Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

scythians in the longue durée
territory from the Don to the Aral Sea. They were neighbours of the fractious Bosporan
kingdom and during a dynastic dispute in 64–63 bc were able to offer the support
of 200,000 horsemen to one of the contenders. Later, after Rome had taken over
control of the kingdom, the Aorsi became their allies.
During the Early Sarmatian period, before the arrival of the Aorsi on the lower
Volga, the region was occupied by the Roxolani, while the area between the Don
and the Dnieper was the preserve of the Iazyges: both were closely related Sarmatian
peoples. The westward migration of the Aorsi early in the second century bc forced
the Roxolani to move westwards across the Volga and the Don to take control of the
Pontic steppe. This in turn drove out the Iazyges, who carved out a new territory for
themselves in the lower Dniester steppe bordered by the Bastarnae to the north and
north-west and the Getae in the Dobruja to the south.
The Roxolani, now dominant on the Pontic steppe, were described as ‘wagon
dwellers’ by Strabo. He writes of their transhumant lifestyle, dependent on their
flocks and herds, moving from winter camps along the shore of the Sea of Azov,
where in their leisure time they hunted deer and wild boar, to the inland steppe pastures,
where they turned their attention to wild asses and roe deer. But in spite of this
bucolic lifestyle they were a force to be reckoned with. The Scythians who had fled to
the Crimea were under their control and towards the end of the second century bc,
allying themselves with the Crimean Scythians, they attacked the Bosporan kingdom
with 50,000 lightly armed cavalry. They were defeated but, undeterred, a few years
later, in 107 bc, they joined Mithridates in his attack on the kingdom.
By the middle of the first century bc the geopolitics of the region were changing
fast. The Aorsi, now coming under pressure from the Alans, crossed the Don forcing
the Roxolani to move westwards across the Dnieper into the territory of the Iazyges
flanking the Black Sea between the Dnieper and the Danube delta. Some Roxolani
moved further west to the Carpathians, while others travelled northwards to the
region of Kiev, but the main thrust of the advance took them into the plain of Wallachia
flanked by the Carpathian Mountains on the north, where lay the stronghold
of the powerful Dacians, and the Danube to the south, which at this time was the
frontier of the Roman empire. The displaced Iazyges meanwhile, having come into
conflict with the Romans on a number of occasions, managed to cross the Carpathians
to reach the Great Hungarian Plain, where they settled soon after ad 20.
Sarmatians versus the Roman Empire
Throughout the first century ad the Roman frontier ran along the river Danube,
creating a major obstacle against further Sarmatian advances to the south and west.
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