Maioten
The Maioten were an ancient neighboring tribal association of the Sarmatians who, in contrast to the mostly nomadic neighboring tribes , were sedentary farmers. They are found in ancient sources from around the 5th century BC. Chr – 3. Mentioned in the 17th century AD. There were finds in the area on the Taman Peninsula and in the Caucasus area . This also showed that this area was already heavily influenced by Greek culture. Some Maioten tribes belonged temporarily to the Greek-dominated Bosporan Empire or were allied with it. The ancient Greek name of the Sea of Azov Maiōtis and its Latin modification Maeotius go back to the name of the Maiotes , on whose banks, especially the eastern ones , they lived as far as the western Caucasus.
Tribes
The Maioten are described in several ancient sources, particularly in Strabons Geographika , Book XI.2. The tribes of Sindi , Dandarii, Torreatae, Agri, Arechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci and Aspurgiani (Latinized forms of name) are mentioned, there should have been more. The Sindi were mentioned particularly often in sources. Whether it was a political tribal association or the term Maioten was more of a generic term is an open question.
Language, origin and archeology
The language of the Maioten has not survived and is unknown. Ancient authors characterize it as a Scythian or Sarmatian tribal association, which could mean that old-Iranian-speaking , originally nomadic groups could have settled here. Archaeologically ascertainable similarities between the material culture and nomads in the north in burial culture (face and knees facing east), ceramics or clothing styles would also suggest this, which is why this hypothesis is relatively widespread in older and western research. Originally based on Karl Eichwald , the hypothesis that it could have been other groups of Indo-Iranian languages , especially a group of Indo-Aryan languages scattered to the west (similar to a part of the population of the ancient Mitanni empire ) was also popular at times . However, this hypothesis was rejected a few decades ago by Wilhelm Eilers and Manfred Mayrhofer as speculation, the only basis of which is the probably coincidental name similarity of the Sindi tribe with India ( Hind or Sind ), and is therefore no longer represented in specialist literature today. Some authors also refer to the 8th century BC. Chr., Who had fled before the Scythians from today's Ukraine on West Caucasus to Anatolia Kimmerern conceivable. The Iranian hypothesis in particular is still supported by some authors today.
Soviet and Russian research point in a completely different direction. Investigations of names of waters , mountain names and other geographical names - often very old names in many areas - showed in the area east of the Sea of Azov to the West Caucasus a very dominant influence of the Northwest Caucasian language family and only a minor influence of the Iranian / Indo-Iranian languages. The names of Maiotic tribal kings and their relatives that have been handed down in sources also pointed more towards Caucasian, especially northwestern Caucasian languages, than Iranian languages. According to this, the Maiotic tribes would have been linguistic forerunners of the later Kerkets and the even later Circassians , possibly in contrast to the eastern neighboring tribal association of the Siraks , who were perhaps really settled Sarmatians. It was pointed out that there was a cultural rapprochement process between the West Caucasus and the steppe region, which had lasted around 3000 years when the Maiotes were first mentioned. The archaeological similarity of the Maiotes could not be an indication of a Sarmatian settlement, but the result of these long processes. It is also known that the characterization as “Scythians” or “Sarmatians” by many ancient authors does not reveal any historical connections, but is rather an unclear geographical collective term. The strong political fragmentation into numerous tribes indicated in ancient sources would also speak more for population groups that have long been settled in the rugged mountains and the surrounding area than for mobile nomad tribes that have just settled. This hypothesis has become so widely accepted in Soviet and Russian research that it was also mentioned in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia . Internationally, however, there are still debates. Membership in a tribal association does not have to mean that all tribes had the same origin and language.
Representations of the Maioten, who ask Emperor Marcus Aurelius for peace, can be found on the Marcus Aurelius column in Rome.
Literature selection
- Boris Piotrowski u. a .: Меоты - предки адыгов. Maikop 1989. ( The Maioten - ancestors of the Circassians. )
Footnotes
- ↑ Geographika XI 2.11 (English translation)
- ↑ Roland Bielmeier: Language contacts north and south of the Caucasus in: Roland Bielmeier, Reinhard Stempel (ed.) Indogermanica et Caucasica: Festschrift for Karl Horst Schmidt on his 65th birthday Berlin / New York 1994, pp. 427–446.
- ↑ E.g. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. III., Part II. Cambridge 1991, p. 572. There, citing several authors, it is assumed that there was a Cimmerian origin and a ruling Iranian class.
- ↑ Article about the Circassians (Russian) with reference to the Mayots (4th link) as a forerunner.
- ↑ Older reconstruction drawings from the 17th century by Giovanni Pietro Bellori , German descriptions by Conrad Cichorius . Maiotes can be seen on the penultimate and third last relief drawing.