Gelonians

The Gelonians or Geloni were an ancient Scythian people whose existence was recorded by ancient Graeco-Roman authors.

Location

The Gelonians lived alongside the Budini in the valley of the Vorskla river.

History

Origins
The Geloni likely originated as a group as the Scythians proper who lived in the Pontic steppe, due to which their name appears in the Scythian genealogical myth along with the Agathyrsi.

Like the Agathyrsi, the Gelonians lived outside of Scythia and were independent of the Scythian kingdom.

Gelonus
During the 6th century BC, the city of Gelonus was built in the country of the Budini, where the Gelonians set up an important industrial, commercial, and political centre. The Gelonians and Budini both lived in Gelonus, although each population lived in separate sections of the city: the Gelonians lived in the eastern earthwork, were was located the city's industrial, commercial, and political centre; the poorer native Budini lived in the western earthwork.

The Persian invasion
When the Persian Achaemenid king Darius I attacked the Scythians in 513 BC, the Scythian king Idanthyrsus summoned the kings of the peoples surrounding his kingdom to a meeting to decide how to deal with the Persian invasion. The kings of the Budini, Gelonians and Sarmatians accepted to help the Scythians against the Persian attack, while the kings of the Agathyrsi, Androphagi, Melanchlaeni, Neuri, and Tauri refused to support the Scythians.

During the campaign, Darius captured the city of Gelonus and set it on fire.

Society and culture

Appearance
According to Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the Geloni were different in appearance from the Budini who lived alongside them.

Lifestyle
The sedentary Gelonians were wealthier than the nomadic Budini, and they were engaged in agriculture.

The Gelonians lived in the city of Gelonus, which was built entirely of wood, This city was protected by a defensive system of three earthworks surrounded by ramparts. The present-day site of  has been identified with Gelonus.

Language
The Gelonians were described by Herodotus of Halicarnassus as speaking a different language from the Budini.

Religion
Herodotus of Halicarnassus mentioned that, every three years, the Gelonians performed a Bacchic-type festival which he interpreted as a festival to the Greek god Dionysos.

Herodotus also claimed that the Gelonians built sanctuaries to their gods (whom he claimed were Greek gods), although this has not been archaeologically verified yet. This was in contrast to the Scythians proper, who did not built shrines to their gods.

Crafts
The Gelonians and Budini brought ores from outside to the industrial section of the city of Gelonus, where iron and copper were smelted from them.

Trade
The Gelonians and the Budini participated in the ancient trade route which started from the ancient Greek colony of Pontic Olbia on the northern shore of the Black Sea and continued to the north-east into the steppe and forest-steppe regions.

Archaeology
The Gelonians corresponded to a group of the archaeological Scythian culture which was located outside of Scythia.

References

Sources

 
 
 
 
 

Scythian tribes
Tribes described primarily by Herodotus