Jason and the Scythians

An interesting mention of Jason and the Scythians comes from the 10th century Pictish Chronicle (Chronica de Origine Antiquorum Pictorum) (4126 in Paris).  Although this has seemingly little to do with Slavs, given the Jason connection I feel that we ought to mention this text.  Below is the beginning of the text all the way to the relevant portion.  Note that much of this comes from Isidore (Book 9) as, for example, the mention of the Suevi in Germany.

Jason and the Scythians

“The Picts take their name in their own tongue from their painted bodies; this is because, using sharp iron tools and ink, they are marked by tattoos of various shapes. The Scots, who now are incorrectly called Irish, are {as it were} Sciti, because they came from the Scythian region, and had their origin there; or else they take their name from Scotta the daughter of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, who as the story goes was the queen of the Scots. It is known for a fact that the Britons arrived in Britain in the third age of the world.  However the Sciti, that is, the Scots took possession of Scocia, or Ireland, in the fourth age.”

Picti propria lingua nomen habent a picto corpore; eo quod, aculeis ferreis cum atramento, variarum figurarum sti(n)gmate annotantur. Scotti qui nunc corrupte vocantur Hiberniensis quasi Sciti, quia a Scithia regione venerunt, et inde originem duxerunt; siue a Scotta filia Pharaonis regis Egypti, quae fuit ut fertur regina Scottorum. Sciendum vero est quod Britones in tertia mundi aetate ad Britanniam venerunt. Scitae autem, id est, Scotti, in quarta aetate Scociam, siue Hiberniam obtinuerunt.

“The Scythian people are born with white hair due to the continuous snow; and the colour of that same hair gives a name to the people, and hence they are called Albani: from them the Scots and Picts trace their origin. In their eyes, there is a bright, that is coloured, pupil, to such an extent that they can see better at night than by day. Moreover the Albani were neighbours to the Amazons. The Goths are thought to be named after Magog the son of Japheth, from the similarity of the final syllable; they whom the ancient Greeks called Getae, rather than Goths. They were a courageous and most powerful race, lofty, with massive bodies and striking terror with their kind of armour. About them Lucan wrote: Let the Dacian press from this side, let the Gethi attack the Spanish on that side.”

Gentes Scitiae albo crine nascuntur ab assiduis nivibus; et ipsius capilli color genti nomen dedit, et inde dicuntur Albani: de quibus originem duxerunt Scoti et Picti. Horum glauca oculis, id est, picta inest pupilla, adeo ut nocte plusquam die cernant. Albani autem vicini Amazonibus fuerunt. Gothi a Magog filio Japheth nominati putantur, de similitudine ultimae sillabae; quos veteres Graeci magis Gethas, quam Gothos, vocaverunt. Gens fortis et potentissima, corporum mole ardua, armorum genere terribilis. De quibus Lucanus, Hinc Dacus premat, inde Gethi (in)occurrant Hiberis.

“The Dacians however were offspring of the Goths: and it is thought they are called Dacians or perhaps Dagians, because they were created from the stock of the Goths: he wrote about them: You will go north all the way to the Dacians.”

Daci autem Gottorum soboles fuerunt: et dictos putant Dacos quasi Dagos, quia de Gottorum stirpe creati sunt: de quibus ille, Ibis arctos procul usque Dacos.

“The Scythians and Goths derive their origin from Magog. Scythia, and also Gothia, is said to be named from that same Magog son of Japheth: its land was once vast; for it stretched from India in the East, to the North, through the marshlands of Meotidas, between the Danube and the Ocean, as far as the borders of Germany. Afterwards it became smaller from the part of the East where the Siricus Ocean starts, as far as the Caspian Sea, which is to the West. From thence on the South there was removed a region right up to the Caucasian Range; which Hircania lies beneath in the West: it had at the same time many tribes, who, because of the infertility of the land, wandered far afield, of whom some cultivated the land; while others lived unnaturally and as savages, on the flesh and blood of humans.”

Scithae et Gothi a Magog originem traxerunt. Scithia, quoque et Gothia, ab eodem Magog filio Japhet fertur congnominata: cujus terra olim ingens fuit; nam ab oriente Indie, a septentrione, per paludes Meotidas, inter Danubium et oceanum, usque ad Germaniae fines porrigebatur. Postea minor effecta est a dextra orientis parte qua(i) oceanus Sericus (co)tenditur, usque ad mare Caspium, quod est ad occasum. De hinc a meridie usque ad Caucasi jugum deducta est; cui subjacet Hircania ab occasu: habens pariter gentes multas, propter terrarum infecunditatem, late vagantes, ex quibus quaedam agros incolunt; quaedam portent(u)osae ac truces, carnibus humanis, et eorum sanguine, vivunt.

“Many regions of Scythia are opulent, many are however uninhabitable. For while in most places gold and gems are abundant; but because of the frightfulness of the griffins people rarely go there. However this is source of the very best emeralds. Scythia also has Cyaneus stones, and the purest of crystals. There are also great rivers, the Oscorim, Phasis, and Araxes. Lower Scythia is the first region of Europe, which stretches from the marshes of Meotidis beginning between the Danube and the Northern Ocean, as far as Germany: this land is generally said to be barbaric, on account of the savage tribes inhabiting it. The first part of it is Alania, which extends to the Meotidas marshes. After that comes Dacia, where there is also Gothia. Then Germany, where the Suevi inhabit a very large region. In some regions of Asiatic Scythia there are people who believe they are descendants of Jason: they are born with white hair due to the continuous snow. This is enough about these things.”

Scithiae plures terrae sunt locupletes, inhabitabiles tamen(tum) plures. Nam(que) dum in plerisque locis auro et gemmis affluant; griphorum immanitate accessus hominum rarus est. Smaragdis autem optimis haec patria est. Cianeus quoque lapis, et cristallus purissimus Scithiae est. Habent et flumina magna, Oscorim, Phasiden, et Araxen. Prima Europae regio Scithia inferior(um), quaa(e) Meotidis paludibus incipiens inter Danubium et oceanum septentrionalem, usque ad Germaniam porrigitur: quae terra generaliter propter barbaras gentes quibus inhabitatur(a) barbarica dicitur. Hujus pars prima Alania est, quae ad Meotidas paludes pertingit. Post hanc Dacia, ubi et Gothia. Deinde Germania, ubi plurimam partem Suevi incoluerunt. In partes Asiaticae Scithiae (sunt) gentes quae posteros se Jasonis credunt: albo crine nascuntur ab assiduis nivibus. De his ista sufficiunt.

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April 19, 2018

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