Ateas (ca. 429 BC – 339 BC) was described in Greek and Roman sources as the most powerful king of Scythia. His name also occurs as Atheas, Ateia, Ataias, and Ateus. His purported capital was excavated near the town of Kamianka on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. Historians claim that Ateas ‘lost his life and empire in the conflict with Philip II of Macedon in 339 BC’ but it is a mistake. All of the book authors and scholars have been using one single passage in the works of 2nd-century AD Justin who was the author of an epitome of Trogus’ Philippic Histories, a history of the kings of Macedonia. At the very beginning of Book Nine of the Epitome, we read:
“Philippus, exhausted by the length of the siege, had recourse to piracy for a supply of money, and having captured a hundred and seventy ships, and sold off the cargoes, he was enabled for a while to relieve his craving wants. But that so great an army might not be wasted in the siege of a single city, he marched away with his best troops, and stormed some towns of the Chersonese. He also sent for his son Alexander, who was then eighteen years of age, to join him, and learn the rudiments of war in the camp of his father. 9 He made an expedition, too, into Scythia, to get plunder, that, after the practice of traders, he might make up for the expenses of one war by the profits of another.
[9.2] L The king of the Scythians at that time was Atheas, who, being distressed by a war with the Istrians, sought aid from Philippus through the people of Apollonia, on the understanding that he would adopt him for his successor on the throne of Scythia. But in the meantime, the king of the Istrians died, and relieved the Scythians both from the fear of war and the want of assistance. Atheas, therefore, sending away the Macedonians, ordered a message to be sent to Philippus, that “he had neither sought his aid, nor proposed his adoption; for the Scythians needed no protection from the Macedonians, to whom they were superior in the field, nor did he himself want an heir, as he had a son living.” When Philippus heard this, he sent ambassadors to Atheas to ask him to defray at least a portion of the expense of the siege, that he might not be forced to raise it for want of money; “a request,” he said, “with which he ought the more readily to comply, as, when he sent soldiers to his assistance, he had not even paid their expenses on the march, to say nothing of remuneration for their service.” Atheas, alluding to the rigour of their climate and the barrenness of their soil, which, far from enriching the Scythians with wealth, scarcely afforded them sustenance, replied, that “he had no treasury to satisfy so great a king, and that he thought it less honourable to do little than to refuse altogether; but that the Scythians were to be estimated by their valour and hardiness of body, not by their possessions.” Philippus, mocked by this message, broke up the siege of Byzantium, and entered upon a war with the Scythians, first sending ambassadors to lull them into security, by telling Atheas that “while he was besieging Byzantium, he had vowed a statue to Hercules, which he was going to erect at the mouth of the Ister, requesting an unobstructed passage to pay his vow to the god, since he was coming as a friend to the Scythians.” Atheas desired him, “if his object was merely to fulfil his vow, to let the statue be sent to him,” promising that “it should not only be erected, but should remain uninjured,” but refusing “to allow an army to enter his territories,” and adding that, “if he should set up the statue in spite of the Scythians, he would take it down when he was gone, and turn the brass of it into heads for arrows.” With feelings thus irritated on both sides, a battle was fought. Though the Scythians were superior in courage and numbers, they were defeated by the subtlety of Philippus. Twenty thousand young men and women were taken, and a vast number of cattle, but no gold or silver. This was the first proof which they had of the poverty of Scythia. 16 Twenty thousand fine mares were sent into Macedonia to raise a breed.
But as Philippus was returning from Scythia, the Triballi met him, and refused to allow him a passage, unless they received a share of the spoil. 2 Hence arose a dispute, and afterwards a battle, in which Philippus received so severe a wound through the thigh, that his horse was killed by it; 3 and while it was generally supposed that he was dead, the booty was lost. Thus the Scythian spoil, as if attended with a curse, had almost proved fatal to the Macedonians.”
Even when one reads this story for the first time, there are instantly some questions, such as
The Scythians had defeated the Persian King Darius the Great with his almost 1 million-strong army in the very same area less than two hundred years before, how could they lose a battle to a much smaller army of Philip?
In 331 B.C., only 8 years after the alleged victory over the Scythians, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, Zopyrion, decided to make an incursion into Scythia with a 30,000-strong army. Neither he nor even a single soldier of his army returned.
In 330 B.C., when Alexander the Great was in Asia and about to cross a river, the Scythians visited his camp and warned him not to do so otherwise European Scythians would attack Macedonia and destroy it completely. If Alexander’s father Philip had really defeated the Scythians, none of the above would have been possible and Alexander would have surely threatened the Scythians at his camp to recall what had happened just 9 years ago.
Besides, if the Triballi had attacked Philip, wounded him so badly, and deprived him of his spoil, would it not be logical to expect instant revenge from Philip after he had recovered? But no revenge happened.
So how did that battle between Ateas and Philip end? The funny thing is that the very same historian Justin in that very same Epitome, but only in Book 37.3 tells what has been expected: “…the Scythians, who had previously been invincible, wiped out Zopyrion, general of Alexander the Great, and his 30,000 soldiers; had massacred the Persian king Cyrus and 20,000 men; and had put to flight Philip, the king of Macedon.”
In this passage, Justin was describing the events of the 1st century B.C. and the achievements of the famous Mithridates VI.
The details of these events can be found in the “Royal Scythia, Greece, Kyiv Rus” book.
More insights into the relationships between King Ateas and Philip II of Macedon can be found in the “Cradle of Civilizations” book. One chapter takes a different perspective on the Battle Scene on a famous Scythian sword sheath which may actually have a portrayal of the battle between the Scythians and Macedonians. (Unfortunately, that precious artefact was stolen by Moscow for Hermitage).
There are more proofs that the story of Philip defeating Ateas was most likely a later interpolaton.
