Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

predatory nomads
becoming the dominant elite and imposing the names of their lineages on the local
populations. Those who became the Kimmerians on the Pontic steppe were probably
just one of the warrior bands on the move. The next to arrive in the area were
known to the Greeks as Scythians.
The Kimmerians in History
Herodotus provides a simple account of the Kimmerians at the time when they were
attacked by incoming Scythians towards the end of the eighth century bc (above,
pp. 30–1). His description, based on oral tradition more than two centuries old, offers
three pieces of information. First, the Scythians crossed the Volga and took over a territory
on the Pontic steppe once occupied by the Kimmerians. Second, uncertainty
arose among Kimmerians about how to respond to the Scythians, the Royal tribe
wishing to stay and fight, the rest of the people pressing to move on. It was resolved
by a battle on the Dnieper at which the Royal tribe was annihilated. Third, some Kimmerians
fled into Asia Minor, travelling along the shore of the Black Sea, and set up a
base where the Greek city of Sinope was later to be refounded (Hist. iv. 11–12).
A complementary account can be pieced together from the contemporary Assyrian
records covering the period between c.714 and c.625 during which one or more
bands of Kimmerians were actively involved in the rapidly changing politics of Asia
Minor. Herodotus says that they were not finally driven out until about 600 bc.
ÂDuring the century or so that they were in Asia Minor they were credited with
destroying the Phrygian empire, attacking and eventually capturing the Lydian capital,
Sardis (except for the citadel), and campaigning in Cilicia in the south. It is also
possible that some Kimmerians were involved in raids on Israel described by the Old
Testament prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel.
Although it is likely that at least some of the Kimmerians active in Asia Minor
arrived from the north, following the north and east coasts of the Black Sea as Herodotus
says, it remained a possibility that other bands may have come via Thrace,
along the western shores of the Black Sea and then crossing the Bosphorus or the
Dardanelles. According to Strabo the Kimmerians had established alliances with the
Thracian tribes, so an attack on Asia Minor from the west is not unlikely and could
explain why the Kimmerians were particularly active on the Aegean coastal region
where the Greek sources describe raids on coastal towns including Magnesia and
Ephesus following their successes at Sardis.
Archaeological evidence for the presence of steppe nomads in Asia Minor is difficult
to interpret. In the southern Caucasus and in Anatolia there are many finds
of weapons of the type used by steppe nomads. Most numerous are bilobate and
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