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1 results

  • 4 - THE SCYTHS

  • Edited by I. Gershevitch
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Iran
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    06 June 1985, pp 149-199

  • Summary

    During the first half of the first millennium BC, the southern part of Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by peoples of Iranian stock. The main Iranian-speaking peoples of the region were the Scyths and the Sarmatians. The Scythian period fell at the time of the wet sub-Atlantic climate, which was more damp than the present climate of the Ukraine. Although the ancient Persians called all Scyths 'Saca' the population of ancient Scythia was far from being homogeneous, nor were the Scyths themselves a homogeneous people. The data relating to Scythian beliefs and religion that can be drawn from the remarks by Herodotus and from the representations on Scythian toreutic. The northwest Caucasian Scyths were forced to move again and abandon their country, from the advancing Sarmatian Siraces. The earliest 'genuine Scythian' or 'Royal Scythian' remains north of the Black Sea date from the 600 BC, tallies with the data of the expulsion of the Scyths from Western Asia.