Were the Pictish People of Scotland from Scythia in Russia?
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 2021-08-29

Were the Pictish People of Scotland from Scythia in Russia? Pictish Origins... 

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Watch: Are the Scots Descendants of the Ancient Scythians of Eurasia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUlD9Cdz80g 

Did the Pictish People of Scotland Come from Scythia in Russia? Where did the Picts come from? In one legend, the Picts were descended from the ancient Irish goddess, Brighid. In Irish mythology, Brighid is part of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a supernatural race who are often associated with stories of ancient fairies. Brighid is known to be the goddess of healing, protection, wisdom, poetry, blacksmithing and domesticated animals. According to some, Britain gets its name from Brighid. 

Other origin stories of the Picts suggest that they originally came from Scythia in central Asia, around the Black Sea and the southern Russia region, and initially conquered the people of ancient Scotland. It is interesting that Scythia is mentioned in the origin of the Picts, a subject I have made a video on previously, as the Declaration of Arbroath mentions Scythia as the origin of the Scots.  The reality however is that we are not sure where the Picts came from: where they indigenous people of the land or foreign conquerors? Let me know your thoughts in comments. 

The Picts eventually merged with the Gaels and became assimilated in the Gaelic culture, with adoption of the Christian religion occurring as part of this process. Pictland gradually disappeared, replaced by the Kingdom of Alba in 843, when the Picts and the Gaels or Scots merged into one kingdom. Prior to this, Pictish kings controlled the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata for periods during the 8th century. For instance, the King of Picts, Óengus I, Son of Fergus, from 732 to 761 controlled Dál Riata.

Exactly how the Kingdom of Alba was formed is somewhat disputed, with some legends suggesting that many Pictish chiefs were deceitfully slaughtered by Kenneth MacAlpin, the first King of Alba, and were therefore forced to merge with the Scots. Known as the Treachery of Scone, the story goes that Kenneth MacAlpin, the King of the Scots or Gaels of Dál Riata, invited many Pictish nobles to a banquet. As the Pictish nobles eat, trap doors below their seats were released, revealing pits below that were filled with deadly spikes. 

As the story goes, this episode allowed Kenneth I to conquer the Picts, merging the Scots and the Picts into the Kingdom of Alba. The Treachery of Scone story is considered to be historically inaccurate by many, and is probably more legend than history. In reality, the Picts and Scots probably merged largely because they were stronger together than divided. 
What do you know about the Picts? Please let me know in the comments below. 

Sources:

Picts – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts 

Scotsman - The Picts: How their mysterious world is being illuminated like never before https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/picts-how-their-mysterious-world-being-illuminated-never-1402409 

Scotsman - A brief history of the ancient Pict Kingdoms of Scotland https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/brief-history-ancient-pict-kingdoms-scotland-1479792 

Creative Commons Imagery:

GrandEscogriffe https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scythes_et_Parthes_100_av_JC.png Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scythes_et_Parthes_100_av_JC.png 

#Pictish #ScottishHistory #AncientHistory