Scythian Religion(s)
Broadly Shared Elements
Tree of Life
There are occasionally depictions of a tree of life (Wikipedia) in various forms, including belt buckles, crowns/diadems, and wall tapestries and other textile art.
Pontic Steppe
Pantheon of natural/nonhuman entities
- Sun
- Sky
- Water
- Earth
- Sword (personified by a Scythian version of Ares)
Borysthenes (god/personification of the Dnieper river)
Pantheon according to Herodotus
In Histories 4.59, Herodotus identifies several gods worshipped by the Pontic Scythians and attempts to connect them to Greek gods more identifiable to his Greek audience:
- Tabiti (Hestia)
- Papaeus (Zeus)
- Api/Apia (Earth)
- Artimpasa/Argimpasa/Aripasa (Aphrodite Urania/Ourania: “heavenly” Aphrodite)
- Ares (no equivalent Scythian name provided); also noted as the only god to whom the Scythians make altars/shrines
- Thagimasadas (Poseidon)
- Goetosyrus/Oetosyrus (Apollo)
Raevskiy (1994) notes the problems with Greek sources (both Herodotus himself and scribes copying his manuscripts) attempting to transcribe Iranian-language deity names (p. 16).
Snake-legged Goddess
According to one of the Scythian creation myths recounted by Herodotus (Histories 4.9-10), a snake-legged goddess–or, at least, a snake-legged woman–was the mother of mythical founders of Scythian peoples Agathyrsus, Gelonus, and Skythes, with their father being Targitaos/Herakles.
Ustinova (1999) connects the shape of representations of the snake-legged goddess with the tree of life and with fertility goddesses more generally (p. 96).
Targitaos (Hercules/Herakles)
Herodotus states that the Scythians refer to the founder of their realm as Targitaos (Histories 4.5), a heroic figure born from the union of Zeus and the Borysthenes river, while the Greeks claim that Herakles was the father of the Scythians (Histories 4.8-10).
Creation/Founding Myths
Herodotus provides several accounts of Scythian creation myths:
- Targitaos arrived less than a thousand years ago (by the time of Herodotus' writing) at the then-desolate Scythian steppes and had several sons (oldest to youngest): Lipoxais, Arpoxais, and Kolaxais. When they were adults and ruling their people, a gold plough, yoke, sword, and flask all fell from the sky. Lipoxais, king of the Auchate, tried to pick them up but they burned him. The same happened when Arpoxais, king of the Katiari, tried to do so. When Kolaxais, king of the Paralatae, approached, the items cooled and he was able to handle them. His older brothers determined that this meant Kolaxais was the rightful king, and they gave him all royal power. Together, the peoples would be known as the Skoloti, or (to the Greeks) the Scythians. (Histories 4.5)
- Herakles entered the steppes while driving Geryones' cattle during his labors. He decided to sleep in the winter, and his horses were driven away while he slept. After Herakles woke, he encountered the snake-legged goddess, who had his horses and would return them if he lay with her. He gave her three sons and told her that whichever could string his bow properly and wear a particular belt (with a “golden vessel” at its clasp) could live in Scythia, but others needed to be sent away. Their sons Agathyrsus and Gelonus were unable to meet the tasks, but Skythes could and so became king of Scythia. (Histories 4.8-10) Raevskiy (1994) compares this to a Greek inscription telling the story of Herakles entering Scythia, besting Araxes in combat and marrying his daughter Ekhidna. Raevskiy notes that Araxes is the name of a river and so the name was likely also used for a deity of the river.
- The Scythians arrived into Cimmerian lands following a conflict with the Massagetae. The Cimmerians fought over what to do about the approaching Scythians and ultimately killed each other, and the Scythians inhabited the empty lands. (Histories 4.11)
- Herodotus cites Aristeas in describing a cascading effect of displacement: Arimaspians displaced the Issedones, who displaced the Scythians into Cimmerian territory. (Histories 4.13)
Diodorus Siculus provides a creation myth somewhat similar to Herodotus' account of the Herakles tale. However, Diodorus states that the Scythians claim a snake-legged woman sprung from the earth and who slept with Zeus to bear a son named Skythes and who gave his people his name. (Library of History 2.43.3)
Ritual sacrifices
Herodotus mentions (Histories 4.60) a common sacrifice ritual among the Pontic Scythians:
In all their sacred rites they follow the same method of sacrifice; this is how it is offered. The victim stands with its forefeet shackled together; the sacrificer stands behind the beast, and throws it down by pulling the end of the rope; as the victim falls, he invokes whatever god it is to whom he sacrifices. Then, throwing a noose around the beast’s neck, he thrusts in a stick and twists it and so strangles the victim, lighting no fire nor offering the first-fruits, nor pouring any libation; and having strangled and skinned the beast, he sets about cooking it.
Sacrifices to Ares
Herodotus notes a distinct form of sacrifice to Ares compared to other gods (as described above) in Histories 4.62:
Every district in each of the governments has a structure sacred to Ares; namely, a pile of bundles of sticks three eighths of a mile wide and long, but of a lesser height, on the top of which there is a flattened four-sided surface; three of its sides are sheer, but the fourth can be ascended. Every year a hundred and fifty wagon-loads of sticks are heaped upon this; for the storms of winter always make it sink down. On this sacred pile an ancient scimitar of iron is set for each people: their image of Ares. They bring yearly sacrifice of sheep and goats and horses to this scimitar, offering to these symbols even more than they do to the other gods. Of enemies that they take alive, they sacrifice one man in every hundred, not as they sacrifice sheep and goats, but differently. They pour wine on the men’s heads and cut their throats over a bowl; then they carry the blood up on to the pile of sticks and pour it on the scimitar. They carry the blood up above, but down below by the sacred pile they cut off all the slain men’s right arms and hands and throw these into the air, and depart when they have sacrificed the rest of the victims; the arm lies where it has fallen, and the body apart from it.
Prisoners, slaves, horses, cattle
One tribe may have engaged in communal cannibalism of the dead
Prophets/Diviners/Priestesses
Enarees/anarieis, non-binary linden-bark diviners
Soothsayers–sometimes with several rounds of “verification”
Diviners scattering & reading willow reeds
Altai
Some Saka and Altai burials may or may not potentially have been priestesses
Indo-Scythians
Carter (1992) argued for the identification of a potential Scythian influence on a royal legend recorded in Uddiyana (likely in present-day northwestern Pakistan) by a Chinese pilgrim, leaning on elements mentioned in Herodotus' Histories and in the Nart sagas.
It appears that the Indo-Scythians tolerated or embraced Buddhism as a religion/ideology.
There has been significant discussion about the role, if any, that the Indo-Scythians had in spreading Buddhism across/beyond India.
It is important to note that arguments about the spread of Buddhism differ from the argument (made by a few, like Attwood, 2012; Beckwith, 2015) that Buddha was himself a Scythian. This line of argument, based primarily on the name “Śākyamuni” and whether the “Śākya” element refers to “Saka,” has been soundly refuted by many; see Goodman (2018) for a particularly detailed response to Beckwith.