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Scythians | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| c. 9th–8th century BC–c. 3rd century BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Maximum extent of the Scythian kingdom in West Asia (680–600 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Maximum extent of the Scythian kingdom in the Pontic steppe (600–c. 200 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Central Asia (9th–7th centuries BC) West Asia (7th–6th centuries BC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Kamianka (from c. 6th century BC – c. 200 BC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Scythian Akkadian (in West Asia) Thracian (in Pontic Steppe) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Scythian religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion (in West Asia) Thracian religion (in Pontic Steppe) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Scythians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• unknown–679 BC | Išpakaia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 679–c. 659/8 BC | Bartatua | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 659/8–625 BC | Madyes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 610 BC | Spargapeithes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 600 BC | Lykos | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 575 BC | Gnouros | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 550 BC | Saulius | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 530–510 BC | Idanthyrsus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 430 BC | Scyles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 490–460 BC | Ariapeithes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 460–450 BC | Octamasadas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 360s–339 BC | Ateas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 310 BC | Agaros | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dependency of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (from c. 672 to c. 625 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age:
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• Scythian migration from Central Asia to Caucasian Steppe | c. 9th–8th century BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Scythian alliance with the Neo-Assyrian Empire | c. 672 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Scythian conquest of Media | c. 652 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Scythian defeat of Cimmerians | c. 630s BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Median revolt against Scythians | c. 625 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| c. 620 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| c. 614–612 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Expulsion of Scythians from West Asia by Medes | c. 600 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 513 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• War with Macedonia | 340–339 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| c. 4th century BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Sarmatian invasion of Scythia | c. 3rd century BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Romania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Iran | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
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The Scythians (/ˈsɪθiən/ or /ˈsɪðiən/) or Scyths (/ˈsɪθ/, but note Scytho- (/ˈsaɪθʊ/) in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians,[3][4] were an ancient Eastern Iranic[5] equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC from Central Asia to the Pontic Steppe in modern-day Ukraine and Southern Russia, where they remained established from the 7th century BC until the 3rd century BC.
Skilled in mounted warfare,[6] the Scythians replaced the Agathyrsi and the Cimmerians as the dominant power on the western Eurasian Steppe in the 8th century BC.[7] In the 7th century BC, the Scythians crossed the Caucasus Mountains and frequently raided West Asia along with the Cimmerians.[7][8]
After being expelled from West Asia by the Medes, the Scythians retreated back into the Pontic Steppe and were gradually conquered by the Sarmatians.[9] In the late 2nd century BC, the capital of the largely Hellenized Scythians at Scythian Neapolis in Crimea was captured by Mithridates VI and their territories incorporated into the Bosporan Kingdom.[10]
By the 3rd century AD, the Sarmatians and last remnants of the Scythians were overwhelmed by the Goths, and by the early Middle Ages, the Scythians and the Sarmatians had been largely assimilated and absorbed by early Slavs.[11][12] The Scythians were instrumental in the ethnogenesis of the Ossetians, who are believed to be descended from the Alans.[13]
After the Scythians' disappearance, authors of the ancient, mediaeval, and early modern periods used the name "Scythian" to refer to various populations of the steppes unrelated to them.[14]
The Scythians played an important part in the Silk Road, a vast trade network connecting Greece, Persia, India and China, perhaps contributing to the prosperity of those civilisations.[15] Settled metalworkers made portable decorative objects for the Scythians, forming a history of Scythian metalworking. These objects survive mainly in metal, forming a distinctive Scythian art.[16]
- ^ a b Vitchak 1999, p. 52-53.
- ^ a b Novák 2013, p. 10.
- ^ Jacobson 1995, p. 32.
- ^ Cunliffe 2019, p. 42.
- ^ Sulimirski 1985, pp. 149–153: "During the first half of the first millennium B.C., c. 3,000 to 2,500 years ago, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock [...] The main Iranian-speaking peoples of the region at that period were the Scyths and the Sarmatians [...]"
Melyukova 1990, pp. 97–98: "From the end of the 7th century B.C. to the 4th century B.C. the Central- Eurasian steppes were inhabited by two large groups of kin Iranian-speaking tribes – the Scythians and Sarmatians [...]"
Melyukova 1990, p. 117: "All contemporary historians, archeologists and linguists are agreed that since the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes were of the Iranian linguistic group [...]"
Davis-Kimball, Bashilov & Yablonsky 1995, p. 91: "Near the end of the 19th century V.F. Miller (1886, 1887) theorized that the Scythians and their kindred, the Sauromatians, were Iranian-speaking peoples. This has been a popular point of view and continues to be accepted in linguistics and historical science [...]"
Jacobson 1995, pp. 31–32: "Whatever their ultimate origins, by the time the Pontic Scythians settled in the region of the Black Sea, they almost certainly spoke an Iranian language [...]"
Batty 2007, p. 205: "The original Scythians, as far as we can tell, were Iranian-speaking nomadic pastoralists."
Ivantchik 2018: "Scythians, a nomadic people of Iranian origin [...]"
Dandamayev 1994, p. 37: "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan to distinguish them from the related Massagetae of the Aral region and the Scythians of the Pontic steppes. These tribes spoke Iranian languages, and their chief occupation was nomadic pastoralism."
Harmatta 1996, p. 181: "[B]oth Cimmerians and Scythians were Iranian peoples."
Sulimirski 1985, pp. 149–153: "During the first half of the first millennium B.C., c. 3,000 to 2,500 years ago, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock [...] [T]he population of ancient Scythia was far from being homogeneous, nor were the Scyths themselves a homogeneous people. The country called after them was ruled by their principal tribe, the "Royal Scyths" (Her. iv. 20), who were of Iranian stock and called themselves "Skolotoi" [...]"
West 2002, pp. 437–440: "[T]rue Scyths seems to be those whom [Herodotus] calls Royal Scyths, that is, the group who claimed hegemony [...] apparently warrior-pastoralists. It is generally agreed, from what we know of their names, that these were people of Iranian stock [...]"
Rolle 1989, p. 56: "The physical characteristics of the Scythians correspond to their cultural affiliation: their origins place them within the group of Iranian peoples."
Rostovtzeff 1922, p. 13: "The Scythian kingdom [...] was succeeded in the Russian steppes by an ascendancy of various Sarmatian tribes — Iranians, like the Scythians themselves."
Minns 1913, p. 36: "The general view is that both agricultural and nomad Scythians were Iranian." - ^ "Scythian". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ a b Hambly, Gavin [in German]. "History of Central Asia: Early Western Peoples". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 11.
- ^ "Sarmatian". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ Harmatta 1996, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Brzezinski & Mielczarek 2002, p. 39: "Indeed, it is now accepted that the Sarmatians merged in with pre-Slavic populations."
- ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 523: "In their Ukrainian and Polish homeland the Slavs were intermixed and at times overlain by Germanic speakers (the Goths) and by Iranian speakers (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans) in a shifting array of tribal and national configurations."
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ossetian_Originwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Applicationwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 58–70
- ^ "Scythian art". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved October 4, 2019.