Sarmatia

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The Greeks , Romans and Byzantines called Sarmatia or Sarmatia , especially in late antiquity, a large area between the Vistula in the west and Volga in the east and between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea , part of which bears the geographical name of the Sarmatian Plain (in Galicia) . At that time this region was mainly inhabited by Sarmatian peoples . With the exception of the southern landscapes, the land was rough and wintry, naturally more suitable for cattle breeding than for agriculture .

area

According to the Greek assumption, Sarmatia has been separated into a “European” and an “Asian” half by the river Tanais ( Don ) since Alexander the Great (see also the so-called “ Inner Eurasian border ”).

In “European” Sarmatia, the following mountains are named: the Amadoka Mountains (chain of hills from Kharkov and Kiev ), the Alaunic Mountains (between Dnepr and Don) and the Riphean Mountains (meaning either the Valdai Heights or, according to Ptolemy, the Northern Urals ).

The rivers are: Borysthenes ( Dnepr ), Hypanis ( Bug ), Tyras ( Dniester ) and Tanais (Don) with Gerrhos ( Donets ). To the north into the Suevian Sea ( Baltic Sea ) flowed: Vistula ( Vistula ), Guttalos ( Pregel ) and Chronos ( Memel ).

The most important cities were all on the western and northern Black Sea coast : Tanais (north of Azov ), Olbia (at the mouth of the Hypani), Nikonton and Tyras ( Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyj ) at the mouth of the Tyras (Dniester).

"Asiatic" Sarmatia stretched from the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains to far east and was inhabited by numerous peoples, mostly known only by name.

Residents

The inhabitants of Sarmatia were mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus (484–425 BC) as Sauromats , by Ptolemy (100–175) as Sarmatians with four major peoples:

This classification is, however, purely geographical, not ethnographic : the Aestuers were seen as the ancestors of the Lithuanians and the Venetians as Slavs , the Bastarnen are perhaps Thracian , according to other sources Elbe-Germanic origin. Pliny the Elder (23–79) and Tacitus (55–115) also name Serboi ( Serbs ) as residents of Sarmatia.

The Alans , Aorsen , Jazygen , Maioten , Massageten , Roxolanen , Siraken and others are known as sub-tribes of the Sarmatians . It can hardly be determined whether and to what extent the Sarmatians were related to the Scythians , who occupied Sarmatia until the 3rd century BC. Populated . Some scholars also suspect media immigration . It is generally assumed that they both belonged to the Iranian ethnic and linguistic family, but the Sarmatians immigrated to the former Scythian settlement areas and replaced them. Many grave finds from Kurgan burial mounds speak for such a sequence .

The Sarmatians led a nomadic life in the steppes and were excellent mounted fighters and archers. Their equipment consisted of a helmet , scale armor made of bronze, iron, horn or leather and a leather-covered shield . Their weapons were sword , a long lance or the effective reflex bow . The women also went to war and wielded the weapons like the men, Herodotus already noted in his Histories (4.21-117) that the Sarmatians arose from the connection with the Amazons .

From the 2nd century AD, major disputes began between Sarmatian tribes and the Roman Empire , which already led to the shifting of the settlement areas of individual Sarmatian tribes. From the 3rd century onwards there were clashes with the Goths . The Sarmatians are later mentioned together with the Gepids , but then from 370 onwards the Huns advanced from the east and triggered the great migration to the west. Sections of the Sarmatian tribes joined the Huns, others backed away from them and were dispersed in different areas - there has been no mention of Sarmatians since that time.

One of the few remnants of today is the ethnic group of the Ossetians in the North Caucasus , they are linguistically, ethnically and culturally direct descendants of the Sarmatian tribe of the Alans .

See also

literature