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Document Details : Title: Archaic Scythia Subtitle: Neither Scythia Nor Archaic? (Herodotus, Hist. 4.99.2) Author(s): HIND, John Journal: Ancient West & East Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Date: 2005 Pages: 141-145 DOI: 10.2143/AWE.4.1.3291786 Abstract : The phrase ‘Archaic Scythia’, which appears once in Herodotus and nowhere else in the Classical authors, is, so it is argued here, not a genuine term for a section of the Scythian land, but a corruption in the manuscripts from ‘Scythian shore’, a term that is known in ancient sources. It is noteworthy that Herodotus habitually uses the name, ethnic plus noun, ‘Scythian land’ (26 instances), and hardly ever (perhaps not at all, two doubtful cases) ‘Scythia’. ‘Archaic Scythia’ may be accepted as a reasonable label for an early phase of the Scythian (Pontic and North Caucasus) steppe-culture, but this passage of Herodotus should not be used to provide support for its currency in ancient historical writing. |
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