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ERIC ROSS

University of North Dakota

Mostly legendary Scythian sage of the sixth century BCE. The prototype of the “barbarian wiseman” and “noble savage,” Anacharsis toured Greece and was executed by his own king for attempting to import worship of the Magna Mater into Scythia (4.76–77). According to Herodotus, Anacharsis was the only man known for wisdom in the Pontic region (4.46.1). Along with SCYLES, he illustrates the extreme resistance of the SCYTHIANS to foreign customs. After touring the world, Anacharsis returns home via the HELLESPONT, where he witnesses the rites of the Magna Mater (CYBELE). Upon reaching home, Anacharsis performs the rites himself. Observed practicing foreign religion by a fellow Scythian, he is killed with an arrow by their king SAULIUS (4.76). According to another tradition told by Peloponnesians, and ultimately dismissed by Herodotus as a joke (4.77.2), Anacharsis was sent abroad by the king of Scythia to gain expertise in Greek culture. He returns home to report that among Greeks only the Spartans possess wisdom and the art of conversation.

Anacharsis’ affinity for Greek culture is so strong that some sources assign him a Greek mother and a friendship with SOLON, his Greek counterpart in the Histories (Diog. Laert. 1.101–5). Anacharsis is sometimes included among the SEVEN SAGES, and ten letters from the Hellenistic period, one famously translated by Cicero, are ascribed to him.

SEE ALSO: Barbarians; Gnurus; Knowledge; nomos; Religion, Herodotus’ Views on; Spargapeithes; Travel