斯基泰人

斯基泰人（/羅馬化：Skūttēs，或，複數：Σκύθαι/羅馬化：Skūttai；英語: Scythia/Scythian，複數：Scythae/Scythians）也譯为斯基提亞人 、西古提人聖經和合本歌羅西書3:11、叔提雅人《思高聖經》〈哥羅森書〉3:11：「在這一點上，已沒有希臘人或猶太人，受割損的或未受割損的，野蠻人、叔提雅人、奴隸、自由人的分別，而只有是一切並在一切內的基督。」、西徐亞人或塞西亞人，為古代在東歐大草原至漠南辽河流域一帶居住與活動、操東伊朗語支的游牧民族或半游牧民族，他們的領土被稱為斯基提亞；古代波斯人稱之為塞克人（古波斯语：Sakā，也译为薩迦人），共分為戴尖帽塞克人、飲豪麻汁塞克人、海邊塞克人聯合國教科文組織 (UNESCO) 著，徐文堪、芮傳明譯：《中亞文明史》，第二卷 (北京：中國對外出版翻譯公司，2001)，頁8-12、20-23。。中國《史記》、《漢書》記錄的塞種可能源自這個民族。

主流學術界普遍認同斯基泰人為伊朗人的分支 : "Scythians, a nomadic people of Iranian origin [...]"
 : "[B]oth Cimmerians and Scythians were Iranian peoples."
 : "During the first half of the first millennium B.C., c. 3,000 to 2,500 years ago, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock [...] [T]he population of ancient Scythia was far from being homogeneous, nor were the Scyths themselves a homogeneous people. The country called after them was ruled by their principal tribe, the "Royal Scyths" (Her. iv. 20), who were of Iranian stock and called themselves "Skolotoi" [...]"
 : "[T]rue Scyths seems to be those whom [Herodotus] calls Royal Scyths, that is, the group who claimed hegemony [...] apparently warrior-pastoralists. It is generally agreed, from what we know of their names, that these were people of Iranian stock [...]"
 : "The physical characteristics of the Scythians correspond to their cultural affiliation: their origins place them within the group of Iranian peoples."
 : "The Scythian kingdom [...] was succeeded in the Russian steppes by an ascendancy of various Sarmatian tribes — Iranians, like the Scythians themselves."
 : "The general view is that both agricultural and nomad Scythians were Iranian."，其語言屬東伊朗語支 : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan to distinguish them from the related Massagetae of the Aral region and the Scythians of the Pontic steppes. These tribes spoke Iranian languages, and their chief occupation was nomadic pastoralism."
 : "Near the end of the 19th century V.F. Miller (1886, 1887) theorized that the Scythians and their kindred, the Sauromatians, were Iranian-speaking peoples. This has been a popular point of view and continues to be accepted in linguistics and historical science [...]"
 : "From the end of the 7th century B.C. to the 4th century B.C. the Central- Eurasian steppes were inhabited by two large groups of kin Iranian-speaking tribes – the Scythians and Sarmatians [...]"
 : "All contemporary historians, archeologists and linguists are agreed that since the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes were of the Iranian linguistic group [...]"
 : "During the first half of the first millennium B.C., c. 3,000 to 2,500 years ago, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock [...] The main Iranian-speaking peoples of the region at that period were the Scyths and the Sarmatians [...]"
 : "When we speak of Scythians, we refer to those Scytho-Siberians who inhabited the Kuban Valley, the Taman and Kerch peninsulas, Crimea, the northern and northeastern littoral of the Black Sea, and the steppe and lower forest steppe regions now shared between Ukraine and Russia, from the seventh century down to the first century B.C [...] They almost certainly spoke an Iranian language [...]"，並信仰一種前祆教時期古伊朗宗教。為最早使用騎兵的民族之一，在西元前8世紀取代了辛梅里亞人成為東歐大草原的霸主，在這段時期斯基泰人及其分支民族幾乎統治了整個歐亞大草原，從喀爾巴阡山脈一直到内蒙古辽河流域的夏家店上层文化及云南的滇国都是他們的勢力範圍: "The Scythians, or Northern Iranians, who were culturally and ethnolinguistically a single group at the beginning of their expansion, had earlier controlled the entire steppe zone.": "The preservation of the earlier form. *Sakla. in the extreme eastern dialects supports the historicity of the conquest of the entire steppe zone by the Northern Iranians—literally, by the 'Scythians'—in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age [...]"，創造了人類歷史上首個游牧帝國。盤據在今烏克蘭和南俄一帶的斯基泰人自稱「蘇格洛提」（Skoloti），由稱為「斯基泰皇室」的游牧戰士貴族所帶領。

在西元前7世紀，斯基泰人與西米里亞人一起跨越高加索山脈並頻密地洗劫中東地區，為當地的政治發展充當了重要角色。大約在西元前650到630年，斯基泰人短暫支配了位於伊朗高原西部的米底王國，並將其勢力範圍擴展至埃及邊境。而在失去米底王國的控制權後，斯基泰人仍持續介入中東的地區事務，並在西元前612年的尼尼微戰役中扮演領導角色，摧毀了亞述帝國，隨後與波斯帝國頻密發生衝突。西元前4世紀，斯基泰人先被馬其頓王國重挫，隨後逐漸被另一支伊朗民族薩爾馬提亞人征服。西元前2世紀後期，他們位於克里米亞半島的首都拿波羅利斯被本都王國的米特里達梯六世佔領，而他們剩餘的地盤亦被合併到博斯普魯斯王國，並大幅度被希臘化。在西元3世紀，斯基泰人和薩爾馬提亞人一同被另一支伊朗民族奄蔡人統治，並一直被哥德人侵擾。中世紀早期，大量的斯基泰人和薩爾馬提亞人被同化和吸收到早期斯拉夫民族中: "Indeed, it is now accepted that the Sarmatians merged in with pre-Slavic populations.": "In their Ukrainian and Polish homeland the Slavs were intermixed and at times overlain by Germanic speakers (the Goths) and by Iranian speakers (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans) in a shifting array of tribal and national configurations."。

斯基泰人在絲綢之路中扮演重要角色，促進了希臘、波斯、印度和中國文明的商業繁榮。在城市定居的金屬工匠為斯基泰人所打造的飾品別具風格，後世稱之為斯基泰風藝術。

名稱
字源
語言學家Oswald Szemerényi研究過各種可能是Scythian的同義詞後梳理出以下幾個字: 「Skuthes」（Σκύθης）、「Skudra」、「Sug(u)da」和「Saka」。
「Skuthes」（Σκύθης）、「Skudra」、「Sug(u)da」派生自印歐語字根「(s)kewd-」意思是「推進、射擊」（與英語的shoot同源）。「*skud-」是同一個字元音變換後的產物。Szemerényi還原了斯基泰人的自稱為「*skuda」(大致上是「射手」的意思，也與英語的shooter同源）。這派生出古希臘語「Skuthēs」Σκύθης（複數形式：「Skuthai」 Σκύθαι）以及阿卡德語「Aškuz」。古亞美尼亞語： 「skiwtʰ」是基於愛歐塔化的希臘語而生。後來斯基泰語中的輔音由/d/變成/l/，由「*skuda」變成「*skula」，成為了後來希臘語詞彙「Skolotoi」 (Σκώλοτοι)的字源，也就是希羅多德所提到斯基泰皇室成員的自稱，其他的聲音改變還產生了「Sogdia」也就是粟特。
 「Saka」一字則源於古波斯語：「Sakā」，古希臘語：、拉丁語: 「Sacae」、梵語：「Śaka」皆源自伊朗語的「sak-」，「前進、遨遊」也就是「游牧」的意思。儘管關係密切，但薩迦人（Saka）還是和生活在歐洲的斯基泰人有分別，他們主要生活在歐亞大草原的北方和東方以及塔里木盆地。

現代術語
在學術界，斯基泰人一詞一般指涉在西元前7世紀到西元3世紀間活動在東歐大草原的伊朗游牧民族* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan to distinguish them from the related Massagetae of the Aral region and the Scythians of the Pontic steppes. These tribes spoke Iranian languages, and their chief occupation was nomadic pastoralism."
 : "The Scythians lived in the Early Iron Age, and inhabited the northern areas of the Black Sea (Pontic) steppes. Though the 'Scythian period' in the history of Eastern Europe lasted little more than 400 years, from the 7th to the 3rd centuries BC, the impression these horsemen made upon the history of their times was such that a thousand years after they had ceased to exist as a sovereign people, their heartland and the territories which they dominated far beyond it continued to be known as 'greater Scythia'."
 : "From the end of the 7th century B.C. to the 4th century B.C. the Central- Eurasian steppes were inhabited by two large groups of kin Iranian-speaking tribes – the Scythians and Sarmatians [...] "[I]t may be confidently stated that from the end of the 7th century to the 3rd century B.C. the Scythians occupied the steppe expanses of the north Black Sea area, from the Don in the east to the Danube in the West."
 : "Scythians, a nomadic people of Iranian origin who flourished in the steppe lands north of the Black Sea during the 7th–4th centuries BCE (Figure 1). For related groups in Central Asia and India, see [...]"
 : "During the first half of the first millennium B.C., c. 3,000 to 2,500 years ago, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock [...] The main Iranian-speaking peoples of the region at that period were the Scyths and the Sarmatians [...] [T]he population of ancient Scythia was far from being homogeneous, nor were the Scyths themselves a homogeneous people. The country called after them was ruled by their principal tribe, the "Royal Scyths" (Her. iv. 20), who were of Iranian stock and called themselves "Skolotoi" (iv. 6); they were nomads who lived in the steppe east of the Dnieper up to the Don, and in the Crimean steppe [...] The eastern neighbours of the "Royal Scyths", the Sauromatians, were also Iranian; their country extended over the steppe east of the Don and the Volga."
 : "The name 'Scythian' is met in the classical authors and has been taken to refer to an ethnic group or people, also mentioned in Near Eastern texts, who inhabited the northern Black Sea region."
 : "Ordinary Greek (and later Latin) usage could designate as Scythian any northern barbarian from the general area of the Eurasian steppe, the virtually treeless corridor of drought-resistant perennial grassland extending from the Danube to Manchuria. Herodotus seeks greater precision, and this essay is focussed on his Scythians, who belong to the North Pontic steppe [...] These true Scyths seems to be those whom he calls Royal Scyths, that is, the group who claimed hegemony [...] apparently warrior-pastoralists. It is generally agreed, from what we know of their names, that these were people of Iranian stock [...]"
 : "When we speak of Scythians, we refer to those Scytho-Siberians who inhabited the Kuban Valley, the Taman and Kerch peninsulas, Crimea, the northern and northeastern littoral of the Black Sea, and the steppe and lower forest steppe regions now shared between Ukraine and Russia, from the seventh century down to the first century B.C [...] They almost certainly spoke an Iranian language [...]"
 : "The first historical steppe nomads, the Scythians, inhabited the steppe north of the Black Sea from about the eight century B.C."
 。

斯基泰人與幾個生活在他們東方的民族都共享了相似的文化包括武器、馬俱和藝術，被稱為「斯基泰三角」。: "Even though there were fundamental ways in which nomadic groups over such a vast territory differed, the terms "Scythian" and "Scythic" have been widely adopted to describe a special phase that followed the widespread diffusion of mounted nomadism, characterized by the presence of special weapons, horse gear, and animal art in the form of metal plaques. Archaeologists have used the term "Scythic continuum" in a broad cultural sense to indicate the early nomadic cultures of the Eurasian steppe. The term "Scythic" draws attention to the fact that there are elements – shapes of weapons, vessels, and ornaments, as well as lifestyle – common to both the eastern and western ends of the Eurasian steppe region. However, the extension and variety of sites across Asia makes Scythian and Scythic terms too broad to be viable, and the more neutral "early nomadic" is preferable, since the cultures of the Northern Zone cannot be directly associated with either the historical Scythians or any specific archaeological culture defined as Saka or Scytho-Siberian."共享相同特徵的文化常被稱為「斯基泰文化」，而這些民族也被稱為「斯基泰人」。: "The term 'Scythic' has been used above to denote a group of basic traits which characterize material culture from the fifth to the first century B.C. in the whole zone stretching from the Transpontine steppe to the Ordos, and without ethnic connotation. How far nomadic populations in central Asia and the eastern steppes may be of Scythian, Iranic, race, or contain such elements makes a precarious speculation."與斯基泰文化有聯繫的民族不止斯基泰人自己，還包括一些截然不同的民族: "Horse-riding nomadism has been referred to as the culture of 'Early Nomads'. This term encompasses different ethnic groups (such as Scythians, Saka, Massagetae, and Yuezhi) [...]"，諸如辛梅里安人、馬薩革泰人、薩迦人、薩爾馬提亞人和各式各樣的森林草原民族，諸如早期斯拉夫人、波羅的人和芬蘭-烏戈爾人。在這廣義的「斯基泰人」下，一般都會以「古典斯基泰人」、「西斯基泰人」、「歐洲斯基泰人」或「旁狄斯基泰人」作區別。

斯基泰學學家Askold Ivantchik沮喪地指出，「斯基泰人」一詞廣義和狹義混著來用會造成巨大的混亂。因此他對以「斯基泰人」一詞來指西元前7世紀到西元3世紀間統治東歐大草原的伊朗民族有所保留。 狄宇宙寫道，「廣義的斯基泰的定義根本廣到不行」，認為以「早期游牧民族」代替更為可取。

語言
斯基泰語屬於印歐語系東伊朗語支，但是否所有物質文化受他們影響的族群都說同樣的語言目前尚未確定。而與古斯基泰語最接近的是奧塞梯語Ladislav Zgusta, "The old Ossetian Inscription from the River Zelenčuk" (Veröffentlichungen der Iranischen Kommission = Sitzungsberichte der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse 486) Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1987.  in Kim, op.cit., 54.。

薩爾馬提亞語、于闐語和薩迦語都有可能斯基泰語所產生的方言連續體。

在中世紀早期，斯基泰語因為大量的斯基泰人及其分支族群在隨著斯拉夫大遷徙和突厥大遷徙時被征服和同化而被取代，但大量的詞彙則因此而流入斯拉夫諸語和突厥諸語中。目前唯一存活的是西部分支的奧塞梯語。

外表
根據目前考古所得的藝術品所見，斯基泰人是明顯的西歐亞人。而根據歐亞各地區的古文明在西元前5到西元4世紀的歷史文獻記載，斯基泰人都是白皮膚、紅或金髮、藍或綠眼的, 20  "The Scythians are a ruddy race because of the cold, not through any fierceness in the sun's heat. It is the cold that burns their white skin and turns it ruddy.", Hymn IV. To Delos. 291  "The first to bring thee these offerings fro the fair-haired Arimaspi [...]", Book VI, Chap. 24  ". These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes [...]"。

基因
2017年，兩份分別發表在《自然-通訊》和《科學報告》期刊的報告指出，斯基泰人的母系血統與東歐的塞那亞文化相同，但同時亦吸收了東歐亞人的母系血統。

Krzewińska et al. (2018)發現，塞那亞文化的男性成員身上的Y染色體屬於單倍群R1a1a1（R1a-M417），而這個單倍群在青銅時代擴張到幾乎整個歐亞大陸。相比之下，6具目前在東歐發現的古典斯基泰人（或稱為「真斯基泰人」）的男性古屍卻屬於常見於西歐人的R1b1a1a2（R1b-M269）並與阿凡納謝沃文化、安德羅諾沃文化有緊密關係。作者認為，斯基泰人並非塞那亞文化的直接後代，但他們都源自於顏那亞文化。而斯基泰人與其他物質文化相似的遠東族群在基因上有著巨大差異，因此可以判斷他們是獨立的族群，只是在物質文化上可能有著共同的源頭，其傳播位置大約在東歐大草原東部到烏拉爾山脈南麓。

2019年，一份研究物質文化與斯基泰人相似的南西伯利亞歐迪貝爾文化的古屍的報告發表在《人類遺傳學》期刊，指出歐迪貝爾文化的男性Y染色體屬於單倍群R1a，其中有兩個是R1a1a1b2(R1a-Z93)，並檢驗到有混合東亞人基因，報告結果表示，斯基泰人與歐迪貝爾文化的族群在父系血統上完全不同。

参见
塞迦
斯基提亞
斯基泰人組曲

 附註或參考 

參考文獻













延伸閱讀

 Alekseev, A. Yu. et al., "Chronology of Eurasian Scythian Antiquities Born by New Archaeological and 14C Data". Radiocarbon, Vol .43, No 2B, 2001, p 1085–1107.
 Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. 2002. Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, New York. 1st Trade printing, 2003. ISBN 0-446-67983-6 (pbk).
 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1984). Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Typological Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture (Parts I and II). Tbilisi State University.
 Harmatta, J., "Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians", Acta Universitatis de Attila József Nominatae. Acta antique et archaeologica Tomus XIII. Szeged 1970, Kroraina.com 
  Jaedtke, Wolfgang. Steppenkind, Piper Verlag, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-492-25146-4. This novel contains detailed descriptions of the life of nomadic Scythians around 700 BC.
Johnson, James William, "The Scythian: His Rise and Fall", Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr., 1959), pp. 250–257, University of Pennsylvania Press, JSTOR 
 Lebedynsky, I. (2001). "Les Scythes: la civilisation nomade des steppes VIIe–IIIe siècle av. J.-C." / Errance, Paris.
 Lebedynsky Iaroslav (2006) "Les Saces", Editions Errance, ISBN 2-87772-337-2
 Mallory, J.P. (1989). In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language Archeology and Myth. Thames and Hudson. Chapter 2; and pages 51–53 for a quick reference.
 Newark, T. (1985). The Barbarians: Warriors and wars of the Dark Ages. Blandford: New York. See pages 65, 85, 87, 119–139.
 Renfrew, C. (1988). Archeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European origins. Cambridge University Press.
 Rolle, Renate, The world of the Scythians, London and New York (1989).
  Rybakov, Boris. Paganism of Ancient Rus. Nauka, Moscow, 1987
 Torday, Laszlo (1998). Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History. Durham Academic Press. ISBN 1-900838-03-6.

 外部链接 

 斯基泰人 
 黄金之主——西伯利亚的斯基泰人
 Scythians overview  by Chris Bennet
 Livius website articles on ancient history, entry on Scythians/Sacae  by Jona Lendering
 The early burial in Tuva 
 Color illustrations of Scythian gold 
 Published excavations of royal Scythian kurgan (barrow) at Chertomlyk reviewed
 all known Scythian kings listed on Regnal Chronologies
 Herodotus, Histories, Book IV – translated by Rawlinson, 1942 edition 
 Livio Stecchini, "The Mapping of the Earth: Scythia" : reconstructing the map of Scythia according to the conceptual geography of Herodotus
 Livio Stecchini, "The Mapping of the Earth: Gerrhos" 
 1998 NOVA documentary: "Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden"  Transcript
 on Sarmatian (a related Iranian group) trade and ethnic connections
 "A chronology of the Scythian antiquities of Eurasia based on new archaeological and C-14 data", Alekseev, A.Y. et al.  A detailed scholarly article on pre-Scythian, early Scythian and classical Scythian archaeological sites and their dating, by the Hermitage Museum's director of archaeology and others.
 "Some problems in the study of the chronology of the ancient nomadic cultures in Eurasia (9th–3rd centuries BC)", Alekseev, A.Y. et al.  More of the same.
"Scythian Gold From Siberia Said to Predate the Greeks"  A journalist's article on the Arzhan finds, quoting Hermitage experts
Geldings for the Gods 
 An Introductory Bibliography on Scythia  
 Меновые отношения скифоидного населения Подонцовья 

Ryzhanovka
 Archaeology abstract of 1997 article 
 the Ryzhanovka Kurgan in Ukraine 
Ryzhanovka

Genetics
 Haplogroups in India  (PDF file)
 Y-Chromosome Biallelic Haplogroups 
 Unravelling migrations in the steppe: mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central Asians. 
 Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people
 Велична Скіфія – Протоукраїна: науково-енциклопедичне видання / Гладкий М. В., Цибулькін В. В. – К.:  ТОВ «НОВИЙ ДРУК», 2025. – 432 с.

Category:斯基泰人