/wandering-devotees.md # Wandering Ascetics & Philosophers ex. Buddhists, Greek thinkers ## It comes from Nomadism "The Scythians were nomads (from Greek νομάδες ‘wanderers in search of pasture, pastoralists’) who lived in the wilderness, and it is thus quite likely that Gautama himself introduced wandering asceticism to India, just as the Scythians had earlier invented mounted steppe nomadism. [n17: Beckwith (2009: 58ff.). Considering the mostly Anatolian origins of Greek philoso- phy, and the long domination of that region by the Medes and Persians, it must be wondered if the peripatetic tradition in Greek philosophy also reflects the Iranic penchant for wandering.] (c-beckwith2015p6)"