ABSTRACT
The lands north of the Black Sea were settled around 700 bce by the Scythians from central Asia. They were a mixed horde of people whose ruling element was Iranian. Eventually, their Empire encompassed the entire steppe, from the Volga and Kuban on the east to the Dniester in the west. Between the Don and Danube, thousands of burial mounds have been excavated. Among the most impressive are the royal burials containing, in addition to the deceased ruler, slaves and wives, horses, harness, weapons, utensils and wheeled vehicles. The Scythians‘ chief deity was Tabiti (Hestia in the interpretatio graeca), consort of Papaeus (Zeus). Other deities were Api (Mother Earth), Argimpasa (the Celestial Aphrodite) and Oetosyrus (Apollo). Thagimasadas (Poseidon) was the god of the Royal dynasty, which was said to be descended from Targitaus, son of Papaeus. The Scythian Empire lasted around four hundred years, but pressure from the Persian Empire late in the fourth century bce, Celtic advances from the west and Sarmatian advances from the east fatally weakened it. During the third century, the Celts advanced eastwards from Galicia into the Dnieper Valley, but were forced to retreat. The first Sarmatians to reach the steppe from the east were the Iazygians, who settled on the north-west shore of the Black Sea. Later, the Roxalans, another Sarmatian tribe, settled the land east of the Iazygians. The Sarmatians finally gained complete control of the steppe during the second century. Around 100 bce, the Alans, the last Sarmatian tribe to arrive, controlled the steppe from the Don to the Volga and southwards over the valley of the Kuban. Meanwhile, the Scythians had fled northwards, as their burial mounds show, and pressed the Slavs north into what is now Russia. 1
