Targitaos or Scythes, was the ancestral god of the Scythians according to Scythian mythology. The ancient Greeks identified him with their own hero Hēraklēs.
Names
Targitaos The name Targitaus is the Latinisation of the Greek name Targitaos (Ταργιτάος), which is itself the Hellenised form of the Scythian language name Targī̆tavah, meaning "possessing the strength of the goddess Tarkā." The name Targitaos was previously explained as being derived from *Dargatavah, meaning “whose might is far-reaching,” which was an untenable etymology because the Iranic sound /d/ had evolved into /δ/ in Proto-Scythian, and later evolved into /l/ in Scythian.
Scythes The name Scythes is the Latinisation of the Greek name Skuthēs (Σκυθης), which is itself the Hellenised form of the Scythian language name *Skuδa, which is the endonym of the Scythians. Due to the sound change from /δ/ to /l/ which had already happened by the 5th century BC, the form *Skula was used by the Scythians by the time that Herodotus of Halicarnassus had recorded the Scythian genealogical myth, as attested by the name of the 5th century BC Scythian king Scyles (Σκυλης), which is the Hellenisation of the Scythian name *Skula. This means that the Hellenised form Skuthēs had been borrowed at an earlier date, when the form *Skuδa was still used.
Sanerges The Sindo-Maeotian form of Targī̆tavah was named Sanerges (Ancient Greek: Σανεργες, romanized: Sanerges; Latin: Sanerges). Reflecting the role of Targī̆tavah in the Scythian genealogical legend, Sanerges was considered the partner of the goddess Aphroditē Apatoura, who was a local iteration of the Snake-Legged Goddess. Like Targī̆tavah, Sanerges was also assimilated with Hēraklēs.
Identification
Iranic origin The reference to "Hēraklēs" stealing Gēryōn's cattle after defeating him in Herodotus of Halicarnassus's second version of the Scythian genealogical myth and of his victory against the river-god Araxēs in the Tabula Albana's version were Hellenised versions of an original Scythian myth depicting the typical mythological theme of the fight of the mythical ancestor-hero, that is of Targī̆tavah, against the chthonic forces, through which he slays the incarnations of the primordial chaos to create the Cosmic order. The reference to "Hēraklēs" driving the cattle of Gēryōn also reflects the motif of the cattle-stealing god widely present among Indo-Iranic peoples, which is also reflected in the legend of Miϑra as a cattle-stealing god. Due to this, the Greek author Herodotus of Halicarnassus identified Targī̆tavah with Hēraklēs in his writings.
Hellenic interpretation
Hēraklēs Targitaos-Scythes was assimilated by the Greeks from the northern shores of the Black Sea with their hero Hēraklēs, and the main feature of this deity identifying him with Hēraklēs was the cattle he drives in the Scythian genealogical myth, although unlike the Greek Hēraklēs who drove the cattle of Gēryōn on foot, the Scythian "Hēraklēs" drove a chariot pulled by mares. In Greek mythology, Hēraklēs had killed the giant Gēryōn and seized his cows, after which he sailed from Gēryōn's home island of Erytheia to Tartēssos in Iberia, from where he passed by the city of Abdēra and reached Liguria, and then going south to Italy and sailing to Sicily: on the way, he founded several cities and settlements which the Greeks supposedly later "regained." The population of new territories with characters from Greek mythology and history was thus done to justify their acquisition, and therefore the Greeks turned Hēraklēs into a founder of various nations, dynasties, and cities throughout the Oikoumenē from Iberia to India, with these feats being described in several epic Hērakleidēs which were composed and enjoyed popularity within ancient Greek society. The Hellenisation of the Scythian genealogical myth was, consequently, carried out probably by the Pontic Olbians to further their own interests among the Scythians. Therefore, the addition of Hēraklēs in the Hellenised version of the genealogical myth ascribed to the Scythians a partial Greek ancestry. The Hellenised myth of "Hēraklēs" staying in Scythia might have been recorded in the Orpheōs Argonautika, which mentions a bull-riding cattle-thief Titan, who might have been Hēraklēs, and who created the Cimmerian Bosporus by cutting a passage from the Maeotian swamp.
Achilles Targī̆tavah might also have been a snake-god identified by the Greeks of Pontic Olbia with Achilles Pontarkhēs (lit. 'Achilles, Lord of the Pontic Sea'), in which role he was associated with the Snake-Legged Goddess and was the father of her three sons. The cult of Targī̆tavah in this role might have been reinterpreted by the Greeks into a cult of Achilles. Unlike the more widespread cult of Hēraklēs, the cult of Achilles Pontarkhēs was limited to the region ranging from the island of Leuke in the west to the island of Borysthenes and the north-west coast of Black Sea to the north of Crimea in the east, and was largely connected to his role as the son of the marine goddess Thetis. This cult might have been connected to Borysthenis, that is the Earth-and-Water goddess Api who was Targī̆tavah's mother. The cult of Achilles Pontarkhēs very popular in Pontic Olbia, with the large number of dedications to him by priests and archons having been offered at this city suggesting that he enjoyed state cult there. The popularity of this identification is attested by the presence of scenes depicting the life of Achilles decorating four gorytoi found in the Chortomlyk, Melitopol, Ilintsy, and near Rostov. The Greeks' connection of Achilles with Scythia was so strong that Alcaeus of Mytilene called him the "Lord of Scythia," and the Aithiopis claimed that the tomb of Achilles was located in Scythia, while the Olbians considered Scythia to be the land of Achilles.
Cult
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