WESTERN ARYAN NOMADS

 

Skythians (900 - 100 BCE)

Askuzai or Iskuzai (Assyrian), Skuthes or Skolotoi (Greek), Scythes (Latin),

Skuda or Skula (reconstructed Skythian autonym, meaning “Archers”)

 

Sarmatians (600 BCE - 550 CE)

Sarmatae or Sauromatae (Latin), Sarmatai, Sauromatai, or Syrmatai (Greek),

Sairima (Avestan), Sarumatah (Old Persian), Sarumatagan (Middle Persian)

 

Alans (100 BCE - 1395 CE)

Alani (Latin), Alanoi (Greek), Halani (Middle Persian),

Alanliao or Alanguo (Pinyin Chinese), Allon (Ossetian)

Pre-Dynastic Alans (100 BCE - 375 CE)

Western Alans (375 - 567 CE)

Caucasian Kingdom of Alania (376 - 1395 CE)

 

This gallery and these notes are dedicated to the westernmost groups of the steppe-based Aryan peoples. I realize that my use of the term “Aryan” may raise some eyebrows (or hackles), but I assure you that I use the term in its proper historical context. Nevertheless, due to the fact that I have several galleries on this site devoted to various groups that considered themselves to be Aryans, I have felt the need to write a short essay on what I see as the proper classification of this historical ethnic group in its historical context—please use the button at the bottom of this page to lead you to the relevant essay.

 

The Skythians/Scythians are the earliest historically named Aryan nomad group that inhabited the steppes of eastern Europe. They initially inhabited the steppes from the Dniester River in Ukraine to the Tengiz Lake in central Kazakhstan (ca. 900-750 BCE). However, after about 750 BCE the Skythians expanded in several directions, conquering and assimilating the Thyssagetae (another steppe-based Aryan group that lived on the Baraba steppe, to the east of the Ural Mountains), the Kimmerians/Cimmerians (a people that lived in a broad arc of territory from the northern littoral of the Black Sea to the Kuban region east of the Black Sea), some of the Thracian peoples living in Moldavia and eastern Romania, and possibly the Issedones (a steppe-based Aryan group that inhabited northwestern Kazakhstan). Some groups of Kimmerians fled this conquest, via the Caucasus Mountains, and ravaged the kingdoms of Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and the Skythians subsequently followed on the heels of the Kimmerians and played a role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire (see below). The classical Greek historian, Herodotos (484-425 BCE), detailed these invasions and their causes, giving us our earliest description of the Kimmerians and Skythians, although his knowledge of them was somewhat limited. He wrote that those Skythian tribes that lived on the Pontic-Caspian steppe—the Auxatai, Catiaroi, Traspai, Paralatai, and Sarmatai—were ruled over by a royal clan or tribe he called the Basileis Skuthes (Greek, “Royal Skuthes”). It is from this statement by Herodotos (the father of western history) that we get the name, “Skythians.” Herodotos in part based his account on information he got from Assyrian sources, who referred to the Skythians as Askuzai or Iskuzai, and modern linguists have reconstructed the probable early Aryan root word from which these names were likely based—skuda or skula, both meaning “archers.” Considering the importance of archery to the Skythians—both in warfare and in hunting—it has been theorized that the Assyrian and Greek renderings may have been based on an Skythian autonym (i.e., the name by which they knew themselves), although it is also possible that Assyrian and Greek writers used this name because it encapsulated what they saw as the defining feature of Skythian warfare (making it a possible exonym). Regardless, the name stuck, and the later Latin (Scythes), Greek (Skolotoi), and modern English (Skythians or Scythians) usages are based on the ancient Assyrian and Greek renderings.

 

As mentioned above, the archeological record indicates that the early Skythians (ca. 900-750 BCE) originally inhabited a wide stretch of the Pontic-Caspian and northwestern Kazakh steppes. Kimmerian/Cimmerian civilization (Greek, Kimmeroi) originally arose as a mixture of two indigenous Neolithic cultures—the Maykop Culture of the Kuban region to the east of the Black Sea, and the Catacomb Culture of the northern littoral of the Black Sea—although these cultures were both heavily influenced by the neighboring Yamna Culture, which encompassed the steppes to the north of Kimmeria, and so the Kimmerians are often viewed as being at least partly related to the Skythians because the Skythians are the first historically attested group to emerge from the Neolithic Yamna Culture. However, although Kimmerian civilization undoubtedly shows Aryan influence, I think it is important to note that the Kimmerians were distinct from the Skythians (e.g., the Kimmerians were agro-pastoralists who lived mainly in pallisaded villages, while the Skythians were steppe-based horse-herding nomads). The invasion of Kimmeria by the Skythians in 750 BCE led to the utter collapse of Kimmerian civilization. Those Kimmerians that were not conquered and assimilated were displaced—some fled to the Thracian peoples in the west (i.e., modern Moldavia and eastern Romania), some fled into the Crimean Peninsula (which projects into the Black Sea), and still others fled into the Pripet Marshes (modern southern Belarus and northwestern Ukraine), but a large group migrated across the Caucasus Mountains, where they came into conflict with the Kingdom of Urartu in the southern Caucasus (ca. 714-705 BCE), the Assyrian Empire in Upper Mesopotamia (ca. 705 BCE), and the Lydian Kingdom in Anatolia (ca. 696-619 BCE). The Lydians decisively defeated this Kimmerian invasion/migration, and probably settled defeated remnants of the Kimmerians in their kingdom in Anatolia, where they were eventually assimilated into the local populace. A large army of Skythians followed the same route across the Caucasus in the seventh century BCE and, in alliance with the Babylonians, Medes, and Dahae, toppled the Neo-Assyrian Empire (ca. 680-612 BCE). However, on the eve of victory over the Assyrians, the Medes betrayed their erstwhile allies—according to Herodotos, the chiefs of the Skythian hordes were invited to a banquet by the Median king, Cyaxares (625-585 BCE), who had them murdered at the feast. Cyaxares then finished the conquest of Assyria and forced the remaining Skythian adventurers to settle as Median vassals in depopulated regions of Assyria.

 

Meanwhile, the Greek city-states established a string of colonies along the western, northern, and eastern shores of the Black Sea—notably, they occupied much of the Crimea—and the Greeks, Thracians, and Skythians established close economic and cultural ties. The Skythians developed a rich culture marked by a blend of Aryan, Thraco-Kimmerian, and Greco-Macedonian elements. Although these relationships were certainly not always peaceful, the center of gravity of the Skythian peoples gradually shifted away from Kazakhstan and the Caspian steppe to the Kuban and the Pontic steppe (ca. 612-350 BCE)—or, at least, the classical Greek and Roman writers that provide us with the most information about the Skythians concentrated on these groups due to their proximity to Greco-Roman civilization. The Skythians also expanded into Moldavia and eastern Romania, although the Thraco-Kimmerian tribes there already seem to have adopted many aspects of Skythian culture (see my Northern Thracian Peoples gallery). In 514-512 BCE, a Persian campaign was launched against the Pontic Skythians by the Achaemenid king-of-kings, Darius I (550-486 BCE), apparently in an effort to secure the Persians’ position in Thrace—Darius was planning an invasion of Greece and intended to transport men and material across the Propontis from Anatolia to Thrace, and then south into Greece, and he feared that the Skythians would attack his supply lines. Establishing a precedent that would be repeated by future steppe nomads, the Skythians simply withdrew before the Persian army, drawing them ever deeper into the steppe and refusing to engage them in open battle. They ambushed foragers and used raids and sudden flank attacks on the marching columns of the Persians to slowly wear them down. Darius marched along the western and northern shores of the Black Sea (so he could use his fleet to keep his army supplied) from the mouth of the Daunube to the Don River, then marched across the Kuban region to the Volga River (north of the Caspian Sea), where he began to build a string of eight forts. The building of the forts seems to indicate that Darius intended to extend Persian hegemony north of the Caucasus—with the lower Don river anchoring the western flank, the lower Volga anchoring the eastern flank, and the forts possibly being built between the two rivers where they come closest together (archeologists have never found any trace of the forts however)—but his army was by that time exhausted and demoralized by the tactics of the Skythians, and a steady drain of casualties had denuded their ranks. Whatever Darius may have initially intended, he was forced to abandon his unfinished forts and retreat toward Thrace, once again dogged by the Skythians every step of the way. Persian losses were heavy, but not enough to deter Darius from his invasion of Greece. As feared, the Skythians formed an alliance with king Cleomenes I of Sparta (519-490 BCE), and the Skythians raided Thrace and Macedonia (Macedonia was a Persian vassal-state from 512-493 BCE). The degree to which this may have contributed to the failure of the Persians’ two successive invasions of Greece (483-480 BCE and 292-290 BCE) is often overshadowed by the stories of heroic Greek resistance (e.g., the battles of Thermopylae, Marathon, and Salamis). However, from this time the Skythians earned the antipathy of the Kingdom of Macedonia (808-336 BCE). Under Philip II (359-336 BCE), the Macedonians embarked on a campaign to establish regional hegemony in the Balkans. Although the Macedonians were able to conquer most of the southern tribes of the Thracians, their campaigns against the Skythians proved, at best, to be a stalemate, and even Philip’s astonishingly successful son, Alexander III (336-323 BCE)(a.k.a. Alexander the Great), was unable to push the borders of the Macedonian Empire (335-323 BCE) beyond the Danube River. Nevertheless, from about the mid-fourth century BCE to the early third century BCE Skythian fortunes began to wane. The tribes of the northern Thracians were gradually growing in strength and power (see my Northern Thracian Peoples gallery), which weakened the hold of the Skythians on eastern Romania and Moldavia, while the authority of the Royal Skythians was challenged east of the Ukraine by the rise of the Sarmatians (it has been suggested that the Persian invasion of Skythia weakened the hold of the Royal Skuthes on their subject peoples, since these had suffered most from the scorched-earth approach adopted by the Royal Skuthes).

 

Unfortunately, our knowledge of the eastern subgroups of the Skythians on the Pontic-Caspian steppes between the Don and Volga rivers, the Baraba steppe, and northwestern Kazakhstan is scant. Herodotos identified the Sarmatai as a Skythian subgroup that lived somewhere in the vicinity of the Samara Bend of the Volga River, but he was vague about how far east of the Volga Skythian hegemony may have extended. Persian sources do not discuss the origins of the Sarmatians, and they tend to conflate all the groups of Aryan steppe nomads that lived east of the Caspian Sea as either Dahae or Saka, although most modern historians now distinguish between the Skythians and Sarmatians of eastern Europe (western Aryan nomads), the Dahae that inhabited the steppes to the east of the Caspian Sea (Iranians), the Massagetae that lived to the east of the Aral Sea (northern Aryan nomads), the Saka that dominated the eastern Kazakh steppes (northern Aryan nomads), and the peoples that inhabited the northern Kazakh steppes and southwestern Siberia (probably a mixture of Thyssagetae and Issedones that had been dominated by the Skythians). According to Herodotos, the Sarmatians long lived under the dominion of the Royal Skuthes, but some time around 300 BCE they fought a successful war of independence and then gradually began to displace the Skythians across much of the Pontic-Caspian steppes. The exact nature of this “displacement” is open to debate—it involved the replacement of one ruling clan (the Skythian Basileis Skuthes) with another (the Sarmatian Basileis Ourgoi), although we do not know to what degree the Sarmatians may have conquered, destroyed, or driven off Skythian groups that supported the Royal Skuthes, and later Greek and Roman writers sometimes referred to the Sarmatians as Skythians/Scythians, which seems to indicate some sort of ethnic or cultural continuity. Thus, the Sarmatian takeover should probably be seen more as a revolution rather than as an invasion. There is no evidence of any large-scale migration of Skythian peoples similar to those of the Kimmerians/Cimmerians, although the remnants of the Royal Skuthes seem to have established themselves in the Crimea and to have maintained their rule over the fisherfolk that lived along the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Maeotae, Sindi, and Tarpetes) until Mithridates VI of Pontus (an Anatolian kingdom) conquered these regions (ca. 164 BCE-62 CE)—a distinct Skythian group continued to inhabit the northern Crimea until the second century CE, when they seem to have been absorbed into the Sarmatian socio-political and cultural sphere. Another Skythian group settled between the lower Danube and the Black Sea—although this region subsequently bacame known as Scythia Minor (Latin) or Mikra Skythia (Greek), the region was dominated by the Odrysians (a southern Thracian people), the Getae (a Thraco-Skythian people), the Dacians (a northern Thracian people), and finally the Romans, and we do not know at what point the Skythians living in the region stopped being a distinct people (i.e., other than having the region named after them, they left no linguistic, archeological, or historical trace). Sarmatian hegemony does not seem to have extended east of the Ural River north of the Caspian Sea, and it is presumed that the Skythian groups that inhabited the Baraba steppe east of the Ural Mountains and the northwestern Kazakh steppe were eventually conquered by the Massagetae (see the Alans button at the bottom of this page).

 

Skythian society is believed to have been caste based, with at least three castes—priests, warriors, and commoners. Women had high status, many fought as warriors, and they may have been the primary property holders in Skythian society, although I see no evidence of a matriarchy. Skythian kings are frequently mentioned as the leaders of armies, and although it is possible that they were merely war leaders and that governance was in the hands of women, we simply have no evidence to support that conclusion. Nevertheless, the comparatively misogynistic Greeks are believed to have been so impressed by the status of women in Skythian society that they are believed to have been the inspiration for the Greek myths regarding the Amazons (Greek, Amazones). The Skythians were nomadic pastoralists, herding horses, cattle, and Bactrian camels, although they frequently dominated smaller groups of agro-pastoralists (e.g., the Kimmerians and Thracians) and fisherfolk (e.g., the Maeotae, Sindi, and Tarpetes of the Black Sea littoral). Each tribe of the Skythians was composed of clans that generally migrated back and forth between seasonal camps across the open grasslands (Russian, steppe) of their territory, while the subject tribes were clustered along rivers, in and around forested areas, or along the shores of the Caspian or Black Seas. Harsh climatic conditions, major military defeats, or perceived opportunities for conquest could lead to full-scale migration of groups, sometimes with dependent subjects in tow, across long distances. The Skythians used wagons and Bactrian camels to transport their goods, lived in tented wagons while on the move, and their camps consisted of wagon laagers, tents, and the occasional temporary wooden structure. Burial practices as documented by literate contemporaries (e.g., Greeks, Romans, Persians) and as revealed by archeologists indicate strong social stratification. Skythian noblemen and women were interred in large burial mounds after death (Russian, kurgan), heaped up on the open steppe and covered in turf. Later peoples (Sarmatians, Huns, Slavs) sometimes bored shafts into these mounds to inter their own dead—it is believed they held those that were originally buried there in high (mystical) regard, and hoped to give their own dead the protection of these powerful spirits in the afterlife. These barrows/kurgans can be found throughout the western steppes, virtually identical to the rolling hills in these areas, and therefore they often escaped the attentions of grave robbers down through the centuries—the grave goods were often left untouched until modern times, giving us a wealth of examples of the material culture of the Skythians. This culture was rich, fed both by trading with and raiding the settled agrarian civilizations to the south. The slave trade was particularly lucrative. Beautiful, highly detailed, and expressive works of bronze, copper, gold, and silver were both acquired from the southern civilizations and produced domestically. Skythian art almost always focused on nature—animals, hunting scenes, trees, and plants—portrayed in a stylized but realistic manner, although war was also a popular subject. The basic clothing for both men and women was a short, mid-thigh-length tunic, usually long-sleeved and cinched at the waist with a belt or girdle, worn over baggy trousers that were tucked into short ankle-boots (xshumaka). Women sometimes wore long, loose robes in place of the tunic (mid-shin-length), although they still wore trousers (for riding). For riding and hunting, men and women would sometimes add a long-sleeved jacket (kurta) and/or knee-length leggings (saravara) similar to chaps. Both men and women wore a variety of caps, usually with a tall forward-leaning tip and a lower hem that framed the face and curved around the back of the neck (similar to a Phrygian cap). Ceremonial headdresses were also worn, sometimes topped with wooden zoomorphic figures. As might be expected, the lower caste (commoners) generally used unadorned leather, felt, hide, or hempen cloth, while the upper castes (priests and warriors) could afford brightly dyed and flamboyantly patterned linen imported from the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, or Persia, often with gold and silver medallions and applique plaques sewn on. Nobles wore gold and silver bracelets, armbands, and intricately decorated pectorals. Similarly, horse harness and trappings could range from simple and utilitarian to highly decorated. Brands called tamga were used to mark possession of herd beasts, although these personal symbols developed into a form of quasi-heraldic symbology (use of tamga was widespread among the Aryan peoples and was later adopted by the Hunnic and Turkic peoples). Most Skythians did not use saddles, just saddle-blankets, although these were often brightly colored in geometrical designs. Later Skythian heavy cavalry developed a horned saddle to help secure the seat of riders engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Stirrups were not invented until long after the Skythians were gone. Modern genetic studies of descendant populations and interred bodies have confirmed ancient testimonial evidence that the Skythians had Europoid features—pale skin, fair hair (or light brown and even red), blue and grey eyes were dominant.

 

Skythian religion had several basic characteristics—the mystical importance of female procreative power, a pre-Mazdayan pantheon marked by animal and sometimes human sacrifice, the totemic importance of the horse and the stag, and a strong attachment to bows and archery, as well as the sword as a symbol of male virility. We know of seven gods in the Skythian pantheon—Tabiti (goddess of fire), Papaios (sky god), Api (earth mother), Oitosyros (god of wisdom), Argimpasa (goddess of procreation), and Thagimasidas (god of water)—and this pantheon continued to form the basis of the Sarmatian religion. Animal sacrifice to propitiate the gods was common, usually sheep or goats, although horse sacrifice was an important aspect of burial rites, and sacrifice of prisoners seems to have sometimes played a role in the rituals surrounding warfare (some classical authors claimed the Skythians drank the blood of their victims). Herodotos tells us that there was a warrior cult dedicated to a god he called “the Skythian Ares” (we unfortunately do not know by what name the Skythians knew this god), and he described a ritual virtually identical to one later attested as also being performed by Sarmatian warriors—a sword was thrust point-down in a small depression at the apex of a specially constructed mound or a kurgan, and the blood of a sacrificial victim (animal or human) was gathered in a bowl and poured over the sword. Presumably, this basic procedure was attended by prayers or ritual invocations. It has been suggested that Sarmatian federates settled in Britain in 173 CE by Marcus Aurelius may have continued this practice, it was adopted in altered form by the Romano-Britons, and may have contributed to the development of the sword-in-the-stone trope of the Arthurian legends (similarly, the Sarmatians’ armored lancers are believed to have contributed to the idea of the Knights of the Round Table). Red, the color of blood and symbolic of vitality, was held to be particularly sacred to western Aryan warriors—young warriors who had made their first kill in battle were allowed to wear red as a symbol of their status as full-blown warriors, and as mentioned above Skythian and Sarmatian warriors were sometimes said to drink the blood of vanquished enemies and/or prisoners of war that had been sacrificed to their war god.

 

Skythian armies were dominated by archers—the warrior caste fought as horse archers, the commoners as infantry archers. Subject tribes supplied small numbers of infantry spearmen and infantry skirmishers. Grave finds of bows, arrowheads, and other archery equipment (e.g., quivers) are ubiquitous for men, women, and children. This in and of itself suggests a certain tactical stance, corroborated by historical sources—the Skythians developed what would later become standard steppe hit-and-fade tactics. These attacks could be carried out for days and even weeks (as seen in the Persian invasion), thanks both to the stamina of Skythian warriors and their horses and the great expanse of the steppe, although the goal was not just to wear down an opponent but to wait for opportunities to take advantage of tactical openings to drive home close-combat attacks. Undisciplined troops, those worn out and/or frustrated by the attacks of the horse archers, units that were strung out on a march, or battle lines that had become disorganized due to terrain factors or casualties were all vulnerable. Skythian warriors carried a number of hand-to-hand weapons in addition to their bows, and the elites of the warrior caste could sometimes have relatively heavy armor for man and sometimes horse. The Skythians used high-powered re-curved bows made of laminated wood laths, horn, and sinew. They were capable of shooting up to 12 arrows a minute, from horseback or on foot, and sometimes used poisoned arrows. The Skythians carried their strung bows and up to 75 arrows in a combination bow-and-arrow case called a gorytos. Most Skythians also carried a one-handed spear that could be thrust or thrown, and some combination of short sword (akinakes), dagger, axe, and/or mace for close combat. For those that could afford armor, scale was ubiquitous—bronze, iron, hardened leather, or horn scales were sewn in overlapping layers on leather shirts to create cuirasses, on caps to make helmets, on leggings to create greaves, and on broad girdles to create an economical alternative to a full cuirass. Sometimes greaves and bracers were made of splinted armor (laths of iron, bronze, or wood sewn side-by-side to a leather gauntlet or gaiter to wrap around the forearm or calf). Later, imported Greek or imitation plate greaves were worn by the wealthiest nobles. Bronze and iron helmets were cast by local smiths, although as the Skythians came into close contact with the Greeks and Macedonians, helmets were a popular import from these peoples (they were often modified to suit Skythian tastes and needs). Some Skythian cavalry are portrayed in period art with a large curved section of scale armor worn across the back and around the outside of the shoulders, similar to a back-slung shield, although it curved part-way around their body. A variety of shields were used, all primarily of woven osier construction, bound in leather, although strips of bronze or iron plaques were often used to create splinted face plates. Shields came in a variety of shapes and sizes—crescents, indented rectangles, or large flat rectangles. Horse armor took the form of a frontal skirt made of scale, splint, or leather studded with iron or bronze plates. Sometimes round metal bosses, nose plates, and/or metal plaques were used to provide protection to vital areas of the horse (e.g., head and chest). All Skythian cavalry were first and foremost horse archers, although there were elites with heavier armor, a multiplicity of weapons, and perhaps an elite ethos that tended to form the spearhead when a close-combat attack was deemed tactically sound. Skythian warriors had a fierce reputation and were widely feared by their enemies—stories of headhunting, scalp-taking, drinking of the blood of slain enemies, and using the skin and scalps of enemy dead to adorn equipment were widespread.