Agathyrsi

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Agathyrsi were a people of Scythian^{[citation needed]}, Thracian, or mixed Thraco-Scythic origin, who in the time of Herodotus occupied the plain of the Maris (Mures), in the region now known as Transylvania.

Herodotus provided a description of the great nomadic Scythian empire of the sixth century BC and the Agathyrsi Scythians, and elaborately recounted the expedition (516 - 513 BC) of Darius I of Persia (522-486 BC) against the Scythians in the N. Pontic (See Herodotus 4.10, 4.48, 4.49, 4.78, 4.100, 4.102, 4.104, 4.119, 4.125). ^{[citation needed]}

Herodotus mentioned the Agathyrsi together with another tribe, the Geloni. The Agathyrsi, who were noted for their love of jewelry, refused to join a fight against Persians unless directly provoked, which highlighted the autonomy and voluntary association of the members of the Scythian confederation. ^{[citation needed]}

Herodotus records the name of Spargapeithes, a King of the Agathyrsi. He also reported that Greeks viewed 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 wives in common (Herod. 4. 104). Herodotus recorded the Pontic Greek myth that the Agathyrsi were named after a legendary ancestor Agathyrsus, a son of Hercules and the monster Echidna (Herod. 4. 8-11).

They tattooed their bodies, degrees of rank being indicated by the manner in which this was done, and colored their hair dark blue. Like the Gallic Druids, they recited their laws in a kind of sing-song to prevent their being forgotten, a practice still in existence in the days of Aristotle.

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."<ref>http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny4.html</ref>

In later times, the Agathyrsi were driven farther north. The 2nd century geographer Claudius Ptolemy lists the Agathyrsi among tribes in 'European Sarmatia', between the Vistula and the Black Sea <ref>http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/_Texts/Ptolemy/3/5*.html</ref>

Ca. 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.<ref>http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/ammianus22.html </ref> 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)<ref>http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/ammianus31.html.</ref>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^{[citation needed]}.

Servius on Aenid 4.v.146 relates that probably closer to 300 AD the Agathyrsi sent across a sea a contingent to Scotland, where it became identified with Picts, who were formidable warriors and seriously fatigued all who stood against them.<ref>http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053&layout=&loc=4.146</ref> The sixteenth century British chronicler Raphael Holinshed also mentioned the Agathyrsi origin of the Picts and their tradition of painting their bodies blue.

[edit] Acatziri

An old theory of 19th century writers (Latham, V. St. Martin, Rambaud, Newman) which, according to the 1911 Encyclopedia 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 in pre-Attila time. 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. <ref name="thompson">E.A. Thompson, The Huns (Peoples of Europe) Blackwell Publishing, Incorporated (March 1, 1999), pg 105 </ref>

The Acatziri were a main force of the Attila's army in 448. Attila appointed Karadach or Curidachus as the Akatzirs' chieftan.(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."<ref>http://www.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html#V</ref>

The Encyclopedia Britannica 1897 and 1911 editions consider the Acatziri to be precursors of the Khazars of later antiquity<ref>http://khazaria.tripod.com/khazars-britannica.html</ref> although modern scholars like Professor Peter Golden, E.A. Thompson and Maenchen-Helfen consider this theory to nothing more than conjecture <ref name="golden1">An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992, pg 87</ref> and Thompson has rejected it outright. <ref name="thompson">E.A. Thompson, The Huns (Peoples of Europe) Blackwell Publishing, Incorporated (March 1, 1999), pg 105 </ref> There does not seem to be any modern reputable scholar that holds such a theory as factual.