Scythia

Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by a group of Iranian people speaking Indo-Iranian languages, known as the Scythians. The location and extent of Scythia varied over time, from the Altai region where Mongolia, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan come together to the lower Danube river area and Bulgaria. The Saka were Asian Scythians and were known as Sai (Ch: ?, Old Sinitic *s?k) to the Chinese.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Scythians first appear in Assyrian annals as Ishkuzai, who are reported as pouring in from the north some time around 700 BC, settling in Ascania and modern Azerbaijan as far as to the southeast of Lake Urmia.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The most significant Scythian tribes mentioned in Greek sources resided in the steppe between the Dnieper and Don rivers. The subject peoples in the periphery steppes were also commonly referred as "Scythians", but didn't speak Iranian languages as did the Scythians proper. Priscus, the Byzantine emissary to Attila, referred to Attila's followers repeatedly as "Scythians," so some of the Huns may have had Scythian ancestry. However, since their language, Scythian, has been shown to have strong similarities to Eastern Iranian, it is most often held that the Scythians were of Iranian origin.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Archaeological remains of the Scythians include elaborate tombs containing gold, silk, horses and human sacrifices. Mummification techniques and permafrost have aided in the relative preservation of some remains.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eurasia: Eurasia is the landmass composed of the continents of Europe and Asia. It can be considered a supercontinent, part of a supercontinent of Africa-Eurasia, or simply a continent. In plate tectonics, the Eurasian Plate includes Europe and most of Asia, but not the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subco...

Iranian people: REDIRECT Iranian peoples...

Indo-Iranian languages: Indo-Iranian languages (also called Aryan languages) are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. They are well represented among the oldest records of Indo-European languages. These originate in the area surrounding the southern part of the Urals, and early on split as the Indo...