American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 26, March - 2024 84 | P a g e TRADITIONS OF THE SAK-MASSAGET TRIBES Noyibjon Maripdjonovich Khudoyorov Senior Teacher at the Department of History of Uzbekistan of Faculty of History of Andizhan State University, Republic of Uzbekistan e-mail: noyibxudoyorov880@gmail.com Samandarbek Sobirjon ugli Ruziboev Student of Andizhan State University, Faculty of History, E-mail: roziboyevsamandarbek00@gmail.com Abstract The article consists of a scientific analysis of the special traditions of the Sak-Massaget tribes who lived in the ancient Central Asian region in the VIII-IV centuries BC based on the works of historians of ancient times and modern historians. Keywords: Jikhon, Sikhon, Scythian culture, Miletus school, araks, Eastern Anatolia, androphagia, cannibalism, Neanderthal, Agribteroi. Introduction Many collective tribes have been living in the Central Asian region since ancient times. Most of them are engaged in animal husbandry and fishing. Especially cattle-breeding tribes settled in Yaksart (Amu Darya) and Oks (Sirdaya) basins. Herodotus in his "History" called these two rivers "Jikhon and Sikhon" (from now on the article will be called Jikhon and Sikhon). Due to its continental structure, Sikhon and Jikhon are suitable for animal husbandry and fishing. The first cities in Central Asia were also built on the banks of rivers. Gradually, Sakk-massagets began to settle along the Jikhan River. Massagetai (Greek: Massagetai) is the general name of a group of ancient Iranian tribes who lived on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, around the Aral Sea, in the lower reaches of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers in the 8th-4th centuries BC and formed part of the Scythian culture [1.Grousset, René 1989: p. 547]. RESEARCH METHODS Sak-massagetes, Scythians, Cimmerians were considered the oldest peoples of Eurasia. The Massagets were famous for their military and political prowess in the vast territory that occupied the Caucasus foothills of Northern Azerbaijan and Eastern Anatolia (Turkey).[2.Graeme H. Wilson 2013:14 p.] not limited to Central Asia. It is clear from this that it can be assumed based on the above source that the Massagets migrated to the regions along the river and the sea because they were herding and fishing people. We need the field of archeology and archeology to examine these sources. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 26, March - 2024 85 | P a g e RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS As we mentioned above, the traditions of the Sak-massaget had an oriental significance. Perhaps these traditions exist on the European continent as well. Famous scientists of ancient Greece and chroniclers interested in history give a lot of information about the Asian region. Also, one of the representatives of the Miletus school of history [2] who passed in the 6th century BC is Hecataeus (about 550-490 BC), who for the first time mentioned Khorasmians in the part of his work "Image of the Globe" devoted to Asia. provided information. [2.Ahmadali Askarov 2019: page 102] In addition, the Asia Minor historian Geradotus (between 484-425 BC) in his "History" contains information about the traditions of the Sak-massagets who lived between two rivers. [3.Ahmadali Askarov 2019: page 102] In our opinion, the information provided by Herodotus and Hecataeus about the Sak- massagets is a small number of probable ones that reveal the customs and social-cultural, historical-political life of the peoples of Central Asia to this day. is the source. Also, Herodotus never visited Central Asia. He collected the messages he heard with his own ears and brought them into a complete book. In particular, the written sources of Greek historians cannot be considered a completely reliable and accurate source. We can extract the customs and traditions of ancient peoples through high archeological results and conclusions. To this day, we have been explaining the customs of the Central Asian tribes using the literature of Greek historians. These important issues require deep scientific research. In addition, the Kazakh archaeologist Mir Kadirbayev discovered the Tasmola culture of the Sakas (800-500 BC) in 1966. In his "History" Herodotus writes about the territorial location of the Sak-Massagets: "They are located in the east, in the direction of the sunrise, on the other side of the Araks river... They are located on the other side of the Araks river... The Araks river is Mathyona flows from the mountains''. [4.Ahmadali Asqarov 2019:103-p] American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 26, March - 2024 86 | P a g e "These Massagets are similar to the Scythians in their clothing and lifestyle. They are both horsemen and footmen (there are several of each type), spearmen and archers; according to their customs, they carry battle axes. They always use gold and bronze; all their spears, arrowheads, and battle-axes are of bronze, and the ornaments of their headdresses, sashes, and girdles are of gold. They treat their horses in the same way, arm their foreheads with “HERODOTUS”, A.D. Godley 271-bet American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 26, March - 2024 87 | P a g e bronze breastplates, and put gold on their bridles, teeth, and cheeks. But they never use iron or silver; for there is nothing but gold and bronze in their land." [5. A.D. Godley 1975:p.271]. Now for their customs; every man takes a wife, but wives are common to all. The Greeks say this is the custom of the Scythians; it is not like that, but it is the custom of massagets. There, if a man wants a woman, he hangs his gun in front of her grass and has intercourse with her without anyone stopping her. Although they did not set a specific time limit for life, when a person is definitely old, all his relatives gather and kill him along with the livestock, then boil his meat and have a feast. This is the happiest death; when a person dies of a disease, they do not eat him, but bury him in the ground and lament that he did not live to death. They never plant, their guides are cattle and fish, which are abundant in Araks (Araks- Azerbaijani: Araz, a river in Kavkazort, the upper part is in Turkey, the lower part is in Azerbaijan). Their drink is milk. The sun is the only god they worship; he is the swiftest of the gods, and therefore they give him the swiftest of mortals. [6 A.D. Godley p. 1075:271]. Perhaps there was iron in the regions between Jikhan and Sikhon, or in the Araks region. But why didn't the sak-massagets use it? I think that the Massaget tribes may have compared bronze and gold to the main divine god - "Sun". Perhaps their bows, beast axes, headdresses, belts, bronze badges on the foreheads of horses, and the gold around their teeth and cheeks may represent the sign of the deity. If we come to the traditions of Sak-massagets, which is the core of the article, we can see that there was gender equality or matriarchy (mother's rule) in the VIII-IV centuries BC. Also, in 530 BC, Cyrus II, the king of the Akhmenid dynasty of Iran, attacked the Massagetae with an army. [7. Sh. Karimov, R. Shamsutdinov 2010: p. 42] At that time, the king of the Massagets died, and the defense of the tribe was left to Princess Tomiris. In my opinion, the marriage of a man and a woman was only a formality in Sak-massaget. Herodotus emphasized that a woman can have sex with a man of her choice as a basis for Bunn. It is considered one of the types of popular culture today that the men of the tribe can easily enter the house or the grass of the woman they like. There are various reasons why the Sak-Massaget tribes are engaged in the activity of androphagus[4]; The longest-lived person among them was slaughtered and boiled with other animal meat, but for the person of that time, physical, spiritual strength, power and intelligence grew in the body through the consumption of human flesh. they thought it was good. William E. Snyder. Sarah B. Joseph, R. Preziosi, Allen J. Moore, "Nutritional Benefits of Cannibalism to Ms. Harmonia axyridis When Prey Quality is Low," report successful experiments conducted: We found that cannibalism is not conducive to the development of H. axyridis. We conducted two laboratory experiments to determine whether the diet of specific plants used as food influences cannibal development. In both experiments, larvae were provided with one or two types of aphids fed on H. axyridis in the field. To assess the potential value of cannibalism, some larvae were provided with dead conspecific larvae as a nutritional supplement. In the first experiment, we varied the quality of the conspecific larvae used as supplemental food by rearing the supplemental larvae on high- or low-quality food. In our second experiment, all focal individuals had the same quality characteristics, but we varied the quality of the nectar we provided. We measured the effects of these dietary treatments American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 26, March - 2024 88 | P a g e on survival, development time, and growth of larval H. axyridis [8. William E. Snyder. Sarah B. Joseph, R Preziosi, Allen J. Moore 2000:1174 pp. The Greek geographer and historian Strabo says that the people of Ireland were even more savage agribteroi. Similar cases of cannibalism[5] can be found with Neanderthals[6]. Burial of the bodies of those who did not live long and died early was considered a misfortune in this tribe. A person who is a victim of androphagia considered it a blessing for him. Why? Because they thought that it was better for his relatives to eat his body than to let it rot on the ground and be eaten by insects. James Patrick Mallory, a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, criticizes the practice of cannibalism in his article "Heradotus and Cannibalism". In our opinion, this ceremony was normal from the point of view of the time. It is completely wrong to compare cannibalism or androphagy practices in Sak-massaget (issedon) to barbarism! CONCLUSION To sum up, based on the above sources, the traditions of Sak-massaget cannot be called unusual. Although Herodotus described the traditions of these tribes in detail, these traditions are repeated today. The freedom of sexual relations between men and women deserves special recognition. The most interesting thing is that before the introduction of Islam, there were no cases of persecution of adultery or similar religion in the tribes of the Central Asian region. The society was formed and developed on the basis of pure cultural traditions. We have seen that the principles of freedom and justice of representatives of the opposite sex in the tribe were important. Equality in romantic relationships between men and women served to increase the population. Population growth in Massaget has had a positive effect on cattle breeding and agriculture, trade relations. It is certain that the tax collected from the people, calculated per person, enriches the treasury of the king. These reasons are beneficial for the country of massagets. REFERENCES 1. Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press, 1989, https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978839038-002 ISBN 0-8135-1304-9, 547-bet 2. Graeme H. Wilson. “Ilhom Prezident portreti” “Autor House” nashriyoti 2013, 1663 Liberty Drive, ISBN: 978-1-4772-3769-4 (sc) 3. Ahmadali Asqarov. “O`zbek xalqining kelib chiqish tarixi”: Toshkent 2019 “OZBEKISTON” nashriyoti. IV bob, 102-bet 4. Ahmadali Asqarov. “O’zbek xalqining kelib chiqish tarixi”: Toshkent 2019 “O’ZBEKISTON” nashriyoti. IV bob,102-bet. 5. Ahmadali Asqarov. “O’zbek xalqining kelib chiqish tarixi”: Toshkent 2019 “O’ZBEKISTON” nashriyoti IV bob, 103-bet. 6. “HERODOTUS” ingliz tilidan A.D. Godley tomonidan tarjima qilingan, I kitob, 271-bet. Cambridge, Massachuesetts, Harvard University Press & London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1975. American ISBN 0-674-99130-3, British ISBN 0-434 99117-1 American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 26, March - 2024 89 | P a g e 7. “HERODOTUS” ingliz tilidan A.D.Godli tomonidan tarjima qilingan, I kitob,271-bet. Cambridge, Massachuesetts, Harvard University Press & London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1975. American ISBN 0-674-99130-3, British ISBN 0-434 99117-1 8. Sh. Karimov, R. Shamsutdinov. “Vatan Tarixi”, “SHARQ” nashriyot-matbaa aksiyadorlik kompaniyasi Toshkent-2010. II bob, 42-bet. 9. Uilyam E. Snayder. Sara B. Jozef, R Preziosi, Allen J.Mur, “Lady Beetle Harmonia uchun kannibalizmning ozuqaviy foydalari axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) O'lja sifati yomon bo'lganda”. Community & Ecosystem Ecology, Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, https://doi.org/10.1603/0046-225X- 29.6.1173, 2000-yil 1-dekabr. 1174-bet. https://doi.org/10.1603/0046-225X-29.6.1173 https://doi.org/10.1603/0046-225X-29.6.1173