Massagetae
The Massagetae were a largely nomadic, pastoralist nation living somewhere in Central Asia, who warred with and killed Cyrus the Great of Persia around 530 BC, according to the early Greek historian Herodotus. However, no Persian source mentions the Massagetae, and though the Massagetae and their war with Cyrus are mentioned in the writings of later Greek and Roman historians, they never again play any role in history, at least not by that name. There are a variety of theories about the identity of the Massagetae and the location of their homeland, but the majority of modern researchers who have sought to identify the Massagetae have classifed them as an Iranian people[1] [2][3][4].
History
Herodotus described the Massagetae as a "great and warlike nation" who occupied "the greater portion" of the "vast plain" east of the Caspian Sea. On the other hand, Herodotus wrote that the Massagetae lived on the far bank (from Persia) of the Araxes river, which flows into the southwest corner of the Caspian and forms the modern border between Iran and Azerbaijan. Most readers assume Herodotus actually had in mind the Jaxartes river, which was on the northeastern frontier of Cyrus's empire and fits better with Herodotus's statement that the Massagetae lived east of the Caspian. That reading places the Massagetae roughly in what are now eastern Uzbekistan (around Tashkent), southeastern Kazakhstan and northwestern Kyrgyzstan.
Cyrus the Great of the Persia set out to subjugate the Massagetae but instead met his death in a battle with the Massagetae in 530 BC, according to Herodotus. The queen of the Massagetae, Tomyris, prevailed, although Cyrus had defeated Tomyris's son Spargapises. Herodotus wrote of the battle:
"Of all the combats in which the barbarians (ie, non-Greeks) have engaged among themselves, I reckon this to have been the fiercest. The following, as I understand, was the manner of it: First, the two armies stood apart and shot their arrows at each other; then, when their quivers were empty, they closed and fought hand-to-hand with lances and daggers; and thus they continued fighting for a length of time, neither choosing to give ground. At length the Massagetae prevailed."
There is no surviving Persian account of Cyrus's death, and no old Persian texts use the name "Massagetae". Attempts to identify the Massagetae are essentially guesswork, but the most popular hypotheses identifies them as a subgroup of Saka, who lived in on the far side of the Jaxartes river according to ancient written sources and contemporary archeology. One suggestion is that the name Massagetae is derived from Persian "Ma Saka", meaning "Moon Saka". Another suggestion is that the Massagetae were the same as the Saka haomavarga or "haoma pressing Saka" mentioned in Persian inscriptions from the reign of Darius the Great, and perhaps also the same as the Amyrgian Scythians mentioned by Herodotus as being among the Persian army that attacked Greece in 480 BC.
If one accepts that the Massagetae were a subgroup of Saka, it is easy to explain how they could have suddenly disappeared from history: later writers could have simply switched to using the general name Saka and stopped using the specific name Massagetae, perhaps owing to a hypothetical political reorganization of Saka tribes. On the other hand the hypothesis has problems: it's hard to explain why Herodotus wouldn't have mentioned that the "Massagetae" were also called "Saka" and "Amrygian Scythians", as Herodotus did mention that the Amyrgian Scythians were also called Saka. It's especially hard to explain why sun worshippers (see below) would be called "Moon Saka".
On the basis of name similarity, the Massagetae have also been connected to the Thyssagetae, a tribe which Herodotus mentioned as living northeast of Ukraine, perhaps around the southern Urals, and more controversially to the Getae, who lived in what is now Moldova and are believed to have been a Thracian people.
Ammianus Marcellinus considered the Alans to be the former Massagetae.[5]. At the close of the fourth century CE, Claudian (the court poet of Emperor Honorius and Stilicho) wrote of Alans and Massagetae in the same breath: "the Massagetes who cruelly wound their horses that they may drink their blood, the Alans who break the ice and drink the waters of Maeotis' lake." (In Rufinem)
Customs
According to Herodotus, the Massagetae lived on their herds and fishing, milk being their chief drink. They employed gold and brass in decorating their war equipment, having neither iron nor silver in their country. They fought both on horseback and on foot, neither method being strange to them: they used bows and lances. Their spears were made of brass.
They were similar to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living. Each man had one woman, yet their wives were held in common, this custom differentiating the Massagetae from the Scythians. Queen Tomyris succeeded her dead husband, the former king of the Massagetae. The Massagetae worshipped only one god, the sun, and sacrificed a horse in its honour.
References
- ^ Karasulas, Antony. Mounted Archers Of The Steppe 600 Bc-ad 1300 (Elite),Osprey Publishing , 2004, pg 7[1]
- ^ Wilcox, Peter. Rome's Enemies: Parthians and Sassanids, Osprey Publishing , 1986, pg 9, [2]
- ^ Gershevitch, Ilya. The Cambridge History of Iran, 1985, Volume two, Cambridge University Press, 1985, pg 48 [3]
- ^ Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes, 1989, Rutgers University Press, pg 547 [4]
- ^ "iuxtaque Massagetae Halani et Sargetae", "per Albanos et Massagetas, quos Alanos nunc appellamus", "Halanos pervenit, veteres Massagetas"