TheSindi(Ancient Greek:Σινδοι,romanized:Sindoi;Adyghe:Щынджыхэр;Ubykh:Шинджишвё;Latin:Sindi) were an ancient tribe that primarily lived in westernCiscaucasia.A portion of the Sindi also lived in Central Europe. Their name is variously written, andPomponius Melacalls themSindones,Lucian,Sindianoi.
History
editCiscaucasia
editSindica | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 7th century BC–c. 36 BC | |||||||||
 Pontus Euxinus by Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) | |||||||||
| Common languages | Scythian Maeotian Ancient Greek | ||||||||
| Religion | Circassian Paganism Maeotian religion Ancient Greek religion | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Iron AgeScythian culture | ||||||||
• Scythian retreat from Ciscaucasia | c. 7th century BC | ||||||||
• Conquest by theBosporan KingdomAfter the Battle of Labrytai | c. 36 BC | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Southern Russia | ||||||||
The Sindi were a tribe of the North Caucasus who established themselves on theTaman peninsula,[3]where they formed a ruling class over the indigenousNorth CaucasianMaeotians.Some scholars still debate their ethnicity and the origins of sindic language are unclear. Some soviet scholars, likeNikita Anfimov,believed they were of a caucasian origins and were a proto-circassian (Adyghe) tribe. Others, likeOleg Trubachyovwere talking about the indo-arian origins of sinds, but today this opinion is rejected by the majority of scholars. Modern historians and archeologists likeAndrei Michailovich Novichihinbelieve Sindi were of a mixed origins, some of them were indo-iranian, others caucasian (proto-circassian).
Archaeologically, the Sindi belonged to theScythian cultureorMaeotian cultureand they progressively became Hellenised due to contact with theBosporan Kingdom.[4]
Sindi were present in the area calledSindica(Ancient Greek:Σινδικη,romanized:Sindikē;Latin:Sindica) by the Greeks and which corresponded to the area west of present-dayKrasnodar,in theTaman peninsula.[4]
The kingdom of Sindica existed for only a long Time, and it was then annexed by theBosporan Kingdom.[4]
Central Europe
editUnlike the majority of the Sindi, who remained in the northern Caucasus, a smaller section of the Sindi migrated westwards and settled into theHungarian Plainas part of the expansion of theScythianintoCentral Europeduring the 7th to 6th centuries BC, and they soon lost contact with the Scythians who remained in the Pontic Steppe. The 3rd century BC Greek authorApollonius of Rhodeslocated a population of the Sindi living alongside theSigynnaeand the otherwise unknown Grauci in the "plain of Laurion", which is likely the eastern part of thePannonian Basin.[5][6][3]
Archaeology
editNorth Caucasus
editThe Scythian ruling class in theMaeotiancountry initially buried their dead inkurganswhile the native Maeotian populace were buried in flat cemeteries. Burials in Sindica continued this tradition, and members of the Sindi ruling class continued being buried in kurgans while the Maeotians continued to be buried in flat graves.[4]
After earlier Scythian earthworks built in the 6th century BC along the right bank of theKuban riverwere abandoned in the 4th century BC, when the Sauromatians took over most of Ciscaucasia, the Sindi built a new series of earthworks on their eastern borders. One of the Sindi earthworks was located atYelizavetinskaya,where was located ac. 400 BCkurgan in which several humans were buried and which contained the skeletons of 200 horses.[4]
Genetics
editThe Hungarian Sindi had almost equal proportions of Neolithic origin and steppe, associated with the Yamnaya culture, there is also a minor contribution of WHG.[7][8]
References
editCitations
edit- ^Spiridonova, E.V.; Chekanova, N.V. Agrafonov, PG (ed.).The Northern Black Sea region in the ancient era: archeology and mythology: a textbook(PDF)(in Russian). Yaroslavl state University.ISBN5-8397-0485-7.
- ^Alexander Musin & Maria Medvedeva, ed. (2019).The Imperial Archeological Commission (1859-1917). History of the first state institution of Russian Archeology from the beginning until the reform.2nd revised edition (in Russian). Vol. 1. Saint Petersburg: Institute for the History of Material Culture of RAS.
- ^abOlbrycht 2000.
- ^abcdeSulimirski & Taylor 1991,pp. 568–573.
- ^Sulimirski 1985,pp. 191–193.
- ^Batty, Roger(2007).Rome and the Nomads: The Pontic-Danubian Realm in Antiquity.Oxford:Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-198-14936-1.
- ^Damgaard, P. B.; et al. (9 May 2018)."137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes".Nature.557(7705).Nature Research:369–373.Bibcode:2018Natur.557..369D.doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2.hdl:1887/3202709.PMID29743675.S2CID13670282.Retrieved11 April2020.
- ^Allentoft, Morten E.; Sikora, Martin; Refoyo-Martínez, Alba; Irving-Pease, Evan K.; Fischer, Anders; Barrie, William; Ingason, Andrés; Stenderup, Jesper; Sjögren, Karl-Göran; Pearson, Alice; Sousa da Mota, Bárbara; Schulz Paulsson, Bettina; Halgren, Alma; Macleod, Ruairidh; Jørkov, Marie Louise Schjellerup (January 2024)."Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia".Nature.625(7994): 301–311.Bibcode:2024Natur.625..301A.doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06865-0.ISSN1476-4687.PMC10781627.PMID38200295.
Sources
edit- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2000)."Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations".Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia.Kraków:Księgarnia Akademicka.pp. 105–107.ISBN978-8-371-88337-8.
- Sulimirski, T.(1985). "The Scyths". InGershevitch, I.(ed.).The Cambridge History of Iran.Vol. 2.Cambridge University Press.pp. 149–199.ISBN978-1-139-05493-5.
- Sulimirski, Tadeusz;Taylor, T. F.(1991). "The Scythians". InBoardman, John;Edwards, I. E. S.;Hammond, N. G. L.;Sollberger, E.;Walker, C. B. F. (eds.).The Cambridge Ancient History.Vol. 3.2.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.pp. 560–590.ISBN978-1-139-05429-4.
- Trubachov, Oleg N., 1999: Indoarica, Nauka, Moscow.