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{{Short description|Ancient nomadic Iranic people who invaded West Asia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC}}
{{Redirect|Cimmerian|other uses|Cimmeria (disambiguation){{!}}Cimmeria}}
{{Contains special characters|cuneiform}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name =
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| image_map = File:Cimmerian Migrations.jpg
| image_map_caption = The Cimmerian migrations across West Asia
| map_width =
| religion = [[Scythian religion]] (?)<br/>[[Ancient Iranian religion|Ancient Iranic religion]] (?)<br/>[[Luwian religion]] (?)
| demonym =
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| title_leader = King
| year_leader1 = Unknown–679 BC
| leader1 = [[
| year_leader2 = 679–640 BC
| leader2 = [[
| year_leader3 = 640–630s BC
| leader3 = [[Sandakšatru]]
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| s1 = Lydia
| s2 = Scythians
| era = [[Iron Age]]
}}
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The '''Cimmerians''' were an [[Ancient Iranian peoples|ancient]] [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern]] [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]] [[Eurasian nomads|equestrian]] [[nomad]]ic people originating in the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]], part of whom subsequently migrated into West Asia. Although the Cimmerians were [[Scythian cultures|culturally Scythian]], they formed an ethnic unit separate from the [[Scythians]] proper, to whom the Cimmerians were related and who displaced and replaced the Cimmerians.<ref name="Tokhtas’evNeoBabylonian">{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}: "As the Cimmerians cannot be differentiated archeologically from the Scythians, it is possible to speculate about their Iranian origins. In the Neo-Babylonian texts (according to D’yakonov, including at least some of the Assyrian texts in Babylonian dialect) {{transl|akk-x-neobabyl|Gimirri}} and similar forms designate the Scythians and Central Asian Saka, reflecting the perception among inhabitants of Mesopotamia that Cimmerians and Scythians represented a single cultural and economic group"</ref>
The Cimmerians themselves left no written records, and most information about them is largely derived from [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] records of the 8th to 7th centuries BC and from [[Greco-Roman world|Graeco-Roman]] authors from the 5th century BC and later.
== Name ==
=== Etymology ===
The English name {{transl|en|Cimmerians}} is derived from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|Cimmerii}}, itself derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{transl|grc|Kimmerioi}} ({{lang|grc|[[wikt:Κιμμέριοι|Κιμμεριοι]]}}),{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} of an ultimately uncertain origin for which there have been various proposals:
*according to [[János Harmatta]], it was derived from [[Iranian languages#Old Iranian|Old Iranic]] {{lang|xsc|*Gayamira}}, meaning "union of clans."{{sfn|Harmatta|1996}}
*{{ill|Sergey Tokhtasyev|ru|Тохтасьев, Сергей Ремирович}} and [[Igor M. Diakonoff|Igor Diakonoff]] derived it from an [[Iranian languages#Old Iranian|Old Iranic]] term {{lang|xsc|*Gāmīra}} or {{lang|xsc|*Gmīra}}, meaning "mobile unit."{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985}}
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**According to Ivantchik, the Greek form of the name {{lang|grc|Κιμμεριοι}} started with /k/ rather than with /g/ as in the original name due to its transmission to the Greek language through the intermediary of the [[Lydian language]], which did not distinguish between the voiced and non-voiced velar stops.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=134-140}}
The name of the Cimmerians is attested in:
* [[Neo-Assyrian Akkadian language|Neo-Assyrian Akkadian]] as {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Gimirrāya}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒆳𒄀𒂆𒀀𒀀}}}} and {{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒄀𒂆𒊏𒀀𒀀}}}}),{{sfn|Parpola|1970|p=132-134}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Gimirayu [CIMMERIAN] (EN) |url=http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/cbd/qpn/x00000580.html |website=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]] }}</ref>
* [[Late Babylonian Akkadian language|Late Babylonian Akkadian]] as {{transl|akk-x-latbabyl|Gimirri}} ({{lang|akk-x-latbabyl|{{cuneiform|12|𒆳𒄀𒈪𒅕}}}}<ref name="ORACCBabylonian1"/> and {{lang|akk-x-latbabyl|{{cuneiform|12|𒆳𒄀𒂆𒊑}}}}<ref name="ORACCBabylonian2"/>);<ref name="Babylonian"/>
* and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as {{transl|he|Gōmer}} ({{lang|he|גֹּמֶר}}).{{sfn|Phillips|1972}}{{sfn|Barnett|1975}}
=== Broader usage ===
The Late Babylonian scribes of the Achaemenid Empire used the name "Cimmerians" to designate all the nomad peoples of the steppe, including the Scythians and Saka.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=94}}{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=100}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}
However, while the Cimmerians were an Iranic people<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=1996}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=517}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|pp=92–93}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|pp=43–44}}}}</ref> sharing a common language, origins and culture with the Scythians{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=98}} and are archaeologically indistinguishable from the Scythians, all sources contemporary to their activities clearly distinguished the Cimmerians and the Scythians as being two separate political entities.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=61}}
In 1966, the archaeologist Maurits Nanning van Loon described the Cimmerians as ''Western Scythians'', and referred to the Scythians proper as the ''Eastern Scythians''.{{sfn|van Loon|1966|p=16}}
== History ==
{{
There are three main sources of information on the historical Cimmerians:<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=72}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=37}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2001|
*[[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] cuneiform
*[[Greco-Roman world|Graeco-Roman sources
*archaeological data from the Pontic-Caspian Steppes, Caucasia, and West Asia.
===Origins===
The arrival of the Cimmerians in Europe was part of the larger process of westwards movement of [[Central Asia
====Beginning of steppe nomadism====
The formation of genuine [[nomadic pastoralism]] itself happened in the early [[1st millennium BC]] due to [[Climate variability and change|climatic changes]] which caused the environment in the Central Asian and [[Siberia
These climatic conditions in turn caused the nomadic groups to become [[Transhumance|transhumant]] pastoralists constantly moving their herds from one pasture to another in the steppe,{{sfn|Melyukova|1995|p=27}} and to search for better pastures to the west, in [[North Caucasus|Ciscaucasia]] and the forest steppe regions of western Eurasia.{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=552}}
====The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex====
The Cimmerians originated as a section of the first wave<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=130}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=106}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|
Among these tribal confederations were the Cimmerians in the Caspian Steppe, as well as the [[Agathyrsi]] in the Pontic Steppe,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=130}}{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=202}} and possibly the [[Sigynnae]] in the [[Pannonian Steppe]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=105}} The archaeological and historical records regarding these migrations are however scarce, and permit to sketch only a very broad outline of this complex development.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=111}}
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*present in the development of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex is a strong impact of the native [[Belozerka culture|Bilozerka culture]], especially in the form of pottery styles and burial traditions;{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=103-104}}
*the two other influences were of foreign origin:
**attesting of the Inner Asian origin, a strong material influence from the [[Altai culture|Altai]], [[Aržan culture|Aržan]] and [[Karasuk culture|Karasuk]] cultures from Central Asia and Siberia is visible in the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}} of [[Inner Asia
**in addition to this Central Asian influence, the [[Kuban culture]] of Ciscaucasia also played an important contribution in the development of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}} especially regarding the adoption of Kuban culture-types of [[Mace (bludgeon)|mace]] heads and bimetallic daggers.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=104}}
The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex thus developed natively in the North Pontic region over the course of the 9th to mid-7th centuries BC from elements which had earlier arrived from Central Asia, due to which it itself exhibited similarities with the other early nomadic cultures of the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe which existed before the 7th century BC, such as the [[Aržan culture]], so that these various pre-Scythian early nomadic cultures were thus part of a unified Aržan-Chernogorovka cultural layer originating from Central Asia.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=35-37}}
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====Migration of the Cimmerians====
The westward migration of the Scythians brought them around {{c.|750 BC}}{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=6-7}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=113}} to the lands of the Cimmerians,{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=99}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=108}} who around this time were leaving their homelands in the Caspian Steppe to move into West Asia.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102
The reasons for the departure of the Cimmerians are unknown,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210}} although they might possibly have migrated under the pressure from the Scythians, similarly to how various nomadic peoples drove each other into the peripheries of the steppes in Europe, West Asia and the Iranian Plateau during Late Antiquity and afterwards.{{sfn|Petrenko|1995|p=8}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=94}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210}}
Ancient West Asia sources are however lacking for any such pressure on the Cimmerians by the Scythians or of any conflict between these two peoples at this early period.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=60}} Moreover, the arrival of the Scythians in West Asia about 40 years after the Cimmerians did so suggests that there is no available evidence to the later Graeco-Roman account that it was under pressure from the Scythians migrating into their territories that the Cimmerians crossed the Caucasus and moved south into West Asia.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=83}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=96}}
The remnants of the Cimmerians in the Caspian Steppe were assimilated by the Scythians,{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=99}} with this absorption being facilitated by their similar ethnic backgrounds and lifestyles,{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=43}} thus transferring the dominance of this region from the Cimmerians to the Scythians who were assimilating them,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=95}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=130}} after which the Scythians settled between the Araxes river to the east, the Caucasus mountains to the south, and the Maeotian Sea to the west,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=84}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=103}} in the Ciscaucasian Steppe where were located the Scythian kingdom's headquarters.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=109}}
The arrival of the Scythians and their establishment in this region in the 7th century BC{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=98}} corresponded to a disturbance of the development of the Cimmerian peoples' Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=103}} which was thus replaced through a continuous process{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=36}} over the course of {{c.|750}} to {{c.|600 BC}} by the early Scythian culture in southern Europe, which itself nevertheless still showed links to the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}
===In West Asia===
Over the course of the second half of the 8th century BC and the 7th century BC, the equestrian steppe nomads from Ciscaucasia expanded to the south,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=114}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=60}} beginning with the Cimmerians, who migrated from the Caspian Steppe into West Asia,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=83}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=95-96}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}} following the same dynamic of the steppe nomads like the [[Scythians]], [[Alans]] and [[Huns]] who would later invade West Asia via Caucasia.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=91}} The Cimmerians entered West Asia by crossing the [[Caucasus Mountains]]{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=8}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=83}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}} through the [[Alagir]], [[Darial Gorge|Darial]], and {{ill|Klukhor Pass|lt=Klukhor|ru|Клухорский перевал}} Passes,<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=129}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=93}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=83}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=91}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=211}}}}</ref> which was the same route that [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] detachments would later take to invade the [[Parthian Empire|Arsacid Parthian Empire]],{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=91}} after which Cimmerians eventually became active in the West Asian regions of Transcaucasia, the Iranian Plateau and Anatolia.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=114}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=106}}
====Reasons for southwards nomad expansion====
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This state of permanent [[social disruption]] caused by the rivalries of the great powers of West Asia thus proved to be a very attractive source of opportunities and wealth for the [[Eurasian nomads|steppe nomads]].{{sfn|Grayson|1991a|p=128}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=31}} And, as the populations of the nomads of the Ciscaucasian Steppe continued to grow, their aristocrats would lead their followers southwards across the Caucasus Mountains in search of adventure and plunder in the volatile status quo then prevailing in West Asia,{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=114}} not unlike the later [[Ossetians|Ossetian]] tradition of the ritual plunder called the {{transl|os|balc}} ({{lang|os|балц}}),{{sfn|Ivantchik|1999|p=503-504}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2006|p=150}} with the occasional raids eventually leading to longer expeditions, in turn leading to groups of nomads choosing to remain in West Asia in search of opportunities as mercenaries or freebooters.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=113-114}}
Thus, the Cimmerians and Scythians became active in West Asia in the 7th century BC,{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=99}} where they would vacillate between supporting either the Neo-Assyrian Empire or other local powers, and serve them as mercenaries, depending on what they considered to be in their
Nevertheless, a 9th or 8th century BC barrow grave, belonging from [[Paphlagonia]] to a warrior, and containing typical steppe nomad equipment, suggests that nomadic warriors had already been arriving in West Asia since the 9th century BC.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=61}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=107}} Such burials imply that some small groups of steppe nomads from Ciscaucasia might have acted as [[Mercenary|mercenaries]], adventurers and [[Settler|settler groups]] in West Asia, which laid the ground for the later large scale movement of the Cimmerians and Scythians into West Asia.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=61}}
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====In Transcaucasia====
During the early phase of their presence in West Asia until the early 660s BC, the Cimmerians moved into Transcaucasia, which acted as their initial centre of operations:{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} after having passed through [[Colchis]] and western Caucasia and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]],{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=8}}{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=355}} during the 8th century BC, the Cimmerians settled in a region located to the east of Colchis, in the areas of central Transcaucasia<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|
The presence of the Cimmerians in this area led Mesopotamian sources to call it {{
The territory of the Cimmerians at this time was separated from the kingdom of Urartu by
=====Conflict with Urartu=====
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The Cimmerians appeared to have first become active in the territories to the south of the Caucasus in the {{c.|720s BC}}, where they helped the inhabitants of Colchis and of the nearby regions defeat attacks by the kingdom of Urartu.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=90}}
The oldest known activities of the Cimmerians in West Asia date from the mid-710s BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=51}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=18}} when they launched a sudden attack on Urartu's province of Uišini (whose capital was [[Oshnavieh|
The first recorded mentions of the Cimmerians date from spring or early summer{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=47}} of 714 BC<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|
After this defeat, the Urartian forces retreated to Quriani, while Rusa I left for the Urartian province of Wazaun.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=30}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=211}} Although Neo-Assyrian intelligence reports claimed that the Urartians were fearing an attack by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and that panic spread had among them following this defeat,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=22}} the situation within Urartu remained calm,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=47}} and the king Urzana of Muṣaṣir personally,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=22-23}} as well as a messenger from the kingdom of Ḫubuškia,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=43}} went to meet Rusa I to reaffirm his allegiance to Urartu.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=43}}
This defeat against the Cimmerians had nonetheless weakened Urartu significantly enough{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=53}} that, when Sargon II campaigned against Urartu in 714 BC itself,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=39-40}} in the month of Tamūzu,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=47}} he was able to defeat the Urartians{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=53}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=18-19}} in the region of mount
According to Neo-Assyrian reports from the reign of Sargon II itself, the king of the Cimmerians, whose name was not mentioned in these reports, had set up his camp in a region named Uṣunali. At another point, this Cimmerian king had departed from Mannai to attack Urartu, where he plundered several regions, including the district of Arḫi, and reached the city of Ḫuʾdiadae near the core territory of Urartu, forcing the governor of Uišini to request military aid for the people of Pulia and Suriana from Urzana of Muṣaṣir.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=212}}
Urartu mobilised its armed forces to fight against this Cimmerian invasion, although the Urartians preferred to wait until it was snowing to attack the Cimmerians, due to how snow could block roads and hinder the mobility of the horses that the Cimmerians depended on to carry on their attacks.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=746}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=212}}
Thus, the Cimmerians were attacking Urartu by passing through the routes in Mannai, thanks to which they were able to establish areas of influence on the northeastern borders of Urartu, which also provided them with access to the Anatolian Plateau and allowed them to replace Urartu as the dominant power in some parts of the western Iranian Plateau and Transcaucasia.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=212}}
=====Death of Sargon II=====
Possibly out of fear from the danger of the Cimmerians, the Phrygian king [[Midas
[[File:Sargon II and a crown prince, possibly Sennacherib, from Khorsabad, Iraq. The British Museum.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Assyrian king [[Sargon II]] (left) and the crown prince [[Sennacherib]] (right).]]
After Sargon II's death,
Nonetheless, although the Neo-Assyrian Empire stopped intervening in Anatolia, Sennacherib was able to secure the new northwestern Neo-Assyrian borders running from Cilicia to [[Melid]] to [[Harran|Ḫarran]]{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=356}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=212}} due to which the Cimmerians ceased being mentioned in Neo-Assyrian records under his reign and would re-start being mentioned by the Assyrians only under the reign of Sennacherib's own son and successor Esarhaddon.{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=131}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=57}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}
The Cimmerians might however have possibly ended their hostilities with Urartu and acted as mercenaries in the Urartian army during this period,{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}} under the reign of Argišti II.{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=131}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=66}} Some of these Cimmerians serving in the Urartian army might have been responsible for the creation of several human funerary statues in the region of Muṣaṣir which resemble the funerary statues of steppe nomads.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=70}}
=====Cimmerians in the Assyrian army=====
By 680 and 679 BC, Cimmerian detachments composed of individual soldiers were serving in the Neo-Assyrian army. These might have been Cimmerian captives or Cimmerians recruited into the Neo-Assyrian military or merely Assyrian soldiers equipped in the "Cimmerian
=====Division of the Cimmerians=====
During the period corresponding to the rule of the Neo-Assyrian king Esarhaddon ({{
*the bulk of the Cimmerians migrated from Transcaucasia into [[Anatolia]] under the leadership of the king Teušpâ, becoming the western division of the Cimmerians;
*a smaller group of the Cimmerians, called the Indaraeans ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒅔𒁕𒊒𒀀𒀀}}}}, {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Indaruāya}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Indaraya [1] (EN) |url=https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/qpn-x-ethnic/x000000260 |department=Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars |website=State Archives of Assyria Online |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] }}</ref>) in Neo-Assyrian sources, remained on the [[Iranian plateau|Iranian Plateau]]
The two groups of the Cimmerians might themselves have continued to remain part of the same steppe nomad polity, which was itself nevertheless organised along various divisions depending on political changes. Such a structure was also present among:{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=62-63}}
*the ancient [[Xiongnu]], whose princes and nobles were divided into Eastern and Western groups;{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=64}}
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====On the Iranian Plateau====
The eastern group of Cimmerians would remain on the northwestern Iranian plateau, where they were initially active in
=====In Mannai=====
======Scythian expansion into West Asia======
After having settled into Ciscaucasia, the Scythians became the second wave of steppe nomads to expand southwards from there, following the western shore of the [[Caspian Sea]]{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=93}} and bypassing the Caucasus Mountains to the east through the [[Derbent#History|Caspian Gates]],<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=129}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=131}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=52}}|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1990|p=100}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=19}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=83}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=60}}}}</ref> with the Scythians first arriving in Transcaucasia around {{c.|700 BC}},{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=97}} after which they consequently became active in West Asia.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=96}}|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1990|p=99}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=114}}}}</ref> This Scythian expansion into West Asia, nonetheless, never lost contact with the core Scythian kingdom located in the Ciscaucasian Steppe and was merely an extension of it, as was the concurrently occurring westward Scythian expansion into the Pontic Steppe.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}
Once they had finally crossed into West Asia, the Scythians settled in eastern Transcaucasia and the northwest Iranian plateau,<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1985|p=169}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=19}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=23}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=62}}}}</ref> between the middle course of the [[Kura (river)|Cyrus]] and [[Aras (river)|Araxes]] rivers before expanding into the regions corresponding to present-day [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Gəncə]], [[Mingachevir|Mingəçevir]] and the [[Mughan plain|Muğan plain]]{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=100}} in the steppes of what is presently Azerbaijan, which became their centre operations until {{c.|600 BC}},{{sfn|Sulimirski|1954|p=282}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=169}} and this part of Transcaucasia settled by the Scythians consequently became known in the Akkadian sources from Mesopotamia as {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|māt Iškuzaya}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒆳𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀}}}}, {{lit|land of the Scythians}}) after them.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=62}}
The arrival of the Scythians in West Asia about 40 years after that of the Cimmerians suggests that there is no available evidence to the later Graeco-Roman account of the Cimmerians crossing the Caucasus and moving south into West Asia under pressure from the Scythians migrating into their territories.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=83}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=96}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=60}}
======Attacks against the Neo-Assyrian Empire======
[[File:Kimerian.jpg|thumb|300px|An Assyrian relief depicting Cimmerian mounted warriors]]
With the Cimmerian victory on Urartu and Sargon II's successful campaign there in 714 BC having eliminated it as a threat against the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Mannai had ceased being useful as a buffer zone for Neo-Assyrian power, while the Mannaeans themselves saw the Neo-Assyrian imperial demands as a now unneeded burden. Therefore, the Mannaean king [[Aḫšēri]] ({{reign|{{c.|675}}|{{c.|650 BC}}}}) welcomed the Cimmerians and the Scythians as useful allies who could offer both protection and favourable new opportunities to his kingdom, which in turn allowed him to become an opponent of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, with him subsequently remaining an enemy of Sennacherib and his successors Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=747}}
The first ever recorded mention of the Scythians is from the records of the Neo-Assyrian Empire{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=99}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=107}} of {{c.|680 BC}}, which detail the first Scythian activities in West Asia and refer to the first recorded Scythian king, [[Išpakāya]], as an ally of the [[Mannaea]]ns.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=131}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=97}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=101}}|{{harvnb|Barnett|1982|p=358}}|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991a|p=128}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=564}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=79}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=68}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref>
Around this time, Aḫšēri was hindering operations by the Neo-Assyrian Empire between its own territory and Mannai,{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=748}} while the Scythians were recorded by the Neo-Assyrians along with the eastern Cimmerians, Mannaeans and Urartians as possibly menacing communication between the Neo-Assyrian Empire and its vassal of [[Ḫubuškia]], with messengers travelling between the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Hubuskia being at risk of being captured by hostile Cimmerian, Mannaean, Scythian or Urartian forces.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991a|p=128}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=87}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=40}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=61}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|pp=747–748}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref> Neo-Assyrian records also referred to these joint Cimmerian-Scythian forces, along with the Medes and Mannaeans, as a possible threat against the collection of tribute from Media.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=97}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=87}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=69}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=747}}}}</ref>
During these attacks, the Scythians, along with the eastern Cimmerians who were located on the border of Mannai,{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=358}}{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} were able to reach far beyond the core territories of the Iranian Plateau and attack the Neo-Assyrian provinces of [[Parsua|Parsuwaš]] and [[Bīt-Ḫambān]] and even until as far as Yašuḫ, Šamaš-naṣir and [[Zamua|Zamuā]] in the valley of the Diyala river.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Barnett|1982|p=358}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=85–87}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|pp=747–748}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref> One Scytho-Cimmerian attack which had invaded Ḫubuškia from Mannai was even able to threaten the core Neo-Assyrian territories by passing through [[Qaladiza|Anisus]] and [[Ranya|Ḫarrāniya]] on the [[Lower Zab]] river and sack the small city of Milqiya near [[Erbil|Arbaʾil]], close the capital cities of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, where they destroyed the {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Bīt-Akītī}} (House of the New Year Festival) of this city, which later had to be rebuilt by Esarhaddon.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=87}}{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=748-749}} These attacks into their heartlands shocked the Assyrians, who sought to know if they were to face more such invasions through divination.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=748}}
Meanwhile, Mannai, which had been able to grow in power under Aḫšēri, possibly thanks to its adaptation and incorporation of steppe nomad fighting technologies borrowed from its Cimmerian and Scythian allies,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}} was able to capture the territories including the fortresses of Šarru-iqbi and Dūr-Illil from the Neo-Assyrian Empire and retain them until the {{c.|650s BC}}.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=102-103}}{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=747}}
Under Argišti II, Urartu attempted to restore its power by expanding to the east towards the region of [[Sabalan|Mount Sabalan]], possibly to relieve the pressure on the trade routes across the Iranian Plateau and the steppes from the Scythians, Cimmerians, and Medes.{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=357}} Urartu remained a major power under Argišti II's successor [[Rusa II]] ({{reign|{{c.|685}}|{{c.|645 BC}}}}), the latter of whom carried out major fortification construction projects around [[Lake Van]], such as at [[Bastam Citadel|Rusāipatari]], and at [[Teishebaini|Teišebaini]] near what is presently [[Yerevan]];{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=67}} other fortifications built by Rusa II were Qale Bordjy and Qale Sangar north of [[Lake Urmia]], as well as the fortresses of Pir Chavush, Qale Gavur and Qiz Qale around the administrative centre of [[Haftevan|Haftavan Tepe]] to the northwest of the Lake, all intended to monitor the activities of the allied forces of the Scythians, Mannaeans and Medes.{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=360-361}}
These allied forces of the Cimmerians, Mannaeans and Scythians were defeated some time between {{c.|680}} and {{c.|677 BC}} by Sennacherib's son [[Esarhaddon]] ({{reign|681|669 BC}}), who had succeeded him as the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=78-79}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} and carried out a retaliatory campaign which reached deep into Median territory until [[Mount Damavand|Mount Bikni]] and the country of Patušarra (Patischoria) on the limits of the [[Dasht-e Kavir|Great Salt Desert]].{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=103-104}}{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} Išpakāya was killed in battle against Esarhaddon's forces during this campaign, and he was succeeded as king of the Scythians by [[Bartatua]],<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=97}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=564}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=517}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993b|pp=326–327}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=749}}}}</ref> with whom Esarhaddon might have immediately initiated negotiations.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=103}}
Since the Cimmerians had left their Ciscausian homelands and moved into West Asia to seek booty, they had no interest in the local affairs of the West Asian states and therefore fought for whoever was capable of paying them the most: therefore Esarhaddon took advantage of this and, at some point before {{c.|675 BC}}, he started secret negotiations with the eastern Cimmerians, who confirmed to the Assyrians that they would remain neutral and promised not to interfere when Esarhaddon invaded Mannai again in {{c.|675 BC}}. Nonetheless, since the Cimmerians were distant foreigners with a very different culture, and therefore did not fear the Mesopotamian gods, Esarhaddon's diviner and advisor Bēl-ušēzib referred to these eastern Cimmerians instead of the Scythians as possible allies of the Mannaeans and advised Esarhaddon to spy on both them and the Mannaeans.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=91}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=76–77}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=751}}}}</ref>
This second Assyrian invasion of Mannai however met little success because the Cimmerians with whom Esarhaddon had negotiated had deceived him by accepting his offer only to attack his invasion force,{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=751}} and the relations between Mannai and the Neo-Assyrian Empire remained hostile while the Cimmerians remained allied to Mannai{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=80}} until the period lasting from 671 to 657 BC.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=88-89}} As a result of this failure, the Neo-Assyrian Empire resigned itself to waiting until the Cimmerians were no longer a threat before mounting any further expedition in Mannai.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=751}}
Around this same time, the Indaraeans were also active around the northern boundary of Elam,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=193}} and some of them might have moved to the southern Iranian Plateau, where they possibly introduced Bronze articles from the [[Koban culture]] into the [[Luristan bronze]] culture.{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=560}}
=====Alliance with the Medes=====
The marriage between Bartatua and the Šērūʾa-ēṭirat likely took place,<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1954|p=294}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=509}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|
The eastern Cimmerians meanwhile remained hostile to Assyria,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=94}} and, along with the Medes, were the allies of Ellipi against an invasion by the Neo-Assyrian Empire between {{c.|672}} and {{c.|669 BC}}.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=90-91}} The eastern Cimmerians also attacked the Assyrian province of [[Shupria|Šubria]] during this time.{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=358}}{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}
It consequently became more difficult for the Neo-Assyrian Empire to control the Median city-states and the various polities in the [[Zagros Mountains]] at this point.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}}
Around {{c.|669 BC}}, the eastern Cimmerians experienced a defeat by the Neo-Assyrian army and were forced to retreat into their own territory,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=85}} and they were still on the territory of Mannai by {{c.|667 BC}}.{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}
However, some time in the late 660s or early 650s BC, the eastern Cimmerians left the Iranian Plateau and retreated to the west into Anatolia to join the western Cimmerians operating there: since Aḫšēri had depended on his alliance with the Cimmerians and Scythians to protect his kingdom from attacks by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, their departure provided Esarhaddon's successor to the Neo-Assyrian kingship, [[Ashurbanipal]] ({{reign|669|631 BC}}), with the opportunity to attack Mannai and recover some of the settlements which the Mannaeans had previously captured. And although Aḫšēri himself was able to withstand the Neo-Assyrian invasion, he had depended on the Cimmerians to suppress internal opposition to his rule, and their absence weakened him enough that he was soon deposed and killed by a popular rebellion which his son Uallî repressed before ascending to the throne of Mannai and submitting to the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=752-754}}
Thus, Ashurbanipal's situation improved once he was finally re-establish Neo-Assyrian overlordship over Mannai thanks to the retreat of the Cimmerians from the Iranian Plateau.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}
====In Anatolia====
This Cimmerian movement into Anatolia consisted of a large scale migration, with Cimmerian families taking their mobile possessions, animals, as well as conquered booty, along with them.{{sfn|Summers|2023|p=116}} This migration is archaeologically attested in the form of the expansion of the Scythian culture into this region,{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} although the further details of the exact time and trajectory through which the Cimmerians moved into Anatolia, and whether these movements consisted of a single group or of disparate divisions, are however unknown.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210}}
=====Defeat by Esarhaddon=====
Around the same time,
Despite this victory, and although Esarhaddon had managed to stop the advance of Cimmerians in the Neo-Assyrian province of Que so that this latter region remained under Neo-Assyrian control,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}} the military operations were not successful enough for the Assyrians to firmly occupy the areas around of
=====
With Urartu incapable of stopping the Cimmerian advance,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=67}} some time around {{c.|675 BC}},{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=73-74}} under their king Dugdammî{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=132}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}} (the Lygdamis of the Greek authors{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}}), the western [[Cimmerian invasion of Phrygia|Cimmerians invaded and destroyed]] the empire of [[Phrygia]], whose king [[Midas]] committed suicide, and sacked its capital of [[Gordion]],<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Vaggione|1973|p=526}}|{{harvnb|Cook|1982|p=196}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}|{{harvnb|Young|1988|p=20}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=624}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=181}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=38}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|p=44}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=67}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=106}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=273–274}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=288–289}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=213}}}}</ref> although they appear to have neither settled within the city nor destroyed its fortifications.{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=634}}
The western Cimmerians consequently settled in Phrygia{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} and subdued part of the [[Phrygians]]{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=74}}{{sfn|Kõiv|2022|p=263}} so that they controlled a large area consisting of Phrygia from its western limits which bordered on [[Lydia]] to its eastern boundaries neighbouring the Neo-Assyrian Empire,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=69}} after which they made [[Cappadocia]] into their centre of operations.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=136}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}
These western Cimmerians soon became sedentary, and by {{c.|670 BC}}, they had established their rule over native Anatolian settlements as well as formed their own settlements in Central Anatolia, with the city of Ḫarzallē or Ḫarṣallē being the capital city of the Cimmerian king Dugdammî. Each of these settlements had rulers referred to by Neo-Assyrian sources as {{lit|city-lords}} ({{lang-akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒂗𒌷𒈨𒌍}}|translit=bēl ālāni}}): these administrators consisted of both Cimmerians and members of other ethnic groups who lived within Dugdammî's kingdom.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=103–104}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=64}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=216}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|pp=218–219}}}}</ref>
According to a tradition later recorded by [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], the Cimmerians found several tens of thousands of [[Medimnos|{{transl|grc|medimnoi}}]] of wheat in the underground granaries of the Phrygian village of Syassos that they used as food for a long time.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=69}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=213}}
=====Activities in Anatolia=====
When Esarhaddon conquered the nearby state of Šubria in 673 BC, Rusa II supported him, attesting of a period of non-aggression between Urartu and Assyria under the reigns of Rusa II and Esarhaddon.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=67}}
Assyrian sources from around this same time also recorded a Cimmerian presence in the area of the Neo-Hittite state of [[Tabal (state)|Tabal]].{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=73}}
And between {{c.|672}} and {{c.|669 BC}}, an Assyrian oracular text recorded that the Cimmerians, together with the Phrygians and the Cilicians, were threatening the Neo-Assyrian Empire's newly conquered territory of [[Melid]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=68}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=74}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}}}</ref>
The western Cimmerians were thus active in Tabal, Ḫilakku and Phrygia in the 670s BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=74}} and, in alliance with these former two states, were attacking the western Neo-Assyrian provinces.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=123}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}} At unknown dates, the western Cimmerians also invaded [[Bithynia]] and [[Paphlagonia]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=69}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=221}}}}</ref>
In the early 660s BC, the power of the Cimmerians grew drastically and they became the masters of Anatolia,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}} where they controlled a large territory{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=23}} bordering Lydia in the west, covering Phrygia around Gordion and the Sangarios river, and reaching the Taurus Mountains in [[Cilicia]] and the borders of Urartu in the east, and encompassing the area bounded by the Black Sea in the north and the Mediterranean Sea in the south.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=70}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}}}</ref>
The core territories of the western Cimmerians were in Central Anatolia between the Konya Plain and the Neo-Assyrian province of Que, but also extended to parts of the Konya Plain itself, including its western parts, and to Cappadocia, as well as to the west of Tabal,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=213}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216}} implying that some of the Neo-Hittite states in and near the Konya Plain had become subjected to the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Summers|2023|p=116}}
The disturbances experienced by the Neo-Assyrian Empire as result of the activities of the Cimmerians in Anatolia led to many of the rulers of this region to try to break away from Neo-Assyrian overlordship,{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=132}} with Ḫilakku having become an independent polity again under the king Sandašarme{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}} by the time that Esarhaddon had been succeeded as king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by Ashurbanipal, so that by then the Cimmerians had effectively ended Neo-Assyrian control in Anatolia.{{sfn|Grayson|1991c|p=145}}
=====Reunification of the Cimmerians=====
Soon, in the late 660s or early 650s BC, the western Cimmerians were reinforced by the eastern Cimmerians who had left the western Iranian plateau to move to the west into Anatolia.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}
======First contacts with the Greeks======
Line 236 ⟶ 283:
Beginning in the 8th century BC, the [[Ancient Greece|ancient]] [[Greeks]] were first starting to make expeditions in the Black Sea, and encounters with friendly native populations quickly stimulated trade relations and the development of more regular commercial transits, which in turn led to the formation of [[Emporium (antiquity)|trading settlements]].{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=29-30}} The first Greek colony in the Black Sea, founded by settlers from [[Miletus]] around {{c.|750 BC}}, was that of [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]],{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=30}} in whose region the Cimmerians were active at this time.{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=79}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=82}}
The Cimmerians destroyed Sinope during the 7th century BC and killed its founder, Habrōn,
In 671 to 670 BC, Cimmerian contingents were serving in the Assyrian army,{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}} and Neo-Assyrian sources were referring to the spread of military technology and animal husbandry products referred to in Assyrian sources as "Cimmerian leather straps" and "Cimmerian bows" into the Neo-Assyrian Empire from {{c.|700}} to {{c.|650 BC}}.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=69}}
=====First attack on Lydia=====
However, the Lydian forces were initially not able to resist this invasion,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=96-97}} and Gyges sought to find help to face the Cimmerian invasions by initiating diplomatic relations with the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 666 BC:{{sfn|Xydopoulos|2015|p=120}} without accepting Assyrian overlordship, Gyges started to send regular embassies and diplomatic gifts to Ashurbanipal, with another Lydian embassy to the Neo-Assyrian Empire being attested from {{c.|665 BC}}.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|
Since it was due to the threat of the Cimmerians that Gyges had made friendly overtures to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Ashurbanipal considered the Cimmerian presence in Anatolia more useful than fighting them. Therefore, he adopted a policy of accepting whatever gifts and praise that Gyges would offer him, in exchange of which Ashurbanipa promised him support from the gods [[Ashur (god)|Aššur]] and [[Marduk]] while keeping him waiting and abstaining from providing any military support to Lydia.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}
These Cimmerian attacks also destroyed the relations between Lydia and Phrygia, and archaeological evidence from the Lydian site of Daskyleion shows that the Cimmerian invasion ended the development of trade and economic production in the early 7th century BC which had contributed to integrating both Lydia and Ionia into the Mediterranean economy.{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=45-46}} Lower class Ionian Greeks and Carians affected by this Cimmerian invasion appear to have formed a significant part of the colonists who went to set up new settlements throughout the shore of the Black Sea in the 7th century BC, such as the colonies of [[Berezan Island|Borysthenēs]], [[Histria (ancient city)|Histria]], [[Sozopol|Apollonia Pontica]], [[Mangalia|Kallatis]], and [[Shabla|Karōn Limēn]].{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=46-49}}
Gyges's struggle against the Cimmerians soon turned in his favour without Neo-Assyrian support, so that he was able to defeat them between {{c.|665}} and {{c.|660 BC}},<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=402}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=404}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=97–98}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=102}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Dale|2015|p=160}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=264–265}}}}</ref> possibly through campaigns in western Central Anatolia to the east of Sardis and the south of the core Phrygian territory,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216-217}} after which he sent captured Cimmerian city-lords as diplomatic gifts to Ashurbanipal.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=98}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=215}}}}</ref>
Gyges then stationed Carian and Ionian mercenaries at [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]],{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=45}} which provided an impetus for the formation of new Greek colonies in the Propontis and therefore made the Black Sea accessible to Greeks from Ionia.{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=46}}
The defeat of the Cimmerians by Gyges in turn weakened their allies, Mugallu of Tabal and Sandašarme of Ḫilakku, enough that they were left with no choice but to submit to the authority of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in {{c.|662 BC}}.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=124}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=71}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref>
=====Hegemony in the Levant=====
Facing resistance from the Lydians in the west, the Cimmerians moved eastwards, against the Neo-Assyrian Empire:{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101}} despite their defeat by Gyges in the {{c.|660s BC}}, the Cimmerians' power soon grew much so that by {{c.|657 BC}} they were not only in control of a large territory in Anatolia and were one of the main political forces operating in this region, but were also able conquer part of what had previously been secure western possessions of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, such as the province of Que or even part of the [[Levant]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Brinkman|1991|p=53}}|{{harvnb|Brinkman|1991|p=53}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=99–100}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=216}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref>
These Cimmerian aggressions worried Ashurbanipal about the security of the northwest border of the Neo-Assyrian Empire enough that he sought answers concerning this situation through [[divination]].{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=403}} And, as a result of these Cimmerian conquests, by 657 BC, the Assyrian astrologer Akkullanu was calling the Cimmerian king Dugdammî by the title of {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|šar-kiššati}} ({{lit|King of the Universe}}),{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}} which in the Mesopotamian worldview was a title that could belong only a single ruler in the world at any given time, and was normally held by the King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This attribution of the title of {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|šar-kiššati}} to a foreign ruler was an unprecedented situation of which there is no other known occurrence throughout the duration of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=219}}
Akkullanu nevertheless also assured to Ashurbanipal that he would eventually regain the {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|kiššūtu}}, that is the world hegemony which rightfully belonged to him, from the
This extraordinary situation meant that, under Dugdammî, who was their most powerful king
This situation remained unchanged throughout the rest of the 650s and the early 640s BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=105}} with the Cimmerian aggressions worrying Ashurbanipal regarding the security of his northwestern border so much that he often sought answers regarding this situation through divination.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101-103
These setbacks, along with Ashurbanipal's refusal to provide military support to Lydia, discredited Neo-Assyrian power enough that Gyges understood that he could not rely on Assyrian support against the Cimmerians, and, once the Cimmerians had moved to the east and their attacks on his kingdom decreased, he therefore ended diplomacy with the Neo-Assyrian Empire and instead sent troops to help the Egyptian kinglet [[Psamtik I]] of [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]],<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Braun|1982|p=36}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|pp=757–758}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref> who had himself been a Neo-Assyrian vassal who was then eliminating the other Neo-Assyrian vassal kinglets in Lower Egypt to unite the whole of Egypt under his own rule.{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=402-403}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=645}} Ashurbanipal responded to Gyges's disengagement with the Neo-Assyrian Empire by cursing him.{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=645}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=215}}
=====Exhaustion of Assyria=====
Neo-Assyrian power experienced another significant blow in 652 BC, when Esarhaddon's eldest son, [[Šamaš-šuma-ukin]], who had succeeded him as king of Babylon, rebelled against his younger brother Ashurbanipal: it took Ashurbanipal four years to fully suppress the Babylonian rebellion by 648 BC, and another year to destroy the power of [[Elam]], who had supported Šamaš-šuma-ukin,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}} and, although Ashurbanipal would nevertheless be able to maintain control over Babylonia for the rest of his reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire finally emerged
One of the oracular responses received by Ashurbanipal in 652 BC itself claimed that the goddess [[Inanna|Ishtar]] had promised to him that the Cimmerians would be defeated similarly to how Ashurbanipal himself had defeated the Elamites and killed their king [[Teumman]] in 653 BC.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101-102}}
Meanwhile, Dugdammî might have taken advantage of the civil war within the Neo-Assyrian Empire caused by Samas-suma-ukin's rebellion to attack northwestern Neo-Assyrian provinces.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=218}}
=====Attack on Šubria=====
In the 650s BC, the
======Alliance with the Treres======
[[File:Sozopol Archaeological Museum IMG 4219.JPG|thumb|right|350px|A Thracian mounted warrior followed by a warrior on foot.]]
=====Second attack on Lydia=====
The Cimmerians and Treres under Lygdamis and the Treran king Kōbos,{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=407}} and in alliance with the [[Lycians]] or [[Lycaonia]]ns, attacked Lydia for a second time in 644 BC:{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=405-406}} this time they defeated the [[Lydians]] and captured their capital city of [[Sardis]] except for its citadel, and Gyges
After this attack, Gyges's son [[Ardys of Lydia|Ardys]] succeeded him as king of Lydia and resumed diplomatic activity with the Neo-Assyrian Empire with the hope of military support which Ashurbanipal again did not provide.<ref>{{
=====Attack on Ionia and Aeolia=====
After sacking Sardis, Lydgamis and Kobos led the
[[File:History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria (1903) (14783417153).jpg|thumb|250px|left|Painting depicting Cimmerian mounted warriors from a [[Klazomenian sarcophagi|Klazomenian sarcophagus]].]]
[[File:Cimmerian.jpg|thumb|150px|Reproduction of a depiction of a Cimmerian archer from a Greek vase.]]
The Cimmerians and Treres remained on the western coast of Anatolia inhabited by the Greeks for three years, from {{c.|644}} to {{c.|641 BC}}, where later Greek tradition claimed that Lygdamis had occupied [[Antandrus|Antandros]] and [[Priene]], which forced a large number of the inhabitants of the coastal region called [[Batinētis]]
=====Activities in Cilicia=====
Sensing the exhaustion of Neo-Assyrian power following the suppression of the revolt of Šamaš-šuma-ukin, the Cimmerians and Treres moved to Cilicia on the north-west border of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in {{c.|640 BC}} itself, immediately after their third invasion of Lydia and the attack on the Asian Greek cities. There,
Although the Urartians had sent tribute to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 643 BC,
However,
======Death of Dugdammî======
Dugdammî soon broke his oath and attacked the Neo-Assyrian Empire again, but during his military campaign he
Dugdammî was succeeded as king of the
The power of the Cimmerians dwindled quickly after the death of Dugdammî,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=107}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=221}} although the Lydian kings Ardys and Sadyattes might however have either died fighting the Cimmerians or were deposed for being incapable of efficiently fighting them, respectively in {{c.|637}} and {{c.|635 BC}}.{{sfn|Dale|2015|p=160-161}}
=====Final defeat=====
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Despite these setbacks, the Lydian kingdom was able to grow in power, and the [[Lydians]] themselves appear to have adopted Cimmerian military practices such as the use of mounted cavalry, with the Lydians fighting using long spears and archers, both on horseback.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=74}}
Around {{c.|635 BC}},{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=408}} and with Neo-Assyrian approval,{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=9}} the Scythians under their king [[Madyes]] conquered Urartu,{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=564}}{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=39}} entered Central Anatolia,{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=129}} and defeated the Cimmerians and Treres.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=406}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=567}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=508}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=517}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|p=45}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=151}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=759}}}}</ref> This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes's Scythians, whom [[Strabo|Strabo of Amasia]] credits with expelling the Treres from Asia Minor, and of the Lydians led by their king [[Alyattes]],{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=23-24}} who was himself the son of Sadyattes as well as the grandson of Ardys and the great-grandson of Gyges, whom Herodotus of Halicarnassus and [[Polyaenus|Polyaenus of Bithynia]] claim permanently defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|
In an inscription from after {{c.|638 BC}}, Ashurbanipal thanked the god Marduk for the fate which had struck Sandakšatru, suggesting that he had experienced a horrifying death not unlike his father's.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=759}}
The Cimmerians completely disappeared from history following this final defeat,{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} and they were soon assimilated by the various populations and polities of Anatolia, such as Lydia, Media, and Pteria.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}} It was also around this time that the last still-existing Syro-Hittite and Aramaean states in Anatolia, which had been either independent or vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Phrygia, Urartu, or of the Cimmerians, also disappeared, although the exact circumstances of their end are still very uncertain.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=72}}
Scythian power in West Asia thus reached its peak under Madyes, with the West Asian territories ruled by the Scythian kingdom extending from the [[Kızılırmak River|Halys river]] in Anatolia in the west to the Caspian Sea and the eastern borders of Media in the east, and from Transcaucasia in the north to the northern borders of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the south.{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=134}}{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=408}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=327}} And, following the defeat of the Cimmerians and the disappearance of these states, it was the new Lydian Empire of Alyattes which became the dominant power of Anatolia,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=220}} while the city of Sinope was re-founded{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=39}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=37}} by the Milesian Greek colonists Kōos and Krētinēs.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2010|p=69}}{{sfn|Xydopoulos|2015|p=121}}
====Impact in West Asia====
The inroads of the Cimmerians and the Scythians into West Asia over the course of the 8th to 7th centuries BC had destabilised the political balance which had prevailed in the region between the dominant great powers of Assyria, Urartu, and Phrygia,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75}} and also caused the decline and destruction of several of these states' power, consequently led to the rise of multiple new powers such as the empires of the [[Medes]] and [[Lydians]],{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=73}} thus irreversibly changing the geopolitical situation of West Asia.{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=129}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75-77}}
The Cimmerian and Scythian activities in West Asia also hampered the development of trade, and overland trade routes in the region such as the [[Great Khorasan Road]] likely became dangerous to use, while also preventing the formation of new trade routes.{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=45}} These Cimmerian and Scythian activities also influenced the developments in West Asia through the spread of the steppe nomad military technology brought by them into this region, and which were disseminated during the periods of their respective hegemonies in West Asia.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75}} ===Possible migration in Europe===
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=====In West Asia=====
The inroads of the Cimmerians and the Scythians into West Asia over the course of the 8th to 7th centuries BC, which were early precursors of the later invasions of West Asia by steppe nomads such as the [[Huns]], various [[Turkic peoples]], and the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]], in [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages|Mediaeval Period]],{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=761}} had destabilised the political balance which had prevailed in the region between the dominant great powers of Assyria, Urartu, and Phrygia,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75}} and also caused the decline and destruction of several of these states' power, consequently to the rise of multiple new powers such as the empires of the [[Medes]] and [[Lydians]],{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=73}} thus irreversibly changing the geopolitical situation of West Asia.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75-76}}
These Cimmerians and Scythians also influenced the developments in West Asia through the spread of the steppe nomad military technology brought by them into this region, and which were disseminated during the periods of their respective hegemonies in West Asia.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75}}
After the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and following the
The Cimmerians appear in the [[Hebrew Bible]] under the name of [[Gomer|{{transl|he|Gōmer}}]] ({{lang-he|
=====In Graeco-Roman literature=====
======In Homer's {{transl|en|Odyssey}}======
The first mention of the Cimmerians in [[Ancient Greek literature|Graeco-Roman literature]] dates from the 8th century BC in [[Homer]]'s [[Odyssey|{{transl|en|Odyssey}}]],{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=555}} which describes them as a people living in a city located at the entrance of [[Greek underworld|Hades]] beyond the western shore of the [[Oceanus]] river which encircles the world, in a land towards which Odysseus sailed to obtain an oracle from the soul of the seer [[Tiresias]], and which was covered with mists and clouds and therefore remained permanently deprived of sunlight although the Sun-god [[Helios]] sets there.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|
This mention of the Cimmerians in the {{transl|en|Odyssey}} was purely poetic and combined [[fantasy]] with records of real events, and naturalism with supernatural elements, and therefore contained no reliable information about the real Cimmerian people.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=73-74}} This image was created as a poetic opposite of the [[Laestrygonians]] and [[Aethiopia
Homer's passage relating to the Cimmerians had however used as its source the [[Argonauts|Argonautic myth]], which dealt with the region of the Black Sea and the country of [[Colchis]], on whose eastern borders the Cimmerians were still living in the 8th century BC.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=74-75}} Thus, Homer's source on the Cimmerians was the Argonautic myth, which itself recorded of their existence when they were still living in northern Transcaucasia:{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=75}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=94}} the location of the Cimmerians as recorded by the Argonautic myth corresponds to the same one recorded by the late 7th century BC poem {{transl|grc|Arimaspeia}} by [[Aristeas|Aristeas of Proconessus]] and the later writings of [[Herodotus|Herodotus of Halicarnassus]],{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=75-76}} who both described the Cimmerians as having once dwelt in the steppe to the immediate north of the Caspian Sea,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=75-76}} with the [[Volga|Araxes]] river forming their eastern border separating them from the Scythians.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=108}}
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======According to Herodotus of Halicarnassus======
Herodotus of Halicarnassus wrote a legendary account, partly based on Hecataeus's narrative,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=95}} of the arrival of the Scythians into the lands of the Cimmerians:<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|
#after the Scythians were expelled from Central Asia by the Massagetae, they moved to the west across the Araxes, and took possession of the Cimmerians' lands after chasing them away;
#the approach of the Scythians led to a civil war among the Cimmerians because the "royal tribe" wanted to remain in their lands and defend themselves from the invaders, while the rest of the people saw no use in fighting and preferred to flee;
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These inconsistencies suggest that Herodotus's narrative of an eastern flight of the Cimmerians was a later folk tale invented by Greek colonists on the north shore of the Black Sea to explain the existence of ancient tombs, reflecting the motif of assigning old tombs and buildings with mythical heroes or with lost ancient valiant peoples, similarly to how the Greeks within Greece proper claimed similar remains had been built by the [[Pelasgians|Pelasgi]] and the [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]],{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=93}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=80}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=82}} or how later Ossetian tradition [[Nart saga|recounted the death of the Narts]].{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=322}}
Moreover, Herodotus's account also ignored the earlier Cimmerian activities in West Asia during the reigns of Sargon II to the ascension of Ashurbanipal, including the two separate invasions of Lydia, and instead contracted them into a single event during which Lydgamis led the Cimmerians from the steppes into Anatolia to sack Sardis under the reign of Ardys.{{sfn|Kõiv|2022|p=270-271}}{{sfn|Kõiv|2022|p=289}}
======In later Graeco-Roman literature======
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=====In popular culture=====
The character of [[Conan the Barbarian]], created by [[Robert E. Howard]] in a series of fantasy stories published in [[Weird Tales|{{transl|en|Weird Tales}}]] from 1932, is canonically a Cimmerian: in Howard's fictional [[Hyborian Age]], the Cimmerians are a pre-Celtic people who were the ancestors of the Irish and Scots ([[Gaels]]). Moreover, a miscegenation of Cimmerians and Turanians was the origin of the Scyths.
[[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay|{{transl|en|The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay}}]], a novel by [[Michael Chabon]], includes a chapter describing the (fictional) oldest book in the world,
[[Isaac Asimov]] attempted to trace various place names to Cimmerian origins. He suggested that {{transl|la|Cimmerium}} gave rise to the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] [[Toponymy|toponym]] [[Stary Krym|{{transl|crh|Qırım}}]],
[[Manau (band)|Manau]]'s song
==Culture and society==
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The original homeland of the Cimmerians before they migrated into West Asia was in the steppe situated to the north of the [[Caspian Sea]] and to the west of the [[Volga|Araxēs]] river until the [[Kerch Strait|Cimmerian Bosporus]], and some Cimmerians might have nomadised in the [[Kuban steppe]]; the Cimmerians thus originally lived in the Caspian and Caucasian steppes, in the area corresponding to present-day [[Southern Russia]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a}}{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=89-109}}{{sfn|Barnett|1982|pages=333-356}}
The region of the Pontic Steppe to the north of the [[Sea of Azov|Lake
The later claim by Greek authors that the Cimmerians lived in the Pontic Steppe around the [[Dniester|Tyras river]] was a retroactive invention dating from after the disappearance of the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a}}
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=====In Anatolia and on the Iranian Plateau=====
The Cimmerians later split into two groups, with a western horde located in [[Anatolia]], and an eastern horde which moved into [[Mannaea|Mannai]] and later [[Media (region)|Media]].{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=57-94}}
===Ethnicity===
The Cimmerians were a [[Iranian peoples|Iranic people]]<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=1996}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=517}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|
And, while the Cimmerians are archaeologically, culturally and linguistically indistinguishable from the Scythians, all Mesopotamian and Greek sources contemporary to their activities sources both nevertheless clearly distinguished between the Cimmerians and the Scythians as separate political entities,<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2001|p=339}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=18}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=61}}}}</ref> suggesting that the Scythians and Cimmerians were merely two member tribes of a single cultural group.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=33}}
Other suggestions for the ethnicity of the Cimmerians include the possibility of them being [[Thracians|Thracian]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}} However the proposal of a Thracian origin of the Cimmerians is untenable and arose from a confusion by Strabo of Amasia between the Cimmerians and their allies, the Thracian tribe of the [[Treri|Treres]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92-93}} According to the scholar [[Igor M. Diakonoff|Igor Diakonoff]], the possibility of the Cimmerians being Thracian-speakers is less likely than that of them being Iranic-speakers.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}
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According to the historian [[Muhammad Dandamayev]] and the linguist [[János Harmatta]], the Cimmerians spoke a dialect belonging to the [[Scythian languages|Scythian]] group of [[Iranian languages|Iranic languages]], and were able to communicate with [[Scythians]] proper without needing interpreters.<ref>{{harvnb|Dandamayev|2015}}: "It seems that Cimmerians and Scythians (Sakai) were related, spoke among themselves different Iranian dialects, and could understand each other without interpreters."</ref>{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=181}}{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=43}}
The Iranologist Ľubomír Novák considers Cimmerian to be a relative of Scythian which exhibited similar features as Scythian, such as the evolution of the sound {{IPAslink|d}} into {{IPAslink|ð}}.{{sfn|Novák|2013|p=10}}
According to Igor Diakonoff, the Cimmerians spoke a Scythian language{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=93-94}} belonging to the eastern branch{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=94}} of the Iranic language.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}} The Scythologist [[Askold Ivantchik]] also considers the Cimmerians to have been linguistically very close to the Scythians.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=339}}
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***{{lang|xsc|*Taiu-spā}} "abductor dog"
***{{lang|xsc|*Daiva-spā}} "divine dog"
*{{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Tugdammî}} or {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Dugdammî}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒁹𒌇𒁮𒈨𒄿}}}}), and recorded as {{transl|grc|Lugdamis}} ({{lang|grc|Λυγδαμις}}) and {{transl|grc|Dugdamis}} ({{lang|grc|Δυγδαμις}}) by Greek authors
**K. T. Vitchak has proposed that it was derived from an Old Iranic form {{transl|xsc|*Duγδamaiši}}, meaning "owner of milk-producing sheep."{{sfn|Vitchak|1999|p=53-54}}
**According to the Scythologist {{ill|Sergey Tokhtas’ev|ru|Тохтасьев, Сергей Ремирович}}, the original form of this name was likely {{transl|xsc|*Dugdamiya}}, formed from the word {{transl|xsc|*dugda}}, meaning "milk."{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|2007|p=610-611}}
**The Iranologist Ľubomír Novák has noted that the attestation of this name in the forms {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Dugdammî}} and {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Tugdammî}} in Akkadian and the forms {{transl|grc|Lugdamis}} and {{transl|grc|Dugdamis}} in Greek shows that its first consonant had experienced the change of the sound /d/ to /l/, which is consistent with the phonetic changes attested in the Scythian languages.{{sfn|Novák|2013}}
*{{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Sandakšatru}} ({{lang|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒁹𒊓𒀭𒁖𒆳𒊒}}|translit=Sandakšatru}}): this is an Iranic reading of the name, and [[Manfred Mayrhofer]] (1981) points out that the name may also be read as {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Sandakurru}}.
**According to János Harmatta, it goes back to [[Iranian language|Old Iranic]] {{lang|xsc|*Sandakuru}} "splendid son."{{sfn|Harmatta|1996}}
**Askold Ivantchik derives the name {{transl|akk-x-neoassyr|Sandakšatru}} from a compound term consisting of the name of the Anatolian deity [[Sandas|{{transl|xlu|Šanta|italics=no}}]], and of the Iranic term {{transl|ira|-xšaθra}}.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=95-125}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=72}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=220}}
===Social organisation===
====Tribal structure====
The Cimmerians might have been a confederation composed of several tribes spread across Anatolia and the western Iranian Plateau,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=65}} and which was in turn divided into larger groups depending
====Administrative structure====
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=====Kingship=====
The Cimmerians were ruled by a supreme king whose power was passed down in a single dynasty. The names of three Cimmerian kings have been recorded: Teušpâ, Dugdammî, and Sandakšatru.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}
=====Assemblies=====
The Cimmerians had military assemblies composed of their troops, which the king had the power to convene to assist him.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=65}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}}
Once the Cimmerians in Anatolia had become sedentary, they formed settlements which were ruled by city-lords not unlike those who ruled the city-states of the Medes.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=65}}
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The Cimmerians shared a common culture and origin with the Scythians{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=98}}{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=44}} and lived an [[Equestrianism|equestrian]] [[Nomadic pastoralism|nomadic pastoralist]] way of life similar to that of the Scythians,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=94}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=43}} which is reflected by how West Asian sources mentioned Cimmerian arrows, bows and horse equipment, which are typical of steppe nomads.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}
After the Cimmerians who had migrated into West Asia had divided into two groups, the western horde living in Anatolia had become sedentary and were living in settlements, some of which were fortified, and which had either been founded by them or were native Anatolian settlements over whom the
These settlements were administered by leaders who were part of a hierarchical system, and who were either Cimmerians themselves or belonged to the various ethnic groups living within the Cimmerian kingdom in Anatolia. The Neo-Assyrian Empire considered these leaders to be equivalents of the rulers of the contemporary Median city-states, due to which they referred to the leaders of these Cimmerian rulers as {{lit|city-lords}} ({{lang-akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒂗𒌷𒈨𒌍}}|translit=bēl ālāni}}), which was the same designation that they had used for the Median petty-rulers as well.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=103-104}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=64}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216}}
====Equestrianism====
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===Warfare===
The Cimmerians used the same types of weapons as the Scythians,{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=181}} and practised [[Cavalry|mounted warfare]] just like them.{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=43}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=221}}
The Cimmerians who moved in Anatolia also adopted the use of [[Chariot|chariot warfare]] and unmounted infantry.{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=355}}
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== Archaeology ==
{{main|Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex|Scythian culture}}
===In the Eurasian Steppe===
The Cimmerians were part of the [[Scytho-Siberian world|Scytho-Siberian horizon]], and they produced a Scythian-like material culture. Archaeological remains typical of Iron Age steppe nomads found in Caucasia and Transcaucasia, consisting of kurgans, weapons, horse harness parts, horses, stirrups, arrowheads, and Animal Style ornaments, might have belonged to the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210-211}}
The Cimmerians before their migration into West Asia archaeologically corresponded to a part of the [[Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex]] of the northern Pontic steppe regions over the course of the 9th to 7th centuries BC.{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=99}}
The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex thus developed natively in the North Pontic region over the course of the 9th to mid-7th centuries BC from elements which had earlier arrived from [[Central Asia]], due to which the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex itself exhibited similarities with the other early nomadic cultures of the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe which existed before the 7th century BC, such as the [[Aržan culture]], so that these various pre-Scythian early nomadic cultures were thus part of a unified Aržan-Chernogorovka cultural layer originating from Central Asia.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=35-37}}
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By the time the Cimmerians had moved into West Asia, their culture along with the pre-Scythian culture of the Scythians had evolved into the Early Scythian culture:{{sfn|Ivantchik|2010|p=66}} several "Early Scythian" remains are known from West Asia which correspond to the activities of the Cimmerians in this region,{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=338}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2010|p=67}} with "Scythian" arrowheads have been found among the weapons of besieging armies of ruined cities in parts of Anatolia where Cimmerians are attested have operated but where Scythians were not active.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=92}}
Despite textual sources attesting of Cimmerian activities in Anatolia which strongly affected the polities in that region, their presence there has largely still not been identified in the archaeology of Iron Age Anatolia.{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=44}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210}}{{sfn|Summers|2023|p=116}}
The few known Cimmerian archaeological remains from the period of their presence in Anatolia include a burial from the village of [[İmirler, Gümüşhacıköy|İmirler]] in the [[Amasya Province]] of [[Turkey]] which contains typically Early Scythian weapons and horse harnesses. Another Cimmerian burial, located at about 100 km to the east of İmirler and 50 km from [[Samsun]], contained 250 Scythian-type arrowheads.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2010|p=67-68}}
The site of Büklükale, where was discovered Scythian-type animal style ornaments, might have been the location of a Cimmerian settlement, although this identification is still uncertain.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Altuntaş|2022}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=216}}|{{harvnb|Altuntaş|2023}}|{{harvnb|Carola|2023}}|{{harvnb|Keskin|2023}}}}</ref>
==
* [[Teušpâ]] (?-679 BC)
* [[Dugdammî]] (679-640 BC)
Line 539 ⟶ 609:
== See also ==
* [[Agathyrsi]]
* [[Sigynnae]]
* [[Umman Manda]]
Line 553 ⟶ 618:
=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin}}
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* {{cite book |editor-last1=Pstrusińska |editor-first1=Jadwiga |editor-link1=:pl:Jadwiga Pstrusińska |editor-last2=Fear |editor-first2=Andrew |last=Olbrycht |first=Marek Jan |date=2000b |title=Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia |chapter=Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/11934986 |pages=101–140 |location=[[Kraków]] |publisher=[[:pl:Księgarnia Akademicka|Księgarnia Akademicka]] |isbn=978-8-371-88337-8 }}
* {{cite book |last=Parfitt |first=Tudor |author-link=Tudor Parfitt |year=2003 |title=The Lost Tribes of Israel: The History of a Myth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YgFHQAACAAJ |publisher=[[Phoenix Books|Phoenix]] |isbn=1-84212-665-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Parpola |first=Simo |author-link=Simo Parpola |date=1970 |title=Neo-Assyrian Toponyms |url=https://archive.org/details/neoassyriantopon0000parp |location=[[Kevelaer]], [[Germany]] |publisher=Butzon & Bercker
* {{cite book |last=Parzinger |first=Hermann |author-link=Hermann Parzinger |date=2004 |title=Die Skythen |trans-title=The Scythians |language=de |location=[[Munich]], [[Germany]] |publisher=[[C. H. Beck|Verlag C.H.Beck]] |isbn=978-3-406-50842-4}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Davis-Kimball |editor-first1=Jeannine |editor-link1=Jeannine Davis-Kimball |editor-last2=Bashilov |editor-first2=Vladimir A. |editor-last3=Yablonsky |editor-first3=Leonid T. |editor-link3=:ru:Яблонский, Леонид Теодорович |last=Petrenko |first=Vladimir G. |author-link= |date=1995 |chapter=1. Scythian Culture in the North Caucasus |title=Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age |location=[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]], [[United States]] |publisher=Zinat Press |pages=5–25 |isbn=978-1-885979-00-1 }}
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* {{cite book |editor-last=Gershevitch |editor-first=I. |editor-link=Ilya Gershevitch |last=Sulimirski |first=T. |author-link=Tadeusz Sulimirski |year=1985 |chapter=The Scyths |title=The Median and Achaemenian Periods |series=[[The Cambridge History of Iran]] |volume=2 |url= |location=[[Cambridge]], [[United Kingdom]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=149–199 |isbn=978-1-139-05493-5 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Boardman |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Boardman (art historian) |editor2-last=Edwards |editor2-first=I. E. S. |editor2-link=I. E. S. Edwards |editor3-last=Hammond |editor3-first=N. G. L. |editor3-link=N. G. L. Hammond |editor4-last=Sollberger |editor4-first=E. |editor4-link=Edmond Sollberger |editor5-last=Walker |editor5-first=C. B. F. |last1=Sulimirski |first1=Tadeusz |author-link=Tadeusz Sulimirski |last2=Taylor |first2=T. F. |author-link2=Timothy Taylor (archaeologist) |date=1991 |title=The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries B.C. |series=[[The Cambridge Ancient History]] |volume=3 |issue=2 |chapter=The Scythians |url= |location=[[Cambridge]], [[United Kingdom]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=547–590 |isbn=978-1-139-05429-4}}
* {{cite journal |last=Summers |first=Geoffrey D. |date=2023 |title=Resizing Phrygia: Migration, State and Kingdom |url=https://www.academia.edu/120024048 |journal=[[:de:Altorientalische Forschungen|Altorientalische Forschungen]] |trans-journal=Ancient Near Eastern Research |publisher=[[De Gruyter|Walter de Gruyter]] |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=107–128 |doi=10.1515/aofo-2023-0009 |access-date=25 July 2024}}
*Terenozhkin A.I., Cimmerians, Kiev, 1983
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Tokhtas’ev |first=Sergei R. |author-link=:ru:Тохтасьев, Сергей Ремирович |title=Cimmerians |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/cimmerians-nomads |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |date=1991 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation]]; [[Brill Publishers]] |location=[[New York City]], [[United States]] |access-date= }}
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[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]]
[[Category:Iranian nomads]]
[[Category:Ancient
[[Category:Ancient Russia]]
[[Category:Tribes described primarily by Herodotus]]
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