The Scythians have been a people, mentioned by the Greeks as early as Herodotus in his Histories and having lived with the Athenians to be their special police force in the 5th, 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.

Who were the Scythians and where did they live? How did they live and what did they do?

From Hungary, Rumania, Southern Russia into Siberia and the North-western borders of China, the remains of peoples belonging to the group called Saka (in ancient Persian) or Skuthoi (in ancient Greek) have been found:

1. all kinds of artifacts, small and portable, but often outstanding pieces of art, which reveal a great skill and artisanship,

2. leather, bone and metal artifacts, which point out that the peoples, called Scythians, were horsemen and nomads,

3. the only building structures the Scythians have left are their burial places, called Kurgans: cremation or inhumation burials with gifts, often of high value, with a low hill on top of them,

4. the burials often reveal remains of bodies preserved in the permafrost: men or women, wealthily dressed and adorned with weapons and jewellery; they are often called princes, princesses and priests, leaders of their tribe. Some of them were tattooed in their lifetime with adornments pointing out to their way of life, the things they lived for and the animals they hunted.

The group I want to create will be an academical group in which the cultural, historical and archaeological aspects and questions regarding the Scythians and the peoples they dealt with will be discussed. If you want to join, please let me know.