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ANCIENT SHAMANISM? THE SCYTHIAN ENAREES AS DIVINERS OF THE SERPENT GODDESS
Abstract
This paper investigates the enarees, a group of Scythian diviners described by ancient authors as „effeminate” or androgynous men afflicted by a „female disease” sent by Aphrodite-Argimpasa. Drawing on Herodotus, Pseudo-Hippocrates, and other classical sources, as well as comparative evidence from Near Eastern and Indo-Iranian cults, the study examines the religious and symbolic significance of this phenomenon. Rather than a physiological condition, the enarees’ feminization is interpreted as a form of sacred transformation – a divine punishment that simultaneously granted prophetic power. Their divinatory use of linden bark and their association with the Serpent Goddess reveal a ritualised inversion of gender and authority within Scythian religiosity. While earlier scholarship linked them to Siberian shamanism, this article argues that such parallels remain speculative: the enarees represent a distinct form of sacred androgyny rooted in the Scythian vision of divine retribution and ecstatic mediation. This paper argues that the enarees represent a distinct form of sacred androgyny rather than a manifestation of Scythian shamanism.
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References13
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