Editing Scythians (section)

== Culture and society ==
[[File:Скіфський стан на Хортиці. Кам'яна баба з Зорової Могили (cropped).jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Kurgan stelae]] of a Scythian at [[Khortytsia]], Ukraine]]
{{main|Scythian culture}}
The Scythians were a member of the broader cultures of nomadic Iranic peoples living throughout the Eurasian steppe and possessed significant commonalities with them, such as similar weapons, horse harnesses and "Animal Style" art.{{sfn|Melyukova|1995|p=34}} The Scythians were a people from the Eurasian steppe, whose conditions required them to be pastoralists, which required mobility to find natural pastures, which in turn shaped every aspect of the Scythian nomads' lives, ranging from the structure of their habitations and the style of their clothing to how they cooked.{{sfn|West|2002|p=447}} This nomadic culture depended on a self-sufficient economy whose own resources could provide for its sustainance, and whose central component was the horse, which could be used peacefully to barter for commodities and services or belligerently in a form of warfare which provided nomadic fighters superiority until the creation of firearms.{{sfn|West|2002|p=447}} Since the Scythians did not have a written language, their non-material culture can only be pieced together through writings by non-Scythian authors, parallels found among other Iranic peoples, and archaeological evidence.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}

===Language===
{{Main|Scythian languages}}
The Scythians as well as the Saka of Central Asia spoke a [[Scythian languages|group of languages]] belonging to the eastern branch of the Iranic language family.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1999a|p=501}}{{sfn|Schmitt|2018}} A specific feature of the language was the transformation of the sound /δ/ ({{IPAslink|ð}}) into {{IPAslink|l}}.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1999a|p=501}} 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>{{harvnb|Lubotsky|2002|pp=189–202}}</ref> The Scythian languages were mostly marginalised and  assimilated as a consequence of the late antiquity and early Middle Ages [[Slavic migrations to the Balkans|Slavic]] and [[Turkic expansion|Turkic]] expansions. The western (Sarmatian) group of ancient Scythian survived as the medieval language of the [[Alans]] and eventually gave rise to the modern [[Ossetian language]].{{sfn|Testen|1997|p=707}}

===Social organisation===
{{See also|Trifunctional hypothesis}}
Scythian society constited of kinship structures where clan groups formed the basis of the community{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=88}} and of political organisation.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=206}} Clan elders wielded considerable power and were able to depose kings.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=89}} As an extension of clan-based relations, a custom of blood brotherhood existed among the Scythians.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=88}}

Scythian society was stratified along class lines.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|pages=104-105}} By the 5th to 4th centuries BC, the Scythian population was stratified into five different class groups: the aristocracy, very wealthy commoners, moderately wealthy commoners, the peasantry, who were the producer class and formed the mass of the populace, and the poor.{{sfn|Melyukova|1995|p=44}} The Scythian [[aristocracy]] were an elite class dominating all aspects of Scythian life{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=135}} consisting of [[property]] owners who possessed [[Landed property|landed estates]] large enough that it sometimes took a whole day to ride around them.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=93}} These freeborn Scythian rulers used the whip as their symbol.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=94}} Their burials were the largest ones, normally including between 3 and 11 human sacrifices, and showcasing luxury grave goods.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=136}} The elite classes rewarded their dependants' loyalty through presents consisting of metal products whose manufacture was overseen by the elites themselves in the industrial centre located in the Scythian capital city at Kamianka.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=131}}

The [[commoner]]s were free but still depended to some extent on the aristocracy. They were allowed to own some property, usually a pair of oxen needed to pull a cart,{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|pp=78, 92-93}} hence why they were called {{translit|grc|oktapodes}} ({{langx|grc|οκταποδες|lit=eight-feeters}}) in Greek.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=205}} By the 4th century BC, the economic exploitation of these free commoners became the main economic policy of Scythia.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|page=105}} The burials of these commoners were largely simple, and contained simpler furnishings and fewer grave goods.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=92}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=136}} [[Serfdom|Serfs]] belonged to the poorest sections of the native populations of Scythia and were not free and did not own cattle or wagons. Stablemen and [[farmer]]s were recruited from the serf class.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=92-93}} Although Scythian society was not dependent on [[slavery]],{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=52}} the Scythian ruling class nevertheless still used a large number of slaves to till the land and tend to the cattle.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=93}} Slaves were also assigned to the production of [[dairy product]]s.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=93}}

The Scythian society was [[patriarchal]]; while women from the upper classes were free to ride horses, women from the lower classes may have not been free to do so and may have spent most of their time indoors.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=94-95}} Among the more nomadic tribes, the women and children spent most of their time indoors in the wagons.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=7}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=153}} With increased Sauromatian immigration in the late 6th century BC, among whom women held high social status,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=111}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=122}} the standing of women improved enough that they were allowed to become warriors from the Middle Scythian period.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=140}} Within Scythian priesthood there existed a group of transgender soothsayers, called the [[Enaree|{{translit|xsc-x-pontic|Anarya}}]] ({{lit|unmanly}}), who were born and lived their early lives as men, and later in their lives assumed the mannerisms and social roles role of women.{{sfn|Ustinova|1999|p=76-78}} [[Polygamy]] was practised among the Scythian upper classes, and kings had [[harem]]s in which both local women and woman who had been bought lived. Some of these women were the kings' legal wives and others were their concubines. After the deaths of Scythian men, their main wives or concubines would be killed and buried alongside them. The wives and concubines could also be passed down as inheritance.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=94-95}}

===Administrative structure===
The Scythians were organised into a tribal nomadic state with its own territorial boundaries, and comprising both pastoralist and urban elements. Such nomadic states were managed by institutions of authority presided over by the rulers of the tribes, the warrior aristocracy, and ruling dynasty.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=65}} The Scythians were monarchical, and the king of all the Scythians was the main tribal chief,{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=154}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} who was from the dominant tribe of the Royal Scythians.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=104}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} The historian and anthropologist [[Anatoly Khazanov]] has suggested that the Scythians had been ruled by the same dynasty from the time of their stay in West Asia until the end of their kingdom in the Pontic Steppe,{{sfn|Khazanov|1975|pages=191–192}} while the Scythologist Askold Ivantchik has instead proposed that the Scythians had been ruled by at least three dynasties, including that of Bartatua, that of Spargapeithes, and that of Ariapeithes.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}

The Scythians were ruled by a triple monarchy, with a high king who ruled all of the Scythian kingdom, and two younger kings who ruled in sub-regions. The kingdom composed of three kingdoms which were in turn made of ''nomes'' headed by local lords.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1985|p=154}}|{{harvnb|West|2002|p=440}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=90}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=64}}}}</ref> Ceremonies were held in each nome on a yearly basis.{{sfn|West|2002|p=449}} Such structures were also present among the ancient [[Xiongnu]] and the late nomadic [[Huns]].{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=62-64}}

The Scythians were organised into popular and warrior assemblies that limited the power of the kings.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=104}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=91}} Although the kings' powers were limited by these assemblies, royal power itself was held among the Scythians to be divinely ordained: this conception of royal power was initially foreign to Scythian culture and originated in West Asia.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|pp=154, 172}} The Scythian kings were later able to further increase their position through the concentration of economic power in their hands because of their dominance of the grain trade with the Greeks.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=91}} By the 4th century BC, the Scythian kingdom had developed into a rudimentary state after the king [[Ateas]] had united all the Scythian tribes under his personal authority.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|page=105}}

Scythian kings chose members of the royal entourage from the tribes under his authority, who were to be killed and buried along with him after his death to serve him in the afterlife. Warriors belonging to the entourage of Scythian rulers were also buried in smaller and less magnificent tombs surrounding the tombs of the rulers.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=92}}