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Third Scythian Kingdom

429 BCE 225 BCE

SC CC EQ 2020  ua_skythian_k_3 / UaSky3K

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Preceding Entity:
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Succeeding Entity:
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No General Descriptions provided.

General Variables
Identity and Location
Temporal Bounds
Political and Cultural Relations
Language
Religion
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Hierarchical Complexity
Professions
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Law
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Transport Infrastructure
Special-purpose Sites
Information / Writing System
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Information / Money
Information / Postal System
Information / Measurement System
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Military use of Metals
Projectiles
Handheld weapons
Animals used in warfare
Armor
Naval technology
Economy Variables (Luxury Goods) Coding in Progress.
Religion Variables Coding in Progress.
Crisis Consequences Coding in Progress.
Power Transitions Coding in Progress.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Third Scythian Kingdom (ua_skythian_k_3) was in:
Home NGA: None

General Variables
Identity and Location
Temporal Bounds
Political and Cultural Relations
Language
Religion

Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[6,600 to 8,800] people
[-429, -225]

Inhabitants.
[1800-2400] at 150-200 per km2 for Kamyanka.
The earthwork of Kamyanka enclosed an area of 1,200 hectares. [1]
[6600-8800] at 150-200 per km2 for Gelonus.
The city of Gelonus (Belsk) was a strategic trading post "situated on the exact boundary of the steppe and forest steppe". [2] Greek pottery dates from the 5th-4th century BCE. [3] It was "located at the northern edge of the steppe in the territory of the Budini, another of the many ’Scythian nations’" was made entirely of wood and surrounded by a wooden wall. Inside were temples for Greek gods. According to Herodotus they "honour Dionysus every two years with festivals and revels. For the Geloni are by their origin Greeks, who left their trading ports to settle among the Budini; and they speak a language half Greek and Scythian." The Budini spoke a different language and were nomads not agriculturalists like the Geloni. [2] "the earthwork at Belsk which, in fact, consisted of three earthworks forming a single defensive system encircled by common ramparts, [enclosed] an area of 4,400 hectares. The site represents a considerable trade and industrial centre built in the mid-6th century B.C.; it was in existence until the end of the 4th century B.C." [4]

[1]: (Sulimirski 1985, 197) T Sulimirski. The Scyths. Ilya Gershevitch. ed. 1985. The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 2. The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[2]: (Beckwith 2009, 67) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Beckwith 2009, 68) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[4]: (Sulimirski 1985, 187) T Sulimirski. The Scyths. Ilya Gershevitch. ed. 1985. The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 2. The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Polity Territory:
500,000 km2
[-429, -225]

in squared kilometers
Between Danube and Don rivers. Contained Scythians and assimilated Cimmerians and other non-Scythian peoples. [1]
"the Scyths must have invaded Transylvania and the Hungarian Plain at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. ... soon all contact ceased between those Scyths and their kin in the Pontic lands. ... Scythian antiquities of Bessarabia and Bulgaria suggest that a new influx of Scythian elements took place around 400 B.C." [2]

[1]: (Khazanov 1978, 427) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.

[2]: (Sulimirski 1985, 191) T Sulimirski. The Scyths. Ilya Gershevitch. ed. 1985. The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 2. The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
[3 to 4]
[-429, -225]

levels.
1. Kamyanka [1] - capital/central settlement
2. Other city - e.g. Gelonus [2]
2. Other city - e.g. Olbia, Greek city run by Scythian administratiors 3. Town 4. Village
In the 4th century B.C., partly because of the Peloponnesian War, the Bosporus became Greece’s main supplier of corn and the corn trade between the Scytians and the Bosporus grew considerably. The Scythian nomadic aristocracy adopted the role of mediator in the supplying of corn to the towns of the Bosporan Kingdom and was interested in increasing the amount of grain produced in Scythia. This, evidently, was largely responsible for nomads becoming partially sedentary." Forest-steppe of Eastern Europe also a source. [3]

[1]: (Sulimirski 1985, 199) T Sulimirski. The Scyths. Ilya Gershevitch. ed. 1985. The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 2. The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[2]: (Beckwith 2009, 67) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Melukova 1990, 105) A I Melyukova. Julia Crookenden trans. The Scythians. Denis Sinor ed. 1990. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Religious Level:
-
[-429, -225]

levels.
Royal clan or lineage. "It originated from the tribe of the ’Royal Scythians’, but pretended to rule the whole of Scythia. ... The ideological background of this was provided by the notion of the divine origin of the royal power and the royal clan itself. The Scythian king was not a deity in the Frazerian sense of the term, but rather a divine king, a direct descendant of the gods who received his power from their hands (Rostovtzev 1913). A false oath to the deities of the royal hearth (i.e., lineage) was punishable by death. Herodotus (IV, 71, 72) has left us a detailed description of the funerals of Scythian kings, in which he emphasizes their spectacular character, the offering of human sacrifices, and the practice of placing precious articles into the tombs of deceased royalty. His account is supported by archaeological data." [1]

[1]: (Khazanov 1978, 437) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.


Military Level:
-
[-429, -225]

levels.
"their sociopolitical infrastructure ... was built around the person of the ruler and his comitatus, or oath-sworn guard corps, whose members numbered in the thousands." [1]

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 59) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Administrative Level:
4
[-429, -225]

levels.
1. King
Strabo claims that a King Atheas in the 4th century BCE "united all the tribes of Scythia". [1]
Throne usually passed from father to son. Kings had multiple wives. Succession conflicts occurred. [2]
"The sovereign king of Scythia was its supreme ruler and military chief, while he probably also participated in the cult practices and had judicial authority. [2]
2. Servants According to Herodotus, the Scythian king had therapontes (servants) "who usually accompanied him to the other world." [3] i.e. sacrificed?
Slaves existed employed for domestic work. Originally prisoners-of-war, most sold to the Greeks. Some were sacrificed to the gods, or killed at the death of the funeral of their masters. [3]
2. Professional administrator? The ’Acropolis’ at Kamyanka was the administrative centre "and very likely the seat of the rulers of the Late Scythian people." [4]
"During the long reign of Atheas a series of new phenomena can be observed in Scythia ... which show quite clearly that a state, although insufficiently developed, did exist amongst the Scythians." [1]
2. Council of Kings "in the sixth century B.C. there existed in Scythia a certain council composed of the kings of each of the three ’kingdoms’, and possibly other persons. This council functioned at the time of the war with Darius, though it possibly also met in less extreme circumstances." [2]
2. Kings (?) of the ruling lineage Scythians probably used the "ulus principle of the distribution of power" (using a later Turkish-Mongolian term) "This principle involved that every member of the ruling lineage had the right to rule over a specific group of nomads together with a particular tract of grazing land, as well as the right to some conquered agricultural territory." [5]
3. Clan or tribal chiefs Clan or tribal chiefs were military leaders. King of Scythia was "its paramount military chief". "There was no standing army, but the king, and possibly also wider groups of the aristocracy had their own bodyguards." [6]
4. Tribal leaders "Those in positions of tributary dependence were mostly members of Scythian agricultural tribes subdued by the nomads. ... Besides paying tribute the agriculturalists had to fulfill a number of other duties." [3]
Different Scythian groups: [7]
Royal Scythians - ruling warriors who considered other tribes their slaves
Nomad Scythians - Scythians not of the ruling clan. Pastoral nomads on grasslands mostly east of Crimea.
Husbandmen or Borysthenites
Plowing Scythians - Scythians who grew grain for export on the especially rich soils west of Crimea.
Other Scythians, part-Scythians, non-Scythians
Alazones and the Callippidae who engaged in subsistence agriculture
Neuri
Many non-Scythians were probably Thracian in origin and spoke Thracian or another non-Iranian language.

[1]: (Melukova 1990, 105) A I Melyukova. Julia Crookenden trans. The Scythians. Denis Sinor ed. 1990. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[2]: (Khazanov 1978, 437) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.

[3]: (Khazanov 1978, 433) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.

[4]: (Sulimirski 1985, 197) T Sulimirski. The Scyths. Ilya Gershevitch. ed. 1985. The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 2. The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[5]: (Khazanov 1978, 437-438) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.

[6]: (Khazanov 1978, 428) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.

[7]: (Beckwith 2009, 65) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Professions
Professional Soldier:
Present
[-429, -225]

"their sociopolitical infrastructure ... was built around the person of the ruler and his comitatus, or oath-sworn guard corps, whose members numbered in the thousands." [1]
"It is difficult to determine the exact political structure of the Scythians. At best they represented a confederacy of tribes united culturally rather than politically. Division within the Scythian domain followed not only tribal but also social lines. It is quite clear that Scythian society was organized on a tripartite basis: priests, warriors, agriculturalists. This is the ancient Indo-Iranian if not Indo-European division of human society and it places the Scythians firmly in the Indo-Iranian world." [2]

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 59) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Sinor 1969, 82)Denis Sinor. 1969 [1997]. Uralic and Altaic Series. Volume 96. Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. RoutledgeCurzon. London.


Professional Priesthood:
Present
[-429, -225]

"It is difficult to determine the exact political structure of the Scythians. At best they represented a confederacy of tribes united culturally rather than politically. Division within the Scythian domain followed not only tribal but also social lines. It is quite clear that Scythian society was organized on a tripartite basis: priests, warriors, agriculturalists. This is the ancient Indo-Iranian if not Indo-European division of human society and it places the Scythians firmly in the Indo-Iranian world." [1]

[1]: (Sinor 1969, 82)Denis Sinor. 1969 [1997]. Uralic and Altaic Series. Volume 96. Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. RoutledgeCurzon. London.


Professional Military Officer:
Present
[-429, -225]

"their sociopolitical infrastructure ... was built around the person of the ruler and his comitatus, or oath-sworn guard corps, whose members numbered in the thousands." [1]
"It is difficult to determine the exact political structure of the Scythians. At best they represented a confederacy of tribes united culturally rather than politically. Division within the Scythian domain followed not only tribal but also social lines. It is quite clear that Scythian society was organized on a tripartite basis: priests, warriors, agriculturalists. This is the ancient Indo-Iranian if not Indo-European division of human society and it places the Scythians firmly in the Indo-Iranian world." [2]

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 59) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Sinor 1969, 82)Denis Sinor. 1969 [1997]. Uralic and Altaic Series. Volume 96. Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. RoutledgeCurzon. London.


Source Of Support:
land
[-429, -225]

Scythians probably used the "ulus principle of the distribution of power" (using a later Turkish-Mongolian term) "This principle involved that every member of the ruling lineage had the right to rule over a specific group of nomads together with a particular tract of grazing land, as well as the right to some conquered agricultural territory." [1]
"An important source of revenue for the king and Scythian aristocracy was the corn trade supplying the Greek colonies of the north Black Sea area." [2]
In the 4th century B.C., partly because of the Peloponnesian War, the Bosporus became Greece’s main supplier of corn and the corn trade between the Scytians and the Bosporus grew considerably. The Scythian nomadic aristocracy adopted the role of mediator in the supplying of corn to the towns of the Bosporan Kingdom and was interested in increasing the amount of grain produced in Scythia. This, evidently, was largely responsible for nomads becoming partially sedentary." Forest-steppe of Eastern Europe also a source. [2]

[1]: (Khazanov 1978, 437-438) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.

[2]: (Melukova 1990, 105) A I Melyukova. Julia Crookenden trans. The Scythians. Denis Sinor ed. 1990. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
Present
[-429, -225]

When the Scythians imposed direct rule on the Greek city of Olbian they likely ruled from permanent buildings.
"Olbian coins with non-Greek names such as Arichos and Eminakos suggest that the Scythians replaced their Greek puppet tyrants and imposed their own administrators on the city." [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 141) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Full Time Bureaucrat:
Absent
[-429, -225]

During the long reign of Atheas a series of new phenomena can be observed in Scythia ... which show quite clearly that a state, although insufficiently developed, did exist amongst the Scythians." [1]

[1]: (Melukova 1990, 105) A I Melyukova. Julia Crookenden trans. The Scythians. Denis Sinor ed. 1990. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Full Time Bureaucrat:
Present
[-429, -225]

During the long reign of Atheas a series of new phenomena can be observed in Scythia ... which show quite clearly that a state, although insufficiently developed, did exist amongst the Scythians." [1]

[1]: (Melukova 1990, 105) A I Melyukova. Julia Crookenden trans. The Scythians. Denis Sinor ed. 1990. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Law
Professional Lawyer:
Absent
[-429, -225]

Formal Legal Code:
Uncoded
[-429, -225]

Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia, which was run directly by Scythian administrators. [1] would have had markets.

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Food Storage Site:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia, which was run directly by Scythian administrators. [1] would have had food storage sites, especially for grain which was exported.

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Communal Building:
Present
[-429, -225]

Utilitarian Public Building:
Present
[-429, -225]

In the Greek city of Olbia which was run directly by Scythian administrators [1] e.g. food storage sites.

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Symbolic Building:
Present
[-429, -225]

A new temple for Apollo Delphinios suggests that "Olbia prospered during much of the fifth century". The Greek city of Olbia was run by Scythian administrators [1] who presumably had the final decision on the construction of symbolic buildings in the city, and therefore partly responsible for them even if they were built by the Greeks for the Greeks.
"At the turn of the 5th century B.C., the ancient centre of Scythian power shifted to the south, to the region of the Dnieper bend, where the large earthwork of Kamyanka with its ’Acropolis’ became the main industrial centre and probably the seat of the rulers of Scythia of the Late Scythian period." [2]
The city of Gelonus (Belsk), "located at the northern edge of the steppe in the territory of the Budini, another of the many ’Scythian nations’" was made entirely of wood and surrounded by a wooden wall. Inside were temples for Greek gods. According to Herodotus they "honour Dionysus every two years with festivals and revels. For the Geloni are by their origin Greeks, who left their trading ports to settle among the Budini; and they speak a language half Greek and Scythian." The Budini spoke a different language and were nomads not agriculturalists like the Geloni. [3]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.

[2]: (Sulimirski 1985, 199) T Sulimirski. The Scyths. Ilya Gershevitch. ed. 1985. The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 2. The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[3]: (Beckwith 2009, 67) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Knowledge Or Information Building:
Present
[-429, -225]

In the Greek city of Olbia which was run directly by Scythian administrators the Scythians may have maintained an archive building. [1]
As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [2] For individuals to reach this high level of education there presumably must have been storage rooms for works of literature.

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.

[2]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Entertainment Building:
Present
[-429, -225]

Possibly a theatre in the Greek city of Olbia? which was run directly by Scythian administrators. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.

Entertainment Building:
Absent
[-429, -225]

Possibly a theatre in the Greek city of Olbia? which was run directly by Scythian administrators. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Special Purpose House:
Present
[-429, -225]

Scythian houses were carried around on wagons drawn by oxen. A man might have between 1-80 felt tents, depending on his wealth. [1]

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 66) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Transport Infrastructure
Road:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Port:
Present
[-429, -225]

In the Greek city of Olbia which was run directly by Scythian administrators. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Canal:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Bridge:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
Present
[-429, -225]

Metal for coinage?


Trading Emporia:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Special Purpose Site:
Present
[-429, -225]

Enclosure:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Ceremonial Site:
Present
[-429, -225]

Herodotus describes Scythian funeral ceremonies. [1]

[1]: (Sinor 1969, 83) Denis Sinor. 1969 [1997]. Uralic and Altaic Series. Volume 96. Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. RoutledgeCurzon. London.


Burial Site:
Present
[-429, -225]

Burials show "considerable property and social gradation amongst both the aristocracy and ordinary nomads which reflects the fairly complex structure of Scythian society in the 4th and beginning of the 3rd centuries B.C." [1]

[1]: (Melukova 1990, 105) A I Melyukova. Julia Crookenden trans. The Scythians. Denis Sinor ed. 1990. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Information / Writing System
Written Record:
Present
[-429, -225]

The ’Issyk inscription’ is thought to represent Scythian writing, taken from a silver bowl in a 6th-4th century barrow in Kazakhstan. It has been translated, first translated by A S Amanzholov in 1971 with corrections added by later scholars. [1] "no Scythian text has survived and efforts to determine the linguistic appurtenance of Scythian are based solely on proper names and etymologies. These do indicate, however, that the Scythians were Iranian speaking." [2] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators [3] and would at least have had records in Greek.

[1]: Османлы Исмихан Магамед. 2014. Сакско-прототюркская руноподобная надпись на серебряной чаше из иссыкского кургана Казахстана. Bulletin of National Academy of sciences of the republic of Kazakhstan. p.149

[2]: (Sinor 1969, 82) Denis Sinor. 1969 [1997]. Uralic and Altaic Series. Volume 96. Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. RoutledgeCurzon. London.

[3]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Script:
Present
[-429, -225]

The ’Issyk inscription’ is thought to represent Scythian writing, taken from a silver bowl in a 6th-4th century barrow in Kazakhstan. It has been translated, first translated by A S Amanzholov in 1971 with corrections added by later scholars. [1] "no Scythian text has survived and efforts to determine the linguistic appurtenance of Scythian are based solely on proper names and etymologies. These do indicate, however, that the Scythians were Iranian speaking." [2]

[1]: Османлы Исмихан Магамед. 2014. Сакско-прототюркская руноподобная надпись на серебряной чаше из иссыкского кургана Казахстана. Bulletin of National Academy of sciences of the republic of Kazakhstan. p.149

[2]: (Sinor 1969, 82) Denis Sinor. 1969 [1997]. Uralic and Altaic Series. Volume 96. Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. RoutledgeCurzon. London.


Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote documents on e.g. Greek medicine.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Sacred Text:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time possessed written sacred texts.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Religious Literature:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote religious works.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Practical Literature:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote latters.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Philosophy:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators [2] and it is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote documents on philosophy.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Lists Tables and Classification:
Uncoded
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia which was run directly by Scythian administrators likely used documents. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


History:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote historical works.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.

History:
Absent
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote historical works.

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Fiction:
Present
[-429, -225]

As far back as the 6th century BCE individuals within the Scythian urban agricultural population along the shores of the Black Sea who had mixed with the Greeks became literate and contributed works of literature within the Greek language. "Anacharsis the Scythian had a Greek mother and spoke and wrote in Greek." Early 6th BCE. [1] At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [2] It is not difficult to imagine that Scythian-Greeks and Greeks within the Scythian Kingdom at this time wrote poetry. "In the fifth century B.C., following an uprising of the opponents of friendly relations with the Greeks forming a kind of ’Old Scythian Guard’, king Scylas paid with his head for his Hellenophilism. But in the fourth century B.C. the ascendancy was on the side of the ’Young Scythians’ interested in maintaining economic relations with the Greeks". [3]

[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 75) Christopher I Beckwith. 2009. Empires of the Silk Road. A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.

[3]: (Khazanov 1978, 428) Anatolii M Khazanov. The Early State Among the Scythians. H J M Claessen. Peter Skalnik. ed. 1978. The Early State. Mouton Publishers. The Hague.


Calendar:
Present
[-429, -225]

At this time the Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators. [1] The administrators of the Greek city of Olbia may have used a written calendar.

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Information / Money
Token:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Precious Metal:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Paper Currency:
Absent
[-429, -225]

Indigenous Coin:
Present
[-429, -225]

Dimitur Draganov wrote a book called ’The Coinage of the Scythian Kings in the West Pontic Area’. [1] "Olbian coins with non-Greek names such as Arichos and Eminakos suggest that the Scythians replaced their Greek puppet tyrants and imposed their own administrators on the city." [2]

[1]: Dimitur Draganov. 2015. The Coinage of the Scythian Kings in the West Pontic Area. Bobokov Bros.

[2]: (Burstein 2010, 141) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Foreign Coin:
Present
[-429, -225]

"Olbian coins with non-Greek names such as Arichos and Eminakos suggest that the Scythians replaced their Greek puppet tyrants and imposed their own administrators on the city." [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 141) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Article:
Present
[-429, -225]

Debt And Credit Structure:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


General Postal Service:
Unknown
[-429, -225]

No data.


Courier:
Present
[-429, -225]

Information / Measurement System
Weight Measurement System:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators who had access to the Greek culture measurement system to use if they did not already possess their own. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Volume Measurement System:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators who had access to the Greek culture measurement system to use if they did not already possess their own. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Time Measurement System:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators who had access to the Greek culture measurement system to use if they did not already possess their own. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Length Measurement System:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators who had access to the Greek culture measurement system to use if they did not already possess their own. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Geometrical Measurement System:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators who had access to the Greek culture measurement system to use if they did not already possess their own. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.


Area Measurement System:
Present
[-429, -225]

The Greek city of Olbia was run directly by Scythian administrators who had access to the Greek culture measurement system to use if they did not already possess their own. [1]

[1]: (Burstein 2010, 142) Stanley H Burstein. The Greek Cities of the Black Sea. Konrad H Kinzi. 2010. A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Wiley-Blackwell.



Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Military use of Metals
Projectiles
Handheld weapons
Animals used in warfare
Armor
Naval technology

Economy Variables (Luxury Goods)

Power Transitions
Coding in Progress.