In Classical Antiquity, Scythia (Greek , in English pronounced or ) was the area in Eurasia inhabited by the Scythians, from the 8th century BC to the 2nd century AD. Its location and extent varied over time but usually extended farther to the west than is indicated on the map opposite. The area known to classical authors as Scythia included:

The Pontic-Caspian steppe: Kazakhstan, southern Russia and Ukraine (inhabited by Scythians from at least the 8th century BC)

The northern Caucasus area, including Georgia and modern day Azerbaijan.

''Sarmatia'', corresponding to the modern Ukraine and parts of Belarus and Poland

''Scythia Minor'', corresponding to the southern Ukraine with the lower Danube river area and a part of modern Romania, ex-Bulgarian teritorry.

The Sakas (Indo-Scythians) expanded to Sistan (which was also known as Sakestan) and the Indus valley from the 1st century BC."

In ancient Canaan / Judaea, a Scythian and Thracian population inhabited the lands between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee from ca. 5th century BC. According to biblical references, the Scythians there took part in many significant events, such as the introduction of the Ark into Jerusalem by King David, and conflicts between Romans and Jews.

First Scythian kingdom

In the 7th century BC Scythians penetrated from the territories north of the Black Sea across the Caucasus. The early Scythian kingdoms were dominated by inter-ethnic forms of dependency based on subjugation of agricultural populations in eastern South Caucasia, plunder and taxes (occasionally, as far as Syria), regular tribute (Media), tribute disguised as gifts (Egypt), and possibly also payments for military support (Assyria).

It is likely that the same dynasty ruled in Scythia during most of its history. The name of Koloksai, a legendary founder of a royal dynasty, is mentioned by Alcman in the 7th century BC. Prototi and Madis, Scythian kings in the Near Eastern period of their history, and their successors in the north Pontic steppes belonged to the same dynasty. Herodotus lists five generations of a royal clan that probably reigned at the end of the 7th to 6th centuries BC: prince Anacharsis, Saulius, Idanthyrsus, Gnurus, Lycus, and Spargapithes.

After being defeated and driven from the Near East, in the first half of the 6th century BC, Scythians had to re-conquer lands north of the Black Sea. In the second half of that century, Scythians succeeded in dominating the agricultural tribes of the forest-steppe and placed them under tribute. As a result their state was reconstructed with the appearance of the Second Scythian Kingdom which reached its zenith in the 4th century BC.

Second Scythian kingdom

Scythia's social development at the end of the 5th century BC and in the 4th century BC involved its privileged stratum in trade with Greeks, efforts to control this trade, and consequences partly stemming from these two: aggressive external policy, intensified exploitation of dependent population, progressing stratification among the nomadic rulers. Trading with Greeks also stimulated sedenterization processes. The proximity of the Greek city-states on the Black Sea coast (Pontic Olbia, Cimmerian Bosporus, Chersonesos, Sindica, Tanais) was a powerful incentive for slavery in the Scythian society, but only in one direction: the sale of slaves to Greeks, instead of use in their economy. Accordingly, the trade become a stimulus for capture of slaves as war spoils in numerous wars.

Scythia at the end of the fifth to third centuries BC

The Scythian state reached its greatest extent in the 4th century BC during the reign of Ateas. Isocrates believed that Scythians, and also Thracians and Persians, are "''the most able to power, and are the peoples with the greatest might''." In the 4th century BC, under king Ateas, the tribune structure of the state was eliminated, and the ruling power became more centralized. The later sources do not mention three ''basileuses'' any more. Strabo tells that Ateas ruled over majority of the North Pontic barbarians.

Written sources tell that expansion of the Scythian state before the 4th century BC was mainly to the west. In this respect Ateas continued the policy of his predecessors in the 5th century BC. During western expansion, Ateas fought the Triballi. A part of Thracians was subjugated and levied with severe duties. During the 90-year life of Ateas, the Scythians settled firmly in Thrace and became an important factor in political games in the Balkans. At the same time, both the nomadic and agricultural Scythian populations increased along the Dniester. A war with the Bosporian Kingdom increased Scythian pressure on the Greek cities along the North Pontic littoral.

Materials from the site near Kamianka-Dniprovska, purportedly the capital of the Ateas’ state, show that metallurgists were free members of the society, even if burdened with imposed obligations. The metallurgy was the most advanced and the only distinct craft speciality among the Scythians. From the story of Polyaenus and Frontin, it follows that in the 4th century BC Scythia had a layer of dependent population, which consisted of impoverished Scythian nomads and local indigenous agricultural tribes, socially deprived, dependent and exploited, who did not participate in the wars, but were engaged in servile agriculture and cattle husbandry.

The year 339 BC was a culminating year for the Second Scythian Kingdom, and the beginning of its decline. The war with Philip II of Macedon ended in a victory by the father of Alexander the Great, the Scythian king Ateas fell in battle well into his nineties. Many royal kurgans (Chertomlyk, Kul-Oba, Aleksandropol, Krasnokut) are dated from after Ateas’s time and previous traditions were continued, and life in the settlements of Western Scythia show that the state survived until the 250s BC. When in 331 BC Zopyrion, Alexander's viceroy in Thrace, "not wishing to sit idle", invaded Scythia and besieged Pontic Olbia, he suffered a crushing defeat from the Scythians and lost his life.

The fall of the Second Scythian Kingdom came about in the second half of the 3rd century BC under the onslaught of Celts and Thracians from the west and Sarmatians from the east. With their increased forces, the Sarmatians devastated significant parts of Scythia and, "annihilating the defeated, transformed a larger part of the country into a desert".

The dependent forest-steppe tribes, subjected to exaction burdens, freed themselves at the first opportunity. The Dnieper and Buh populace ruled by the Scythians did not become Scythians. They continued to live their original life which was alien to Scythian ways. From the 3rd century BC for many centuries the histories of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of North Pontic diverged. The material culture of the populations quickly lost their common features. And in the steppe, reflecting the end of nomad hegemony in Scythian society, the royal kurgans were no longer built. Archeologically, late Scythia appears first of all as a conglomerate of fortified and non-fortified settlements with abutting agricultural zones.

The development of the Scythian society is marked by the following trends:

# An intensified settlement process, evidenced by the appearance of numerous kurgan burials in the steppe zone of North Pontic, some of them dated to the end of the 5th century BC, but the majority belonging to the fourth or 3rd centuries BC, reflecting the establishment of permanent pastoral coaching routes and a tendency to semi-nomadic pasturing. The Lower Dnieper area contained mostly unfortified settlements, while in Crimea and Western Scythia the agricultural population grew. The Dnieper settlements developed in what were previously nomadic winter villages, and in uninhabited lands. # Tendency for proprietary and social inequality, ideological ascend of the nobility, further stratification among free Scythian nomads. The majority of royal kurgans are dated from the 4th century BC. # Increase in subjection of the forest-steppe population, archeologically traced. In the 4th century BC in the Dnieper forest-steppe zone, steppe-type burials appear. In addition to the nomadic advance in the north in search of the new pastures, they show an increase of pressure on the farmers of the forest-steppe belt. The Borispol kurgans belong almost entirely to soldiers and sometimes even women warriors. The bloom of steppe Scythia coincides with decline of forest-steppe. From the second half of the 5th century BC, importing of antique goods to the Middle Dnieper decreased because of pauperization of the dependent farmers. In the forest-steppe, kurgans of the 4th century BC are poorer than during previous times. At the same time, the cultural influence of the steppe nomads grew. The Senkov kurgans in the Kiev area, left by the local agricultural population, are low and contain poor female and no-inventory male burials, in a striking contrast with the nearby Borispol kurgans of the same era left by the Scythian conquerors. # Beginning of city life in Scythia. # Growth of trade with Northern Black Sea Greek cities, and increase in Hellenization of the Scythian aristocracy. After the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, Attican agriculture was ruined. Demosthenes wrote that about 400,000 medimns (63,000 t) of grain was exported annually from the Bosporus to Athens. The Scythian nomadic aristocracy not only served a middleman role, but also actively participated in the trade of grain produced by dependent farmers as well as slaves, skins and other goods.

Scythia's later history is mainly dominated by sedentary agrarian and city elements. As a result of the defeats suffered by Scythians two separate states were formed, two Lesser Scythias, one in Thrace (Dobrudja), and the other in the Crimea and the Lower Dnieper area.

Later Scythian kingdoms

Having settled this Scythia Minor in Thrace, the former Scythian nomads (or rather their nobility) abandoned their nomadic way of life, retaining their power over the agrarian population. This little polity should be distinguished from the Third Scythian Kingdom in Crimea and Lower Dnieper area, whose inhabitants likewise underwent a massive sedentarization. The interethnic dependence was replaced by developing forms of dependence within the society. The enmity of the Third Scythian Kingdom, centred on Scythian Neapolis, towards the Greek settlements of the northern Black Sea steadily increased. The Scythian king apparently regarded the Greek colonies as unnecessary intermediaries in the wheat trade with mainland Greece. Besides, the settling cattlemen were attracted by the Greek agricultural belt in Southern Crimea. The later Scythia was both culturally and socio-economically far less advanced than its Greek neighbors such as Olvia or Chersonesos.

The continuity of the royal line is less clear in the Lesser Scythias of Crimea and Thrace than it had been previously. In the 2nd century BC, Olvia became a Scythian dependency. That event was marked in the city by minting of coins bearing the name of the Scythian king Skilurus. He was a son of a king and a father of a king, but the relation of his dynasty with the former dynasty is not known. Either Skilurus or his son and successor Palakus were buried in the mausoleum of Scythian Neapol that was used from ca. 100 BC to ca. 100 AD. However, the last burials are so poor that they do not seem to be royal, indicating a change in the dynasty or royal burials in another place.

Later, at the end of the 2nd century BC, Olvia was freed from the Scythian domination, but became a subject to Mithradates the Great. By the end of the 1st century BC, Olbia, rebuilt after its sack by the Getae, became a dependency of the Dacian barbarian kings, who minted their own coins in the city. Later from the 2nd century AD Olbia belonged to the Roman Empire. Scythia was the first state north of the Black Sea to collapse with the invasion of the Goths in the 2nd century AD (see Oium).

Scythian kings

Scythia was a loose state that originated as early as 8th century BC. Little is known of them and their rulers. Most detailed description came down to us from Herodotus.

Scylas (ca. 500 BC) – Herodotus describes him as a Scythian whose mother was Greek, he was expelled by his people

Octamasadas (ca. 450 BC) – was put on the throne after Scylas

Ateas (ca. 429–339 BC) – defeated by the Macedonians; his empire fell apart

Skilurus (ca. 125–110 BC) – died during a war against Mithridates VI of Pontus

Palacus (ca. 100 BC) – the last Scythian ruler, defeated by Mithridates

See also

Maeotian marshes

Art & literature

In his later years, Ovid wrote the poems ''Tristia'' and ''Epistulae ex Ponto'' about his exile in Tomis.

Alekseev, A. Yu. et al., "Chronology of Eurasian Scythian Antiquities Born by New Archaeological and 14C Data". ''Radiocarbon'', Vol. 43, No 2B, 2001, pp. 1085–1107.

Khazanov, A.M., ''Social history of Scythians'', Moscow, 1975 (in Russian).

Morgan Llewelyn's novel ''The Horse Goddess'' is a story of Celts and Scythians.

Wolfgang Jaedtke's German novel ''Steppenkind'', Piper Verlag, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-492-25146-4, describes the life of nomadic Scythians around 700 BC.

Max Overton's novels ''Lion of Scythia'' and ''The Golden King'' follow the life of a Macedonian officer captured by a Scythian tribe in about 323 BC.

Andrew Bird's song, "Scythian Empire", references Scythians.

Hate Forest's demo album, ''Scythia'' was a black metal album released in 1999.

Christopher Marlowe's semi-historical play, Tamburlaine the Great, is based on the life of a 'Scythian shepherd'.

References

External links

An Introductory Bibliography on Scythia

Pyotr O. Karyshkovskij-Ikar Coins of Olbia: Essay of Monetary Circulation of the North-western Black Sea Region in Antique Epoch. Киев, 1988. ISBN 5-12-000104-1.

Category:Archaeological sites in Ukraine

ca:Regió d'Escítia cy:Scythia el:Σκυθία es:Escitia fa:سکائستان fr:Scythie ko:스키타이 id:Skithia os:Скифыстон it:Scizia la:Scythia lv:Skitija ms:Scythia no:Skytia pl:Scytia pt:Cítia ru:Скифия scn:Scizzia uk:Скіфія

name	Hate Forest
background	group_or_band
origin	Kharkiv, Ukraine
genre	Black metal
years active	1995–2007
label	Supernal Music
associated acts	DrudkhAstrofaes
website	http://www.myspace.com/hateforestukraine
current members	Roman SayenkoThurios }}

Hate Forest was a Ukrainian black metal band formed by Roman Saenko, the leading member of Drudkh, Dark Ages, and Blood of Kingu. Thurios joined the band in 1998 after the recording of "Scythia". The music is mostly very fast, but occasionally slow, with low, distorted vocals and dark ambient elements (some releases have consisted entirely of dark ambient tracks). The band never gave interviews, never released photos, and held their distance from the black metal scene. After Hate Forest disbanded, Saenko focused on Blood of Kingu, a band similar in style but of different inspiration.

Members

Roman Saenko (also in Drudkh, Blood of Kingu and Dark Ages) - vocals and all instruments

Thurios (also in Drudkh and Astrofaes)

Former members

Khaoth - drums (for live performance, 2001)

Alzeth - guitar (1998–1999, 2004)

Discography

''Scythia'' Demo, 1999

''Darkness'' EP, 2000

''The Curse'' Demo, 2000

''The Most Ancient Ones'' Full-length, 2001

''Blood & Fire'' EP, 2001

''Ritual'' EP, 2001

''The Gates'' EP, 2001

''Blood & Fire/Ritual'' Compilation, 2001

''To Those Who Came Before Us'' Compilation, 2002

''Purity'' Full-length, 2003

''To Twilight Thickets'' Compilation, 2003

''Battlefields'' Full-length, 2003

''Resistance'' EP, 2004

''Sorrow'' Full-length, 2005

''Nietzscheism'' Compilation, 2005

''Temple Forest'' Demo, 2007 (recorded in 2000, appeared as a part of "To Twilight Thickets", released in 2007 as a stand-alone demo)

''Grief Of The Universe/Spinning Galaxies'' Split EP with Legion Of Doom, 2008

''Dead But Dreaming'' Compilation, 2009

External links

Hate Forest on Myspace

References

Category:Ukrainian musical groups Category:National Socialist black metal musical groups Category:Ukrainian black metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1995 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Category:Musical duos

bg:Hate Forest de:Hate Forest es:Hate Forest fr:Hate Forest it:Hate Forest pl:Hate Forest sco:Hate Forest fi:Hate Forest uk:Hate Forest

''Humani generis unitas'' (Latin for ''On the Unity of the Human Race'') was a planned encyclical of Pope Pius XI before his death on February 10, 1939, which condemned antisemitism, racism and the persecution of Jews. Because it was never promulgated, it is sometimes referred to as "The Hidden Encyclical" or "The Lost Encyclical."

History

In June 1938, Pius XI summoned American Jesuit John LaFarge, who began to prepare a draft of ''Humani Generis Unitas'', which LaFarge and two other Jesuits—Gustav Gundlach and Gustave Desbuquois—worked on in Paris; the draft was approximately 100 pages long. Another Jesuit translated the draft encyclical into Latin, presenting it to Vladimir Ledochowski, then the General of the Society of Jesus—who had chosen Gundlach and Desbuquois for the project. The draft encyclical was delivered to the Vatican in September 1938.

Some secondary sources—as well as Cardinal Tisserant the Dean of the College of Cardinals—claim that ''Humani Generis Unitas'' was literally on Pius XI's desk when he died of a heart attack on February 10, 1939.

Pope Pius XII, who succeeded Pius XI, did not promulgate the encyclical in the exact form of the draft left by Pius XI. Critics of Pius XII—notably John Cornwell in his controversial work ''Hitler's Pope''—have cited his failure to promulgate the encyclical as evidence of his alleged silence toward anti-Semitism and The Holocaust, though a revised form of the encyclical was actually issued by Pius XII in October 1939 and analysis of the encyclical figures prominently in most comparisons of the policies of Pius XII and his predecessor.

Pope Benedict XVI decreed in June, 2006 that all documents from the reign of Pius XI in the Vatican Secret Archives should be opened, and on September 18, 2006 over 30,000 documents were made available to researchers.

Content

The first 70 paragraphs, probably authored by Gundlach, are a critique of theological modernism, unorthodox re-interpretation of Sacred Scripture, nationalism, and racism; the remaining 108, likely authored by all three Jesuits, contextualized the first part of the encyclical with the social role of Catholic educational institutions and anti-Semitism.

Although the draft encyclical clearly condemned racism and anti-Semitism, the document is deeply grounded in anti-''Judaism''. The draft encyclical criticizes the majority of post-Messianic Jews for not acknowledging Jesus Christ as the true Jewish Messiah.

Racism

The “encyclical” clearly condemns American racial segregation and Racism and Nazi German anti-Semitism Racism is a denial of the unity of human society. , a denial of the human personality and a denial of the true values of religion There is no relation between race and religion last not least because racism is destructive to any society The text points out that racism is destructive not only for social relations within a society but also for international relations and relations between different races.

Antisemitic accusations

The encyclical condemns the persecution of Jews as well. “These persecutions have been censured by the Holy See on more than one occasion, but especially when they have worn the mantle of Christianity". “This unjust and pitiless campaign against the Jews has at least this advantage”, according to the “encyclical”, because the true nature, the authentic basis of the social separation of the Jews from the rest of humanity … is religious in character. …Essentially, the so-called Jewish question … is a question of religion and, since the coming of Christ, a question of Christianity. The encyclical blames the Jews of the time of Christ for having brought their own Messiah Jesus Christ to death: "The very act by which the Jewish people put to death their Savior and King was, in the strong language of Saint Paul, the salvation of the world". The draft encyclical continues by accusing Jews of blind materialism.

''Blinded by a vision of material domination and gain, the Israelites lost what they themselves had sought. A few chosen souls, among whom were the disciples and followers of Our Lord, the early Jewish Christians, and, through the centuries, a few members of the Jewish people, were an exception to this general rule. By their acceptance of Christ's teaching and their incorporation into His Church, they shared in the inheritance of His glory, but they remained and still remain an exception. "What Israel was seeking after, that it has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been blinded" (Romans 11:7).'' The planned encyclical argues, that

''By a mysterious Providence of God, this unhappy people, destroyers of their own nation, whose misguided leaders had called down upon their own heads a Divine malediction, doomed, as it were, to perpetually wander over the face of the earth, were nonetheless never allowed to perish, but have been preserved through the ages into our own time. No natural reason appears to be forthcoming to explain this age-long persistence, this indestructible coherence of the Jewish people.''

Reaction of Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII, who according to the authors, was not aware of the text before the death of his predecessor, chose not to publish this encyclical. However, his first encyclical Summi Pontificatus (October 12, 1939), published after the beginning of WWII, has the identical title ''On the Unity of Human Society'' and uses many of the arguments of the text, avoiding most of the negative characterisation of the Jewish people and rabbinic religion still contained in the text of the original encyclical, planned and written before the invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War.

Summi Pontificatus sees Christianity being universalized and opposed to every form of racial hostility and against racial superiority. There are no real racial differences, because the human race forms a unity, because "one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth".

''What a wonderful vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of the redemption wrought by Christ for all''.

This divine law of solidarity and charity assures that all men are truly brethren, without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and societies.

References

Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky, L’Encyclique Cachee de Pie XI, Une occasion manqué de l’Eglise face a l’antisemitisme , Editions La Decouverte, Paris 1995, (engl)The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI (Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1997).

Encyclical ''Summi Pontificatus'' on the Vatican website

Notes

External links

''Humani Generis Unitas'' draft of a section as of 1938

''Pius XI and the mystery of the disapperead encyclical'' (YouTube video, original Italian, with English subtitles, duration 04:38)

Category:Antisemitism Category:Catholic ecumenical and interfaith relations Category:Judaism-related controversies

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