Scythian heavy cavalryman equipped with a spear and composite bow. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
The first two nomadic peoples to emerge in the vast steppes of Eastern Europe were the Scythians and the Sarmatians, who were part of the Indo-Europeans and originated in the heart of Central Asia, from where they migrated towards the vast plains of southern Russia and Ukraine. Like all the steppe peoples of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Scythians and Sarmatians were described as ‘masters of horses’ by the sedentary peoples living around them. Being nomads who were constantly on the move, the Scythians and Sarmatians spent most of their lives on horse, which was a fundamental component of their civilizations. Life was extremely harsh for these nomadic peoples: they did not practice agriculture but had large amounts of cattle. To find the pastures needed to feed these cattle, they moved across the wild plains of the steppe by following the course of major rivers. All the Scythian and Sarmatian men were warriors, who travelled on horseback; their families followed them on carts, which were the mobile homes of the steppe peoples. The Scythian and Sarmatian societies were quite simple and egalitarian, since all the free men had the right to bear arms and to fight in case of war. There was a powerful nobility made up of warlords and their personal retainers, but these did not enjoy particular privileges. The individuals tasked with performing religious rites, made up a separate component of the Scythian and Sarmatian societies, these priests being the guardians of their people’s traditions. Both the Scythians and Sarmatians owned slaves, who were foreigners captured during military incursions or individuals from the local communities of southern Russia and Ukraine who had been submitted by the steppe peoples during their migrations. Slave trading always remained an important economic activity of the Scythians and Sarmatians. However, it should be noted that these two steppe peoples were extremely advanced culturally. First of all, their women enjoyed a series of liberties that could not be found in any other society of the Ancient world: they were permitted to live and fight as men and enjoyed the same rights. Indeed, the famous myth of the Amazons originated after the Greeks met with the warrior women of the Scythians. The Scythians and Sarmatians were the first peoples in history, together with the Cimmerians and the Massagetae, to deploy massive cavalry armies. These military forces were totally different from those of their opponents from the Mediterranean world or Mesopotamia, which mostly consisted of infantry. Riding sturdy horses and equipped with deadly composite bows, the Scythian mounted archers faced – and on most occasions defeated – all the major armies of Antiquity: Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Greeks and Macedonians. The Sarmatians, meanwhile, were among the worst enemies of the Roman Empire for several centuries. They introduced the new troop type of the heavily armoured lancer into Europe, which was soon copied by the Romans. Both the Scythians and the Sarmatians have left us many burials containing massive amounts of weapons. As a result, during past decades, it has been possible to reconstruct how they were equipped for war and which tactics they employed on the battlefield. Judging from their surviving pieces of military equipment, they had incredible metal-working capabilities and produced some of the finest weapons ever seen during Antiquity.
Scythian heavy cavalryman equipped with a spear and composite bow. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
The historical origins of the Scythians are still a matter of debate among modern scholars, as there are no primary sources written by them detailing their own early history. Two hypotheses have emerged during recent decades, based upon different sources and evidence. The first, supported by most of the modern Russian academics, is based on what the great Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the origins of the Scythians. According to Herodotus, they were an Eastern Iranian-speaking group who settled in a geographical region known as Inner Asia, which comprised an area between present-day Turkestan and western Siberia. The second hypothesis, championed by several scholars of the Anglo-Saxon world, proposes that the Scythians emerged as a new civilization from groups belonging to a local culture that existed along the Black Sea coast (the so-called Srubna Culture). What we know for sure is that the Black Sea region, roughly corresponding to modern southern Ukraine, became the homeland of the Scythians from about 700 bc. According to Herodotus and his modern followers, the Scythians migrated to the Black Sea region from Inner Asia. However, the other hypothesis that is supported by the Anglo-Saxon scholars believes the Scythians originated in the Black Sea region as a result of the region’s cultural evolution. Recent genetic studies have shown that the Scythians were strongly linked to the peoples of Inner Asia and had many elements in common with them. Consequently, it is highly probable that Herodotus’s reconstruction of the early history of the Scythians is correct. During the early Iron Age, several peoples living in Inner Asia migrated across the steppes to reach southern Russia and Ukraine. These mass migrations of peoples remained a distinctive element of Inner Asia during most of Antiquity, also having enormous consequences for the history of European civilizations. Broadly speaking, the migratory movements were usually caused by the emergence of new regional powers in the steppes of Inner Asia. When a new military power emerged – this could consist of a single people or a confederation of peoples – it started to expand its territories by attacking the other steppe peoples living on its borders. If defeated in battle, the communities attacked by the emerging power had no choice but to migrate westwards in search of new lands where they could live. Moving westwards meant abandoning the heartland of the Asian steppes to enter Europe, where other civilizations had already established themselves. Around 800 BC, the Scythians were attacked in their homeland of Inner Asia by another steppe people of nomads, that of the Massagetae. The latter came to control a sizeable portion of the territory located east of the Caspian Sea and were much more numerous than the Scythians. The great military resources of the Massagetae were more than a match for the forces of the Scythians, who were forced to abandon Inner Asia due to the expansionist pressure exerted upon them. The Scythians crossed a large part of southern Russia before entering Ukraine, a region of Europe where there were all the conditions they needed to create a new Scythian homeland. Southern Ukraine had vast plains with abundant pastures for their horses and had a plentiful supply of water. This combination made it the perfect choice for a nomadic people like the Scythians, who considered horses to be their most important possessions.
When the Scythians arrived in southern Ukraine, however, the region was already inhabited by another steppe people: the Cimmerians. These had originated in Inner Asia, just like the Scythians, and migrated to the Pontic Steppe of southern Ukraine long before them. The Cimmerians are mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey and thus already had contact with the Greek world as far back as the ninth century bc. The Ukrainian homeland of the Cimmerians extended from the high mountains of the Caucasus to the coastline of Crimea. According to Herodotus, the Cimmerians had submitted the original local inhabitants of southern Ukraine and absorbed them into their own people. Indeed, within Cimmerian society there was a clear division between the so-called ‘royal race’ that descended from the original Cimmerians and the inferior ‘common race’ descended from the native inhabitants of pre-Cimmerian southern Ukraine. When the Scythians invaded the Pontic Steppe, several major battles took place between the newcomers and the Cimmerians. Due to the lack of written sources, we know practically nothing of this conflict, which probably lasted for a few decades. What we do know, however, is that the Scythians prevailed and expelled the Cimmerians from southern Ukraine. The Scythians thereafter settled in the region and started to dominate the Pontic Steppe.
The Greeks, starting from the seventh century bc, began founding several colonies on the Crimean coastline of the Black Sea. These small centres, initially created just to act as commercial outposts, were soon transformed into large and rich cities that controlled the trade routes of the northern Black Sea. The Greek colonies of Crimea, in particular, became fundamental in the development of strong commercial relations between the Scythians and the Greek world. Thanks to massive exports of wheat and grain, the Greek colonies of Crimea flourished and became increasingly important politically. The Greek merchants were very interested in trading with the Scythians, as southern Ukraine produced large amounts of grain (badly needed in Greece) and was rich in natural resources such as gold or silver. The Scythians, meanwhile, wanted to purchase luxury goods from Greek merchants selling wine, oil, vases, clothes and jewels. The Greek presence on the Ukrainian coastline did not represent a threat to the Scythians, who maintained peaceful relations with the Greeks for several centuries. Small-scale wars occasionally broke out between a Greek colony and a Scythian community, but these never lasted long and resulted in few casualties on either side. The Greeks were too few to venture into the interior of Ukraine, while the Scythians were not capable of conducting siege operations to conquer a Greek colony. As a result, although the Greeks sometimes perceived the Scythians as a potential menace, in practice they never ran the risk of being expelled from their flourishing coastal cities.
Scythian horse archer. (Photo by Jasmin Parvanov, copyright by Equestrian Martial Arts School–Madara Horseman, Obzor, Bulgaria; Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria; Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
By the time of Alexander the Great’s ascendancy to the throne, the Scythians had a long border in common with the expanding Kingdom of Macedonia, which by then dominated most of the Balkans. The northern border between the Macedonian territories in Thrace and those of the Scythians, marked by the Danube River, became an unstable one after Alexander and his Macedonian army left Europe to invade the Persian Empire in Asia. The Scythians took advantage of the Macedonians’ temporary local weakness to launch several devastating incursions across Thrace. The Macedonians, however, responded by organizing a large-scale invasion of Scythia, for which they assembled an army of 30,000 soldiers. These were commanded by Zopyrion, an experienced general who was the governor of Thrace when the expedition was launched in 331 bc. Ancient sources provide scant detail of the Macedonian invasion of Scythia, but it is known that the Scythians employed an effective scorched earth strategy to slow down their advance. The Macedonians were unable to engage the Scythians in a pitched battle, but did advance deep into southern Ukraine. Zopyrion’s objective was to reach the Greek colonies in Ukraine, probably with the intention of annexing them to Macedonia and using their ports to receive supplies. At some point, however, the Macedonians were surrounded by a massive Scythian army. The ensuing clash was probably the worst military disaster suffered by the Macedonians, with Zopyrion and all his 30,000 soldiers being massacred by the Scythians. We have no idea how the encounter developed, even if it was an ambush or a pitched battle. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to suppose that the Macedonian phalangites were overcome on open terrain by the superior cavalry of their enemy.
The origins of the Sarmatians are, like those of the Scythians, controversial because no written primary sources created by the Sarmatians exist. What is known, however, is that the early Sarmatian culture had a lot in common with that of the Saka (called Eastern Scythians or Asiatic Scythians by several contemporary Greek historians). The Sarmatians consisted of several different tribes and, compared with the Scythians, were more fragmented from a political point of view. The earliest Sarmatian community recorded in the works of the Greek authors was that of the Sauromates, who probably gave their name to all the Sarmatian peoples. The Sauromates lived on the eastern bank of the Don River in the sixth century bc and were strongly linked to the Scythians, speaking a corrupted form of the Scythian language. When the Persian monarch, Darius I, attacked Scythia in 513 bc, the Sauromates joined forces with the Scythians and sent various military contingents to Ukraine in order to fight against the Persian troops. By the end of the fifth century bc, the Sauromates had disappeared from history, having probably been absorbed by the Scythians or contributing to the formation of the later Sarmatian groups. During the closing decades of the fifth century bc, a new Sarmatian tribe, that of the Siraces, migrated from present-day Kazakhstan to the Don River region of southern Russia. The Siraces established their homeland north of Scythia but gradually expelled the Scythians from the interior areas of the Caucasus. Here, they met for the first time the Greeks living in the colonies around the Black Sea, with whom they established commercial relations. Around 120 bc, another two Sarmatian tribes – the Iazyges and Roxolani – started to be mentioned in contemporary written sources compiled by Greek or Roman authors. These tribes roamed across southern Ukraine, defeating the Scythians on several occasions and conquering their homeland. The Iazyges and Roxolani came from the heart of the Eurasian steppes and thus looked much more ‘barbarian’ to the contemporary Greek and Roman observers than the Scythians.
Scythian archer. (Photo and copyright by Scythian State)
The Iazyges later established their homeland in modern-day Hungary, between the Danube and Tisza rivers, whereas the Roxolani settled north of the lower Danube. From the early decades of the first century ad, the history of both these Sarmatian tribes became strongly linked with that of the Dacians, who lived south of the Danube. Following the end of the Dacian Wars fought by the Roman Emperor Trajan from ad 101–106 and the Roman conquest of Dacia, the Roxolani and Iazyges fought a series of wars between themselves and thereby became increasingly weaker militarily. Between ad 236 and 305, the Iazyges launched a series of incursions against the Roman provinces in the Balkans, obtaining some minor successes. On several occasions, however, they were defeated by the Roman emperors facing them. After the Goths began migrating across Eastern Europe, the Romans allowed thousands of Sarmatians to settle on the territories of the Empire as foederati, or allies. The Romans greatly appreciated the quality of the Sarmatian heavy cavalry and always tried to include large numbers of them in their military forces. By settling the Sarmatian tribes on the frontier areas of the Empire, the Romans could also count on some excellent military contingents tasked with defending the imperial borders from Germanic incursions. Many Sarmatian aristocrats obtained Roman citizenship and several Sarmatian colonies were created across the Roman Empire (even far from the frontier areas). The ascendancy of the Goths in Eastern Europe had extremely negative consequences for the Sarmatians, who were defeated on several occasions by the powerful Germanic warriors. The Sarmatian tribes also came under attack from another people of the steppes: the Alans, who probably originated from the fusion of some eastern Sarmatian groups with those of the Massagetae. The Alans, after entering the Pontic Steppe, soon became the dominant military power of the region and replaced the Sarmatians, exactly as the latter had done with the Scythians. Pressed by the superior numbers of the Goths and the Alans, the Sarmatians had no choice but to migrate inside the Roman Empire. A great number of Sarmatian warriors then enlisted in the Roman Army, while most of the Sarmatian civilians sought refuge in Thrace and Macedonia. By ad 400, the Sarmatians had mostly been absorbed by the Roman Empire, except for a few communities that became part of the Alans. With the ascendancy of the Huns in the early fifth century ad, both the Alans and the Goths lost their prominence in the Pontic Steppe and became vassals of the Hunnic Empire.
Scythian archer. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
The military forces of the Scythians, like those of all the other nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes, mostly consisted of cavalry. Indeed, the Scythians were acknowledged as the best horse-breeders of the world during Antiquity. It is important to note, however, that Scythian armies included sizeable infantry contingents too, comprising the poorest individuals from each tribal group. The Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides described the Scythian armed forces as large contingents of mounted archers, while Diodorus Siculus referred to battles that saw the participation of large contingents of Scythian infantry. According to the latest research, it seems that the balance between cavalry and infantry within the Scythian military changed considerably over the centuries. When the Scythians migrated to the Pontic Steppe, their armies were large cavalry forces. During their early settlement in Ukraine, the Scythians were a people on the move and still had all the distinctive features of the nomadic peoples of Eurasia. They had no permanent settlements and did not practice agriculture, instead moving across the vast plains of the steppe with their horses and cattle, building seasonal camps and following the natural cycles. Over time, however, the Scythians mixed with the local inhabitants of southern Ukraine and formed several new communities that were partially ‘Hellenized’. As a result of this, some Scythian groups began building permanent settlements and started to practice agriculture. It was from these new communities that the large infantry contingents described by Diodorus Siculus came. The early Scythian armies also comprised some foot contingents, which were provided by the sedentary peoples living in Ukraine. These had been transformed into vassals of the nomadic Scythians after they had occupied the Pontic Steppe, and as such were required to provide auxiliary contingents.
The formidable Scythian cavalry had two main components: horse archers and heavy horsemen. The horse archers were much more numerous than the heavy cavalrymen, since every able-bodied Scythian male was capable of fighting as a mounted archer. They wore no armour and were equipped with the deadly composite bow of the Eurasian steppes. Whereas the common Scythian people made up the light cavalry of the horse archers, the heavy cavalry consisted of noble professional warriors who were rich enough to equip themselves with full armour. Broadly speaking, each heavy cavalry contingent was commanded by a prince and consisted of his armed retinue. The professional warriors of the heavy cavalry were used to fight in formation and were thus more disciplined than the horse archers, acting as elite shock troops. Scythian battle tactics were quite simple but worked extremely well in the steppes, having evolved from the movements made by the Scythians while governing their herds of horses and cattle over vast plains. These movements had one main objective: concentrating the dispersed animals at a single point of the steppe in order to move them towards new areas of pasture. The battles of the steppe peoples were extremely rapid and violent, beginning with massive attacks by the horse archers, who concentrated their volleys on the flanks of the enemy in order to oblige them to concentrate their forces in the centre. When the enemies had been herded into a single point of the battlefield, the heavily armoured cavalry launched a decisive frontal charge that usually won the day. These tactics worked perfectly against enemies having cavalry armies, but were not always effective when their opponents could deploy large heavy infantry contingents (like the Greek hoplites, Macedonian phalangites or Roman legionaries). The Scythian cavalry was famous for its great tactical flexibility: it was capable of regrouping in the thick of the action and of changing direction very rapidly in order to strike where needed. When the enemy formations had been broken by the heavy cavalry, the horse archers pursued the defeated enemies in order to transform their retreat into a rout.
Scythian dead were buried in barrow-mounds known as kurgans, and each Scythian warrior was accompanied on his journey into eternity by the possessions that were most important to him in life. These included his weapons, meaning that thanks to the rich finds of military equipment that have emerged from the excavations of Scythian barrows, it is possible to have a very clear picture of what Scythian armour and offensive weapons looked like. The grave of a common warrior, who had fought as a horse archer during his life, usually contained just a few elements: a composite bow, several dozen arrows and a couple of spears. The tombs of nobles and kings, instead, included whole arsenals of top-quality weapons: armour, helmets, swords, quivers full of arrows, dozens of spears and horse skeletons with full military harness. The standard type of armour worn by most of the Scythian warriors consisted of flexible leather corselets that were partly or entirely covered with overlapping scales of bronze or iron. The Scythians were masters at producing bronze scale armour and did not cover only their leather corselets with metal scales; their helmets and shields were also frequently reinforced by applying bronze or iron scales on their outer surfaces. Scythian armourers cut the scales from sheet metal with a pointed tool or shears; the scales were then attached to the soft leather base of the corselets by thin leather thongs or animal tendons. Each individual scale was set in such a way that it covered between a third and half of the width of the next scale sideways. Each row of scales overlapped the one placed below it, protecting the stitching where it was exposed in holes through the metal. Despite providing excellent protection to their wearers, the corselets did not significantly hinder the movements of a mounted warrior. Various types of corselets were used, according to the economic capabilities of their wearers: the simplest and cheapest ones had metal scales only around the neck and upper breast or on the front surface. Short-sleeved corselets were worn by the common warriors, while the nobles often had long-sleeved corselets. Quite frequently, a doubled yoke of scale-work was applied across the upper back and extending forward over the shoulders to the sides of the breast, in order to offer better protection for the shoulders. The scales of a corselet were sometimes made from two different materials, in order for the wearer to look even more magnificent.
Scythian archer. Note the complex decorations of both the clothing and the equipment. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
The early helmets of the Scythians were of the Kuban type, being heavy cast-bronze helmets, fitting tightly to the skull and protecting the face by means of cheek-pieces that left cut-outs for the eyes. From the fifth century bc, the Kuban helmet started to be replaced by the new Phrygian helmet, a forward-pointing Phrygian cap made of leather and covered with metal scales. The Phrygian cap was extremely popular in the Balkans and was worn by most of the Thracian tribes, so it is highly probable that the Scythians started wearing it after coming into contact with them. The Phrygian helmets could have cheek-pieces and neck-guards, always made of leather covered with metal scales. Being easy and cheap to produce, the Phrygian helmets were used also by the majority of the Scythian common warriors. Over time, Scythian noblemen started to purchase large numbers of bronze helmets from the merchants of the Greek colonies in Crimea. These helmets, according to recent findings, were mostly worn by the Scythian heavy cavalry and could be of the following Hellenic models: Corinthian, Chalcidian or Attic. The defensive equipment of a Scythian noble warrior often included leg protectors, which could be made of leather covered with scales or consist of bronze greaves purchased in the Greek colonies of Crimea. Leggings covered with bronze or iron scales were a distinctive element of the Scythian heavy cavalry’s panoply. The Greek-style bronze greaves of the richest warriors could be gilded and have decorative incisions. Both the helmets and the greaves purchased from the Greek merchants were part of the hoplites’ heavy infantry equipment; the Scythians, however, adapted them to their traditional defensive panoply. The poorest Scythian warriors, fighting as light horsemen or light infantrymen, had simple shields made from woven willow. The noble warriors, however, had massive shields faced with iron. These were constructed with a wooden base that was covered with scales of iron, which were sewn to each other and to the backing with wire. Kings and princes occasionally had shields covered with a single iron plate, being decorated with applied motifs obtained from other metals. Deer and panthers were among the wild animals more frequently represented in Scythian decorations. Scythian shields were usually rectangular with curved angles, but could sometimes be crescent-shaped like those of the Thracians. The poorest Scythian warriors, especially those serving as light infantrymen, wore only a girdle for protection of their body. This was made of leather covered with metal scales, being broad enough to cover the whole abdomen. The armour worn by the horses of the Scythian heavy cavalry evolved considerably across the centuries. Initially, it consisted just of metal plates and pendant decorations attached to the bridle for protection of the horse’s head, but pieces of leather horse-cloth covered with metal scales were later introduced and became increasingly popular. A thick felt apron for the horse’s breast was also developed in order to provide better protection against enemy arrows. The Scythians, like all the other steppe peoples of Antiquity, rode without stirrups but were masters in the production of effective bridles. These were often decorated with bronze discs or plates. Scythian saddles were quite flat and simple, being made from leather.
Scythian archer. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
Every Scythian man had a composite bow and arrows, the bow being the traditional weapon of the Scythians and all the nomadic warriors of the steppes. Contemporary written sources describe the Scythian composite bows as being unstrung and recurved, their overall shape resembling that of the Greek letter sigma or the crescent moon, with both ends curved inwards. The Scythian bow was quite short – 80cm – but extremely powerful thanks to its composite construction. The composite bow was made from horn, wood and sinew, which were laminated together. The horn was on the belly facing the archer, while sinew was on the outer side of the wooden core. The wooden core gave the bow its shape and dimensional stability. When the bow was drawn, the sinew (stretched on the outside) and horn (compressed on the inside) stored more energy than the wood for the same length of bow. The construction of a composite bow was a very complex process, requiring more varieties of material than a wooden bow and much more time. A composite bow was often made of multiple pieces, joined with animal glue in V-splices. Such a construction allowed the use of woods with different mechanical properties for the bending and non-bending sections: the wood of the bending part of the limb had to endure intense shearing stress. A thin layer of horn was glued onto what would be the belly of the bow, which could store more energy than wood in compression. Goat and sheep horn was commonly used for this purpose. The sinew, soaked in animal glue, was then laid in layers on the back of the bow, the strands of sinew oriented along the length of the bow. The sinew was normally obtained from the lower legs and back of wild deer or domestic ungulates. Sinew would extend much more than wood, again allowing more energy storage. Hide glue was used to attach layers of sinew to the back of the bow and the horn belly to the wooden core. The animal glue could lose strength in humid conditions and be quickly ruined by rain or submersion in water, so composite bows were always stored in protective leather cases. Historically, peoples living in humid or rainy regions have favoured wooden bows, while those who settled in dry or arid regions have preferred composite ones. The main advantage of composite bows over longbows was their combination of smaller size with high power. Composite bows were recurved, as their shape curved away from the archer, a design that gavs them higher draw-weight in the early stages of the archer’s draw, therby storing more total energy. The string of the Scythian bows was made from horsehair or animal tendon. Each bow was carried in a special leather case slung from the waistbelt. This case, known as a gorytos and often covered externally with metal plates, also contained up to seventy-five arrows. It thus served both as a case for the bow and a quiver for the arrows. The shaft of the arrows was omade from reed or a thin birch branch. The stabilizing fletching was made from birds’ feathers. The heads of the arrows could be of bronze or iron, and had different shapes according to the use that the archer had for them. The standard arrows used for fighting had trilobate heads that were capable of piercing enemy armour from long distances thanks to their excellent aerodynamic form. Scythian archers were capable of firing between ten and twelve arrows in a minute and to hit a target some 500 metres away.
The earliest Scythian swords derived from those used by the Cimmerians, with a two-edged and almost parallel-sided blade tapering at the point. The blade was 60–70cm long. Daggers, having the same basic features and being employed as secondary weapons, had blades 35–40cm in length. The early Scythian swords were decorated with thin gold plates fixed around the hilt. Scythian swords gradually changed the shape of their blades, which became that of an elongated isosceles triangle with a continuous taper down its whole length. During the fourth century bc, singleedged versions of this new kind of blade started to be produced. The pommel of the Scythian swords, which had a simple crossbar shape in the early types, gradually changed to be more complex, with two talons of iron rising and curling inwards. The grip, initially having a cylindrical shape, gradually came to have a double-tapered or oval shape that proved very practical for combat use. The guard evolved to have a triangular shape, with a sharp and curved indent in the centre of its bottom edge. The scabbards of the Scythian swords were made of wood covered with leather and hung from the waistbelt by a thong passing through its projecting ‘ear’. Swords had a very important religious function among the Scythians, who frequently built ceremonial altars in the steppe that had a single sacred sword placed on top of them. As a result, they were respected as a noble weapon that was passed from father to son. The Scythian horsemen used different kinds of spears, according to the tactical function that they had to perform on the battlefield. The heavy cavalrymen were equipped with long spears of the kontus type. This was about 4 metres long and had to be wielded with two hands while directing the horse using the knees, making it a specialist weapon that required a lot of training and good horsemanship to use. The kontus was reputedly a weapon of great power compared to other cavalry spears of the time. The great length of this deadly weapon was probably the origin of its name, since the Greek word kontus meant ‘oar’ or ‘barge-pole’. The heavy cavalrymen who formed the personal retinue of a Scythian prince and wore full armour were usually armed with the kontus, which was employed as a shock weapon during frontal charges. Shorter spears, about 1.7–1.8 metres long, were used for throwing and thrusting by both Scythian cavalrymen and infantrymen. These weapons had leafshaped heads with a central spine, as well as a socket for the wooden shaft. Scythian light cavalrymen and light infantrymen carried throwing javelins instead of spears. These had an iron shank with a small pyramidal head, which was sharply barbed and designed to pierce enemy shield. In addition to swords, the Scythians employed other weapons for hand-to-hand fighting: battleaxes and maces. Battleaxes had iron blades that could be richly decorated, while maces had lobed heads and were also used as symbols of authority.
Scythian archer. War hammers and short axes were popular secondary weapons among the Scythians. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
Scythian archer fixing the string of his composite bow. (Photo by Jasmin Parvanov, copyright by Equestrian Martial Arts School – Madara Horseman, Obzor, Bulgaria; Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria; Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
Differently from the Scythians, Sarmatian armies consisted almost entirely of cavalry as none of the Sarmatian tribes were ever fully Hellenized like some of the Scythians were. As was the case with all the peoples of the steppes, each ablebodied Sarmatian male was a warrior and was expected to fight under the guidance of his tribal leader. Like with the Scythians, the poorest individuals of the Sarmatian communities served as horse archers, while the richest ones made up a military caste of professional warriors who were equipped as heavy cavalrymen and comprised the personal retinues of the various noble warlords. The professional warriors belonging to the same retinue were linked by strong personal bonds. They swore oaths of friendship and loyalty to each other, which were sealed during special ceremonies by drinking drops of each other’s blood mixed with wine. The early Sarmatian armies, like the Scythian ones, were largely horse archers, acting as auxiliaries for an elite minority of heavily armoured cavalrymen, so their battlefield tactics were exactly the same as those employed by the Scythians. Over time, however, a crucial evolutionary process took place within the Sarmatian mounted forces. Frequently being forced to face the Roman legions, they started to modify their internal balance between horse archers and heavy cavalrymen. Combat experiences showed that mounted archers had great difficulties in defeating a Roman heavy infantry force. The Sarmatian heavy cavalrymen, however, often achieved decisive victories over the Roman legions thanks to the deadly impact of their frontal charges. Consequently, the number of horse archers in the Sarmatian armies decreased considerably, while the importance of the heavy contingents consisting of professional fighters was greatly augmented. The Sarmatians are often lauded as having invented a new form of ‘super-heavy’ cavalry, known as cataphracts by the Greeks (the term meaning ‘covered with armour’). Cataphracts were basically horsemen covered in full armour who rode a similarly fully armoured horse. Equipped with the heavy kontus lance, they were capable of crushing any heavy infantry contingent deployed by their enemy. According to ancient sources, this new troop type of armoured lancers was invented by the Sarmatians, but in reality cataphracts were only imported into Europe by them from the Asian regions of Bactria and Sogdia, where they had originated among the Sakas during the fifth century bc. The great Roman historian Tacitus was the first ancient writer to describe in full detail the distinctive panoply of the Sarmatian cataphracts. Despite wearing super-heavy equipment, they were extremely flexible tactically and could perform effective feigned retreats. Like the Scythians, the Sarmatians could also count on lightly armed infantry contingents provided by the local communities of Ukraine and southern Russia that had been submitted by them. These, however, only performed auxiliary military duties of little importance.
The early Sarmatian heavy cavalry was mostly equipped with corselets made of leather and covered with leather scales, but corselets with bronze or iron scales almost identical to those worn by the Scythians eventually came into standard use. Noble and professional warriors wore corselets entirely covered with metal scales, while the common soldiers usually had only some bronze or iron plates applied on key points of their leather corselets. The corselets, when covered with scales, usually reached the mid-thigh and had a slit at each side extending up to the waistbelt in order to facilitate riding. A leather belt secured the cuirass high around the waist, taking much of its weight off the shoulders. According to the most recent findings, the Sarmatian corselets mostly had iron scales, as bronze became less popular from the first century ad. With the progression of time, especially during the period of the Dacian Wars, many Sarmatian heavy horsemen started to replace their scale armour with chainmail cuirasses, but these were quite difficult and costly to produce. As an alternative, the poorest warriors could wear leather corselets covered with scales made from horn or horse hooves. According to ancient sources, the Sarmatians experienced serious difficulties in finding enough iron to produce their military equipment after the Romans conquered Dacia, and henceforth had to start using alternative materials for the scales of their cuirasses. During the early decades of their presence in the Pontic Steppe, the Sarmatians wore Greek-style helmets mostly produced in the Hellenic colonies. These – of the Corinthian, Chalcidian and Attic models – were sometimes modified by the Sarmatians, who cut away their lower parts to improve vision. The Sarmatians also employed Celtic Montefortino helmets, which they bought or copied from the Bastarnae Celtic communities living in the northern Balkans. Over time, however, a new kind of helmet replaced all the previous models employed by the Sarmatians: the spangenhelm. This term is clearly of Germanic origin: ‘spangen’ refers to the metal strips that formed the framework of the helmet, while ‘helm’ simply means helmet. The characteristic metal strips of a spangenhelm connected between three and six steel or bronze plates, which made up a framework in a conical design, curving with the shape of the head and culminating in a point. The front of the helmet generally included a nasal. Spangenhelms could also incorporate chainmail as neck protection, forming a sort of aventail on the back. Some surviving examples also include eye protection, having a shape that resembles modern eyeglass frames; others include a full face mask. Older spangenhelms often had cheek flaps made from metal or leather. In general terms, the spangenhelm offered effective protection for the head and was relatively easy and cheap to produce. The defensive equipment of the Sarmatian heavy cavalrymen was completed by the shield, which was made of wood covered with metal scales exactly like the standard shield employed by most of the Scythian warriors. Once the Sarmatian heavy cavalrymen were re-equipped as cataphracts and adopted the kontus as their main offensive weapon, however, shields ceased to be a component of the Sarmatians’ usual panoply. However, light cavalry and infantry continued to carry simple wicker shields until the Sarmatians disappeared from history.
Scythian light cavalryman equipped with a spear and throwing javelin. (Photo and copyright by Scythian State)
Sarmatian heavy cavalryman equipped with a spear and composite bow. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
The main offensive weapon of the Sarmatian heavy cavalry, the kontus, was held two-handed: the left arm aimed and supported the weapon’s weight while the right arm thrust it from the hip. The main offensive weapon of the Sarmatian mounted archers was the composite bow, which had all the same features as the Scythian composite bow. From the fourth century bc, this design was improved thanks to the addition of bone laths at the grip and ‘ears’ (ends), which gave additional power to the weapon. The Sarmatians also employed the Scythian gorytos to hold the bow and its arrows. During the first century ad, the Sarmatians began using a new, larger model of composite bow, which was probably designed by the Hunnic tribes and was thus known as a Hunnish bow. This measured 120cm in length,which made it much more powerful than the Scythian bow. Indeed, it was probably the adoption of this new type of bow that determined the victory of the Sarmatians in their battles fought on the Pontic Steppe against the Scythians. The Hunnish bow was usually asymmetrical in shape, with the top half above the grip being longer. It was too big to be carried in the traditional gorytos, so the Sarmatians had to design a new soft bow case for it. Arrows were carried in two tall cylindrical quivers, which were made of deerskin leather. The early Sarmatians had long swords very similar to those carried by the Scythians, but with an antennae-shaped pommel in the Celtic fashion. These were progressively replaced by new swords that had a ring-shaped pommel, which could be produced in a long version (70–130cm) or a short one (60–70cm). The short swords were carried in scabbards secured via two pairs of wings by leather straps that passed around the right thigh, while the longer ones were carried on the left side in conventional scabbards. Sarmatian warriors often had both a long sword employed for cavalry fighting and a short sword for use in hand-to-hand fighting. Like most of the nomadic peoples of the steppes, the Scythians and the Sarmatians were experts in the use of the lasso, which was used while moving cattle from one place to another but could also become a weapon. The Sarmatians, according to ancient sources, were capable of tossing the lasso over an enemy’s neck to pull him down from his horse. The horse armour used by the Sarmatian cataphracts consisted of full bards covered with leather or iron scales. Sarmatian saddles, differently from Scythian ones, had four ‘horns’ at their angles, which gave much greater stability to an armoured lancer while charging thanks to their ergonomic shape. The Sarmatians were the inventors of the draco standard, which was later adopted by the cavalry of the Roman Army. As is suggested by its name, this had the form of a dragon, with open wolf-like jaws containing several metal tongues. The hollow head of the dragon was made of metal and was mounted on a pole, with a long fabric tube fixed to the rear. When used, the draco was held aloft, where it filled with air and made a shrill sound as the wind passed through its metal tongues. It was an early example of psychological warfare, and was especially used during the opening phases of a pitched battle. The wind-sock standard, however, also had another important function in steppe warfare, providing evidence of the wind direction to help archers in their aim during pitched clashes.
Sarmatian archer. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)
Sarmatian warrior throwing his lasso, an extremely popular weapon among the steppe peoples. (Photo and copyright by Amages Drachen)