Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Check Out Manta Sleep here: mantasleep.pxf.io/Qjq9yz and use the code HISTORY at checkout to get 10% off your order.
Are Scots & Picts From Scythia? The Surprising DNA Link…
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:15 Scythia
1:04 Scots Origins & Scythia
3:46 Manta Sleep
4:26 Surprising DNA Link
8:27 Other Explanations
Why are there so many references to Scythia in the origin stories of the Picts and Scots? Could there actually be any truth to these exotic tales, and what does the DNA evidence say about it all? And there are DNA links that may surprise you…
But first of all, where is Scythia? Now in the ancient world, Scythia referred to the vast Eurasian steppe north of the Black Sea, particularly the Pontic steppe around modern Ukraine and parts of southern Russia. From around the 9th to the 3rd centuries BC, this region was home to the Scythians—a confederation of Iranian-speaking nomadic clans, famed for their horse-based warrior culture. They became legendary in Greek and Roman sources as fierce mounted archers, inhabiting a distant, semi-mythical frontier. Although the Scythians were eventually absorbed by later groups, the name “Scythia” lived on. In Roman and medieval writings, it became a loose term for northern barbarian lands north of the Black Sea, detached from the original people.
So what are some of these stories that link Scythia and Scotland? Well for context, the two foundational peoples of Scotland were the Picts and the Gaels (with the latter also known as the Scots). And Scotland later became known by the Latin word Scotia, meaning the "land of the Gaels". Now both peoples have origin stories that link to Scythia. One of the most famous links is in the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 – Scotland’s famous letter to the Pope, asserting independence and support for Robert the Bruce as King. It states that:
The Scots “journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain... Thence it came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to its home in the west where it still lives today.”
An earlier story of the origins of the Gaels also mentions Scythia.
Sources:
Olalde, I., Brace, S., Allentoft, M. et al. The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe. Nature 555, 190–196 (2018). doi.org/10.1038/nature25738
Transcription of the Declaration of Arbroath - National Records of Scotland (NRS)
Scythia - Wikipedia
Scythian | People, History, & Facts | Britannica
Introducing the Scythians | British Museum
Scota - Wikipedia
BBC - Scotland's History - The Kingdom of the Gaels
Haak, W., Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N. et al. Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature 522, 207–211 (2015). doi.org/10.1038/nature14317
Picts - Wikipedia
Picts' exotic origins a myth, say researchers - BBC News
Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA) - Eupedia
Scottish DNA: What is the Genetic History of Scotland?
Creative Commons Imagery:
SKIBLY101 File:DF13 EUROPE.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Etruscan bronze funerary urn with Scythian mounted archer, mid-5th century BCE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Haplogrupo R1b (ADN-Y).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Scottish Ancestry – Scottish DNA – Scottish Origins – Gaels – Picts – Scottish History – Declaration of Arbroath – Scythia – Scythians
#ancestry #scotland #scythians
Check Out Manta Sleep here: mantasleep.pxf.io/Qjq9yz and use the code HISTORY at checkout to get 10% off your order.
Are Scots & Picts From Scythia? The Surprising DNA Link…
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:15 Scythia
1:04 Scots Origins & Scythia
3:46 Manta Sleep
4:26 Surprising DNA Link
8:27 Other Explanations
Why are there so many references to Scythia in the origin stories of the Picts and Scots? Could there actually be any truth to these exotic tales, and what does the DNA evidence say about it all? And there are DNA links that may surprise you…
But first of all, where is Scythia? Now in the ancient world, Scythia referred to the vast Eurasian steppe north of the Black Sea, particularly the Pontic steppe around modern Ukraine and parts of southern Russia. From around the 9th to the 3rd centuries BC, this region was home to the Scythians—a confederation of Iranian-speaking nomadic clans, famed for their horse-based warrior culture. They became legendary in Greek and Roman sources as fierce mounted archers, inhabiting a distant, semi-mythical frontier. Although the Scythians were eventually absorbed by later groups, the name “Scythia” lived on. In Roman and medieval writings, it became a loose term for northern barbarian lands north of the Black Sea, detached from the original people.
So what are some of these stories that link Scythia and Scotland? Well for context, the two foundational peoples of Scotland were the Picts and the Gaels (with the latter also known as the Scots). And Scotland later became known by the Latin word Scotia, meaning the "land of the Gaels". Now both peoples have origin stories that link to Scythia. One of the most famous links is in the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 – Scotland’s famous letter to the Pope, asserting independence and support for Robert the Bruce as King. It states that:
The Scots “journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain... Thence it came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to its home in the west where it still lives today.”
An earlier story of the origins of the Gaels also mentions Scythia.
Sources:
Olalde, I., Brace, S., Allentoft, M. et al. The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe. Nature 555, 190–196 (2018). doi.org/10.1038/nature25738
Transcription of the Declaration of Arbroath - National Records of Scotland (NRS)
Scythia - Wikipedia
Scythian | People, History, & Facts | Britannica
Introducing the Scythians | British Museum
Scota - Wikipedia
BBC - Scotland's History - The Kingdom of the Gaels
Haak, W., Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N. et al. Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature 522, 207–211 (2015). doi.org/10.1038/nature14317
Picts - Wikipedia
Picts' exotic origins a myth, say researchers - BBC News
Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA) - Eupedia
Scottish DNA: What is the Genetic History of Scotland?
Creative Commons Imagery:
SKIBLY101 File:DF13 EUROPE.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Etruscan bronze funerary urn with Scythian mounted archer, mid-5th century BCE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Haplogrupo R1b (ADN-Y).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Scottish Ancestry – Scottish DNA – Scottish Origins – Gaels – Picts – Scottish History – Declaration of Arbroath – Scythia – Scythians
#ancestry #scotland #scythians
