Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 ELAM
- 2 ANSHAN IN THE ELAMITE AND ACHAEMENIAN PERIODS
- 3 MEDIA
- 4 THE SCYTHS
- 5 THE RISE OF THE ACHAEMENIDS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THEIR EMPIRE
- 6 PERSIA AND THE GREEKS
- 7 CYRUS THE GREAT (558–529 b.c.)
- 8 ALEXANDER IN IRAN
- 9 THE PERSIAN OCCUPATION OF EGYPT
- 10 THE BABYLONIAN EVIDENCE OF ACHAEMENIAN RULE IN MESOPOTAMIA
- 11 THE EVIDENCE OF THE PERSEPOLIS TABLETS
- 12 ACHAEMENID COINS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
- 13 THE OLD EASTERN IRANIAN WORLD VIEW ACCORDING TO THE AVESTA
- 14 THE RELIGION OF ACHAEMENIAN IRAN
- 15 ARAMAIC IN THE ACHAEMENIAN EMPIRE
- 16 OLD IRANIAN CALENDARS
- 17 CLASSIC ACHAEMENIAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE
- 18 THE BEHISTUN RELIEF
- 19 TEPE NŪSH-I JĀN: THE MEDIAN SETTLEMENT
- 20 PASARGADAE
- 21 METALWORK AND GLYPTIC
- Appendix I PLANT NAMES
- Appendix II THE ACHAEMENID DYNASTY
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate section
- Plate section
- Plate section
- Media in the 9th–7th centuries b.c
- The Achaemenian empire.
- The Aegean basin, to illustrate the Greek wars of Darius and Xerxes.
- Media in the 9th–7th centuries b.c">
- References
4 - THE SCYTHS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 ELAM
- 2 ANSHAN IN THE ELAMITE AND ACHAEMENIAN PERIODS
- 3 MEDIA
- 4 THE SCYTHS
- 5 THE RISE OF THE ACHAEMENIDS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THEIR EMPIRE
- 6 PERSIA AND THE GREEKS
- 7 CYRUS THE GREAT (558–529 b.c.)
- 8 ALEXANDER IN IRAN
- 9 THE PERSIAN OCCUPATION OF EGYPT
- 10 THE BABYLONIAN EVIDENCE OF ACHAEMENIAN RULE IN MESOPOTAMIA
- 11 THE EVIDENCE OF THE PERSEPOLIS TABLETS
- 12 ACHAEMENID COINS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
- 13 THE OLD EASTERN IRANIAN WORLD VIEW ACCORDING TO THE AVESTA
- 14 THE RELIGION OF ACHAEMENIAN IRAN
- 15 ARAMAIC IN THE ACHAEMENIAN EMPIRE
- 16 OLD IRANIAN CALENDARS
- 17 CLASSIC ACHAEMENIAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE
- 18 THE BEHISTUN RELIEF
- 19 TEPE NŪSH-I JĀN: THE MEDIAN SETTLEMENT
- 20 PASARGADAE
- 21 METALWORK AND GLYPTIC
- Appendix I PLANT NAMES
- Appendix II THE ACHAEMENID DYNASTY
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate section
- Plate section
- Plate section
- Media in the 9th–7th centuries b.c
- The Achaemenian empire.
- The Aegean basin, to illustrate the Greek wars of Darius and Xerxes.
- Media in the 9th–7th centuries b.c">
- References
Summary
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLES
The country
During the first half of the first millennium B.C., c. 3,000 to 2,500 years ago, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock; nowadays their only traces are the archaeological remains and topographic names of Iranian derivation scattered over that area. The main Iranian-speaking peoples of the region at that period were the Scyths and the Sarmatians (Sauromatians in Greek spelling), our knowledge of whom derives partly from the works of ancient writers, and also, to a great extent, from the study of archaeological remains.
The most important work relating to the ancient Scyths is the Histories of Herodotus. His descriptions, in the light of the results of archaeological research, are on the whole correct. However, the eastern part of Scythia seems to have been little known to him. He often generalizes from exceptional occurrences and seems to have telescoped some events which took place in about the same region but at different periods. These, and some other inconsistencies and gaps in his reports will here be corrected and supplemented by taking into account the evidence offered by the results of archaeological and linguistic research.
The vague notion of the peoples of Scythia entertained by Herodotus and his erroneous idea of the size and shape of the country, have often been commented upon. Several scholars endeavoured to draw the map of Scythia according to the data given by him (map 6) but “the different results to which they come prove that in this it is hopeless to seek more than the establishment of a few facts”.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Iran , pp. 149 - 199Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1985
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