Great Scythia and superethnos Rus. H. 2
In the first part of the article Great Scythia and superethnos Rus it was noted that the Scythian state had a state-communal system. Moreover, this state was of imperial type, but not unitary, but “federative”. It was a complex hierarchical structure that included tribal communities, tribes, and tribal unions (“lands”). But, as it is known, the process of decomposition and degradation is as natural as the birth and growth of a state. The third period of the domination of the Scythians in Eurasia came to an end to the 4 century BC. er By this time, the Scythian state (its western, Black Sea part) was transformed into a hereditary class monarchy with the ruling nobility, which was under the strong influence of Greek culture. This led to the fall of the Scythian ruling elite. In 2 century BC. er Sarmatians-savromats moved from the Volga and the Don to the west, to the Black Sea region and crushed the kingdom of the Scythians. In the civilization of the North began the Sarmatian period.
Sarmatian Kingdom (400 BC - 200 AD)
Sarmatians advanced from the Urals to the Don for the Scythians around 7 c. BC er They were relatives of the Scythians - they spoke the dialect of the Scythian language, they were united by the similarity of material and spiritual culture. For a long time, Sarmatians and Scythians were peaceful neighbors, were trading, Sarmatian troops participated in the wars of the Scythians. Together they repel the invasion of the Persian hordes of Darius.
The name "Sarmatians" in one of the versions means "feminine". They bore this name because of the high role of women "Amazons" in society. This was not the case for the Mediterranean and other southern countries. In principle, an equal position with men in work, war, social and political life was characteristic of all Scythian "tribes". Women on a par with men participated in wars, were excellent riders, shooters, throwers darts. In Scythians and Sarmatians, stable pair marriages prevailed, where both man and woman had the right to divorce. Often women led the clans, tribes and territorial-political formations. So, roughly to 6-5 centuries. BC er The period of rule of the legendary queen of the Sarmatians Zarina belongs. Her capital was hail Roskanak. Another queen of the Scythians-Saks (Massagets) Tomiris in the 6 century BC. er crushed the troops of Cyrus the Great and "gave him drink of blood."
The Sarmatians made another revolution in military affairs — if the Cimmerians and the Scythians had light cavalry as the basis of the army, the Sarmatians created heavy cavalry. Their cataphracts (heavily armed horsemen) were protected by shells. The warrior and his horse were protected by scaled or plate armor. On arms was a powerful 4-4,5 m spear, longer than the Scythians sword. In battle, the Sarmatians combined tactics of Scythian horse archers with a ram attack into the enemy front armored cataphracts.
From 4 century BC. er Sarmatian era begins in stories South Russia. Although the weakened Scythian kingdom lasted for two centuries in the Black Sea region and even more in the Crimea. "The Island of Crimea" for a long time kept a fragment of the former Scythian kingdom. And the Crimean Scythia fairly quickly entered into a common political system with the Sarmatian kingdom. If originally the Crimean Scythians built the Perekopian Moat and the rampart, which separated the peninsula from the steppe, then these fortifications were completely abandoned. But in the south there was a new system of fortifications, which covered the capital of the Crimean Scythia - Naples, from a possible strike from the sea. Another part of the Scythian military-political elite retreated to Dacia, to the territory of the northern Danube region. The era of the complete domination of the Sarmatians of the South Russian steppes corresponds to the Prokhorov archaeological culture (2 BC. BC - 2 BC. E.). It is impossible to say that the Sarmatians completely exterminated and expelled the Scythians, as in the case of the Scythian-Cimmerian conflict, only the upper ruling structures were replaced. The main part of the Scythians joined the new state community.
Sarmatian kingdom united several major territorial associations. Roksalans and tongues occupied the Black Sea (between the Don and the Dnieper - Roksolans, to the west of them - between the Dnieper and the Danube - the Yazygians lived), Aorses - the Azov Sea, the lower reaches of the Don, Siraki - the Eastern Azov Sea, the Kuban, the Alans - the North Caucasus. Around the beginning of 2 c. n er Alans seized power in Sarmatia and since that time most of the region’s inhabitants began to bear their name.
It should be noted that the historian Dmitry Ilovaysky (1832 — 1920) identified Roksolan with Russia, including them as Slavs. Earlier, M. V. Lomonosov (1711 - 1765) made such an offer, he wrote that "... it is known about the Alans and Vends from the above that they are Slavic and Rossan single-tribal." The eminent historian George Vernadsky (1888-1973) put forward the hypothesis that the Roxolans, which remained in Eastern Europe in the 4th — 8th centuries. n e., became the basis of the people of the Dos (Rus), and formed the Russian Kaganate. Thus, even before the arrival of the Vikings-Rus, headed by Rurik in 862, a Russian state was created in the south, which inherited the traditions - Alan-Sarmatians and Scythians.
In addition, it must be said that Sarmatia inherited from Scythia not only the land of the steppe zone in southern Russia, although there was a “control center” there. Ancient sources report that Sarmatians inhabited the forest zone of the future Russia. Their possessions stretched far to the north, up to the tundra of the Arctic. There are many indications that Sarmatians inhabited the territory of Belarus, Central Russia. For all ancient authors, starting with Tacitus and Ptolemy, the possessions of the Sarmatians began from the Vistula and extended up to the Volga and beyond.
It should be understood that if earlier the names "Scythians" and "Sarmatians" were territorial parts of a single culture, people, then they began to be used as synonyms for the entire people of Great Scythia (and then Sarmatia).
In the Sarmatian era, the influence of the civilization of the North again increased. Sarmatians repelled the onslaught of the Roman Empire on the western frontiers and actively intervened in the affairs of the Balkan-Asia Minor region. Relatives of the Scythians - Saki-Parthians in the 3 century BC. er defeated the Seleucidic Hellenistic Empire and conquered Persia. The Northern Black Sea and Azov regions were covered with a network of cities and fortresses. South Russian steppes became the largest grain exporter to Mediterranean policy cities. This suggests that the Sarmatians, like the Scythians, were not only "nomads", they were also skilled landowners. Advances in science and metallurgy allowed to make a revolution in military affairs.
The turn of the new era was the time of the maximum power of Sarmatia. In the west, the Sarmatian possession border ran along the Vistula and the Danube, in the south, under the control of Scythian-Sarmatians, there was almost South Asia - from Persia and India to northern China. The Baltic Sea at that time was called the Scythian, or Sarmatian Sea. Proud Rome was forced to pay roksalans tribute to peace. She was paid even by the most powerful emperors — Traian and Adrian.
Scythians-Sarmatians and Russians
Alans – Sarmatians in 4 century BC. er still inhabited vast expanses of forest-steppe and steppe zones. Historical sources also have references to them in the 5-7 centuries. The material culture of the southern Russian steppes I mil. N. er also reveals continuity with respect to previous times. Archaeologists have found mounds similar to those of more ancient times, treasures. In the 7 century, archaeological cultures appear on the territory of the East European Plain, which most researchers refer to as Slavic. Russia and the Ruses replace Sarmatia-Alania and Sarmatian-Alans.
This is already enough to understand that there is a direct connection between the Slavic Russians and the Sarmatians (Alans), the continuity of the generations of the ancient civilization of the “northern barbarians”. But, we are told that most of the Alans were exterminated during the Great Migration of Peoples (as before they “destroyed” the pre-Cimmerian population, the Cimmerians, the Scythians and the Sarmatians). Part of the Alans fell into the whirlpools of the resettlement, and left its traces in Central and Western Europe, up to modern Spain and Britain (even Arthur and his knights may have been from Alan Sarmatian). The other part was entrenched in the strongholds of the North Caucasus, their descendants are considered modern Ossetians.
Where did the main part of Alan-Sarmatian go? The people, who according to the Roman author Ammianus Marcellinus, who still in the 4 century AD populated the expanses from the Danube to the Ganges. Studies by anthropologists show that the “steppe”, Scythian-Sarmatian component was of paramount importance in the formation of the modern Russian people. According to academician, historian and anthropologist, director of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences in V.N. Alekseev, 1987 — 1991, “there is no doubt that most of the population who lived in the southern Russian steppes in the middle of 1 thousand BC. er is the physical ancestors of the Eastern Slavic tribes of the Middle Ages ". A "Scythian" anthropological type, in turn, shows continuity from the time of at least the Bronze Age - III - II thousand BC. er These data were obtained on the basis of methods that allow to identify the anthropological type of not only two different nations, but also different groups within the same ethnic group. The conclusion from the above is one: modern Russians (superethnos of the Rus, which includes Great Russians, Little Russians, and White Russians, and other smaller groups) are the direct descendants of the Indo-Europeans, the Aryans of the Bronze Age, the Cimmerians, the Scythians, the Sarmatians, and the Alans.
There is nothing surprising in this. This was discussed by both ancient authors and historians of 18, the beginning of 21, centuries. This truth is not written in history books and is not recognized due to geopolitical reasons. History is written by winners. The ideological heirs of the Mediterranean, southern cultures won over the "northern barbarians" (won a number of battles, but the war continues, the "Russian question" has not yet been finally resolved).
This explains the similarity of the ancient Scythians-Skoles and modern Russians in appearance and mentality. The surviving images and descriptions of contemporaries say one thing: Scythians and Rus were distinguished by rather tall stature and strong build, fair skin, bright eyes and hair (therefore, the “Rus” is “blond, fair-haired”). They are warlike, for centuries surpassed the surrounding nations militarily. Notable for freedom, beauty and freedom of women. Sarmatians, Central Asian saks and Rusas wore the familiar “pot-like” hairstyle, or shaved their heads, leaving their mustaches and chubas, while the Black Sea Scythians had long hair and beards. Even in clothes "Sarmatian style" for a long time was popular with the Slavs. The clothes of the Scythians were not very different from those worn by the Russians almost until the 20 century. This is a long shirt, a caftan with a belt, a cape with a zipper on a chest or one shoulder, wide wide trousers or narrow pants tucked into leather boots. Scythians loved to bathe in the baths.
We know that Scythians and Sarmatians revered two of the most important religious cults - the sun and fire. The god of warriors enjoyed great respect - they worshiped the sword. The Slavorus these cults are almost completely preserved. Remember Svyatoslav and his attitude to arms, military brotherhood, we see similar views among the Scythians.
The images that have come down to us, the portraits of the Scythians convey not only the Russian anthropological type, but even the local subtypes that exist today. For example, a portrait that depicts the supposedly Parthian princess Rodogun (Rodogund) shows the look of a Russian (Great Russian) woman. The portrait of the chubby Queen Dynamics from Bosporus shows a Little Russian (Ukrainian) type of Slav. In one of the kurgans of Southern Siberia, a medallion was found with a portrait of a Caucasoid, with some “cheekiness” and “tangle” in the eyes. These are features of a part of Russian Siberians. And these finds are not one and not two.
The connection of the material culture of the medieval Chernihiv-Seversky principality with the Sarmatian epoch is clearly traced. Women's jewelry - temporal rings, in the Chernihiv region was made in the form of a spiral, and spiral-shaped jewelry, rings, bracelets were widely distributed among the Sarmatian "Amazons". Temporal rings are generally considered a typical Slavic ornament, but they are found among the Sarmatian treasures, and the most ancient belong to the Bronze Age, 2 thousand BC. er
The most important ethnographic feature is the dwelling. Judging by the archaeological excavations in the Crimean Scythia, in Scythian Naples, the late Scythians lived in good-quality stone houses with a tiled roof. The houses were with a gable roof, a vertical arrow was installed on the ridge of the roof, with heads of two horses carved out of wood on their sides, facing in different directions with muzzles. It is very reminiscent of a Russian hut with skates. In another area of the Great Scythia - Altai, they built the same houses, but from wood. Classical chopped was the main dwelling of the Scythians-Siberians. The myth of the "nomads" sits firmly in their heads, but in reality the steppe yurt, the tent - invented by the Scythians, was used only in the summer season. The Scythians were warriors, farmers and herders, and not camps "Gypsies". A good reason was needed for moving into new lands.
There is continuity in ceramics. The main type of vessels is an egg-shaped (hemispherical) pot, it has remained almost unchanged since the days of the Dnieper-Donetsk culture 5 thousand BC. er down to the middle ages. The enduring continuity of material culture, like the anthropological type, can be traced from the time of the Neolithic and Bronze to the Middle Ages. The rite of burial under the mounds can be traced from about from the turn of 4-3 thousand BC. er up to the adoption of Christianity by Rus and even somewhat later (Christianity has long won its position). In addition, burial mounds of different epochs, as a rule, were erected one next to the other, as a result whole “cities” (“fields”) of the dead arose. On some mounds “inlet” burials have been made for thousands of years! As you know, usually aliens, aliens are afraid of the burials of other nations. They can plunder, but they won't bury their dead there. The constancy and continuity of the burial rite throughout the centuries and even millennia suggests that new generations of inhabitants of the southern Russian steppes regarded their predecessors as immediate ancestors. With the change of ethnic groups, and even with a radical cultural breakdown (such as the adoption of Christianity or Islam), such constancy is in principle impossible. The same religious tradition, the funeral rite, was preserved throughout 4 thousand years. Up to the “historical” Slavan-Russian era of the early Middle Ages.
For millennia, people settled in the same places even after major political cataclysms, and settlements were restored. We see this by the example of the history of Russia of the last millennium — destroyed and burned cities and villages were quickly restored at the same place or near.
Identity we see in the social state system. The "kingdom" (empire) consisted of autonomous territorial-political unions- "lands". There were riots and a change of dynasties. The community consisted of personally free people, slavery was not characteristic of the "northern barbarians". Women and men were equal in rights, up to the girls doing military service. We see women in the army of the Rus even during the wars of Svyatoslav Igorevich. But, after baptism, manners "softened" and the girls did not have to kill enemies. Although we see how Slav women defended their cities and villages along with men in more recent times. The type of economy has a great similarity: the Scythians were not “nomads” in the conventional sense, but sedentary (albeit light to the rise) farmers and herders, in the forest zone, great importance was attached to hunting and other fisheries. They built cities, were excellent metallurgists, made a number of scientific and technical revolutions, including military ones. They successfully opposed neighboring states, delivered powerful blows to Ancient Egypt, the Hittite kingdom, the countries of Asia Minor, Assyria, Persia, the Hellenistic powers, the Roman Empire. They had a tremendous impact on the development of Indian and Chinese civilizations.
The archaeologist P. N. Schulz began the excavation of Scythian Naples in 1945, he was the head of the Tauro-Scythian expedition, he is the author of dozens of scientific publications on Scythian-Sarmatian monuments. He believed that in the character of Scythian settlements, dwellings, burial rites, in Scythian paintings, in handicrafts, particularly in dishes, wood carvings, ornaments, in clothes, “we find more and more similarities with the culture and way of life of the ancient Slavs ". The Scythian tribes played a significant role in the process of the formation of the Eastern Slavs and “the ancient Russian culture was not created at all by the Varangians or newcomers from Byzantium, as the western pseudo-scholars asserted this”. Russian culture and Russian superethnos have ancient roots that go back thousands of years. No wonder that Mikhail Lomonosov wrote that among the "ancient ancestors of the current Russian people ... the Scythians make up the last part".
The problem of the Scythian language
At present, it is generally accepted that the Scythians, like the Sarmatians, spoke the languages of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. It happens that Sarmatians, Scythians are called "Iranians". This is one of the main obstacles to the recognition of the Scythians, Sarmatians - the direct ancestors of the Russian people. Back in the 19 century, this hypothesis is firmly entrenched in the scientific world. But there are several facts that say that only another myth, created to "circumcise" the roots of Russian civilization.
1) It was announced that the "Scythian language" almost completely disappeared (although it was spoken in the vast space of Great Scythia), but by a small number of personal names, geographical names and remaining words that remained in foreign texts, this language was attributed to the Iranian group . The complete “disappearance” of the language did not prevent it from being attributed to the Iranian group.
2) The priority in the development of the "Iranian-speaking" Scythians entirely belongs to the German linguists 19 - the first half of the 20 century. At this time, German researchers vigorously argued the "primacy" of the Germans in the Indo-European world (they called it Indo-German), only the Germans had to be "true Aryans." This is the heyday of Germanic and, in general, Western “scientific thought”, which proved the priority of Western European peoples, primarily Germanic origin, and the backwardness, “wildness” of Slavs. The story was written under the "blond German beasts." This theory was adopted in Russia, as before, and the "Norman theory." Interestingly, after 1945, the works of German researchers on the subject of “Iranian-speaking” Scythians, and generally the priority of the Germans over other groups of the Indo-European family, ceased. Apparently, the political order disappeared, and the Slavs proved in deed that they were not "second-third-class people."
3) In the USSR, in the 1940-1960-s, quite successful attempts were made to refute the Iranian-speaking theory of the Scythians. But, in the years of "stagnation", "Iranian-speaking" took up. It was in that period of history that we see how “Russianness” leaves the USSR, giving way to cosmopolitanism, Western culture. Apparently, there appears an “order” for the “Norman theory,” “the Iranian-linguality of the Scythians,” the “savagery and backwardness” of the Slavs before the baptism of Russia, etc.
4) “Iranian-like” names of the Scythians that have come down to our time cannot mean that they were “Iranians.” Judging by the modern Russian names, the spaces of Russia are inhabited mainly by Greeks, Romans and Jews! Slavs - Svyatoslav, Yaroslav, Vladimirov, Svetlan, etc., a clear minority. We know that the western part of Scythia was strongly influenced by the Mediterranean (mainly Greek) culture, it became largely cosmopolitan. The Scythians of Central Asia were strongly influenced by Persia, and after the campaigns of Alexander the Great - Hellenization. Still later, the Scythian civilization accepted a significant share of the Turkic element, although it retained basic values.
5) In those words that have come down to us, we see more Indo-European roots than "Iranian" ones. For example, the Scythian word “vira” - “husband, man”, there is an analogue in “Avesta”, but there are also in ancient Rome: “vira” men, duumvirs, triumvirs. The Scythian god of storms and winds Vata has also Indo-European counterparts, Indian Vayu, Celtic Fata Morgana. Scythian "praise" does not need translation. True, even here the supporter of the Iranian-speaking Scythians came up with an answer, they say, the Slavs borrowed words from the Scythians (for example, the word "ax").
6) It turned out that the Ossetians are not direct descendants of the Alan-Sarmatians. Their direct ancestors were local people (autochthonous) who lived in the Caucasus almost from the time of the Upper Paleolithic. The Scythians took control of the Caucasus, and he was under their control for millennia. North Caucasian peoples entered into tight contacts with Scythians and Sarmatians; apparently, small groups of Scythians settled in the Caucasus and were assimilated, but left their more developed language. The Ossetian language experienced the strongest influence. But, it is interesting in that it preserved isogloss (language correspondences), completely alien to the Iranian group. The linguist V. I. Abaev found out that in the Ossetian language there are no connections with the southern Indo-European languages - Greek and Armenian. But, on the other hand, I discovered such connections with the languages of the peoples of Northern Europe and Siberia - German, Latin, Baltic (Lithuanian), and Old Siberian Tokharic. And the most interesting, Abaev discovered the connection of the Ossetian (relics of the Scythian language in the Ossetian language) with the Slavic language and they were stronger than with the languages of other Indo-European peoples. This topic is described in more detail in the works of Abaev: “Ossetian language and folklore”, “Scythian-European isoglosses”. Baev concluded that antiquity, the autochthonousness of the Scythian language in the territory of Southern Russia, and proved that the Scythian language reveals traces of deep connections primarily with the Slavic language.
7) A number of researchers - among them O. N. Trubachev, revealed that the Scythian language has powerful connections with the "Pra-Indian" language, Sanskrit. This is not surprising, the ancestors of the ancient Indians came to the valley of the Indus River, and then reached the Ganges from the territory of modern Russia, Great Scythia. No wonder one of the tribes of Scythia is Sindh. And, in its turn, Sanskrit reveals with all Slavic languages a greater similarity than with the languages of other groups of the Indo-European language family. Sanskrit was brought to India by Aryan tribes around 2 in the millennium BC. er The language of the Vedas, thanks to a tough tradition, was largely preserved to this day. The “Scythian language” is de facto preserved; it is nothing but the “Proto-Aryan language”, the language of the ancient Indian Vedas. There is even an opinion that the modern Russian language is a direct branch of this ancient Aryan language, and Sanskrit is a form of the ancient Russian (Scythian) language.
Results
It is time for modern Russia, its historical science, to stop producing, repeating stereotypes and myths born during the dictates of the Western school, which were praised by “historical peoples”, such as Jews and Germans, and left Slavs at best. We need an analogue of the German Anenerbe ("German Society for the Study of the Ancient German History and Heritage of the Ancestors"), only without mysticism, occultism, the proclamation of the superiority of one nation over others. In schools and universities, it is necessary to study the history of the fatherland in unity, since the days of the Aryan cultures of the pre-Cimmer era. At present, it is possible to establish anthropological and cultural continuity just before this era.
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