Skunkha

Skunkha
Skunkha
	King of the Sakā tigraxaudā
	Behistun relief of Skunkha. Label: "This is Skunkha the Sacan."[1]
Reign	6th century BC

Skunkha (Old Persian: Skunxa-),[2] also written as Skunxa or Skuka, was king of the Sakā tigraxaudā ("wearing pointed caps Saka,") a group of Scythians, in the 6th century BC.

Capture

In 519 BC, Darius I of Achaemenids attacked the Saka tribe and captured their king. His capture is depicted in the relief sculpture of Behistun Inscription, last in a row of defeated "lying kings".[3] After his defeat, Darius replaced him with the chief of another tribe.[4]

King Darius says: Afterwards with an army I went off to Scythia, after the Scythians who wear the pointed cap. These Scythians went from me. When I arrived at the river, I crossed beyond it then with all my army. Afterwards, I smote the Scythians exceedingly; [one of their leaders] I took captive; he was led bound to me, and I killed him. [Another] chief of them, by name Skunkha, they seized and led to me. Then I made another their chief, as was my desire. Then the province became mine.
— Behistun Inscription

Related depictions

The Sakā tigraxaudā are later illustrated among the soldiers of the Achaemenid Empire, as here on the tomb of Xerxes I.
Achaemenid soldiers fighting against Scythians.[5]
Portrait of Skunhka. 520–519 BC.

References

Behistun, minor inscriptions DBb inscription- Livius.
Schmitt, Rüdiger (2018). "MASSAGETAE". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
Rolle, Renate (1 July 1992). The World of the Scythians. University of California Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0520068643.
M. A. Dandamayev (1999). History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume II: The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 BC to AD 250. UNESCO. pp. 44–46. ISBN 978-8120815407.
Hartley, Charles W.; Yazicioğlu, G. Bike; Smith, Adam T. (2012). The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions. Cambridge University Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781107016521.

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[DB-1] Behistun, minor inscriptions DBb inscription- Livius.

[2] Schmitt, Rüdiger (2018). "MASSAGETAE". Encyclopaedia Iranica.

[3] Rolle, Renate (1 July 1992). The World of the Scythians. University of California Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0520068643.

[4] M. A. Dandamayev (1999). History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume II: The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 BC to AD 250. UNESCO. pp. 44–46. ISBN 978-8120815407.

[5] Hartley, Charles W.; Yazicioğlu, G. Bike; Smith, Adam T. (2012). The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions. Cambridge University Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781107016521.