Agathyrsi

Agathyrsi were a people of Scythian, Thracian, or mixed Thraco-Scythic origin, who in the time of Herodotus occupied the plain of the Maris (Mures), in the region now known as Transylvania.

Their existence is archeologically attested by the Ciumbrud inhumation type, in the upper Mureş area of the Transylvanian plateau. Contrasted to the surrounding mass which practiced incineration, the Ciumbrud people buried their deads. Moreover, the tombs, containing Scythian artistic and armament metallurgy (e.g. acinaces), have been dated to 550-450 b. C, period corresponding to Herodotus' writings. However, archeologist use the term "Thraco-Agathyrsian" to designate the characteristic archeological phenomenon, due to the obvious Thracian element. After that time period, they were completely absorbed into the Thracian mass (if not politically, than at least from the modern archeological point of view).

Herodotus provided a description of the great nomadic Scythian empire of the sixth century and the Agathyrsi Scythians, and elaborately recounted the expedition (516 - 513 BC) of Darius I of Persia (522-486 BC) against the Scythians in the N. Pontic (See Herodotus 4.10, 4.48, 4.49, 4.78, 4.100, 4.102, 4.104, 4.119, 4.125).