to:
The Black Sea Places
* The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores
* Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores
* The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from no ...
. This origin was reflected in the
genealogical myth of the Scythian peoples, according to which Agathyrsus was the eldest of the three ancestors of the Scythian peoples born of the union of the god
Targitaos
Targitaos (Scythian: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), or Scythes (Scythian: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was a Scythian god who was the first of the Scythians ancestor and their first king according to the Scythian mytholo ...
and the
Anguipede Goddess. Because both the 1st century AD Roman geographer
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45.
His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...
and the 4th century AD Roman historian
Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...
, basing themselves on earlier ancient Greek sources, located the Agathyrsi near the
Lake Maeotis
The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...
, it is therefore likely that the original homeland of the Agathyrsi was in the region of the Sea of Azov. In the 8th to 7th centuries BC, the migration of the
Scythians proper from the east into the Pontic Steppe pushed the Agathyrsi westwards, away from the steppes, following which the relations between the Agathyrsi and the Scythians remained hostile.
After being expelled westwards from the steppe, the Agathyrsi settled in the territories of present-day
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
,
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, and possibly
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
, where they mingled with the indigenous population who were largely
Thracians
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
. In the 5th century BC, Herodotus mentioned the presence of the Agathyrsi in the area of present-day Moldavia, to the north of the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
and the east of the
Carpathian Mountains, by which time they had become acculturated to the local
Getic populations and they practised the same customs as the Thracians, although the names of their kings, such as Agathyrsus and
Spargapeithes, were
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
.
When the
Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...
king
Darius I attacked the Scythians in 513 BC, the Scythian king
Idanthyrsus
Idanthyrsus (Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) is the name of a Scythian king who lived in the 6th century BCE, when he faced an invasion of his country by the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
Name and etymology
The name () is the Hellenized fo ...
summoned the kings of the peoples surrounding his kingdom to a meeting to decide how to deal with the Persian invasion. The kings of the
Budini
The Budini (Ancient Greek: Βουδίνοι; ''Boudínoi'') was a group of people (a tribe) described by Herodotus and several later classical authors. Described as nomads living near settled Gelonians, Herodotus located them east of the Tanais ri ...
,
Gelonians
The Gelonians (or Geloni) ( grc, Γελωνοί), also known as Helonians (or Heloni), are mentioned as a nation in northwestern Scythia by Herodotus. Herodotus states that they were originally Hellenes who settled among the Budinoi, and that ...
and
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
accepted to help the Scythians against the Persian attack, while the kings of the Agathyrsi,
Androphagi
Androphagi ( grc, Ἀνδροφάγοι, cannibals, literally "man-eaters"), according to Herodotus, lived some distance north of Scythia in an area later hypothesised to be the forests between the upper waters of the Dnipro and Don. Also accord ...
,
Melanchlaeni,
Neuri
The Neuri or Navari were a tribe described by Herodotus in the . Contemporary scholars equate this group with the Yotvingians, a Western Baltic people, and believe they lived near the river Narew in or Belarus.
Primary sources Herodotus's ...
, and
Tauri
The Tauri (; in Ancient Greek), or Taurians, also Scythotauri, Tauri Scythae, Tauroscythae (Pliny, ''H. N.'' 4.85) were an ancient people settled on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains in the 1st millenn ...
refused to support the Scythians. When the armies of the Scythians fled to the territories of their neighbours in front of the advancing Persian army, the Agathyrsi refused to provide refuge to the Scythians, which forced them to retreat back into their own territory.
Later at some point in the 5th century BC and according to Herodotus, the Agathyrsian king
Spargapeithes treacherously killed the Scythian king
Ariapeithes.
The Agathyrsi were barely ever mentioned again by ancient writers after Herodotus and were last mentioned as a still existing people by
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
in the 4th century BC, after which they disappeared from history due to having later become completely assimilated by the Geto-Thracian populations; thus, the fortified settlements of the Agathyrsi became the centres of the Getic groups who would later transform into the Dacian culture, and an important part of the later
Dacian people was descended from the Agathyrsi.
A section of the Agathyrsi might also have migrated more southwards into
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
proper, where a group of the Agathyrsi was located on the
Haemus Mons by
Stephanus of Byzantium, who also suggests that a section of the Agathyrsi were present on the
Rhodope Mountains by his mention of the Greeks calling the
Trausi tribe who lived there as Agathyrsi.
Culture
The acculturation of the Agathyrsi into the Geto-Dacian culture of the area they settled in is evidenced by how they practised the same customs as the Thracians, although the names of their kings, such as Agathyrsus and
Spargapeithes, were
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
.
Thracian customs of the Agathyrsi included their nobles practice of tattooing themselves and dyeing their hair dark blue to distinguish themselves from the common people, as well as their memorisation of their laws in song form.
Other aspects of the culture of the Agathyrsi recorded by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
include the fact that they were used to living in luxury and wore golden jewellery, and their custom of having wives in common so that all the Agathyrsi would be each other's brothers and members of a single family living together without jealousy or hatred.
Archaeology
To the archaeological presence of the Agathyrsi belongs a cemetery from the 8th to 7th centuries BC at
Stoicani, as well as the Stincesti-Cotnari type fortified settlements which first appear in the 6th century BC.
Legacy
A 19th century suggestion, supported by contemporary sources and archaeological finds, is that the Agathyrsi and the
Akatziri
The Akatziri or Akatzirs ( gr, Άκατίροι, Άκατζίροι, ''Akatiroi'', ''Akatziroi''; la, Acatziri) were a tribe that lived north of the Black Sea, though the Crimean city of Cherson seemed to be under their control in the sixth centu ...
, a
Hunnic tribe who first mentioned by
Priscus
Priscus of Panium (; el, Πρίσκος; 410s AD/420s AD-after 472 AD) was a 5th-century Eastern Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist)...: "For information about Attila, his court and the organization of life general ...
, are the same people. The theory created by Latham, V. St. Martin, Rambaud, Newman and other prominent scholars. According to
E.A. Thompson, the conjecture that connects the Agathyrsi with Akatziri should be rejected outright. However, it is important to point out that E.A. Thompson's opinion is a minority among historians.
The contemporary scholar
Marcian of Heraclea Marcian of Heraclea ( grc-gre, Μαρκιανὸς Ἡρακλεώτης, ''Markianòs Hērakleṓtēs''; la, Marcianus Heracleënsis; fl. century AD) was a minor Greek geographer from Heraclea Pontica in Late Antiquity.
His known works are:
* ...
also considers them as one people.
See also
*
Cimmerians
The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into Wes ...
*
Dacians
*
Getae
*
Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
Notes
References
*
* Thomson, James Oliver (1948) History of Ancient Geography, publisher: Biblo-Moser, ,
* Herodotus, Rawlinson George, Rawlinson Henry Creswicke, Wilkinson, Sir John Gardner, The History of Herodotus a new English version, Volume 3, London
*
*
* Maclagan, Robert Craig (2003) Scottish Myths publisher, Kessinger Publishing, ,
*
* Parvan Vasile (1928) Dacia, Cambridge University Press
{{Scythia
Scythian tribes
Dacian tribes
Ancient tribes in Dacia
Tribes described primarily by Herodotus