Here Herodotus tells us the national foundation myth of the Scythians and how they were divided between different groups. According to him this is the scythian version (as opposed to the greek one he tells after). How accurate was his information?
>5. According to the account which the Scythians themselves give, they are the youngest of all nations. Their tradition is as follows. A certain Targitaus was the first man who ever lived in their country, which before his time was a desert without inhabitants. He was a child- I do not believe the tale, but it is told nevertheless- of Jove and a daughter of the Borysthenes. Targitaus, thus descended, begat three sons, Leipoxais, Arpoxais, and Colaxais, who was the youngest born of the three. While they still ruled the land, there fell from the sky four implements, all of gold- a plough, a yoke, a battle-axe, and a drinking-cup. The eldest of the brothers perceived them first, and approached to pick them up; when lo! as he came near, the gold took fire, and blazed. He therefore went his way, and the second coming forward made the attempt, but the same thing happened again. The gold rejected both the eldest and the second brother. Last of all the youngest brother approached, and immediately the flames were extinguished; so he picked up the gold, and carried it to his home. Then the two elder agreed together, and made the whole kingdom over to the youngest born.
cont.
>>1168272
>6. From Leipoxais sprang the Scythians of the race called Auchatae; from Arpoxais, the middle brother, those known as the Catiari and Traspians; from Colaxais, the youngest, the Royal Scythians, or Paralatae. All together they are named Scoloti, after one of their kings: the Greeks, however, call them Scythians.
>7. Such is the account which the Scythians give of their origin. They add that from the time of Targitaus, their first king, to the invasion of their country by Darius, is a period of one thousand years, neither less nor more. The Royal Scythians guard the sacred gold with most especial care, and year by year offer great sacrifices in its honour. At this feast, if the man who has the custody of the gold should fall asleep in the open air, he is sure (the Scythians say) not to outlive the year. His pay therefore is as much land as he can ride round on horseback in a day. As the extent of Scythia is very great, Colaxais gave each of his three sons a separate kingdom, one of which was of ampler size than the other two: in this the gold was preserved. Above, to the northward of the farthest dwellers in Scythia, the country is said to be concealed from sight and made impassable by reason of the feathers which are shed abroad abundantly. The earth and air are alike full of them, and this it is which prevents the eye from obtaining any view of the region.
>>1168280
It's Herodotus, called father of lies by many, but in this case he claims to have been informed by the scythians themselves (which is not unlikely since we know that greeks and scythians had contact). Also the story he's telling is very similar to the Persian myth of the division of the world between three brothers, and the scythians were also iranic.
>>1168290
>called father of lies by many
Such an unfair title. He repeatedly states that his information is not personally verified, that he heard it from a guy and it might not be true.
>>1168319
I agree and that's why I started this thread. Can serve as general scythian thread too, should have written that in the OP.
It wasn't rare for Greeks back then to encounter Scythians if they travelled enough or lived in big cities. Athens literally had a quasi-police force consisting of Scythian slaves that were used as mob control during Assemblies and were stationed as archer guards along the city walls. Bunch of Greeks were sailing around the Black Sea during his time and setting up colonies which interacted with Scythians. So it could be accurate (at-least for Scythians in a particular area which his informant was from). Herodotus was surprisingly accurate for some of the river lengths and structure sizes in his chapter about Egypt, so much so it's likely he did travel there or had a really reliable informant that knew his shit.
