Is there a connection among ancient Scythia, Scotland and Ireland?

Scythia was the ancient Greek designation for the vast expanse of the Eurasian steppes. The Scythians' territory, often termed Greater Scythia by ancient sources, extended across the Pontic-Caspian steppe, including modern-day Ukraine, southern Russia, and parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia, with cultural influences reaching as far as Siberia and the fringes of China. The Scythians were a confederation of nomadic Iranian-speaking tribes who emerged as a dominant force from the 8th to 7th centuries BC. These horse-riding pastoralists, skilled in archery and warfare, maintained a mobile lifestyle centered on herding and raiding, leaving behind no written records but abundant archaeological evidence in the form of elaborate kurgan (mound) burials.

During the Hellenistic period, the use of "Scythia" by Greek and Latin speakers was extended to also cover the southern Russian steppe in general, as well as the entire treeless steppe bounded by the Danubian plains in the west and the Chinese marches in the east.

Greater Scythia

Beginning in the late 4th century BC, another related nomadic Iranian people, the Sarmatians, moved from the east into the Pontic steppe, where they replaced the Scythians as the dominant power of that area. Due to the Sarmatian incursion, "Sarmatia Europea" (European Sarmatia) replaced "Scythia" as the name for the region.

In this blog we have covered some of the red-haired tribes that lived in that area.

The Budini (around 800 – 500 BC)

The Kipchaks and the Thracians

The Kipchaks in Eurasia, around 1200

Thrace within the Roman Empire

We also covered tribes a bit distant from that area, but which probably had ties with it.

The Yenisei Kyrgyz (3rd century BC - 13th century AD)

The Tarim Mummies (1800 BC - first centuries BC)

The Alat tribe

The Alat tribe probably lived in the area circled in red

Here’s what Wikipedia writes about Scythians’ physical appearance.

The Greek physician Hippocrates described the Scythians as having "ruddy" skin, which he attributed to the cold climate in which they lived. Callimachus and Clement of Alexandria described the Scythians as having "light" (xanthon) hair, Polemon recorded that Scythians had "red" (rubris) hair and "blue-grey" (glaucis) eyes, Galen wrote that the northern peoples such as Germans, Illyrians, Dalmatians, Sarmatians and Scythians had "reddish" (purrhas) hair, and Adamantius claimed that the Scythians had "light" (xanthe) and "whitish" (hupoleukos) hair.

And, apparently, these ancient descriptions are consistent with modern DNA analysis. I quote from the same page.

Most of the Scythians were predicted to have brown or blond hair, with a notable proportion of blue-eyed individuals. Several Scythians had MC1R gene variants associated with red hair, freckles, and skin, with a tendency to sunburn. Overall, these results are consistent with the descriptions of the Scythians provided by historical sources. (The genetic history of Scythia)

 But is there a connection between Scythia and the British Isles?

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

We find a first connections in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum  (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) written by Bede the Venerable in about AD 731.

As you can read here (page 24), the Picts sailed from Scythia and landed on the northern shores of Ireland. Here, they begged the Scots to be allowed to settle among them, but the Scots replied that the island could not contain them both, so they suggested the Picts to move to the island nearby, called Britain. The Picts accepted and began to inhabit the northern parts of Britain. However, since they had no wives, they asked them of the Scots, who consented only on the condition that the Picts would choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male.

Lebor Gabàla Erenn

The name Scythia comes back in The book of Ireland’s taking (Lebor Gabàla Erenn), a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages. There are a number of versions, the earliest of which was compiled by an anonymous writer in the 11th century.

Here, we read that Fénius Farsaid is the forebear of the Gaels. Fénius, a prince of Scythia, is described as one of 72 chieftains who built the Tower of Babel. His son Nel weds Scota, daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Cingris, and they have a son named Goídel Glas. Goídel crafts the Goidelic (Gaelic) language from the original 72 languages that arose after the confusion of tongues. Goídel's offspring, the Goidels (Gaels), leave Egypt at the same time as the Israelites (the Exodus) and settle in Scythia. After some time, they leave Scythia and spend 440 years travelling the Earth, undergoing trials and tribulations akin to those of the Israelites. Eventually, they conquer Iberia, where Goídel's descendant Breogán founds a city called Brigantia (apparently, modern-day A Coruña). The first people to arrive in Ireland are led by Cessair, daughter of Bith, son of Noah. They are told to go to the western edge of the world to escape the oncoming Flood, so they set out in three ships, but two are lost at sea. They land in Ireland, at Dún na mBárc on Bantry Bay, forty days before the Flood. 

The Declaration of Arbroath

Last but not least we have the Declaration of Arbroath, a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII. It constituted King Robert I's response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland, denouncing English attempts to subjugate it. Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence.

Here are the first lines: 

Most Holy Father and Lord, we know from the deeds of the ancients and we read from books -- because among the other great nations of course, our nation of Scots has been described in many publications -- that crossing from Greater Scythia, via the Tyrhennian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and living in Spain among the fiercest tribes for many years, it could be conquered by no one anywhere, no matter how barbarous the tribes. Afterwards, coming from there, one thousand two hundred years from the Israelite people's crossing of the Red Sea, to its home in the west, which it now holds, having first thrown out the Britons and completely destroyed the Picts, and even though it was often attacked by the Norse, the Danes and the English, it fought back with many victories and countless labours…

Full text here.

Modern scholars agree that the goal of these texts was to provide a history for Ireland and Scotland that could compare to that of Rome or Israel, and which was compatible with Christian teaching. Probably, Bede mentioned Scythia because this land was seen both as ancient and barbarian, and obviously the Irish and the Scottish people never doubted what Bede wrote. So, a Scythian origin was useful to legitimate their ancient cultures.

However, it is also worth noting that here the editor of Bede’s Ecclesiastic History writes that by Scythia Bede meant Scandinavia.

As of now, modern DNA analyses don’t show a connection between ancient Scythians and ancient Picts.

I quote from Wikipedia:

A study published in 2023 sequenced the whole genomes from eight individuals associated with the Pictish period, excavated from cemeteries at Lundin Links in Fife and Balintore, Easter Ross. The study observed "broad affinities" between the mainland Pictish genomes, Iron Age Britons and the present-day people living in western Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northumbria, but less with the rest of England, supporting the current archaeological theories of a "local origin" of the Pictish people.

The same goes for the Gaels.

In any case, it’s interesting that a connection exists, although “mythical”, among these red-haired peoples. It’s also interesting the connection with Egypt, since some of the ancient pharaohs had red hair. Besides, we know that sometimes myths have some truth in them, so it is possible that, in some way we don’t know yet, this connection among these peoples is real.