Scythians

The Steppe

Grassy plains, cold, weak agricultural potential

Stretched from Hungary to Korea

Ecological habitat of horse

Ideal for nomadism

Chariot Period, = second millennium BC

Horse nomadism = first millennium BC

Scythians = many Iranic speaking peoples from Danube to Afghanistan

7^th though 3^rd centuries BC

Nomadism

Domestication of animals

No permanent residence

No cities

Not civilized

Seasonal migration for water and pasture

Great migration to new lands

Tribalism

claimed descent from a single ancestor

Nation

tribe

clan

family

prime loyalty to tribe or clan

Tribal Government

Chief/king (khan)

no coercive authority

military prowess

wealth and generosity

wisdom and judgment

military victory

hereditary vs. elective

Egalitarian = Tribal democracy

Social Structure

patriarchal

nobles

slavery

patronage

Bedouin Economy

Central Asian pastoral nomadism

Herds

Horses, Sheep, Goats, Cattle, Camels

5+ horses & dozens of sheep per family

need extensive pastures

migratory patterns for pasturage

mobile society

Hunting

Trade

international transit

regional products

international trade

control of trade routes

protection of caravans

depredation

sedentary powers strong = trade

sedentary powers weak = raid

dependence on sedentary for agriculture and technology

Military Functions of Tribe

All adult males are warriors

protection from rival groups

law of retaliation

very militaristic

feud and raid

Rival tribal confederations

Unifying factors among Nomads

poetic language

perceived kinship

shared nomadic values

tribal confederation

Shared defense

“high king”

History, Literature and Arts

basically oral: poetry, folk tale

No Central Asian literature survives before c. 500 AD

Until 1200 AD only references in sedentary historians

Major art forms are decorative arts and metal work (tombs)

No cities or buildings, no monumental art

Religion

Shamanism

worship of sky, nature spirits, animals

Shaman

priests, prophet, doctor, magician (Witch Doctor)

Ecstatic visions & spirit possession = contact with Divine

Other religions penetrated Central Asia at different times:

Military system

mobile society organized for predation

All males perform military service = 20% of population

Allows maximum army size per population

Sedentary armies were 2-3% soldiers

1,000,000 farmers = 20,000 soldiers

100,000 nomads = 20,000 soldiers

mounted horse archers

composite bow

Parthian shot

Strategic and tactical mobility

Tactics

Mass hunting forms basic pattern of tactics in warfare

Supremacy of mobility

Always choose time and place of combat

Never attack formed enemy

Ambush and harass

Guerilla warfare

Feigned retreat

Army is more important than territory

Conceptualized confederations of peoples vs. control of territory

When defeated, retreat to steppe

Scythians before Alexander

(Also called: Saka, Shaka or Sacae; Assyrian: Ashguzai, Hebrew: Ashkenaz)

Horse nomads on steppe, noted for skill in horse-riding and archery

Kurgans: Burial mounds with rich jewelry, weapons and horse equipment

Royal Scythians

Remain in steppe N of Black Sea

c. –600, contact with Greek traders

Wars with Persians

Cyrus killed fighting Scythians in the east

-519, Darius I fights Scythians (Danube?)

inscription; Herodotus

c. –400, founding or royal center at Kamenskoye Gorodishche

-4C Scythian domination of Steppe to Danube under King Atheas

Wars with Macedonians

defeated by Philip II of Macedon

-331, defeat Alexander in Balkans

-3C, Scythians were overwhelmed by Sarmatians and fade from power

Wars with Cimmerians

-680s to -670s, Migrate into Anatolia and NW Iran

defeat Cimmerians and drive them westward into Central Anatolia

Wars with Urartu

Scythian mercenaries used by Urartu

c. –650, Scythians devastate Urartu, destroying many cities

Scythian tribes remain in the area

Weakened Urartu becomes vassals of Assyrians

c. –600, Scythians finish collapse of Urartu

Wars with Assyria

-636, Scythians defeat Cimmerians in Cilicia and break their power (Strabo 1.3.21)

Alliance and marriage of Esarhaddon

Wars with Lydia

-590, conquer and devastate Lydia

Wars with Medes

Initial dominance over Medes

-550, Medes drive Scythians across the Caucasus

absorb Anatolian Scythians into empire

Mercenaries in Persian and Babylonian armies

Bet Shean = Scythopolis

“Scythian” arrowheads

Scythian Bibliography

Primary

Assyrian texts

Herodotus 1.103-106, Bk 4

Persian images at Bisitun and Persopolis

Incidental references in numerous Greek historians

Secondary

ABD 5:1056-1057

Basilov, V. N., ed., Nomads of Eurasia, (Los Angeles, 1989)

DANE 257-258

Christian, David, A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, vol. 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire, (Blackwell, 1998), pp. 99-162.

Kohl, P. L., Central Asia: Paleolithic Beginnings to the Iron Age, (Paris, 1984)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, From the Lands of the Scythians: Ancient Treasures from the Museums of the U.S.S. R., 3000 BC-100 BC, (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d.)

Piotrovsky, B., et. al., Scythian Art, (Oxford, 1987)

Rolle, R., The World of the Scythians, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989)

Yamauchi, E. Foes from the Northern Frontier: Invading Hordes from the Russian Steppe, (Grand Rapids, 1982).