Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

scythians in central asia
has come from Scythian burials of the north Pontic region. Even more dramatic are the
Persian knotted pile carpet and the woollen saddlecloths from kurgan 5 in the cemetery
at Pazyryk in the Altai. From the same tomb came seeds of coriander, totally foreign to
the area. The relishes and the textiles probably originated in Bactria or Sogdiana. Silver
belt plates and gold earrings from kurgan 2 also come from the Achaemenid world.
There can be little doubt that large quantities of exotic goods flowed northwards
into the nomadic realm from the eastern satrapies during the Achaemenid rule, but
these trading networks were not a new development. More than a century before the
conquests of Cyrus lapis lazuli from Bactria was reaching the foothills of the Altai,
there to be buried in a nomad grave at Shilikty in the early seventh century. But after
the establishment of an organized frontier with the empire the volume of high value
goods reaching the steppe from Persian workshops grew exponentially.
While some of this material will have arrived as the result of trade or as diplomatic
gifts exchanged between elites, some will have been brought to the nomad homeland
by Sakā warriors returning from successful raids or bearing rewards for mercenary
service. Mounted Sakā warriors, armed as archers, were particularly valued
by the Persians and there are many examples of them serving with the Achaemenid
armies. They were present at the battles of Marathon (460) and Plataea (479) when
the Persians confronted the Greeks. The leader of such a group, known as ‘a benefactor
of the king’ would expect to be lavishly rewarded to the benefit of his followers.
Such contingents were called symmachoi (allies) and they were very different from
hired mercenaries. The historian Arrian, describing the battle of Gaugamela between
Alexander and Darius in 331 bc, writes of the Persian line of battle:
They were followed by the Sakā, a Scythian tribe belonging to the Scythians who
dwell in Asia. They were not subject to Bessus [a Persian regional governor] but were
in alliance with Darius. They were commanded by Manakes and were horse-bowmen.
(An. iii. 8. 3)
The distinction between an ally, a hired mercenary, and a raider was not always clearcut
and one might easily morph into the other; allegiances could change and forces
split into rival factions. Arrian gives an interesting example when writing of the confusing
period in 329–328 bc when Alexander, in the final stages of destroying the Persian
state, was campaigning in Sogdiana and Bactria. A group of Sakā had attacked
the Macedonians and their king was forced to explain himself:
Envoys arrived from the king of the Scythians, who were sent to apologize for what
had been done and to say that it was not the act of the Scythian state but of certain men
who set out for plunder in the way of freebooters.
(An. iv. 5. 1)
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