Toxaris

Toksaris (Toxăris, Τόξαρις) - the character of the works of Lucian of Samosat (about 120—190 AD) “Skif, or Friend in a foreign land” and “Toksarid, or Friendship” ^[1] . The content of the dialogues and stories attributed to Toksaris is of considerable interest for studying the ideas of the Greeks about the Scythians and may reflect elements of the Scythian tradition and folklore. However, information about the veneration of such a hero in Athens is a literary fiction of Lucian ^[2] .

Lucian reports that he was a simple Scythian, who arrived in Athens a few decades before Anacharsis , and after his death, were ranked among the heroes honored there as a “foreigner doctor”. During the Athenian plague, his ghost appeared before the wife of a member of the Areopagus and advised him to irrigate the streets with wine. A white horse was sacrificed to him ^[3] .