Анахарсис. «Мудрец, потому что скиф»

Философская мысль. 2016. № 6. С. 53–61.

Matveychev O. A.

This article gives special attention to Anacharsis – one of the most mysterious and contradictory persona of the Ancient Greek history. Despite many surviving testimonies on the life of a remarkable Scythian and fragments of his doctrine, many researchers still have doubts about the historicity of this character. The popular in Antiquity image of Anacharsis as a “Wiseman-savage” who avoided the decaying influence of civilization is being formed in the works of Ephorus and the Cynics, and later in the works of Diodorus, Plutarch, Aelian, and Lucian. Ephorus made Anacharsis one of the Seven Sages, which endows him with the status of one of the founders of philosophy. Perhaps the image of Anacharsis was used for the purpose of allegorical propaganda, namely to magnify the Athens. The author concludes that Anacharsis’ philosophy differs from the contemporary to him Greek philosophy and reveals him as an alien from a different civilization; it demonstrates the motives characteristic to Indo-European mentality and mythology. It is also important to understand that Anacharsis influence upon the Greek philosophy was highly significant; and reflected in the works of Cynics, Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle. Thus we can conclude that directly or indirectly, Anacharsis’ doctrine compiles the foundation of the Greek, as well as the Western philosophy, and due to this fact it requires a more detailed attention of the researchers. 

Keywords: Ancient Greece, древнегреческая философия, скифы, Анахарсис, Семь мудрецов, индоевропейцы, Hellenes, Seven Sages of Greece, Anacharsis, sage-savage