Targitaos (

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

: ;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: ,

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

: ;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ), or Scythes (

: ;

: ,

: ;

: ), was a Scythian god who was the first of the

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved f ...

ancestor and their first king according to the

Scythian mythology The Scythian religion refers to the mythology, ritual practices and beliefs of the Scythian cultures, a collection of closely related ancient Iranian peoples who inhabited Central Asia and the Pontic–Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe throughout C ...

Name

The Greek name () is the Hellenised form of the

Scythian language The Scythian languages are a group of Eastern Iranian languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle Iranian period), spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their descendan ...

name , which means “whose might is far-reaching.” The Greek name name () is the Hellenised form of the

name , which is the endonym of the Scythians.

Role

- was born from the union of Papaios and daughter of the river . - was very closely associated with or confused with him in Scythian mythology, and he was sometimes replaced by in some versions of the Scythian genealogical myth, thus attributing the ancestry of the Scythians alternatively to - or to directly. According to the various versions of the Scythian genealogical myth, fathered the ancestors of the Scythians with the

Snake-Legged Goddess The Snake-Legged Goddess, also referred to as the Anguipede Goddess, was the ancestor-goddess of the Scythians according to the Scythian religion. Name The "Snake-Legged Goddess" or "Anguiped Goddess" is the modern-day name of this goddess, who ...

Identification

- was likely assimilated by the Greeks from the northern shores of the Black Sea with their hero , and the main feature of this deity identifying him with was the cattle he drives in the Scythian genealogical myth, although unlike the Greek who drove the cattle of on foot, the Scythian “” drove a chariot pulled by mares. This cattle-driver aspect of - was likely derived from the motif of cattle-theft of Iranian mythology which is also reflected in the legend of as a cattle-stealing god. Due to this, the Greek author of also identified with in his writings.

Regional variants

Sanerges

The

Sindo SINDO, is one of many semi-empirical quantum chemistry methods. It stands for symmetric orthogonalised INDO and was developed by K. Jug and coworkers. Like MINDO, it is a development of the INDO method. The main development is the inclusion of d or ...

Maeotian The Maeotians (; grc, Μαιῶται, translit=Maiōtai; la, Maeōtae) were an ancient people dwelling along the Sea of Azov, which was known in antiquity as the "Maeotian marshes" or "Lake Maeotis".James, Edward Boucher"Maeotae" and "Maeoti ...

form of was named (

: ;

: ). Reflecting the role of in the Scythian genealogical legend, was considered the partner of the goddess , who was a local iteration of the

. Like , was also assimilated with .

Iconography

is the same figure who appears in Scythian art as the masculine figure facing

Artimpasa Artimpasa ( grc, Αρτιμπασα, translit=Artimpasa; la, Artimpasa) was a complex androgynous Scythian goddess of fertility who possessed power over sovereignty and the priestly force. Artimpasa was the Scythian variant of the Iranian goddess ...

in her depictions as a seated goddess. These scenes depicted the marriage of with Artimpasa, but also represented the granting of a promise of afterlife and future resurrection to , and, by extension, collectively to his descendants, the Scythians. 's role in these scenes also consisted of representing a deified mortal who was identified with him, the Scythian king, who thus was given by identifying him with his divine ancestor. Thus, the scene of the masculine figure facing the seated Artimpasa represented both the goddess's granting of royal power to the king, but also, through the identification with , the father of the first Scythian king, the giving of supreme legitimacy to the authority of the royal descendants of Artimpasa in her role as the divine spouse of the Scythian kings. A representation of as investing a king is a scene from a silver discovered in the , depicting two bearded adult mounted horsemen. One of the horsemen holds a in his right hand and a sceptre in his left hand, while the other horseman has the right hand raised in a gesture of salutation. This scene represented the investiture of a king by a god, and has its parallels in the Iranian world in the

Sasanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

reliefs of and depicting the investitures of I and of I by . Although the identity of the figure holding the has been suggested to be , it most likely represented . In the scene on the , , in his role as the first king and divine ancestor of the Scythians acts as a custodian of the power and the victories of his descendants, and the he holds represents a communion between the king and the god, paralleling the communion with Artimpasa in the scenes with the seated goddess. The topmost and bottommost parts of the are decorated with floral patterns, representing the connection between and Artimpasa.

References

Sources

* * * {{Scythia Scythian mythology Earth gods Legendary progenitors