[♦] Book number omitted from text.
Scyros, a rocky and barren island in the Ægean, at the distance of about 28 miles north-east from Eubœa, 60 miles in circumference. It was originally in the possession of the Pelasgians and Carians. Achilles retired there not to go to the Trojan war, and became father of Neoptolemus by Deidamia the daughter of king Lycomedes. Scyros was conquered by the Athenians under Cimon. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 10, li. 508.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 464; bk. 13, li. 156.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Strabo, bk. 9.
Scythæ, the inhabitants of Scythia. See: [Scythia].
Scythes, or Scytha, a son of Jupiter by a daughter of Tellus. Half his body was that of a man, and the rest that of a serpent. He became king of a country which he called Scythia. Diodorus, bk. 2.——A son of Hercules and Echidna.
Scythia, a large country situate in the most northern parts of Europe and Asia, from which circumstance it is generally denominated European and Asiatic. The most northern parts of Scythia were uninhabited on account of the extreme coldness of the climate. The more southern parts in Asia that were inhabited were distinguished by the name of Scythia intra et extra Imaum, &c. The boundaries of Scythia were unknown to the ancients, as no traveller had penetrated beyond the vast tracts of land which lay at the north, east, and west. Scythia comprehended the modern kingdoms of Tartary, Russia in Asia, Siberia, Muscovy, the Crimea, Poland, part of Hungary, Lithuania, the northern parts of Germany, Sweden, Norway, &c. The Scythians were divided into several nations or tribes; they had no cities, but continually changed their habitations. They inured themselves to bear labour and fatigue; they despised money, and lived upon milk, and covered themselves with the skins of their cattle. The virtues seemed to flourish among them, and that philosophy and moderation which other nations wished to acquire by study, seemed natural to them. Some authors, however, represent them as a savage and barbarous people, who fed upon human flesh, who drank the blood of their enemies, and used the skulls of travellers as vessels in their sacrifices to their gods. The Scythians made several irruptions upon the more southern provinces of Asia, especially B.C. 624, when they remained in possession of Asia Minor for 28 years, and we find them at different periods extending their conquests in Europe, and penetrating as far as Egypt. Their government was monarchical, and the deference which they paid to their sovereigns was [♦]unparalleled. When the king died, his body was carried through every province, where it was received in solemn procession, and afterwards buried. In the first centuries after Christ they invaded the Roman empire with the Sarmatians. See: [Sarmatia]. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 4, &c.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Diodorus, bk. 2.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 4.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 1, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 64; bk. 2, li. 224.
[♦] ‘uuparalleled’ replaced with ‘unparalleled’
Scythīnus, a Greek poet of Teos in Ionia, who wrote iambics. Diogenes Laërtius, Heraclides.—Athenæus, bk. 11.
Scython, a man changed into a woman. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 280.
Scythopŏlis, a town of Syria, said to have been built by Bacchus. Strabo, bk. 16.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 18.
Scythotauri, a people of Chersonesus Taurica. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.