Osprey, Men-at-Arms #373 The Sarmatians 600 BC - AD 450 (2002) OCR 8.12

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The Sarmatians 600 Be - AD 450

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Acknowledgement. The authors would like to thank Nick Sekunda tor his unlalllng &$Si$tance throughout this ptOjecl; John Ronde tor tIls lnslghUUI commenta on the lexI; and Martin WIndrow and Anita Hrtchings at Osprey tor their saintly patience while lhls book was taking shape. AI images are from the authors· eollectlon8 lJI'lIeas otheIwIse specificalty credited.

Author'. Note Ooter • mIleniI.rn "'P"'3tN the s..rom.tM of the 7th eentu'y Be from the AIans of the 5th cenlJ,ry AD. [),mg ... period they went • key elemenl in the nom8d horON which swept in from Asia and oornbined wilt! GenNric bibelto de8ttoy the FlonwI «npio'e in the West Yet the s-matianl1eft no wrin~ ~ory of thl* own. and whal exists Ie 0fllHlded, bl*lg ~ of Grwk and RorNn origin. PicIorilIl material showing s.ms., warricn .. aBo moelty I"IOI\'SarmiltiIn, and CIRIful interpnlt8tlon. It'108lIt1iab'e nIormatioI'I c:ones from excevat«l auAcU. but ~ _ oftetI from alSUlClatlC burilIIs, which _ not ~ ~ of

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THE SARMATIANS 600 Be - AD 450

WHO WERE THE SARMATIANS? HE SARAIATL\NS were IlOt a unified people, bUl ralher a number of groups of nomad peoples of similar stock, who \\~dndered generally westwards over the Eurasian steppe - the vast corridor of grasslands, hundreds of miles wide and some 5,000 miles long, extending from China LO the Hungarian Plain. They spoke an Iranian language similar to that of the Scythians, and closely related to Persian. TIle Sallnatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the stcppe to the east of the DOll River and south of the Ural Mountains. For celllUlies they [h'ed in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighboUl'S, the Scythians'. Then, in the 3rd century BC or slightly earlier, they spilled over the Don to attack U1C Scythians on the Pontic steppes to the norul of the Black Sea (Pontus Elixinus), and 'turned the greater part of the coulllry into a desert' (Diodorus 2.43). The sunriving Scythians fled westwards and sought refuge in the Crimea and Bessarabia, lea,~ng their pasturelands to the incomer!>. The Sarmatians were to dominate these ten-itories over the next five cemuries. TIle best known of the Sannatian peoples were the Sauromatae, Aorsi, Siraces, lazyges and Roxolani. The AJans were essentially of the same Iranian stock as the Sannatians, but are often considered a distinct people. These groupings were tribal confederations rather than indi'idual ethnic tribes; indeed, AmmianliS Marcellinus (31.2.13--17) and medieval Arab sotll"ces state specifically that ule Alans were a coalition of different peoples. Most Samlatians were nomads whose grazing herds pro\~ded much of the food and clothing they required. TIley wintered on the southern fringes of the Russian steppe, close to the Black and Caspian Seas and Russia's great rivers, heading north for pasture in the spring. Accompanying them were uleir covered ....'agons which doubled as homes - Ammianlls Marcellinus notes (31.2.18): 'In them husbands sleep WiUl uleir ....~ves - in them their children are born and brought lip'. The early Sarmatians are now generally regarded as the reality behind the myth of the Amazons. According to Herodotus (4.116), women of the Sallromatae hUllled, shot bows and threw javelins from horseback, and went to war dressed in the same clothing as men. This has been confirmed by archaeology: early Sarmatian female graves often contain bronze arrowheads, and occasionally swords, daggers and spearheads; while skeletons of girls aged 13 and 14 have bowed legs - evidence that, like boys, they were often in the saddle before they could walk. The status of women was so unusual that some writers

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TOP Obverse of • bronze coin of the Bosporlln king Rheacupone II (AD 89-93), .ha.... ing him trampling on 8 defeated I>IIr-

berte", perhaps. SannllUlln, whU. llnother long-haired trlbeeman kneels to the left. A tI'ofWly 01 enn. 1m:ll.Idlng long tl'ou_ and helmet with cheek· piece_ llt.nde .t tn. right. ABOVE Th. goddess Hike on th_

rev..... llugg••b minting to commemorate. military victory, while the I.tt.... 'MH' Indlellte •

...,IUll of 48 units or ..,tere••. (MIa.um Archeologlezne I Etrlograflcme, Lodz, Polllndj

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see w.A 137. The Sqtn/IwI:I roo-.:JOO6C. E.V.c.rn.nIDemen fleeing from the ROll'llln on.I....ght. One armoured rider (top right) .hoots • 'P.rthl.n .lK>t' back .t hI. p"'DueD, The ho.....' eye-gu.rd••Ill c:opllllly depicted In Iknporan art. The w.y the leg emeJ9&" from the .rmCMlr "'llgeabl th.t the .rmour ,klrt had opening down the aide. Note the three 'spike,' of the ho...... 'cre...ell.ted' mane. (Atter I.O.Shurgaya 1... 1