The oldest known Iron-Age settlers in the Ukrainian territories were the nomadic Cimmerians who settled there around 10th century BC. In the 8th century BC, the territories of today's Ukraine came under the control of the Scythians, tribes of nomadic horsemen who founded an empire that stretched from the Danube River in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east. The Scythians were divided into several major tribal groups. Agrarian Scythian groups lived in what is now Poltava region and between the Boh River and the Dnieper River. The lower Boh River region near Olbia was inhabited by Hellenized Scythians, known as Callipidae; the central Dniester River region was home to the Alazones; and north of them were the Aroteres. The kingdom was dominated by the Royal Scythians, a small but bellicose minority in the lower Dnieper River region and the Crimea that had established a system of dynastic succession. The Scythians reached their apex in the 4th century BC under King Ateas, who united all the tribal factions under his rule. Subsequently they began a period of decline brought about by constant attacks by the Sarmatians. The Scythians were forced to abandon the steppe to their rivals and re-established themselves in the 2nd century BC in Scythia Minor, with their capital in Neapolis in the Crimea. The onslaught of the Ostrogoths in the 3rd century AD and the Huns in the 4th century broke the power of the Scythians and Sarmatians, who subsequently disappeared as ethnic entities and assimilated into other cultures. They were largely forgotten, but interest in them was revived as a result of some spectacular finds of Scythian gold treasures in the burial mounds in Ukraine and the Kuban, starting from 1763... Learn more about the times of the Scythians and Sarmatians on the Ukrainian territory by visiting the following entries:
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CIMMERIANS. Oldest settlers of southern Ukraine, mentioned by Homer (ca 8th century BC) and by Herodotus in his History (5th century BC). Their origin is unknown, but the majority of scholars consider them to be Indo-Europeans. In linguistic terms, on the evidence of the recorded names of their leaders--Tygdamme (in Herodotus, Lygdamis) and his son Sandakhsatra--they are considered members of Iranian tribes. According to Herodotus, the Cimmerians were driven from the steppes by the Scythians in the 7th century BC: some of them settled on the southern shore of the Black Sea (in the Crimea they were known as Taurians), while others waged a campaign in Asia Minor, taking Sardis, the capital of Lydia, in 652 BC. This marked the Cimmerians' apex of power: subsequently they declined and became extinct. Although their culture has been little studied as yet, some scholars believe that the numerous settlements and burial mounds in southern Ukraine dating from the late second and early first milleniums BC are archeological remains of the Cimmerian age...
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SCYTHIANS. A group of Indo-European tribes that controlled the steppe of Southern Ukraine in the 7th to 3rd centuries BC. According to the most predominant theories, they first appeared there in the late 8th century BC after having been forced out of Central Asia. The Scythians were related to the Sarmatians and spoke an Iranian dialect. After quickly conquering the lands of the Cimmerians they pursued them into Asia Minor and established themselves as a power in the region. In the 670s BC they launched a successful campaign to expand into Media, Syria, and Palestine. They were forced out of Asia Minor early in the 6th century BC by the Persians, and retreated to their lands between the lower Danube River and the Don River, known as Scythia. The bellicose Scythians were often in conflict with their neighbors. They faced a great military challenge around 513-512 BC, when the Persian king Darius I led an expeditionary force against them. The Scythians forced the Persians to retreat and confirmed their position as masters of the steppes...
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SCYTHIA. The domain of the Scythians. According to Herodotus Greater Scythia occupied a large rectangle of land extending nearly 700 km (20 days travel) from the Danube River in the west across the Black Sea coast and steppe region of what is today Ukraine to the lower Don Basin in the east. Individual Scythian settlements also existed in what is today the Hungarian-Romanian borderland, probably as outposts. It is not known how far north Scythia reached into the forest-steppe zone. By the end of the 5th century BC the Kamianka fortified settlement, near present-day Nikopol, had been established as the capital of Scythia. The Scythians were forced out of the steppe into Scythia Minor--the Crimea (where they established their new capital of Neapolis) and the Dobrudja region south of the Danube Delta--in the 3rd century BC by the Sarmatians.
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SCYTHIAN ART. The art of the Scythians combined Eastern elements with influences from the Hellenic ancient states on the northern Black Sea coast. The combination gave the art an exquisite and unique quality. The center of Scythian art can be considered Panticapaeum, the capital of the Bosporan Kingdom. The many Scythian artifacts found in burial mounds in Southern Ukraine and the Kuban were either imported from Greece or made by indigenous Hellenic and Scythian artisans. Scythian jewelery in particular attained a high level of intricacy and magnificence. The principal feature of Scythian art is its use of a zoomorphic symbology. Objects found in Ukraine are distinguishable from their Caucasian counterparts, which reflect more the influence of Iranian and other eastern traditions. The Scythians fashioned gold objects depicting semirecumbent stags, deer, lions, horses, and other animals, as well as human faces and figures.
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NEAPOLIS. A Scythian city located on the Salhyr River southeast of Symferopol, Crimea. Founded in the 3rd century BC, Neapolis quickly grew into a substantial trade and crafts center. The Scythians established their capital there in the 3rd century BC after being forced south from the Black Sea steppe by the Sarmatians. Neapolis reached the zenith of its influence in the 2nd century BC under kings Skhilouros and Palakhos. The Scythians' power was checked in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD by the Bosporan Kingdom and during the 3rd and 4th centuries Neapolis fell under attacks by Goths and Huns, and the city was abandoned. The city covered an area of approximately 20 hectares. It was surrounded by thick walls with towers. Inside the walls were stone buildings, warehouses, and private homes. Scythians formed a majority of the city's population, but there were also numerous Sarmatians, Taurians, and Greeks.
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SARMATIANS. A confederation of nomadic Iranian tribes (Aorsians, Alans, Roxolani, Siraces, and Iazyges) related culturally to the Scythians. Originally, in the 7th to 4th centuries BC, they were known as Sauromatians. In the 3rd century BC the Sarmatians conquered the Scythians in the Crimea and thenceforth dominated the steppe between the Tobol River in Siberia and the Danube River. After the 1st century BC the northern coast of the Black Sea was called Sarmatia. The Sarmatians gradually became sedentary after penetrating the Hellenic colonies on the Black Sea coast and settling in the Bosporan Kingdom. They took up agriculture and assimilated into local cultures there and in the forest-steppe region of Right-Bank Ukraine. Their political might was broken by the Ostrogoths in the 3rd century AD and the Huns in the 4th century. Some of the Sarmatians migrated west with the Huns and even reached as far as Spain and northern Africa.
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