Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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Chapters:
0:00 Who Were the Scythians?
0:08 Masters of the Horse
0:38 Scythians Tattoos, Art, Appearance and Language
1:44 Weapons and Warrior Culture
2:35 Location? And Trade with the Greeks
6:58 Scythians, Sakas and Competing Names
8:49 The Alans, South and North Ossetia
10:19 Support this channel
Creative Commons:
Antiquistik commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scythian_kingdom_in_the_Pontic_steppe.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
As the Scythians are connected to the Scots, the Picts and numerous other peoples, it’s important to ask: Who were the Scythians?
The first thing to note about the Scythians is that they were masters of the horse and they are usually depicted in their art with their horses. They were among the earliest people to master the art of riding, and this allowed them great mobility across the Eurasian Steppe, from Hungary to Mongolia, vast grasslands perfect for the horse where the Scythian culture flourished.
Scythian men and women were heavily tattooed in intricate and detailed depictions of their world and their beliefs. These tattoos often depicted animals they hunted as well as mythical creatures, such as Griffins, creatures with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; and the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Scythian tattoos also were potentially seen to have magical qualities and offer protection, as well as being commemorative of bravery on the battlefield.
Scythians were usually depicted as having long hair and beards and wearing baggy trousers. The spoke Eastern Iranian languages, with the Ossetian language today potentially descended from one of these languages, more on that later. Scythians also produced incredible art such as beautiful pieces of jewellery and other pieces.
Their choice of weapon was often a bow and arrow, and Herodotus, the Greek historian, who travelled to Scythia, said that most Scythians arrows were poisoned, and explains this was done by combining blood from an animal and venom from a pregnant snake and mixing it together. They were fierce warriors, and status was partly defined by the number of men a Scythian warrior had killed. This would be shown by scalping their victims and attaching them to their horses, or even making cloaks out of them, as a symbol of their prowess. Scythian mercenaries could regularly be seen working as bodyguards in Athens.
Where were the Scythians located is a simple question yet the answer is a little more complicated. The Scythians were a somewhat nomadic people who stretched and migrated across Eurasia, with many groups diverging groups emerging from the Scythian culture.
Scythia proper you could say was just north of the Black Sea in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, essentially in modern Ukraine and parts of Russia, with the Kingdom centred on Crimea and expanding out from there. It was established by a group of Scythians who migrated west from Central Asia, a migration that brought them into conflict with the Cimmerians, who they ultimately defeated after 30 years of war. From the 6th to 3rd centuries BC, they established a kingdom known as Scythia, or Pontic Scythia, in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Sources:
Indo-Scythians en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Indo-Scythians
Saka en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Saka
Britannica, Scythian britannica.com/topic/Scythian
Author Talk | The Scythians | Barry Cunliffe, Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press) youtube.com/watch?v=rQ7Ia_L6bgk
History Time - Horse Lords: A Brief History of the Scythians youtube.com/watch?v=-IAxEtT3lfA
Smithsonian Magazine - The Significance Behind Ancient Scythian Tattoos smithsonianmag.com/videos/the-significance-behind-ancient-scythian-tatto
Alans en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alans
North Ossetia–Alania en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ossetia%E2%80%93Alania
South Ossetia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetia
#scythian #history #ukraine
Please Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/CelticHistory
Please support this channel on Patreon and get ad-free videos and other benefits: patreon.com/historydecoded
Please donate through PayPal using this link: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QFB9ZECHZJDF6 – chdecoded@gmail.com
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Follow Celtic History Decoded on Instagram - instagram.com/celtichistorydecoded
Subscribe to World History Decoded – youtube.com/@worldhistorydecoded
Chapters:
0:00 Who Were the Scythians?
0:08 Masters of the Horse
0:38 Scythians Tattoos, Art, Appearance and Language
1:44 Weapons and Warrior Culture
2:35 Location? And Trade with the Greeks
6:58 Scythians, Sakas and Competing Names
8:49 The Alans, South and North Ossetia
10:19 Support this channel
Creative Commons:
Antiquistik commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scythian_kingdom_in_the_Pontic_steppe.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
As the Scythians are connected to the Scots, the Picts and numerous other peoples, it’s important to ask: Who were the Scythians?
The first thing to note about the Scythians is that they were masters of the horse and they are usually depicted in their art with their horses. They were among the earliest people to master the art of riding, and this allowed them great mobility across the Eurasian Steppe, from Hungary to Mongolia, vast grasslands perfect for the horse where the Scythian culture flourished.
Scythian men and women were heavily tattooed in intricate and detailed depictions of their world and their beliefs. These tattoos often depicted animals they hunted as well as mythical creatures, such as Griffins, creatures with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; and the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Scythian tattoos also were potentially seen to have magical qualities and offer protection, as well as being commemorative of bravery on the battlefield.
Scythians were usually depicted as having long hair and beards and wearing baggy trousers. The spoke Eastern Iranian languages, with the Ossetian language today potentially descended from one of these languages, more on that later. Scythians also produced incredible art such as beautiful pieces of jewellery and other pieces.
Their choice of weapon was often a bow and arrow, and Herodotus, the Greek historian, who travelled to Scythia, said that most Scythians arrows were poisoned, and explains this was done by combining blood from an animal and venom from a pregnant snake and mixing it together. They were fierce warriors, and status was partly defined by the number of men a Scythian warrior had killed. This would be shown by scalping their victims and attaching them to their horses, or even making cloaks out of them, as a symbol of their prowess. Scythian mercenaries could regularly be seen working as bodyguards in Athens.
Where were the Scythians located is a simple question yet the answer is a little more complicated. The Scythians were a somewhat nomadic people who stretched and migrated across Eurasia, with many groups diverging groups emerging from the Scythian culture.
Scythia proper you could say was just north of the Black Sea in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, essentially in modern Ukraine and parts of Russia, with the Kingdom centred on Crimea and expanding out from there. It was established by a group of Scythians who migrated west from Central Asia, a migration that brought them into conflict with the Cimmerians, who they ultimately defeated after 30 years of war. From the 6th to 3rd centuries BC, they established a kingdom known as Scythia, or Pontic Scythia, in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Sources:
Indo-Scythians en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Indo-Scythians
Saka en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Saka
Britannica, Scythian britannica.com/topic/Scythian
Author Talk | The Scythians | Barry Cunliffe, Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press) youtube.com/watch?v=rQ7Ia_L6bgk
History Time - Horse Lords: A Brief History of the Scythians youtube.com/watch?v=-IAxEtT3lfA
Smithsonian Magazine - The Significance Behind Ancient Scythian Tattoos smithsonianmag.com/videos/the-significance-behind-ancient-scythian-tatto
Alans en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alans
North Ossetia–Alania en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ossetia%E2%80%93Alania
South Ossetia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetia
#scythian #history #ukraine
