Scythian religion

[8] This pantheon was a reflection of the Scythian cosmology, headed by the primeval fire which was the basic essence and the source of all creation, following which came the Earth-Mother and Sky-Father who created the gods, the latter of whom were the four custodians of the four sides of the world regulating the universe.

[25] Api was the consort of Papaios, with the two of them initially existing together into an inseparable unity[23] and their union representing the joining of opposite principles such as above and below, male and female, warmth and moisture,[25] and therefore reflecting the Indo-Iranian tradition of the marriage between Heaven and Earth as the basis for the creation of the world, - and paralleling the union between Ahurā Mazdā and the Ameshaspand Ārmaⁱti (who takes care of Earth) in the Avesta.

[23][26] The union of Api and Papaios gave birth to the "middle world," that is the air space, which is the part of the cosmos where humanity and all physical beings lived.

[23] The union of Papaios and Api gave birth to the "middle world," that is the air space, which is the part of the cosmos where humanity and all physical beings lived.

[36] The Scythian and Sarmatian "Ares" was represented by an akīnakēs sword planted upwards at the top of a tall square altar made of brushwood of which three sides were vertical and the fourth was inclined to allow access to it.

[47] Depictions of a solar god with a radiate head and riding a carriage pulled by two or four horses on numerous pieces of art found in Scythian burials from the 3rd century BC and later might have been representations of Gaiϑāsūra.

The Snake-Legged Goddess was a daughter of Api, likely through a river-god, and belonged to a younger generation of deities of "lower status" who were more actively involved in human life.

Their duality represented the contrast of death against fertility and resurrection, and were related to royalty and warrior society, which thus made them companions of Artimpasa, as depicted in the Karagodeuashkh plate.

[70] Some of the features of this myth find parallels in Indic traditions, which mention days and nights lasting six months, as well as the Mount Meru located at the northern edge of the world in a place dominated by extreme cold and ice, around which the celestial bodies revolved, where dwelt divine beings, and where was located the sources of gold-bearing rivers, with the mountain itself being inaccessible to mortals because of mountains.

[72] The worship of many of the Scythian deities were characteristic of the sedentary Thracian populations of Scythia, although the sword-cult of the god of war was a properly Iranian nomadic one.

[38] The square shape of the platform might therefore have formed a representation of Scythian religion's conceptualisation of the universe as being four-sided while the sword-idol might have been a cosmic axis which united the human and divine worlds.

[77][61] A cult centre might have existed on the middle Tyras river, where the various peoples of Scythia, such as the Scythians, the Getic tribes, and the Greek colonists, believed that Targī̆tavah-Hēraklēs had left his footprint.

[79] At Exampaios was located a large bronze cauldron, which Herodotus described as "six fingers breadth in thickness" and capable of containing the volume of six hundred amphorae.

This cauldron located at the Holy Ways was believed to be the centre of the world, and the legend of the arrowheads reflected that all Scythians had collective ownership of it.

[40][40][41] The Massagetai custom of eating the men of their tribe who had grown old might have reflected among Scythian peoples the presence of age classes, which were a distinguishing aspect of Iranian male societies.

And, like the Iranian male societies, the Bosporan thiasoi were divided into age classes, and required initiations so members could join an ideal community of alive and deceased warriors.

[107] The existence of the concept of the fārnā among the Scythic peoples is attested in multiple recorded Sarmatian names, such as Khopharnos (Χοφαρνος), Ariapharnos (Αριαφαρνος), Saitapharnēs (Σαιταφαρνης), and Pharnagos (Φαρναγος).

[110][111] Deceased Scythians were buried in wooden structures resembling log cabins, floored with dark felt, and with rooves covered with layers of larch, birch bark and moss.

A side niche on the northern wall contained another dead warrior who was equipped with a sword, spears, and a gōrytos, and who might have been the armsbearer or bodyguard of the noble buried in this kurgan.

[120] At Melitopol was located a 12 metre-deep kurgan where the central burial chamber of a noble contained a large golden gōrytos similar to the one from Chortomlyk, and both were likely made at the same workshop in one of the Greek colonies on the northern shore of the Black Sea.

[17] The Sarmatian citizens of the city of Tanais were buried along with weapons as well as with pieces of chalk and realgar which functioned as symbols of fire, while their graves were accompanied by burial constructions shaped as circular stone fences.

[123] After this, the men would ritually clean themselves in a steam bath in a small tipi-like tent made of woolen mats laid over three wooden poles.

At the centre of the tent was laid a pit containing red-hot stones on which the Scythians threw the flower buds of cannabis so as to induce intoxication.

[125] The women meanwhile ritually cleaned themselves with a paste made from the wood of cypress and cedar, ground together with frankincense, and water on a stone until it acquired a thick consistency.

This division of the universe is also attested in a passage of the Avesta, where Vərᵊθraγna shows to Zaraϑuštra the vision of a vulture in the sky, a stallion on the earth, and the Kara fish in the water.

These motifs consisted of stags (sometimes substituted by elks, moose, and rams), depicted as noble beasts in repose whose legs are tucked underneath their bodies, and which represented Tree of Life which sustained the world which was always in tension.

The other components of these motifs were snow leopard-like felines and birds of prey, which were represented competing with each other for the herbivores, thus creating an interlocking style of tension.

[9] In the western regions, the Scythians during their stay in West Asia adopted motifs such as lamassus combining the powers of humans, bulls, and eagles, and who flanked the Tree of Life.

[130] The Ancient Greeks who had established colonies on the northern shores of the Black Sea, which corresponded to the southern limits of Scythia, had adopted Scythian cultic practices and myths.

[137] The common use of arrows by Scythians also led to the practice of offering arrowhead-shaped coins as votive gifts in the cult of Apollo Iētros in the cities of the northwestern shores of the Black Sea.