The Scythians consisted of "all the pastoral tribes who dwelt to the north of the Black Sea and the Caspian, and were scattered far away toward the east. Of this vast country but little was anciently known. Its modern representative is Russia, which, to a great extent, includes the same territories." They were the descendants of Japheth ( Genesis 9:27 ). It appears that in apostolic times there were some of this people that embraced Christianity ( Colossians 3:11 ).
occurs in ( Colossians 3:11 ) as a generalized term for rude, ignorant, degraded. The name often included all the nomadic tribes, who dwelt mostly on the north of the Black and the Caspian Sea, stretching thence indefinitely into inner Asia, and were regarded by the ancients as standing extremely low In point of intelligence and civilization. [E] indicates this entry was also found in Easton's Bible Dictionary