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In the ancientGreco-Roman world,Sarmatia was a geographic region that encompassed the westernEurasian steppe. It was inhabited by theSarmatians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestriannomadic people.
The Romans gave the nameSarmatia to the region which the ancient Greeks had formerly calledScythia because it had been inhabited by theScythians. Beginning in the late 4th century BC the Sarmatians, a nomadic Iranian people related to the Eastern Iranic Scythians, moved from the east into thePontic steppe, where they replaced the Scythians as the dominant power. Due to the Sarmatian incursion, "Sarmatia Europea" replaced "Scythia" as the name for the region.[1][2]
According to the map ofMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa transmitted byPliny the Elder in the late 1st century BCE, Sarmatia and Scythia Taurica were the countries between theDnipro, theVolga andCiscaucasia; andPomponius Mela in the 1st century CE described Sarmatia as a large country found between theVistula and theIster.[2]
Claudius Ptolemy divided Sarmatia into two parts: European Sarmatia and Asiatic Sarmatia.[3]
European Sarmatia (Latin:Sarmatia Europea), bounded by the Vistula and theSarmatian Mountains in the west; theMaeotian Sea and theriver Tanais in the east; the territory of theIazyges,Dacia and thePontus Euxinus in the south; and theVenedicus Bay of theSarmatian Ocean and part of an unknown land in the north.
Asiatic Sarmatia (Latin:Sarmatia Asiatica), bounded by European Sarmatia in the west; Scythia and part of theCaspian Sea in the east; the states of theCaucasus in the south; and an unknown land in the north.
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