XXIII – SCYTHIAN – PROTO-SLAVS IN THE BALKANS – BEARERS OF THE PANNONIAN CULTU

XXIII – SCYTHIAN – PROTO-SLAVS IN THE BALKANS – BEARERS OF THE PANNONIAN CULTURE

The Balkan Scythians belonged to the Indo-European people, to the well-known Kurgan culture, developed by nomadic pastoralists in the region between the Urals and the Caspian Sea. Taming the horse and inventing the cart gave these people great mobility, which together with their aggression turned them into plunderers. According to archaeologist Gimbutas M. (Gimbutas, M.: The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe 6500-3500 BC Myth and Cult Images, Univ. of California Press, 1982), these Indo-Europeans were mobile and migrated in rhythms, in a temporal distance of 900, 700 and 500 years. The main reason for their migration was demographic expansion. Other reasons included lack of food, pressures by other nations, wars, natural disasters, droughts, floods, earthquakes and other environmental changes.

Migration of Indo-Europeans in all directions began at the end of the V millennium BC (around 4200 BC). Small waves reached Central Europe around the III millennium BC. According to a number of authors “The Times Atlas of World History” (London, 1983), the Proto-Celts settled the Lower Rhine north of present day France. The Proto-German tribes settled north of present-day Germany and Denmark. The Proto-Baltic people reached the shores of the Baltic Sea. Proto-Slavic tribes migrated in the region of southern Poland, through the Carpathians and continued traveling south until they reached the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, some continued down to Egypt. The Hittites, Luvitsi and Kari settled in Asia Minor. The last Indo-Europeans to migrate were the Arians who arrived in India in the middle of the II millennium BC and continued to move southeast all the way down to the Indus valley and the upper course of the Ganges River.

After arriving at Podunavie in the Balkans, the Proto-Slavic Scythians began to develop the Lipinski Vir, Starchevo, Porodin, Azembegovo, Dimini and other advance Neolithic Cultures. They adopted agriculture, the Danube cults of the gods of Olympus, spoke a Paleo-Balkan language and developed unique customs.

There was also a Scythian tribe called the Saki located in Central Asia. According to Senc (Senc, St.: Grčko-Hrvatski rječnik, s. 834, Kr. Zemaljska tiskara, Zagreb, 1910), the Saki were a Scythian tribe who lived in the mountains of Bactria and Sogdania to the east, in present day Mal Buhar in the western part of the Gobi Desert in Kashgar and in Mal Tibet.

The Saki were the best cavalrymen, archers and sailors in the Persian army and fought in the battles against Egypt. The Scythian Saki fought in the middle section of the front line in the battles against the Greeks in Marathon (490 BC). They were courageous fighters and penetrated deep into enemy positions and progressed towards the rear. (Herodotus, History, VI, 113, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) According to Herodotus “… the Scythian tribesmen known as the Saki wore stiff pointed hats, baggy trousers and used homemade bows. They were also armed with double edged axes called Labris. These fighters in fact were Sikhs, known as the Amirgian Saki since the Persians called all Scythians Saki. The Bactrians and Saki were commanded by Histaspo, son of Darius...” (Herodotus, History, VII, 64, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) The Scythian Saki fought in Thermopylae in the spring of 480 BC, as well as in the battle of Platea in 479 BC and against Alexander the Great in the Battle of Gaugamela on October 1, 331 BC.

The Scythian tribe known as the Amirgians was located in Asia east of the Aral Sea. According to Eliade (Eliade, M.: Histoire Des Croyances et Des Idees Religieuses, Payot, Paris 1989; history verovuvanjet and religijskih idea, s. 40, Education, Belgrade), Buddha (awake-enlightened) was the son of king Saku, a less important king of a northwestern Scythian clan in India. He was born between 624 and 448 BC and his name in Sanskrit meant “the enlightened one”. Biographers have turned Buddha into a prototype “divine man”, as for example is Jesus Christ. Buddha’s teachings were known as Buddhism. During Macedonian-Indian king Ashoka’s (274-234 BC) rule, Buddhism experienced a major expansion. Apart from India and Iran, Buddhism also spread to Tibet, Central Asia, China, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Korea and Japan.

According to Zeiler (Zeiler, J.., Les origines chretiennes dans Provinces Danublennes de l'empire Romain, Pris, 1918 / translation Nikicheviħ, K., CID, Podgorica, 2005), “Scythians centres in the Balkans were Diokleia, Lihnida, Epidamen, Naisus, Sardika and Solone. This information was provided by Zeiler in his publication entitled “Les origines chretiennes dans Provinces Danublennes de l’empire Romain” in his research describing the beginning of Christianity in the Balkans in the Danube provinces of the Roman Empire.

There was a Scythia during the Roman conquests called Scythis Minor, a province, located south of the mouth of the Danube River in the eastern part of the Balkans. Scythis Minor was separated from Moesia Inferior II during the IV century BC. Many of the Scythians cities were divided into two groups: Ionian colonies of the Milekians of the Black Sea such as Tomis, Histris, Kalatis etc. and Roman fortifications, mainly located on the Danube, such as Dorostolom, Aksiopolis, Dinogetia, Noiodunum, etc. The largest region was Scythia Minor which existed between IV and VI century AD.

There is an interesting description of a Scythian topographical name in Macedonia provided by Stefan Bizandinski (Stephanos), grammarian and author of the geographical dictionary “Entika”. In the part “About cities” (Peri Poleön), which classifies the period at the end of antiquity in Justinian time (year 527-565 AD) or, more precisely, between 528 and 535 AD, he describes Argos Orestikon (Rupushcha) located in Kostur Region in southwestern Macedonia, as located in the country of the Scythians (Argos Orestikon i en Skythiai).

According to Childe (Childe VG, The Danube in Prehistory, London, 1929), the earliest information on the Scythian name “Sakalashi” as a people, “Northern-Boreans”, was preserved in an Egyptian monument dating back to around 1400 BC. According to Mernepth (1225-1215 BC), a people known to the Egyptians as “The Northern World Wide Hordes”, were defeated in a battle at the northern border of Egypt. Also participating in this battle were the Saka-lashi. (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 227, 228, Athina, 1954.) The ethnonyms “Sake-libi” and “Sake-sini” are Arab names for Slavs. The name “Sake-libi” was mentioned in 565 AD when a detachment of 5,000 Slav soldiers, fighting on the side of the Byzantines, approached the Arabs in Syria. (Ostrogorski, G.: History Vizantije, p. 132, Education, Belgrade, since 1969.) Several years later, during Eastern Emperor Justinian II’s reign, in the year 692 AD, about 20,000 Sakelibi soldiers fled to the Arab side.

According to etymologist Mpampiniotis (Mpampiniotis, G.: Synhroni gramatiki tis koinis neas Elinikis, Athinai, p. 1635, 1967.), the ethnonym “Skiti” (Scythians) is of unknown origin. This is typical of Mpampiniotis not giving recognition to Slavic contributions. The word “Skiti” comes from the Slavic verb “da skita” meaning “to roam”. So in Slavic “Skiti” means “nomads”, “wanderers” a people who are constantly on the move. This was confirmed by Herodotus (Herodotus, History, IV, 46, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) when he said: “The Scythians did not build cities or fortresses and carried their homes with them wherever they went. They were all horsemen, armed with arrows and did not make a living from agriculture. They made their living by breeding livestock and their houses sat on top of mobile wagons. This way they were invincible and unassailable... But the Scythians had a tradition which, in my opinion, was the best in the world. Their tradition was that one could enter their country but could not exit it. Also, if anyone was in position to look for them they too would not be able to escape.” These tactics were known, in their military warfare literature, as “Scythian tactics” of warfare and were applied against Darius in 512 BC and against Napoleon and Hitler.

Regarding the Scythian existence in general, and in the Balkans, Herodotus (Herodotus, History, IV, 5, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) said: “When the Scythians talk about themselves, they say that they are the youngest people in the world...” Further on he said (Herodotus, History, IV, 7, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), “…from their first king Targitai to Darius’s campaign against them (in 512 BC), on the whole, neither less nor more, a thousand years have passed.” He continues (Herodotus, History, IV, 8, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), “Hercules, while pursuing Gerion’s cattle, slept in their country… where the Scythians now live… an island which the Hellenes called Eriteia (the Romanians today call the island Eriteia and the Serbs call Ada Kale)... his final destination was the country called Hileia (Sumadia).” (Herodotus, History, IV, 9, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) Hercules had three sons with the queen of Hileia. The youngest was named Skit…” (Herodotus, History, IV, 10, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) All subsequent Scythian kings were descendants of Hercules’s son Skit.

From all this it follows that the Proto-Slav Scythians were present in the Balkans since before 1500 BC. Furthermore, if Hercules, by Eratosthenes’s account, was born in 1261 BC, it is likely that his son Skit was born when Hercules was a mature man, i.e. around 1231 BC and that Ehidna, queen of Hileia, by then had a well-established Scythian state in the Balkans.

During the Indo-European migrations from the north, the Slavic Scythians reached the Podunavie region in the Balkans as nomadic-pastoralists. Here they became the carriers of the Lipinski Vir, Starchevo, Vincha, Porodin, Anzebegovo, Dimini and other advanced Neolithic cultures. Here they became agriculturalists, adopted the cult of the Danube gods of Olympus, spoke a so-called “Old Greek” Paleo-Balkan language and adopted different customs, arrangements and matriarchy. These people, bearers of the Neolithic Culture in Podunavie, then slowly began to move in waves towards the Aegean, Asia Minor and Italy causing the “Aegean migrations”. To others these were known as the “people of the sea”, which included the Danuni, Pelasti, Luki, Turshi, Sakalibi tribes, etc.

The natives that survive over time, along with the Scythians, created a symbiosis and Danubian Culture became the foundation for the development of Aegean culture. Herodotus (Herodotus, History, IV, 59 and 110, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) did not understand the Scythian language but translated some words such as: “Hestia in the Scythian language was called ‘Tabiti’ and Zeus was called ‘Papei’. The land ‘Api’ Apollo – was called ‘Etosir’, Aphrodite was called ‘Argimpasa’, Poseidon was called ‘Tagimasadas’, the Amazons were called ‘Oirpati’, which in Hellenic means ‘man killers’ i.e. ‘oior’ means man and ‘pata’ means to kill…”

This shows that the Scythians communicated in a language of their own. In other words, they had a language, a script and innovative skills to contribute to the formation of human history. According to Jung, father of complex psychology, language was the first element of human culture. This was also affirmed by the Apostle John in his “Word of God” Gospel (1/1), where he said: “In the beginning there was the word of God, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word”. Which means: “In the beginning it was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This was the slogan with which Constantine the Philosopher - St. Kiril and his brother Metodi preached the gospel in their sermons during their epochal missions on behalf of the Slavs and to further promote their affirmation.

The word “Sloveni” (Slavs) originated from the word “slovo” (logos) which means “word” from “Bozhie Slovo” meaning “Word of God”. The “Sloveni” are also known as the glorious people from the word “slava” (dox) which means “glory”.

There are official reports from the I and II century AD compiled by Ticitus (Tacitus, 35-117), Pliny (AD 23-79 year), Ptolemy (II century AD) and others who refer to the Slavs as the “Vendi” (Wends), “Vindi” (Winds), “Anti”, “Sloveni” (Slavs), “Slaveni”, “Venti” (Wendts), “Vineti” (Veneti), etc.

During the Middle Ages, due to hostile relations between the Slavs and the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine writers attempted to vilify the Slavs and used the word “Slaven” (Glorious) in a pejorative way by initially writing it as “Stlaven” (Stlavos) and later changing the letter “t” to the letter “c” and turning “Stlaven” into “Sclaven” (Sclavos), which literally means “slave” and then named the Slav socio-political communities to “Sklavinii”. (Mpampiniotis, G.: Synhoni gramatiki tis koinis neas Elinikis, Athinai, p. 1628, 1967.) The pinnacle of demonizing the Slavs took place during Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus’s rule (913-957 AD), when the “celebrated” Slavs became known as the “slave” Slavs. From the medieval word “sklavos” comes the Latin word “sclavus”, the French word “esclave” and the English word “slave”.

Using archeology and Herculean history alone are not enough to explain the entire Scythian historic penetration into the Balkan region. We also need to look at other methods, one of them being linguistics. Keeping in mind the old rule that place names contain “memories” of old, we can conduct epistemological linguistic research on the toponyms and other geographic onomastics in the Central Balkans. As mentioned earlier, the methods we used here are etymology and semantics from which we found that the geographic onomastics of the Central Balkans belong to the Paleo-Balkan Glossology (PBG). This is also true of the Slavic names. The PBG is preserved in the geographical names and in the so-called ancient “Greek” language. The PBG contains semantics of Slavic onomastics with various transformations in the spirit of the language.

The Horonym “Panonia” has remained the same and for that reason the entire area was called “Vojvodina” which covers Banat and Bachka, whose roots are “ba” from “basilevs” meaning king, leader (vojvoda in Slavic) hence Vojvodina. The “Hileia” region or “forested” region became known as “Shumadia” from “Shuma” meaning “forest” in Slavic. The “Pozharevachko” Field meaning burning field in Slavic is a translation of the words “Flegraion pedion” meaning a burning or burned field. The oronym Frushka Gora with Strazhilovo was similarly a translation from “frura” meaning “guard”, Ripaiön – Ripani, etc. The hydronym “Danouvios” became “Danuv” (Danube), “Styx” was persevered in “Stishko Pole” and the Mlava River remained the same. The Scythian Proto-Slavs, it appears, had accepted the “original meanings” of the Panonian hydrological system. Here we have Tisa from Tisos, Tamish or Temish from Temis, Nera from Nerevs, etc. As for the islands we have Tsiganlia from Gigantis lian, Chaklian from Kakos lian, Nestinska from Nestos, Krchedinska from Karkionos, Forko-Tumats from Forkos and Tumas, etc. Located to the south of the Balkans we have Nish, a city and a river from Dionysos, Kladovo, a city and a river from Kladön, although earlier the city was called Zanes from Zevs-Zan (Zeus). Metohia from Metehö, meaning to have, Prizren from prizö, Skopje from Skopia meaning outpost, watchtower, Shtip from Astuvos, Kostur from Keletron-skelete, Korestia from Orestia, Solun from Salonika etc. From the hydronyms we have Vardar from Axios, but what is interesting about this is that the name was adopted from a smaller river running in parallel. This river was called by the ancient name “Ehe-dör”, which means “to keep guard, to safeguard the gift”, hence the word Vardar, “dar” meaning gift. The horonym Make-donia (Macedonia) simultaneously became their ethnonym Macedonians.