Re: The Thrakoid presence in ancient Ukraine [Was:[tied] Thracian p

--- George Hinge <litgh@...> wrote:

> > GK: The oldest Slavic toponyms and hydronyms
> are
> > found in the area south of the Prypjat'/Pripet,
> which
> > were part of the Scythian state (more precisely of
> the
> > subsidiary kingdom of the Aukhata). The population
> of
> > "northern Aukhatia" was mixed: "Neurian" and
> > "agricultural Scythians", the former apparently
> more
> > numerous.
> >
>
> Aukhat(i)a is a construct of modern scientists.

****GK: So is "Kyivan Rus'" (:=))*****

> Herodotus speaks
> about the Auchatai in connection with the Scythian
> foundation
> mythology (4.5-7), but there was probably not a
> people called
> Auchatai (or a geographic location associated with
> that name.

*****GK: The Auchatae are also known to Pliny, citing
some of the lost sources he lists as pertinent to that
chapter of the N.H.*****

The

> only other instance of the name in antiquity is in
> the Latin epic
> Argonautica of C. Valerius Flaccus (6.132), but he
> probably relies on
> Herodotus.
>
> I suppose that the Auchatai, Katiarai, Traspies and
> Paralatai were
> some sort of phylai, i.e. kinship groups cutting
> across the ethnic
> subdivisions of the Scythians. Cf. G. Hinge, in: The
> Cauldron of
> Ariantas 2003, 55-74 (=
>

http://www.pontos.dk/Cauldron_Ariantas/BSS1_07_Hinge.pdf).

******GK: The fact is that Herodotus localizes the
Paralata fairly precisely. The rest is inference, of
course, but quite permissible. I associate the Catiari
and Traspies with the "nomads" and Aukhatia with the
"agriculturalists". Both groups are also fairly
securely located.******

>
> At any rate, Auchat(i)a as a geographical unit is
> merely a phantom,
> and most scholars would agree on that.

*****GK: I wouldn't. I consider them identical with
the Aratores (who later migrated to the Dobrudjan
Scythia Minor according to Pliny. I agree that these
are debatable issues. But even if you don't like my
identification, the fact remains that the
"agricultural Scythians" occupied the area of the
earlier Thrakoid archaeological cultures, which
disappeared along with most of the Aratores.******

>
>
>
>

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