Going Skythian
Fragment of a Skythian felt carpet found in Pazyryk, Altay Mountains. 1st millenium BCE. Image by Schreiber via Wikimedia Commons.
When they want to drink wine that’s more undiluted, the Lakonians themselves say they “go Skythian.” Khamaileon of Herakleia in On Drunkenness at any rate writes about them as follows:
“the Lakonians say that Kleomenes the Spartan went mad because he learned to drink undiluted wine, having spent time with the Skythians. That’s why, when they wish to drink more undiluted wine, they say, ‘make it Skythian.’”
καὶ αὐτοὶ δ’ οἱ Λάκωνες ὅταν βούλωνται ἀκρατέστερον πίνειν, ἐπισκυθίσαι λέγουσι. Χαμαιλέων γοῦν ὁ Ἡρακλεώτης ἐν τῷ περὶ μέθης περὶ τούτων οὕτως γράφει·
«ἐπεὶ καὶ Κλεομένη τὸν Σπαρτιάτην φασὶν οἱ Λάκωνες μανῆναι διὰ τὸ Σκύθαις ὁμιλήσαντα μαθεῖν ἀκρατοποτεῖν. ὅθεν ὅταν βούλωνται πιεῖν ἀκρατέστερον, ‘ἐπισκύθισον’ λέγουσιν».