Information AboutArimaspi |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ARIMASPI | |
| mythological peoples | |
| greek mythology | |
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Only the gold may be said to have been real, the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' observed, but the "sp" in the name suggests that it was mediated through Iranian sources to Greek, indeed in Early Iranian ''Arimaspi'' = ''Ariama'' (love)+ ''Aspa'' (horses) (compare Hystaspes ), that fits very well to a people of steppe riders. Probably Herodotus was ill-informed concerning the ethymology of Scythian name Arimaspoi, and he says that in the Skythian tongue it means ''arima'' (one)+ ''spou'' (eye). Perhaps the Arimaspians were early Hun s, or steppe Indo-Europeans linked to Scythian s, most likely. Aristeas says in the course of his poem he was 'wrapt in Bacchic fury' when he travelled to and saw the Arimaspians: ''"There is also a story related in a poem by Aristeas son of Kaüstrobios, a man of Prokonnesos. This Aristeas, possessed by Phoibos {Link without Title} , visited the Issedones ; beyond these (he said) live the one-eyed Arimaspoi, beyond whom are the Grypes (Griffins) that guard gold, and beyond these again the Hyperboreoi, whose territory reaches to the sea. Except for the Hyperboreoi, all these nations (and first the Arimaspoi) are always at war with their neighbors..." -Herodotus 4.13.1'' EXTERNAL LINKS
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