Editing Scythians (section)

==Economy==
The dominant tribe of the Royal Scythians originally led a transhumant warrior-pastoralist nomadic way of life<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=30}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}|{{harvnb|Dandamayev|1994|p=37}}|{{harvnb|West|2002|p=440}}|{{harvnb|Batty|2007|p=205}}}}</ref> by spending the summer northwards in the steppes and moving southwards towards the coasts in the winter.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=269}} With the integration of Scythia with the Greek colonies on the northern shore of the Black Sea, the Scythians also soon became involved in activities such as cultivating grain, fishing, trading and craftsmanship.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=32}} Although the Scythians adopted the use of [[coin]]age as a method of payment for trade with the Greeks, they never used it for their own domestic market.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=87-88}}

===Pastoralism and agriculture===
The Scythians practised [[animal husbandry]],{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=182}} and their society was highly based on nomadic [[pastoralism]],{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=153}}{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=30}}{{sfn|West|2002|p=440}} which was practised by both the sedendary and nomadic Scythian tribes, with their herds being made up of about 40% horses, 40% cattle, and 18% sheep, but no pigs, which the Scythians refused to keep in their lands.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=83}}{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=32}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=153}} Horse rearing was especially an important part of Scythian life, not only because the Scythians rode them, but also because horses were a source of food.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=30}} During the 1st millennium BC, the wet and damp climate prevailing in the Pontic Steppe constituted a propitious environment which caused grass to grow in abundance, in turn allowing the Scythians to rear large herds of horse and cattle.{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=577-578}}

Scythian pastoralism followed seasonal rhythm, moving closer to the shores of the Maeotian Sea in winter and back to the steppe in summer. The Scythians appear to have not stored food for their animals, who therefore likely foraged under the snow during winter.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=83}} The strong reliance on pastoralism itself ensured self-sufficiency,{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=30-31}} the importance of which is visible in Scythian petroglyphic art.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=31}} Hunting among the Scythians was primarily done for sport and entartainment rather than for procuring meat,{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=153}} although it was occasionally also carried out for food.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=30}}

The settlements in the valley of the Borysthenēs river especially grew wheat, millet, and barley, which grew abundantly thanks to the fertile black soil of the steppe.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=41}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=119}} This allowed the Scythians to, in addition of being principally reliant on domesticated animals, also complement their source of food with agriculture,{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=30}} and the Scythian upper classes owned large estates in which large numbers of slaves and members of the tribes subordinate to the Royal Scythians were used to till the land and rear cattle.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=93}}

===Metalworking===
{{Main|Scythian metallurgy}}
The populations of Scythia practised both metal casting and blacksmithing, with the same craftsmen usually both casting copper and bronze and forging iron.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=84}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=156}} The ores from which copper and tin were smelted were likely mined in the region of the [[Donets Ridge]], and metal might also have been imported from the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus. Iron was meanwhile smelted out of [[bog iron]] ores obtained from the swampy regions on the lower Dnipro.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=84}} The Scythians had practised goldsmithing from before their migration out of Central Asia.{{sfn|Armbruster|2009|p=187-188}} This tradition of goldsmithing continued until the times of the Pontic Scythian kingdom.{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=182}} 

The metallurgical workshops which produced the weapons and horse harnesses of the Scythians during the Early Scythian period were located in the forest steppe.{{sfn|Melyukova|1995|p=34-35}} By the Middle Scythian period, its principal centre was at a site corresponding to present-day [[Kamianka-Dniprovska|Kamianka]], where the whole process of manufacturing [[bog iron]] was carried out.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=157}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=131}} Other metals, such as copper, lead, and zinc were also smelted at Kamianka, while gold- and silversmiths also worked there.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=131}} This large-scale industrial operation consumed large amounts of timber which was obtained from the river valleys of Scythia, and metalworking might have developed at Kamianka because timber was available nearby.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=131}}

===Trade===
The Scythians exported iron, [[grain]] and slaves to the Greek colonies,{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=288}} and animal products, grain, [[Fish as food|fish]], [[honey]], [[wax]], forest products, [[Fur clothing|furs]], [[Hide (skin)|skins]], [[Lumber|wood]], horses, cattle, sheep, and slaves<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=11}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|pp=38–39}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=40}}|{{harvnb|Olkhovsky|1995|p=66}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=82}}|{{harvnb|Batty|2007|p=209}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=125}}}}</ref> to mainland Greece on both sides of the Aegean Sea.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=125}} Also sold to the Greeks by the Scythians were beavers and beaver-skins, and rare [[Fur clothing|furs]] that the Scythians had themselves bought from the populations living to their north and east such as the [[Thyssagetae]] and Iurcae of the Ural Mountains who hunted rare animals and sewed their skins into clothing.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|pp=38–39}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=86}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=125}}}}</ref> Other Scythian exports to Greece included the metallurgical production of Kamianka,{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=131}} Scythian horses,{{sfn|Kramberger|2014|p=28}} and Scythian mercenary mounted archers.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=53}}

The most important export was grain, especially [[wheat]],{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=82}} The importance of the Black Sea coast increased in the later 6th century BC following the Persian Empire's conquest of Egypt, which deprived the states of Greece proper of the Egyptian grain that they depended on.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=124}} The relations between the Scythians and the Greek colonies became more hostile in the early 5th century BC, with the Scythians destroying the Greek cities' {{translit|grc|khōrai}} and rural settlements, and therefore their grain-producing hinterlands. The resulting system saw the Greek colonies adjusting from agricultural production to trade of grain produced elsewhere.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} The Scythian monopoly over the trade of grain imported from the forest steppe to the Greek cities came to an end sometime between 435 and 400 BC, after which the Greek cities regained their independence and rebuilt their {{translit|grc|khōrai}}.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}

Beginning in the 5th century BC, the grain trade with Greece was carried out through the intermediary of the Bosporan kingdom.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=85}} As a consequence of the [[Peloponnesian War]], the Bosporan Kingdom became the main supplier of grain to Greece in the 4th century BC, which resulted in an increase of the trade of grain between the Scythians and the Bosporans.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|page=105}} The Scythian aristocracy became the main intermediary in providing grain to the Bosporan Kingdom.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|page=105}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=85}} Inscriptions from the Greek cities on the northern Black Sea coast also show that upper class Greek families also derived wealth from this trade.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=85}}

[[File:Skythian archer plate BM E135 by Epiktetos.jpg|thumb|An Attic [[Red-figure pottery|vase-painting]] of a [[Scythian archer]] (a police force in Athens) by [[Epiktetos]], 520–500 BC]]
The Scythians also sold slaves acquired from neighbouring or subordinate tribes to the Greeks.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=93}} The Greek colonies on the northern Black Sea coast were hubs of slave trafficking.{{sfn|West|2002|p=446-447}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=86-87}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=92-93}}

Beginning in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the Scythians had been importing craft goods and luxuries such as vessels, decorations made from previous metals, bronze items, personal ornaments, gold and silver vases, black burnished pottery, [[Hardstone carving|carved semi-precious and gem stones]], [[wine]]s, fabrics, [[oil]], and offensive and defensive weapons made in the workshops of Pontic Olbia or in mainland Greece, as well as pottery made by the Greeks of the Aegean islands.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1985|p=157}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=11}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=40}}|{{harvnb|Olkhovsky|1995|p=66}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}}}</ref>

The Scythians bought various Greek products, especially [[amphora|{{translit|la|amphorae}}]] of [[wine]], and the pottery such as [[oenochoe|{{translit|grc|oinokhoai}}]] and [[kylix|{{translit|grc|kylikes}}]].{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=87}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=52}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=131}} The island of Chios in the Aegean Sea produced wine to be sold to the Scythians, in exchange of which slaves from Scythia were sold in the island's very prominent slave market.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=52}} The Scythians also bought [[olive oil]], perfumes, ointments, and other luxury goods from the Greeks,{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=38-39}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=88}} such as Scythian-style objects crafted by Greek artisans.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=287-288}}

An important trade [[gold]] trade route ran through Pontic Scythia, starting from Pontic Olbia and reaching the [[Altai Mountains]] in the far east. Gold was traded from eastern Eurasia until Pontic Olbia through this route. The conquest of the north Pontic region and their imposition of a "{{translit|la|Pax Scythica}}" created the conditions of safety for traders which enabled the establishment of this route.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=157-158}} Olbian-made goods have been found on this route until the Ural Mountains.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=181}} This trade route was another significant source of revenue for the Scythian rulers.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=181}}