The warlike Iranian-speaking tribes who settled in the VII century in the steppes between the Danube and the Don called themselves chipped. They entered the history of the world as Scythians, and we learn most of the information about them from the records of the first historian Herodotus. Rich material on the history, culture, life and traditions of the Scythians provides archaeological science. Let us turn to written and material sources, and tell about the most unusual rites of the Scythians.
1
Friendly blood oath
The Scythians greatly appreciated friendship, and for the sake of a friend were ready to sacrifice their lives. The most courageous and brave warriors were chosen as a twin.
The rite of fraternization was a special ritual. The Scythians, who decided to become brothers, verbally swore allegiance to each other. Then they cut a hand with a sword, and the blood was poured into a bowl of wine. Drinking this drink, the Scythians became twinning for life.
Weapons exchange was also part of the oath ritual. An older tradition is the oath of fire. Echoes of an ancient ritual have been preserved in the Ossetian language, because in Ossetian twinning it is «rdkhord, which literally translates as “eaten fire”.
2
Military customs
In battle, the Scythians were ruthless to their enemies. Scyth, the first time killing an enemy, was to drink his blood.
After the battle, the soldiers gave the king the heads of the enemies they killed, thereby proving their valor. According to the number of enemies killed, production was also shared. Those soldiers who could not kill the enemy did not participate in the division of booty and did not participate in the victorious feast.
Scalps were removed from the dead and hung on a horse's bridle. Cloaks were made from the skin of the killed enemies. Quivers covered the skin of the enemy’s right hand, and bowls were made from the skull of the most hated enemy.
3
Scythian Shrines
The Scythians had their own pantheon of gods. But the steppe people did not build cities and temples.
Tabithi, the guardian of the hearth, was considered the supreme deity, therefore fire was worshiped like a deity. Scythians interpreted her name “Flaming”. Ares was the god of war, and altars were erected in his honor in any district.
A high mountain of brushwood poured on a flat platform, and a flat platform was placed upstairs on which an ancient sword was placed. Akinak, the so-called short Scythian sword, was the embodiment of Ares, who was worshiped and sacrificed.
4
Sacrifice
The highest worship of the deity was sacrifice. Horses and bulls were sacrificed to the gods.
The front legs tied the bull or horses, and the man standing behind pulled the rope so that the animal fell and bowed its head. The priest at the same time praised the deity, and strangled the victim. To do this, he had a special rope loop at the end of the stick.
The skin was removed from the animal, and the meat was cooked in a cauldron. After that, everyone started a meal, and the first pieces of meat and entrails were scattered on the ground in honor of the gods.
5
The Adoration of Areus
Separately, sacrifices were made to the god of war Areus. Every year, at the sanctuary from the mound of brushwood with a sword, the Scythians sacrificed horses, goats, and sheep to the deity. Bulls were never taken as a sacrifice to Areus.
Only this deity made human sacrifices. Of the hundreds of prisoners, one was chosen, and they brought him to the altar. The prisoner was stabbed, and blood was lowered into a special vessel. The blood of the captive enemy was watered in front of the sword.
Then the victim’s right hand was chopped off, tossing it up. She remained lying where she fell. And also the body remained in the position when it was stabbed.
6
Call for help
The Scythians had a peculiar tradition of asking for help. When the Scythian needed helpers in some business, he stabbed the bull.
He removed the skin from the killed animal, and cooked meat in a large cauldron. After that, he spread the skin and sat on it, and set a cauldron with meat in front of him. All who agreed to help, stood on the skin and ate cooked refreshments.
After eating meat, everyone who participated in the ritual went to perform a difficult task under the leadership of a Scythian who killed a bull. Some Iranian-speaking peoples have even retained the saying "sit on the skin", which means "look for helpers."
7
King's disease
When the Scythian king falls ill, he invites fortunetellers to his tent. They begin to conjure at the hearth to find out who caused the ruler’s illness.
Fortune telling was done by shifting the rods in front of the burning hearth. After the ritual, fortunetellers call the name of a person who vowed the health of the king, but did not keep his oath.
The guilty person is brought to the king, and they invite another group of fortunetellers. They repeat the ceremony, and if the guilt is confirmed, he will be executed. If the guilt is not confirmed, then kill the first group of fortunetellers.
Be sure to also look at most-beauty.ru fascinating material about five unusual pagan rites of the Slavs.
8
King's funeral
The funeral of the ruler was arranged with a special ritual. The body of the deceased king was covered with wax, and the insides were filled with saffron and other fragrant herbs.
Then he was put on a cart and taken to all villages that obeyed the deceased ruler. Relatives, as well as relatives of the tsar, cut off hair in a sign of grief, inflicted wounds on the face, and the soldiers pierced the palm of their left hand with an arrow. At the meeting of the funeral procession, the inhabitants of the settlements arranged for crying, treated them to dishes of relatives and relatives of the king.
On the fortieth day the king was buried in a rectangular grave. They killed his wife, butler, servants, so that they serve the ruler in the next world. Weapons, jewelry, and precious utensils were put in the grave. A large barrow was poured over the grave.
About the most unusual ancient burials in the world, read the most-beauty.ru interesting article.
9
Rite of passage
From birth, the boys were preparing future soldiers, for which they put an arrow in the cradle. Growing up, the young man himself had to pull the bowstring on the bow, and in the first battle to drink the blood of the killed enemy.
But there was a special rite of initiation, in which young men became men. For the ritual, a special construction was made of wooden stakes, which were covered with bull skins. A heated stone was placed in the middle of such a tent.
The initiates went inside, and the priest threw hemp seeds on the hot stones. Under the influence of vapors, the youths entered a trance and, thus, the Scythian youth turned into a predatory, merciless beast.
10
Peace making
The ritual of concluding a peace treaty is also interesting among Scythian tribes. The Scythians did not have a written language, because the world, like friendship, was sealed with blood.
Blood is pumped into a bowl of wine, and a sword, spear, arrow and ax are dipped into this liquid. After this, the cup of wine and blood is drunk. At the same time, praise is given to the main deity Papaya and the female goddess named Tabiti.
Daddy offer a prayer that granted victory. Tabiti is the goddess of the female hearth, and the home hearth symbolizes the transition to a peaceful life. Arabs also used blood to make peace, pouring seven stones on her.
11
Pictographic letter
The Scythians did not have a written language, and therefore they communicated with peoples, and especially enemies, with the help of images.
Herodotus reports how the Scythians answered the call of the Persian king Darius to go to battle with him. The Scythian king Idanfirs sent Darius unusual gifts, inviting the conqueror to unravel the meaning of the message. Darius was mistaken, and almost all of his soldiers died, and the Persian king himself shamefully fled from Scythia.
The Scythians sent a frog, a bird, a mouse, and sharp arrows. This meant that if you Persians did not hide in the sky like birds, did not hide in swamps like frogs and did not run away like mice, then you would die from our arrows.
12
Lunch at a halt
At the halt, it was necessary to warm up and cook food. There is no firewood in the steppe, and therefore, to make a bonfire, the Scythians killed the bull.
The meat of the animal was separated from the bones, and the stomach was taken out. The bones were used as firewood, previously dousing them with fat. A bull’s stomach was filled with water, and meat was put into the water.
In this way, food was cooked, and warmed in the night steppe by a fire laid out from the bones of a slaughtered animal. The blood of the animal was poured around the campfire, giving Tabitha praise for the food given. The food left after the meal was taken with them, laying pieces of meat under the saddle.
Conclusion
Of course, many of the customs and rituals of Scythian tribes amaze a resident of the present with their unusualness, and sometimes cruelty. Summing up, we note that the Scythians left behind a rich culture. In the Middle Ages, among the other East European peoples, the Scythians were also called the Eastern Slavs, which gave rise to a hypothesis - some Scythian tribes are direct ancestors of the Slavs. After all, the Slavic tribes also had a cult of the God of war, and in the Russian language there are many borrowings from Iranian languages.
Article author: Valery Skiba