| Scythian archers Speusinioi Σπευσίνιοι | |
|---|---|
 An Attic red-figure vase-painting of a Scythian archer by Epiktetos, 520–500 BC | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 5th century BC |
| Dissolved | 4th century BC |
| Employees | 300–1,200[1][2] |
| Legal personality | Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| National agency | Classical Athens |
| Operations jurisdiction | Classical Athens |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Tents or wooden barracks in the Agora and later on the Areopagus[3] |
| Elected officer responsible |
|
| Notables | |
| Person |
|
The Scythian archers were a hypothesized police force of 5th- and early 4th-century BC Athens that is recorded in some Greek artworks and literature. The force is said to have consisted of 300 armed Scythians (a nomadic Iranic people living in the Eurasian Steppe) who were public slaves in Athens. They acted on behalf of a group of eleven elected Athenian magistrates "who were responsible for arrests and executions and for some aspects of public order" in the city. Despite being called "archers", the Scythian police probably did not use bows and arrows.
One of Aristophanes's comedies has a Scythian archer as a character, and he speaks broken Greek with an accent.
- ^ Wickramasinghe, Chandima S. M. (2005). Slavery from known to unknown : a comparative study of slavery in ancient Greek poleis and ancient Sri Lanka. John and Erica Hedges. p. 16. ISBN 9781841717302.
- ^ Vos, M. F. (1963). Scythian Archers in Archaic Attic Vase-painting. J. B. Wolters. p. 68.
- ^ Braund, David (2005). Scythians and Greeks: Cultural Interactions in Scythia, Athens and the Early Roman Empire (sixth Century BC - First Century AD). University of Exeter Press. p. 120. ISBN 9780859897464.
- ^ Hunter, Virginia J. (2019). Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C. Princeton University Press. pp. 146, 186. ISBN 9780691194608.