Editing Scythians (section)

===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}}