The Gelonians (also known as Geloni, Helonians or Heloni) () were an ancient

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

people whose existence was recorded by ancient

Graeco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

authors.

Location

The Gelonians lived alongside the Budini in the valley of the Vorskla river.

History

Origins

The Geloni likely originated as a group as the

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

proper who lived in the Pontic steppe, due to which their name appears in the Scythian genealogical myth along with the

Agathyrsi The Agathyrsi were an ancient people belonging to the Scythian cultures who lived Pryazovia before being later displaced by the Scythians into the Transylvanian Plateau, in the region that later became Dacia. The Agathyrsi are largely known fro ...

. Like the Agathyrsi, the Gelonians lived outside of

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

and were independent of the Scythian kingdom. According to

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, Geloni (Γελωνοὶ) were originally Greeks who settle among the Budini and their language evolved into half Greek and half Scythian. Their temples were of Greek style and they worshipped Greek gods among others. On the other hand, Budini didn't speak the same language and their manner of life was different.Herodotus, The Histories, 4.108
/ref> Adding that the Greeks were calling the Budini too Geloni but this was wrong. Pavel Jozef Šafárik wrote that they "might be Greeks among the Slavs and Fins. Such Μιξέλληνες (half Greeks half barbarians) were common enough in the towns upon the Euxine." Schafarik believed that the Budini belonged to the Slavic family.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Geloni
/ref>

Gelonus

During the 6th century BC, the city of Gelonus was built in the country of the Budini, where the Gelonians set up an important industrial, commercial, and political centre. The Gelonians and Budini both lived in Gelonus, although each population lived in separate sections of the city: the Gelonians lived in the eastern earthwork, where was located the city's industrial, commercial, and political centre; the poorer native Budini lived in the western earthwork.

The Persian invasion

When the Persian

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

king

Darius I Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

attacked the Scythians in 513 BC, the Scythian king Idanthyrsus 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, Gelonians and

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

accepted to help the Scythians against the Persian attack, while the kings of the

Androphagi The Androphagi were an ancient Scythians, Scythian tribe whose existence was recorded by ancient Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman authors. The Androphagi were closely related to the Melanchlaeni and the Budini. Name The name is a Latinisation of ...

, Melanchlaeni,

Neuri The Neuri or Navari (; ) were an ancient Slavs, Slavic or Balts, Baltic people whose existence was recorded by ancient Greco-Roman world, Graeco-Roman authors. Identification The Neuri belonged to a group of northern European peoples of unknown ...

, and Tauri refused to support the Scythians. During the campaign, Darius captured the city of Gelonus and set it on fire.

Society and culture

Appearance

According to

Herodotus of Halicarnassus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histories ...

, the Geloni were different in appearance from the Budini who lived alongside them.

Lifestyle

The sedentary Gelonians were wealthier than the nomadic Budini, and they were engaged in agriculture. The Gelonians lived in the city of Gelonus, which was built entirely of wood, This city was protected by a defensive system of three earthworks surrounded by ramparts. The present-day site of Bilsk hillfort has been identified with Gelonus.

Language

The Gelonians were described by Herodotus of Halicarnassus as speaking a different language from the Budini. According to him, their language was half Greek and half Scythian.

Religion

Herodotus of Halicarnassus mentioned that, every three years, the Gelonians performed a Bacchic-type festival which he interpreted as a festival to the Greek god Dionysos. Herodotus also claimed that the Gelonians built sanctuaries to their gods (whom he claimed were Greek gods), although this has not been archaeologically verified yet. This was in contrast to the Scythians proper, who did not built shrines to their gods.

Crafts

The Gelonians and Budini brought ores from outside to the industrial section of the city of Gelonus, where iron and copper were smelted from them.

Trade

The Gelonians and the Budini participated in the ancient trade route which started from the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of Pontic Olbia on the northern shore of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

and continued to the north-east into the steppe and forest-steppe regions.

Archaeology

The Gelonians corresponded to a group of the archaeological Scythian culture which was located outside of Scythia.

References

Sources

* * * * * *
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Geloni
{{Scythia Scythian tribes Tribes described primarily by Herodotus Greek colonization