Aw Viii 3

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Swift aS the wind acroSS

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Horsemen of the steppes
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aw_8-3.indd 1 27/06/14 10:33

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aw_8-3.indd 2 27/06/14 10:33

Contents
Theme - swift as the wind across the plains

THEME - Horsemen of the steppes
Publisher: Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier

Editor in chief: Jasper Oorthuys
news & letters 4
Editor: Josho Brouwers
Proofreaders: Christianne C. Beall,
Damien Butler, Arianna Sacco horsemen of the steppes 6
Design & Media: Christianne C. Beall
Design © 2013 Karwansaray Publishers Historical introduction
Contributors: Matthew Beazley, Duncan B. Campbell,
Sidney E. Dean, Marc G. De Santis, Filippo Donvito,
Lindsay Powell (news), Cam Rea, Owen Rees, Arianna
herodotus and the scythians 9
Sacco, Konrad Stauner, Michael J. Taylor. Reading up on the horsemen of the steppes
Illustrators: Milek Jakubiec, Julia Lillo, Angel García
Pinto, Radu Oltean, Maxime Plasse, Johnny Shumate,
Matthew Zikry. The Amazons 12
Print: Grafi Advies Horse(wo)men of the steppes
Editorial office
PO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands
Phone: +31-575-776076 (NL), +44-20-8816281 dugdammi 18
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King of the world
Customer service: service@karwansaraypublishers.com
22
Website: www.ancient-warfare.com
Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews,

A nomad strategy of persistence
news and queries are welcomed. Please send to Darius the Great’s Scythian Expedition, 512 BC
the above address or use the contact form on www.
ancient-warfare.com
Subscriptions
Subscriptions can be purchased at
scythians versus sarmatians 26
shop.karwansaraypublishers.com, via phone or by The Battle for the Bosporan Kingdom, 310/309 BC
email. For the address, see above.
Distribution
Ancient Warfare is sold through retailers, The Battle of the jaxartes 34
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Alexander’s pummelling of the Scythians
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Copyright Karwansaray B.V. All rights reserved. Nothing

in this publication may be reproduced in any form
pedestal for a hero 40
without prior written consent of the publishers. Any Roman emperors, their armies, and the parapompe
individual providing material for publication must
ensure that the correct permissions have been obtained
before submission to us. Every effort has been made
to trace copyright holders, but in few cases this proves
impossible. The editor and publishers apologize for any
The conquering pharaoh 43
unwitting cases of copyright transgressions and would Seti I’s campaigns in Egyptian reliefs
like to hear from any copyright holders not acknowl-
edged. Articles and the opinions expressed herein do
not necessarily represent the views of the editor and/
or publishers. Advertising in Ancient Warfare does not
how long was the macedonian sarissa? 48
necessarily imply endorsement.
An obscure debate over a very long spear
Ancient Warfare is published every two months by
53
Karwansaray B.V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
PO Box 1110, 3000 BC Rotterdam, The Netherlands. reviews
ISSN: 2211-5129 Books and games
Printed in the European Union.
on the cover 58
ancient warfare Viii-3 3
aw_8-3.indd 3 27/06/14 10:33

News & letters
editorial
From now on, you can look forward – I Fortunately, the Allard Pierson Museum
hope – to reading a brief editorial in every in Amsterdam had an exhibit entitled The
issue of Ancient Warfare. This particular Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black
one is the eleventh that I have worked on Sea, which afforded me with ample op-
as editor and I hope that you will enjoy the portunity to take photos of objects from
variety of articles that are on offer. various Ukrainian museums that would
This issue on the horsemen of the otherwise be difficult to come by.
steppes includes articles on Herodotus, As always, this issue is rounded out by
the Amazons, Dugdammi, Darius’ expedi- a series of articles not related to the theme.
tion against the Scythians, and Alexander’s A brief article by Konrad Stauner examines
fight against the Scythians at the Jaxartes a Roman inscription. Arianna Sacco con-
River. Radu Oltean’s beautiful centrefold tributed an article on the reliefs at Karnak
illustrates Filippo Donvito’s featured ar- documenting Egyptian warrior-king Seti I’s
ticle on the Bosporan Kingdom. Regular campaigns. Ancient Warfare stalwart Dun-
contributor Sidney Dean was kind enough can Campbell has written an article on the
to write the introduction to this issue. length of the sarissa, the long pike charac-
As editor, I am also responsible for teristic of the Macedonian phalanx.
obtaining suitable pictures for each arti- I hope you will enjoy reading this lat-
cle. Sometimes, these are easy to find. The est issue of Ancient Warfare. If you have
previous issue, for example, dealt with any questions or comments, or sugges-
the Ionian Greeks, and there is a wealth tions for improvement, feel free to send
of pictures readily available, ranging from them my way by emailing me at editor@
weapons and armour to vase-paintings ancient-warfare.com
and reliefs. For this issue, I expected to
have trouble finding photos of objects that Josho Brouwers
you hadn’t already seen countless times. Editor, Ancient Warfare
The first romans at carnutum?

Researchers in Austria believe they have Since 2012, a full-scale research pro-
found a previously unknown military gramme, entitled ArchPro Carnuntum,
camp at Archaeological Park Carnun- has been directed by the LBI ArchPro in
tum, enclosing an area the equivalent to concert with the Central Institute for Me-
six football fields. teorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and
The magnetic and radar images of the various international partners, on behalf
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeo- of the province of Niederösterreich. The
logical Prospection and Virtual Archaeolo- team is using several analysis techniques,
gy (LBI Arch Pro, NB) show the clear traces including ground and aerial surveys, to
of Roman military installations north and study the area’s archaeological heritage.
south of the amphitheatre and gladiatorial Ground penetrating radar (GPR), for ex-
school (ludus), which were found in 2011. ample, is a non-destructive technology
The area covers an astonishing 57,600 which uses radar pulses to image the sub-
square metres (5.7 hectares). Part of the surface to identify structures which can
camp was subsequently partially built over then be dug by field archaeologists.
after the founding of the city of Carnun- Located on the Danube River, Carnun-
tum. “It is one of the first military camps in tum was first founded as a military camp in
Carnuntum”, said Dr Wolfgang Neubauer, AD 6 by Augustus’ stepson Tiberius Caesar
Director of LBI Arch Pro, NB. for his planned war against Marboduus of
4 ancient warfare Viii-3
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News & letters
the Marcomanni. The immense size of the na and the capital of Pannonia.
newly discovered military camp suggests it “This discovery allows us look deep into
may be connected with that historical event. the past of Carnuntum and is also of great im-
The campaign had to be hastily aban- portance for the history of the Roman pres-
doned when news of a revolt in Illyricum ence in the Danube River basin”, said Dr
arrived and what would become known as Markus Wachter, Managing Director of the
the Batonian War ensued. Legio XV Apol- Archaeological Park of Carnuntum.
linaris was stationed at the site until it later Further excavations are planned for
became the permanent base of XIV Gemi- this year and subsequent years.
unexpected roman fort discovered deep in central germany

When highway construction engineers in it. They uncovered a distinctive V-shaped
were digging a section of road near ditch on the south side of about 425m in
Hachelbich, Kyffhäuserkreis in Thuringia, length. On the east side, they identified
Germany in 2010, the last thing they had a rounded corner and section of ditch of
on their minds was finding a Roman fort. about the same length. In the northeast
Close and careful study of the site by ar- they found evidence of a titulum, a short
chaeologists has confirmed that that is ex- section of ditch with an inner bank built in
actly what they had dug up. front of the gateway to protect the entrance
Over the subsequent years, Mario from direct frontal assault. The Hachel-
Kuessner, a lead archaeologist working bich fort was likely a temporary or marching
for Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und camp, occupied for just a single day – or a
Archäologie (TLDA), and his team have few days at most – before being abandoned
excavated more than 2 hectares and used when the army unit moved on.
ground penetrating radar surveys to ana- Particularly noteworthy were the bases
lyze an additional 10 hectares to reveal of eight ovens for baking bread. The small
the outlines of the camp. The precise lo- number of finds are military in nature. Ra-
cation of the site in the region, which lies dio carbon dating of the items places them
within the watershed of the Saale River within the first two centuries AD. The broad
(a left tributary of the Elbe), continues to range of dates means the fort could pos-
have been kept secret to prevent unoffi- sibly be associated with Germanicus Cae-
cial digs and raids by looters. sar’s campaigns of AD 15–16, or Domi-
The team from Thuringia established tian’s war against the Chatti of AD 83, but
that the camp had a double circuit of 1m- other offensives are possible.
deep perimeter ditches and an earthen Further excavations are planned for
bank 3m wide and probably 3m high with- this year and subsequent years.
Themes and deadlines

The following are the themes for the If you have a proposal that fits our themes,
upcoming issues: we would be interested to hear from you
to discuss the possibility of publishing an
• VIII.4 The Seleucid Empire
article. Send your proposal – including
• VIII.5 The Judean Wars
the angle you propose to take, ideas for il-
• VIII.6 The Roman conquest
lustrations and artwork, and your qualifi-
of Greece
cations – to editor@ancient-warfare.com.
• IX.1 The fall of Rome
Do make sure you send them before the
(September 20th)
proposal deadlines mentioned above.
aw_8-3.indd 5 27/06/14 10:33

Historical introduction
Horsen
of eppes
cimmerians. sarmatians. scythians. horsemen of the steppes. They
emerged from the fog of prehistory around the eighth century Bc.
semi-nomadic, they dominated the pontic steppes for a millennium.
over centuries, pressure from one steppe people against another
kicked off great migratory patterns. The mobile, agile and ferocious
horsemen became a scourge upon their more civilized neighbours
to the south. other migrations took them west into central and
western europe and east as far as mongolia.
by sidney e. Dean Linguistically and culturally, all three
W
peoples were Indo-European and are usu-
hile the horsemen’s do- ally placed within the greater Iranian fam-
main ranged widely over ily. Genetic analysis of remains from grave
time, their heartland was sites support classical sources describing the
centred around the Pontic- steppe peoples as blue- or green-eyed and
Caspian Steppes. The region had a temper- red-haired or blonde. But the precise origins
ate climate and was marked by vast grass- of these groups are still the subject of scien-
lands ideal for horse and cattle husbandry. tific debate, especially regarding the Cim-
The horse archer originated on the Pontic merians. Herodotus placed their homeland
Steppes circa 1000 BC. But, despite their in the Pontic Steppes (4.11–13). Modern
classification as nomads, they also built scholars tend to agree, and attribute 900–
and maintained cities and towns, engaged 700 BC pre-Scythian archaeological finds
in farming (often through subject peoples) in the Ukraine and southern Russia to the
and practiced international commerce. At a Cimmerians (Chernogorovka and Novocer-
geographic crossroads, they dominated the kassk Cultures). Some, however, question
A bronze ornamental object amber, silk, spice and slave trades. this view. Additionally, Neo-Babylonian
that may have once been The earliest written sources about these and some Assyrian texts in the Babylonian
fixed to something. It depicts peoples are Greek and Assyrian. Herodotus’ language do not differentiate between Cim-
a battle between a griffin Histories, written in the fifth century BC, long merii and Scythians. This leads some schol-
and a small predator, a mo- served as the most important source of infor- ars to conclude that the Cimmerians were
tif common across the Pontic mation regarding their origins. More recently, actually a subgroup of Scythians, while oth-
steppes. From Simferopol, translated Assyrian intelligence reports of the ers classify them as Thracians.
Central Museum of Tauris, tu- eighth century BC revealed contemporary The identity of the Scythians proper is
mulus of Nadezjda, Crimea, information regarding the Cimmerians, the also the subject of debate. The name seems
fifth to fourth century BC. oldest of the steppe peoples in question. to trace back to the Indo-European root
© Netjer VOF word sceuda meaning ‘to shoot’. The alter-
aw_8-3.indd 6 27/06/14 10:33

nate name Saka, which the Persians applied cimmerians Between the tenth century
to these peoples, may derive from an Irani- Modern scholarship has the proto-Cimme- BC and the third century AD,
an root word sak, meaning ‘to roam’. Both rians emerging circa the early thirteenth the Pontic Steppes north of
would be logical appellations for nomadic century BC. The earliest surviving mention the Black Sea were domi-
horse archers. The problem is that these in Greek literature is found in the poem nated sequentially by three
terms were applied to a wide range of no- Arimaspaea by Aristeas of Proconnesus (ca. Iranian peoples: the Cimme-
madic tribes on the Pontic steppes, Central 550 BC). Herodotus placed their homeland rians, the Scythians, and the
Asia and Mongolia. The ‘classical’ Scythians between the Dneistr and Don Rivers. In the Sarmatians, in that order. Al-
who descended on Asia Minor from the Pon- mid-eighth century, the Scythians began en- though linguistically and cul-
tic Steppes were regarded as a conglomer- croaching from their home in western Ka- turally related, they waged
ate of numerous tribes, with one tribe – the zakhstan. The Cimmerians split into a war war against one another. The
Royal Scythians – holding sway over the faction wanting to defend their territory, and hatch-marked areas indicate
nation as a whole. Two competing modern a faction that wanted to cede the land to the the presumed original home-
theories exist regarding their origin. The first stronger invader. Civil war followed. The war land of each people, while
cites immigration from the region of Turke- faction, centred round the Cimmerian royal the matching-coloured ar-
stan and Western Siberia, while the other tribe, was wiped out. The remaining Cim- rows show their sequential
postulates evolution from the Srubnaya or merians crossed the Caucasus Mountains in expansion or migration over
Timber Grave Culture, which existed on the a mass migration, conquering Colchis and the centuries. Major cam-
territory of Ukraine until circa 900 BC (and Iberia (Hdt. 4.11–13). Their new Caucasian paign routes, expeditions and
which has also been considered a possible strongholds allowed the Cimmerians to cam- battles are also included.
provenance of the Cimmerians). paign into Asia Minor. Soon, they entered © Maxime Plasse
aw_8-3.indd 7 27/06/14 10:33

into conflicts with the Assyrians, Phrygians, their domain to the Don around the fifth
and Lydians. Of the latter, King Alyattes (r. century BC. Herodotus wrote that they
ca. 600–560) claimed a final victory over the were the descendants of Scythian warriors
Cimmerians, after which they virtually disap- and Amazons (4.110–117; see also Owen
A fine fibula (brooch) in the pear from the ancient sources. Rees’s contribution to this issue).
shape of a dolphin, made of Part of the Sarmatians’ success was
gold and rock crystal; dated scythians due to the introduction of combined arms
to the first century BC. Either The Scythians had followed the Cimmerians tactics. While the Scythians continued to
of Greek or Scythian make. through the Caucasus in the early seventh rely on massed horse archers wearing com-
Kiev, Museum of Historical century, while retaining their lands north of paratively light armour, the Sarmatians de-
Treasures of Ukraine. the Black Sea. If Herodotus’ description is ployed both horse archers and heavy cav-
© Netjer VOF
accurate, they must have incited great fear alry. With warrior and mount protected by
through their customs. These included head- scale armour, and wielding a fifteen-foot
hunting and scalping; fashioning quivers lance, the latter could close with the en-
from the flayed skin of slain enemies; and emy and break their kinsmen’s forces.
drinking from their foes’ skulls (4.64–66). As they moved westward, the Sarma-
In the Middle East, the Scythians formed tians incorporated other tribes into their
and dropped alliances as it suited them federation. Strabo writes that the Royal
throughout the seventh century BC. During Scythians had become one of the leading
the fifth century BC, the Scythian domain subgroups of the Sarmatians. During the
ranged from southeastern Europe to the first century AD, Sarmatian westward mi-
Don River. Beyond the Don lay the land of gration resumed, bringing them into conflict
the Sarmatians, wrote Herodotus (4.21–22). with Rome. Sarmatian elements such as the
King Ateas united all tribes in the mid-fourth Iazyges and Roxolani moved into Pannonia
century. Intent on westward expansion he and the lower Danube region. The Huns ul-
conquered Thrace, which led to war with timately conquered all Sarmatian territories
Macedon. Ateas was killed in battle against both east and west of the Bosporus. While
Philip II in 339, and his coalition of tribes the Sarmatians in the West lost their identity,
disbanded. In 329 BC Scythians seeking the related Alan tribes who had remained in
revenge for Ateas’ death sought battle, but the East after the Hunnic conquest retained
found defeat at the hands of Alexander the their liberty by withdrawing further into the
Great at the Battle of Jaxartes (see Matthew steppes. Their descendants survive today in
Beazley’s contribution to this issue). the Caucasus as the Ossetians. 0
Alexander had no interest in ruling the
nomads, but unfortunately for the Scyth- Sidney E. Dean is a regular contributor.
ians, the Sarmatians did take advantage of
their disarray. They crossed the Don be-
tween the late fourth and mid-third centu- further reading
ries BC, occupying territory and assimilat- • C. Baumer, The History of Central
ing the Scythians gradually. In the Black Sea Asia: The Age of the Steppe War-
Three figures on a limestone region, the Scythians retained a much re-
grave marker, but no one riors (London & New York 2012).
duced domain from the lower Dneipr to the
knows who or what they rep- Crimea until it was destroyed by the Goths • M. Gorelik, Warriors of Eurasia:
resent. Considering the loca- in the third century AD. From the Eighth Century BC to
tion of the find and the date, the Seventh Century AD (Stock-
it is probably Sarmatian. From sarmatians port, UK, 1995).
Bakchisaray History and Cul- The Sarmatians were related to the Scyth- • A. Karasulas and A. McBride,
ture State Preserve, Predush- ians, but developed as an independent Mounted Archers of the Steppe,
chelnoye necropolis; dated people between the Volga and Southern 600 BC–1300 AD (Oxford 2004).
second century AD. Urals in the sixth century, then expanded
© Netjer VOF
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The source
Reading up on the horsemen of the steppes
ros and
e scyians
in herodotus’ Histories, two foreign peoples are singled out for
an extensive ethnographic excursus: the egyptians in Book 2 and
the scythians in Book 4. herodotus’ schematic view of human
geography saw these two peoples as parallels: the egyptians live
along the nile, the great river that bisects the continent of libya,
while the scythians live along the ister (danube), the great river
that bisects europe. The two peoples serve as useful foils: the
egyptians are the most civilized of peoples, while the scythians
are the most feral. perhaps most importantly, in a work seeking
to explain the great persian wars, the egyptians succumb to per-
sian invasion, while the scythians successfully resist.
by michael J. taylor devolves into vague reports of ‘Black Cloaks’

and Androphagoi or ‘Maneaters’.
T
he term ‘Scythian’ was used to
The search engine of herodotus
describe a broad range of peo-
The Scythians as a whole were not a mysteri-
ples living along the lower re-
ous or unknown people, unlike, for example,
gions of the Danube River and
the mythical Hyperboreans, who literally
along the northern stretches of the Black
lived ‘Beyond the North Wind’. If Herodo-
Sea. At times, Herodotus is aware of the di- Greeks founded colonies
tus wanted to speak with a Scythian, he had
versity amongst the Scythians, including the along the Black Sea coast and
to go no farther than the cop on the corner,
fact that some are agriculturalists. However, thus came in close proxim-
given that the police force in Athens con-
in other passages, Herodotus treats them as ity with the Scythians and re-
sisted of some 300 Scythian archers. Among
strictly nomadic, declaring this to be the lated peoples. This limestone
other duties, the Scythian policemen, armed
distinctive character of Scythian life. stele once marked the grave of
public slaves of the city, were responsible for
Herodotus explicitly admits that he has Hermodorus, son of Alcimus.
herding citizens up onto to the Pnyx to vote,
not personally seen the Scythians who live The little oil jug and bronze
using a rope dipped in red paint to mark the
inland from the sea, which may imply he had scraper are the signs of an ath-
laggards. While it may seem odd that Athens
at least been to the northern Black Sea coast. lete. Dated to the late fourth
would maintain a foreign police force, in the
There is reason to believe that either Herodo- to third centuries BC, it still
politically charged and notoriously litigious
tus or one of his informants spent some time bears some traces of paint.
atmosphere of democratic Athens, it made
in Olbia, the ‘happy’ polis on the north coast. Sevastopol, National Preserve
sense that the power to beat or bind an Athe-
The extent of Herodotus’ knowledge is best of Tauric Chersonesos.
nian citizen was given to ‘neutral’ foreign
in the general area of the town; beyond he © Netjer VOF
aw_8-3.indd 9 27/06/14 10:33

The source
slaves, rather than locals who might abuse it fall from the sky, and a hybrid tale with
in pursuit of private grudges. Scythians may Greek and Scythian elements, including
have also served as mercenaries in Athenian Heracles and a Scythian snake goddess.
armies, so that even citizen archers took to In the end, though, Herodotus prefers
dressing in Scythian garb as a sort of Zouave a secular narrative, in which the Scyth-
chic. In addition, Scythians were known to ians are forced out of their homeland by
Greek sailors and colonists in the Black Sea. the Cimmerians and in turn occupy the
Herodotus’ problem, therefore, was northern shores of the Black sea. Such a
too much information about the Scyth- story fits well with an Athenian intellec-
ians, not too little. When Herodotus tual’s understanding of geopolitics, who
typed ‘Scythians’ into his search engine saw migration and conquest as a central
(by which I mean when he traveled about part of any origin story.
asking people what they knew about the
topic), up came all manner of results. He scythians and Athenians
found the political Twitter feed of the con- Herodotus’ long excursus into the lives of
temporary politician Cimon, explaining Scythians is not simply ethnographic trivia.
that his father Miltiades did not willingly Rather, it is critical to his primary theme,
collaborate with Persians on their Scyth- namely the great war between the Greeks
ian expedition, but rather tried to cause and the Persians. The first Persian invasion
their annihilation by cutting the Danube of Europe came in 513 BC, when Darius
bridge. He stumbled upon raunchy porn crossed the lower reaches of the Danube
sites, with lurid scenes of Scythians rutting to invade Scythia, decades before the two
with Amazons, and Hercules indulging invasions of Greece in 490 and 480 BC.
in anatomically improbable intercourse The Scythians were the only people, prior
with a snake woman. He browsed Wiki- to the Greeks, to successfully resist Persian
pedia articles of uncertain provenance, conquest. Herodotus creates strong narra-
and perused dozens of tidbits in the Face- tive parallels between the two invasions.
book pages of well-traveled sailors, mer- Before each campaign, a loyal subject
chants and mercenaries. Much of it must beseeches the king, asking that his son or
have been rubbish. And mixed in with all sons be exempted from military service;
these search results was some authentic each time the king savagely executes the
information about the Scythians. hapless youth instead, providing a case
The diversity of Herodotus’ sources study in savage despotism.
for the Scythians is reflected in the diver- Both campaigns involve the construc-
gent stories he provides for their origins. tion of a massive bridge: Darius bridges
He presents multiple versions, including the Danube, while Xerxes extends his hu-
a native myth in which burning objects bristic pontoons across the Hellespont. In
did you know? scythians smoking up

Perhaps the first documented use of cannabis as a narcotic comes from Herodotus, who
reports its use as a cultural practice unique to the Scythians (the plant itself is native to
Central Asia). According to Herodotus, the Scythians constructed a small tent to contain
and concentrate the fumes, and then threw the seeds onto heated stones. “When the
seeds hit the stones, they produce smoke and give off a vapor such as no steam bath in
Hellas could surpass. The Scythians howl, awed and elated by the vapor” (Landmark
translation). Archaeological finds in Eurasian kurgans have revealed kits similar to what
Herodotus describes, with metal tent poles for creating the ‘hot-box’, and small charcoal
braziers for burning the hemp seed. It is notable that Herodotus does not describe canna-
bis use as recreational, but rather includes it in a discussion of Scythian hygiene practices.
aw_8-3.indd 10 27/06/14 10:33

The source
both instances, the intended victims seem critics dubbed ‘the Liar School of Herodo-
to disdain the threat posed by the king tus’, which argued that Herodotus’ histo-
and his host. The Scythians marshal their ries were at best historical romances, de-
armies to fight Darius, but become sud- voted to sophisticated literary constructs
denly distracted by the appearance of a with little commitment to historical truth.
rabbit, and break off to indulge in a sport- In the case of the Scythians, a great
ing hunt instead. Xerxes meanwhile finds deal of archaeological evidence militates
that the Greeks have taken time off from against the so-called Liar School. For ex-
their defensive preparations to celebrate ample, Herodotus’ report of Scythian bur-
the Olympic Games, obsessing over the ial customs, in which dead chieftains are
prize of a mere olive sprig. Both peoples placed into magnificent burial mounds ac-
respond to the Persian invasion by evacu- companied by both horses and sacrificed
ating their women and children and flee- servants, fits well with excavations of vari-
ing, initially refusing to fight. ous Steppe burials. Examples of Scythian
It is here, of course, that the similari- art featuring snake goddesses and even
ties end. In Herodotus, there is never a bat- a rabbit hunt lend credence that some of
tle between the Scythians and Persians: Herodotus’ colourful anecdotes were at
the entire campaign is a long futile hunt, least based on historical aspects of Scythi- Much maligned as the ‘fa-
first in which the Persians fail to catch the an society. We now also know that various ther or lies’, archaeology has
Scythians, and then in which the Scythians, steppe peoples practised a form of ritual come some way in rehabilitat-
having turned the tables, fail to intercept cannibalism that may have inspired Hero- ing Herodotus. Roman copy
the retreating Persians. Yet such warfare is dotus’ acount of ‘Maneater’ Scythians. from the second century AD
unique to the nomads, who can afford to At the very least, Herodotus can be after a Greek bronze original
retreat forever, having nothing to stand and exonerated of intentional deception con- from the first half of the third
fight for: no walls, no fields, no territory, no cerning the Scythians. Given the limita- century BC. From Benha (an-
buildings – no property whatsoever. The tions of his sources, it is little surprise that cient Athribis), Lower Egypt;
Athenians do not have this luxury. For the a great deal of dubious material is present- currently in the Metropolitan
Athenians to transform themselves into no- ed as factual. The reader must remain at- Museum of Art, New York.
mads, evacuating Attica ahead of the Per- tuned to the uneven quality of Herodotus’ © Public domain
sians and becoming a wandering people information and his lack of critical tools
adrift in their ships, is to pay a terrible price. in sorting and evaluating it. Even if we ac-
The Persians ravaged Attic lands, destroying cept Herodotus as an earnest historian, we
farms, shrines, walls, and ultimately the city must still admit a penchant for recounting
itself. While the Athenians could tempo- tall tales and melodramatic fables. 0
rarily abandon their homeland, in the end
they were compelled to fight and win. Their Michael J. Taylor is a regular contributor.
military weakness was the deep-rooted
concept of property and place so central
to their civilization. The Scythians, lacking further reading
real estate or any property aside from their
movable horses and flocks, easily survive
• Detlev Fehling, Herodotus and
his Sources: Citation, Invention
their Persian invasion unscathed.
and Narrative Art (London 1989).
The ‘liar school’ of herodotus • Francois Hartog, The Mirror of
Herodotus racked up a host of critics even Herodotus (Berkeley 1988).
in antiquity, including Thucydides, Plutar- • Kendrick Pritchett, The Liar School
ch and Cicero, the last of which dubbed of Herodotus (Amsterdam 1994).
Herodotus the ‘father of lies’ (pater fabu-
larum). In the 1970s, the work of Detlev • Robert Strassler (ed.), The Land-
Fehling became the foundation for what mark Herodotus (New York 2007).
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Horse(wo)men of the steppes
e amazons
the concept of a gynocratic, warrior society that excluded men has
usually elicited one of three reactions from commentators: lustful
imagination, misogynistic derision, or fear. as such, the amazons
have survived in the modern parlance and influenced the present
archetype of the powerful women adopting ‘male’ qualities to suc-
ceed; either as the only way to explain their prowess, or as a way to
condemn their actions as unfeminine – even unnatural.
by owen rees and modern, female archers who are
T
clearly not encumbered by their breasts
he original myths have often when shooting a bow. Secondly, for an
been observed to be symbolic etymology created by the Greeks, they
of the taming of women by man; must not have liked it very much be-
an allegory of the wild nature of cause there is not one image depicting
women being subdued by the marriage, this asymmetry. Stewart’s suggestion, that
and subsequent bedding, by their hus- the no-breast definition may refer in fact
bands. Combine with this the commonly to adolescent girls, could have stronger
held view that the Greeks enjoyed the con- grounds for consideration (see below).
cept of polarity to explain their world, and Once this ‘understanding’ of the name
the nomadic, female, warrior archers, with lost popularity it opened up the possibili-
pure freedom contrasts all too well with ties for decoding the word once more,
the Greek ideal of city-states, run by men, something which scholars have enjoyed
with an infantry based army, and women doing ever since. Ideas range from it deriv-
constrained by an almost militant domes- ing from the Greek word maza (‘barley’, so
ticity. These ideas, although interesting to they did not eat bread), to Amazon having
debate, have overshadowed another pos- a common root with the Iranian word ha-
sibility: that the Amazon myth may have a mazan (meaning ‘warrior’). No doubt this
solid grounding in history. debate will never end, and in the mean-
time an important lesson on the dangers of
what’s in a name? relying on etymology can be learned.
In any article pertaining to the Amazons
it is customary to inform the reader that mythology
the word Amazon comes from the Greek According to myth, the Amazons were a
a-mazos – no breast, or breastless. This female-only warrior society, ruled by a
etymology is responsible for the bizarre single queen who inherited through the
notion that the Amazons removed or cau- matrilineal line. Known as ‘Daughters of
Inside of an Attic red-figure
terised the right breast so that they could Ares’, they were renowned for their skills
cup attributed to Euphronius,
properly fire a bow without imposition. using the bow and for their equestrian
depicting an Amazon. Dated
There are a few issues with this common abilities. They were often the adversar-
ca. 500 BC; currently in the
tit-bit, first and foremost among them is ies of Greek heroes including Heracles,
Antikensammlung, Munich.
that there are many widely commended Bellerophon, Theseus, and Achilles. This
© Livius.Org
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connection was so vital, it was consid- ary capital Themis-

ered necessary for Alexander the Great cyra (e.g. Diodorus
to be depicted in such an encounter (Plu- Siculus, Library of
tarch, Life of Alexander 46.2). History 2.45).
Greek art was obsessed with the sub- From the fifth
ject of the Amazons, known under its own century BC on-
title of amazonomachy (‘Amazon fight- wards, there were
ing’), the most popular image being Hera- attempts to his-
cles’ battle with Hippolyte for her girdle. toricize the myths,
As our earliest form of evidence for the which formed a
Amazon myths, other than short snippets strong relation-
in Homer and Proclus, these artistic depic- ship between
tions cause great confusion. At times the Amazons, the
Amazon warriors were depicted with pelta Scythians and the Black Sea. Herodotus Part of an Amazonomachy;
shields (shaped like the crescent moon) tells a tale of a band of Scythian youths note the crescent-shaped shield
and javelins, which was an instant and cat- courting a lost group of Amazons and used by the Amazon. From the
egorical artistic symbol for Thracians, but forming a society together, giving rise to ancient theatre at Corinth.
they were not shown with other obvious a new tribe called the Sauromatai (Sau- © Livius.Org
symbols of Thrace such as the fox-skin hat romatians) who lived to the east of the
or the zeira (a patterned cloak). In other Black Sea and spoke a Scythian dialect
images they were depicted in full or par- (Hdr. 4.106.2). Is it possible that the Ama-
tial Greek hoplite panoply. Perhaps most zon myth was morphed by contemporary
commonly they were depicted on vases as writers to conform with a known cultural
archers, and Scythian archers at that. But example of empowered women, hunting
the lines were never this clear cut; often an and fighting like the men?
Amazon was depicted in Scythian clothing
and a hat, but carrying a pelta and a jave- The sauromatians
lin; sometimes they wore Persian clothes In and around the seventh and sixth cen-
rather than Scythian. The imagery was very turies BC, Greek colonies were emerging
confused, almost as if the artists did not along the northern coast of the Black Sea,
have a shared cultural reference point in around modern Crimea and into the Sea of
mind whilst designing their Amazons. Azov. This land was situated in that most
This confusion was not just found in commonly associated with the Scythian
the world of art, but in the literary world as tribes, so it would have been here that the
well. The location of the Amazon’s home- exposure and clash of cultures would most
land is still being debated today because it likely have started for the Greeks. The Sau-
had a nasty habit of moving within the origi- romatians, true to Herodotus’ otherwise
nal sources. Proclus located them in Thrace fanciful tale, did share the Scythian dialect
in his Aithiopis, Herodotus put them in and – admittedly in an older form – and ar-
around the Black Sea and Scythia, and Dio- chaeologists have long known of this dis-
dorus Siculus placed them in Libya of all tinct society living between the Don River,
places! All of these locations were on the beyond the Volga and into the southern
outskirts of the known world, the periphery, Ural steppes (Hdt. 4.116.1).
which allowed the myth to continue and By about 400 BC, the Sauromatian
the Amazons’ status as ‘Other’ to grow; as culture was taken over by what the an-
knowledge of the world expanded, so the cient sources refer to as the Sarmatian
Amazons had to move. The most common culture, a culture Roman fanatics and
place they were associated with, in the lat- King Arthur myth de-bunkers may well
er traditions, was the Thermadon River, in be more acquainted with. Amazingly,
modern Turkey, which hosted their legend- this shift is fully corroborated by the ar-
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(Opposite page) An impres- chaeology of the area. One of the great Most of the female warriors found were
sion of a pair of Amazons, historical treasure troves for the Sau- in their teenage years, and one body of a 13
wearing elements adopted romatian culture can be found in their or 14 year old already showed signs of her
from items of dress worn by burial mounds, kurgans. It is from these legs becoming bowed, indicating a life based
non-Greek peoples. archaeological sites that much of our on horseback. She was buried with a quiver,
© Matthew Zikry knowledge of the Sauromatians derives, over 20 arrowheads and a knife, as well as
and it is here that any Amazon enthusi- some amulets which may have been believed
ast would do well to start their research. to reinforce her abilities: a bronze arrowhead
In the 1950s, Soviet archaeologists be- in a pouch, and a large boar’s tusk which may
gan to excavate many of these kurgans and have been worn around the waist.
discovered numerous female graves which The most compelling of evidence comes
contained weaponry, bits of armour and rid- in the form of bodily injuries. One of Kim-
ing equipment. At the time this was seldom ball’s older warriors was found with a bent
commented on, and if it was it was often arrowhead in the chest cavity, most likely the
dismissed as possibly belonging to men, arrowhead bent after striking bone. Around
maybe the lady’s bodyguard? In the 1980s, a Akkerman (southern Ukraine), Rolle exam-
German archaeologist, Renate Rolle, took a ined a kurgan which held a female warrior
very different view and reported thoroughly with numerous weapons and a large bat-
on over 40 female graves containing similar tle-belt. She had suffered numerous head
accoutrements. Furthermore, Rolle made wounds as a result of cutting-strikes and also
the astonishing observation that 20% of had an arrowhead lodged in her knee. A fur-
Sauromatian graves that had been catego- ther grave in Ordzhonikidize (Ukraine) held
rized as ‘warrior graves’ in the Lower Volga another female warrior with an arrow in her
region were inhabited by women. By the knee; interestingly, this woman was buried
1990s, this idea was picked up by another with two young children as well, something
archaeologist who has since become the not found in Kimball’s work at Pokrovka.
idea’s main scholarly voice in the English
language: Jeannine Davis-Kimball. Kimball The warrior profile
noticed similarities between what Rolle had For everything found in the various female
observed and her own observations at a sep- warrior kurgans, a few elements commonly
arate kurgan site further east in Pokrovka, on found in male warrior graves are conspicu-
the Russian-Kazakhstan border. ous in their absence. Very rarely were swords
ever found, and contrary to the Greek depic-
A warrior’s body tion of the Amazons in art there have been
The most obvious rebuttal to any claim of no discoveries of battle axes. Female war-
a ‘warrior grave’ is the denigration of the riors are also rarely found with any form of
assumption that because someone is bur- armour; a few exceptions include the battle-
ied with weapons means they must have belt mentioned above (leather covered in
used them. This is obviously not always the iron plaques), and a young, pre-pubescent
case and assumes that there are no possi- girl who was found with iron armour lain
ble ritual nuances that we do not already next to her, but these are not common.
know. When it comes to women being It has been suggested that these finds
buried with weapons, this form of symbol- corroborate with an idea that these Scythian/
ic analysis is actually the immediate reac- Sauromatian warrior women should be con-
tion of many scholars – it is not possible sidered as light-armed detachments of the
that the women actually used them in life, Scythian armies in the fifth and fourth cen-
perhaps they were for use in the afterlife? turies BC. Alternatively, Kimball suggests that
Kimball overcame this argument by show- the burials a Pokrovka show that women may
ing a very interesting feature of her female have been called upon at a time of need to
warrior burials in Pokrovka: their bodies. ride in the saddle and fight for their animals,
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aw_8-3.indd 15 27/06/14 10:34
pastureland and clan. Either way, they have Scythian burials create a very similar picture.
very firmly shown that the clarity of gender What is found in the fifth-century
roles was not as distinct in Scythian and Sau- writings is, perhaps, due to a further ex-
romatian culture as first assumed. posure to the same or at least very simi-
The relatively young ages of the girls lar culture, which influenced the original
found in these kurgans, especially those in myths. So the Amazons were swiftly di-
Pokrovka, comes as no surprise as it is pre- minished and replaced by their ancestors,
sumed that this warrior status was held until the Sauromatian women, who could act
the girl was ready to marry at which point as men but only until they were married
they would no longer go to war. This revela- and then only in a grave emergency.
tion seems to mirror the historicized Amazon One may have thought that finding
myths in the likes of Herodotus and Hippo- ‘real’ Amazons, more in keeping with the
crates, where it was believed that the Ama- gender roles they were used to in Greece,
zon’s military career was entangled with her might have brought an end to Greek fears
right to marry (Airs, Waters, Places 17). and fantasies regarding these warrior
women, but it was not the case. The Ama-
The chicken or the egg zon myth continued to exist well in to the
Here comes the big question: which came Roman period and beyond, always there
first? Were the Amazon myths originally to be called upon if some manly heroics
based on unknown historic encounters needed exemplifying or the remote nature
with Eurasian nomads, maybe even early of a region needed highlighting. The Ama-
A white-ground lekythos of Scythians? Did the myths already exist zons epitomize the reversal of life known
the fifth century BC depict- when the Greeks first encountered a cul- by all patriarchies, and for that symbolism
ing an Amazon, currently in ture that seemed to mirror it? Is it just a alone their story will always remain. 0
Basel. As a truly alien culture, strange coincidence that does not need ex-
Amazons were normally de- plaining because there is no real evidence Owen Rees is a regular contributor.
picted dressed as barbarians to link the two cultures? After all, the Sau-
from beyond the lands settled romatian society was not a gynocracy.
by the Greeks. This Amazon Depending on what you are look- further reading
wears dress reminiscent of ing to prove, you would not be wrong to • J. Davis-Kimball, Warrior Wom-
Scythians and Anatolian peo- take any of the above stances. In what is en: An Archaeologist’s Search for
ples, complete with trousers. possibly our earliest account of the myth History’s Hidden Heroines (2002)
© Livius.Org
found in Proclus, the Amazons were not
• J. Davis-Kimball & C. Scott Lit-
from Scythia but from Thrace, and a later
tleton, ‘Warrior women of the
account by Diodorus moved the Amazons
Eurasian Steppes’, Archaeology
to Libya rather than take the much easier
50.1 (1997), pp. 44–48.
road and conform to Herodotus’ tale of the
Sauromatians. This certainly implies that, • L. Hardwick, ‘Ancient Amazons: he-
for all of the exposure to Scythian culture, roes, outsiders or women?”, Greece
the writers and commentators at the time & Rome, 37.1 (1990), pp. 14–36
had no intention of allowing the Amazon • H. Shapiro, ‘Amazons, Thracians,
myth to be sullied by reality; or that maybe and Scythians’, Greek, Roman
the myths were completely independent of and Byzantine Studies 24 (1983),
any real exposure to nomadic tribes. pp. 105–114 (available free on
On the other hand, how can the similar- GRBS website).
ities be so close without a cultural exposure
lying at the root of the myth? The Amazons
• A. Stewart, ‘Imag(in)ing the Other:
Amazons and ethnicity in fifth-
were great archers, expert horse riders, they
century Athens’, Poetics Today
wore Scythian/Thracian dress, and they were
16.4 (1995), pp. 571–597.
nomads with a strong military tradition. The
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aw_8-3.indd 17 27/06/14 10:34
King of the world
Dugdammi
in 660 Bce, mighty Assyria was about to be shaken. A king of
the steppes, named dugdammi (lygdamis), united many no-
madic tribes into a confederation. This mighty confederation
pushed against the borders of Assyria, which frightened King
Ashurbanipal, the powerful ruler of the Assyrian empire.
by cam rea of the world’ (sometimes translated as
T
‘King of Kish’). In ancient times, this
he origin of Dugdammi is rather title went to those who controlled vast
vague. The Greeks called him regions within or outside the boundaries
Lygdamis (Strabo 1.3.21); in As- of Mesopotamia, which suggests that
syrian he is known as Dugdammi Dugdammi held sway across relatively
or Tugdammi. He is generally regarded as large regions rather than small provinc-
a Cimmerian, but the differences between es. How extensive Dugdammi’s nomadic
Cimmerians and Scythians are not always empire really was is a matter of debate,
clear cut. His story begins around 660 BC, but to the Assyrians it was threatening.
when he launched attacks against Greek Obviously Ashurbanipal of Assyria
and Lydian cities in Anatolia. He then ran desired to be the true ‘King of the world’.
afoul of the Assyrian Empire around 652 To obtain the title, he had to defeat Dug-
BC. In his annals, Ashurbanipal referred to dammi. One way to achieve this goal
Dugdammi as ‘King of the Sakai and Qutu’. was through sowing dissent. Within Dug-
The term Sakai is just another word dammi’s realm there lived the Ahlamu,
for Scythians, but Qutu – also rendered who seemed to have been hostile towards
as Quti, Qutians, or Gutium – is a generic the Cimmerians. The Assyrians no doubt
and archaic expression used during this hoped that the Ahlamu would cause a re-
period of Assyrian history that does not volt significant enough to allow them to
apply to any people in particular. When take advantage of the situation. However,
used by Ashurbanipal, it refers to those only two letters mention the Ahlamu as
who were hostile to Assyria, particularly having a possible effect on the Cimmeri-
those who lived along the Zagros Moun- ans, and nothing more is mentioned.
tains. It was also applied to Manneans or
Medes during this period. In other words, Battle and death
the term Gutium indicates anyone who is At some point, an inscription mentions a
hostile, and especially refers to peoples cease-fire between the Assyrians and the
living east of the Tigris River. Cimmerians. Ashurbanipal subsequently
imposed heavy tribute on Dugdammi.
prophecy However, it is not clear if Dugdammi was
The Assyrians saw King Dugdammi wor- decisively defeated. It may have been that
thy to hold the title ‘Sar kissati’, which Dugdammi’s attacker could not beat him
means ‘King of the universe’ or ‘King and so had settled for a draw. Had Ashur-
aw_8-3.indd 18 27/06/14 10:34

The Assyrians fought the Cim-

merians, but were themselves
also skilled horsemen and
charioteers. From the palace
of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh;
dated ca. 645 BC. Currently
on display in the Louvre.
© User ‘Mbzt’ (via Wikimedia Commons)
banipal really defeated Dugdammi, the to patch up past differences in return for
title ‘Sar Kassati’ would have been his. succour from the nomadic plague. Ashur-
The Assyrian king uses the terms ‘de- banipal may have accepted the terms.
mon gallu’ and ‘Tiamat’ when describing Dugdammi probably felt threatened and
Dugdammi’s character. The term ‘demon undermined by a possible new alliance
gallu’ refers to seven demons who love to between Ashurbanipal and Ardys, and re-
eat flesh. Tiamat represents the goddess of newed his attacks.
chaos. According to Babylonian mytholo- For Ashurbanipal, Lydia would have
gy, Marduk slew Tiamat to create order and been a good ally to have. He needed strate-
peace. Ashurbanipal obviously saw himself gic resources such as iron ore. The Anatolian
as being in the same position as Marduk kingdom had an abundance of such goods
and that something had to be done in order at its disposal, such as gold and silver. Trade
to bring about social order. In other words, routes also crossed through Lydia, making it
this war with Dugdammi was a clash of a commercial powerhouse for business and
civilizations in Ashurbanipal’s mind. On trade. However, the Cimmerians that lived
the one hand, there were the civilized As- and roamed in the Anatolian region were
syrians, maintaining peace and stability also in control of iron ore, but could not be
throughout the known world; while on the trusted. They were bad for business and had
other hand, there was the uncivilized Dug- to go. By making a pact with Lydia, Ashurba-
dammi and his nomadic forces that repre- nipal would have had a chance to finally ex-
sented palpable darkness. pel the Cimmerians, while at the same time
However, prior to an outbreak of hos- forging new commercial relationships.
tilities between the Assyrians and the Cim- Violent encounters between the
merians, it seems that a ‘soft alliance’ ex- Assyrians and Cimmerians were una-
isted between them. It is possible that the voidable, but we lack details. At some
Assyrians bought off Dugdammi in prepa- point, however, it becomes clear that
ration for an attack elsewhere. Clearly, it Dugdammi had died and was no longer
seems that the Cimmerians were too wild a threat. But the Assyrian inscriptions
to control even indirectly and they quick- do not mention where Dugdammi died.
ly turned their attention back towards As- For that we have to rely on the historian
syria. The Lydians may have had a part Strabo, who states that Dugdammi died
to play in this change of events, as king in Cilicia (1.3.21).
Ardys of those lands dispatched a plea The Ashurbanipal inscriptions men-
for aid to Ashurbanipal and was willing tion two kinds of death for the Cimmerian:
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aw_8-3.indd 20 27/06/14 10:34
one is physical and the other spiritual. For same time having to suppress rebellions in (Opposite page) An impres-
the physical, Ashurbanipal says, “I have Elam and Babylonia. Because of this, not sion of two Cimmerians of
glorified the powerful Marduk.” Thus, only was he depleting his forces, he was the seventh century BC. These
Ashurbanipal claims the kill for himself, also overextending his lines of supply and horsemen of the steppes were
while in another inscription speaks of the support. This massive onslaught on Assyria presumably quite flexible as
supernatural being responsible for slaying meant Ashurbanipal had to find someone far as their equipment was
Dugdammi and says, “The weapon of As- to aid him, or hope for something or some- concerned, with the figure on
sur, my Lord struck him.” one to intervene. He needed something as the right adopting Assyrian
mighty as Dugdammi’s forces in the north, scale armour and Greek-style
inconsistency whether it was by force or influence, and bronze greaves.
There are some inconsistencies with re- Madys, as lord of the populous Scythians, © Angel García Pinto
gard to the battles, which suggest both may have been instrumental here. Strabo
Ashurbanipal and Dugdammi could even claims that Madys drove the Cimme-
have claimed victory: both sides suffered rians out of Anatolia entirely.
heavy losses. Before the events that cul- Dugdammi had a son by the name of
minated in the death of Dugdammi, it Sandaksatru who succeeded him after his
appears that he took a short break before death. However, nothing is known about
violating another border agreement. This him or what happened to him. It is possi-
in turn would have caused upheaval ble that Sandaksatru was with his father at
along the borders and within Assyrian Cilicia during the battle, and fled into Eu-
territory. In the inscriptions, the Assyr- rope along with the remainder of the forces
ian invocation of the god’s name as the when his father was defeated and killed.
decisive factor in defeating Dugdammi However, the inscriptions make no mention
suggest that an outside element was of Sandaksatru’s presence. 0
possibly responsible for the victory. This
“
outside element may have been Madys, Cam Rea lives in Indiana. He holds a BA
according to Strabo (1.3.21): and MA in Military History. He is current-
ly a Teaching Assistant for the Ludwig von
lygdamis, however, at the head Mises Institute, and contributing writer
of his own soldiers, marched for Classical Wisdom Weekly. He wrote
as far as lydia and ionia and cap- and published two books on the Scythians
and the Parthians and is currently prepar-
tured sardis, but lost his life in ci- ing another book for release this summer,
licia. oftentimes both cimmerians Leviathan vs. Behemoth: The Roman-Par-
and trerans made such invasions as thian Wars, 66 BC–217 AD.
these; but they say that the trerans
and cobus were finally driven out by further reading
madys, the king of the scythians.” • Askold I. Ivantchik, Les Cimme-
riens au Proche-Orient (Fri-
As Strabo suggests, it is quite possible that
bourg 1993).
Madys defeated and killed Dugdammi
(Lygdamis) in Cilicia around 640 or 639 • E.V. Cernenko, The Scythians,
BC. Ashurbanipal might have sent envoys 700–300 BC (Oxford 1983).
to invite Madys to invade the lands of • Robert Drews, Early Riders: The
Dugdammi, perhaps to weaken or distract Beginnings of Mounted Warfare
him, and maybe also kill him outright. The in Asia and Europe (London and
reason could be due to the wars in which New York 2004).
Ashurbanipal was already engaged. Ashur-
banipal was still intermittently fighting
• H.W.F. Saggs, The Might that
was Assyria (London 1990).
the Scythians and Cimmerians and at the
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Darius the Great’s Scythian expedition, 512 BC

A nomad gy
of persience
There is a venerable adage among soldiers that ‘no plan survives
contact with the enemy.’ The intent of this saying is to alert offic-
ers to the need to have a back-up plan when things inevitably go
awry in the crucible of war. But what if the enemy refuses contact
altogether? does the plan still need to change?
by marc G. Desantis ten and twelve arrows in a minute. Higher
T
ranking Scythians wore heavier armour, and
his was the situation experienced acted as shock cavalry. Once an enemy had
by Darius I of Persia as he mount- been sufficiently softened up by the clouds
ed his invasion of the vast north- of lighter horse archers, the heavy cavalry
ern territory of Scythia in 513 BC. would charge in and finish them off.
Everything about the project was massive. One of the Scythian warrior’s most im-
Herodotus, not always the most reliable of portant advantages was his mount, the Eura-
sources when it comes to figures, says that sian steppe pony. Akin to the modern Prze-
his army numbered 700,000 plus six hun- walski’s horse, the steppe pony was a hardy
dred naval vessels and their crews. Even if animal capable of living off the grazing that
we consider the figures given to us to be could be found on the steppe itself. An en-
excessive, and reduce them accordingly, emy such as the Persians could not threaten
it is undeniable that the expedition against the logistics of a Scythian force since food for
the Scythians was one of tremendous scale. their mounts lay right at their horses’ hooves.
Darius meant to secure his frontier with The steppe pony granted the Scythians not
Scythia because its mounted warriors had merely mobility on a tactical level, which
raided Media, a province of his empire. means in and around the battlefield itself, but
These horse nomads of the northern strategic mobility, in that the Scythians could
steppes were cousins to the Aryan Persians, determine the time and place of where they
whose own ancestors had originated there would offer battle when faced by a slower-
on the steppes centuries before migrating to moving army such as that of Darius.
the Iranian plateau. In the late seventh cen-
tury BC, the Scythians, along with the Me- A strategy of extreme mobility
Bronze objects in the shape of des, had taken part in the great campaign of Of Darius’ Scythian opponents, Hero-
sturgeons, a type of fish com- 612 that sacked Nineveh and smashed the dotus tells lurid tales, claiming that they
mon to the Black Sea and used Assyrian Empire. In the main, the Scythians drank out of the skulls of their enemies,
to decorate a horse’s harness. were lightly-equipped horse archers, their made handkerchiefs from flayed skin, and
Dated to the fifth to fourth primary weapon being the composite bow wore cloaks from stitched-together scalps.
centuries BC. Simferopol, of laminated wood, horn, and sinew. This But Herodotus applauded their military
Taurida Central Museum. was a powerful and accurate weapon, and merits, and said that they had found the
© Netjer VOF a Scythian archer could launch between best strategy for war (Hdt. 4.46).
aw_8-3.indd 22 27/06/14 10:34

This was a strategy of extreme mo-

bility, of maintaining no fixed abode that
might be threatened. It allowed the Scyth-
ians to persist, to remain in existence, on
their own territory, even when invaded.
The sheer extent of Scythia, roughly all
of the lands to the north of the Black Sea
in what is the Ukraine and southern Rus-
sia, gave them a nearly endless expanse
in which to roam. When threatened, the
Scythians could simply move on, staying
just out of each of their pursuers.
When the Scythians learned of Darius’
intention to invade their lands, their initial
thought was to oppose the Persians in bat-
tle, but they knew they could not do this on
their own. Their requests sent to the other
peoples of the steppe for alliance, however,
were mostly rebuffed. Only the Gelonai,
Boudinoi and the Sauromatai pledged their
aid to the Scythians. The rest (the Taurians,
Agathyrsoi, Neurians, the Maneaters, and
to follow this prudent counsel, and had the Scythians in characteristic
the Black Cloaks) refused outright.
Ionian Greeks remain to guard the bridge. pointed hats as depicted in
He also told them to tie sixty knots into a a relief in Darius the Great’s
darius’ campaign palace at Persepolis.
leather strap, and on each day starting from
Among the Persian force, the tyrants of
when the King’s army marched away north, © Livius.Org
the Ionian Greek cities, who owed their
they were to untie one knot. Once the sixty
positions and allegiance to Darius, were
knots were untied, they were to go home.
told to sail, via the Black Sea, for two days
The difficulties feared by Coes were
up the Danube. There they were to build
soon apparent. The Scythians, with no allies
a bridge of boats so that the Persian army
on the steppe apart from the Gelonai, Boudi-
could cross into Scythia. Once Darius
noi and the Sauromatai, decided to retreat,
himself had crossed into Europe via the
and destroy all the water sources and crops
Bosporus, he subdued the Thracian Getai,
that they passed. Their women, children, and
who dwelled in modern Bulgaria. Darius
livestock were sent to the far north, out of
marched his army to the Danube, and he
harm’s way. They then split their fighting forc-
and his soldiers crossed. He then told the
es in two. One group, under King Scopasis,
Ionians to dismantle the bridge, and or-
and accompanied by the Sauromatai, would
dered that they and other troops should
withdraw. If pursued by Darius, they would
then follow after him by land.
move away toward Lake Maeotis (Sea of
But Darius was dissuaded from this
Azov) and then on to the Tanais (Don River).
course by the advice of one his generals,
If the Persians stopped following and turned
Coes of Mytilene, who warned that the Great
away, they were to strike at them.
King was about to lead his army “over land
The second division, under King
where there are neither cultivated fields or
Idanthyrsos and King Taxakis, along with
inhabited cities,” and that “we may suffer
the Gelonai and the Boudinoi, would re-
some harm as we wander unable to find
treat in the face of the Persian advance as
[the Scythians]. The bridge should be left
well, but not by too much. They would
in position to provide a means of getting
stay just ahead, by one day’s movement.
back across the Danube.” Darius decided
Their intent was to draw the Persians
aw_8-3.indd 23 27/06/14 10:34

onward into the territories of the steppe now reunited, and they made their retreat
peoples that had refused to aid them and through the territories of the tribes that had
compel them to fight the Persians too. rejected an alliance just before the Persian
After just three days march from the onslaught. In extreme frustration, Darius dis-
Danube, the Scythians discovered the patched a messenger to Idanthyrsus. “You ex-
Persians lumbering northward. The Scyth- traordinary man!” began the message. “Why
ians continued to destroy all crops in the do you keep fleeing when you could cer-
path ahead of the Persians, who pursued tainly do otherwise? If you are think you are
the nomads in vain. Herodotus writes that able to challenge my power, then stop your
the Persians chased after the Scythians all wandering and stand and fight it out.”
the way to the Tanais. On the face of it, Darius had mistaken the Scythian re-
this is an absurd claim in the light of the fusal of battle for cowardice, or perhaps
mere sixty days that Darius had planned confusion. It was nothing of the sort. “This
for the entirety of the mission, taken in is my situation, Persian,” Idanthyrsus an-
conjunction with the extreme distance swered. “I will tell you why I do not engage
of the Danube to the Tanais/Don. Hero- you now: it is because we have neither
dotus’ geographical comprehension of towns nor cultivated land to worry about
Scythia and the northern shores of the being captured or razed.” The Scythians
Black Sea region is, politely put, hazy at would instead simply persist in the face
best. He is nonetheless specific that the of the enemy, who would only grow more
Persians actually crossed the Tanais them- tired and frustrated as time wore on.
selves in pursuit of the first division of the Scopasis’ division of Scythians rode
Scythians. In all probability it was a river ahead to the Danube. They told the Ion-
much closer to the Danube. ians still at the river that the sixty days they
were ordered to wait had passed, and to
chasing the unchaseable demolish the pontoon bridge. The Ion-
The division commanded by King Idanthyr- ian tyrants themselves held a conference.
sus, along with Taxakis, rode a northern route Miltiades of Athens wished to strike the
parallel to that of Darius army. Their role was bridge, as the Scythians wished, but His-
to keep the Persians from going north them- taeus of Miletus reminded them that they
selves, and to stay on the arid steppe. In the all owed their positions as tyrants to the
distant territory of the Boudinoi, the Persians Great King. If Darius fell, then they would
satisfied themselves with burning a small too. With the Scythians still hovering on
wooden city there, though it was empty at the northern bank of the Danube, the Ion-
the time. At last, after an unknown period of ians decided upon a ruse. They moved to
pursuit, Darius came to an uninhabited area take down only part of the bridge of boats,
and stopped at the Oarus River, which has so that the Scythians would believe that
usually been identified as the Volga, a likely they were complying and also to prevent
misidentification. There, on the river, he had the Scythians from attacking across the
constructed eight forts, spaced at intervals of bridge themselves. Thus satisfied, Scopasis
six-and-one-half miles. In the meanwhile, and his Scythians returned to the steppe.
the Scythian division of Scopasis, which had Darius and his men were not faring well.
lured him ever deeper onto the steppe, rode The increasingly aggressive Scythians under
right around him back to Scythia, and Darius Idanthyrsus and Taxakis harassed Persian for-
lost all contact with them. He then collected agers, and made their retreat back to Europe
his army and pursued the Scythians back just as miserable as the Cossacks later would
The hero-king, wrestling with west, giving up on his still-incomplete forts. for Napoleon’s army. Small-scale cavalry at-
a lion, from the palace of Dar- No matter how he pressed, Darius could tacks kept the Persians constantly on edge.
ius the Great at Persepolis. not catch the Scythians. They always stayed They cleverly added to the time that the Per-
© Livius.Org
a day’s march ahead. The Scythian divisions sians spent on the steppe by leaving a few
aw_8-3.indd 24 27/06/14 10:34

herd animals here and there for the Persians on their outbound march, and then during
to capture in the mistaken belief that this their retreat back to the Danube. This view,
was some form of progress. At long last, the however, fails to take into account the ac-
Scythians formed themselves up as if to give quisition by Darius of the critically important
battle, but this was not the case. Instead, the lands around the Black Sea Straits. Through
nomads began to chase, en masse, a hare these waterways flowed vital grain imports
that had been spotted amongst them. Darius destined for the cities of Greece. The food
flinched in disgust and frustration. The Scyth- security of the Greeks was thereby placed
ians had no respect at all for the Persians, and within the power of the Great King, who also
instead preferred to chase a hare. controlled Egypt, the other great granary of
the ancient Mediterranean. Scythians firing their bows.
The persians retreat The Aegean was now a tinderbox, From ancient Panticapaeum,
Darius knew that he had to get off the steppe, waiting for a spark to ignite it into a fire. Ukraine. Made of gold and
as the general exhaustion of his army had be- Given the speed with which the Ionian Re- dated to the fourth century
come acute after so many weeks of march- volt would encompass so many cities in BC. Currently in the Louvre.
© User ‘PHGCOM’ (via Wikimedia
ing. In an ignoble move that certainly saved Asia Minor in the 490’s, there must have
Commons)
the remainder of his force, he tied the bag- been undercurrents of insurrection brew-
gage train’s donkeys in camp, and left them ing for some time, no doubt stirred by the
with all of his soldiers who were too weak imperialism of Darius. Though the Ionian
and worn-down to be of use. He told these uprising would eventually founder, the de-
unfortunate men that he was taking his struction by fire of Sardis, Lydia’s capital
healthiest troops out for an attack against city, would bring a heretofore unknown
the Scythians. In actuality, he left the unfit people to Darius’ attention. These were
troops behind with the donkeys, and made the Athenians, and because of their partici-
his escape. The Scythians, for a time at least, pation in the torching of Sardis, the Great
believed that the Persians were still in camp King in Susa would swear a mighty oath to
because of the donkeys’ braying. avenge himself against them. The invasions
Once they discovered the trick, the of Greece, and the battles that still loom
entirety of the Scythian force, all three divi- so large in history, Marathon, Thermopy-
sions, made their way to the Danube bridge. lae, Salamis, and Plataea, could trace their
Because of their knowledge of the country- origins to the dreadful march of the Persian
side, the Scythians arrived back at the bridge army across the wilderness of Scythia. 0
before Darius, and again asked the Ionians to
dismantle it. The Ionians again agreed, and Marc G. DeSantis writes frequently on
the horsemen departed, and sought out the military history.
Persian force. They failed to find them, and
Darius, in the middle of the night, reached further reading
what looked like a demolished bridge. The
Persians called out from the northern bank,
• Christopher I. Beckwith, Empires
of the Silk Road (Princeton 2009).
and out of the darkness emerged Histaeus
of Miletus. The Ionians sent ships across to • J.M. Cook, The Persian Empire
carry the survivors of Darius’ army to the (London 1983).
southern bank of the Danube. • Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of
The hoary opinion of history has been to Central Asia (Princeton 1998).
judge the Scythian expedition to be a failure.
This is not a wholly incorrect assessment by • Tamara Talbat Rise, The Scythians
any stretch. Darius had pursued the nomads (New York 1957).
onto a sea of grass, and there was scant need • Robert B. Strasslet (ed.), The Land-
for them to ever stop. The Scythians avoided mark Herodotus: The Histories
battle, the Persians were definitely worsted (New York 2009).
aw_8-3.indd 25 27/06/14 10:34

The battle for the Bosporan Kingdom, 310/309 BC
Scyians versus
sarmaans
during the long reign of King parysades i (344/343–310/309 Bc), the
greek kingdom of the cimmerian Bosporus (present crimea and Taman
peninsula) reached its zenith. At the king’s death, however, the situa-
tion suddenly worsened. eumelus, the second of his sons, did not rec-
ognize his elder brother satyrus as rightful king, and took refuge among
the sarmatian tribes dwelling east of the don river. To get rid of the
pretender, satyrus could not but ask for the help of his scythian allies.
by filippo Donvito profitable commercial agreements. Some-
T
times it happened that relationships failed,
he first colonists of the Cimme- and then war broke out. The Greeks erod-
rian Bosporus came from Mile- ed the nomads’ pastures by extending their
tus in the sixth century BC. They farming lands; the Scythians burned and
founded Panticapeum (modern pillaged the Greek agricultural villages. In
Kerch) and Theodosia (Feodosia) in eastern order to avoid such dangers, in 480 BC the
Crimea. At the end of the Taman peninsula, cities of the Cimmerian Bosporus formed
rose Phanagoria and Hermonassa, while a covenant (symmachia) under the leader-
further to the north in the Don river delta, ship of the archons of Panticapeum, which
the emporium of Tanais was established. was quickly turned into a hereditary king-
Life in the new settlements, especially in the dom, known as the Kingdom of the Cim-
beginning, was a struggle for survival. The merian Bosporus or Bosoporan Kingdom.
newcomers, mostly destitute citizens from In 438 BC, Spartacus, probably
Ionia in search of new lands and commer- the head of some Thracian mercenar-
cial outlets, had to overcome the natives’ ies, overthrew the preceding dynasty
distrust if they wanted to have any chance and proclaimed himself king. Under his
to develop their settlements. Fortunately, successors, the Spartacids, the Bospo-
they had brought with them some luxury ran Kingdom grew in power and wealth.
goods that could soften the stiff hearts of Thanks to the high fertility of the Crimean
the barbarians, such as mirrors, wine and and Ukrainian soil, it became the main
oil. In return, the Greeks obtained lots of grain supplier of Athens, reaching an al-
fertile lands, the best honey of the ancient most absolute monopoly after Pericles’
world, amber from the Baltic Sea, furs from failed Egyptian expedition in 454 BC. Ac-
the Siberian forests, slaves, and gold. cording to Demosthenes, the Bosporan
The most powerful among these bar- king Leucon I (389/388–349/348 BC) an-
barian peoples there were the Scythians, nually exported to Athens 20,736 tons of
with whom the Greeks established many grain, whilst Strabo reports even greater
aw_8-3.indd 26 27/06/14 10:34

quantities. Their economic power con- this colossal domino effect for the wars
tinued to grow, reaching its apex with against the Bosporan Kingdom!
Parysades I, who ascended to throne five The Massagetan wars of expansion re--
years after Leucon’s death. This king was sulted in an impoverishment of the Royal
especially remembered for his long and Scythians’ economy, for it interrupted trade
prosperous reign, the only trouble being along the Gold Route more than was usual,
a war fought against the Scythians in 328 since fewer and fewer merchants dared to
BC, which momentarily blocked the sales venture onto a trail now infested by bandits
of wheat stocks. We know very little of and robbers. The Sarmatians, for their part,
the reasons that unleashed this conflict, did not give the Scythians any respite. They
but the Scythians’ unrest was probably had no choice: in the east, the Massagetai
just a symptom of the great changes that seemed invincible. The only hope was to
were taking place in Central Asia. Very break Scythian supremacy over the Pontic
soon indeed, a new threat would cast its steppe and become the new commercial
shadow across the western steppes. partners of the Bosporan rulers. Such was
the situation on the northern coasts of the
A shadow in the east Black Sea when King Parysades died in 310
In the second half of the sixth century BC, or 309 BC, leaving three sons to vie for the
the Massagetai, the most powerful of the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom. A bronze man, once fixed to
Saka tribes, began to extend their power The eldest of these sons, Satyrus, who something like a chest or oth-
in the Kazakhstan steppes, subduing near- had been elected to the succession by Par- er object. Dated to between
ly all nomads of Central Asia. Again, we ysades himself, was backed by the young- the third and first centuries
know virtually nothing on the formation of est, Prytanis, while Eumelus, the second, BC. Currently in the British
this huge nomad confederation, destined sought war to assert his power. He had won Museum, London.
to last until around 165 BC. Many military many barbarians to his cause, the most no- © User ‘PHGCOM’ (via Wikimedia
historians argue nonetheless that the Mas- table being Aripharnes, King of the Siraces, Commons)
sagetai’s success was in no small part due the westernmost of the Sarmatian tribes,
to their development of new corps of heav- who then inhabited the Kuban steppe
ily armoured cavalrymen, later known to north of the Caucasus. Satyrus decided to
the Greeks as kataphraktoi. strike fast, before his brother could gather
Most likely, some Saka tribes who more allies. He left his younger brother
had not accepted Massagetan supremacy Prytanis to guard Panticapeum and took
fled westwards, and, reaching the steppes with him a strong body of Greek and Thra-
south of the Urals, mingled with the local cian mercenaries to confront Eumelus and
Sauromatians, giving rise to a new group Aripharnes. As he entered Scythian territo-
of Scythian tribes: the Sarmatians. This mi- ry, before turning right towards the Kuban,
gration seems to be supported by archaeo- Satyrus received a visit from his Scythian
logical excavations, which attest the grad- allies, who were more than willing to help
ual replacement of the Srubnaya Culture of him against the Sarmatians.
the old Sauromatian period with the new
Prokhorovka Culture, characteristic of the The opposing armies
early Sarmatian expansion. Rapid popula- Satyrus’ Bosporan army brought together
tion growth drove these new-born Sarma- some of the most warlike races of the time:
tian peoples more and more to the west, Greeks, Thracians, and Scythians. It was the
beyond the Don, into the lands of the Roy- result of a three-century evolution, started
al Scythians. The latter, unable to contain when the first Greeks landed on the Crime-
the former’s increasing pressure, began in an shores at the dawn of the sixth century
turn to seek new territories in Crimea and BC. As one might expect, the first armed
the Balkans. Apparently, in complete ab- forces of the Bosporan city-states included
sence of written sources, we should blame only hoplites, just as it was in every other
aw_8-3.indd 27 27/06/14 10:34

corner of the Hellenic world. These citizen- panoplies, and provided a small elite of
soldiers’ most frequently undertaken cam- armoured cavalrymen. Organized in close
paigns were seasonal wars between rival wedge formation, this unit’s main task on
cities, as well as occasional watches on the battlefield was to break through the
the Greco-Scythian border. Things changed centre of the enemy army, previously weak-
with the rise of the Spartacid dynasty in the ened by the volleys of the horse archers. In
last quarter of the fifth century. The interne- spite of their heavy armour, the Scythian
cine wars stopped, leaving the citizens freer nobles were capable of performing sudden
to devote themselves to trade and private changes of front, enveloping manoeuvres,
business. They were gradually replaced by charges and counter-charges with relative
mercenaries, who could be easily engaged ease. Once the enemy line had been split in
thanks to the Kingdom’s economic welfare, two the big mass of the light cavalry would
and were much more loyal to the local rul- join the fight for the final assault.
ers. These practices may have begun even The most common type of body pro-
earlier than expected, as there are some rea- tection was the scale corselet, which the
sons to suspect that Spartacus, the founder Scythians probably copied and reworked
of the Kingdom, was the head of a Thracian from Assyrian examples. The scales, of
mercenary unit. His name, anyhow, clearly bronze or iron, were attached with ani-
denotes a Thracian origin. mal tendon to the surface of a soft leather
Most of these men were obviously jacket, in a way that each small plate cov-
Greeks who still fought in hoplite phalanx. ered about one third of the width of the ad-
The funerary stelae of the Bosporan king- joining scales. Moreover, every horizontal
dom reveal mercenaries came from as far row of scales overlapped half of the one
as Sparta, Cyprus and Syracuse. We have below. Thus, a spear or an arrow point had
no evidence for the existence of a native to pierce three metal layers before caus-
Greek cavalry at this early stage. However, ing any injury. In some points, for exam-
given that every Hellenic power of the late ple along the sides or under the armpits,
fourth century possessed one, we could the scales were smaller and more numer-
safely assume that the Bosporan Kingdom ous so as not to hinder movement, while
made no exception. In addition, its position the shoulders were sometimes reinforced
on the edge of the steppe leaves no doubt with additional scale-covered bands to
about the need to equip a strong mounted better withstand blows from above. Apart
force. The royal horse guard may have been from expensive Greek muscled cuirasses,
trained and organized after the Macedoni- one could not wish for better protection.
an fashion, with bronze cuirasses and xysta Over time, the Scythians developed a real
lances. They may have also carried a com- obsession with scale armour, so much so
posite bow, like the lancers portrayed on that they often covered their bashlyk-like
Greco-Bactrian coins, who were likewise caps and shields with scales. Before going
influenced by Scythian warfare. into battle, they also used to gild armour
Front of a limestone grave-
Aside from the Greeks, the Spartacids in order to shock their enemies with the
stone with a Greek inscription
always retained some Thracian peltasts and reflection of the sun’s rays.
and, featured prominently,
a considerable number of Scythian horse- Ongoing relationships with the
the tamga symbol. The tamga
men. The Scythians sometimes fought as al- Greeks brought the Scythian aristocracy
referred to Sauromates II,
lies; in that case the troops were furnished to adopt many pieces of Greek armour,
king of the Bosporan King-
directly by the king of the Royal Scythians primarily helmets and linothoraxes. With
dom between AD 174/175
on the basis of the existing treaties with the regard to the former, the most widely at-
and 210/211. Kerch Histori-
Bosporan king. The majority of them were tested during the fourth century BC were
cal and Cultural Preserve, Ta-
horse archers, with little or no protection the Attic and Chalcidian types. Scythian
man peninsula. Dated to the
for the body. Princes and high ranking no- offensive equipment was varied. The
second century AD.
blemen, instead, could afford expensive composite bow with both ends curved
© Netjer VOF
aw_8-3.indd 28 27/06/14 10:34

outwards was the Scythian national arm. the enemy army encamped on the other side
It was carried in a quiver called gorytos, of the Thatis River, a tributary of the Kuban.
along with some 75 arrows, tipped with Satyrus took the risky decision to cross the
three-lobed bronze points. The short aki- river immediately, in order to end the war
nakes dagger was similarly characteris- with a single and decisive battle. His soldiers
tic for the Scythian warrior. The cavalry- calmly forded the Thatis. The Sarmatians
men skilfully wielded axes and spears; could have easily defeated them while they
among the latter, the shorter specimens were occupied in that delicate operation, but
could be thrown like javelins. they stood inexplicably still, watching one
Early Sarmatian equipment is some- unit after another emerging from the water
what of a mystery to the military historian. and taking position before their camp. May-
To attempt a reconstruction we need to be their king Aripharnes considered it unfair
combine the scant archaeological remains to win a battle with such a stratagem. Be- A golden Scythian wolf from
with information from later and better doc- sides, the Sarmatians outnumbered the Bos- Western Kazakstan. It dates
umented sources. Basically, Scythian and porans, and this surely increased their hopes from between the sixth and
Sarmatian warriors were still very similar to of victory. They fielded an impressive army of fourth centuries BC.
each other in the fourth and third centuries 20,000 horse and 22,000 foot, all recruited © Derzsi Elekes Andor (via Wikime-
BC, though the graves ascribed to the Sirac- through the Siraces’ tribal levy. dia Commons)
es did not contain the same large number of After the last Bosporan soldier had safely
armour suits as did those of the Royal Scyth- passed the river, Satyrus encamped his army
ians. This undoubtedly means that the lo- for the night within a ring made with the bag-
cal aristocracy was poorer, and could field gage carts, a clear nomad tactic probably
a lower number of armoured horsemen. suggested to him by his Scythian allies. The
The swords, on the contrary, were generally next morning, the two armies came out of
longer than Scythian models. This matches their respective camps and deployed for bat-
perfectly with later Sarmatian develop- tle. Following once more an Iranian custom,
ments, which would eventually lead to the Satyrus took the direct command of his ar-
adoption of long double-handed swords my’s centre, where he placed the bulk of the
by the Roxolani in the first century BC. An Scythian cavalry. On the right wing he lined
even more original feature of early Sarma- up the Greek mercenary hoplites and the
tian warfare were the so called ‘Amazons’, Thracian peltasts; the left the Scythian infan-
discussed by Owen Rees earlier in this is- try plus a smaller body of cavalry. Aripharnes
sue. Both Scythians and Sarmatians em- faced Satyrus’ central division with all the
ployed infantry in their armies. These were Sarmatian cavalrymen, while Eumelus com-
culled from the poorest tribesmen and the manded the infantry on the left, opposite to
men of subject peoples, ancestors of Slavs, the Greeks and the Thracians of the Bosporan
Finns and Ugrians. They fought as archers army. The remaining Sarmatian foot formed
or light spearmen. Following an Achaeme- Aripharnes’ right wing. The Sarmatians’ bat-
nid Persian model, the former shot from be- tle array suggests that the pretender Eumelus
hind three or more lines of spearmen. was regarded as a minor ally by Aripharnes.
Satyrus, on the contrary, enjoyed the highest
The Battle of the Thatis river authority over his Scythian allies.
The forces of the Bosporan coalition com- Battle began when the horsemen at the
manded by Satyrus included 2000 Greek centres of the two lines charged at each oth-
mercenaries, an equal number of Thracians er. A volley of javelins and arrows departed (Following page) During the
and 30,000 Scythian allies, a third of whom from both sides before the terrible impact. Battle of the Thatis River,
were horsemen. The warriors marched in Satyrus, surrounded by his mounted body- Satyrus, King of the Bosporus,
column, followed by a very long line of sup- guard and the noblest among the Scythians, along with two Scythian noble-
ply wagons. As they advanced through the struggled to open himself a passage towards men, managed to cut down the
steppes east of the Don, the scouts spotted Aripharnes, whom he wanted to challenge Siraces-Sarmatian light horse.
© Radu Oltean
aw_8-3.indd 29 27/06/14 10:34

aw_8-3.indd 30 27/06/14 10:34
aw_8-3.indd 31 27/06/14 10:34
The melee in the centre continued to

rage; Didorus Siculus reports heavy losses
for both parties, clear evidence of the hatred
snaking between Scythians and Sarmatians.
The former’s greater number of heavy caval-
rymen was in the end to their benefit, for the
Sarmatians eventually turned their horses
and routed. Satyrus set off in pursuit, decid-
ing to capture Aripharnes at all costs, but
was soon stopped by a relay who informed
him how the right wing had just been de-
feated by Eumelus’ infantry. He then man-
aged to recall his horsemen and fell on his
brothers’ troops from behind, completely
crushing them. At the sight of their compan-
ions’ defeat, the Sarmatian right, which was
still fighting, lost all hope and retired before
being totally encircled by the Bosporans.
Turn of events
Satyrus had achieved victory on the bat-
tlefield, though both Aripharnes as well
as his brother and rival Eumelus had man-
aged to escape. The defeated took refuge
in the Siraces’ capital city, a fortress built
on an island in the midst of the Thatis Riv-
er. It was a very strong defensive post, not
only because it was completely encircled
by the river’s deep waters, but also for the
high cliffs covered with thick woods on
top of which lay the city. Even worse, there
were only two possible inlets to the cita-
del. One was the main gate, guarded by a
couple of high towers and other defensive
works; the other was located at the island’s
opposite end, but was little more than a
straight path through a swampy forest, pro-
tected by some wooden palisades.
The Battle of the Thatis River. to single combat. The fateful duel with the
Satyrus did not attack such a formida-
© Julia Lillo king of the Sarmatians, however, never took
ble castle at once. Instead, he plundered
place. Satyrus remained locked in the fray
all the country of the Siraces, burning
and had to be content with the anonymous
their villages and stealing their cattle.
warriors appearing before him. In the mean-
Then, convinced that the defenders had
time, combat had also broken out between
already run out of supplies, he attempt-
the opposite wings. The outcome itself is
ed to storm the fortress. The attack was
still uncertain: Satyrus’ left hurled towards
launched against the main gate, the most
the Sarmatian right, but did not succeed in
effectively defended of the two entrances.
breaking through. On the right the merce-
As was to expected, the result was a to-
naries were slowly advancing under a rain
tal disaster; the Bosporans suffered heavy
of arrows, the Thracian peltasts being too
casualties and were forced to retreat.
few to provide an effective missile support.
aw_8-3.indd 32 27/06/14 10:34

There remained the awkward pas- for this last attempt to seize the throne. Eu-
sage through the swamp. At the head of melus, now weary of fighting, took every
his soldiers, Satyrus managed to break precaution to ward off future threats to his
through the wooden barricade. Victory, power. Except for the young son of Prytanis,
however, was still distant, for there was a who managed to escape to the King of the
dense forest to cross before reaching the Scythians’ court, he had all the relatives and
royal palace were Aripharnes and Eume- friends of his deceased brothers killed.
lus had barricaded themselves. The Bos- The citizens of Panticapeum reacted
poran soldiers turned into lumberjacks with outrage to the cruelty of their new
and began to cut down the trees. Mean- king, but Eumelus quickly managed to win
while, the archers of the Siraces did not their favour by granting them many tax
stop to annoy them from the palace’s exemptions. He also won some victories
battlements. They plowed on like this over the pirates, which greatly enhanced
for three days and reached the walls on his popularity among the Greeks of the
the fourth. Meniscus, leader of the Greek Black Sea, and protected some poleis from
mercenaries, attempted to scale the walls the expansionist ambitions of the Diadoch
with a handful of brave men. The enemy Lysimachus, who ruled over Thracia and
rushed en masse to the place, putting the western Asia Minor. According to Dio-
Greeks in serious danger. At this juncture, dorus, Eumelus’ greatest goal became the
Satyrus ran to the aid of his captain, but submission of all the countries around the
he was severely wounded in the upper Black Sea, but an accident cut short his am-
arm, and the offensive was suspended. bitions permanently. Apart from the strug-
That night, Satyrus died from his wounds gles for power inside the Bosporan royal
after a reign of just nine months. This un- family, the real benificiaries of these little
expected reversal provoked great dismay known events were the Siraces, or, better,
This detail from Trajan’s Col-
in the Scytho-Bosporan army. Meniscus, the Sarmatian tribes. In fact, the rise of
umn depicts a group of Sar-
who found himself the new commander- Eumelus coincided with the beginning of
matian armoured cavalry.
in-chief, decided to lift the siege and with- the decline of the Royal Scythians. Though
© Conrad Cichorius (via Wikimedia
draw to the city of Gargaza. From there they brilliantly won the Battle of the Thatis
Commons)
he conveyed the king’s body to his brother River, they lost the war, the first major set-
Prytanis in Panticapeum. back to their ancient hegemony. Initiative
Eumelus saw his fortunes suddenly passed permanently to the Sarmatians. The
revived and took the opportunity to open subsequent adoption of a new set of weap-
peace talks with Prytanis. The latter, how- ons would allow these peoples to rule the
ever, was not willing to compromise. Eu- entire European steppe. 0
melus’ proposal to divide the Kingdom
between them was answered by a firm re- Filippo Donvito is a regular contributor.
fusal, and Prytanis entrenched himself in
the capital. Eumelus did not give up and re- further reading
newed hostilities. After capturing Gargaza,
guarded only by a small garrison loyal to • R. Brzezinski and M. Mielczarek,
his brother, he marched on Panticapeum at The Sarmatians, 600 BC–AD 450
the head of his vengeful Sarmatian allies. (Oxford 2002).
Prytanis was defeated in pitched battle, and • E. V. Cernenko, The Scythians,
finally forced to surrender. Against all odds, 700–300 BC (Oxford 1983).
Eumelus had become King of the Cimme-
• M. Mielczarek, The Army of the
rian Bosporus. But the twists were not yet
Bosporan Kingdom (Lodz 1999).
over, for Prytanis organized a putsch dur-
ing Eumelus’ triumphal entrance in Pan- • T. Sulimirski, The Sarmatians
ticapeum. He failed and paid with his life (Southampton 1970).
aw_8-3.indd 33 27/06/14 10:34

Alexander’s pummelling of the Scythians
e Ba of
e Jaxars
The importance of the Battle of the jaxartes lies not with its size or
strategic value. The battle was fought on a small scale and served
no greater purpose other than to teach a band of brigands a lesson.
however, one can choose to teach that band of brigands a lesson in
style, using ingenious tactics and flawless execution. Alexander the
great was not infallible. indeed he made several mistakes during
his career, but this battle was not one of them. To cross a river in
the face of the scythians, to fight them on terrain of their choosing
and to utterly dominate in combat is a rare event in history.
by matthew beazley encompassed portions of modern day Af-
A
ghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
fter the stunning victory at In Bactria he rallied the remaining Persian
Gaugamela, Alexander relent- forces and awaited Alexander. In the en-
lessly pursued the Persian King suing campaign, Bessus made several mis-
Darius. However, in a matter takes and lost all of his support. From Bac-
of days, King Darius was dead, deposed by tria, Bessus fled to Soghdiana (portions of
his own entourage. The chief culprit was modern day Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajik-
Bessus, the Satrap of Bactria, who quickly istan, and Kazakhstan). However, it did not
assumed the role of King of Persia as Ar Ar- take long for the Soghdians to realize that
taxerxes IV. Bessus was a distant relative of Bessus was trouble. The Soghdian leaders,
King Darius so he could somewhat legiti legiti- led by Spitamenes, imprisoned Bessus and
mately lay a claim to the Persian throne. informed Alexander that they were willing
Alexander appeared to have been truly to hand him over. In such a way, Alexan-
disgusted by the murder of Darius. The der captured the last remaining leader of
conspirators had robbed him of the Achaemenid Persian resistance.
satisfaction of capturing the great king The Soghdians may have naively be-
and, as a king himself, regicide could not lieved that if they handed over Bessus Al-
be tolerated. Bessus and his co-conspira
co-conspira- exander would depart. But now that the
A horse attacked by a tiger.
tors could also become a focus of Persian Macedonian was in the region, he might
Dated to between the fourth
resistance against Alexander’s rule. He was as well subjugate the people to his rule. He
and first centuries BC. Cur-
determined to capture the king’s murderers. summoned Spitamenes and the Soghdian
rently in the British Museum.
Bessus, aware that he was a wanted leaders to a meeting. Fearing that Alexan-
© User ‘PHGCOM’ (via Wikimedia
man, fled to his province of Bactria which der would take hostages to ensure their
Commons)
aw_8-3.indd 34 27/06/14 10:34

good behaviour, the Soghdians refused and dered after one

rose in open revolt. These people, like their day due to a lack
Scythian cousins to the north, preferred to of water. Arrian
fight with bows on horseback. With his gar- does not mention
risons outnumbered and taken by surprise, what happened
Alexander soon lost numerous outposts to these men but
and border forts, whose garrisons were Aristobulus claims
massacred. In addition, Spitamenes laid they were put to
siege to Maracanda (modern Samarkand). the sword.
The exact number of troops that were A l e x a n d e r,
involved in the Battle of the Jaxartes is recuperating from
not known. We do know that Alexander a broken leg and a head wound that tem- A view of the modern Syr
did not have his whole army with him porarily impaired his vision and speech, Darya – the ancient Jaxartes
at this time. He was campaigning with must have been in extreme pain. But his River – at sunset.
a light expeditionary force while the re- pain did not slow down his resolve to sub- © Petar Miloševic (via Wikimedia
mainder of his army was split between jugate the Soghdians. Alexander moved Commons)
garrison duties across the recently con- his expeditionary force to a position along
quered eastern half of the former Persian the Jaxartes River just northeast of Cyropo-
Empire and putting out fires across Sogh- lis. It was at this location that he founded
diana and Bactria. Alexander’s campaign a new city. He envisioned Alexandria Es-
in this region to subjugate the rebellious chate (Alexandria the Furthest) to be the
population would not have required his northern most strongpoint of his empire.
entire army. For campaigns such as this Alexandria Eschate currently lies in Tajik-
Alexander liked to employ his light troops istan. The modern city is called Khujand
which typically consisted of portions of (Soviet Era Leninabad).
his companion cavalry, hypaspists (light After founding the city of Alexan-
phalanx), the Agrianes (Paeonian-Thra- dria Eschate on the southern shore of
cian skirmishers), archers, slingers, and a the Jaxartes River, Alexander spent three
small portion of foot companions (heavy weeks supervising the construction of
phalanx). With such a diverse force he the city walls including sacrifices to
could move quickly while still being pre- the gods and equestrian and gymnastic
pared for almost any eventuality. contests. On one such day of festivities
a large contingent of mounted Scythians
Alexandria eschate appeared on the far side of the Jaxartes
Acting quickly, Alexander dispatched a re- River. The Scythians had heard of the
lief force to Maracanda and personally led Soghdian revolt and came to see what
a force to recapture the border forts. With they could pillage in the confusion. Af-
lightning speed, he captured five of the sev- ter spying Alexander’s men, the Scyth-
en border forts in three days executing the ians began to shoot arrows into the river
garrisons as he went. The city of Cyropolis and shouted taunts and insults that se-
was the largest of the border forts. After sev- verely irritated Alexander. They knew
eral failed assaults on the walls, Alexander’s not who they were dealing with.
men infiltrated Cyropolis by following a dry
river bed under the wall. During the ensu- fighting the scythians
ing desperate fight, Alexander took a heavy Determined to teach the boastful Scythians
blow to the head from a rock. According a lesson, Alexander ordered the prepara-
to Arrian, approximately 8,000 defenders tion of skins to cross the river and offered
were killed in the fighting for the city. The a sacrifice to the gods for a favorable out-
remaining defenders, approximately 7,000 come. The omens proved unfavorable how-
men remained in the citadel, but surren- ever this did not deter him. Despite the ill
aw_8-3.indd 35 27/06/14 10:34

Alexander’s troops fire artil- omens, Alexander gave the order to attack. ander combined his hypaspists, compan-
lery to cover his crossing of At a pre-concerted signal the siege engines, ion cavalry, horse lancers (possibly Balkan
the Jaxartes River. stone and bolt throwers, were moved to lancers who are mentioned at Gaugame-
© Milek Jakubiec the river bank and began to open fire on la), archers, and Agrianians and advanced
the Scythians across the river. The Scyth- them against the Scythians.
ians, whose bows could not reach across The Scythians, intent on destroying the
the river, were dumbfounded at their foe’s advance detachment, apparently no longer
ability to attack them at such a great dis- took notice of the main body of Alexander’s
tance. Many Scythians were wounded and force and did nothing to prepare them-
one of their champions was hit directly selves for Alexander’s advancing onslaught.
in the breastplate and died instantly. The Alexander’s light troops soon mixed in
Scythians were soon thrown into disorder with the Scythian force and began to cre-
and fled from the riverbank. However, they ate confusion and panic. Being caught in
did not flee into the steppes. Instead they such close quarters, the Scythians were un-
chose to hover nearby, probably thinking able to fall back in safety. Meanwhile, Al-
they could pick Alexander’s men off piece exander formed up his companion cavalry
by piece during their river crossing. and horse lancers and charged headlong
Seeing the confusion his artillery created into the Scythian mass. This charge into a
amongst the Scythians, Alexander boarded confused and already panicking foe killed
a boat and crossed the river along with his many Scythians outright and caused the re-
archers and slingers who made up the first maining Scythians to flee in terror.
wave of the assault. Upon landing on the Arrian states that approximately
northern bank of the Jaxartes, the archers and 1,000 Scythians were killed in the
slingers began a steady covering fire upon day’s fighting and another 150 Scyth-
the Scythians keeping them at bay while the ians were captured during their rout.
rest of Alexander’s force crossed. Satraces, a Scythian leader, was among
Once Alexander’s forces were across the dead. Alexander’s casualties are not
the Jaxartes and massed in formation, Al- mentioned. Arrian mentions that the
exander ordered a small detachment con- entire Scythian force could have been
sisting of Greek auxiliary cavalry (most captured in the pursuit, but Alexander’s
likely light horse armed with javelins), and men were exhausted and thirsty from
four speirai of phalanx infantry to advance the hot sun and the day’s events. Being
against the Scythians. Whether the infantry that this was a light force used to march-
consisted of hypaspists or foot compan- ing as much as 90km per day, a more
ions is unclear. The Scythians, believing plausible explanation for calling off the
they had easy prey, took the bait and went pursuit of the routed foe is probably due
on the attack, quickly surrounding Alexan- to Alexander suddenly falling ill, prob-
der’s advance force. The mounted Scyth- ably after drinking tainted water.
ians ran circles around the advance party After this crushing defeat of the
all the while peppering them with arrows. Scythians, Alexander was approached
Most of Alexander’s casualties for the day’s by an envoy from the Scythian king. The
fighting came from this detachment which king pleaded for peace and stated that the
bravely stood their ground taking every- men Alexander fought were bandits and
thing the Scythians could throw at them. their actions were not sanctioned by him.
Most likely consumed with bloodlust, Alexander gave a courteous reply to the
the Scythians became completely distract- Scythian King for he did not wish to fur-
ed with this advance party and seemingly ther embroil himself in wars in the region.
forgot about the main host of the foreigners The sooner Alexander could subdue the
whom Alexander would soon use to great region the sooner he could advance to-
effect. With the Scythians distracted, Alex- wards India, which was his real desire.
aw_8-3.indd 36 27/06/14 10:34

aw_8-3.indd 37 27/06/14 10:34
maracanda closing remarks

In addition to the message from the Although Soghdiana was not as shiny a
Scythian king, Alexander also received prize as his previous conquests, Alexander
a disastrous report from the operations desired to invade India more than anything
at Maracanda. While Alexander was at this time in his career, and before he could
subduing the border forts, the relief do that, he needed to secure the areas to his
column he had dispatched to help the rear. This was foremost on his mind when
besieged at Maracanda was practically he hunted down Bessus, who happened to
wiped out. Upon hearing of the relief lead him into Soghdiana. However, once
force, Spitamenes had lifted his siege of Bessus was out of the way, the Soghdians
Maracanda and retired westward toward soon revolted and many of Alexander’s gar-
Bukhara in the Massagetae region. The rison forces in the region were obliterated.
relief force took the bait and followed Alexander, anxious to move onto India,
Nomadic or not, the Scyth-
Spitamenes into the wild territory of the was compelled to put down the rebellion.
ians still attached great value
Massagetae. The Macedonian force was To Alexander’s increasing frustration, the
to large metal objects, such as
ambushed and surrounded and almost Soghdians proved to be very cunning foes
this bronze cauldron, dated to
destroyed. Of the approximate 2,000 and he would spend two campaigning sea-
the fourth century BC. Simfer-
men that comprised the relief force only sons here. Alexander’s campaign, which
opol, Taurida Central Museum.
about 300 men survived the ambush culminated in the Battle of the Jaxartes and
© Netjer VOF
near Bukhara. Not only was this force the lifting of the Siege of Maracanda, im-
practically obliterated, it failed in its pri- pressed the Soghdians and convinced them
mary mission since Spitamenes prompt- to lay down their arms. The outcome of the
ly returned to his siege at Maracanda. Battle of the Jaxartes probably played a key
Moving with extreme speed, Alexander role in their decision.
marched a force of cavalry and light troops Alexander’s use of siege engines as field
to Maracanda. His force covered 260 kilo- artillery was a novel idea, perhaps the first
meters in four days of marching. Again, Spi- use of its kind in recorded history. Alexan-
tamenes raised his siege and fled into the der’s force crossed the river, under covering
desert. Unable to locate Spitamenes, Alex- artillery fire and in the face of the Scythians,
ander soon gave up his pursuit. and defeated the mounted horse archers on
Spitamenes, taking refuge amongst the the ground of their choosing. This stunning
Scythians of the Massagetae, would contin- victory immediately led the Scythian King
ue to be a nuisance to Alexander. However, to sue for peace as well as convince the
after installing a network of forts throughout Soghdians that further resistance was futile.
Soghdiana, it became increasingly difficult There are very few examples in ancient his-
for Spitamenes to move in the region. With tory where the horsemen of the steppes are
the conquest over Alexander soon grew bested in battle. As a result, the Battle of the
bored with the region. He left Coenus, Jaxartes is just one more example of why
one of his most accomplished and experi- Alexander is called ‘the Great’. 0
enced Macedonian officers, in command
of the garrison forces. Coenus harried Spi- Matthew Beazley is a regular contributor.
tamenes’s forces, whittling them down over
time. Eventually Spitamenes lost his support further reading
amongst the locals and was executed by the
Massagetae when they no longer wished Regarding the primary sources, consult
to continue their fight against Alexander’s Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander, books 3
forces. According to the Roman historian and 4 and Plurach’s Life of Alexander.
Quintus Curtius Rufus, Spitamenes’ was Peter Green’s Alexander of Macedon
murdered by his wife, who was tired of the (1991) offers a readable account of the
guerrilla-warrior lifestyle. conqueror’s life.
aw_8-3.indd 38 27/06/14 10:34

aw_8-3.indd 39 27/06/14 10:34
The find
Roman emperors, their armies and the parapompê
Pedeal
for a ro
“in accordance with the decision of the mightiest council, ulpia
Athenais (set up this monument for) fl(avius) ulpius demokri-
tos, the hero, son of fl(avius) ulpius Arrianos, who had held a
priesthood, had given money to the council and to the people,
had been first archôn, censor, and curator of the prusans and
had performed a parapompê at his own expense; the most ex-
cellent (mother) for the most beloved son.”
by Konrad stauner bear on his mother’s side, too, became a
A
Roman citizen and adopted the Imperial
couple of years ago, a stone nomen gentile Ulpius. Arrianos’ father
that originally served as ped- or perhaps grandfather had married an
estal for a statue of a certain Ulpia. In the name of their common son
Flavius Ulpius Demokri- the Imperial nomina gentilia were com-
tos was found in the territory of the bined into the name of our (T.) Flavius
Bithynian city of Nicomedia. From the Ulpius Arrianos, a phenomenon often
inscription carved on it we learn that encountered in the provinces.
Demokritos had died too young to en- The offices Arrianos had held show
ter public service in his home city. His that his family belonged to the upper
mother, Ulpia Athenais, who had set up crust of Nicomedian society. Apart from
the monument, therefore honoured her his priesthood, which he may have per-
son by listing either all or some of the of- formed for the city goddess Demeter,
fices Demokritos’ father, Flavius Ulpius he had been prôtos archôn or supreme
Arrianos, had held in Nicomedia. magistrate of the city. That he must have
The peculiar combination of names held great sway in the city council can
(Flavius and Ulpius) is presumably due be presumed from his appointment, by
to Roman citizenship having been grant- the council, as timetês or censor, a posi-
ed to Arrianos’ forebears by different tion in which he scrutinised the mem-
emperors: under a Flavian emperor (Ves- bers of the council for their financial
pasianus, Titus, or Domitianus), a fore- suitability to sit on this body. His job
bear on his father’s side may have re- as logistês or curator rei publicae tells
ceived Roman citizenship and adopted us that he was known beyond Nicome-
the Imperial gentilitial name or nomen dia’s city boundaries. Appointed by the
gentile, Flavius. Later, under Emperor emperor, probably upon recommenda-
Marcus Ulpius Traianus (Trajan), a fore- tion by the provincial governor, Arrianos
aw_8-3.indd 40 27/06/14 10:34

The find
as curator rei publicae was sent to the Three more of the

neighbouring city of Prusa to check and twelve inscriptions,
sort out the public finances there. including this present
one, were found in
The parapompê Nicomedia, but, unfor--
The last task mentioned in the inscription tunately for us, mention
is the most interesting one for us. Arrianos only the bare fact that the
performed a parapompê and paid for it out honorand performed a para-
of his own pocket. What is a parapompê? pompê without giving any
Literally translated, the word means ‘escort, context, which was presum-
convoy(ing), transport’. Such service was per- ably clear to ancient read-
formed, for example, by soldiers seconded ers of the text. The twelfth
to road stations (praesidia). An ostracon dis- inscription commemorates
covered in the praesidium of Krokodilô on a Flavius Severianus Askle-
the route from Koptos on the Upper Nile to piodotos of Nicaea, who did
Myos Hormos on the Red Sea tells us that, a parapompê for Emperor
in AD 118, Arruntius Agrippinus – probably Elagabalus on his way from
the commanding officer of the Eastern desert Syria to Rome; the text adds
(praefectus montis Berenicidis) – sent a cir- that Asklepiodotos was hold-
cular letter to all heads (curators) of the road ing the highest city office at
stations along this route, instructing them to the time of the parapompê
provide escorts (parapompaîs) for those who, and the paracheimasíai, i.e.
with his written permission, transported pro- while the emperor and his
visions from Koptos, so that the transporters army were in winter quarters
would be safe against attacks by barbarians. in Nicomedia (Cassius Dio
In Asia Minor this term appears in 80.6.1). With its strategically
inscriptions dating from the late second ideal access to the sea Nicome-
and third centuries, when emperors and dia repeatedly served as a stop-
expeditionary forces repeatedly marched over point for troops in transit.
against the Parthians and, later on, the Sas-
sanians. Of the twelve inscriptions known An ancient riddle
from the province of Bithynia mentioning The rather cryptic indication of a ser
ser-
a parapompê, eight come from the city of vice rendered for emperors and their ex- Monument set up for Flavius
Prusias on the Hypios, where members of peditionary forces has prompted some (mili- Ulpius Demokritos; for a
the local elite are recorded as having car- tary) historians to give detailed descriptions translation of the inscription,
ried out a parapompê for the emperor(s) of what parapompê is supposed to mean, see this article’s opening para-
and his (their) armies; some inscriptions namely the provision of sumptuous lodgings, graph. Height: 1.53m; width:
even say that the honorand did so often food and entertainment for the Imperial guest 0.71m; depth: 0.64m; letter
(pollákis). It is highly unlikely that the em- and of various foodstuffs for his soldiers. In height: 0.03–0.045m. Dated
perors and their troops were in need of corroboration of these assertions, reference to the late second to third
an escort to protect them while in the city is sometimes made to a number of inscrip- century AD.
and its territory, and so an escort of hon- tions dating from the early second century, © Konrad Stauner
our looks much more likely. Herodotus which actually mention details of what had
reports that when, after the Battle at Sala- been provided: for example, in AD 113/4, a
mis (480 BC), Themistocles was returning C. Iulius Severus of Ancyra, modern Ankara,
home from a visit to Sparta, three hundred is said to have continually dispensed oil to
Spartan knights escorted (proépempsan) troops in transit; he also provided hospital-
him as far as Sparta’s borders with Tegea ity (apodexámenon) to the soldiers in winter
(Hdt. 8.124), thus paying their respect to quarters at Ancyra (paracheimásanta) and ac-
this outstanding man. companied them on their way to war against
aw_8-3.indd 41 27/06/14 10:34

The find
the Parthians (propémpsanta). Latinius Alex- under Severus Alexander and Gordianus
ander, also of Ancyra, made donations to the III, had provisions transported to the Impe-
city (dóntos dianomàs têi pólei) when Had- rial armies on the Eastern front.
rian and his troops were passing through it. However, these clearly transport-re-
Again in Nicomedia, a man called Glykon lated parapompê services differ from the
acted as annonarch for two legions on their parapompê mentions in the Nicomedian
way to fight against the Persians, i.e. he pro- inscriptions insofar as they actually say
vided them with wheat. that goods had been shipped from A to
However, the problem with this kind B. The uniform silence of the texts from
of corroboration is that those inscriptions Nicomedia is just as striking as is the
which give details about what had been loquacity of those from Prusias, a city
provided for soldiers in transit never men- which, compared with the metropolis
tion the term parapompê, while those Nicomedia, was more of a provincial
mentioning a parapompê never give any backwater where more epigraphic fuss
details as to what had actually been done may have been made about the arrival
for the numerous guests. Both types of in- of the emperor and/or army contingents.
scriptions are simply lumped together, the Be that as it may, both the military
former being taken as detailed accounts context in which the parapompê in
of what the latter laconically circum- Prusias is mentioned and the Bithynian
scribe as parapompê. It may have been inscriptions’ closeness in time to one
so, but it is pure speculation. another suggest a certain likelihood
What Arrianos concretely did re- of Arrianos’ having performed his para-
mains unknown. That he performed his pompê in a similar context involving the
parapompê on the occasion of an Impe- arrival of civilian or military state repre-
rial visit to Nicomedia is rather unlikely, sentatives and, possibly, the provision of
since the inscription as a whole shows some services for them. The present in-
Ulpia Athenais’ endeavour to present her scription is exceptional in giving us the
son in the most favourable light by show- extra piece of information that Arrianos
casing, as it were, his father’s outstand- incurred costs for his parapompê and de-
ing services to the city. Had Arrianos frayed them out of his own pocket; pre-
done his parapompê for an emperor, sumably, this means that more than just
this would have constituted an important minor amounts were incurred; if so, he
event for the family and would probably had done his city a great favour, and this
have been mentioned as eloquently as in was definitely worth boasting about. 0
the inscriptions set up for the notables in
Prusias on the Hypios. Dr Konrad Stauner is Lecturer of Ancient
Perhaps Arrianos carried out, organ- History at the Historical Institute of Fern
ised or managed a logistical task or a Universität in Hagen, Germany.
transport job at his own expense. From
the first half of the third century we know further reading
of some men from Asia Minor who per-
• M. Adak and Konrad Stauner,
formed such service and termed it para-
‘Eine Honoratiorenfamilie aus
pompê; for example, a M. Aurelius Man-
Nikomedeia’, Gephyra 10
drianus Longinus of the Pamphylian city of
(2013), pp. 143–151.
Side accompanied three wheat deliveries
to Syria, where Roman troops were fight- • Hertha Schwarz and Konrad
ing on the Eastern front; so did M. Aure- Stauner, ‘Die Parapompé des
lius Obrimianos Konon of Kasai in Cilicia; Kaisers und seines Heeres im
from the same city we also know of an Ap- nordwestlichen Kleinasien’, Ge-
ronianus Caelianus who twice, probably phyra 4 (2007), pp. 1–35.
aw_8-3.indd 42 27/06/14 10:34

Special
The war-reliefs of Seti I at Karnak
e nqueng
phaoh
The new Kingdom (ca. 1550–1077 Bc) was a period in which egypt
was, for the first time, enacting proper imperialist and expansion-
istic policies in the near east. within this period, the nineteenth
dynasty (ca. 1292–1189 Bc), egypt flourished, producing no less
famous a ruler than ramesses ii (r. 1279–1213 Bc), known for his
battles against kingdoms of the ancient near east and particularly
for the Battle of Kadesh. his direct predecessor and father, seti i (r.
1290–1279 Bc), was no less warlike and capable.
by arianna sacco some parts of the narrative, but not the bat-
tle scenes, were sometimes omitted.
T
he reliefs described in this article Literacy in ancient Egypt was not wide-
are all found on the outside of the spread, so the visual impact of the reliefs
northern wall of the Hypostyle would have been of considerable impor-
Court at Karnak, between Pylons II tance. From this point of view, the focus is
and III, so on the wall that would have been undoubtedly the king, who is shown much
visible outside of the hall proper. They are de- larger than any of the other characters in
picted in six registers, divided in three on the the reliefs and also depicted as victorious
left (east) and three on the right (west) of the in personal combat against larger numbers
central doorway. Such battle reliefs are part of foes, who surrender themselves or are
of a tradition during the New Kingdom, with slaughtered by Seti (the enemy is always
earlier examples dated to the Eighteenth Dy- shown in a weaker position).
nasty (ca. 1543–1292 BC). The function of the reliefs was to im-
These reliefs typically represent, or press the viewer with the might and piety
describe in the captions, the King in ques- of the king. But who exactly was the in-
tion first preparing to go to war, assembling tended audience? First, the pharaoh may
the troops, and then marching off to battle. have wished to impress his might on the
The main focal point is the depiction of court and the clergy, in order to prevent
the king actually fighting against the en- them from plotting rebellion or a coup.
emy and soundly defeating him. Finally, Secondly, they also illustrated that the
the king is shown returning home and wel- King was capable in performing his duties,
comed by priests and officials, before pre- which included defeating the enemies of
senting the spoils to the gods – especially Egypt (chaos) and thereby protect order
and justice, or Ma’at. Taking all of this into An old photograph showing
Amun – in Thebes. The reliefs were limited
account, it is understandable that the art- the mummy of Seti I.
by the amount of space available, so that
ists who created these reliefs did not in- © Public domain
aw_8-3.indd 43 27/06/14 10:34

Special
seti i Karnak war scenes - east wing bottom, in the lower left corner, where
the date of the campaign depicted in the
Battle episodes non-battle episodes
lower register is reported. The dates for the
[los
T] other registers are a matter of debate, but it
[upper regisTer losT]
seems plausible that they can all be placed
8. l
eba
non before the sixth year of Seti’s reign.
Trib 10. presentation
ute 6. yenoam 7. Binding 9. return to
of booty to
3.sh
Battle captives egypt
Theban Triad
11.
Triumph
east of the central doorway
as
at p u Battle 2. submission 1. shasu Battle 4. return to 5. presentation scene In the bottom left, the narrative starts with
a-Ka
nan of chiefs of ‘ways of horus’ Tcharu of booty to the fourth scene from the doorway (num-
canaan Theban Triad ber 1 in the diagram), which mentions the
first year of the reign of Seti I, i.e. 1290
seti i Karnak war scenes - west wing BC. In this scene, the Pharaoh is shown in
Battle episodes non-battle episodes
his chariot attacking with his bow and ar-
ring rows a group of Shasu Bedouins on a Ca-
offe
25. ene naanite hill topped with a fort or fortified
23. [losT] 24. Assault on Kadesh sc
city. The same campaign continues on the
n] fifth scene from the central doorway (num-
now
21. presenting 20. return to 18. King slays 17. lybian 9. [unK ber 2). Here the Pharaoh is shown on his
1
22. booty egypt libyan chief battle
Triumph chariot while being paid tribute by Asiatic
n]
scene now princes, while the forts and the wells along
16. presenting 15. return to 4. [unK
13. hittite campaign 1 the road from Egypt to Asia are both listed
booty egypt
in the captions and outlined in the relief.
The story continues in the last scene
Diagram showing the main tend them to be realistic renderings of the on the left (number 3). Here the Pharaoh
scenes on the outer face of actual military campaigns of Seti I. is depicted again attacking in his chariot.
the northern wall of the Hypo- The enemy is another group of Shasu Bed-
style Hall at Karnak, between The campaigns of seti i ouins, now depicted larger than before, and
Pylons II and III. The numbers During the New Kingdom, Egypt extended the battle is set at Pa-Canaan, probably the
are referred to in the text. In- its borders beyond its original territory, es- main city in Gaza. The King with his chariot
scriptions aid in interpreting tablishing footholds in the Levant in par- and horses are the very focal point of each
the scenes. The battle scenes ticularly. Kings of the New Kingdom there- of these scenes, but it is not clear why a mi-
are located further away from fore frequently came into conflict with nor victory over a technologically inferior
the doorway (symbolizing lesser Kings and chiefs in those regions enemy, though troublesome and treacher-
the centre, Egypt), while the that they wished to dominate, and they ous, is here depicted so prominently (the
scenes showing the return to also came to outright warfare with some inscriptions offer no explanation).
Egypt, and which are set after of the bigger empires of the age, foremost The narrative continues in the right half
the battles, are placed nearer of course the Hittite Empire in Anatolia. As of the same register, with the third scene
to it. Chronologically, scene 1 a true King of the Egyptian New Kingdom, from the doorway (number 4). Here the
(the Shasu Battle) came first. Seti I campaigned both northwards, into victorious Seti is shown on his chariot tri-
© Karwansaray Publishers the Levant, and westward, into Libya, and umphantly crossing the border from Asia
south into Nubia. On the reliefs, though, to Egypt with bound Shasu prisoners. Seti
only the campaigns in Asia and Libya are is welcomed by priests and high officials,
represented, probably because the Nubi- who are on the Egyptian side of the border
an campaign aimed to crush only a minor and raise their hands in adoration.
rebellion and Seti I didn’t even personally In the second scene from the central
take part in it, while his son Ramesses II, doorway (number 5), the Pharaoh presents
still a crown prince, did. the booty and bound captives to the god
The reliefs at the Hypostyle Court at Amun, who is depicted seated on a block
Karnak should be read starting from the throne (throne shaped as a block).
aw_8-3.indd 44 27/06/14 10:34

Special
In the second register, the story starts goddess of the Theban nome (district). An
with the fifth scene from the central door- inscription lists the names of conquered or
way (number 6). Here, Seti I is depicted in subdued territories; names of Nubian terri-
Palestine, attacking the city of Yeno’am and tories are perhaps a later addiction.
its inhabitants with bow and arrows from It is not exactly clear whether the bat-
his chariot; enemy chariots are also shown. tles depicted in these registers form part of
In the fourth scene (number 7), the Pharaoh a single campaign or two different ones. If
is shown victorious and in the process of the latter, it is possible that the lower register
binding two groups of prisoners obtained records a campaign that occurred in the first
during the battle. The last scene (number year of Seti’s reign and was directed mostly
8) depicts Seti in Lebanon, behind his against the Shasu, but also against Levan-
chariot, while local princes pay homage to tine princes, ending at Pa-Canaan. The cam-
him and four chieftains cut wood for him, paign represented in the middle register,
a sign of submission to the Egyptian ruler. then, happened at some unspecified time
The names of the King’s horses are different after the first year, and was set in the Beth
from those of the lower register, which may Shan region. A stele found near Beth Shan
suggest a passage of time. tells of a campaign conducted by Seti in the
The third scene from the central door- region during the first year of his reign. A
way (number 9) depicts the King’s victo- second stele also refers to a campaign of
rious return to Egypt. He is depicted in a Seti’s here, but does not include a date.
completely different manner, binding the It has been suggested that the cam-
prisoners to his chariot. In the next scene paign against the Shasu was organized
(number 10) he is standing in front of the when Seti was still a crown prince and
Theban Triad – the god Amun, seated on a had yet to succeed his father Ramesses I (r.
block throne, his wife Mut, and their son 1292–1290 BC) to the throne, as suggested
Khonsu – and presents them with booty and by a dedicatory stele in Abydos that men-
bound captives, similar to the scene depict- tions rebellions in Lebanon and of other
ed on the lower register. A final triumphal foreign people. Following this hypothesis,
scene crosses both the lower and middle Seti I could have organized the campaign
registers (number 11) and depicts the Phar- represented in the second register soon af-
aoh smiting bound prisoners using a mace, ter the previous one, very late during the
the typical symbol of royal power in Egypt first year of his reign. It would have been an
from an early period onwards. He performs attempt to solve more pressing problems,
the ritual in front of the god Amun and the fulfilling a request for aid from local princes
Karnak
Karnak possessed a large temple complex dedicated principally to the god Amun,
his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu (the three together forming the Theban Triad). The
earliest construction dates to the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC), but building
activities continued into the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC). The main period of activ-
ity dates to the New Kingdom, when Amun became the most important god in Egypt.
The temple complex has three main precincts, each one dedicated to each of the
divinities of the Theban Triad and containing several structures. The precinct where
the reliefs discussed in this article are located belonged to Amun. The Hypostyle Hall
itself was most probably originally built by Seti I, although it may have initially been
planned by his father Ramesses I. Other pharaohs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Dynasty continued to add to the Hall, writing their own inscriptions on its columns An Egyptian khopesh, or
and walls. The Hall has a total of 134 columns, divided in 16 rows; the columns in the bronze sickle-sword.
middle rows are 20m tall, while the rest are 14m tall. © Guillaume Blanchard (via Wikime-
dia Commons)
aw_8-3.indd 45 27/06/14 10:34

Special
Amurru during the reign of Suppiluliuma

I (r. 1344–1322 BC). In the relief, neither
the Hittite king nor his son is shown or
mentioned; instead, we get a chieftain. The
scene is probably set in Syria; the inscrip-
tions don’t give any geographical details. It
is worth mentioning that here the Hittites,
represented with way more chariots than
the enemies in the other scenes described
in this article, are shown with two men in-
side each chariot, similar to Egyptian cus-
tom, whereas in the reliefs of Ramesses II
they are depicted with three men for each
chariot. The names of the Pharaoh’s horses
are again different from before.
Unfortunately, the scene on the extreme
right, on the Second Pylon (number 14), is
not preserved. The narrative continues on the
This photo shows scenes at in the Levant and guaranteeing peace as third scene from the central doorway (num-
the extreme left of the lower soon as possible. In this case, the first Beth ber 15). Here, Seti I is shown in the act of
and middle registers on the Shan stele would almost certainly refer to stepping onto his chariot and carrying prison-
eastern (left) part of the wall, this second campaign. ers back to Egypt; interestingly enough, some
numbers 3 and 8 in the dia- The problem of the route followed of them are transported via chariots. The next
gram on page 44. in the second campaign could be solved scene (number 16) again depicts Seti I pre-
© Olaf Tausch (via Wikimedia Commons) by supposing that either the Pharaoh senting his captives and booty to the Theban
tended first to the more urgent problems Triad. The inscription adds that the captives
in Palestine before going up to Lebanon, were to become servants in the temple of
or that the situation in Lebanon was so Amun at Karnak, a detail missing from the
troublesome that it was not possible to similar scenes elsewhere in these reliefs.
use the harbours there and arrive at Pal- In the fifth register, the narrative starts
estine via the sea. It is also possible that in the fifth scene from the central door-
the Pharaoh never actually went to Leba- way (number 17). Seti I is shown on his
non, but instead sent only a contingent chariot fighting with the kopesh (sickle-
of his troops. In the second case, his de- sword) against the Libyans, named in the
piction in Lebanon on the Karnak reliefs inscriptions as the Tehenu. The Libyans
would be an example of artistic licence. were a threat to the Egyptians, because
(It is unfortunate that the upper register they were trying to infiltrate the country
left of the central doorway is now almost via the western Nile Delta; possibly they
completely lost, as it may have offered were in search of better environmental
further clues to Seti I’s campaigns.) conditions that were more conducive to
breeding cattle. In response to this threat,
west of the central doorway the Egyptians constructed fortresses and
The fourth register is the lower one to the housed garrisons along the north-western
right of the central doorway. The narrative border. They also enlarged the army, which
starts with the fourth scene from the cen- included the hiring of mercenaries, such
tral doorway (number 13 in the diagram), as the Sherden, who are connected to the
where Seti I is depicted fighting with bow mysterious Sea Peoples.
and arrows from his chariot against the The narrative continues in the fourth
Hittites. Relations with the Hittites were scene from the central doorway (num-
difficult, especially after they had taken ber 18), where the Pharaoh is depicted
aw_8-3.indd 46 27/06/14 10:34

Special
on foot, killing a Libyan chieftain with

a spear. On the far left of this scene,
Ramesses II is depicted. The two battle
scenes of the Libyan campaign described
are actually independent from each other,
so the proper order may be switched. The
scenes closest to the doorway show the
Pharaoh escorting bound Libyan prison-
ers back to Egypt (number 20) and pre-
senting booty and prisoners to the Theban
Triad (number 21); this wall’s triumphal
scene (number 22) is again similar to the
one found on the eastern wall.
Part of the top register for this wall
is missing; however, one scene (number
24) depicts a battle against the Amor-
ites in Kadesh, the place where Seti’s son
Ramesses II would later fight an important extreme right parts of the walls. The scenes This scene depicts Seti I fight-
battle against the Hittites (see Ancient War- are also read in the direction away from ing the Libyans (number 17
fare VII.1). The city is depicted as a forti- the doorway, so that they probably repre- in the diagram on page 44).
fied town and named in the accompany- sent an actual departure and moving away Note how large the Pharaoh
ing inscription. Kadesh was an important from Thebes and Egypt. By comparison, is depicted compared to his
strategic location on the road leading to the scenes depicting the return to Egypt diminutive enemies.
northwards to Aleppo and Carchemish. and the presentation of booty and captives © Netjer VOF
Local chieftains tended to ally with the to the gods are all located near the door-
Hittites, who were nearer to them, making way, which can then be interpreted more
this area a hotbed of trouble. To the right specifically as the actual entrance to the
of this scene is part of another (number 25) temple at Karnak. 0
that probably again showed the King pre-
senting booty and prisoners to the gods. Arianna Sacco is an Egyptologist with
degrees from the universities in Naples,
closing remarks Italy, and Volos, Greece. She is current-
The reliefs on the outside of the Hypostyle ly working on her PhD dissertation on
Hall at Karnak do not simply document the the material culture in Egypt during the
military campaigns of Seti I. These scenes Second Intermediate Period at the Uni-
are powerful propagandistic statements that versity of Leiden.
serve to illustrate and also reinforce the di-
vine might of the ruling Pharaoh. The reliefs
portray the restoration of law and order over further reading
chaos, represented by the enemies. They re- • R.B. Partridge, Fighting Pharaohs:
inforced the image of the ruling King as a Weapons and Warfare in Ancient
bringer of peace, protector of Ma’at, for the Egypt (Manchester 2002).
Egyptians essential to let eternity and the
continued cycle of repetitions go on, as well
• A.J. Spalinger, War in ancient
Egypt: the New Kingdom (Mal-
as a warlike commander on the battlefield.
den, MA, Oxford 2005).
The central doorway probably sym-
bolized the heartland of ancient Egypt. • K.R. Weeks (ed.), Reliefs and
Because of this, the battles, which are all Inscriptions at Karnak, Volume IV:
set abroad, have been placed far from the The Battle Reliefs of King Sety I
doorway, at either the extreme left or the (Chicago 1986).
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The debate
An obscure debate over a very long spear

How long s
e macenian
sa ssa?
nineteenth-century historians were fascinated by the macedonian
phalanx and its characteristic weapon, the sarissa. however, some
were convinced that reports of the sarissa’s extreme length must
be incorrect, while others struggled to reconcile the testimony of
different ancient writers and even resorted to altering the original
texts. looking back over a century-and-a-half of scholarship, we
can see how the debate was derailed by misinformation and finally
brought back on track by the discovery of an unexpected source.
by Duncan b campbell of this new weapon was “so prodigious
I
and so unwieldy, that we should hardly
n 1854, the eminent historian George believe it, if it did not come attested by the
Grote was hard at work on the twelfth distinct assertion of an historian like Poly-
and final volume of his ambitious His- bius”. When the volume duly appeared in
tory of Greece, in which he carried 1856, he decided that the chapter on ‘The
the story from the accession of Alexander Asiatic Campaigns of Alexander’ should
the Great in 336 BC down to the death of be followed by a short appendix ‘On the
Agathocles in 288 BC. Naturally, military length of the Macedonian sarissa or pike’,
affairs bulked large, and so, in order to explaining the matter to his readers.
present the latest wisdom on the subject,
Grote consulted the recently published The ancient writers
Geschichte des griechischen Kriegswesens According to Rüstow and Köchly, the Mac-
by the German military historians Wilhelm edonian sarissa was “14-16 feet in length”,
Rüstow and Hermann Köchly. but Grote’s reading of the ancient sources
One topic requiring special explana- convinced him that “(the sarissa) of the in-
tion was the long pike known as the saris- fantry in phalanx was not less than 21 feet
sa, which was the hallmark of the Macedo- long”. How had such a discrepancy arisen?
nian phalanx. (Purists consider sarisa to be In fact, the German historians had
the correct form, but the Greeks used both reached their conclusion by convoluted rea-
versions, and the spelling with a double ‘s’ soning. First, they conceded that “all reports,
has passed into common English usage.) with the single exception of Arrian’s in the
Grote assured his readers that the length Taktika, give the length of the Macedonian
sarissa as 16 cubits or 24 feet”. This is not
aw_8-3.indd 48 27/06/14 10:34

The debate
Reeanactor equipped with

sarissa against two regular
hoplites. Note how the lance
bends across its length.
© Hetairoi e.V.
strictly true. Besides two Byzantine compila- cording to the original design, 16 cubits,
tions, only one ancient source gives this pre- but as adapted to actual practice, 14 cubits
cise length. This is Polyaenus, who alleged – from which we must subtract the distance
that, when Cleonymus of Sparta besieged between the (bearer’s) hands and (the length
Edessa in around 275 BC, the garrison sal- of) the counterweight behind the projecting
lied out in phalanx, and “each sarisa was 16 part, being 4 cubits in all – it is evident that
cubits long” (Stratagems 2.29.2). the sarisa must extend 10 cubits beyond the
We may imagine that, although Poly- body of each hoplite, when he charges the
aenus wrote during the reign of Marcus Au- enemy grasping it with both hands.”
relius and Lucius Verus (AD 161–169), he Much the same information is found in
drew upon information from the third cen- the tactical treatise of Aelian, composed over
tury BC for this story. Nevertheless, Rüstow two centuries later, around AD 100. Explain-
and Köchly were suspicious of such a late ing the Macedonian phalanx, Aelian wrote
source. The only authority they were will- that “the length of the sarisa is, according to
ing to acknowledge was Polybius, whose the original design, 16 cubits, but in reality
involvement in Rome’s Third Macedonian 14; from this 2 cubits (should be subtracted)
War (171–168 BC) and whose authorship from the projecting part for the distance be-
of a now-lost treatise on tactics bolstered tween the hands; the (remaining) 12 cubits
his credibility as a military historian. projects beyond the bodies” (Tactics 14.2–3).
However, it is noticeable that his de- Another ancient treatise on tactics, this
scription of the sarissa is closer to Polyae- time by Asclepiodotus, was written in the
nus’ version than to Rüstow and Köchly’s: late first century BC, and thus dates from the
“Since (…) the length of the sarisa is, ac- period roughly midway between Polybius
how long is a cubit?

The ancient Greeks used units of measure based on body parts. The “foot” (pous; pl.
podas) was divided into 16 “fingers” (daktyloi) or 4 “palms” (palaistai). The foot used
at Athens (for other city-states had their own standard measure, which could vary sig-
nificantly) was long thought to have measured 30.83cm, but is now thought to have
been closer to 29.5cm, which has the virtue of being equal to the standard Roman foot.
The ancient Greeks also employed a measure called the “forearm” (pechys; pl.
pecheis), which equated to a foot and a half. In the system of body parts, this was sup-
posedly the distance from the finger tips to the elbow. The Romans called the same
measurement an “elbow” (cubitum), from which we derive our word cubit. In a system
based on a 29.5cm foot, the cubit will have measured 44.25cm or thereabouts, which
is only 2cm shorter than the cubit previously advocated by nineteenth-century scholars.
aw_8-3.indd 49 27/06/14 10:34

The debate
and Aelian. Asclepiodotus, too, mentioned Polybius, an original reference to 14 po-

the Macedonian phalanx and its characteris- das (“feet”) had been changed to 14 pe-
tic weapon. However, where Aelian clearly cheis (“cubits”) by mistake.
lifted his explanation from Polybius, Asclepi- Consequently, Rüstow and Köchly al-
odotus preserved a slightly different version. tered every instance of “cubits” to read
He claimed that “the spear (of the Macedo- “feet”, thus arriving at their preferred 14-
nians) is not shorter than 10 cubits, so that 16-foot sarissa. In their view, anything
the projecting part is not less than 8 cubits, longer would have been ridiculous, for
but is never longer than 12 cubits, so that the they calculated that a 24-foot (7.4m)
projecting part is 10 cubits” (Tactics 5.1). ash-wood sarissa, narrowing from a di-
This passage and others demonstrate ameter of 2” (5cm) at the butt down to
the complex relationship between the so- 1¼” (3.5cm) at the point, would weigh
called ‘tactical writers’; although they seem around 17lbs (or 8kg). Furthermore, they
ultimately to have derived much of their reckoned that maintaining this length of
information from Polybius, one or other of pike in a couched position exerted an in-
them also relied upon the now-lost work tolerable strain (they calculated 30lbs, or
of Posidonius, who was Asclepiodotus’ 13.5kg) on the bearer’s right hand. Hence,
teacher. Both Polybius and Posidonius were it was dismissed as unhistorical.
credited as sources by Arrian, the third of
the ‘tactical writers’ after Asclepiodotus and A different hypothesis
Aelian, who wrote his Art of Tactics in AD It is obvious that Rüstow and Köchly’s case
137. His account comes closer to Asclepi- for a 14-foot sarissa was misconceived.
odotus than to Aelian, for he claimed that Their emendation of every text but Arrian’s
“the size of the sarisa was 16 feet. Of this, was unjustifiable and their criticism of Po-
4 (feet) are for holding it by hand and the lybius was groundless. Grote pointed this
remainder extends from the body, so that out in Volume 12 of his History of Greece,
12 (feet) project beyond the body of each but if he hoped that the matter had now
front-ranker” (Art of Tactics 12.7). been laid to rest, such optimism was mis-
Commentators have always found Ar- placed. In 1888, the archaeologist D.G.
rian’s account problematic. Already in the Hogarth, one-time President of the Royal
seventeenth century, Johannes Scheffer Geographical Society and an associate
suggested a mix-up of feet and cubits, so of Lawrence of Arabia, took issue with
that, rather than a 16-foot sarissa, Arrian Grote’s opinion (in the Journal of Philology
had actually envisaged a 16-cubit sarissa. 17), calling his 21-foot pike “the last resort
However, the German scholar Johannes of military incompetency.”
Kromayer, reviewing the whole subject of Like Rüstow and Köchly, Hogarth
Greek and Roman warfare (in the journal mistrusted Polybius, but only concern-
Hermes 35, 1900), pointed out that it was ing his knowledge of Alexander’s pha-
at least as likely that Arrian himself had de- lanx. Hogarth presumed that this original
cided to shorten the sarissa, as one of the phalanx must have been far more mobile
many small additions and improvements and flexible than the phalanx of Polybius’
he made to his source material. A 16-foot own day, which had easily fallen prey to
weapon may have seemed more practical the Roman legions. While happy to ac-
to him than a 16-cubit one. cept Polybius’ 14-cubit sarissa as com-
Scheffer’s original suggestion perhaps monplace in the warfare of the second
planted the seed of an idea in Rüstow and century BC – “he must have seen it often
Köchly’s minds, for – rather than agreeing enough, and could hardly make an error
with Scheffer outright – they decided to of 7 feet in its length” – he emphasized
apply his theory in reverse, and proposed that “it is needless to credit Alexander’s
that, in the text of the generally reliable pikemen with so monstrous a weapon as
aw_8-3.indd 50 27/06/14 10:34

The debate
this; it belongs to the days of decline when and the ‘tactical writers’, he concluded
generals, deficient in tactical ability, had that the sarissa, originally 18 feet long,
reverted to solid immobile formations as had later been reduced to 14 feet.
more within their power to handle”. However, it took the perspicacity of
Hogarth decided to champion Ar- Johannes Kromayer finally to question Rüs-
rian’s Art of Tactics, which he (wrongly) tow and Köchly’s high-handed treatment of
presumed to be “the earliest and best ver- the sources. He listed three false assump-
sion” of the tactical treatises, and which tions: (1) that Polybius recorded a 16-cubit
he (wrongly) quoted as advocating a 14- sarissa, when he actually said it measured
foot pike. Thus, he simply cherry-picked 14 cubits (a difference of nearly 90cm); (2)
those elements of Rüstow and Köchly’s that the sarissa must have weighed over
argument that allowed him to equip Al- 8kg, which (Kromayer reckoned) was dou-
exander’s phalanx with a shorter sarissa. ble the likely weight; and; (3) that the bearer
Although Hogarth’s theory found no ad- gripped the sarissa by the final 2 feet of its
herents, Rüstow and Köchly’s opinion haft, which simply increased the pressure
continued to influence scholars. For ex- on the right hand unnecessarily.
ample, the original reference to “a spear For comparison, he cited the pike A detail from the famous Al-
more than 20 feet long” in J.G. Droysen’s of the medieval Landsknechte, which at exander Mosaic in Pompeii,
Geschichte Alexanders des Großen (‘His- 5.2m was only a little shy of 12 cubits, now on display at the Archae-
tory of Alexander the Great’, published in and which weighed a mere 3.285kg. In- ological Museum in Naples,
1833) had been replaced by “a spear of terestingly, at virtually the same time, Kro- gives an impression of an ar-
14-16 feet in length”, by the time of the mayer’s contemporary, Edmund Lammert ray of pikes.
© Public domain
book’s third edition in 1880. constructed a 6.5m sarissa out of green
ash-wood, which (so he claimed) proved
An unexpected source to be easily handled, despite weighing
Ironically, it was Droysen’s son Hans who, 6.5kg. A second version, made from sea-
in 1889, first exposed the weakness of soned wood, weighed only 5.6kg. Lam-
Rüstow and Köchly’s theory, in his Heer- mert calculated that, wielding the pike in
wesen und Kriegführung der Griechen its couched position, the pressure on the
(“Army organization and warfare among bearer’s right hand, far from Rüstow and
the Greeks”), for he had unearthed an Köchly’s 13.5kg, was only around 6kg.
obscure source that they had overlooked. Kromayer’s correction of Rüstow and
This was the philosopher Theophras- Köchly’s misinformation duly took its place
tus, Aristotle’s successor as head of the in his new handbook, Heerwesen und
Lyceum in Athens and a friend of Cas- Kriegführung der Griechen und Römer,
sander; as a contemporary of Alexander which he jointly authored with Georg Veith
the Great, he had probably observed the in 1928. In the section on Macedonian
original Macedonian phalanx in person. affairs, he wrote that “the longest sarissas
At any rate, he expected his readers to in Alexander’s time were 12 cubits long
be familiar with the phalanx’s distinctive (which is 5.5m)”, while for the Hellenistic
weapon, as a throw-away comment in his period, he suggested that “the sarissas were
Enquiry into Plants demonstrates; for he lengthened to 16 cubits (…) and by Poly-
claimed that the height of the Cornelian bius’ time, men were content with sarissas
cherry tree “is about 12 cubits, which is only 14 cubits (6.21m) long”. As we shall
as big as the longest sarissas” (3.12.2). see, this seems broadly correct.
Droysen realized that this was crucial
evidence for the phalanx of Alexander’s A different unit of measurement?
day using a 12-cubit sarissa; but still being Meanwhile, across the Channel in Britain,
in thrall to Rüstow and Köchly’s wisdom an eccentric theory was evolving in the
regarding the supposed error of Polybius mind of W.W. (later Sir William) Tarn. In
aw_8-3.indd 51 27/06/14 10:34

The debate
1930, Tarn delivered the Lees-Knowles Lec- ment when he wrote that “podas must be
tures in Military History at Cambridge Uni- emended to pecheis”, because Arrian also
versity, and later that year, published them specifies a two-foot spacing between the
as a booklet (Hellenistic Military and Naval ranks (as opposed to the other sources’
Developments), in which he floated a radi- two-cubit spacing), which would not al-
cal new idea. Like Hogarth, he was trou- low much room for movement. Neverthe-
bled by the thought of Alexander’s famously less, like Kromayer before him, the Arrian
manoeuvrable phalanx carrying 18-foot scholar Professor Philip Stadter preferred
pikes. The only solution seemed to be to to retain Arrian’s 16-foot sarissa, pointing
reinterpret Theophrastus’ measurement. The out that “the mistake – or correction – is
result was Tarn’s famous ‘short Macedonian Arrian’s” (Classical Philology 73, 1978).
cubit’. His justification lay in the knowledge A new hypothesis was suggested by
that different Greek states operated different Alejandro Noguera. Proceeding from the
standards of measurement; but, whereas consensus that Theophrastus accurately
known cubits varied from 0.44m up to described the sarissa of Alexander’s day,
around 0.48m, Tarn’s was barely 0.33m! Noguera suggested that both Arrian and
Despite the complete absence of cor- Asclepiodotus were describing Alexander’s
roborating evidence, this hypothesis was phalanx, since (as we have noted) Arrian’s
hailed as a major breakthrough and flour- 16-footer falls within the range of sarissas
ished well beyond Tarn’s death in 1957. mentioned by Asclepiodotus, whose long-
Even as late as 1969, Professor J.R. Hamil- est sarissas match Theophrastus’ version.
ton, in his commentary on Plutarch’s Life of This theory has the twin benefits of
Alexander, wrote that “Tarn has argued con- explaining why Arrian’s testimony doesn’t
vincingly that there was a short Macedonian fit the description given by Polybius,
Two reenactors with lances; cubit of about 12–14 inches”. It was only in while shedding a little light on the ‘tacti-
the extreme length of the 1973, with Robin Lane Fox’s Alexander the cal writers’, for it seems likely (if we fol-
weapons is quite evident. Great, that the ‘short Macedonian cubit’ was low Noguera) that, while Aelian followed
© Hetairoi e.V.
finally exposed as a fantasy. Polybius in describing the later Hellen-
istic phalanx, Asclepiodotus was follow-
A new hypothesis ing Posidonius’ account of Alexander’s
Most twentieth-century scholars have fol- phalanx (which is now lost). Not only has
lowed Kromayer and accepted that Alexan- Grote’s faith in Polybius been vindicated,
der’s original sarissa of 12 cubits (18 feet) but the debate over the length of the sa-
somehow grew to 16 cubits, falling back to rissa may open up another debate that has
14 by the time of Polybius. In this scheme, barely begun; namely, the relationship
Arrian’s 16-foot sarissa has always proved an between the ‘tactical writers’. 0
embarrassment. Generally, scholars followed
Scheffer’s suggestion that Arrian’s “feet” must Dr Duncan B. Campbell is a regular
be amended to read “cubits”; only Minor contributor.
Markle stood apart in believing that “perhaps
he is providing only an average dimension” further reading
(American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 81,
1977), presumably of Alexander’s sarissas,
• E. Lammert, ‘Sarisse’, in: Re-
alencyclopädie vol. 1A.2 (1920),
since (as we have seen) Asclepiodotus gives
cols. 2515–2530
a range of 10-12 cubits (of which the average
would be 16½ feet). • A. Noguera Borel, ‘L’évolution
However, Professor Frank Walbank, de la phalange macédonienne:
in his influential Historical Commentary le cas de la sarisse’, in: Ancient
on Polybius (Vol. 2, 1967), perhaps real- Macedonia 6 (Thessalonica
ized the difficulties of Arrian’s measure- 1999), pp. 839–850.
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Reviews
reviews
In her book on Roman Britain, Dr Birgitta
Hoffmann has taken a look at the familiar The Roman Invasion of Britain:
and often cited historical sources and com- Archaeology versus History
pared the interpretations derived therein to
hard data from the archaeological record. ISBN: 184-8840977
Author: Birgitta Hoffmann
By re-evaluating the evidence in this way,
Pages: 222
Hoffmann hopes to determine just how
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd
much of what we ‘know’ about Roman Brit- Address of publisher:
ain can actually be said to be reliably fac- www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
tual, as opposed to being merely the result Reviewer: Joseph Hall
of ‘Chinese whispers in a century old dis-
cipline.’ Such a study as this is a welcome
addition, and will prove useful to those in-
terested in all aspects of Roman history, not differing views on Commius from various
just the enthusiast of Roman Britain. scholars, relates the available historical and
Before beginning in earnest, Hoffmann archaeological evidence to show the dis-
provides an interesting caveat to the work, crepancies these views contain, and argues
and one which should perhaps be present for another view to be considered: that the
in far more studies than it currently is: given well-known Commius could indeed be two
the minute amount of material recovered separate individuals who happened to share
(between 0.1 and 1 per cent) it is unlikely a not uncommon name and have become
that we can ever know with certainty what conflated by later historians into one person.
happened in Roman Britain at any given Although the evidence arrayed for her views
time. Or, in her own words: “the best any generally convinces, Hoffmann never insists
modern researcher can hope for in recon- that she is right and others wrong. It is also
structing the past is a ‘valid’ interpretation.” refreshing to be reminded that many of the
The book proper begins by looking at supposed ‘facts’ which stick in the mind re-
those ancient historians whose works are so garding Roman Britain are often merely in-
heavily relied upon by modern students of terpretations based upon scanty evidence.
Roman Britain, and flags up the multitude The book is well written and ultimate-
of problems encountered when attempting ly succeeds in engaging both the academ-
to uncritically use their works to construct a ic and popular reader. In general, there
narrative of events. Thereafter the book turns are no neat conclusions. This is the point
to a chronological treatment of the Romans of the book however, and as such is its
in Britain, from the first foray of Caesar in 55 chief strength. Over thirty images are scat-
BC to the end of Roman Britain in the early tered throughout, which include both photo-
fifth-century AD. Given that the aim of the graphs and maps, which are black and white
book is to pit the evidence from archaeol- of generally adequate quality. References are
ogy against that from history it is unsurpris- the in-text Harvard style, although thankfully
ing that the majority of chapters examine the they never interrupt the flow of a sentence,
earlier time-period of the first century AD. and coupled with an extensive bibliography
Received wisdom is challenged with they provide a treasure-trove of further infor-
thoroughness and objectivity, with one ex- mation for the reader. Overall a fascinating
ample of this being Hoffmann’s examination read that I highly recommend, and indispen-
of the life of Commius. Here she sets out the sable to anyone interested in Roman Britain.
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Reviews
to being only 320 pages, ancillary mate-

Shades of Artemis rial included. Thus the author had only a
limited space to work with. He achieves
ISBN: 978-1413745825 surprisingly much but the overall narrative
Author: Jon Edward Martin is hurt by the fact so much has to be shown
Pages: 320 within such a limited page count.
Publisher: PublishAmerica When we look at the Leonidas of
Address of publisher: Sparta trilogy we see a three-parter, where
www.publishamerica.com each novel is vastly more extensive than
Reviewer: Ronald Delval its predecessor in the trilogy. The author is
brilliant in her nuanced and detailed in-
terpretation of Sparta. At the end of each
book there is a most interesting addendum
Shades of Artemis: A novel of Ancient
where she defends her interpretations and
Greece and the Spartan Brasidas by Jon Ed-
dares to think out of the box, following
ward Martin was published in 2004. I shall
common sense and a critical approach of
be reviewing it side by side with the Leoni-
highly subjective and even mutually con-
das of Sparta trilogy by Helena P. Schrader
tradicting sources. Part one is especially
that initially saw release in 2010 until the
fascinating in the way we follow Leoni-
completion of the three part series on Spar-
das’s participation in the agoge. The way
ta and King Leonidas. The trilogy consists
she details how the agoge functioned is
of A Boy of the Agoge, A Peerless Peer and
cohesive and believable. Even if one may
A Heroic King. I shall discuss the Leonidas
contest some of her interpretations or
trilogy as a si gle entity and I will point out
choices the end result is most appealing.
the strengths and weaknesses of both the
Her overall interpretation of Spartan socie-
Brasidas novel and the Leonidas one.
ty, culture and law pops up throughout the
Shades of Artemis is in many ways a
entire trilogy, slowly revealing a wide vari-
summary of the strengths of the Leonidas
ety of topics and thus educating the reader
trilogy. It tells the life of Brasidas from his
in a playful manner. Here, too, she dares
earliest years in the agoge up until his he-
to step away from the stereotype of the
roic death in battle. Brasidas is one of the
‘dumb brutish austere Spartan’ and give us
better known Spartan generals and defi-
a more realistic and correct interpretation.
nitely seemed one that did not fit the typi-
Both authors touch on the ‘helot fac-
cal mould. We know of quotes attributed
tor’ very explicitly. Both storylines also
to him and his endeavours tended to be
stress other aspects of the helot problem.
underlined by a surprising boldness. The
Both do this well, but each does it with an-
novel is set during the Peloponnesian War
other objective in mind. The Brasidas sto-
and although it mainly puts focus on Brasi-
ryline focuses on a relationship he has to
das, it also frequently shows several phases
give up, with the helots forming an integral
in the life of Thucydides, who rises through
keystone of his future army, while the Leo-
the ranks in Athens. This allows the author
nidas storyline has a far more active cast of
to put the sharp contrast between both so-
helots. The Leonidas trilogy, due to it span-
cieties on display and how both cities han-
ning several books, manages to show a va-
dled education, military training, warfare
riety of aspects, such as the differences be-
and especially politics. The author seems
tween Messenian and Spartan ‘slaves’, but
unbiased, clearly showing the shocking
also goes out of its way to very explicitly
and counterproductive corruption, the
show how the two sides view each other
political backstabbing and the sheer self-
and why they are locked in an eternal cycle
destructive foolishness both city-states suf-
of mutual distrust and hatred. The treatment
fered from, each in their own ways. It is a
of helots is more nuanced in the Leonidas
worthwhile read, but it lacks a little due
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Reviews
trilogy, but a large part of the second novel mis, especially since Brasidas himself is
is specifically about how and why excesses a somewhat neglected Spartan. But the
in Messenia crop up and how it impacts Leonidas trilogy is a must and should def-
the Messenian helot population. initely be read. It is a flawed creation only
Overall, the Leonidas trilogy is the in that it is easy to contest some views of
superior experience. Shades of Artemis’s the author, but then Sparta will forever be
greatest strength is that it touches on so contentious subject. Given that both the
many topics in such a condensed space, Brasidas and the Leonidas novels are very
while also devoting some time to the accessible, they make a good introduc-
Athenian perspective. Those readers look- tion to those ignorant of the subject mat-
ing for a quick read about the Spartans ter and will be most entertaining to those
should definitely pick up Shades of Arte- well versed in Spartan lore.
As Great King of Persia, Darius I had an

eye for trade and how the expansion of it Blood of Kings
could enrich the empire. He was the first
to regularize the payment of tribute from ISBN: 978-1405912808
the satrapies, where before the collec- Author: Andrew James
tion of money had been haphazard, and Pages: 360
in the primitive form of gifts. Darius’ em- Publisher: Penguin Books
pire was rich far beyond the conventional Address of publisher:
understanding of that term. Just the states www.penguin.co.uk
of western Asia Minor alone provided his Reviewer: Marc G. DeSantis
treasury each year with as much revenue
as Athens obtained annually in the fifth
century BC from her empire. Herodotus
straits under his dominion. Egypt, the oth-
tells us that the Persians had a saying that
er great granary of the west, was also a
Darius was a retailer, Cambyses a slave
Persian satrapy, and Darius thereby con-
master, and Cyrus a father. Darius may
trolled access to the grain that fed Greece.
have had the mentality of a shopkeeper,
The Ionian Revolt of 499 came about in
but he was a diligent and conscientious
large part as a reaction to the overbearing
ruler. His initially shaky empire needed
power of the empire. The Revolt did not
him to be one. He had obtained power in
end happily either, but the involvement
a murky series of events in the wake of the
of the Athenians in the campaign that re-
deaths of his predecessor Cambyses and
sulted in the burning of Sardis, the capi-
the pretender Bardiya. The beloved Cyrus
tal of Lydia, brought them to Darius’ at-
himself had been slain by the nomadic
tention. He vowed revenge for the deed.
Saka not too long before, and the tyranni-
The invasion that ended at Marathon was
cal Cambyses had lost tens of thousands
thereby linked to both Persia’s relentless
of soldiers in a disastrous campaign in
expansion as well as Athens’ ill-consid-
Egypt. That Darius put the empire back on
ered participation in the Revolt.
a firm footing after years of upheaval is a
In Blood of Kings, author Andrew
testament to his good governance.
James’ Darius is an earnest young man
After taking the throne, Darius con-
seeking to repair his own fortunes. His fam-
ducted expeditions to India and Scythia.
ily, once the royal house, has fallen on hard
The Scythian campaign did not end hap-
times since it was overthrown by Cyrus.
pily, as the Scythians for the most part
The blood of true kings may run in Darius’
avoided his large and lumbering army.
veins, but though he was raised in the roy-
Darius did however, bring the Black Sea
al court, he has little to offer the beautiful
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Reviews
Parmys, daughter of Bardiya, and grand- for wanting a better life than the one that
daughter of Cyrus. That does not matter to Cyrus has allowed them. Cyrus too is less
Parmys, who frets that her brave Darius will the ideal king than might be supposed. He
get himself killed in battle. She obviously is scornful of Darius’ report of the mass-
knew what she was worrying about, being Saka and disregards what is extremely
cause Darius not only nearly gets himself important intelligence on rather flimsy
killed by Saka in the beginning of the nov- grounds. That he retains his son Cambyses
el, he also manages to get himself pegged as the crown prince, though he is a rep-
for execution by Cyrus when his report of a rehensible fellow whom even Cyrus him-
massive Saka army lying in ambush across self regards as undeserving of the throne,
the Yashkarta River is disbelieved. Darius is shows him to be just an old man seeking
sent off to be slain, but Cyrus lifts the death to benefit his family, even it means disas-
sentence just before he dies when Darius’ ter for Persia as a whole.
report proves to be all too real. The greater part of Blood of Kings
Darius’ problems have only just be- concerns Darius’ personal quest to safe-
gun. Though he has been freed, the new guard his beloved Parmys from both the
King of Kings, Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, vile pharaoh and the even more revolting
is a cowardly and wicked man, and com- Cambyses. As befits a novel set in the Per-
pletely unsuited for the throne. A bright sian empire of the latter sixth century BC,
spot is that Bardiya consents to a marriage his travels will take him from the Central
between his daughter Parmys and the love- Asian steppe to Arabia and the Western
struck Darius. Wedding plans are quickly Desert of Egypt. James writes that he con-
put on hold when Cambyses compels ceived the idea for his novel after seeing
Bardiya to instead give his daugher in mar- the chiseled mountainside inscription of
riage to the loathsome Pharaoh Amasis of Darius at Behistun, Iran. This was a record
Egypt as a means to lull him into believing of Darius’ empire and his own version of
that the Persians have no plan to attack his how he became the King of Kings. A his-
wealthy kingdom. If Parmys is to be Dari- torical novel has a special burden placed
us’ wife, and not the bride of the disagree- upon it. It must be resolutely fiction, but
able pharaoh, then Cambyses will have to must not contradict facts as we know them
die, and Darius must take his throne. to be. It cannot be a simple history either,
Blood of Kings is a rare thing: a nov- since that is the proper domain of nonfic-
el set in the ancient world in which the tion. Darius is a major figure of ancient
main character is a sympathetic Persian. history and it is impossible to be complete-
It is a welcome change of pace from the ly free in developing him as a character.
more typical historical novel in which the Fortunately, there is more than
Persians are merely the enemies of Greek enough flexibility in the story of Darius
freedom and democracy. The Persians for James to weave a tale that is both read-
themselves are neither cardboard villains able and historical. While reading Blood
nor mighty heroes. Most are brave, but a of Kings, the comparative foreignness of
few are knaves. Darius himself is coura- ancient Persia became extremely com-
geous, but he is far from perfect. From pelling. The unfamiliarity of the names
an early point he plots to bring about the and places (plus the copious bloodshed)
ruin of Cambyses and so restore his own lent it an almost Game of Thrones feel at
moribund family to power. One wonders times. The novel is certainly a page-turn-
whether his family deserves his strenuous er, which is perhaps the most important
efforts. His father Hystaspes has been so quality that a novel can possess. It was a
ground down by a life of humiliation at treat to see the story of Darius told from a
the hands of Cyrus that he does not see ‘Persian’ viewpoint, and I look forward to
how low he has sunk. He scolds Darius reading a continuation of it.
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Reviews
This book is about the first Dacian war. It is

a study of some of the cruelest and most vio- Dacia: The Roman Wars, Vol-
lent wars that Rome ever waged, against the ume I: Sarmizegetusa
Dacians. It is a very valuable visual encyclo-
pedia that can be enjoyed by both specialists ISBN: 978-9730147865
and general audiences, young and old alike. Author: Radu Oltean
Pages: 156
Both the Romanian and English versions of
Publisher: Art Historia
the book were published by the author him-
Address of publisher:
self, Radu Oltean, who is an artist special- art-historia.blogspot.com
ized in making graphic reconstructions Reviewer: Andrei Pogacias
of historical buildings, towns and cos-
tumes from Romanian history. He is also
a reenactor and has contributed beauti-
ginning of the book. The author also gives
ful centrefold illustrations for several is-
a brief introduction on the Dacians before
sues of Ancient Warfare magazine.
turning to the Dacian Wars themselves and
The author’s knowledge of events,
a treatment of the history of archaeologi-
writing style and especially illustrations
cal research in the mountains where the
make this book a very valuable starting
Dacians had their centre of power and the
point for those who wish to investigate the
main strongholds. Accurate maps of forti-
subject further. The colourful and lively il-
fications, towers, roads (many of them un-
lustrations made by the author are able to
published before by anybody), accompany
transport the reader into the middle of the
the text, as well as unique illustrations of
events described in a way similar to the
Dacian civilian life. Scenes of very well-
work of the renowned Peter Connolly.
documented Dacian dwellings, habitat,
The text is written in a simple and con-
workshops and costumes give a lively im-
cise style. The author takes the best sources
pression of what life must have been like
and presents a general opinion on events.
in the last years of the Dacian Kingdom.
The bibliography at the end of the book is
The author then turns his attention to the
impressive. Ancient sources are combined
First Dacian War of Emperor Trajan, from
with the special bibliography regarding the
the preparations to the cruel fighting of AD
Dacian Wars, articles on various aspects of
101–102. Among the illustrations those of
these events, works regarding Dacian cul-
Dacian military costumes and equipment
ture and civilization, the majority of them
stand out. A highlight are the reconstruc-
in Romanian, and from various Romanian
tions of the Dacian capital, Sarmizegetusa
volumes and scientific magazines. For the
Regia, after the war of AD 102, when the
first time, Romanian insights regarding
Romans apparently occupied the area and
the Dacians are presented to the Western
built fortifications. The triumphal build-
reader. Romanian archaeologists supplied
ings of Adamclissi, in memory of the bitter
the author with information on unpub-
fighting, many victims and the victory in
lished archaeological finds.
the Dacian diversion of 101/102 are also
All the illustrations, whether pictures
reconstructed in great detail.
or drawings, are always accompanied by
The book is excellent for those who
informative captions. There are not many
wish to retrace the events of the war and
written sources about the Dacian Wars,
the exact locations, and travel to see the
only fragments that are not enough for un-
sites for themselves. It will work better
derstanding the events. Most important in
than a battlefield guide, which, by the
this research thus remain the visual sourc-
way, you can’t find anywhere. As I have
es of the ancient world, Trajan’s Column,
enjoyed reading this book so much, I
statues of Dacians, the monument at Ad-
can only hope that the second volume
amclissi, and so forth, described at the be-
will arrive soon.
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On the cover
ss sons
of e eppe
in this issue’s cover illustration by johnny shumate, we see a scythian
horse archer shooting into urartian infantry with his recurve bow. These
horse-archers, born into the saddle on the eurasian steppe, would prove
so successful that their style of fighting would remain unchanged for
over thirty-five centuries; defeating the chinese in the middle Ages as
easily as it had the Assyrians nearly two millennia earlier.
by Joseph Hall whether hard or soft” (Life of Crassus 24.4).
T
These arrow-storms came from “bows which
he steppe itself comprises over were large and mighty and curved so as to
four thousand miles of grassland discharge their missiles with great force” (Life
stretching from Eastern Europe of Crassus 24.5), and Dio related that the ar-
to the Great Wall of China, and rows “flew into their eyes and pierced their
was home to countless nomadic tribes and hands and all the other parts of their body
empires, most notably the Scythians, Sar- and, penetrating their armour, deprived them
matians, Parthians, Huns, and Mongols. of their protection” (40.22.4). The barbed
Such a vast expanse of flat open land en- heads of the arrows also ensured that they
sured that the horse became a vital part of could not easily be extracted without causing
steppe life, and, when coupled with the even more damage. Indeed, so many arrows
bow, the men of the steppe presented en- were discharged at the Romans that when
emies with a highly mobile and extremely Crassus’ son urged his soldiers to charge the
efficient army of horse-archers, able to ride Parthian cataphracts they simply showed
with the ability of one taught from infan- him their hands, which were riveted to their
cy, and to turn 180 degrees in the saddle shields with arrows, and their feet, which
whilst at full gallop and still hit their target. were pinned to the ground.
Perhaps the best example of how effec- Although their opponents differed over
tive steppe horsemen could be in combat the centuries, the tough steppe warrior did
is the Battle of Carrhae. In 53 BC, the Ro- not. Like a force of nature, he remained
man general Crassus fought a Parthian army the same implacable enemy whether fac-
comprised overwhelmingly of horse-archers. ing Assyrians, Romans, Persians, Chinese,
Caught on an open plain, the legions were or Franks. Since their first historically
An iron sword with gold hilt unable to engage with the mobile horsemen, documented appearance in the Assyrian
and its accompanying gold- who loosed volley after volley of arrows annals, these superb horsemen consist-
en scabbard. Such weapons into the densely packed ranks of legionar- ently smashed the armies of urban societies
were common among the ies. Plutarch says that when light troops around the steppes up until the later medi-
Scythians in the fourth cen- were ordered to charge the horsemen, they eval era, when gunpowder weapons finally
tury BC. From Kiev, Museum were defeated by “the velocity and force became advanced enough to counter the
of Historical Treasures. of the arrows, which fractured armour, and dominance of these seemingly unconquer-
© Netjer VOF tore their way through every covering alike, able warriors of the steppe. 0
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Aw Viii 3

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Aw Viii 3

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Vol Viii, issue 3

www.ancient-warfare.com // Karwansaray PublisHers

Swift aS the wind acroSS

Horsemen of the steppes

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€ 49,50 (shipping not included)

The book is available from:

www.vantiltfragma.com Vantilt fragma

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Theme - swift as the wind across the plains

Publisher: Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier

Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews,

Copyright Karwansaray B.V. All rights reserved. Nothing

ancient warfare Viii-3 3

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The first romans at carnutum?

4 ancient warfare Viii-3

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unexpected roman fort discovered deep in central germany

Themes and deadlines

ancient warfare Viii-3 5

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by sidney e. Dean Linguistically and culturally, all three

6 ancient warfare Viii-3

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ancient warfare Viii-3 7

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8 ancient warfare Viii-3

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Reading up on the horsemen of the steppes

by michael J. taylor devolves into vague reports of ‘Black Cloaks’

ancient warfare Viii-3 9

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did you know? scythians smoking up

10 ancient warfare Viii-3

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ancient warfare Viii-3 11

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Horse(wo)men of the steppes

by owen rees and modern, female archers who are

12 ancient warfare Viii-3

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connection was so vital, it was consid- ary capital Themis-

ancient warfare Viii-3 13

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14 ancient warfare Viii-3

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16 ancient warfare Viii-3

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King of the world

by cam rea of the world’ (sometimes translated as

18 ancient warfare Viii-3

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The Assyrians fought the Cim-

ancient warfare Viii-3 19

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ancient warfare Viii-3 21

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Darius the Great’s Scythian expedition, 512 BC

by marc G. Desantis ten and twelve arrows in a minute. Higher

22 ancient warfare Viii-3

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This was a strategy of extreme mo-