The Cimmerian Problem Re-Examined: the Evidence of the Classical Sources

Editors: Jadwiga Pstrusinska Andrew Fear Technical editor: Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fras The editors generally respect the author’s editorial choices contained in the volume. The printing of this volume would not have been possible without the financial support of the Philological Faculty and the Institute of Oriental Philology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow. The Celto-Asiatic Seminar wishes also to express its gratitude to the Jagiello­ nian University for the 1996 and 1998 research grants. The cover shows the motives of the Celtic cross and the cross on a cult pilar in the Hindukush region. ISBN: 83-7188-337-4 © Institute of Oriental Philology Jagiellonian University, Cracow KSIIJGARNIA AKADEMICKA ul. Sw. Anny 6, 31-008 Krakow tel./fax (+48 12) 43 127 43, 422 10 33 ext. 1167 e-mail: ksakadem@cicero.law.uj.edu.pi http :/www. ch.uj .edu. pl/ksiegarnia.htm 1  C ontents Preface.............................................................................................................. 5 Marzenna Czerniak-Drozdzowicz Celto-Indian parallels in a r t..................................................................... 7 Andrew Fear Solum liter a scripta m anet?...................................................................... 17 Tadeusz Majda The Celts, the Scythians, and the Turks. Parallels in the visual arts and in literature............................................................ 33 Iwona M ilewska Sandhi w sanskrycie i w jqzykach celtyckich.......................................... 61 Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined: the evidence o f the Classical sources............................................................................ 71 Marek J. Olbrycht Notes on the presence o f Iranian peoples in Europe and their Asiatic relations ........................................................................ 101 Zygmunt Pucko A cidt o f severed heads in Cracow?......................................................... 141 Jolanta Sierakowska-Dyndo Wzor ladu spolecznego w kulturze pasztunskiej i kulturach staroceltyckich........................................................................ 149 Piotr Stalmaszczyk Bibliography o f Celtic studies in Poland. Part one: culture and history................................................................... 169 Lidia Sudyka Possible traces o f the Indo-Aryan presence in the prehistoric homeland o f the C elts............................................................ W  P reface The articles collected in this volume represent some of those presented by the participants o f an interdisciplinary Celto-Asiatic Seminar established in 1995 by Jadwiga Pstrusinska (Department of Iranian Philology) at the Institute of Oriental Philology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow. The basic theme of the seminar is outlined in the paper “Why the Celto-Asiatic Seminar?”*. The fol­ lowing papers represent a wide spectrum of views, including some controver­ sial ones, not all of which support the initial hypotheses of the seminar, and which give the reader a taste of the discussion generated by the project. After the papers, there is a list of the entire programme of Seminar meetings during the four years of its existence. J. P., A. F. * [in:] Iranica Cracoviensia. Cracow Iranian Studies in memory o f Wlady- slaw Dulqba, ed. A. Krasnowolska, Krakow 1996.  Marek J. Olbrycht (Cracow) The Cimmerian problem re-examined: the evidence of the Classical sources1 1. Introduction O f all the nomadic peoples who were present in the Caspian steppes and in Western Asia in the 1st millenium B.C. none has probably caused histori­ ans and archaeologists so much trouble than the Cimmerians. The history of the Cimmerians is still being discussed and reconstructed in different ways2. The whole problem contains lots of misunderstandings mainly due to the fact that the most important source groups, i.e. literary and archaeological evidences, have been examined on the basis of some aprioric assumptions not all of which are immidiately obvious. In the following paper an attempt will be made to discuss the prob­ lem of the Cimmerian presence in Southeastern Europe and related aspects as seen in the light of Classical testimonies. One of these questions, the problem of an alleged migration of the Cimmerians from the North Pontic steppes into Cen­ tral and Western Europe, requires consideration. The thesis about western move­ ments of the Cimmerians has also had wide repercussions in historical, archaeologi­ 1 The present article is an extended version of a paper presented in February 1998 at the Celto-Asiatic Seminar, Jagiellonian University, Institute of Oriental Philology, Krakow. 2 During the last decade more than ten articles and monographs on the Cimmerians have been published. General histories of the Cimmerians are: Kristensen 1988; Lanfranchi 1990; Ivantchik 1993; Tokhtas’ev 1993; Ivancik 1996; D’iakonov 1994; Parker 1995. Amongst recent archaeological works we should mention: Dudarev 1991; Pogrebova/Raevskii 1992;Ka£alova/AIekseev 1993;Chochorowski 1993; Makhortych 1994; Dudarev 1995. 72 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia cal and philological studies3. The well documented history of the Cimmerians in Western Asia is not the topic of this paper, but it provides important fixing points for a reconstruction of the whole development of that people. In explor­ ing the Classical testimonies related to the Cimmerians, it is hoped that a greater insight into the complex history of the earliest known ethnic entities of South­ eastern Europe may be achieved. The history of the Cimmerians in Europe can be discussed mainly from the point of view of Classical sources, for the basic evidence for the study of this people are testimonies of Greek and Roman authors4. On the other hand, valuable evidence for the Cimmerians in Western Asia is provided by Oriental, mainly Assyrian, records5. The written evidence can be to some extent supple­ mented by archaeological data from the Ponto-Caspian steppes, the Caucasus area and Western Asia6. However, the presently available archaeological mate­ rials do not allow any convincing hypothesis about the character of genuine Cimmerian culture. It is due to the fact that archaeological interpretations de­ pend on historical premises and the latter, relying on fragmentary and contra­ dictory testimonies, still do not enable us to give definitive answers to certain important questions about Cimmerian history. 2. Homer and the Cimmerians of fable The name of the Cimmerians appears in the Odyssey of Homer. The vague notion of that people entertained by Homer has often been commented both in antiquity and at present. Homer says the following about the Cimmerians: “She (i.e. the ship of Odysseus, M.J.O.) came to deep-flowing Oceanus, that bounds the Earth, where is the land and city of the Cimmerians, wrapped in mist 3 Cf. Sulimirski 1959; Bouzek 1983; Pstrusinska 1996. 4 For detailed studies of the available literary classical sources, see Lehmann-Haupt 1921 and Tokhtas’ev 1993. 5 These sources have been already sufficiently analysed, cf. Lanfranchi 1990; Ivantchik 1993; IvanCik 1996. 6 Cf. Samokvasov 1908; Sulimirski 1959; Terenozkin 1976; Leskov 1981; Bouzek 1983; Meliukova 1989; Melyukova 1990; Dudarev 1991; KaSalova/Alekseev 1993; Makhortych 1994; Dudarev 1995. See, especially, the excellent analysis of archaeo­ logical materials relating to the nomads of the Pre-Scythian period, as being identified with the historical Cimmerians, given by Chochorowski 1993. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 73 and cloud. Never does the bright sun look down on them with his rays either when he mounts the starry heaven or when he turns again to earth from heaven, but baneful night is spread over wretched mortals. Thither we came and beached our ship, and took out the sheep, and ourselves went beside the stream of Oceanus until we came to the place of which Circe had told us”7. There is an intense debate over the interpretation of this passage. Homer lived in the second half of the 8th century B.C.8, and his outstanding Odyssey was probably written in the last quarter of that century. On the basis of the long nights the Cimmerians of Homer are placed in the far North, even in Britain and in Jutland9. The majority of modem authorities try to locate the Homeric Cimmerians in the North Pontic steppes10. However, some circum­ stances could contradict such assumptions. Firstly, it is necessary to recognize that the Odyssey is a poem and combines fantasy with naturalism, supernatural elements with echoes of real events. On the whole, the aura of fantasy surrounds even the most realistic topics of the Homeric poem. This factor must be taken into account when attempting to locate the Cimmerians. Secondly, the above quoted description of the Cimmerians is placed in the Nekyia, the most difficult and mysterious part of the Odysseus saga11. Thirdly, the mysterious country of the Cimmerians is situated in the dark western edge of the Ocean; in this region Helios sets'2. The entrance to the Underworld is to be placed also there13. The quoted passage of the Odyssey permits the statement that in the context of the Homeric poem the Cimmerians lived in the westernmost edge of the Ocean floundering in thick mists and cloud. It is obvious that the Homeric Cimmerians 7 Translation quoted after: Homer, The Odyssey, vol. I, transl. by A. T. Murray, London/ Cambridge (Mass.) 1953 (LCL). In the present paper, translations - unless otherwise stated - will be drawn from Loeb editions (with some improvements). 8 Lesky 1967, 693. 9 For a discussion of this problem, see Lehman-Haupt 1921,428ff.; Huebeck/ Hoekstra 1989, 78. 10 Chochorowski 1993, 9f. Similarly Parker 1995, 31. 11 The Nekyia, the eleventh book of the Odyssey, tells the story of Odysseus’ journey into Hades and describes the magic rites by which the ghosts of the dead were called up, cf. Lesky 1967, 81 Iff. 12 Od. 24.12. 13 Cf. Od. 24.11-14. Odysseus leaves Aiaia, the island of Circe, and travels to the en­ trance of the Underworld (Od. 12.3-4). Cf. also Od. 10.490-515. 74 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia and their country belong the the world of legend14. In such circumstances, it is not difficult to accept the opinion of Huebeck/Hoekstra: “The mythological lo­ cation of the Homeric Cimmerians’ country at the entry to the Underworld in fact exclude any possibility of connecting them with the historical Cimmerians”15. It is worth noting that the idea of a people in the dark West, which is never penetrated by the sun, was apparently created to be in complete contrast to the location of the peoples of the Laestrygonians and the Ethiopians who inhabited the eastern borders of the world and lived in perpetual light16. Modern authorities overlook the fact that Homer mentions the city (polis) o f the Cimmerians. Assuming that Homer’s description is reliable, it is hardly possi­ ble to understand the existence of a city in the homeland of a people which was unanimously treated in the ancient tradition as a nomadic tribe. To sum up: The testimony given by Homer is actually a poetic one and does not provide any reliable location of the Cimmerians in the real world. It should be considered a licentia poetica. However, the Homeric idea of the Cimmerians living near the entrance to the Underworld exerted a strong influ­ ence on the treatment of Cimmerian history in antiquity, and especially on the location of that tribe. What might actually the source for the Homeric knowledge of the Cimmerians have been? To pursue this issue the discussion has to turn to the Argonautic saga. Some modem authorities maintain that the Odyssey took some themes, especially the notion of Cimmerians, from the Argonautic tale17. This story was a favourite subject for Greek poetry already before Homer and the poet knew it18. The saga of the Argonauts was connected with the Black Sea and 14 Cf. the valid arguments of Huebeck/Hoekstra 1989, 78: “Both the people (of the Cimmerians, M. J.O.) and their country do, of course, belong to the realm of folk-tale; they are part of irrational world which lies beyond the confines of the real world and surrounds it, itself being bordered by the circumambient Oceanus”. 15 Huebeck/Hoekstra 1989, 78. 16 See II. 1.423; 23.205; Od. 1.22. Cf. Huebeck 1963, 491. 17 See Meuli 1921 and Willamowitz-Moelendorf 1920, 3621T. For a convincing discus­ sion of this issue, see Tokhtas’ev 1993, 47ff. 18 In the Odyssey 12.70 the good ship Argo is said to be of interest to all. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 75 Colchis, the land on the river Phasis in modem Georgia19. On the other hand, the Cimmerians are placed in Transcaucasia according to Assyrian sources of the last quarter of the 8th century B.C., i.e. in Homeric times. Assyrian records lo­ cate the first known country of the Cimmerians in Asia, Gamir, in the Gori area (Georgia) on the eastern borders of Colchis20. Based upon this evidence, then, one can assume that Homer was indebted to the Argonautic saga for informa­ tion recording the mysterious people of the Cimmerians. 3. Aristeas of Proconnesus and Hecataeus of Miletus on Cimmerian history Alongside the Odyssey the earliest Classical source for the Cim­ merians in Europe seems to be the Arimaspea, a poem written by Aristeas of Proconnesus. Aristeas lived in all probability in the first half of the 6th century B.C., anyway not earlier than circa 650 B.C.21. Consequently, his activities can­ not be dated earlier than the establishment of the first Greek colonies in the northern shores of the Black Sea. This circumstance permits the supposition that Aristeas could not have witnessed Cimmerian tribal movements north of the Caucasus or get any reliable current information on the Cimmerians in the North Pontic area, for that people - if we believe Herodotus’ account - migrated into Western Asia, and this happened prior to 715 B.C. in the light of Assyrian records. On the other hand, Aristeas must have known the Cimmerian movements in Asia Minor22. In his Arimaspea, which we know only from few fragments trans­ mitted by other authors, he describes some tribes of the Eurasian steppe area such as the Issedones, the Arimaspi, and the Hyperboreans. There can be little doubt that those accounts, with their speculative (Pythagorean) and mythological tenden­ cies, did not intend to provide strictly documentary evidence on ethnography and geography o f the Eurasian tribes23. Nevertheless, they were of primary 19 In the poem Korinthiaka, written by Eumelus of Corinth, in the related writings of Epimenides of Creta and in the Hesiodic Catalogue ofwomen the aim of the Argonauts’ journey is Colchis, cf. Tokhtas’ev 1993, 22f. See also Easterling/Knox 1989a, 65ff. 20 Diakonoff/Kashkai 1981, 71; Tokhtas’ev 1993, 49; IvanCik 1996, 30. 21 Suda (Suidas) dates Aristeas’ akme circa 547-546 B.C. and such a date appears to be reliable, cf. Tokhtas’ev 1993, 28f. There are, however, other proposals, and Bolton (1962, 179) dates the activities of Aristeas in the third quarter of the 7,hcentury B.C.. 22 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 26f. 23 Bolton 1962, 74ff. 76 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia importance for the further development of ancient investigations on the peoples of central Eurasia. The Arimaspea was used by Hecateaus of Miletus24. Further­ more, in his description of Scythia, Herodotus quotes some versions on the origins of the Scythians. One of those accounts comes from Aristeas: “But Aristeas, son of Caystrobius, a man of Proconnesus, says in his poetry that he was transported by the god Phoebus to the land of the Issedones (...). The Issedones were driven of their country by the Arimaspians and the Scythians were driven out of theirs by the Issedones; and the Cimmerians, who lived by the southern sea, were hard pressed by the Scythians, and left their country. So Aristeas also differs from the Scythians about these regions”25. Aristeas of Proconnesus seems to have used the earliest knowledge of the Ponto-Caspian steppes drawn from the first Greek colonists in the region. Thus, according to Aristeas, the Cimmerians originally inhabited some lands 011 the “southern sea”. Then, the Scythians, under the pressure of the Issedones, supplanted the Cimmerians from their country. Aristeas’ account on the “chain” nature of steppe migrations is fully correct. But where did the Cimmerians live? To answer this question, attention should be drawn to the expression: “dwelling by the southern sea” (o ix e o v x a g i n i i t ] v o t i t ] 0 a A a o a ,p ). Bolton identi­ fies the sea as the Black Sea and locates the Cimmerians in the North Pontic area26. However, the term “southern sea” cannot be interpreted as a reference to the Black Sea which is elsewhere never mentioned under this name. It is hardly possible that Aristeas considered the well known to the Greeks Black Sea a “southern sea”. The context makes it clear that the Cimmerians dwelt on the shores of a sea which was actually beyond the sphere of common Greek knowl­ edge for it bears no specific name. At the same time the passage implicates that the “southern sea” was located to the south of the Cimmerian country. The ac­ count of Aristeas permits thus the following statement: The “southern sea” should be identified as the Caspian Sea; its notion was really poor under the Greeks in Aristeas’ times, i.e. before Hecataeus and Herodotus and before the establish­ ment of the Persian Empire27. Consequently, the country of the Cimmerians men­ tioned by Aristeas should be located in the Northern Caspian steppes. 24 Cf. Jacoby 1912, 2717; Tokhtas’ev 1993, 24f. 25 Hdt. 4.13 (Bolton frg. 1). Quoted after: Herodotus, Historiai, with an English transla­ tion by A. D. Goodley, vol. 1-4, London 1946-1957 (LCL). 26 Bolton 1962, 75. 27 On this issue see Herrmann 1914, 36; idem 1919. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 77 When attempting to show the origins of the Scythians, Herodotus quotes not only Aristeas but also other sources. It was Hecataeus of Miletus who seems to be largely responsible for Herodotus’ picture o f Scythia28. Hecataeus (circa 540-480 B.C.)29 was an outstanding Ionian exponent of scien­ tific geography who composed the Ges Periodos, a description of the Mediter­ ranean and Black Seas, and the Genealogiae (Historiae), both preserved only in fragments. Hecataeus wrote the first extensive description of Scythians and neigh­ bouring tribes of the steppes30. This was mainly due to the fact that he had a plenty of new information acquired by the army of Darius I during its campaign against the Scythians in the North Pontic area31. Hecataeus’ starting points in his description of the Cimmerians were: the location of the Homeric Cimmerians in the Ponto-Caspian region32 and the existence of the so-called “Cimmerian” toponyms in the North Pontic Bosporus area33. Moreover, Hecataeus knew Aristeas’ work on the peoples of the steppes34. The above facts serve to confirme the statement elaborated by some modern scholars that Hecataeus placed the Cimmerians in the North Pontic area35. 4. Herodotus, the Cimmerians, and the origins of the Scythians The most extensive and important information on the Cimmerians in Europe is contained in the Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus (circa 485-425 B.C.), the founder of ancient historiography. Herodotus’ work is com­ posed of longer accounts which may be designated as logoi\ they in turn com­ prise smaller logoi. His “Scythian” logos is connected with the genealogy of the Scythians. Herodotus quotes three versions of the origins of the Scythians36. 28 Herodotus was heavily influenced by Hecataeus not only in his description of Scythia but also in other accounts, see Easterling/Knox 1989b, 18f. Cf. also Herrmann 1914, 12ff.; Junge 1939, 20ff. 29 Cf. Aly 1921, 122ff.; Junge 1939, 21ff.; Lendle 1992, 44; Tokhtas’ev 1993, 22. 30 FGrHist 1 F 184-195 with Jacoby’s commentary. 31 Cf. Jacoby 1912, 2717ff.; Plezia 1959/1960. 32 See the excellent analysis if this issue by Tokhtas’ev 1993, 22f. 33 Hecateaus in Strabo (7.3.6) mentions a “Cimmerian polis” in that region. 34 Cf. Jacoby 1912,2717. 35 For a convincing discussion of this problem, see Tokhtas’ev 1993, 22ff. 36 Cf. Sulimirski 1985,165ff. On the sources of this passage Jacoby 1913,43 If.; Fehling 1971, 33ff. 78 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia According to the first version, taken from the Scythians, their origins stemmed from a hero named Targitaos37. In the second account, given by the Pontic Greeks, Heracles entered the inhabited land, now called Scythia, and met a monster, half serpent, half maiden, who bore him three sons. One of them, Scythes, became the first Scythian king38. In both accounts there is no mention of the Cimmerians. Undoubtedly, these accounts reflect local traditions of the inhabitants of the North Pontic area. It is striking that the two accounts considered the Scythians to be autochthons in their country39. The stories are historically not credible, but they contain valuable details attested in other sources40. They differ from the third version of the descendance of the Scythians (given as aXXoc, Xoyo g), which Herodotus considers the most probable as resting on the authority of the “barbarians and Greeks”41. This account combines the migration o f the Cimmerians and the establishment of the Scythians in the Pontic steppes. Herodotus writes: “There is yet another tale (aXXoc, X oyog), to the tradition whereof I myself do especially incline. It is to this purport: the nomad Scythians inhabit­ ing Asia, being hard pressed in war by the Massagetae, fled away across the river Araxes to the Cimmerian country (for the country which the Scythians now inhabit is said to have belonged of old to the Cimmerians), and the Cimmerians, at the advance of the Scythians, took such counsel as behoved men threatened by a great host. Their opinions were divided; both were strongly held, but that of the princes was the more honourable; for the commonalty deemed that their business was to withdraw themselves and that there was no need to risk their lives for the dust of the earth; but the princes were for fighting to defend their country against the attackers. Neither side would be persuaded by the other, neither the people by the princes nor the princes by the people; the one part planned to depart without fighting and deliver the country to their enemies, but the princes were resolved to lie slain in the own country and not to flee with the people, for they considered how happy their state had been and what ills were like to come upon them if they fled from their native land. Being thus resolved they parted asunder into two equal bands and fought with each other 37 Hdt. 4.5-7. 38 Hdt. 4.8-10. 39 See Tokhtas’ev 1993, 19 with further references. 40 Fehling 1971, 33-37. 41 Cf. Fehling 1971, 37f. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 79 till they were all slain by their own hands; then the commonalty of the Cimmerians buried them by the river Tyras, where their tombs are still to be seen, and having buried them departed out of the land; and the country being empty, the Scythians came and took possessions of it” {Histories 4.11) “And to this day there are in Scythia Cimmerian walls, and a Cimmerian ferry, and there is a country Cimmeria and the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Moreover, it is clearly seen that the Cimmerians in their flight from the Scythians into Asia did also make a colony on the peninsula where now the Greek city of Sinope has been founded; and it is manifest that the Scythians pursued after them and invaded Media, missing the way; for the Cimmerians ever fled by the way of the coast, and the Scythians pursued with the Caucasus on their right till where they came into the Median land, turning inland on their way. I have now related this other tale ( aXXoc, X o y o <;), which is told alike by Greeks and bar­ barians” (Histories 4.12). Herodotus’ description of Scythia, as mentioned above, is based on some specific sources. He defined his informants by the words: “there is yet another tale (aXXoc; Ao yog), to the tradition whereof I myself do especially incline”42, and: “I have now related this other tale (aAAog Xoyoc,), which is told alike by Greeks and barbarians”43. What were the sources of Herodotus with respect to his most important Scythian account44? Firstly, he used Ori­ ental sources, especially from Lydia and Persia (the informants are named barbarians) for the history o f the Scythians in the Near East and related affairs45. Secondly, as to the mentioned Greek informants, Herodotus’ main authority for the Scythian, Cimmerian and Median matters was surely Hecataeus o f Miletus (circa 540-480)46. The expression “Greeks” (‘TSAAr) veq) suggests that Herodotus used, besides Hecataeus, other sources of Greek origin, such as relations from Greek settlements of the North Pontic area (e.g. Tyras, see be­ 42 Hdt. 4.11. 43 Hdt. 4.12. 44 On the problem of the sources see Jacoby 1913, 419ff.; Tokhtas’ev 1993, 21. 45 Mullenhoff 1896, 23; Jacoby 1913, 419ff. 46 Cf. Aly 1921, 122ff; Junge 1939, 21ff.; Lendle 1992, 44; Tokhtas’ev 1993, 22. Herodotus may have taken some details also from other writers such as Pherekydes of Syros or Damastes, cf. Tokhtas’ev 1993, 24. 80 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia low). Herodotus also reports a story related to the Cimmerians written by Aristeas of Proconnesus (see above, Histories 4.13). Herodotus’ logos about the Cimmerians, given in the Histories 4.11- 12, appears to be partially not historical. Moreover, Herodotus is clearly wrong in many details. The fratricidal battle of the Cimmerian “kings”, i.e. of the aris­ tocracy, seems to be a creature of northern Pontic Greek folklore. In Assyrian records, the Cimmerians are said to be a powerful nation. How could we explain the dominating position of a tribe immediately after a shattering defeat and self- annihilation of its ruling class? It is striking that Herodotus knows no names of Cimmerian rulers. Furthermore, it is surely false if Herodotus claims that the Cimmerians, supplanted by Scythians to the west, escaped from the Scythian pressure... to the east and to the Caucasus, into the regions which were already under Scythian control! The natural way of retreat before invaders would be to the west. Herodotus expressively mentions the river Tyras as the place where the Cimmerian aristocracy fought and was buried. Herodotus says also that the “tombs (0 a i|/a i) are still to be seen”. The fragment seems to represent some first-hand acquaintance with the region. But who was buried in the graves? Apparently, we have to do in this case with a folk-tale which should explain the origin of certain remarkable monuments; similar stories are widely attested in the Near East and in the Greek world, where old tombs or buildings were con­ nected with a previous race or with a great mythical hero47. Based upon the above mentioned remarks, the assumption can be brought forward that the whole story about the Cimmerians in the Tyras region is not genuine and was created by the local Greek colonists to explain the existence of some ancient tombs. Herodotus’ mention of the river Araxes is very important. Accord­ ing to his statement, it was once the border between the Scythians and the Cimmerians. The Araxes of this passage should be identified with the Volga48. This piece of information is surely drawn from Hecataeus of Miletus whose 47 As to this issue it may be noted that in Greece there were many local traditions in which Pelasgi or Cyclops were credited with lots of mythical achievements, see, e.g. Grimal 1987, 282 and 64f. Cf. also Hdt. 6.137ff. 48 Herrmann 1914, 13, note 1. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 81 acquaintance with the region is well attested49. Herodotus could find a more certain attestation of the existence of the Araxes amongst the merchants of Olbia who must have travelled in the Ponto-Caspian steppes50. In the passage under discussion Herodotus makes the pressure of the Massagetae responsible for the retreat of the Scythians from beyond the Araxes. This statement is very signifi­ cant for the issue under discussion. In the 6^-4* centuries B.C., the northwestern parts of Central Asia were dominated by a powerful tribal confederation named Massagetae in Greek sources. Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, met his death while fighting against this group. The earliest description of the Massagetaeis provided by Hecataus of Miletus transmitted by Herodotus51. Hecataeus was familiar with the peoples living in the Transcaspian plains of Turkestan. Consequently, he may be expected to know of the tribal struggles in the region. This assumption can be supported by the quoted above fragment describing a conflict between the Massagetae and Scythians. We should not overlook the fact that in Aristeas, who probably had no knowledge of the Massagetae, the people pressing on the Cimmerians are Issedones (perhaps a “Sarmatian” tribe?). Herodotus (4.12) gives further evidence for the Cimmerian pres­ ence in Scythia and lists toponyms containing the term “Cimmerian” and com­ ing from the region of Bosphorus (see below). At the same time, Herodotus claims that the starting point for the Cimmerians’ escape from the Scythian country was the Tyras (Dniester). This circumstance allows us to suggest that Herodotus tried to combine two different local traditions on the Cimmerians which were created in Tyras and in the Greek settlements of the Bosphorus area. It might then be concluded that Herodotus transmits the best known story of the origins of the Scythians. As to this issue, he rejects the traditions originated amongst the Scythians and the Pontic Greeks which claimed autochthony for the Scythians. Another account, which he considers the most probable, combines the appeareance of the Scythians with the withdrawal of the Cimmerians from the steppes. According to this view, the Scythians, being har­ 49 Hecataeus knew the Caspian/Hyrcanian Sea and the river Araxes which is differently identified by modern scholars, cf. P’yankov 1975, 50. 50 On the informants from Olbia see Herrmann 1914, 13. 51 P’yankov 1975, passim. 82 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia assed by the Massagetae, went across the river Araxes and drove out the Cimmerians of their country. In this story, Herodotus apparently followed Hecataeus of Miletus. It is of particular importance that Herodotus vindicates his own view against the “mythological” traditions by a reference to Aristeas and the statement that “Aristeas also differs from the Scythians about these regions”. The version given by Aristeas on the Cimmerian beginnings coincides in the most important details with that of Herodotus 4.12. Firstly, both versions locate the original Cimmerian country in the same area in the Caspian steppes and recognize the earlier occupation of the region by that nation; secondly, they explain the Cimmerian migration by the pressure of the Scythians. The only difference, as to the tribe which drove the Scythians into the Cimmerian coun­ try, is of secondary importance for it is connected with poorly known Innerasian movements east of the Volga. The Herodotean way of working is clearly visible in the account of the Cimmerian activities in Asia. Herodotus writes that the Cimmerians con­ stantly moved along the coast (of the Black Sea) in their flight from Scythia to Asia {Histories 4.12). However, it is hardly possible for a relatively numerous tribe to go along the eastern shores of the Black Sea (next to the western fringes of the Caucasus) owing to its precipitous nature52. Moreover, the Assyrian records document a long Cimmerian presence in Transcaucasia and then mainly in the interior of Asia Minor (Tabal, Phrygia, Lydia) as well as of northwestern Iran (Manna, Media). Cimmerian activities in the coastal regions were quite spo­ radical, and just for the Greeks were certainly of particular importance for the Cimmerian raids devastated Sinope, Magnesia and Ephesus53. Based upon those observations, therefore, it is impossible to accept Herodotus’ statement that the Cimmerians “constantly fled by the way of the coast”. The version of the Cimmerian migration given by Herodotus appears to have followed primarily some traditions of Greek coastal cities in Asia Minor, such as Sinope, a colony mentioned explicit in the passage under question. At the same time, however, he is capable of referring only to few episodes concerning the Cimmerian activities 52 See Strab. 11.2.12ff. 53 Such a raid aginst Ionia is referred to in Hdt. 1.6. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 83 in the interior of Asia Minor54. We may assume, on the whole, that Herodotus - when describing the Cimmerian migration - combined some different local tra­ ditions taken from Greek cities in the North Pontic area and from Asia Minor and those tales constituted one of his chief sources for his “Cimmerian logos”55. The history of the Cimmerians in Western Asia is briefly presented by Herodotus in chapter 12 of the 4th book. That account can be verified by Assyrian records and the Greek tradition of Asia Minor. Thus, Herodotus main­ tains the Scythians pursuited the Cimmerians and entered the Median country56. However, the Scythians in the Near East are attested at least 40 years after the first appearance of the Cimmerians. Consequently, it is hardly possible to ac­ cept Herodotus’ claims about a pursuit as reality. As regards the problem of the Cimmerian and Scythian migrations into Asia, there is a striking contradistinc­ tion in Herodotus’ account. Herodotus maintains that the Scythians, following the retreating Cimmerians, moved into Asia with the Caucasus on their right57. Apparently, the Scythians took the way between the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, similarly as several later nomadic tribes invading Asia (Sarmatian peoples, Alans and Huns). The Cimmerians, on the contrary, moved southwards prob­ ably by way of the Darial pass (also used by nomads of antiquity) for their first documented appearance in Asia is to be located in Georgia. If so, it may be confidently stated that the Scythians and the Cimmerians migrated into Asia choosing two quite different routes. Again, this conclusion contradicts the pic­ ture given by Herodotus as regards the nature of the Cimmerian migration into Western Asia. To sum up, Herodotus’ account of the Scythian and Cimmerian movements as conducted through the Caucasus is generally true. However, as to the accuracy of details, there is much unreliability; the Cimmerian and Scythian invasions were different in direction and date. Both processes were wrongly associated by Herodotus himself or by his sources. 54 Cf. Hdt. 1.15-16 on the Cimmerians in Lydia and their decline. See, also, Hdt. 1.102. 55 Such a combination was assumed by Ali 1921, 122f. Cf. also Tokhtas’ev 1993, 3 If. 56 Hdt. 4.12. The same also in 1.103. 57 Hdt. 4.12. The same in 1.104. 84 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia Modem scholars often omit one important tradition of the Scythian origins. Diodorus of Sicily58 speaks of the Scythians living originally on the Araxes as a small nation. Afterwards, they created a mighty kingdom between the Caucasus, Oceanus, Lake Maeotis, and the Tanais. It seems that this account, drawing many valuable details from much earlier sources, is exceptionally con­ vincing in showing early Scythian history. If we accept the identification of the Araxes with the Volga (as in Herodotus 4. I I 59), the Tanais with the Don, and Lake Maeotis with the Sea of Azov, we could define quite precisely the Scythian country before their migration further to the west in the Pontic steppes and before the Scythian invasions into Western Asia. Moreover, the picture drawn by Diodorus corresponds with archaeological evidence concerning the location of the early Scythian culture between the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, the Don and the Volga60. In classical sources relating to the Bosphorus region, several toponyms are attested which contain the designation “Cimmerian”. Herodotus treats such names as evidence for the presence of the Cimmerians in Scythia. Thus, he enumerates: Cimmerian walls (K i|i[j,epia xeixea), Cimmerian ferry (7 ro p 0 |i^ ia Ki|ip,8pi(x), a region (% 6prj) named Cimmeria ( K i|i|ie p ia ) and the Cimmerian Bosporus (BooTuopog K i|i[ispio<;). All these toponyms are situated in the Bosporus region61. Besides Herodotus, several classical au­ thors enumerate “Cimmerian” toponyms62. Hecateaus in Strabo mentions a “Cimmerian” city (polis)63. Aeschylus knows a “Cimmerian isthmus”64. Such names are frequently attested in Strabo who mostly followed older traditions. He writes: “Cimmericum (Ki|ifiepiKOv) was in earlier times a city situated on a peninsula, and it closed the isthmus by means of a trench and a mound. The Cimmerians possessed great power in the Bosporus, and this is why it was named Cimmerian Bosporus”65. Somewhere in the Crimea region Strabo seems to lo­ 58 Diod. 2.43.1-5. 59 I am following here Herrmann 1914, 21, note 5. 60 Cf. Pogrebova-Raevskii 1992, 2If. Main early Scythian complexes come from that area (ibid. 185) and to the south beyond the Caucasus up to Urmia Lake (ibid., map on p. 197). 61 On these names see Tokhtas’ev 1993, 30. 62 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 34ff. 63 Strab. 7.3.6. 64 Aesch. Prom. 730. 65 Strab. 11.2.5. See Tokhtas’ev 1993, 35. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined. 85 cate the mountain Cimmerius, so called “because the Cimmerians once held sway in the Bosporus; and it is because of this fact that the whole of the strait which extends to the mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus”66. Posidonius in Strabo maintains that the Cimmerian Bosporus in the region of Lake Maeotis was named after the Cimbri for the Greeks named the Cimbri “Cimmerians”67. As to the validity of the “Cimmerian” toponymy for historical re­ search there is much controversy. V. Parker considers that the Cimmerian names confirm the Cimmerian presence in the North Pontic area68. G. B. Lanfranchi believes that the names were merely invented to reconcile the well-known Ho­ meric reference to the Cimmerians in the Odyssey with the Greek concepts which placed the Cimmerian country in the North Pontic area69. J. Chochorowski ac­ cepts the view that the names, besides the older designation “Cimmerian Bosporus”, were employed in the 6thcentury B.C.70, i.e. in the period of Scythian domination in the steppes. The whole issue has recently been reexamined by S. R. Tokhtas’ev. His conclusion is that - as far as the toponyms under dicsussion are discernible in the available evidence - the Cimmerian toponymy of the Pon­ tic region had for the most part nothing common with the historical Cimmerians71. I do not intend in this place to reexamine such a complicated problem in its totality. However, some observations should be taken into account. The term Cimmerian walls ( K i|i|ie p ia x elx ea) cannot be associated with a nomadic people and was apparently a conventional name for a fortification line72. The town of Cimmeris on the Taman peninsula, mentioned by Ps. Scymnus73 was surely established in the 4th century B.C., clearly too late to connect its name with the historical Cimmerians74. To the “Cimmerian” toponyms belongs also a 66 Strab. 7.4.3. 67 Strab. 7.2.2. 68 Parker 1995, lOf. 69 Lanfranchi 1990, 142. 70 Chochorowski 1993, 19f. 71 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 37f. 72 Cf. Tokhtas’ev 1993, 34. 73 Ps. Scymnus 896ff. 74 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 35. According to Rohde 1901, 92, note 2, the name was invented “in gelehrter Reminiszenz” of Homeric traditions. 86 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia Cimmerium oppidum, located by Strabo (after Ephorus, see below) and by Pliny75 in Italy in the vicinity of Avemium Lake. On the whole, it would seem probable that the evidence of “Cimmerian” toponyms is of secondary importance for a discussion on the homeland of the Cimmerians. Classical sources reflect the deep dependance of the Cimmerians’ location upon the Homeric idea of that people. The first Greek colonists could not meet the alleged Cimmerians in the Bosporus and Tyras region. The earliest Greek settlements in the north Pon­ tic area are datable to the period after about 650 B.C.76 On the other hand, the Cimmerians are attested in Transcaucasia prior to 715 B.C. We have really no indications of encounters or contacts between Greek colonists and Cimmerians in the North Pontic region. On the contrary, as the earliest neighbours of the Pontic Greeks appear merely Scythian tribes. At present, the Scythian period in the region can be evidently detected up to the middle of the 7th century B.C.77 The Greek colonists of the North Pontic region came primarily from Miletus in Asia Minor78. The Oriental Greeks knew the Cimmerians in Asia and that is why the existing settings of the Cimmerians in the west, e.g. in Italy, were for them not acceptable. This circumstance and the nomadic nature of the in­ vaders in Asia stimulated attempts to locate their homeland north of the Cauca­ sus in the colonized Pontic areas79. To sum up: documentary evidence of the Cimmerian toponyms is extremely scarce. Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that some “Cimmerian” names of the Bosporus region were created after the people living in the North Caspian steppes, whose members might have penetrated the Kuban steppes as far as the Bosporus region. Some names were, however, created without connection with the historical Cimmerians. 75 Plin. NH 3.61: lacus Lucrinus etAvernus iuxta quem Cimmerium oppidum quondam. 76 For the Greek settlement in Tyras on the Dniester (as established circa 600-550 B.C.), see KarySkowskii/Kleyman 1985, 40ff. Cf. Tokhtas’ev 1993, 32. For the Bosporus region, colonized by the Greeks from about 600 B.C., see Tokhtas’ev 1993, 18. A small settlement was founded on Berezan island in the second half of the 7lh century B.C., see Vinogradov/Marcenko 1989,541. Istria, the oldest colony in the northwest­ ern part of the Pontic shore, was established also in the second half of the 7thcentury. 77 Vinogradov/MarCenko 1989. 78 Ehrhardt 1988. 79 So Tokhtas’ev 1993, 42ff. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 87 5.The later accounts of the Cimmerians Some Classical authors treat the Homeric wanderings of Odysseus as having been in the western Mediterranean and, consequently, located the Cimmerians there80. Ephorus of Cumae, a historian of the 4th century B.C. quoted in Strabo, places the Cimmerians in southern Italy in the Avernus area near Cumae (Campania)81. Thus, Strabo writes after Ephorus: “The people prior to my time were wont to make Avernus the setting of the fabulous story of the Homeric Necyia; and, what is more, writers tell us that there actually was an oracle of the dead here and that Odysseus visited it. (...) Ephorus, in the passage where he claims the locality in question for the Cimmerians, says: They live in underground houses, which they call argillae, and it is through tunnels that they visit one another, back and forth, and also admit strangers to the oracle, which is situated far beneath the earth (...). Those who lived about the oracle have an ancestral custom, that no one should see the sun, but should go outside the caverns only during the night; and it is for this reason that the poet (sc. Homer, M.J.O.) speaks of them as follows: “And never does the shining sun look upon them; but later on the Cimmerians were destroyed by a certain king”82. Strabo’s account of the Cimmerians in the Avernus region, follow­ ing Ephorus of Cumae, testify to the fact that the geographical location of the people in question depended primarily upon its description by Homer. The poet associated Cimmerians with the entrance into the nether world. Based upon that assumption, Ephorus placed the Cimmerians in the vicinity of Cumae83. Obvi­ ously, Ephorus’ claims have no relation to the historical Cimmerians from the steppes. In antiquity, there were also other locations of the Cimmerians strictly depending on the tradition of Homer. Thus, Hecataeus of Abdera (who flourished in the second half of the 4th century B.C.) placed the Cimmerians in a “Cimmerian city” (Kip.fj.epic; t i o X x q ) amongst fantastic Hyperboreans in the north84. 80 Cf. Eustathios, Commentarii in Odysseam, 1379, 29-31. Eustathios remarks that the Cimmerians in reality lived in the north, cf. 1667, 43; 1704, 57; 1670-1671, 1705. 81 On Ephorus of Cumae see Lendle 1992, 136ff. 82 Strab. 5.4.5; FGrHist 70 F 134a with a commentary. 83 Cf. Grimal 1987, 184. 84 Bolton 1962, 24. On the location of the Cimmerians as seen by Classical commenta­ tors see also Lehmann-Haupt 1921, 425f. 88 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia It is striking, as pointed out by S. R. Tokhtas’ev, that the name of the Cimmerians is preserved in the Greek literary tradition practically in one form which is first attested in Homer, i.e. as K i|X fiepioi85. This fact stresses the importance of Homer’s picture of the Cimmerians for the further develop­ ment of their treatment in antiquity. To examine the later classical concepts of the Cimmerians which developed after Herodotus discussion might turn to the account given by Plutarch (Horuit about A.D. 50-120). “Others, however, say that the Cimmerians who were first known to the ancient Greeks were not a large part of the entire people, but merely a body of exiles or a faction which was driven away by the Scythians and passed from the Maeotic Lake into Asia under the lead of Lygdamis; whereas the largest and most war­ like part of the people dwelt at the confines of the earth along the outer sea, occupying a land that is shaded, wooded, and wholly sunless by reason of the height and thickness of the trees, which reach inland as far as the Hercynii; and as regards the heavens, they are under that portion of them where the pole gets a great elevation by reason of the declination of the parallels, and appears to have a position not far removed from the spectator’s zenith, and a day and a night divide the year into two equal parts; which was of advantage to Homer in his story of Odysseus consulting the shades of the dead. From these regions, then, these Barbarians sallied forth against Italy, being called at first Cimmerians, and then, not inappropriately, Cimbri (...)”86. This description was taken from the Histories written by Posidonius of Apamea (circa 135-50 B.C.)87. Posidonius had a superior knowledge of the Cimbri, a nation which attacked Italy in his times (103-102 B.C.88). However, his sources for Northern Europe, where the Cimbrian homeland was to be lo­ cated, appear to have been partially blundering or scanty. Therefore, Posidonius 85 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 38ff. 86 Plut. Caius Marius 11.5-7. (Translation quoted after: Plutarch’s Lives, transl. by B. Perrin, London/Cambridge (Mass.) 1959, LCL). 87 Plutarch’s use of Posidonius has been shown by Malitz 1983, 57f. 88 On the value of Posidonius’ work, see Malitz 1983, 198ff. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 89 formed some speculative interpretations and, moreover, attempted to account for certain legendary traditions concerning the peoples of the North89. Posidonius collected and combined different accounts of the Cimmerians. At first sight, a resemblance with the Herodotean description of the Cimmerians is discernible. Posidonius’ intention was also to rationalize the Homeric Nekyia in an attempt to identify the Cimmerians with the Cimbri, a nation well-known in his times. The quoted passage offers also etymological and astronomical considerations. On the whole, Posidonius created an artificial account and conceived of the northernmost areas of Europe as the homeland of the Cimmerians. This surprising theory is based on the identification of the names Cimmerians and Cimbri (K i|iP p o i). In fact, all interpretations given in the fragment are subordinated to this equation, and the whole account, in compari­ son with earlier sources, does not provide new reliable details90. Plutarch at­ tacked the credibility of Posidonius’ account and said: “But all this is based on conjecture rather than on sure historical evidence”. Posidonius provides us the name of a Cimmerian king given as Lygdamis and at this point he seems to have followed a good source tradition. At the same time he m aintains that Lygdamis led the Cimmerians from Maeotic Lake into Asia; the statem ent is clearly wrong for Lygdamis (attested in Strabo and in Assyrian records) was a Cimm erian leader in Asia in the second half of the 7th century B.C.91 This fragm ent exhibits the selective and speculative technique used by Posidonius to clear the origins of the Cimbri by their connecting with the old people of the Cimmerians. Posidonius’ picture of the Cimmerians is preserved also in Strabo. It contains the statement that the Cimmerian Bosporus in the region of Lake Maeotis was named after the Cimbri for the Greeks named the Cimbri “Cimmerii”92. The same concept of identifying of the Cimmerians and Cimbri gives Diodorus of Sicily93. S9Thus, he tried to rationalize the accounts of the Hyperboreans, cf. Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2.675. 90 For the passage see Tokhtas’ev 1993, 13f. 91 According to Strabo (1.3.21) Lygdamis captured Sardes but lost his life in Cilicia. 92 Strab. 7.2.1-2. Cf. Malitz 1983, 206f. 93 Diod. 5.32.3. Cf. Malitz 1983, 210. 90 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia The Homeric picture of the Cimmerians had a profound effect on the way Hellenistic writers conceived of that people. To that tradition some other authors, besides Posidonius, belong. Thus, Crates of Mallos (lived in the 2nd century B.C.), the author of a commentary on the Iliad and Odyssey, em­ ployed the conception that Homer was not acquainted with the name of the Cimmerians. Next to the entrance to the Underworld, Crates placed Cerberos and, accordingly, “improved” the Odyssey by using the expression “the land of the Cerberians” ( e 0 v a 8e K e p P e p lc o v ) instead o f “the land o f the Cimmerians”94. Such attempst at reinterpretation and improvement of the Ho­ meric picture of the Cimmerians emerged quite often in antiquity95. In Proteus of Zeugma, the Cimmerians are transferred into Heimerioi (X eifiep io i), i.e. “winter-people”96. Most writers of antiquity conceived of the Cimmerians as a nation of the Homeric poem97. As to the Cimmerians in Europe, Strabo of Amasia (68 B.C.-A.D. 26), one of the best geographers of antiquity, provides no new evidence and relies on older accounts. He writes: “The Cimmerians once possessed great power in the Bosporus, and this is why it was named Cimmerian Bosporus. These are the people who overran the country of those who lived in the interior on the right side of the Pontus as far as Ionia. However, these were driven out of the region by the Scythians; and the Scythians were driven out by the Greeks who founded Panticapaeum and the other cities on the Bosporus”98. This account is based on the tradition attested already in Herodotus and in his sources. 7. The Cimmerians in Western Asia The Cimmerians may have appeared south of the Caucasus already in the 720s B.C. This may be supposed on the basis of the fact that the attacks conducted by Urartian kings against Colchis and the adjacent regions in the north were defeated at that time99. The first direct references to the Cimmerians in 94 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 13. 95 Already Sophocles and Aeschylus seem to have employed the term K epPepioi as related to the Cimmerians, see Lehmann-Haupt 1921, 426. 96 Etymologicum Magnum 513.44 Gaisford. Cf. IvanCik 1996, 134. 97 Tokhtas’ev 1993, 15ff. 98 Strab. 11.2.5. 99 Dudarev 1991, 25, similarly Chochorowski 1993, 12. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 91 Western Asia are on Assyrian cuneiform records coming from the reign of Sargon (722-705 B.C.). This testimony mentions a Cimmerian attack against Urartu conducted probably from the Manna region shortly before 714 B.C.100 In 714 B.C., the Assyrian records describe an Urartian expedition against the country of Gamir inhabited by the Cimmerians101. The most probable location of this region is the area to the north and northwest of Sevan Lake in southern Geor­ gia102. Other locations are more debatable103. The incident’s setting in southern Georgia seems to be supported by some archaeological materials testifying to a nomadic presence in the region in the second half of the 8th century B.C.104 The location of the earliest well documented Cimmerian seat in southern Georgia on the river Cyrus is very convincing. In the course of steppe migrations taking place north of the Caucasus, many nomadic groups infiltrated Transcaucasia, notably Georgia (Iberia)105. The Cimmerians might have taken the route through the Darial Pass which was followed by Sarmatian detach­ ments in the Arsacid period. The material traces of the nomadic presence in Transcaucasia are very abundant. For Cimmerian history, it is necessary to take into consideration close parallels with the movements of some nomadic tribes invading Transcaucasia and Western Asia, e.g. Scythians, Alans, and Huns. It was a natural direction of nomadic migrations by way of the Caucasus. On the whole, the Cimmerians appear in the Assyrian records circa 715-714 B.C. From the 70s of the 7th century B.C. up to the end of that century, they were involved in wars against Phrygia, Lydia and Assyria. In addition to those struggles with the Near Eastern states, the Cimmerians came into contact with the Greek cities of western Asia Minor. The earliest Greek testimony of this fact is to be found in a poem by Callinus. He recalls an invasion of the Cimmerians against Ionia106. 100 IvanCik 1996, 50ff. 101 IvanCik 1996, 2Iff. 102 IvanCik 1996, 29f. 103 Cf. Parker 1995, 8, who sets the Gamir country near Urmia Lake. 104 Dudarev 1991, 27. 105 Olbrycht 1998, 150f. 106 Fr. 3 Gentili-Prato; cited by Strabo 14.1.40. Cf. Lehmann-Haupt 1921, 419. 92 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia During their movements in Western Asia, the Cimmerians acted as allies of various peoples. In the first half of the 7th century B.C., they are men­ tioned as allies of Hilakku, Tabal, Mushku (Phrygia), and even of Urartu107. The movements of the Cimmerians are not easy to determine, but they destroyed the Phrygian state in the first half of the 7th century B.C. From about 675 B.C., Cimmerian detachments invaded the eastern borders of Assyria alongside the Medes and Manneans. To the west, the Cimmerians attacked Lydia from the 660s and about 644 B.C. killed the Lydian king Gyges. At the same time they carried out devastating raids against Greek cities of Ionia108. In the second half of the 7th century B.C., the Cimmerians, as stated by Strabo, roamed alongside the Thracian Treres109. In two passages Strabo calls the Treres a Cimmerian tribe110. This claim is surely wrong. Strabo, using different sources, makes some striking mistakes in his account on the late history of the Cimmerians, Treres and Scythians in Asia. His claim that Madyes was a Cimmerian king is wrong111. A little earlier in the same passage he calls Madyes a Scythian ruler, something attested in other sources112. The Cimmerians were finally defeated by the Lydian king Alyattes113. Their remnants were assimilated by the local populations of Asia Minor114. 8. On the ethnogenesis of the Cimmerians As to the genesis of the Cimmerians and their ethnic and cultural identity we have just few indications. On the basis that the Treres, a Cimmerian ally in Anatolia, came from Thracia, the Cimmerians are believed to have been a Thracian people115. This opinion has in fact no foundation116. According to 107 On this issue Dudarev 1991, 68. 108 For sources see Lehmann-Haupt 1921, 419ff. 109 Strab. 1.3.21. On the Treres see Strab. 1.3.21; 13.1.8; 14.1.10. See also Keil 1937. 110 Strab. 14.1.40; similarly 1.3.21. 1,1 Strab. 1.3.21. 112 Hdt. 1.103. 1.3 Hdt. 1.16; Polyaenus 7.2.1. Cf. Ivanttk 1996, 13If. and Parker 1995, 32. 1.4 It is possible that Cappadocia was named “Gamirk” after the Cimmerians, see Lehmann-Haupt 1921, 421 and IvanSik 1996, 155f. 1.5 Lehmann-Haupt 1921, 397 and 421; Chochorowski 1993, 19. 116 There is no reason to believe that the Cimmerians and Thracian Treres were ethni­ cally related. Strabo speaks just of a temporary alliance between the Cimmerians and Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 93 some scholars, the Cimmerians were of Iranian stock117. In his current study, A. Ivancik supports this hypothesis, but at the same time he stresses that the known Cimmerian kings’ names have much in common with Luwian, a language from Asia Minor. Although the hypothesis ascribing Iranian origins to the Cimmerians is the most probable at the present stage of research, it cannot be confirmed without further evidence. In fact, it is highly probable that the term Cimmerians designated a tribal entity which was not homogenous118. In a similar way, Herodotus called different steppe peoples Scythians for they were dominated by a tribe designated by this name119. As mentioned above, the scholars of antiq­ uity were very interested in the name of the Cimmerians120. At present too, there is much debate on this issue. According to I. M. Diakonoff, the name of the Cimmerians was an autonym and the Assyrian form Gimirraia is the most cred­ ible121. In Neo-Babylonian and Babylonian texts of Persian times mention is made of Cimmerian arrows, bows, and horse equipment. Such elements, given as characteristic tokens of Cimmerian culture, are common features for nomadic tribes122. That factor provides a more certain attestation of the assumption that the Cimmerians were actually a nomadic nation from beyond the Caucasus. This view can be vindicated by the fact that the nomadic Saka peoples of Achaemenid times were designated as Cimmerians (Gimirraia), an identifica­ tion made of course in an anachronistic manner but obviously on the basis of similar nomadic ways of life represented by both tribes123. The problem of the archaeological materials as ascribed to the Cimmerians is outside the scope of this paper. Therefore, only some character­ istic views are referred to here. Actually, there is a fundamental controversy in Treres. As mentioned above, attested are Cimmerian alliances with several different peoples of Western Asia. 1.7 Harmatta 1970, 7; Truba£ev 1976; Grantovskii 1970, 81. 1.8 As correctly stated by Chochorowski 1993, 17. 1.9 Cf. Hdt. 4.6-7; 17-20. 120 Ivanttk 1996, 133ff. 121 Diakonoff 1981,125f.; IvanCik 1996,138f. In the most Assyrian texts the Cimmerians are designated as Gimirraia. 122 IvanCik 1996, 159f. 123 Dandamayev 1992, passim, esp. 169ff. 94 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia archaeological research. Some scholars are inclined to connect the Cimmerians with the so-called “Cimmerian” archaeological finds of the 8^-7* centuries B.C. attested in Ukraina and Central Europe124. Such theories rely on historical inter­ pretations claiming that the Cimmerians migrated into Central Europe125. There are, however, other conceptions of that problem. Some archaeologists believe that it is impossible to identify the Cimmerians with archaeological cultures of the North Pontic area126. It seems that the presently available archaeological materials from the North Pontic area and Central Europe do not allow any sub­ stantiated identification with the ethnic Cimmerians. 9. Conclusions 1. Homer’s single reference to the Cimmerians goes back to the Argonautic saga. Clearly, any historically argued and credible location of that people in the poetic framework of the Odyssey is impossible. Homer’s testi­ mony, linking the Cimmerians with the mythical entrance to the land of the dead, had a profound impact on the Classical notions of the Cimmerians and their location127. 2. Aristeas of Proconnesus is known to have written a work named Arimaspea, in which he dealt also with the Scythians and Cimmerians. As far as we can judge at the present state of research, it was Aristeas who combined the appeareance of the Cimmerians with the pressure of the Scythians and other tribes from the steppes. Historically, Aristeas’ account of the migrating move­ ments in the steppes is convincing. In Aristeas, the Cimmerians are not linked with the North Pontic area but with the Caspian steppes. 124 Terenozkin 1976; Bouzek 1983; Chochorowski 1993, esp. 22. It is evident, in the light of archaeological relics, that there were nomadic migrations from the Ponto- Caspian steppes into Central Europe in the pre-Scythian period. 125 Thus, according to J. Harmatta, the Cimmerians penetrated Central Europe in the 8lh century B.C. They were “the first people who introduced to Europe a nomadic type of warfare” (Harmatta 1970, 8). 126 KaSalova/Alekseev 1993. 127 All in all, Homer’s pictures of many peoples were of the greatest importance for the studies of them in antiquity, cf. IvanCik 1996a (for the Homeric Abioi and their treat­ ment in antiquity). Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 95 3. Hecataeus of Miletus located the Cimmerian country between the Araxes (Volga) and the Bosporus area in the North Pontic steppes. He did so apparently on the basis of the “Cimmerian” toponymy from the Bosphorus re­ gion and the assumption that the Homeric Cimmerians should be sought in the North Pontic area. Herodotus’ description and location of the Cimmerians as associated with the Scythians are derived mainly from Hecataeus. 4. The most influential account of the Cimmerians was constructed by Herodotus. He wrote a relatively brief Cimmerian logos combining different sources: Aristeas, Hecataeus, the local legendary Greek traditions from Bosphorus and Tyras, and finally Oriental (mainly Lydian) testimonies. 5. The reliability of the so-called Cimmerian toponymy of the Bosphorus region as evidence for the Cimmerian presence in the region is doubt­ ful. For the most part this toponymy had no historical links with the Cimmerian presence in the North Pontic area. The main body of the Cimmerians had mi­ grated into Western Asia prior to 715 B.C., i.e. a longtime before the establish­ ment of the first Greek colonies in the North Pontic region. On the other side, it is not impossible that some parts of the Cimmerians roamed the area east of the Sea of Azov in the Kuban steppelands. Some of them could have been in touch with the Greek of Bosphorus. 6. The Assyrian sources at our disposal locate the first known Cimmerian seat in Transcaucasia. The Cimmerians entered this area in all prob­ ability from the steppes to the north of the Caucasus. Additionally, we may assume that the Cimmerians were supplanted by the Scythians from the Volga region. 7. Aristeas of Proconnesus appears to be correct when he shows the movements of Cimmerians from their homeland on the “southern” sea under the pressure of other tribes as a chain reaction which would repeat several times in the history of the Caspian steppes. Thus, the Scythians were supplanted by the Sarmatians, the Jazygs and Roxolanoi by the Aorsoi, the Aorsoi by the Alans, the latter by the Huns. It seems that the Cimmerians originally occupied the steppes on the Araxes/Volga (as related by Hecataeus and Herodotus) and from there they moved further to the south to the Caucasus and into Western Asia. 96 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia There, they conducted plundering raids against the rich Oriental states. The same can be said of the Scythians who entered Asia several decades after the Cimmerians. 8. There is no reliable written Classical testimony of any Cimm movements into the North Pontic area to the west of the Don or of a Cimmerian migration into Central Europe. Bibliography Alekseev A. Ju./Ka£alova N. K ./Tokhtas’ev S. R. 1993: Kimmeriycy: etnokul \turnaya prinadleznost \ Sankt-Peterburg. Aly W. 1921: Volksmarchen, Sage und Novelle bei Herodot und seinen Zeitgenossen, Gottingen. Bolton J. D. P. 1962: Aristeas o f Proconnesus, Oxford. Bouzek J. 1983: “Caucasus and Europe and the Cimmerian Problem”, Sbornik Ndrodniho Muzea v Praze 37, 177-240. Chochorowski J. 1993: Ekspansja kimmeryjska na tereny Europy Srodkowej, Krakow. “Cimmerians” in: The New Encyclopadeia Britannica, Chicago 1990, Vol. 3, p. 321. Cozzoli U. 1968:I Cimmeri, Roma. Dandamayev M. A. 1992: Iranians in Achaemenid Babylonia (Columbia Lec­ tures on Iranian Studies 6), Costa Mesa/New York. Diakonoff I. M. 1981: “The Cimmerians”, in: Acta Iranica2\. Diakonoff I. M./Kashkai S. M. 1981: Geographical Names according to Urartian Texts (Repertoire g^ographique des textes cun6iformes 9), Wiesbaden. D’iakonov I. M. 1994: “Kimmeriicy i skify na drevnem Vostoke”, Rossiyskaya Archeologiya 1994, Nr. 1. Dudarev S. L. 1991: Iz istoriisviazey naseleniya Kavkazas kimmeriysko-skifskim mirom, Groznyi. Dudarev S. L. 1995: Kprobleme vzaimodeistviyaplemeni Severnogo Kavkaza s rannimi kocevnikami v predskifskuiu epokhu, Armavir. Easterling P. E./Knox B. M. W. (eds.) 1989a: The Cambridge History o f Classi­ cal Literature, Vol. I, P. 1. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 97 Easterling P. E./Knox B. M. W. (eds.) 1989b: The Cambridge History o f Clas­ sical Literature, Vol. I, P. 3. Ehrhardt N. 1988: Milet undseine Kolonien, Frankfurt am Main. Fehling D. 1971: Die Quellenangaben bei Herodot. Studien zur Erzahlkunst Herodots, Berlin/New York. Grantovskii E. A. 1970: Ranniaia istoriya iranskich piemen Perednei Azii, Moskva. Grimal P. 1987: Slownik mitologii greckiej i rzymskiej, Wroclaw (Dictionnaire de la mythologie grecque et romaine, Paris 1951). Harmatta J. 1970: Studies in the History and Language ofthe Sarmatians, Szeged. Herrmann A. 1914: Alte Geographie des unteren Oxusgebietes, (Abh. der Konigl. Ges. der Wiss. zu Gottingen, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, N.F., Bd. XV, Nr. 4). Herrmann A. 1919: “Kaspisches Meer”, RE 20. Hbbd., 2275-2290. Huebeck A. 1963: K i|i|ie p io i, Hermes 91, 490-492. Huebeck A./Hoekstra A. 1989: A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, Vol. II, Books IX-XVI, Oxford. Ivancik A.I. 1996: Kimmeriycy. Drevnevostocnye civilizacii i stepnye kocevniki v VIII- VII vekach do n. e., Moskva. Ivancik A. 1996a: “Die hellenistischen Kommentare zu Homer II. 13.3-6. Zur Idealisierung des Barbarenbildes - Ephoros und die Philologen der alexandrinischen Schule” in: Funck B. (ed.), Hellenismus. Beitrage zur Erforschung von Akkulturation undpolitischer Ordnung in den Staaten des hellenistischen Zeitalters. Akten des Internationalen Hellenismus- Kolloquiums 9. - 14. Marz in Berlin, Tubingen 1996, 671-692. Ivantchik A.I. 1993: Les Cimmeriens au Proche-Orient (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 127), Fribourg. Jacoby F. 1912: “Hekataios”, RE VII 2, 2667-2769. Jacoby F. 1913: “Herodot”, RE Suppl. 2, 205-520. Junge J. 1939: Saka-Studien. Der ferne Nordosten im Weltbild der Antike (Klio, Beiheft XLI, N.F., Heft 28), Leipzig. KacalovaN. K./Alekseev A. Yu. 1993: “Arkheologiceskie aspekty kimmeriyskoi problemy” in: Alekseev A. Yu./Ka£alovaN. K./Tokhtas’ev S. R. 1993,51- 89. KarySkovskii P. O./Kleyman I. B. 1985: Drevniigorod Tira, Kiev. Keil J. 1937: “Treres”, RE 2. Reihe, VIA 2291. Kristensen A. K. G. 1988: Who were the Cimmerians and where did they come from?, Copenhagen. 98 Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia Kuklina I. V. 1985: Etnogeografyja Skifiipo anticnym istocnikam, Leningrad. Lanfranchi B. I. 1990: Cimmeri. Emergenza delle elites militari iraniche nel Vicino Oriente (VIII-VI1 sec. a. C.), Padova. Lehmann-Haupt C. F. 1921: “Kimmerier”, RE, Hbbd. 21, 397-434. Lendle O. 1992: Einfuhrung in die griechische Geschichtsschreibung: von Hekataios bis Zosimos, Darmstadt. Leskov A. M. 1981: Kurgany, nachodki, problemy, Leningrad. Lesky A. 1967: “Homeros”, RE, Suppl. XI, 687-846. Makhortykh S. V. 1994: Kimmeriycy na Severnom Kavkaze, Kiev. Malitz J. 1983: Die Historien des Poseidonios (Zetemata 79), Munchen. Melyukova A. 1.1989: “Predskifskii period v stepiach Sevemogo Pricemomorya” in: A. I. Melyukova (ed.) Stepi evropeyskoi castiSSSR v skifo-sarmatskoe vremia, Moskva, 10-16. Melyukova A. I. 1990: “The Scythians and Sarmatians” in: D. Sinor (ed.) The Cambridge history o f early Inner Asia, Cambridge 1990, 97-117. Meuli K. 1921: Odysse und Argonautika, Basel. Olbrycht M. J. 1998: Parthia et ulteriores gentes. Diepolitischen Beziehungen zwischen dem arsakidischen Iran und den Nomaden der eurasischen Steppen (Quellen und Forschungen zur antiken Welt, Bd. 30), Tuduv-Verlag, Munchen. Parker V. 1995: “Bemerkungen zu den Ziigen der Kimmerier und der Skythen durch Vorderasien”, Klio 77, 7-34. P’yankov I. V. 1975: “Massagety Gerodota”, VestnikDrevneiIstorii 1975, No. 2, 46-70. Plezia M. 1959/1960: “Hekataios tiber Volker am Nordrand des skythischen Schwarzmeergebietes”, Eos 50, 27-42. Pogrebova M. N./Raevskii D. S. 1992: Rannie skify i Drevnii Vostok. K istorii stanovleniya skifskoi kuVtury, Moskva. Pstrusinska J. 1996: “Why the Celto-Asiatic Seminar? I. Celtic versus Indo- Iranian” in: A. Krasnowolska (ed.), Cracow Iranian Studies in Memory o f Wladyslaw Dulqba, Cornelius Publishing House, Cracow, 195-215. Rohde E. 1901: Kleine Schriften, Bd. I, Tiibingen-Leipzig. Samokvasov D. Ja. 1908: Mogily russkoi zemli, Moskva. Sulimirski T. 1959: “The Cimmerian Problem” in: Bulletin o f the Institute o f Archaeology o f London, 2, 45-62. Sulimirski T. 1985: “The Scyths” in: The Cambridge History o f Iran, 2, 142- 199. Marek J. Olbrycht The Cimmerian problem re-examined.. 99 Terenozkin A.I. 1976: Kimmeriycy, Kiev. Tokhtas’ev S. R. 1993: “Anti£naya literatumaya tradiciya o kimmeriycach” in: Alekseev A. Yu./Kacalova N. K./Tokhtas’ev S. R. 1993, 9-50. Trubacev O. N. 1976: “O sindach i ich iazyke”, Voprosy iazykoznaniya 1976, No. 4, 39-63. Vinogradov Ju. A./Marcenko K. K. 1989: “Das nordliche Schwarzmeergebiet in der skythischen Epoche”, Klio 71, 539-549. Willamowitz-MoelendorfU. von 1920: Diellias und Homer, Berlin. Winckler H. 1897: Kimmerier, Skythen, Asguzder (Altorientalische Forschungen, Heft VI), Leipzig.