SCYTHIANS. 



tendants purified themfelves, not by any ablution, but by 

 the fmoke of fome hemp-feed peculiar to the country, 

 which being thrown upon burning ftones, emitted a much 

 more agreeable perfume than the frankincenfe ufed in 

 Greece, and intoxicated the company, who concluded the 

 ceremony with hideous fhrieks. This fcrved inftead of 

 wafhing, which the Scythians never praAifed ; not even 

 the women, who ufed inilead of it to anoint their bodies 

 and face with a palle, made of cyprefs, cedar, and frankin- 

 cenfe, ground upon a rough Hone, and foaked in water, 

 which pafte being taken off next day, rendered their fliins 

 clean, (hining, and fweet. 



Hitherto we have confined our chief attention to the 

 royal Scythians ; but there were other tribes or petty king- 

 doms that demand fome tranfient notice. 



The Samaritans are affirmed by Herodotus to have been 

 the offspring of the Scythians and Amazons. Thefe war- 

 like women, or as their Scythian name, Aior Patta, im- 

 ports, man-Jtayers, in their flight from the Grecians, having 

 landed near tiie precipices of the Palus Msotis belonging 

 to the free Scythians, and having been perfuaded to be 

 married to them, did in their turn prevail upon them to 

 leave that part of Scythia, where they pretended they could 

 not conveniently live with them, and to pafs into the pro- 

 vince of Sarmatia on the other fide of the Tanais. Hence, 

 our author fays, the Samaritan women retained ftill the 

 Amazonian temper and way of life, being more warhke 

 than the refl of the Scythian females, and the language of 

 the country became a corrupt Scythian, becaufe the Ama- 

 zons never could perfeftly learn that language, but taught 

 it their offspring, corrupt as themfelves fpoke it. Here it 

 chiefly was, that a virgin was unqualified for matrimony, 

 till fhe had difpatched an enemy in the field. 



The Taurians had this inhuman cuilom, that they facri- 

 ficed to a virgin all that were fhipwrecked, and all the 

 Grecians whom they caught upon their coafts. This 

 bloody offering was performed by knocking the perfon on 

 the head with a club, after many dii-e imprecations, and 

 flinging his carcafe down the hill on which their temple 

 was built, or as others told our author, by burying the 

 body, and referving only the head to be lluck on a pole. 

 Thefe Taurians pretended, that the virgin daemon whom they 

 thus worfhipped, was Iphigenia, Agamemnon's daughter. 

 They lived chiefly by war and rapine, and were very cruel 

 to thofe that fell into their hands. The Agathyrlians are 

 laid to have had their women in common, in order to link 

 the men more Itritlly together, and to prevent jealoufies, 

 and other ill effefts of matrimony. The Neurian province 

 beirg infefled with dangerous ferpents, they were at length 

 forced to leave it for that of the Budians. They obferved 

 the cuitoms of Scythia in moft particulars, only pretended 

 to greater Ikill in magic than they, and were reported to 

 be transformed into wolves for fome part of the year, after 

 which metamorphofis, they refumed their own fhape ; an 

 allegory which is fuppofed to mean no more than their 

 wearing of fl<ins with the fur outward during the cold 

 weather. The Neurians are mentioned alfo by Pliny, Mela, 

 and Steph. of Byzantium. 



The worll of all were the Androphagi, or men-eaters, 

 who obferved neither laws nor juilice, and had nothing in 

 common with the refl, but their drefs and occupation of 

 breeding cattle. The Melanchoeneans were fo called for 

 affefting to go always in black ; they followed the Scy- 

 thian cuftoms, except that they fed upon human flefh, 

 which the free Scythians did not ; nor indeed did any other 

 tribes ufe it, at leaft as common food, but only on fome 

 particular occafions. The Budians were a populous nation, 



famed for blue eyes, and red hair : in this province, above 

 all the reft, did they build them a city, and called it Ge- 

 lonus, whofe houfes and high walls were of timber, and 

 each fide of the walls was three hundred fl-idia in length ; 

 it had temples and chapels dedicated to the Grecian gods ; 

 and here they celebrated the Bacchanalia triennially. The 

 people of the province differed from thofe in the city, in 

 that the former apphed themfelves to the keeping of cattle, 

 and thefe to tillage and planting gardens, living upon the 

 produfts of them, and of their corn fields ; in a word, thefe 

 Gelonians were fo much more civilized in their manners 

 than the Budians, that they feemed quite another people. 

 They are fuppofed to have been of Greek extract, and to 

 have been in time quite blended with the Budians, who 

 were of Sarmatian origin, and contiguous to tfiem ; and 

 Herodotus obierves, that each preferved their own native lan- 

 guage. The Gelonians learned, among other things, the 

 cultom of painting their bodies from the Sarmatians, whence 

 that verfe in Virgil's Georgics, xii. v. iij. 



" Eofque demos Arabum piftofque Gelonos." 



This province abounded with otters and beavers, vfhich 

 afforded Ikins for wearing, and caftor for medicine. 



The lail two nations or tribes of the Scythians worth 

 our notice, were the Nomades, inhabiting the country on 

 the north-wefl of the Cafpian fea, and the Maflagetes on 

 the weft. For an account of the Amazons, we refer to 

 that article. The Nomades differed fo little from the royal 

 Scythians, except in this appellative, that it is needlefs to fay 

 more concerning them, than that they led a wandering life, 

 living no longer in one place than they found plenty of 

 paflure for their cattle ; which being confumed, they re- 

 moved to frefh grounds ; and, when called to the wars, 

 left their families and flocks, with their fhepherds, till 

 their return. Pliny places them on the left fide of the 

 Cafpian fea, and fays the river Panticapes parted them 

 from the Georgii. Strabo adds, that they lived in waggons 

 inftead of houfes. (See Nomades.) For an account of the 

 MafTageta:, fee Massagetes. 



The following table exhibits the names and fucceffion of 

 Scythian kings : 



Madyes was a warlike prince, and it was under his con- 

 duft that the Scythians, having driven the Cimmerians, or 

 northern Celtes, out of Europe, and purfued them into Afia, 

 invaded the country of the Medes, and held the greater part 

 of Upper Afia in fubjeftion for twenty-ejght years. As 

 Scythia did not afford a fufficient fupply of food for its nu- 

 merous inhabitants, they difcbarged the fuperfiuous multi- 

 tudes towards the more fertile fouth ; and liaving rapidly 

 pafTed into Afia, their victorious army was led into Egypt. 

 Here tiicy made fome incurfions into the land of the Plii- 

 littines ; and in this expedition they are faid to have taken 

 the city of Bethfhean from the tribe of Manaffeh, on this 

 fide of Jordan, and to have called it, after their own name, 



Scythopohs, 



