View source for Gelonus

{{Short description|Ancient city, capital of the Gelonians}}
{{About|the archaeological site|the [[insect]] genus|Gelonus (bug)}}
'''Gelonus''' ({{langx|grc|[[:wikt:Geloni|Γελωνός]]}})<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0125%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D108 Herodotus, The Histories, 4.108]</ref> was, according to [[Herodotus]], the capital of the [[Gelonians]].

== Search for Gelonus ==

In his account of [[Scythia]] (''Inquiries'' book 4), [[Herodotus]] writes that the [[Gelonians|Gelonii]] were formerly Greeks, having settled away from the coastal [[Emporium (antiquity)|emporia]] among the [[Budini]], where they "use a tongue partly Scythian and partly Greek":<blockquote>''The Budini for their part, being a large and numerous nation, are all mightily blue-eyed and ruddy.  And a city among them has been built, a wooden city, and the name of the city is Gelonus.  Of its wall then in size each side is of thirty [[Stadion (unit)|stades]] and high and all wooden. And their homes are wooden and their shrines.  For indeed there is in the very place Greek gods’ shrines adorned in the Greek way with statues, altars and wooden shrines and for triennial Dionysus festivals in honour of Dionysus...Above the Sauromatae ([[Sarmatian|Sarmatians]]), possessing the second region, dwell the Budini, whose territory is thickly wooded with trees of every kind.  The Budini are a large and powerful nation: they have all deep blue eyes, and bright red hair.  The Budini, however, do not speak the same language as the Geloni, nor is their mode of life the same.  They are the aboriginal people of the country, and are [[nomads]]; unlike any of the neighbouring races, they eat 'phtheir'.<ref>''Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates (c.800-399 B.C.)''; by Matthew Dillon, [[Lynda Garland]]; edition: 2, illustrated Published by Routledge, 2000 {{ISBN|0-415-21755-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=aW96BqEUEjsC] quote ''"the word phtheir" (or vscheir) "have a secondary meaning"'' Some translate word phtheir to [[lice]] П. М. Золин. Гелоны http://www.proza.ru/2010/04/02/272</ref> Their country is thickly planted with trees of all manner of kinds.  In the very woodiest part is a broad deep lake, surrounded by marshy ground with reeds growing on it. Here otters are caught, and beavers, with another sort of animal which has a square face.  With the skins of this last the natives border their capotes: and they also get from them a remedy, which is of virtue in diseases of the womb...Beyond the Budini, as one goes northward, first there is a desert, seven days' journey across...''</blockquote>The fortified settlement of Gelonus was reached by the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] army of [[Darius I|Darius]] in [[European Scythian campaign of Darius I|his assault on Scythia]] during the late 6th century BC, already burned to the ground, the Budini having abandoned it before the Persian advance. The Scythians sent a message to Darius: "We are free as wind and what you can catch in our land is only the wind".  By employing a [[scorched earth]] strategy, they avoided battles, leaving "earth without grass" by burning the [[steppe]] in front of the advancing Persians (Herodotus).  The Persian army returned without a single battle or any significant success.

According to some researchers, the [[Budini]]s were a Finnic tribe ruled by the [[Scythian]]s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}}

[[File:Bilske gorogische.JPG|thumb|left|Bilsk hillfort]]
[[File:Вал Великого укріплення Більського городища.jpg|thumb|left|Bilsk hillfort]]
Excavations at [[Bilsk hillfort]] near the village of [[Bilsk, Kotelva Raion|Bilsk]] near [[Poltava]] in [[Ukraine]] have led to suggestions by archaeologist [[Boris Shramko]] and others identifying it as the Scythian capital Gelonus.<ref>
{{citation|title=A platform for studying the Scythians|author=Timothy Taylor|url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/reviews/taylor.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070706070214/http://antiquity.ac.uk/reviews/taylor.html|archivedate=2007-07-06|accessdate=2011-04-01}}
</ref> It is strategically situated on the exact boundary between the [[steppe]] and forest-steppe. Several other locations have traditionally been named by Russian archaeologists, such as [[Saratov]] (according to [[Ivan Zabelin]]) or a location near the [[Don River (Russia)|Don River]] closer to the [[Volga River]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}

According to Herodotus, each side of Gelonus is 30 stades long, the area in today's units would be about 30 square kilometres. The archeological site around Bilsk, including necropolis, comprises about 80&nbsp;km², and the fortifications enclose some 40&nbsp;km².  The north-south axis, along the [[Vorskla River]] is 17&nbsp;km long. The remains of walls up to 12 metres are visible today and stretch over the horizon. The total length of the ramparts is 33&nbsp;km.  Inside the fortification, lay three "keeps", 150,000 m², 650,000 m², and 720,000 m² in area, surrounded by eroded earth walls still up to 16 metres high. Several [[kurgans]] reminded the inhabitants of the ancient Scythian burial tradition.

== Mythology ==
In Greek [[mythology]], '''Gelonus''' was the son of [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]]  and [[Heracles]], he had an older brother [[Agathyrsus]] and a younger Scythes.<ref>Herodot iv 8-10 L.S. {{cite web |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1111.html |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, page 3 (V. 2) |accessdate=2007-02-09 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202192429/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1111.html |archivedate=2007-02-02 }} e p-3.</ref> Hylea is pointed to be where was the Echidna's cave between people [[Arimi]] or [[Harimi]], the Greeks on the [[Euxine]] believed that this was somewhere in Scythia.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*Мурзін В., Ролле Р., Супруненко О. Більське городище. – Київ-Гамбург-Полтава, 1999. – 104 с.
*Боплан Г.Л.де. Опис україни. – К., 1990. – 254 с.
*[[Boris Shramko|Шрамко]] Б.А. Крепость скифского времени у с.Бельск – город Гелон // Скифский мир. – К., 1975.
*Шрамко Б.А. Бельское городище скифской эпохи (город Гелон). – К., 1987. – 182 с.
*Більське городище в контексті вивчення пам’яток раннього залізного віку Європи. – Полтава, 1996. – 408 с.

== External links ==
* [http://www.eastern-atlas.de/projekte/belsk_eng.php Photos from Site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233310/http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:8085/x-ussr/100k/M-36-070.jpg Russian military topographic map. On it in SW part : visible miles of black crossed lines - the rest of ancient walls]
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223733/http://www.e-paranoids.com/g/ge/gelonus.html
*  [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021153/http://alatyr.org.ua/sviat/golun.htm Bilske Horodyshche]
*  [http://www.etnolog.org.ua/vyd/nartv/N1_2/Art_19.html Boris Shramko. Bilske Horodyshche in Poltava Region]{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310230837/http://www.saratov-digital.com/presentation/past/gelon/eng_index.html The Legend about the city of Gelon]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070706070214/http://antiquity.ac.uk/reviews/taylor.html Antiquity Reviews: A platform for studying the Scythians]

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Scythia]]
[[Category:Iranian archaeological sites]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Eastern Europe]]
[[Category:Wooden architecture]]
[[Category:Hillforts in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Places in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Herodotus]]