scythianplacenames,mentionedby herodotus,canreceivethe（scythianplacenames mentionedby希罗多德,canreceivethe）.docVIP

Valentyn Stetsyuk, Lviv; Ukraine Introduction to the Study of Prehistoric Ethnogenic Processes in Eastern Europe and Asia The Interpretation of the Data of Ancient Historians. Ancient historians had left us a wealth of material about the Scythians and Scythia, which, however, can not always be relied upon. Thou this is not the fault of the historians but the consequence of the nascent state of historical scholarship and the result of the geographical imaginations of the historians at the absence of a reliable cartographic base. That only is the assertion of Herodotus that Scythia is an almost regular quadrilateral, which is quite impossible to place on the modern map. When he submits the names of gods and men, geographical names or names of tribes and different realities of those times, its a concrete material, which should only be used skilfully. Unfortunately, too often, many scientists skilfully used it in their own interest. Now, when we know the ethnic origin of the Scythians and their neighbors, this material may not only confirm the heuristic reasoning, but also enrich our understanding of that distant era. We have already explained the names of Scythian gods, but Scythian place names can also have an explanation by means of the Chuvash language . For example, the name of the area Exampaios between the river Borysthenes and the river Hypanis may correspond to Chuv uks?m wild garlic and puy to grow rich. The river Panticapes can be explained as mouldy (Chuv p?nt?h mould and kap shape). Some researchers identify Pantukapes with the river Molochna (Milky), the tributary of the lower Dnepr. The ancient and modern-day names of the river may have an identical explanation if the water in the river had (has till now?) whitish painting which gives the reason to compare its color with milk or with mould. The name of the river Kypakyris can be translated as chaff or something similar (Chuv. kipek peels and irě? bran). The name of the river Gerros can be connec