Scythians Σκύθης
Nomadic people group mentioned by Paul
Who is Scythians in the Bible?
The Scythians were a nomadic people group from the region north of the Black Sea, known for their reputation as skilled horsemen and archers who were considered barbaric and uncivilized by Greeks and Romans. Paul mentions the Scythians in Colossians 3:11 as part of a list of ethnic and social groups that includes Greeks, Jews, barbarians, slaves, and free people. In this passage, Paul emphasizes that in Christ there is no distinction between these groups, highlighting that the gospel transcends all cultural and ethnic barriers. By including the Scythians, a people notorious for their perceived lack of civilization, Paul demonstrates that all people are equally valued and accepted in the Christian faith, regardless of their cultural background or social status.
Biography
Scythians were a nomadic people group mentioned by Paul in Col.3.11. In this passage, Paul emphasizes that in Christ, there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman. The Scythians were known for their barbaric reputation and were considered uncivilized by the Greeks and Romans. They lived in the area north of the Black Sea and were skilled horsemen and archers. By mentioning the Scythians, Paul highlights that the gospel message transcends cultural and ethnic barriers, and that all people are equal in Christ.
In Scripture
1 biblical book ; 1 with study contentColossians 1 verse
- Colossians 3:11
"Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all."
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Names & Aliases
| Form | Language | Script | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group | Greek | Σκύθης | Skýthēs | a Scythene or Scythian, i.e. (by implication) a savage |
Scythians
he same as Beth-shean. The same occurs in Apocrypha (Judith 3:10; 1 Macc 12:29), and the Scythians as a people in 2 Macc 4:47, and the adjective in 3 Macc 7:5. The people are also mentioned in the New Testament (Col 3:11), where, as in Maccabees, the fact that they were barbarians is implied. This is clearly set forth in classical writers, and the description of them given by Herodotus in book iv of his history represents a race of savages, inhabiting a region of rather indefinite boundaries, north of the Black and Caspian seas and the Caucasus Mountains. They were nomads who neither plowed nor sowed (iv.19), moving about in wagons and carrying their dwellings with them (ibid. 46); they had the most filthy habits and never washed in water (ibid. 75); they drank the blood of the first enemy killed in battle, and made napkins of the scalps and drinking bowls of the skulls of the slain (ibid. 64-65). Their deities were many of them identified with those of the Greeks, but the most characteristic rite was the worship of the naked sword (ibid. 62), and they sacrificed every hundredth man taken in war to this deity. War was their chief business, and they were a terrible scourge to the nations of Western Asia. They broke through the barrier of the Caucasus in 632 BC and swept down like a swarm of locusts upon Media and Assyria, turning the fruitful fields into a desert; pushing across Mesopotamia, they ravaged Syria and were about to invade Egypt when Psammitichus I, who was besieging Ashdod, bought them off by rich gifts, but they remained in Western Asia for 28 years, according to Herodotus. It is supposed that a company of them settled in Beth-shean, and from this circumstance it received the name Scythopolis. Various branches of the race appeared at different times, among the most noted of which were the PARTHIANS (which see).
H. Porter
si-thop'-o-lis, si-thop'-o-lis.
See BETH-SHEAN.
se (yam; thalassa; in Ac 27:5 pelagos): The Mediterranean is called ha-yam ha-gadh