Kingdoms of the Eastern Mediterranean

As the successors of the Srubna/Timber-Grave culture of southern Russia, Scythians were semi-nomadic pastoralists who occupied much of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. In this they were no different to their ancestors, Indo-Europeans whose massive outward migrations formed the Yamnaya horizon between about 3500-2500 BC (see feature link).

While the western branch of the Indo-European-speaking groups - the centum-speakers - largely headed towards Central Europe and Scandinavia, the eastern branches were much less adventurous at first, generally filling the void on the steppe. These groups, classed as Indo-Iranians, would eventually supply migratory peoples such as the Persians, Medians, and Indo-Aryans.

They also supplied the Sakas and Scythians, generally one and the same people, albeit differentiated by some ancient authors. In effect they can be divided into eastern and western steppe Indo-Iranians respectively. Both names almost certainly come from the same original word, which may mean 'knife' or 'sword' (see feature link, right).

Their land became known to the Greeks as Scythia, and that name easily outlasted the political and cultural unity (if such a thing existed) of the Scythians themselves.

The Agathyrsi (the Latin version of the name, via the Romanised Greek Agathursoi) exhibited a mixed Scythian and Geto-Thracian heritage. Their aristocracy was closely related to the main Scythian body in terms of names and customs, while the bulk of the populace were much more firmly Geto-Thracian, the dominant culture of the region in which the tribe lived.

The difference shows that a Thracian tribe or tribes had been taken over by an Indo-Iranian warrior elite. Herodotus provides support for this when he stated that the Agathyrsi were not Scythians but were closely-related to them.

Between the ninth century BC and some point around which the eighth century became the seventh, the Agathyrsi occupied areas of the Pontic steppe over to Lake Maeotis in the east (the modern Sea of Azov, at the north-eastern corner of the Black Sea - see feature link).

Their neighbours on the eastern side of the River Don were the closely-related Cimmerians. That location was extrapolated by first century AD Roman geographer, Pomponius Mela, and fourth century AD Roman historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, based on earlier Greek works.

By the time they were noted by Herodotus in the fifth century BC they were located around the source of the River Maris, in the mountainous region of ancient Dacia (the medieval Transylvania which is now in Romania). They also reached northwards into the Carpathian Mountains and eastwards into today's Moldova. The rise of the Scythian main body had seen them being forced westwards at an approximate point between 730-670 BC. Relations between the Agathyrsi and the Scythians remained understandably hostile afterwards.

Having been expelled, though, the Agathyrsi settled in what became Moldavia, Transylvania, and possibly Oltenia (western Wallachia). There this warrior elite body dominated the indigenous population, largely Thracians. By the fifth century BC they had become partially acculturated into the local Getic population and had adopted Thracian customs even while their kings generally continued to bear Indo-Iranian names.

Within another two centuries or so they had become completely absorbed into Thracian culture and language. The Getae population of which they became a part was soon to be dominated by the Dacians who themselves seem to have been heavily related to the Agathyrsi.

That name, Agathyrsi, comes from Persian and Greek records, and most notably via Herodotus. Its origin is unknown, but the root means 'to bring together, bind together'. Ramer reconstructed it as *Haxāϑrauša, with the somewhat oblique meaning of 'prospering the friend/socius'. The final part is modified into -θυρσος, referring to the composite vegetal wand of Bacchus, in Greek because the ancient Greeks associated Scythian peoples with Bacchic rites.

Edward Dawson provides clarity by stating that the name probably means 'those who joined together', a not unusual construction. Modern Germany is similarly a 'bundesrepublik', so the Agathyrsi may have been individuals who came together into a group, or a collection of tribes which did so as a confederation - entirely probable during their domination of the Pontic steppe. In both cases oaths of mutual allegiance would have been taken by all involved. The English words 'gather' and 'together' are cognates.

Generally living a luxurious lifestyle, Agathyrsi nobles were noted for their rich and extensive tattoos and their practice of dying their hair dark blue as a way of distinguishing themselves from their Thracian subjects. Tattoos were chequered, using blue-black ink, and covering faces and limbs. The more socially advanced the wearer, the more intense and intricate would be the tattoos. Agathyrsi women were especially enthusiastic about their tattoos.

European Kingdoms

Eastern Mediterranean

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