Anacharsis (; ) was a

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

prince and philosopher of uncertain historicity who lived in the 6th century BC.

Life

Anacharsis was the brother of the Scythian king Saulius, and both of them were the sons of the previous Scythian king, Gnurus. Few concrete details are known about the life of the historical Anacharsis. He is known to have travelled to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, where he possibly became influenced by Greek culture. Anacharsis was later killed by his brother Saulius for having sacrificed to the Scythian ancestral Snake-Legged Goddess at her shrine in the country of Hylaea by performing an

orgia In ancient Greek religion, an ''orgion'' (ὄργιον, more commonly in the plural ''orgia'') was an ecstatic form of worship characteristic of some mystery cults. The ''orgion'' is in particular a cult ceremony of Dionysos (or Zagreus), cel ...

stic and

shamanistic Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

ritual at night during which he wore images on his dress and played drums. The ancient Greek author,

Herodotus of Halicarnassus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histories ...

, claimed that Anacharsis had been killed because he had renounced Scythian customs and adopted Greek ones, although this claim was likely invented by Herodotus himself. The religious rituals practised by Anacharsis instead corresponded more closely to those of the transvestite Anarya priesthood of the Scythians.

Legacy

An amphora found in the western at Pontic Olbia where was located the temple of Apollo Iētros () recorded the dedication of "paternal honey" to this god by a Scythian named Anaperrēs (), who may have been the son of Anacharsis. The nephew of Anacharsis, Idanthyrsus, who was the son and successor of Saulius, would later become famous among the Greeks in his own right for having resisted the Persian

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

in 513 BC.

In Graeco-Roman philosophy

Later

Graeco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

tradition transformed Anacharsis into a legendary figure as a kind of "

noble savage In Western anthropology, Western philosophy, philosophy, and European literature, literature, the Myth of the Noble savage refers to a stock character who is uncorrupted by civilization. As such, the "noble" savage symbolizes the innate goodness a ...

" who represented "

Barbarian A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

wisdom," due to which the ancient Greeks included him as one of the

Seven Sages of Greece The Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men was the title given to seven philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 7th–6th centuries BCE who were renowned for their wisdom Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, ...

. Consequently, Anacharsis became a popular figure in Greek literature, and many legends arose about him, including claims that he had been a friend of

Solon Solon (; ; BC) was an Archaic Greece#Athens, archaic History of Athens, Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. ...

. The ancient Greek historian Ephorus of Cyme later used this image of Anacharsis to create an idealised image of the Scythians. Eventually, Anacharsis completely became an ideal "man of nature" or "noble savage" figure in Greek literature, as well as favourite figure of the Cynics, who ascribed to him a 3rd-century BC work titled the . Lucian wrote two works on him, ''Anacharsis or Athletics'' (Ἀνάχαρσις ἢ Περὶ Γυμνασίων) and ''The Scythian'' (Σκύθης). Due to the transformation of Anacharsis into a favourite character of Greek philosophers, nearly all of the ancient writings concerning him are about Greek literature, which makes the information regarding the historical Anacharsis himself difficult to assess.

References

Sources

* * * * * Schubert, Charlotte (2010). ''Anacharsis der Weise. Nomade, Skythe, Grieche'' nacharsis the Wise. Nomad, Scythian, Greek Leipziger Studien zur Klassischen Philologie, volume 7. Tübingen: Narr, . *

External links

*
Jean Jacques Barthelemy's The Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Anacharsis 6th-century BC Greek philosophers Ancient Greek murder victims Immigrants to Archaic Athens Presocratic philosophers Scythian people Seven Sages of Greece 6th-century BC Iranian people Ancient Iranian philosophers