Agathyrsi were a people of Scythian, Thracian, or mixed Thraco-Scythic origin, who in the time of Herodotus occupied the plain of the Maris, in the region now known as Transylvania. Their existence is archeologically attested by the Ciumbrud inhumation type, in the upper Mure\u015F area of the Transylvanian plateau. Contrasted to the surrounding mass which practiced incineration, the Ciumbrud people buried their deads. Moreover, the tombs, containing Scythian artistic and armament metallurgy, have been dated to 550-450 b. C, period corresponding to Herodotus' writings. However, archeologist use the term "Thraco-Agathyrsian" to designate the characteristic archeological phenomenon, due to the obvious Thracian element. After that time period, they were completely absorbed into the Thracian mass (if not politically, than at least from the modern archeological point of view). Herodotus provided a description of the great nomadic Scythian empire of the sixth century and the Agathyrsi Scythians, and elaborately recounted the expedition (516 - 513 BC) of Darius I of Persia (522-486 BC) against the Scythians in the N. Pontic (See Herodotus 4.10, 4.48, 4.49, 4.78, 4.100, 4.102, 4.104, 4.119, 4.125). Herodotus mentioned the Agathyrsi together with another tribe, the Geloni. The Agathyrsi refused to join a fight against Persians unless directly provoked, which highlighted the autonomy and voluntary association of the members of the Scythian confederation. Herodotus records the name of Spargapeithes, a King of the Agathyrsi. He also reported that Greeks viewed Agathyrsi, Gelons, and Scythians as brothers. They are described by Herodotus as of luxurious habits, wearing many gold ornaments (the district is still auriferous) and having many wives (Herod. 4. 104). Herodotus recorded the Pontic Greek myth that the Agathyrsi were named after a legendary ancestor Agathyrsus, an oldest son of Hercules and the monster Echidna (Herod. 4. 8-11). They tattooed their bodies, degrees of rank being indicated by the manner in which this was done, and colored their hair dark blue. Like the Gallic Druids, they recited their laws in a kind of sing-song to prevent their being forgotten, a practice still in existence in the days of Aristotle. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela (2,i) and the historian Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, also list the Agathyrsi among the steppe tribes. Pliny alludes to their "blue hair. " In later times, the Agathyrsi were driven farther north. The 2nd century geographer Claudius Ptolemy lists the Agathyrsi among tribes in 'European Sarmatia', between the Vistula and the Black Sea Ca. 380 AD, Ammianus Marcellinus in Res Gestae Ch. 22, 8 writes that beyond the Palus Maeotis together with Geloni live Agathyrsi, among whom there is an abundance of adamantine stones. Further, he writes that over the border from Geloni are Agathyrsi, who tattoo their bodies and dye their hair blue, the common people with a few small, but the nobles with
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