Alan Media

Bede gives a legendary account of the settlement of the Picts in Scot-land. He says that the Pictish nation put to sea from Scythia, in a few long ships; and were driven by the wind beyond Britain, to the north of Ireland. The Irish Scots refused them settlement, but sent them to Britain, and promised them assistance, if they should be opposed. The Picts went to the northern part of Britain, since the Britons possessed the southern. And because the Picts had no wives, the Irish Scots gave them these, on condition that Pictish kings should inherit the throne through their mothers a custom that prevailed in Bede's time (A.D. 731).

The paper discusses the historiographic concept that suggested the Irish (Scots) were descendants of the Scythians. This idea emerged during the Middle Ages to establish the noble and ancient ancestry of the Irish people. However, later it was employed to criticize Irish culture and depict it as barbaric. This case clearly demonstrates that historical myths can easily be turned against those who created them.

New archaeological evidence from the territory of ancient Scythia suggests that stories of the legendary Amazon warriors were not a simple myth or fantasy.

Amazons in the Scythia: new finds at the Middle Don, Southern Russia

V. I. Guliaev

It follows from the texts of the Avesta that Zarathustra belonged to the Spitama clan. itself. It is extremely interesting that the name of this clan has been preserved by the Ossetians, descendants of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes, up to the present day. This name is Sidӕ mon-t, i.e. descendants of Spitama (from the root spita "bright, white"). This fact has been brilliantly substantiated in the works of Professor V. I. Abaev. It turns out that Ossetian anthroponymy serves as confirmation of what has been said about the Scythian origin of Zarathustra.

TRANSLATED BY WALTER MAY EDITED BY JOHN COLARUSSO AND TAMIRLAN SALBIEV

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD