The mythologem of Scythianism in Russian culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries

The aim of the study is to identify the historical and cultural prerequisites for the development of the Scythian mythologem in Russian culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the most striking expression of which was the almanac “Scythians” of 1917-1918. The article traces the evolution of the idealized image of the “noble Scythian” in ancient epic poetry and historiographic literature (Herodotus, Ephorus, Strabo). Particular attention is paid to the diverse interpretations of the ethnonym “Scythians”, the wide range of connotations of which was one of the determining factors in the specific reception of the “Scythian theme” in Russian historiography (A. I. Lyzov, V. N. Tatishchev, M. M. Shcherbatov) and socio-political journalism (M. A. Bakunin, A. I. Herzen). “Scythianism”, as a significant phenomenon of Russian culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is examined in its essential relationship with the ideas of “religious anarchism” and the philosophy of early Eurasianism. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the identification of general principles for constructing the “Scythian narrative” and its semantic constants, inherited from the ancient ethnogeographic tradition, the actualization of which was facilitated by historical, archaeological, and literary studies. The study demonstrates the existence of invariant meaning-forming constructs that form the basis of the Scythian mythologem in Russian culture at the turn of the 20th centuries.