Agathyrsi (Greek: Ἀγάθυρσοι) were a people of Scythian,[1] Thracian,[2][3] or mixed Thraco-Scythic origin, who in the time of Herodotus occupied the plain of the Maris (Mures), in the mountainous part of ancient Dacia now known as Transylvania, Romania. According to most authorities, Agathyrsi were of Thracian stock, although their ruling class seems to have been of Scythian origin [4]
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The Scythians arrival in Carpathians is dated 700 BC [5] The Agathyrsi existence is archaeologically attested by the Ciumbrud inhumation type, in the upper Mureş area of the Transylvanian plateau. In contrast with the surrounding peoples who practiced incineration, the Ciumbrud people buried their dead. These tombs, containing Scythian artistic and armament metallurgy (e.g. acinaces), have moreover been dated to 550-450 BC — roughly the timeframe of Herodotus' writing. Archaeologists use the term "Thraco-Agathyrsian" to designate these characteristics, owing to the evident Thracian elements. At the time of Herodotus they were already absorbed by the native Thracians.,[5][6]
Herodotus himself regards the Agathyrsi as not a Scythian people, but as closely related to the Scythians.[7] Elsewhere Herodotus implies that Agathyrsi and Budini are 'non-Scythians' (e.g. Hdt. IV 49; 104, 119.[8]) thus it seems that the designation of the word “Scythian” was variable even for the same author in the same text.[8] He also mentions that in other respects their customs approach nearly to those of the Thracians [9] This is to say that Agathyrsi Scythians were completely denationalized at that time [5]
Agathyrsi appear in the description of the great nomadic Scythian empire of the sixth century BC and in the elaborately recounted the expedition (516 - 513 BC) of Darius I of Persia (522-486 BC) against the Scythians in the N. Pontic.[10] In the second part of Darius campaign, he turned westwards and pursued two Scythian divisions at speed at a day’s distance, first through Scythian lands, then into the lands of those people who had refused alliance – Melanchlaeni, Androphagi, Neuri- and finally to the border of the Agathyrsi, who stood firm and caused the Scythian divisions to return to Scythia, with Darius in pursuit.[11]
History records the name of Spargapeithes (an Iranian name), a king of the Agathyrsi who killed the Scythian king Ariapeithes, in consequence, no doubt, of some border squabble or political rivalry in the lands lying between the Carpathians and the Tyras[12]
Herodotus mentioned the Agathyrsi together with another tribe, the Geloni. The Agathyrsi refused to join in a fight against the Persians unless directly provoked — highlighting the autonomy and voluntary association of the members of the Scythian confederation.
He also reported that Greeks viewed the Agathyrsi, Gelons, and Scythians as brothers. They are described by Herodotus as of luxurious habits, wearing many gold ornaments (the district is still auriferous) and having many wives [13] an assertion made about many other people elsewhere but probably quite fantastic.[6] The description of the pomp and splendor of the Agathyrsi of Transylvania is most strikingly confirmed by the discoveries made at Tufalau (Romania) – though this pomp is itself really pre-Scythian (Bronze Age local nobility) in character.[14]
Herodotus recorded the Pontic Greek myth that the Agathyrsi were named after a legendary ancestor Agathyrsus, an oldest son of Hercules and the monster Echidna.[15]
Aristotle mentions their practice of solemnly reciting their laws in a kind of sing-song to prevent their being forgotten, a practice in existence in his days,[7][16] also found at Gallic Druids. They tattooed their bodies, degrees of rank being indicated by the manner in which this was done, and colored their hair dark blue. Aristotle was the last author to mention them as a real people. Since then they had led a purely literary existence [17]
The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela (2,i) and the historian Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, also list the Agathyrsi among the steppe tribes. Pliny alludes to their "blue hair."[18]
In later times, the Agathyrsi were driven farther north. The 2nd century geographer Claudius Ptolemy lists the Agathyrsi among the tribes in 'European Sarmatia', between the Vistula and the Black Sea[19]
Around 380 AD, Ammianus Marcellinus in Res Gestae Ch. 22, 8 writes that beyond the Palus Maeotis together with Geloni live Agathyrsi, among whom there is an abundance of adamantine stones.[20] Further, he writes that over the border from Geloni are Agathyrsi, who tattoo their bodies and dye their hair blue, the common people with a few small, but the nobles with many large marks (Amm. 31, 2, 1-11)[21] Ammianus also describes the Alanian empire that the Alans cobbled together before the end of the 2nd century, and that by repeated victories the Alans incorporated under their own national name the Geloni, Agathyrsi, Melanchlaeni, Anthropophagi, Amazons, and Seres.
Servius on Aenid 4.v.146 relates that probably closer to 300 AD the Agathyrsi sent across a contingent over the sea to Scotland, where it became identified with the Picts, formidable warriors who seriously fatigued all who stood against them.[22] The sixteenth century British chronicler Raphael Holinshed also mentioned the Agathyrsi origin of the Picts, and their tradition of painting their bodies blue.
The gloss preserved by Stephen of Byzantium explains that the Greeks called the Trausi the Agathyrsi and we know that the Trausi lived in the Rhodope Mountains.[23]
In 19th century, Niebuhr regards the Agathyrsi of Herodotus, or at least the people who occupied the position assigned to them by Herodotus, as the same people as the Getae or Dacians (North Thracians).[7]
An old theory of 19th century writers (Latham, V. St. Martin, Rambaud, Newman) which, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, is based on 'less convincing proof', suggested an identification of the Agathyrsi with the later Agatziri or Akatziroi first mentioned by Priscus in Vol XI, 823, Byzantine History, who described them leading a nomadic life on the Lower Volga, and reported them as having been Hunnic subjects before the time of Attila. This older theory is not mentioned at all by modern scholars Helfen or Golden. According to E.A. Thompson, the conjecture that connects the Agathyrsi with Akatziri should be rejected outright.[24]
The Acatziri were a main force of the Attila's army in 448. Attila appointed Karadach or Curidachus as the Akatzirs' chieftain. (Thompson, p. 107).
Jordanes, who quotes Priscus in Getica, located the Acatziri to the south of the Aesti (Balts) — roughly the same region as the Agathyrsi of Transylvania — and he described them as "a very brave tribe ignorant of agriculture, who subsist on their flocks and by hunting."[25]
The Encyclopædia Britannica 1897 and 1911 editions consider the Acatziri to be precursors of the Khazars of later antiquity,[26] although modern scholars like Professor Peter Golden, E.A. Thompson and Maenchen-Helfen consider this theory to be nothing more than conjecture[27] and Thompson has rejected it outright.[24] There does not seem to be any modern reputable scholar that holds such a theory as factual though no reasons have been given.