In the 1320 Declaration of our Growth, which was a letter signed by almost 50 arrows and barons of Scotland, and sent to the Pope, asking him to recognise Scotland's independence and Robert Lebrus as King. There is a curious reference to greater Scythea. The Declaration states that the Scots journeyed from greater Scythea by way of the Tyrannian Sea and the pillars of Hercules and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain. Then it came, 1200 years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea to its home in the West, where it still lives today. Yet can we give any credence to this origin story of the Scots? Scythea or greater Scythea, after all, referred to a region and the people of a region that was in central Asia, corresponding to the area around the Black Sea, Ukraine and the vast lands of southern Russia. Known largely as being a collection of nomadic tribes, which were fierce warriors, the Scytheans built a culture and a region of influence that was prominent between 900 BC and 200 BC, and stretched from the Black Sea to China. Interestingly, the physical appearance of Scytheans were reportedly not too dissimilar from the appearance of Scottish or Celtic people, as well as being heavily tattooed. Some of the Scythea women reportedly had fair hair and blue eyes, while some of the men had red hair. Certain sources also suggested that some Scytheans had white hair, with these people referred to as albine. It is at least interesting to know that Scotland in Galic is called alba. Part of the reference to greater Scythea in the Declaration seems in part a reference to St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland and one of the 12 apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Andrew was thought to have preached in Scythea, and there is an argument that he was martyred in Scythea. The traditional argument is that Andrew was martyred in Patras, in Akia, in Greece, which is probably too far west to ever have been considered Scythean territory. In respect of a pair Andrew was martyred, the reference in the Declaration to Scythea refers to St Andrew in part. Yet the connections to Scythea run deeper than St Andrew. The two main groups that merged and formed the Kingdom of Scotland in 843 AD, where the picks and the Scots, with both of these groups having origin stories that reference Scythea. It's of course important to emphasise here that separating myth and allegory from history is difficult when there are little or no definitive written records about the origins of these people. Regardless, before detailing the possible Scythean connections is important to understand a little about the picks and the Scots. The first thing to note about the picks is that they left no written records outside of mysterious hieroglyphics carved into stone, so accounts of this people are from other sources. In fact, we don't even know what these people called themselves. It was the Romans who probably gave them the name Picked High, meaning Painted People. They are thought to be descendants of people who lived in the region that we now call Northern Scotland, with the Romans calling these people Britten Eye or Caledon Eye. Although these may all be Latin words for essentially the same people or the same groups of people, it is believed that the picks spoke a Celtic language that closer to Welsh or Breton rather than Irish or Scottish Gaelic. The Scots on the other hand were a Gaelic speaking people. The name Scots is a game believed to come from the Romans who called the Gaelic speaking peoples who radiated Roman Britannia in the thought in 4th centuries Scot Eye. These people, however, called themselves the Gaels and one popular account suggests that the originally came from Ireland and conquered the region in West Scotland, known as Argyll from the picks in around the 6th century AD. Other accounts suggest that the Gaels lived in Scotland centuries before that time, however, but either way the Gaels built a Gaelic kingdom in Argyll that had significant influence. Over the decades and centuries, Pictish culture was gradually engulfed by its Gaelic counterpart, perhaps in part due to the power of the Irish Church. The two groups also began to unify more and in attempt to defend against the common enemy that soon raised its head, the Vikings, including an unsuccessful defence against Viking raiders in the 9th century, known as the Disaster of 839. Shortly after this disaster, however, the Kingdom of Scotland or Alba in Gaelic is said to have been born in 843 AD under the leadership of Kenneth McAlpine or Kenneth the First King of Scots who unified the Scots and the picks into one. The size details of how this unity actually arose are scanned, with many tales surrounding the event. One story of how McAlpine managed to unify the Scots and the picks is known as the Great Tretchery of Skun. When McAlpine was said to have invited Pictish novels to a banquet at Skun, lowering the picks into a trap and then muttering them, leaving the rest of the picks lead a list in with little choice but to join with the Scots. The accuracy of the Tretchery of Skun's story is questioned by many, as many argue that this story is largely myth, and that McAlpine gradually made a series of political deals that unified the Scots and the picks into the Kingdom of Scotland. Even though references to the picks vanish from history shortly after, we now know that the Pictish influence continued through Scotland. As genetic analysis of present-day Scots has shown that 10% of Scottish men are directly descended from the picks. If we turn our attention back to the origin stories of these two groups however, an interesting reference to Scythia is present for both groups. An origin story that links the picks to Scythia comes from the venerable Beed in his book Historia, published in 731 AD. The story goes that the picks sailed from Scythia to Ireland, but after the Irish refused to allow them to settle on their land. They were told of another land close by, Scotland. Lacking wives, the picks then took Irish women with them under the condition that they would promote their kings from the female royal line, as opposed to the male. In relation to the Scots, one of the most popular origin stories is that they are descended from the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh called Scota. After leaving Egypt, the story goes that Scota and her people lived in Spain for a period then onto Ireland and eventually settled in Scotland. Scotan stories argue that Scota was married to a Scythian prince who himself was a sunn in law of a pharaoh. There is also another angle that won't confuse the fact that both the picks and the Scots have a shared Scythian reference in some of their origin stories. It was in the interest of those who favored the Union of the picks and the Scots into the kingdom of Scotland to find or potentially create commonalities between the two peoples who had not always been allies. Scythian connections are not always found in all the origin stories about these two peoples. A separate origin story of the picks for instance argues that they are descended from the Celtic goddess Bridget. In Irish mythology, Bridget was part of an ancient fairy race of supernatural beings. Further there is any truth to the idea that Scots or descendants of Scythians is hard to say. It is certainly possible the groups of Scythians sailed from towns close to the Black Sea through the Mediterranean and around the Iberian Ark to settle on the ancient lands of Scotland. Yet as with all origin stories of all peoples, the question always is, where does myth end and history begin?