Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the scythians as others saw them
Taiga
Forest steppe
Steppe and semi-desert
Deciduous forest
Mountains
Mediterranean / dry scrub
Semi-desert and desert
Sub-tropical and tropical
GOLD GUARDING
GRIFFINS
ROYAL
SCYTHIANS
Black Sea
SAUROMATAE
Caspian
Sea
A R G
M A S S
A G E
I P P
E
T A
Aral
Sea
A E
SAKAˉ
TIGRAKHAUDAˉ
I
Lake Balkash
ISSEDONIANS
ARIMASPIANS
SAKA ˉ HAUMAVARGAˉ
N
Mediterranean
Sea
0 500 miles
0 500km
2.7 Beyond the river Don the nomadic tribes of Central Asia received only a brief mention in the ancient
sources but those recorded can be broadly located.
of Aristeas is his description of the relentless mobility of the various tribes and the
dislocation which this caused.
To the south of the Kazakh steppe, between the Caspian Sea and the Pamir Mountains,
were the deserts and desert steppe of Central Asia, the home of the Sakā and the
Massagetae. The name Sakā was used by the Persian sources as interchangeable with
Scythians (above, p. 39), while the Massagetae, who were neighbours of the Issedonians,
were according to Herodotus also regarded by many to be of the Scythian race.
Clearly, different observers had different views on ethnicity. Herodotus was specific
in his definition of Scythians; others were less so. But what is evident, particularly
from the archaeological data, is that there was a broad similarity in the culture of the
nomads from the Altai to the Danube and, given the mobility of the times, it is simpler
to regard them as belonging to a broad cultural continuum.
Fascinating and valuable though Herodotus’ description of the Scythians and
related nomads is, it is, at best, a snapshot, blurred in part, of a moment in time. He
was observing people in a period of rapid change as the original nomad influx of the
Archaic period gave way to more settled societies coming to terms with the Greek
presence around the northern Pontic coast. The social and economic changes which
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