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== Cultura y sociedad ==
=== Divisiones tribales ===
Los escitas vivieron en tribus [[Confederación|confederadas]], una forma política de asociación voluntaria que regulaba los pastos y organizaban una defensa común contra los vecinos invasores de tribus de pastores de,principalmente, ganaderos [[Domesticación del caballo|de caballos]]. <!--While the productivity of domesticated animal-breeding greatly exceeded that of the settled agricultural societies, the pastoral economy also needed supplemental agricultural produce, and stable nomadic confederations developed either symbiotic or forced alliances with sedentary peoples – in exchange for animal produce and military protection.
Herodotus relates that three main tribes of the Scythians descended from three brothers, Lipoxais, Arpoxais, and Colaxais:<ref>Traces of the Iranian root ''xšaya'' – "ruler" – may persist in all three names.</ref>
{{quote|In their reign a [[plough]], a [[yoke]], an [[axe]], and a [[Bowl (vessel)|bowl]], all made of gold, fell from heaven upon the Scythian territory. The oldest of the brothers wished to take them away, but as he drew near the gold began to burn. The second brother approached them, but with the like result. The third and youngest then approached, upon which the fire went out, and he was enabled to carry away the golden gifts. The two eldest then made the youngest king, and henceforth the golden gifts were watched by the king with the greatest care, and annually approached with magnificent sacrifices.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Herodotus | title=History | pages=Book IV, verse 5 | url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4m/complete.html | nopp=true | access-date=2007-07-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626140520/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4m/complete.html | archive-date=2007-06-26 | dead-url=no | df= }}</ref>
}}
Herodotus also mentions a royal tribe or clan, an elite which dominated the other Scythians:
{{quote|Then on the other side of the Gerros we have those parts which are called the "Royal" lands and those Scythians who are the bravest and most numerous and who esteem the other Scythians their slaves.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Herodotus | title=History | pages=Book IV, verses 19–20 | url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4m/complete.html | nopp=true | access-date=2007-07-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626140520/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4m/complete.html | archive-date=2007-06-26 | dead-url=no | df= }}</ref> }}
{{quote|The elder brothers then, acknowledging the significance of this thing, delivered the whole of the kingly power to the youngest. From Lixopais, they say, are descended those Scythians who are called the race of the Auchatai; from the middle brother Arpoxais those who are called Catiaroi and Traspians, and from the youngest of them the "Royal" tribe, who are called Paralatai: and the whole together are called, they say, Scolotoi, after the name of their king; but the Hellenes gave them the name of Scythians. Thus the Scythians say they were produced; and from the time of their origin, that is to say from the first king Targitaos, to the passing over of Dareios [the Persian Emperor [[Darius I]]] against them [512 BC], they say that there is a period of a thousand years and no more.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Herodotus | title=History | pages=Book IV, verses 6–7 | url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4m/complete.html | nopp=true | access-date=2007-07-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626140520/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4m/complete.html | archive-date=2007-06-26 | dead-url=no | df= }}</ref>
}}
[[File:ScytianBowl.JPG|thumb|right|Scythian [[Bowl (vessel)|bowl]], 5th century BC found at [[Castelu]], [[Romania]]. In display at [[Constanţa Museum of National History]].]]
The rich burials of Scythian kings in [[tumulus|tumuli]] (often known by the Turkic name ''[[kurgans|kurgan]]'') is evidence for the existence of a powerful elite. While an elite clan is named in some classical sources {{which|date=June 2015}} as the "Royal Dahae", the [[Dahae]] proper are generally regarded as an extinct Indo-European people, who occupied what is now Turkmenistan, and were distinct from the Scythians.
Although scholars have traditionally treated the three tribes as geographically distinct, [[Georges Dumézil]] interpreted the divine gifts as the symbols of social occupations, illustrating his [[trifunctional hypothesis|trifunctional vision]] of early [[Proto-Indo-European society|Indo-European]] societies: the plough and yoke symbolised the farmers, the axe – the warriors, the bowl – the priests.<ref>The first scholar to compare the three strata of Scythian society to the Indian [[caste]]s, [[Arthur Christensen]], published ''Les types du premiere homme et du premier roi dans l'histoire legendaire des Iraniens'', I (Stockholm, Leiden, 1917).</ref>
According to Dumézil, "the fruitless attempts of Arpoxais and Lipoxais, in contrast to the success of Colaxais, may explain why the highest strata was not that of farmers or magicians, but rather that of warriors."<ref>Quoted in Wouter Wiggert Belier. ''Decayed Gods: Origin and Development of Georges Dumezil's "Ideologie Tripartie"''. Brill Academic Publishers, 1991. {{ISBN|90-04-06195-9}}. Page 69.</ref>-->
=== Costumbres ===
[[Archivo:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|thumb|left|Un jinete escita de la región del río [[Ili]] en [[Kazajistán]].]]
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A nivel arqueológico se han descubierto numerosos objetos artesanales de oro de gran elaboración con motivos equinos, pues eran excelentes jinetes, expertos en hacer lazos e inventores-usuarios del arco de doble curva, o retratando su vida cotidiana; también la tumba de los reyes, que eran grandes [[túmulo]]s ([[túmulo|kurganes]]) donde, tras estrangularlos, eran enterrados junto al monarca sus más cercanos sirvientes, concubinas y hasta caballos.
=== Militarismo ===
[[Archivo:Skythian archer plate BM E135 by Epiktetos.jpg|thumb|Arquero escita, [[tondo]] de un plato de [[cerámica de figuras rojas|figuras rojas]] de [[Epicteto (pintor)|Epicteto]], [[circa|c.]] [[520 a. C.|520 a. C.]]–[[500 a. C.|500 a. C.]], [[Museo Británico]] (E 135).]]
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Las [[espada]]s escitas medían unos 7 [[dm]] de largo y fueron evolucionando con el tiempo: de una hoja recta de dos filos fueron cambiando a una hoja en forma de triángulo isósceles, de un solo filo. Las empuñaduras y las hojas estaban profusamente decoradas, algunas eran auténticas obras de arte. Posteriormente algunas tribus escitas se asentaron y se volvieron [[agricultura|agricultores]] alrededor del [[Mar Negro]]. Estas tribus redujeron su caballería y comenzaron a aportar infantería competente, básicamente arqueros y tropas auxiliares.
<!--=== Warfare ===
[[File:TillyaTepeSheath2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Sheath for knives]]
A warlike people, the Scythians were particularly known for their [[equestrianism|equestrian]] skills, and their early use of [[composite bow]]s shot from horseback. With great mobility, the Scythians could absorb the attacks of more cumbersome footsoldiers and cavalry, just retreating into the steppes. Such tactics wore down their enemies, making them easier to defeat. The Scythians were notoriously aggressive warriors. They "fought to live and lived to fight" and "drank the blood of their enemies and used the scalps as napkins."<ref name=Parragon /><ref>Durant, Will. Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster, 1935. p. 287.</ref>
Ruled by small numbers of closely allied elites, Scythians had a reputation for their [[Archery|archers]], and many gained employment as [[mercenary|mercenaries]]. Scythian elites had [[kurgan]] tombs: high barrows heaped over chamber-tombs of [[larch]] wood, a deciduous conifer that may have had special significance as a tree of life-renewal, for it stands bare in winter. Burials at [[Pazyryk burials|Pazyryk]] in the [[Altay Mountains]] have included some spectacularly preserved Scythians of the "Pazyryk culture" – including the [[Pazyryk Ice Maiden|Ice Maiden]] of the 5th century BC.
The [[Ziwiye hoard]], a treasure of gold and silver metalwork and ivory found near the town of [[Sakiz]] south of [[Lake Urmia]] and dated to between 680 and 625 BC, includes objects with Scythian "[[animal style]]" features. One silver dish from this find bears some inscriptions, as yet undeciphered and so possibly representing a form of Scythian writing.
Scythians also had a reputation for the use of barbed and poisoned arrows of several types, for a [[nomadic]] life centered on horses – "fed from horse-blood" according to Herodotus – and for skill in [[guerrilla warfare]].-->
=== Ropas ===
[[Archivo:Skythian archer plate BM E135 by Epiktetos.jpg|thumb|Una [[Cerámica de figuras rojas|pintura cerámica]] ática de un [[arquero escita]] (una fuerza de policía en Atenas) por [[Epictetos]], 520-500 a. C.]]
[[Archivo:IranPersepolisApadana4.jpg|thumb|La delegación escita, relieve en las escaleras de la [[Apadana]] de [[Persépolis]]]]
Según Heródoto, el ropaje escita estaba formada por pantalones de cuero metidos en las botas, y túnicas abiertas. Cabalgaban sin [[estribos]] o sillas, usando sólo mantas. <!--Herodotus reports that Scythians used [[Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], both to weave their clothing and to cleanse themselves in its smoke (Hist. 4.73–75); archaeology has confirmed the use of cannabis in funerary rituals.
Scythian women dressed in much the same fashion as men. A Pazyryk burial, discovered in the 1990s, contained the skeletons of a man and a woman, each with weapons, arrowheads, and an axe. Herodotus mentioned that Sakas had "high caps and … wore trousers." Clothing was sewn from plain-weave wool, hemp cloth, silk fabrics, felt, leather and hides.
Pazyryk findings give the most number of almost fully preserved garments and clothing worn by the Scythian/Saka peoples. Ancient Persian bas-reliefs, inscriptions from [[Apadana]] and [[Behistun]], [[ancient Greek pottery]], archaeological findings from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, etc. give visual representations of these garments.
Herodotus says Sakas had "high caps tapering to a point and stiffly upright." Asian Saka headgear is clearly visible on the Persepolis Apadana staircase bas-relief – high pointed hat with flaps over ears and the nape of the neck.<ref name="saka_bas_relief">The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Photographic Archives. Persepolis – Apadana, E Stairway, Tribute Procession, the Saka Tigraxauda Delegation.[http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/pa_iran_paai_per_apa/index.php/1E8_72dpi.png?action=big&size=resize&fromthumbnail=true] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012073352/http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/pa_iran_paai_per_apa/index.php/1E8_72dpi.png?action=big&size=resize&fromthumbnail=true |date=2012-10-12 }} Retrieved 2012-6-27</ref> From China to the Danube delta, men seemed to have worn a variety of soft headgear – either conical like the one described by Herodotus, or rounder, more like a Phrygian cap.
[[File:6. Pectorale burial mound Arzhan (VIII. - VII. B. C.) Tuva.JPG|thumb|Pectoral from burial mound in [[Arzhan]] ]]
Women wore a variety of different headdresses, some conical in shape others more like flattened cylinders, also adorned with metal (golden) plaques.
Based on the Pazyryk findings (can be seen also in the south Siberian, Uralic and Kazakhstan rock drawings) some caps were topped with zoomorphic wooden sculptures firmly attached to a cap and forming an integral part of the headgear, similar to the surviving nomad helmets from northern China.
Men and warrior women wore tunics, often embroidered, adorned with felt applique work, or metal (golden) plaques.
Persepolis Apadana again serves a good starting point to observe tunics of the Sakas. They appear to be a sewn, long sleeve garment that extended to the knees and belted with a belt while owner's weapons were fastened to the belt (sword or dagger, [[gorytos]], battleax, whetstone etc.). Based on numerous archeological findings in Ukraine, southern Russian and Kazakhstan men and warrior women wore long sleeve tunics that were always belted, often with richly ornamented belts. The Kazakhstan Saka (e.g. Issyk Golden Man/Maiden) wore shorter tunics and more close fitting tunics than the Pontic steppe Scythians. Some Pazyryk culture Saka wore short belted tunic with a lapel on a right side, upright collar, 'puffed' sleeves narrowing at a wrist and bound in narrow cuffs of a color different from the rest of the tunic.
Scythian women wore long, loose robes, ornamented with metal plaques (gold). Women wore shawls, often richly decorated with metal (golden) plaques.
Men and women wore coats, e.g. Pazyryk Saka had many varieties, from fur to felt. They could have worn a riding coat that later was known as a Median robe or Kantus. Long sleeved, and open, it seems that on the Persepolis Apadana Skudrian delegation is perhaps shown wearing such coat. The Pazyryk felt tapestry shows a rider wearing a billowing cloak.
Men and women wore long trousers, often adorned with metal plaques and often embroidered or adorned with felt appliqués; trousers could have been wider or tight fitting depending on the area. Materials used depended on the wealth, climate and necessity.
Men and women warriors wore variations of long and shorter boots, wool-leather-felt gaiter-boots and moccasin-like shoes. They were either of a laced or simple slip on type.
Women wore also soft shoes with metal (gold) plaques.
Men and women wore belts. Warrior belts were made of leather, often with gold or other metal adornments and had many attached leather thongs for fastening of the owner's gorytos, sword, whet stone, whip etc. Belts were fastened with metal or horn [[belt hook|belt-hooks]], leather thongs and metal (often golden) or horn belt-plates.-->
=== Arte ===
[[Archivo:HorseAttackedByTigerOrdos4th-1stBCE.JPG|thumb|Placa de la [[cultura de Ordos]] realizada en bronce, siglo IV a. C.; un caballo atacado por un tigre]]
{{AP|Arte escita}}
Los contactos escitas con artesanos en colonias griegas a lo largo de las orillas septentrionales del mar Negro dieron como resultado los famosos adornos de oro escitas que se encuentran entre los más glamurosos artefactos de los museos delmundo. <!--[[Ethnographically]] extremely useful as well, the gold depicts Scythian men as bearded, long-haired [[Caucasoid]]s. "Greco-Scythian" works depicting Scythians within a much more [[Ancient Greece|Hellenic]] style date from a later period, when Scythians had already adopted elements of Greek culture, and the most elaborate royal pieces are assumed to have been made by Greek goldsmiths for this lucrative market. Other metalwork pieces from across the whole Eurasian steppe use an [[animal style]], showing animals, often in combat and often with their legs folded beneath them. The origins of this style remain debated, but it probably both received and gave influences in the art of the neighbouring settled peoples, and acted as a fast route for transmission of motifs across the width of Eurasia.
[[File:Placca pantera, da regione di krasnodar, kurgan chertomlyk, oro a sbalzo e cesellato, fine VII sec ac..JPG|thumb|280px|left|Gold plaque with panther, probably for a shield or breast-plate, 13 in/33 cm long, end of 7th century BC]]
Surviving Scythian objects are mostly small portable pieces of metalwork: elaborate personal jewelry, weapon-ornaments and horse-trappings. But finds from sites with [[permafrost]] show rich and brightly coloured textiles, leatherwork and woodwork, not to mention tattooing. The western royal pieces executed Central-Asian animal motifs with Greek realism: winged [[griffin|gryphons]] attacking horses, battling [[stag]]s, [[deer]], and [[eagle]]s, combined with everyday motifs like milking [[sheep|ewes]].
[[File:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG|thumb|Chinese [[jade]] and [[steatite]] plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th to 3rd centuries BC. [[British Museum]]]]
In 2000, the touring exhibition 'Scythian Gold' introduced the North American public to the objects made for Scythian nomads by Greek craftsmen north of the [[Black Sea]], and buried with their Scythian owners under burial mounds on the flat plains of present-day [[Ukraine]]. In 2001, the discovery of an undisturbed royal Scythian burial-barrow illustrated Scythian animal-style gold that lacks the direct influence of Greek styles. Forty-four pounds of gold weighed down the royal couple in this burial, discovered near [[Kyzyl]], capital of the [[Siberia]]n republic of [[Tuva]].
Ancient influences from Central Asia became identifiable in China following contacts of metropolitan China with nomadic western and northwestern border territories from the 8th century BC. The Chinese adopted the Scythian-style animal art of the [[steppe]]s (descriptions of animals locked in combat), particularly the rectangular belt-plaques made of gold or bronze, and created their own versions in [[jade]] and [[steatite]].<ref>Mallory and Mair, ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West'', 2000)</ref>
Following their expulsion by the [[Yuezhi]], some Scythians may also have migrated to the area of [[Yunnan]] in southern China. Scythian warriors could also have served as mercenaries for the various kingdoms of ancient China. Excavations of the prehistoric art of the [[Dian Kingdom|Dian]] civilisation of Yunnan have revealed hunting scenes of [[Caucasoid]] horsemen in Central Asian clothing.<ref>"Les Saces", Iaroslav Lebedynsky, p.73 {{ISBN|2-87772-337-2}}</ref>
Scythian influences have been identified as far as Korea and Japan. Various Korean artifacts, such as the royal crowns of the kingdom of [[Silla]], are said to be of Scythian design.<ref>Crowns similar to the Scythian ones discovered in [[Tillia Tepe]] "appear later, during the 5th and 6th century at the eastern edge of the Asia continent, in the [[tumulus]] tombs of the Kingdom of Silla, in South-East Korea. "Afganistan, les trésors retrouvés", 2006, p282, {{ISBN|978-2-7118-5218-5}}</ref> Similar crowns, brought through contacts with the continent, can also be found in [[Kofun era]] Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sgkohun.world.coocan.jp/GUNMA/maebasi/kinkan.html |title=金冠塚古墳 – Sgkohun.world.coocan.jp |access-date=2010-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722101738/http://sgkohun.world.coocan.jp/GUNMA/maebasi/kinkan.html |archive-date=2011-07-22 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref>-->
=== Religión ===
{{AP|Religión escita}}
[[Archivo:Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Offering pot from a Scythian Grave.JPG|thumb|upright|Vaso de ofrendas de una tumba escita en [[Alba Iulia]], Rumanía, siglo VI a.C. Expuesto en el [[Museo Nacional de la Unión]], Alba Iulia]]
Las creencias religiosas de los escitas eran del tipo de religión irania pre-zoroastriana y difería de los pensamientos iranios post-zoroastrianos.<ref name="UNESCO">J.Harmatta: «Scythians» en la Colección de Historia de la Humanidad de la [[UNESCO]] – Volumen III: ''From the Seventh Century BC to the Seventh Century AD''. Routledge/[[UNESCO]]. 1996. pg 182</ref> <!--Foremost in the Scythian pantheon stood [[Tabiti]], who was later replaced by [[Atar]], the fire-pantheon of Iranian tribes, and [[Agni]], the fire deity of Indo-Aryans.<ref name="UNESCO" /> The Scythian belief was a more archaic stage than the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] and [[Hinduism|Hindu]] systems. The use of [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] to induce trance and divination by soothsayers was a characteristic of the Scythian belief system.<ref name="UNESCO" /> A class of priests, the [[Enarei]], worshipped the goddess [[Argimpasa]] and assumed feminine identities.-->
=== Territorio ===
Escitia era un área de [[Eurasia]] habitada en la antigüedad por un pueblo iranio conocido como los [[escitas]]. Su situación y extensión varió a lo largo del tiempo, desde la región del [[Macizo de Altái|Altái]], donde se unen [[Mongolia]], [[China]], [[Rusia]], y [[Kazajistán]] hasta la del bajo [[Danubio]] y [[Bulgaria]].
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En la zona noreste de la nación escita (en el curso medio del [[río Volga]] sobre [[Samara (Rusia)|Samara]]) vivían los [[budinos]] y los [[gelonos]].
=== Etnografía ===
[[Archivo:Scythian comb.jpg|thumb|[[Peine de oro escita]] de Soloja con escena de lucha. Siglos [[siglo V a. C.|V]] y [[Siglo IV a. C.|IV a. C.]].]]
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Durante el [[siglo XVIII]], [[Pedro I de Rusia|Pedro el Grande]], zar de [[Rusia]], construyó el Museo Imperial donde se exhibieron parte de los tesoros encontrados al suroeste ruso, entre las estepas del [[Dniester]] y el [[Volga]], donde se estima que existen unos 100.000 túmulos de esta clase, siendo la zona siberiana de [[Minunsinsk]] donde se encuentra la mayor concentración de estas tumbas. Las piezas recuperadas de las tumbas escitas se encuentran actualmente en el [[Museo del Hermitage]] en [[San Petersburgo]].
==
<!--[[File:Khotanese animal zodiac BLI6 OR11252 1R2 1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|A document from [[Khotan]] written in [[Saka language|Khotanese Saka]], part of the [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian branch]] of the [[Indo-European languages]], listing the animals of the [[Chinese zodiac]] in the cycle of predictions for people born in that year; ink on paper, early 9th century]]
{{Main|Scythian languages}}-->
El grupo escita de lenguas en el período antiguo son algo esencialmente no comprobado, y su divergencia interna es difícilde juzgar.<!--. They belonged to the [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian]] family of languages. Whether all the peoples included in the "Scytho-Siberian" archaeological culture spoke languages from this family is uncertain.
The Scythian languages may have formed a [[dialect continuum]]: "Scytho-Sarmatian" in the west and "Scytho-Khotanese" or [[Saka language|Saka]] in the east.<ref>''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' 15th edition – Micropaedia on "Scythian". Schmitt, Rüdiger (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Reichert, 1989.</ref> Modern scholarly consensus is that the Saka language, ancestor to the [[Pamir languages]] in [[northern India]] and [[Saka language|Khotanese]] in [[Xinjiang]], China belongs to the [[Scythian languages]].<ref>Kuz'mina, Elena E. (2007). ''The Origin of the Indo Iranians''. Edited by J.P. Mallory. Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp 381–382. {{ISBN|978-90-04-16054-5}}.</ref> The Scythian languages were mostly marginalised and assimilated as a consequence of the late antiquity and early Middle Ages [[Slavic people|Slavic]] and [[Turkic expansion]]. Some remnants of the eastern groups have survived as modern [[Pashto language|Pashto]] and [[Pamiri languages]] in Central Asia. The western (Sarmatian) group of ancient Scythian survived as the medieval language of the [[Alans]] and eventually gave rise to the modern [[Ossetian language]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6jmziooEk0C&pg=PA707#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Phonologies of Asia and Africa: Including the Caucasus |editor=Alan S. Kaye |first=David |last=Testen |chapter=Chapter 35: Ossetic Phonology |isbn=978-1-57506-019-4 |page=707 |access-date=2016-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327013851/https://books.google.com/books?id=T6jmziooEk0C&pg=PA707#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=2017-03-27 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref>
Evidence of the Middle Iranian "Scytho-Khotanese" language survives in [[Northwest China]], where Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to [[Buddhist literature]], have been found primarily in Khotan and [[Tumxuk|Tumshuq]] (northeast of Kashgar).<ref name="bailey 1996 pp1231-1235" /> They largely [[Islamicisation and Turkicisation of Xinjiang|predate the arrival of Islam]] to the region under the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] [[Kara-Khanid Khanate|Kara-Khanids]].<ref name="bailey 1996 pp1231-1235">Bailey, H.W. (1996) "Khotanese Saka Literature", in Ehsan Yarshater (ed), ''The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods'', Part 2 (reprint edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 1231–1235.</ref> Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language [[Dunhuang manuscripts|were found in Dunhuang]] and date mostly from the 10th century.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://history.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/VH%20BAI%20paper%2009.pdf |title=The Tribute Trade with Khotan in Light of Materials Found at the Dunhuang Library Cave |first=Valerie |last=Hansen |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |volume=19 |date=2005 |pages=37–46 |access-date=2016-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031701/http://history.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/VH%20BAI%20paper%2009.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref>-->
== Apariencia física ==
Los primeros análisis físicos han concluido unánimemente que los escitas, incluso aquellos del este (como por ejemplo en la región de Pazyryk), poseían predominantemente rasgos «európidos», aunque aparecen también mezclas con fenotipos «euro-mongoloides», dependiendo del lugar y el período.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBydRHyHN10C&pg=PA45 |title=Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen |author=Сергей Иванович Руденко (Sergei I. Rudenko) |pages=45–46 |isbn=978-0-520-01395-7 |date=1970 |publisher=University of California Press |access-date=25-9-2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327014017/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBydRHyHN10C&pg=PA45 |archive-date=27-3-2017 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref>
<!--In artworks, the Scythians are portrayed exhibiting European traits.<ref name="Day55">{{harvnb|Day|2001|pp=55–57}}</ref> In [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]], the 5th-century Greek historian [[Herodotus]] describes the [[Budini]] of Scythia as [[red hair|red-haired]] and grey-eyed.<ref name="Day55" /> In the 5th century BC, Greek physician [[Hippocrates]] argued that the Scythians have purron (ruddy) skin.<ref name="Day55" /><ref>Deaera, aquis, locis 20.17</ref> In the 3rd century BC, the Greek poet [[Callimachus]] described the Arismapes ([[Arimaspi]]) of Scythia as fair-haired.<ref name="Day55" /><ref>Callimachus. Hymn to Delos. 291</ref> The 2nd century BC [[Han China|Han Chinese]] envoy [[Zhang Qian]] described the Sai ([[Saka]]) as having yellow (probably meaning hazel or green), and blue eyes.<ref name="Day55" /> In [[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]], the 1st century AD Roman author [[Pliny the Elder]] characterises the [[Seres]], sometimes identified as Iranians or [[Tocharians]], as red-haired and blue-eyed.<ref name="Day55" /><ref>Pliny. Naturalis Historia. 6. 88</ref> In the late 2nd century AD, the [[Christian theology|Christian theologian]] [[Clement of Alexandria]] says that the Scythians were fair-haired.<ref name="Day55" /><ref>Clemen. Paedagogus 3. 3. 24</ref> The 2nd century Greek philosopher [[Polemon of Laodicea|Polemon]] includes the Scythians among the northern peoples characterised by red hair and blue-grey eyes.<ref name="Day55" /> In the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD, the Greek physician [[Galen]] declares that Sarmatians, Scythians and other northern peoples have reddish hair.<ref name="Day55" /><ref>Galen. De temperamentis 2. 5</ref> The fourth-century Roman historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] wrote that the Alans, a people closely related to the Scythians, were tall, [[blond]] and light-eyed.<ref>[[Ammianus Marcellinus]]. [[Roman History]]. [[wikisource:Roman History/Book XXXI#II|Book XXXI. II. 21]]. "Proceri autem Halani paene sunt omnes et pulchri, crinibus mediocriter flavis, oculorum temperata torvitate terribiles et armorum levitate veloces."</ref> The 4th century [[bishop]] of [[Nyssa (Cappadocia)|Nyssa]] [[Gregory of Nyssa]] wrote that the Scythians were fair skinned and [[blond]] haired.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ok7RjwzpmeEC Gregory of Nyssa. Against Eunomius. 2. 12]</ref> The 5th-century physician [[Adamantius]], who often follow Polemon, describes the Scythians are fair-haired.<ref name="Day55" /><ref>Adamantius. Physiognomica. 2. 37</ref> It is possible that the later physical descriptions by Adamantius and Gregory of Scythians refer to [[Germanic peoples|East Germanic tribes]], as the latter were frequently referred to as "Scythians" in Roman sources at that time.-->
== Historiografía ==
=== Heródoto ===
[[Archivo:Aiud History Museum 2011 - Scythian Items.JPG|thumb|Artefactos escitas originarios de los yacimientos en [[Transilvania]], expuestos en el [[Museo de Historia de Aiud]], [[Aiud]], [[Rumanía]]]]
Herodoto escribió sobre una ciudad enorme, [[Gelonus]], en la parte norte de Escitia,<ref>Herodoto 4.108 trad. Rawlinson.</ref> quizás un lugar cerca de la moderna [[Bilsk, Kotelva Raion]], [[Ucrania]].<!--:
:The Budini are a large and powerful nation: they have all deep blue eyes, and bright red hair. There is a city in their territory, called Gelonus, which is surrounded with a lofty wall, thirty furlongs ({{lang|grc|τριήκοντα σταδίων}} = c. 5.5 km) each way, built entirely of wood. All the houses in the place and all the temples are of the same material. Here are temples built in honour of the Grecian gods, and adorned after the Greek fashion with images, altars, and shrines, all in wood. There is even a festival, held every third year in honour of Bacchus, at which the natives fall into the Bacchic fury. For the fact is that the Geloni were anciently Greeks, who, being driven out of the factories along the coast, fled to the Budini and took up their abode with them. They still speak a language half Greek, half Scythian.
Herodotus and other classical historians listed quite a number of tribes who lived near the Scythians, and presumably shared the same general milieu and nomadic steppe culture, often called "Scythian culture", even though scholars may have difficulties in determining their exact relationship to the "linguistic Scythians". A partial list of these tribes includes the [[Agathyrsi]], [[Geloni]], [[Budini]], and [[Neuri]].
Herodotus presented four different versions of Scythian origins:
# Firstly (4.7), the Scythians' legend about themselves, which portrays the first Scythian king, Targitaus, as the child of the sky-god and of a daughter of the [[Dnieper]]. Targitaus allegedly lived a thousand years before the failed Persian invasion of Scythia, or around 1500 BC. He had three sons, before whom fell from the sky a set of four golden implements – a plough, a yoke, a cup and a battle-axe. Only the youngest son succeeded in touching the golden implements without them bursting with fire, and this son's descendants, called by Herodotus the "Royal Scythians", continued to guard them.
# Secondly (4.8), a legend told by the [[Pontic Greeks]] featuring Scythes, the first king of the Scythians, as a child of [[Hercules]] and [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]].
# Thirdly (4.11), in the version which Herodotus said he believed most, the Scythians came from a more southern part of Central Asia, until a war with the [[Massagetae]] (a powerful tribe of steppe nomads who lived just northeast of [[Persia]]) forced them westward.
# Finally (4.13), a legend which Herodotus attributed to the Greek bard [[Aristeas]], who claimed to have got himself into such a Bachanalian fury that he ran all the way northeast across Scythia and further. According to this, the Scythians originally lived south of the [[Urals|Rhipaean mountains]], until they got into a conflict with a tribe called the [[Issedones]], pressed in their turn by the [[Cyclops|Cyclopes]]; and so the Scythians decided to migrate westwards.
[[Persian people|Persians]] and other peoples in Asia referred to the Scythians living in Asia as [[Saka]]s. [[Herodotus]] (IV.64) describes them as Scythians, although they figure under a different name:
{{quote|The Sacae, or Scyths, were clad in trousers, and had on their heads tall stiff caps rising to a point. They bore the bow of their country and the dagger; besides which they carried the battle-axe, or ''[[sagaris]]''. They were in truth Amyrgian (Western) Scythians, but the Persians called them Sacae, since that is the name which they gave to all Scythians.}}-->
=== Estrabón ===
En el siglo I a. C., el geógrafo grecorromano [[estrabón]] dio una amplia descripción de los escitas orientales, a quienes él ubicaba en Asia central más allá de [[Bactria]] y [[Sogdiana]].<ref name="Strabo, Geography, 11.8.1">{{cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.8.1 |title=Strabo, '''''Geography''''', 11.8.1 |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |date= |accessdate=13-9-2012 }}</ref>
<!--Strabo went on to list the names of the various tribes he believed to be "Scythian",<ref name="Strabo, Geography, 11.8.1" /> and in so doing almost certainly conflated them with unrelated tribes of eastern Central Asia.
{{quote|Now the greater part of the Scythians, beginning at the Caspian Sea, are called [[Dahae|Däae]], but those who are situated more to the east than these are named [[Massagetae]] and [[Sakas|Sacae]], whereas all the rest are given the general name of Scythians, though each people is given a separate name of its own. They are all for the most part nomads. But the best known of the nomads are those who [[Kushan Empire|took away Bactriana]] from the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greeks]], I mean the [[Asii]], [[Pasiani]], [[Bactria#Daxia, Tukhara & Tokharistan|Tochari]], and [[sacaraucae|Sacarauli]], who originally came from the [[Dayuan|country on the other side]] of the [[Syr Darya|Iaxartes River]] that adjoins that of the Sacae and the [[Sogdia]]ni and was occupied by the Sacae. And as for the Däae, some of them are called [[Aparni]], some [[Xanthii]], and some [[Pissuri]]. Now of these the Aparni are situated closest to [[Hyrcania]] and the part of the sea that borders on it, but the remainder extend even as far as the country that stretches parallel to [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]].
Between them and Hyrcania and [[Parthia]] and extending as far as the Arians is a [[Karakum Desert|great waterless desert]], which they traversed by long marches and then overran Hyrcania, [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nesaea]], and the plains of the Parthians. And these people agreed to [[tribute|pay tribute]], and the tribute was to allow the invaders at certain appointed times to overrun the country and carry off booty. But when the invaders overran their country more than the agreement allowed, war ensued, and in turn their quarrels were composed and new wars were begun. Such is the life of the other nomads also, who are always attacking their neighbors and then in turn settling their differences.}}
::(Strabo, ''Geography'', 11.8.1; transl. 1903 by H.C. Hamilton & W. Falconer.) <ref name="Strabo, Geography, 11.8.1" />-->
=== Fuentes indias ===
<!--[[File:Coin of Azes II.jpg|thumb|Silver coin of the [[Indo-Scythian]] King [[Azes II]] (ruled c. 35–12 BC). Note the royal tamga on the coin.]]
{{Main|Indo-Scythians}}-->
Los [[saka]]s son mencionados con frecuencia en los textos indios, incluyendo los [[Puranas]], el [[Manusmriti]], el [[Ramayana]], el [[Mahabharata]], el [[Mahabhashya]] de [[Patanjali]].
== Genética ==
Numerosas muestras de [[ADN mitocondrial]] antiguo (mtDNA) se han obtenido de restos en enterramientos de la Edad de Bronce y de Hierro en la [[estepa euroasiática]] y los bosques de [[Siberia]], los «ancestros» putativos de los escitas históricos. Comparado con el [[Haplogrupos del cromosoma Y humano|ADN-Y]], el mtDNA es más fácil de extraer y amplificar de algunos ejemplares antiguos debido a numerosas copias de mtDNA porcélula.
<!--The earliest studies could only analyze segments of mtDNA, thus providing only broad correlations of affinity to modern West Eurasian or East Eurasian populations. For example, in a 2002 study the mitochondrial DNA of Saka period male and female skeletal remains from a double inhumation [[kurgan]] at the Beral site in Kazakhstan was analysed. The two individuals were found to be not closely related. The HV1 mitochondrial sequence of the male was similar to the Anderson sequence which is most frequent in European populations. The HV1 sequence of the female suggested a greater likelihood of Asian origins.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Clisson, I. |display-authors=etal |date=2002 |title= Genetic analysis of human remains from a double inhumation in a frozen kurgan in Kazakhstan (Berel site, early 3rd century BC). |journal=International Journal of Legal Medicine |volume= 116 |pages=304–308 |pmid=12376844 |doi= 10.1007/s00414-002-0295-x }}</ref>
More recent studies have been able to type for specific [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mtDNA lineages]]. For example, a 2004 study examined the [[hypervariable region|HV1 sequence]] obtained from a male "Scytho-Siberian" at the Kizil site in the [[Altai Republic]]. It belonged to the [[haplogroup N (mtDNA)|N1a]] maternal lineage, a geographically West Eurasian lineage.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Ricaut F. |display-authors=etal | year = 2004 | title = Genetic Analysis of a Scytho-Siberian Skeleton and Its Implications for Ancient Central Asian Migrations | url = | journal = Human Biology | volume = 76 | issue = 1| pages = 109–125 | doi=10.1353/hub.2004.0025 | pmid=15222683}}</ref> Another study by the same team, again of mtDNA from two Scytho-Siberian skeletons found in the Altai Republic, showed that they had been typical males "of mixed Euro-Mongoloid origin". One of the individuals was found to carry the [[Haplogroup F (mtDNA)|F2a]] maternal lineage, and the other the [[Haplogroup D (mtDNA)|D]] lineage, both of which are characteristic of East Eurasian populations.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Ricaut, F. |display-authors=etal |date=2004 |title= Genetic Analysis and Ethnic Affinities From Two Scytho-Siberian Skeletons|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume= 123|pages=351–360 |pmid = 15022363 |doi= 10.1002/ajpa.10323}}</ref>
These early studies have been elaborated by an increasing number of studies by Russian scholars. Conclusions are (i) an early, Bronze Age mixing of both west and east Eurasian lineages, with western lineages being found far to the east, but not vice versa; (ii) an apparent reversal by Iron Age times, with an increasing presence of East Eurasian lineages in the western steppe; (iii) the possible role of migrations from the south, the Balkano-Danubian and Iranian regions, toward the steppe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9783110266306/9783110266306.93/9783110266306.93.xml |title=Human migrations in the southern region of the West Siberian Plain during the Bronze Age: Archaeological, palaeogenetic and anthropological data : Population Dynamics in Prehistory and Early History New Approaches Using Stable Isotopes and Genetics |publisher=Degruyter.com |date= |accessdate=2013-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020151317/http://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9783110266306/9783110266306.93/9783110266306.93.xml |archive-date=2013-10-20 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/74221 |title=Adelaide Research and Scholarship: Mitochondrial DNA in ancient human populations of Europe |publisher=Digital.library.adelaide.edu.au |date=2012-11-01 |accessdate=2013-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512124321/http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/74221 |archive-date=2013-05-12 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048904 |title=Tracing the Origin of the East-West Population Admixture in the Altai Region (Central Asia) |publisher=PLoS ONE |date= |accessdate=2013-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202232341/http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048904 |archive-date=2013-12-02 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref>
Ancient Y-DNA data was finally provided by Keyser ''et al'' in 2009. They studied the haplotypes and haplogroups of 26 ancient human specimens from the [[Krasnoyarsk]] area in [[Siberia]] dated from between the middle of the 2nd millennium BC and the 4th century AD (Scythian and [[Sarmatian]] timeframe). Nearly all subjects belonged to haplogroup [[Haplogroup R-M17 (Y-DNA)|R-M17]]. The authors suggest that their data shows that between the Bronze and the Iron Ages the constellation of populations known variously as Scythians, Andronovians, etc. were blue- (or green-) eyed, fair-skinned and light-haired people who might have played a role in the early development of the [[Tarim Basin]] civilisation. Moreover, this study found that they were genetically more closely related to modern populations in eastern Europe than those of central and southern Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people |work=Human Genetics |volume =126| issue = 3 |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/4462755368m322k8/?p=087abdf3edf548a4a719290f7fc84a62&pi=0 |date= September 2009|accessdate= |doi=10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0 |pages=395–410 |pmid=19449030 | last1 = Keyser | first1 = C | last2 = Bouakaze | first2 = C | last3 = Crubézy | first3 = E |display-authors=etal }}</ref> The ubiquity and dominance of the R1a Y-DNA lineage contrasted markedly with the diversity seen in the mtDNA profiles.
However, this comparison was made on the basis of what is now seen as an unsophisticated technique, [[short tandem repeats]] (STRs). Since the 2009 study by Keyser ''et al'', population and geographic specific [[SNPs]] have been discovered which can accurately distinguish between "European" R1a (''M458, Z280'') and "South Asian" R1a (''Z93'')<ref>{{cite journal |author=Horolma Pamjav, Tibor Fehér, Endre Németh, Zsolt Pádár |url=http://www.arslanmb.org/ArmenianDNAProject/PhylogeneticResolution-HG-R1a1.pdf |title=Brief communication: new Y-chromosome binary markers improve phylogenetic resolution within haplogroup R1a1 |journal=Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. |date=December 31, 2012 |volume=149 |issue=4 |pages=611–5 |pmid=23115110 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22167 |access-date=2013-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221070722/http://www.arslanmb.org/ArmenianDNAProject/PhylogeneticResolution-HG-R1a1.pdf |archive-date=2013-12-21 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref> Re-analyzing ancient Scytho-Siberian samples for these more specific subclades will clarify whether the Eurasian steppe populations had an ultimately Eastern European or EurAsian origin, or, perhaps, both. This, in turn, might also depend on which population is studied, i.e. Herodotus' European "classical" Scythians, the Central Asian ''Sakae'', or un-named nomadic groups in the far east (Altai region) who also belong to the Scythian cultural tradition.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
According to a 2017 study of mitochondrial lineages in Iron Age Black Sea Scythians, a comparison of North Pontic Region (NPR) Scythian mtDNA lineages with other ancient groups suggests close genetic affinities with representatives of the Bronze Age [[Srubna culture|Srubnaya]] population, which is in agreement with the archaeological hypothesis suggesting the Srubnaya people as the ancestors of the NPR Scythians.<ref>{{cite journal| pmc=5339713 | pmid=28266657 | doi=10.1038/srep43950 | volume=7 | title=Diverse origin of mitochondrial lineages in Iron Age Black Sea Scythians | year=2017 | journal=Sci Rep | page=43950 | last1 = Juras | first1 = A | last2 = Krzewińska | first2 = M | last3 = Nikitin | first3 = AG | last4 = Ehler | first4 = E | last5 = Chyleński | first5 = M | last6 = Łukasik | first6 = S | last7 = Krenz-Niedbała | first7 = M | last8 = Sinika | first8 = V | last9 = Piontek | first9 = J | last10 = Ivanova | first10 = S | last11 = Dabert | first11 = M | last12 = Götherström | first12 = A}}</ref>
Recently, new aDNA tests were made on various ancient samples across Eurasia, among them two from Scythian burials. This time the modern techniques of SNPs (in comparison to STRs in earlier tests) were used. The Iron Age Scythian samples from the Volga region and the European Steppes appear closely related to neither Eastern Europeans nor South and Central Asians. Based on the results both samples appear to be a link between the Iranic speaking people of South-Central Asia and both the people of the northern regions of West Asia and of Eastern Europeans. This fits with their geographic origin.<ref name=Mathieson>{{cite biorxiv |date=2015-10-10 |biorxiv=016477 |title=Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe |author1=Iain Mathieson |display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v522/n7555/full/nature14317.html |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |author=Wolfgang Haak |display-authors=etal |journal=Nature |volume=522 |pages=207–211 |date=11 June 2015 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |pmid=25731166 |pmc=5048219 |access-date=2016-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430092745/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v522/n7555/full/nature14317.html |archive-date=2016-04-30 |dead-url=no |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v522/n7555/full/nature14507.html|title=Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia|author=Morten E. Allentoft |display-authors=etal |journal=Nature|volume=522|pages=167–172|date=11 June 2015|doi=10.1038/nature14507|access-date=2016-02-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430091821/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v522/n7555/full/nature14507.html|archive-date=2016-04-30|dead-url=no|df=}}</ref>
Ancient genome-wide analysis on samples from the southern [[Ural (region)|Ural region]], East [[Kazakhstan]] and Tuva, shows that western and eastern Scythians arose independently in their respective geographic regions and during the 1st millennium BCE experienced significant population expansions with gene flow being asymmetrical from the western groups in the study to the eastern ones, rather than the reverse. Iron Age Scythians include a mixture of [[Yamnaya]] people, from the Russian Steppe, and East Asian populations, similar to the [[Han Chinese|Han]] and the [[Nganasan people|Nganasan]] (a [[Samoyedic peoples|Samoyedic]] people from northern Siberia). The East Asian admixture is pervasive across diverse present-day people from Siberia and [[Central Asia]]. Contemporary populations linked to western Iron Age Scythians can be found among diverse ethnic groups in the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia, spread across many Iranian and other [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] speaking groups. Populations with genetic similarities to eastern Scythian groups are found almost exclusively among [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] language speakers, particularly from the [[Kipchak language|Kipchak]] branch of Turkic languages. These results are consistent with gene flow across the steppe territory between [[Europe]] and [[East Asia]].<ref name=Mathieson /><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/111/13/4832.abstract|title=Direct evidence for positive selection of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation in Europeans during the last 5,000 y|author=Wilde S. Timpson |display-authors=etal |date=1 February 2014|doi=10.1073/pnas.1316513111|volume=111|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|pages=4832–4837|pmc=3977302|access-date=2017-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506102243/http://www.pnas.org/content/111/13/4832.abstract|archive-date=2017-05-06|dead-url=no|df=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14615|title=Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia|author=Unterländer M. Palstra |display-authors=etal |date=3 March 2017|doi=10.1038/ncomms14615|volume=8|journal=Nature Communications|page=14615|access-date=2017-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521090217/http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14615|archive-date=2017-05-21|dead-url=no|df=|pmc=5337992}}</ref>-->
== Legado ==
=== Uso moderno temprano ===
[[Archivo:Scythians at the Tomb of Ovid c. 1640.jpg|thumb|''Escitas en la tumba de [[Ovidio]]'' (h. 1640), por [[Johann Heinrich Schönfeld]]]]
Debido a su reputación establecida por los historiadores griegos, los escitas durante mucho tiempo sirvieron como el epítome del salvajismo y la barbarie.
<!--In the [[New Testament]], in a letter ascribed to [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] "Scythian" is used as an example of people whom some label pejoratively, but who are, in Christ, acceptable to God:
{{quote| Here there is no Greek or Jew. There is no difference between those who are circumcised and those who are not. There is no rude outsider, or even a Scythian. There is no slave or free person. But Christ is everything. And he is in everything.<ref>[[Colossians]] 3:1–11</ref>}}
[[Shakespeare]], for instance, alluded to the legend that Scythians ate their children in his play ''[[King Lear]]'':
{{quote|The barbarous '''Scythian'''<br />
Or he that makes his generation messes<br />
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom<br />¨
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,<br />
As thou my [[Cordelia|sometime daughter]].<ref>[[King Lear]] Act I, Scene i.</ref>}}
Characteristically, early modern English discourse on Ireland frequently resorted to comparisons with Scythians in order to confirm that the indigenous population of Ireland descended from these ancient "bogeymen", and showed themselves as barbaric as their alleged ancestors. [[Edmund Spenser]] wrote that
{{quote|the Chiefest [nation that settled in Ireland] I Suppose to be Scithians ... which firste inhabitinge and afterwarde stretchinge themselves forthe into the lande as theire numbers increased named it all of themselues Scuttenlande which more brieflye is Called Scuttlande or Scotlande.<ref>''A View of the Present State of Ireland'', c. 1596.</ref>}}
As proofs for this origin Spenser cites the alleged Irish customs of blood-drinking, nomadic lifestyle, the wearing of mantles and certain haircuts and
{{quote|Cryes allsoe vsed amongeste the Irishe which savor greatlye of the ''Scythyan'' Barbarisme.}}
[[William Camden]], one of Spenser's main sources, comments on this legend of origin that
{{quote|to derive descent from a Scythian stock, cannot be thought any waies dishonourable, seeing that the Scythians, as they are most ancient, so they have been the Conquerours of most Nations, themselves alwaies invincible, and never subject to the Empire of others.<ref>''Britannia'', 1586 etc., English translation 1610.</ref>}}
[[File:Бой скифов со славянами.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Romantic nationalism]]: ''Battle between the Scythians and the Slavs'' ([[Viktor Vasnetsov]], 1881)]]
The 15th-century Polish chronicler [[Jan Długosz]] was the first to connect the [[prehistory of Poland]] with Sarmatians, and the connection was taken up by other historians and chroniclers, such as [[Marcin Bielski]], [[Marcin Kromer]] and [[Maciej Miechowita]]. Other Europeans depended for their view of Polish [[Sarmatism]] on Miechowita's ''Tractatus de Duabus Sarmatiis'', a work which provided a substantial source of information about the territories and peoples of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in a language of international currency.<ref name="sarmatian review">Andrzej Wasko. [http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/497/wasko.html Sarmatism or the Enlightenment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620014006/http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/497/wasko.html |date=2009-06-20 }}: The Dilemma of Polish Culture. ''[[Sarmatian Review]]'' XVII.2.</ref>
Tradition specified that the Sarmatians themselves were descended from [[Japheth]], son of [[Noah]].<ref>[[Colin Kidd]], ''British Identities before Nationalism; Ethnicity and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 1600–1800'', Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 29</ref>
In the 17th and 18th centuries, foreigners regarded the Russians as descendants of Scythians. It became conventional to refer to Russians as Scythians in 18th-century poetry, and [[Alexander Blok]] drew on this tradition sarcastically in his last major poem, ''The Scythians'' (1920). In the 19th century, romantic revisionists in the West transformed the "[[barbarian]]" Scyths of literature into the wild and free, hardy and democratic ancestors of all blond [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]].-->
=== Pretensiones de descendientes ===
[[Archivo:Eugène Delacroix - Ovide chez les Scythes (1862).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Pintura de [[Eugène Delacroix]] del poeta romano, Ovidio, en el exilio entre los escitas<ref name=Parragon />]]
{{VT|Sarmatismo|Generaciones de Noé}}
Una serie de grupos han pretendido descender de los escitas, incluyendo los [[osetios]], [[Pueblo pastún|pastunes]] (en particular, de la tribu [[sakzai]]), el [[pueblo Jat]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Religion, Caste & Politics in India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |authorlink=Christophe Jaffrelot |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |isbn=9789380607047 |page=431 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAO3i_gS61wC&pg=PA431}}</ref> y los [[partos]] (cuyas [[tierras natales]] quedarían al este del [[mar Caspio]] y quienes se pensaba que habían llegado allí desde el norte, del Caspio). <!--Some legends of the [[Poles]],<ref name="sarmatian review" /> the [[Picts]], the [[Gaels]], the [[Hungarians]] (in particular, the [[Jassic people|Jassics]]), among others, also include mention of Scythian origins. Some writers claim that Scythians figured in the formation of the empire of the [[Medes]] and likewise of [[Caucasian Albania]].
The Scythians also feature in some national origin-legends of the [[Celts]]. In the second paragraph of the 1320 [[Declaration of Arbroath]], the élite of [[Scotland]] claim Scythia as a former homeland of the [[Scottish people|Scots]]. According to the 11th-century [[Lebor Gabála Érenn]] (''The Book of the Taking of [[Ireland]]''), the 14th-century [[Auraicept na n-Éces]] and other [[Irish folklore]], the [[Irish people|Irish]] originated in Scythia and were descendants of [[Fénius Farsaid]], a Scythian prince who created the [[Ogham]] alphabet.
The [[Carolingian]] kings of the [[Franks]] traced [[Merovingian]] ancestry to the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribe of the [[Sicambri]]. [[Gregory of Tours]] documents in his ''History of the Franks'' that when [[Clovis I|Clovis]] was baptised, he was referred to as a Sicamber with the words "Mitis depone colla, Sicamber, adora quod incendisti, incendi quod adorasti." The [[Chronicle of Fredegar]] in turn reveals that the Franks believed the Sicambri to be a tribe of Scythian or Cimmerian descent, who had changed their name to [[Franks]] in honour of their chieftain Franco in 11 BC.
Based on such accounts of Scythian founders of certain [[Germanic tribes|Germanic]] as well as Celtic tribes, British historiography in the [[British Empire]] period such as [[Sharon Turner]] in his ''[[History of the Anglo-Saxons]]'', made them the ancestors of the [[Anglo-Saxons]].
The idea was taken up in the [[British Israelism]] of [[John Wilson (historian)|John Wilson]], who adopted and promoted the idea that the "European Race, in particular the Anglo-Saxons, were descended from certain Scythian tribes, and these Scythian tribes (as many had previously stated from the Middle Ages onward) were in turn descended from the [[Ten Lost Tribes]] of Israel."<ref>Parfitt, Tudor (2003). The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth. Phoenix. p. 54.</ref> Tudor Parfitt, author of The Lost Tribes of Israel and Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, points out that the proof cited by adherents of British Israelism is "of a feeble composition even by the low standards of the genre."<ref>Parfitt, Tudor (2003). The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth. Phoenix. p. 61.</ref>-->
A algunos pueblos existentes se les atribuye un origen casi directo de los escitas, entre estos se cuentan los [[Osetia|osetas]] de [[Cáucaso|Caucasia]] e incluso los [[yázigas]] que habitan en la parte oriental de [[Hungría]], pero en el caso de los osetas parece predominar un linaje [[alano]] (ver [[Alania]]) sobre el probable linaje escita. En cuanto a los yázigas, como los [[cumanos]], hace aproximadamente un siglo que están aculturados con los [[magiares]].
Línea 288 ⟶ 482:
* [[Religión escita]]
* [[Saka (tribu)]]
<!--== Related ancient peoples ==
{{Div col}}
* [[Abii]]
* [[Agathyrsi]]
* [[Amardi]]
* [[Amyrgians]]
* [[Androphagi]]
* [[Budini]]
* [[Dahae]]
** [[Parni]] (ancestors of the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]])
* [[Gelonians]]
* [[Hamaxobii]]
* [[Huns]]
* [[Indo-Scythians]]
** [[Apracharajas]]
** [[Kambojas]]
* [[Massagetae]]
** [[Apasiacae]]
* [[Melanchlaeni]]
* [[Orthocorybantians]]
* [[Saka]]
* [[Sindi people|Sindi]]
* [[Spali]]
* [[Tapur tribe|Tapur]]
* [[Tauri]]
* [[Thyssagetae]]
{{Div col end}}
== See also ==
* [[Eurasian nomads]]
* [[Nomadic empire]]
* [[List of rulers of the pre-Achaemenid kingdoms of Iran#Scythian kingdom, c. 700–c. 530 BC|Pre-Achaemenid Scythian kings of Iran]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book |last=Anthony |first=David W. |authorlink=David W. Anthony |title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World |language= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FDqf415wqgC |date=July 26, 2010 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |location= |page= |pages= |isbn=1-4008-3110-5 |accessdate=January 18, 2015 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Baumer |first=Christoph |authorlink= |title=The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors |language= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yglkwD7pKV8C |date=December 12, 2012 |publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]] |location= |page= |pages= |isbn=1-78076-060-4 |accessdate=January 18, 2015 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |authorlink=Christopher I. Beckwith |title=Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present |language= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ue8BxLEMt4C |date=March 16, 2009 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |location= |page= |pages= |isbn=1-4008-2994-1 |accessdate=December 30, 2014 |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last1=Boardman |first1=John |last2=Edwards |first2=I. E. S. |authorlink1=John Boardman (art historian) |authorlink2=I. E. S. Edwards |date=1991 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 3. Part 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGBGauNBK8kC |location= |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page= |isbn=0-521-22717-8 |access-date=March 2, 2015 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|ref=harv|last= Bonfante|first=Larissa|title=The Barbarians of Ancient Europe: Realities and Interactions|chapter=The Scythians: Between Mobility, Tomb Architecture, and Early Urban Structures|year=2011|publisher = Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/?id=fS4XmwEEsRkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|isbn=978-0-521-19404-4}}
* {{cite book|ref=harv| last=Davis-Kimball|first= Jeannine|author-link=Jeannine Davis-Kimball |chapter=The Scythians in southeastern Europe|title=Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the early Iron Age|year = 1995|publisher =Zinat press|url=http://www.csen.org/Pubs_Sales_Reviews/Nomads/Nomad-188579-00-2.pdf |isbn=1-885979-00-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Day |first=John V. |authorlink= |title=Indo-European origins: the anthropological evidence |language= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GiQSAQAAIAAJ |date=2001 |publisher=Institute for the Study of Man |location= |page= |pages= |isbn=0-941694-75-5 |accessdate=March 2, 2015 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|ref=harv| last=Drews|first= Robert |title = Early Riders: The Beginnings of Mounted Warfare in Asia and Europe| year =
2004|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/?id=uucK7LSmkSAC&pg=PA176&dq=nomads,+r+drews#v=onepage&q=nomads%2C%20r%20drews&f=false|isbn=978-0-203-07107-6}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | article = SCYTHIANS | last = Ivantchik | first = Askold | authorlink = | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/scythians | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor-link = | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica | location = | publisher = | year = 2018 | isbn = |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book| ref=harv| last = Sinor|first=Denis| title= The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |year = 1990| publisher =Cambridge |url=https://books.google.com/?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cambridge+inner+asia| isbn=978-0-521-24304-9}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |last=Sulimirski |first=T |editor-first=Ilya |editor-last=Gershevitch |chapter=Chapter 4: The Scyths |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |volume= 2 |year=1985 |pages=149–99 |publisher=Azargoshnasp.net |url=http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/scyth1.htm}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |last=Szemerényi |first=Oswald |authorlink=Oswald Szemerényi |year=1980 |title=Four old Iranian ethnic names: Scythian – Skudra – Sogdian – Saka |location=Wien |publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; azargoshnap.net |series=Veröffentlichungen der iranischen Kommission Band 9 |url=http://www.azargoshnasp.net/history/Scythians/fouroldiranianethnicnames.pdf}}
* {{cite book |last1=Waldman |first1=Carl |last2=Mason |first2=Catherine |authorlink= |title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC |accessdate=January 16, 2015 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |location= |isbn=1-4381-2918-1 |page= |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=West |first=Barbara A. |authorlink= |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |language= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC |date=January 1, 2009 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |location= |page= |pages= |isbn=1-4381-1913-5 |accessdate=January 18, 2015 |ref=harv}}
{{refend|2}}
=== Further reading ===
{{refbegin|2}}
* Alekseev, A. Yu. ''et al.'', "Chronology of Eurasian Scythian Antiquities Born by New Archaeological and 14C Data". ''Radiocarbon'', Vol .43, No 2B, 2001, p 1085–1107.
* Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. 2002. ''Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines''. Warner Books, New York. 1st Trade printing, 2003. {{ISBN|0-446-67983-6}} (pbk).
* Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1984). ''Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Typological Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture'' (Parts I and II). [[Tbilisi State University]].
* Harmatta, J., "Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians", ''Acta Universitatis de Attila József Nominatae. Acta antique et archaeologica'' Tomus XIII. Szeged 1970, [http://www.kroraina.com/sarm/jh/ Kroraina.com]
* Humbach, Helmut & Klaus Faiss. ''Herodotus’s Scythians and Ptolemy’s Central Asia: Semasiological and Onomasiological Studies''. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2012.
* {{de icon}} Jaedtke, Wolfgang. ''Steppenkind'', Piper Verlag, Munich 2008. {{ISBN|978-3-492-25146-4}}. This novel contains detailed descriptions of the life of nomadic Scythians around 700 BC.
*Johnson, James William, "The Scythian: His Rise and Fall", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr., 1959), pp. 250–257, University of Pennsylvania Press, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2707822 JSTOR]
* {{fr icon}} Lebedynsky, Iaroslav (2001). ''Les Scythes: la civilisation nomade des steppes VIIe–IIIe siècle av. J.-C.'' Paris: Errance.
* {{fr icon}} Lebedynsky, Iaroslav (2006). ''Les Saces: les « Scythes » d'Asie, VIIIe siècle av. J.-C. – IVe siècle apr. J.-C.''. Paris: Errance, {{ISBN|2-87772-337-2}}
* Mallory, J.P. (1989). ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language Archeology and Myth''. [[Thames and Hudson]]. Chapter 2; and pages 51–53 for a quick reference.
* Newark, T. (1985). ''The Barbarians: Warriors and wars of the Dark Ages''. Blandford: New York. See pages 65, 85, 87, 119–139.
* Renfrew, C. (1988). ''Archeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European origins''. Cambridge University Press.
* Rolle, Renate, ''The world of the Scythians'', London and New York (1989).
* {{ru icon}} [[Rybakov, Boris]]. ''Paganism of Ancient Rus''. Nauka, Moscow, 1987
* Torday, Laszlo (1998). ''Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History''. Durham Academic Press. {{ISBN|1-900838-03-6}}.
{{refend}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal|pmc = 1691686|year = 2004|last1 = Lalueza-Fox|first1 = C.|title = Unravelling migrations in the steppe: Mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central Asians|journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences|volume = 271|issue = 1542|pages = 941–947|last2 = Sampietro|first2 = M. L.|last3 = Gilbert|first3 = M. T.|last4 = Castri|first4 = L.|last5 = Facchini|first5 = F.|last6 = Pettener|first6 = D.|last7 = Bertranpetit|first7 = J.|pmid = 15255049|doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.2698}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0|pmid=19449030|title=Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people|journal=Human Genetics|volume=126|issue=3|pages=395–410|year=2009|last1=Keyser|first1=Christine|last2=Bouakaze|first2=Caroline|last3=Crubézy|first3=Eric|last4=Nikolaev|first4=Valery G.|last5=Montagnon|first5=Daniel|last6=Reis|first6=Tatiana|last7=Ludes|first7=Bertrand}}
== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Russia topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Scythians]]
[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]]
[[Category:Iranian nomads]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Ancient Russia]]
[[Category:Tribes described primarily by Herodotus]]
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== Bibliografía ==
* Haag, H.; Vanden Born, A.; y Ausejo, Fr. Serafín: ''Diccionario de la Biblia''. Herder, primera edición, 2005, p. 583: «Escitas». ISBN 978-84-254-0077-3.
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