Note 461 — Chapter XVII · LYDIANS. — MEDES. — CIMMERIANS. — SCYTHIANS.
Reading edition
See the story of the accidental discovery of this Scythian sword when lost, by Attila, the chief of the Huns (Priscus ap. Jornandem de Rebus Geticis, c. 35, and in Eclog. Legation. p. 50).
Lucian in the Toxaris (c. 38, vol. ii, p. 546, Hemst.) notices the worship of the akinakes, or scymetar, by the Scythians in plain terms without interposing the idea of the god Arês: compare Clemen. Alexand. Protrept. p. 25, Syl. Ammianus Marcellinus, in speaking of the Alani (xxxi, 2), as well as Pomponius Mela (ii, 1) and Solinus (c. 20), copy Herodotus. Ammianus is more literal in his description of the Sarmatian sword-worship (xvii, 12). “Eductisque mucronibus, quos pro numinibus colunt,” etc.