history

Greeks had colonies around the Black Sea, which - especially along the east side - was essentially the territory of Scythian. To the west of theblack sea Greek colonies interracted with Scythians and "barbarians", which were Dacians, Thracians, Illyrians, Gauls, Celts, and other groups. Paul knew of these people because he was from Asia Minor (Turkey, Anatolia) and was well aware of the Black Sea trade. People were also trafficked across these colonies. All Greek colonies engaged of course with the Greek mainland, part of which was Asia Minor, even after Roman hegemony in that area. Paul's discussion of the Scythians and the 'barbarians' as two distinct groups is very interesting because it shows their interactions with Greek colonies and with trade c. 900 BCE - 200 BCE, though Paul wrote about them 263 years later, during the period of the Roman administration of the previous Greek colonies. Paul's 'mission' was work with others to convert these groups to Christianity. The ancient heritage of each group was rather different, and thus a challenge for Christain 'apostles' (270+, I think, though that was the intended number and may not have been the actual number). Very different strategies were necessary for the conversion of each group, a process that lasted hundreds of years, with major developments after the 'migrations' period (c. 5th C). To answer your question, I think it was more difficult to convert Scythians and former Scythians to Christianity, but not absolutely sure.