There are two main sources of information on the historical Scythians: •
Akkadian cuneiform texts from
Mesopotamia which deal with early Scythian history from the 7th century BC; • and
Graeco-Roman sources which cover all of Scythian history, most prominently those written by
Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which are less reliable because the information they contain is mixed with folk tales and learnt constructs of historians.
Proto-Scythian period , circa 800 BC. The arrival of the Scythians in
Europe was part of the larger movement of
Central Asian
Iranic nomads, including
Cimmerians,
Sauromatians, and
Sarmatians, westwards towards
Southeast and
Central Europe from the 1st millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. Like the nomads of the
Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex, the Scythians originated, along with the
Early Sakas, in Central Asia and Siberia in the steppes corresponding to either present-day eastern Kazakhstan or the Altai-Sayan region. The Scythians were already acquainted with quality
goldsmithing and sophisticated
bronze-
casting at this time, as attested by gold pieces found in the 8th century BC Aržan-1 kurgan.
Migration out of Central Asia The second wave of migration of Iranic nomads corresponded to the early Scythians' arrival from Central Asia into the Caucasian Steppe, which begun in the 9th century BC, when a significant movement of the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian Steppe started after the early Scythians were expelled from Central Asia by either the
Massagetae, who were a powerful nomadic Iranic tribe from Central Asia closely related to them, or by another Central Asian people called the
Issedones, forcing the early Scythians to the west, across the
Araxes river and into the Caspian and Ciscaucasian Steppes. This western migration of the early Scythians lasted through the middle 8th century BC, and archaeologically corresponded to the westward movement of a population originating from
Tuva in southern Siberia in the late 9th century BC, and arriving in the 8th to 7th centuries BC into Europe, especially into Ciscaucasia, which it reached some time between and , thus following the same migration path as the first wave of Iranic nomads of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex.
Displacement of the Cimmerians The Scythians' westward migration brought them in the 7th century BC to the Caspian Steppe, occupied by the Cimmerians since the 10th century BC as part of the first westward wave of proto-Scythian migrations. Around this time, the Cimmerians left the steppe and crossed the Caucasus into
West Asia. This may have been due to pressure from the Scythians, but they arrived in West Asia about 40 years before the Scythians and evidence is lacking of pressure or conflict between them in later Graeco-Roman accounts. Thus dominance in the Caspian Steppe transferred from Cimmerians to Scythians. Remaining Cimmerians were assimilated by the Scythians, which was facilitated by their similar ethnic backgrounds and lifestyles. Later, the Scythians settled the
Ciscaucasian Steppe where they established their capital, between the Araxes river to the east, the
Caucasus Mountains to the south, and the
Maeotian Sea to the west. The arrival and establishment of the Scythians corresponds to a disturbance of the development and a replacement of the Cimmerian peoples' Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex during to in southern Europe. Nevertheless, early Scythian culture had links to the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex. Also, Scythian culture shows links to the older Bronze Age
Timber Grave culture in the north Pontic region, including elements of funerary rituals, ceramics, horse gear, and some weapon types.
Early period Ciscaucasian kingdom After their initial westwards migrations, and from around , the Scythians settled in the Ciscaucasian Steppe between the Araxes river to the east, the Caucasus mountains to the south, and the Maeotian Sea to the west. They concentrated in the valley of the
Kuban river, where they established their capital until the end of the 7th century BC. Initially, they were few and occupied a small area of Ciscaucasia. This would remain the centre of the Scythian kingdom and culture until around . The Scythians extracted tribute from the native
Koban and
Maeotian populations of Ciscaucasia, such as agricultural, clay and bronze goods, weapons and horse equipment. Maeotians provided large wide-necked pots, jugs, mugs, and small basins. Through the 8th and 7th centuries BC, these interactions and assimilation led to a mixed culture.
West Asia During the latter 8th and the 7th centuries BC,
equestrian nomads beginning with the Cimmerians expanded from Ciscaucasia southwards across the Caucasus Mountains to
West Asia. They were taking advantage of the
social disruption caused by the growth of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire in West Asia. Surrounding polities were: •
Phrygia and
Lydia in Anatolia; •
Babylon and
Elam in the south; •
Egypt in the southwest; •
Urartu in the north; • the weaker states of
Ellipi and
Mannai in the east; • and the city-states of the
Medes, who were an Iranic people of West Asia to whom the Scythians and Cimmerians were distantly related. Like local rulers, Scythians and Cimmerians negotiated for their interests by vacillating between these powers. and served as mercenaries. Small nomad groups from Ciscaucasia might have acted in West Asia since the 9th century BC, which laid the ground for the larger migrations. The migration of the Scythians was not directly connected to that of the Cimmerians. Scythians became active there after arriving in Transcaucasia around , and maintained contact with the Scythian kingdom in Ciscaucasia. (ancient Scythian kingdom),
Azerbaijan, 7th-4th century BC In West Asia, the Scythians settled eastern Transcaucasia and the northwest Iranian plateau, in today's Azerbaijan, which became their centre until . Akkadian sources from Mesopotamia called this "land of the Scythians" (, ). Unlike Cimmerians, the Scythians there remained a single polity. Local craftsmen became their suppliers.
Initial activities in West Asia The Scythian and Cimmerian movements into Anatolia and the Iranian Plateau would act as catalysts for the adoption of Eurasian nomadic military and equestrian equipments by various West Asian states: it was during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE that "Scythian-type" socketed arrowheads and
sigmoid bows ideal for use by mounted warriors were adopted throughout West Asia. The Mannaean king Aḫšeri () welcomed the Cimmerians and the Scythians as useful allies against the Neo-Assyrian Empire. During the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king
Esarhaddon (), the Scythians acted in with Mannai and Media; their first known mention in Neo-Assyrian records is in . Around this time, Aḫšēri hindered Neo-Assyrian operations between its own territory and Mannai. The Scythians even attacked distant Neo-Assyrian provinces, and on one occasion core territories. Between and , Neo-Assyrian king Esarhaddon, retaliated deep into Median territory. The first known Scythian king
Išpakāya was killed. His successor
Bartatua might have immediately negotiated with whom Esarhaddon. By 672 BC, Bartatua had asked to marry Esarhaddon's eldest daughter
Šērūʾa-ēṭirat. Thus Scythia in West Asia became a
vassal and nominal extension of Assyria and would remain so. The eastern Cimmerians soon left the Iranian Plateau westwards for Anatolia. Without the alliance with the Cimmerians and Scythians, Mannai was weaker. Thus between 660 and 659 BC Esarhaddon's successor
Ashurbanipal () attacked Mannai. Bartatua, acted as an intermediary and annexed Mannai into the Scythian kingdom. After this, the centre of Scythian power in West Asia shifted to
Sakez near
Lake Urmia, where fertile pastures allowed the Scythians to rea large herds of horses.
West Asian influences on the Scythians The marital alliance, as well as the proximity of the Scythians to Assyrian-influenced states, placed the Scythians under the strong influence of
Assyrian culture. Scythian culture and art absorbed various West Asian elements; Scythian dress and armour from this time, including in Cirscaucasia, reflect heavy influences from West Asia and the Iranian Plateau on Scythian culture during this period. Scythian rulers began emulating West Asian kings by using
luxury goods as status markers. the spoils acquired by the Scythians as diplomatic presents or as plunder was used to enhance their status back in the Ciscaucasian Steppe. In addition, artistic concepts also enhanced the range of the craftsmen serving the Scythian aristocracy: the Scythians had absorbed West Asian tastes and customs such as the concept of the divine origin of royal power, and as their material culture was absorbing West Asian elements, so was their art absorbing West Asian artistic modes of representing these. and other artifacts, from
Kul-Oba. Even West Asian horses were imported to Ciscaucasia. It was also only when the Scythians expanded into West Asia that they became acquainted with iron smelting and forging, before which they were still a Bronze Age society until the late 8th century BC. The Scythians also borrowed the use of the
war chariots and of
scale armour from West Asians, and Scythian warriors themselves obtained
iron weapons and military experience during their stay in West Asia. Within the
Scythian religion, the goddess
Artimpasa and the
Snake-Legged Goddess were significantly influenced by the Mesopotamian and Syro-Canaanite religions.
Reign of Madyes Bartatua was succeeded by his son with Šērūʾa-ēṭirat,
Madyes. In 652 BC, Ashurbanipal's eldest brother
Šamaš-šuma-ukin, the
king of Babylon, rebelled against him. although Ashurbanipal was able to suppress the Babylonian rebellion by 648 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire was worn out by this crisis. Madyes helped Ashurbanipal repress the revolt by imposing Scythian hegemony on Media, which marked the beginning of a nearly 30-year long period of Scythian hegemony in West Asia. During the 7th century BC, the bulk of the Cimmerians were operating in Anatolia. The disturbances they caused led to many of the rulers of this region to break away from Neo-Assyrian overlordship, by the time of Ashurbanipal. In 644 BC, the Cimmerians and their allies the
Treres defeated the
Lydians and captured their capital city of
Sardis. Despite this and other setbacks, the Lydian kingdom was able to grow in power. Around , and with Neo-Assyrian approval, the Scythians under Madyes conquered Urartu, entered Central Anatolia and defeated the Cimmerians alongside the Lydians. Scythian power in West Asia thus reached its peak under Madyes, with the territories ruled by the Scythian kingdom extending from the Halys river in Anatolia in the west to the Caspian Sea and the eastern borders of Media in the east, and from Transcaucasia in the north to the northern borders of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the south. Meanwhile, the new Lydian Empire became the dominant power of Anatolia.
Decline in West Asia The Neo-Assyrian Empire began unravelling after the death of Ashurbanipal because of civil wars under his successors
Aššur-etil-ilāni () and
Sîn-šar-iškun (). In 625 BC, the Median king
Cyaxares invited the Scythian leaders to a feast, where he assassinated them all, thus overthrowing the Assyro-Scythian yoke. Cyaxares combined Scythian and Neo-Assyrian military practices to transform Media into the dominant power of the Iranian Plateau. Other vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire started breaking away. Nevertheless, the Scythians took advantage of the temporary power vacuum to raid into the
Levant some time between and . It is unknown whether this raid damaged the hold of the Neo-Assyrian Empire on its western provinces. The raid reached as far south as
Palestine, but did not affect the
kingdom of Judah. It reached the borders of the
Saite Egyptian kingdom, but pharaoh
Psamtik I turn them back by offering them gifts. The retreating Scythians sacked several cities in Palestine. Later Scythian activities were limited to the eastern border of Neo-Assyria and the importation of West Asian goods into the Ciscaucasian steppe. By 615, Scythia was an ally of Cyaxares in
his war against the Neo-Assyrian Empire, possibly out of necessity. Scythia supported the Medo-Babylonian conquests
of Aššur in 614 BC,
of Nineveh in 612 BC, and of the last Neo-Assyrian remnants
at Ḫarran in 610 BC, which permanently destroyed the Neo-Assyrian Empire. By the , the ascending Median Empire of Cyaxares annexed Urartu, after having annexed Mannai in 616 BC. This rise of Median power forced the Scythians to leave West Asia and retreat north to the Ciscaucasian Steppe. Nevertheless, they continued complex relations with the Median kingdom. Some splinter Scythian groups remained in eastern Transcaucasia. Later Graeco-Roman sources claimed that these Scythians left the Median kingdom and fled into the Lydian Empire, beginning
a conflict between Lydia and Media: These Scythians who had remained in West Asia had been completely assimilated into Median society and state by the mid-6th century BC.
Initial Greek interactions Since the 8th century BC,
ancient Greeks ventured in the
Black Sea. Encounters with friendly natives led them to found
trading settlements (; ). The earliest of the north Black Sea were at
Histria,
Tyras, and especially on the
island of Borysthenēs. Pontic Steppe Scythians came encountered Greek settlers from
Miletus on the Scythian-ruled northern Black Sea coast around . Trade and settlement were largely peaceful. From these settlements, Scythian aristocracy bought luxury goods, especially wine and vessels to mix and drink it, and even used those as
grave goods. Greek colonists made gold and
electrum items for Scythians. After Scythian activity in West Asia declined in the , ties with the Greek colonies grew, and the Scythians started buying pottery imported from the Aegean islands. Greek influences on the Scythians replaced West Asian ones from the beginning of the 6th century BC.
Pontic Steppe During the 8th to 7th centuries BC, the Scythians conquered the
Pontic and
Crimean Steppes, but few settled there until they were expelled from West Asia. This was motivated by the threat of the Median Empire to the south of Ciscaucasia, and by the wealthy Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast. The Scythian kingdom traded between the
Greek colonies to their south and the forest steppe to their north, via large rivers. The Scythians ruled as elites over the local populations and assimilated them into a tribal identity while allowing them to continue their lifestyles and economic organisations. Thus, the area became called , and many ethnically non-Scythian peoples were called "".
Campaigns from the Pontic Steppe The Scythians introduced to the north Pontic region articles originating in the Siberian
Karasuk culture, such as distinctive swords and daggers, and which were characteristic of early Scythian archaeological culture, consisting of cast bronze
cauldrons, daggers, swords, and horse harnesses. Those early Scythian designs had been influenced by Chinese art; for example, the "cruciform tubes" used to fix strap-crossings were first created by
Shang artisans. The metallurgical workshops for Scythian weapons and horse equipment were located in the forest steppe. At this time, the Scythians introduced
iron working from West Asia to the Bronze-Age peoples of the Pontic Steppe. The Scythian establishment in the Pontic Steppe was especially facilitated by the iron weapons and the military experience they obtained in West Asia, for example scale armour used by Scythian aristocracy. , early 5th century BC. After the centre of Scythian power shifted to the Pontic Steppe, from around the Scythians often raided adjacent regions such as central and southeast Europe:
Transylvania,
Podolia the
Pannonian Steppe,
southern Germania,
Lusatian culture (causing its destruction),
Gaul, and possibly even the
Iberian peninsula. They destroyed multiple Lusatian settlements. Scythian arrowheads were found in today's
Poland and
Slovakia, such as at
Witaszkowo, ,
Strzegom, , and . The Scythians destroyed many important Iron-Age settlements north and south of the
Moravian Gate and ones of the eastern
Hallstatt culture. For example, Scythian-type arrows were found at the Smolenice-Molpír fortified hillfort's access points at the gate and the south-west side of the acropolis. From the 7th century BC, the Scythians attacked forest steppe tribes in the
East European forest steppe to the north, who built many fortified settlements to repel these attacks. Overall, these incursions were similar to those of the
Huns and the
Avars during the
Migration Period, and of the
Mongols in the mediaeval era, and were recorded in Etruscan bronze figurines depicting mounted Scythian archers.
Foreign pressures Meanwhile, in West Asia, the Neo-Babylonian, Median, Lydian empires had been replaced during to by the
Achaemenid Empire, founded by
Cyrus II of the
Persians, who were a West Asian Iranic people distantly related to the Scythians. The Achaemenid Empire forced the Scythians to stay north of the Caucasus. The establishment of the Pontic Scythian kingdom stimulated the development of extensive trade connections. After the bulk of the Scythians moved into the Pontic Steppe, permanent Greek colonies were founded there: the second wave of Greek colonisation of the north coast of the Black Sea, which started soon after , involved the formation of settlements possessing agricultural lands () for migrants from
Miletus,
Corinth,
Phocaea and
Megara seeking to establishing themselves to farm () in these regions where the land was fertile and the sea was plentiful. The contacts between the Scythians and the Greeks led to the formation of a mixed Graeco-Scythian culture, such as among the "Hellenised Scythian" tribe of the Callipidae, the Histrians, the Geloni to the north of Scythia, and the Hellenised populations in and around Crimea. In , Cyrus II's Persian Achaemenid Empire had conquered the Lydian Empire and Anatolia, causing a large outflow of Greek refugees and a third wave of Greek colonisation of the Black Sea, from around until . The importance of the Greek colonies of the north Black Sea coast drastically increased after the Persian Achaemenid Empire's
conquest of Egypt in 525 BC, which deprived the states of Greece proper of the Egyptian grain that they depended on. The then-dominant Greek power of
Athens therefore established well-defended colonies on the north Black Sea coast near already existing settlements, including
Nymphaion near Pantikapaion,
Athēnaion near
Theodosia, and
Stratokleia near Phanagoreia, where high-quality grain was produced. The various Greek city-states of the
Aegean Sea also imported fish, furs and slaves from Scythia during this period, and from the mid-6th century BC the Greeks employed Scythian
mercenaries in the form of mounted archers to support their own hoplite armies. From the 6th to 4th centuries BC, the Scythian kingdom had good relations with the
Sauromatians to the east. Scythian art was influenced by the
Sauromatian culture. However, from to , Sauromatians from the
Ural Mountains to the Caspian Steppe were pressed by the Massagetae of Central Asia due to campaigns against them by Cyrus II. In response, the Sauromatians took over Ciscaucasia from the Scythian kingdom. By the 5th century BC, the Scythians had completely retreated from Ciscaucasia. This process caused Sauromatian nomads to immigrate near the Royal Scythians, and intermarry with local nomad inhabitants. This may have caused the replacement of the Scythian dynasty of Spargapeithes by that of
Ariapeithes. This immigration introduced new social norms, including women warriors. In the 6th century BC, the Scythian sage
Anacharsis, brother of then-king Sauaios, traveled to Greece. He was respected as a philosopher, was granted Athenian citizenship and became popular in literature as a "man of Nature" and "noble savage" incarnating "Barbarian wisdom", and a favourite figure of the
Cynics.
Persian invasion . impression. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persian Empire started expanding into Europe, beginning with the Persian annexation of all of Thrace, after which the Achaemenid king of kings
Darius I crossed the Istros river in 513 BC and attacked the Scythian kingdom with an army of 700,000 to 800,000 soldiers, possibly with the goal of annexing it. The results of this campaign are unclear, with Darius I himself claiming that he had conquered the (), that is the Pontic Scythians, while the ancient Greek literary tradition, following the account of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, claimed that the Persian campaign had been defeated by the Scythians, due to which the Greeks started perceiving the Scythians as invincible thanks to their nomadic lifestyle. Herodotus's narrative is considered dubious, and his account of the failure of Darius appears extremely exaggerated. Some form of Achaemenid authority might have been established in Pontic Scythia as a result of this campaign without it having been annexed.
Middle (or Classical) period The retreat of the Scythians from Ciscaucasia and the arrival of
Sauromatian incomers into the Pontic Steppe in the late 6th century BC gave rise to the Middle or Classical Scythian period, a hybrid culture originating from a combination of Ciscaucasian Scythian and Sauromatian elements. Among the changes in Scythia in this period was a significant increase in the number of monumental burials. Due to the need to resist Persian encroachment, the Scythian kingdom underwent political consolidation in the early 5th century BC, during which it completed its evolution from a tribal confederation into an early state polity capable of dealing with the polities threatening or trading with it in an effective way; during this period, the Scythian kings increased their power and wealth by concentrating economic power under their authority. It was also during this period that the control of the Scythians over the western part of their kingdom became tighter. At some point between and , Ariapeithes was succeeded as king by his son
Scyles.
Expansionism A consequence of this consolidation of the Scythian kingdom was an increase in its expansionism and militarism. To the southeast, the Scythians came into conflict with their splinter tribe of the
Sindi, whom they fought by crossing the frozen Cimmerian Bosporus during the winter. In the west, nearby
Thrace became a target following the Achaemenid retreat from Europe, with the Scythians gaining free access to the
Wallachian and
Moldavian Steppes and to the south of the Istros river. In 496 BC, the Scythians launched a raid until as far south as the
Hellespont. The Scythians' inroads in Thrace were however soon stopped by the emergence of the
Odrysian kingdom in this region, following which the Scythian and Odrysian kingdoms mutually established the Istros as their common border around : from then on, the Scythians and Thracians borrowed from the other's art and lifestyle; marriage between the Scythian and Odrysian aristocracies and royal families were also concluded. A second direction where the Scythian kingdom expanded was in the north and north-west: the Scythian kingdom had continued its attempts to impose its rule on the forest steppe peoples and by the 5th century BC, it was finally able to complete the process after destroying their fortified settlements. Their cultures later fused with that of the Scythians. During the 5th century BC, Scythian rule over the forest steppe people became increasingly dominating and coercive, leading to a decline of their sedentary agrarian lifestyle. This in turn resulted in a reduction in the importation of Greek goods by the peoples of the forest steppe in the 5th century BC. The peaceful relations which had until then prevailed between the Scythian kingdom and the Greek colonies of the northern Pontic region came to an end during the period of expansionism in the early 5th century BC, when the Scythian kings for the first time started trying to impose their rule over the Greek colonies. The Greek cities erected defensive installations while losing their agricultural production base. At the same time, because the Scythian kingdom still needed to trade with the Greeks in the lower Tanais region, in the early 5th century BC it replaced the destroyed Greek colony of Krēmnoi with a Scythian settlement. The hold of the Scythian kingdom on this region became firmer under Scyles, who was successfully able to impose Scythian rule on the Greek colonies such as
Nikōnion,
Tyras, Pontic Olbia, and
Kerkinitis. Scyles' control over Nikōnion was at the time it was a member of the
Delian League, putting it under the simultaneous hegemony of both the Scythian kingdom and
Athens. This allowed the Scythian kingdom to engage in relations with Athens when it was at the height of its power. In consequence, a community of Scythians also lived in Athens at this time, as attested by Scythian graves in the
Kerameikos cemetery. The Scythian kingdom was however less successful at conquering other Greek colonies, around 30 of which, including
Myrmēkion,
Tyritakē, and
Porthmeus, banded together into an alliance and successfully defended their independence. After this, they united into the
Bosporan kingdom. The Bosporan kingdom soon became a centre of production for Scythian customers living in the steppes and contributed to the development of Scythian art and style. Despite the conflicts between the Scythian kingdom and the Greek cities, mutually beneficial exchanges between the Scythians, Maeotians and Greeks continued. There was consequently a considerable migration of Scythians into Pontic Olbia at this time. The Greek colonies of the Black Sea coast continued adhering to their Hellenic culture while their population was very mixed. During this period Greek influences also became more significant among the Scythians, especially among the aristocracy.
Commercial activities As result of these expansionist ventures, the Scythian kingdom implemented an economic policy through a division of labour according to which: the settled populations of the forest steppe produced grain, which they were now obliged to offer to the Scythian aristocracy as tribute, and which was then shipped through the Borysthenēs and Hypanis rivers to Pontic Olbia, Tyras, and Nikōnion, where these Greek cities traded the grain at a profit for themselves. The outbreak of the
Peloponnesian War in Greece proper in 431 BC further increased the importance of the Pontic Steppe in supplying grain to Greece. The Scythians also sold cattle and animal products to the Greeks. of a
Scythian archer.
Epiktetos, 520–500 BC. The Greek cities in the Aegean Sea had started to import slaves from Scythia immediately after the end of the
Persian invasions of Greece. The Greek cities acted as slave trade hubs for the
Black Sea slave trade (or
Pontic slave trade) but did not themselves capture slaves, and instead depended on the Scythian rulers to acquire slaves for them: the Scythian aristocrats nonetheless still found it profitable to acquire slaves from their subordinate tribes or through military raids in the forest steppe. One group of slaves was bought by the city of Athens, where they constituted
an organisation of public slaves employed by the city as an urban police force.
Greek influence The Greek colonies were the main suppliers of
luxury goods and art to the Scythians. Trade with the Greeks especially created a thriving demand for
wine in Scythia: In exchange for slaves, the Greeks sold various consumer goods to the Scythians, the most prominent among these being
wine. The island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, especially, produced wine to be sold to the Scythians, in exchange of which slaves from Scythia were sold in the island's very prominent slave market. Other commodities sold by the Greeks to the Scythians included
fabrics, vessels, decorations made of precious metals, bronze items, and black burnished pottery. Under these conditions, the grain and slave trade continued, and Pontic Olbia experienced economic prosperity. The Scythian aristocracy also derived immense revenue from these commercial activities with the Greeks, most especially from the grain trade, with Scythian coins struck in Greek cities bearing the images of ears of grain. This prosperity of the Scythian aristocracy is attested by how the lavish aristocratic burials progressively included more relatives,
retainers, and were richly furnished with
grave goods, especially imported ones, consisting of gold jewellery, silver and gold objects, including fine Greek-made
toreutics, vessels and jewellery, and
gold-plated weapons. Scythian commoners however did not obtain any benefits from this trade, with luxury goods being absent from their tombs. A consequence of the Scythians' close contacts with Greeks was a progressive
Hellenisation of the Scythian aristocracy. The Greek supply of luxury goods also influenced Scythian art. Greek influence also shaped the evolution of Scythian weapons and horse harnesses: the Scythian composite armour, for example, was fitted with Greek-type
shoulder guards in the 5th century BC.
Early sedentarisation Around this time the steppe climate also became warmer and wetter, which allowed the nomads to rear their large herds of animals in abundance; combined with Greek influence, this acted as a catalyst for the process of
sedentarisation of many nomadic Scythians which started during the Middle Scythian period in the late 5th century BC. especially in areas where the terrain was propitious for agriculture. Archaeological evidence suggests that the population of the agriculture-focused Tauric Chersonese increased by 600%, especially in the
Trachean Chersonese. This process led to the foundation in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC of several new city-sites including important sites located on major routes which provided access to the major rivers of Scythia. For example, the city of
Kamianka had become the economic, political and commercial capital of the Scythian kingdom in the late 5th century BC. Until the 3rd century BC, the majority of Scythians nevertheless still remained composed of nomads.
Instabilities , 4th century BC.
Hermitage Museum. Some time around , Scyles was overthrown and executed by his half-brother
Octamasadas. As a result of the Scythian kingdom's prosperity during this period, neighbouring populations borrowed elements of Scythian culture: for example, Scythian-type arrowheads were found in Central and Western Europe. The Thracian
Getae of the Carpathian and Balkan regions imported large amounts of Scythian-manufactured weapons and horse equipment. Thanks to the close family connections of Octamasadas to the Thracian Odrysian dynasty, contacts between the Scythian kingdom and Odrysian-ruled Thrace intensified during the period from to . Significant Thracian influence consequently appeared in Scythian grave goods. A Thracian aristocrat named
Spartocus seized leadership of the Bosporan kingdom in . He was possibly connected to the accession of the pro-Odrysian Octamasadas. These changes in the Bosporan Kingdom also led to cultural changes within it in the late 5th century BC, so that the Greek customs which had until then been normative there gave way to more Scythian ones. Under the
Spartocid dynasty, the Bosporan kingdom thrived and maintained stable relations with the Scythian kingdom which allowed it to expand its rule conquer several non-Greek territories on the Asian side of the Cimmerian Bosporus. This process transformed the Bosporan kingdom into a cosmopolitan realm. It was then that Pontic Olbia started declining, partly due to the instability within the Scythian steppe to its north, but also because most of the trade, including the grain exports of the Scythian kingdom, passing through Oblia until then shifted to transiting through the cities of the Cimmerian Bosporus constiting the Bosporan Kingdom at this time. The Scythians instead started importing luxury goods made in Bosporan Greek workshops, whose products thus replaced Olbian ones. Around that same time, Athenian commercial influence in the Bosporan Kingdom started declining, and it had fully come to an end by 404 BC. Pressured by groups of the
Massagetae, sometime between and , a second wave of migration of Sauromatians entered Scythia, where these newcomers intermarried with the Scythian tribes already present there after which they may possibly have established themselves as the new ruling aristocracy of the Scythian kingdom. The sedentary communities of the forest steppe also came under pressure from this new wave of nomadic incomers. This, as well as internal conflicts among the Scythians, caused a temporary destabilisation of the Scythian kingdom which caused it to lose control of the Greek cities on the north shores of the Black Sea. The Greek colonies of Pontic Olbia, Nikōnion, and Tyras started to not only rebuild their , but even expanded them during the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC. Meanwhile, Nymphaion was annexed by the Bosporan kingdom.
Golden Age , early 4th century BC The period of instability ended soon, and Scythian culture experienced a period of prosperity during the 4th century BC. Most Scythian monuments and the richest Scythian royal burials dating from this period, as exemplified by the lavish . This height of Scythian power corresponded to a time of unprecedented prosperity for the Greek colonies of the northern Black Sea: there was high demand for the Greek cities' trade goods. Consequently, Scythian culture, especially that of the aristocracy, experienced rapidly-occurring extensive Hellenisation. The rule of the Spartocid dynasty in the Bosporan Kingdom under the kings
Leukon I,
Spartocus II and
Pairisadēs I was also favourable for the Scythian kingdom because they provided stability. Leukon employed Scythians in his army, and he was able to capture Theodosia with the help of Scythian horse cavalry, which he claimed to trust more than his own army. Extensive contacts existed between the Scythian and Bosporan nobilities, possibly including dynastic marriages between the Scythian and Bosporan royalty; the rich burial of
Kul-Oba belonged to one such Scythian noble who chose to be buried in a Greek-style tomb. During this time, and with the support of the Scythian kings, the sedentarised Scythian farmers sold up to 16,000 tonnes to Pantikapaion, who in turn sold this grain to Athens in mainland Greece. The dealings between mainland Greece and the northern Pontic region were significant enough that the Athenian
Dēmosthenēs had significant commercial endeavours in the Bosporan kingdom, from where he received a 1000 Medimnos| of wheat per year, and he had the statues of the Bosporan rulers Pairisadēs I,
Satyros I and
Gorgippos insalled in the Athenian market. Dēmosthenēs himself had had a Scythian maternal grandmother, and his political opponents
Dinarchus and
Aeschines went so far as to launch racist attacks against Dēmosthenēs by referring to his Scythian ancestry to attempt discrediting him. The Scythian kingdom experienced an early wave of immigration by a related Iranic nomadic people, the
Sarmatians, during the 4th century BC, to the Pontic steppe. This slow flow of Sarmatian immigration continued during the late 4th and early 3rd centuries BC, but these small and isolated groups did not negatively affect its hegemony.
The reign of Ateas Between and 339 BC, the Scythians were ruled by their most famous king,
Ateas, whose reign coincided with the growth of the
kingdom of Macedonia under its king
Philip II. The main activities of Ateas were directed towards expanding Scythian hegemony to the lands south of the Istros. Ateas also successfully battled the Thracian
Triballi and the Dacian
Histriani, as well as threatened to conquer the city of
Byzantion, where he may also have struck his coins. Since both Ateas and Philip had been interested in the region to the immediate south of the Istros, the two kings formed an alliance against the Histriani. However, this alliance soon fell apart and war broke out between the Scythian and Macedonian kingdoms, ending in 339 BC in a battle at the estuary of the Istros where Ateas was killed. The Scythian kingdom had lost its new territories in Thrace due to this defeat. The power of Scythian kingdom was not immediately harmed by the death of Ateas, and it did not experience any weakening or disintegration as a result of it: the Kamianka city continued to prosper and the Scythian burials from this time continued to be lavishly furnished.
Decline and fall of Pontic Scythia The defeat against Philip II was followed by a series of military defeats which led to a significant decline during the late 4th century BC. Although the experience of Philip II's military dealings with the Scythians led his son
Alexander the Great to choose to avoid attacking them,
his conquests harmed trade networks Pontic Olbia depended on. In 331 or 330 BC, Alexander III's general
Zopyrion campaigned against the Scythian kingdom. Although Zōpyriōn's army was defeated by the Scythians, his attack initiated the final decline of Olbia, and various tribes from the West such as the
Celts started moving into its territories. In 309 BC, the Scythian king Agaros participated in the
Bosporan Civil War on the side of
Satyros II against his half-brother
Eumēlos. Agaros provided Satyros with 20,000 infantrymen and 10,000 cavalrymen, and after Satyros was defeated and killed, his son fled to Agaros's realm for refuge. In the early 3rd century BC, the Scythian kingdom started declining economically as a result of competition from Egypt, which under the
Ptolemaic dynasty had again become a supplier of grain to Greece. In the early 3rd century BC, the Scythian kingdom faced a number of interlocking unfavourable conditions, such as climatic changes in the steppes and economic crises from overgrazed pastures and a series of military setbacks, as well as the intensifiation of the arrival from the east of the
Sarmatians, who captured Scythian pastures. With the loss of its most important resource, the Scythian kingdom suddenly collapsed, and the Scythian capital of Kamianka was abandoned. The Sarmatian tribe responsible for most of the destruction were the
Roxolani. As a consequence, the material culture of the Scythians also disappeared in the early 3rd century BC. The peoples of the forest steppe also became independent again, returning to their sedentary lifestyle while all Scythian elements disappeared from their culture. Grain exports from the northern Pontic region declined drastically, while Greek inscriptions stopped mentioning names of Scythian slaves. Following the invasion, the Sarmatian tribes became the new dominant force of the Pontic Steppe, resulting in the name "" () replacing "" as the name of the Pontic Steppe. Sarmatian pressure against the Scythians continued in the 3rd century BC, so that the Sarmatians had reached as far as the city of
Chersonesus in the Tauric Chersonese by 280 BC, and most native and Greek settlements on the north shore of the Black Sea were destroyed by the Sarmatians over the course of the to , Celts, the Thracian Getae, and the
Germanic Bastarnae from the west, also put the Scythians under pressure by seizing their lands. By the early 2nd century BC, the Bastarnae had grown powerful enough that they were able to stop the southward advance of the Sarmatians along the line of the Istros river.
Late period near modern-day
Simferopol, Crimea. It served as the capital of the Little Scythia in the Tauric Chersonese. With the Sarmatian invasion and the collapse of the Pontic Scythian kingdom, the Scythians were pushed to the fringes of the northern Pontic region where urban life was still possible, and they retreated to a series of fortified settlements along the major rivers and fled to the two regions both known as "Little Scythia," which remained the only places where the Scythians could still be found in by the 2nd century BC were: • the first
Little Scythia, whose capital was Scythian Neapolis, was composed of the territories of the Tauric Chersonese and the lower reaches of the Borysthenēs and Hypanis rivers; • the second
Little Scythia was located in the northeast of Thrace immediately to the south of the mouth of the Istros river and the west of the Black Sea, in the territory corresponding to present-day Dobruja. and his son
Palacus. By this time, although the Scythians living in the Tauric Chersonese had managed to retain some of their nomadic lifestyle, the limited area of their polity forced them to become more and more sedentary and to primarily engage in stockbreeding in far away pastures, as well as in agriculture, and they also acted as trading intermediaries between the
Graeco-Roman world and the peoples of the steppes. With sedentarisation, both fortified and unfortified settlements replaced the older nomadic camps in the basin of the lower Borysthenēs river, which prevented the remaining Scythians from continuing to maintain a steppe economy. Therefore, the number of fortified settlements in the Tauric Chersonese increased with the retreat into this territory and away from the steppe of the Scythian aristocracy, who was then rapidly embracing a Hellenistic lifestyle. By the 1st century BC, these Scythians living in the Tauric Chersonese had fully become sedentary farmers. These later Scythians slowly intermarried with the native
Tauri and the infiltrating Sarmatians, and their culture had little to do with the earlier classical Scythian culture, instead consisting of a combination of those with the traditions of the Tauroi from the mountains of the Tauric Chersonese and of the Greeks of the coasts, and exhibiting Sarmatian and
La Tène Celtic influences. In the 1st century BC, both Little Scythias were destroyed and their territories annexed by the king
Mithridates VI Eupator of the
kingdom of Pontus despite the Scythians' alliance with their former enemies, the Roxolani, against him.
End The Scythian populations in both Little Scythias continued to exist after the end of Mithridates's empire, although they had become fully sedentary by then and were increasingly intermarrying with the native Tauri, hence why Roman sources often referred to them as "Tauro-Scythians" (; ). These late Scythians were slowly assimilated by the Sarmatians over the course of to AD, although they continued to exist as an independent people throughout the 2nd century AD until around AD: in the settled regions of the lower Borysthenēs, lower Hypanis, and the Tauric Chersonese, an urbanised and Hellenised Scythian society continued to develop which also exhibited Thracian and Celtic influences. The Scytho-Sarmatian Iranic nomads' dominance of the Pontic Steppe finally ended with the invasion of the
Goths and other Germanic tribes around , which was when the Scythian settlements in Crimea and the lower Borysthenēs were permanently destroyed. The Scythians nevertheless continued to exist until the invasion of the
Huns in the 4th century AD, and they finally ceased to exist as an independent group after being fully assimilated by the other populations who moved into the Pontic Steppe at the height of the
Migration Period in the 5th century AD. == Legacy ==