Sakā tigraxauda Massagetae | |
|---|---|
| c. 8th century BCE–c. 3rd century BCE | |
| Common languages | Saka language |
| Religion | Scythian religion |
| Demonym(s) | Sakā tigraxaudā Orthocorybantes Massagetae |
| Government | Monarchy |
| King or Queen | |
| Tomyris | |
| Skuⁿxa | |
| Historical era | Iron AgeScythian cultures |
• Established | c. 8th century BCE |
• Disestablished | c. 3rd century BCE |
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| Indo-European topics |
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TheMassagetae orMassageteans, also known asSakā tigraxaudā orOrthocorybantians, were anancientEastern IranianSaka people[1][2][3][4][5] who inhabited thesteppes ofCentral Asia and were part of the widerScythian cultures.[6] The Massagetae rose to power in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, when they started a series of events with wide-reaching consequences by expelling theScythians out of Central Asia and into the Caucasian and Pontic Steppes. The Massagetae are most famous for their queenTomyris's alleged defeating and killing ofCyrus, the founder of thePersianAchaemenid Empire.[7]
The Massagetae declined after the 3rd century BCE, after which they merged with some other tribes to form theAlans, a people who belonged to the largerSarmatian tribal confederation, and who moved westwards into the Caucasian and European steppes, where they participated in the events of theMigration Period.[7]
The nameMassagetae is theLatin form ofAncient Greek:ΜασσαγέταιMassagétai.[2]
The IranologistRüdiger Schmitt notes that although the original name of the Massagetae is unattested, it appears that the most plausible etymon is theIranian*Masyaka-tā.[1][2]*Masyaka-tā is the plural form, containing theEast Iranian suffix*-tā, which is reflected inGreek-tai.[2] The singular form is*Masi̯a-ka- and is composed of the Iranian*-ka- and*masi̯a-, meaning "fish," derived fromYoung Avestanmasiia- (𐬨𐬀𐬯𐬌𐬌𐬀; cognate withVedicmátsya-).[2] The name literally means "concerned with fish," or "fisherman."[1][2] This corresponds with the remark made by the ancient Greek historianHerodotus (1.216.3) that "they live on their livestock and fish."[1] Schmitt notes that objections to this reasoning, based on the assumption that, instead ofmasi̯a-, a derivation from Iranian*kapa- "fish" (compareOssetianкӕф (kæf)) would be expected, is "not decisive."[2] Schmitt states that any other interpretations on the origin of the original Iranian name of the Massagetae are "linguistically unacceptable."[2]
The IranologistJános Harmatta has, however, criticised the proposal ofMassagetai's derivation frommasyaka-ta, meaning "fish-eating (men)," as being semantically and phonologically unacceptable, and instead has suggested that the name might be derived from an earlyBactrian language nameMaššagatā, from an earlierMašyagatā related to theYoung Avestan termsmaṣ̌a- (𐬨𐬀𐬴𐬀),maṣ̌iia- (𐬨𐬀𐬴𐬌𐬌𐬀),maṣ̌iiāka- (𐬨𐬀𐬴𐬌𐬌𐬁𐬐𐬀), meaning "men," with the ending of the name being derived from theEast Iranian suffix*-tā or from the collective formative syllable from which the suffix evolved. According to Harmatta's hypothesis, the Bactrian nameMaššagatā would have corresponded to the nameDahā, meaning "men," used by the Massagetae for themselves.[8]
TheOld Persian nameSakā tigraxaudā (𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭𐎠) meant "Saka who wearpointed hats",[11] with the descriptivetigraxaudā (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭), meaning "wearer of pointed hats," being composed of the termstigraʰ (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼), "pointed," andxauda- (𐎧𐎢𐎭𐎠), "cap."[11] This name was a reference to thePhrygian cap worn by the ancient Iranian peoples, of which theSakā tigraxaudā wore an unusually tall and pointed form.[12][13][14][15]
The nameOrthocorybantians given to theMassagetai/Sakā tigraxaudā is derived from theLatin nameOrthocorybantes, which is derived from theAncient Greek:Ορθοκορυβαντες,romanized: Orthokorubantes, which is itself the literal translation of theOld Persian nametigraxaudā (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭), meaning "wearer of pointed hats.",[16][17][18]
The proposed etymologies for the Massagataean sub-tribe of the Apasiacae, whose name is not attested in ancient Iranian records, include*Āpasakā, meaning "Water-Sakas," and*Āpašyāka, meaning "rejoicing at water," which have so far not been conclusive.[19]
The IranologistJános Harmatta has identified the Massagetae as being the same as the people namedSakā tigraxaudā ("Sakā who wearpointed caps") by the Persians andOrthocorybantes byGraeco-Romans. Harmatta's identification is based on the mention of theSakā tigraxaudā as living between theAmu Darya andSyr Darya rivers, whereArrian also located the Massagetae.[20]
The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht has also identified the Massagetae with theSakā tigraxaudā.[7]
János Harmatta has also identified theMassagetai/Sakā tigraxaudā with theDahā, with this identification being based on the location of the former between theAmu Darya andSyr Darya rivers, whereArrian also located the Dahae.[21] The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that theDahā were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae.[22] C. J. Brunner suggested that the Daha were either neighbours of the Saka Tigraxauda or that both groups were part of the same people.[23]
The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.[24]
Marek Jan Olbrycht considers theDahā as being a separate group from the Saka, and therefore as not identical with the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā.[25]
Based onStrabo's remark that the Massagetae lived partly on the plains, the mountains, the marshes, and the islands in the country irrigated by the Araxes river, theIranologistRüdiger Schmitt has also suggestive a tentative connection with theSꜣg pḥ Sk tꜣ (Ancient Egyptian𓐠𓎼𓄖𓋴𓎝𓎡𓇿𓈉), the "Saka of the Marshes, Saka of the Land," mentioned in theSuez Inscriptions of Darius the Great.[2]
The Massagetae were composed of multiple sub-tribes, including:[26][27][2][28]
The Massagetae lived in the Caspian Steppe[7] as well as in the lowlands of Central Asia located to the east of theCaspian Sea and the south-east of theAral Sea, more precisely across the large area stretching from the lands around theAmu Darya andZarafshan rivers up to the steppes and the deserts to the north of theKhorasan mountain corridor, that is in the region including theKyzylkum andKarakum deserts and theUstyurt Plateau, especially the area between theOxus andIaxartes rivers[8][2][30] and aroundChorasmia.[31] The territory of the Massagetae thus included the area corresponding to modern-dayTurkmenistan[25] and might possibly have extended to parts ofHyrcania as well.[32][30]
One of the Massagetaean sub-groups, the Apasiacae, lived either on the east coast of theAral Sea between theOxus andTanais/Iaxartes rivers, or possibly along the Oxus in westernBactria,[19] or between the Caspian and Aral Seas"[33][23]
Another Massagetaean sub-group, the Derbices, lived in the arid area to the north of theAtrek river[23] bordered by theCaspian Sea to the west, byHyrcania to the south, the Oxus river in the east, and theBalkhan Mountain and theOchus river and its estuary were in their territory.[23][34][35][36] During the Achaemenid period, some Derbices had migrated to the southwest along the shore of the Caspian Sea and reached centralTabaristan. The Derbices shared the region between the Caspian Sea and the Oxus with the Dahae,[23] who might however have been identical with the Massagetae,[8] and the Derbices might have extended to the east of the Oxus, with the Greek author Ctesias even extending their range up to the borders of Bactria and India.[23]
The imprecise description of where the Massagetae lived by ancient authors has however led modern scholars to ascribe to them various locations, such as theOxus delta, the Iaxartes delta, between the Caspian and Aral seas or further to the north or north-east, but without basing these suggestions on any conclusive arguments.[2]
The Massagetae rose to power in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, when they migrated from the east into Central Asia,[2] from where they expelled theScythians, another nomadic Iranian tribe to whom they were closely related. After this, they came to occupy large areas of the region, including the Caspian Steppe where they supplanted the Scythians.[7] The Massagetae displacing the early Scythians and forcing them to the west across theAraxes river and into the Caucasian and Pontic steppes started a significant movement of the nomadic peoples of theEurasian Steppe,[37] following which the Scythians displaced theCimmerians and theAgathyrsi, who were also nomadic Iranian peoples closely related to the Massagetae and the Scythians, conquered their territories,[37][38][7][39][40][41] and invadedWestern Asia. There, their presence had an important role in the history of the ancient civilisations ofMesopotamia,Anatolia,Egypt, andIran.[39]
TheSakā tigraxaudā had close contact with theMedian Empire, whose influence had stretched to the lands east of theCaspian Sea, before it was replaced by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC.[42]
During the 6th century BCE, the Massagetae had to face the successor of the Median Empire, the newly formedPersianAchaemenid Empire, whose founder,Cyrus II, carried out a campaign against them in 530 BCE.[2] According to Herodotus, Cyrus captured a Massagetaean camp by ruse, after which the Massagetae queenTomyris led the tribe's main force against the Persians, defeated them, killed Cyrus, and placed his severed head in a sack full of blood.[43] According to another version of the death of Cyrus recorded byCtesias, it was the Derbices, who were the tribe against whom Cyrus died in battle: according to this version, he was mortally wounded by the Derbices and theirIndian allies, after which Cyrus's ally, the king Amorges of theSakā haumavargā, intervened with his own army and helped the Persian soldiers defeat the Derbices, following which Cyrus endured for three days, during which he organised his empire and appointedSpitaces son ofSisamas as satrap over the Derbices, before finally dying. The reason why the Derbices, and not the Massagetae, are named as the people against whom Cyrus died fighting is because the Derbices were members or identical with the Massagetae.[44][27][2][45] According toStrabo, Cyrus died fighting against theSaka (of which the Massagetae were a group), and according toQuintus Curtius Rufus he died fighting against theAbiae.[22]
TheBabylonian scribeBerossus, who lived in 3rd century BCE, instead recorded that Cyrus died in a battle against theDahae; according to the IranologistMuhammad Dandamayev, Berossus identified the Dahae rather than the Massagetae as Cyrus's killers because they had replaced the Massagetae as the most famous nomadic tribe of Central Asia long before Berossus's time;[27][28] although some scholars identified the Dahae as being identical with the Massagetae or as one of their sub-groups.[8][22][24]
Little more is known about the Massagetae after the war with Cyrus. During the Achaemenid period, they were pressing on Hyrcania,[23] and by around 520 BCE and possibly earlier, they were ruled by a king namedSkuⁿxa, who rebelled against the Persian Empire until one of the successors of Cyrus, the Achaemenid kingDarius I, carried out a campaign against the Sakas from 520 to 518 BCE during which he conquered the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā, captured Skuⁿxa, and replaced him with a ruler who was loyal to Achaemenid power.[2][45][46] According toPolyaenus, Darius fought against three armies led by three kings, respectively namedSacesphares,Thamyris (whose name might be related to that of Tomyris), andAmorges orHomarges, with Polyaenus's account being based on Persian historical records.[45][47][48]
The territories of the Saka were absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire as part ofChorasmia, which included much of the territory between theOxus and theIaxartes rivers,[49] and the Saka supplied the Achaemenid army with a large number of mounted bowmen.[50] After Darius's administrative reforms of the Achaemenid Empire, theSakā tigraxaudā were included within the same tax district as theMedes.[42]
During the Macedonian invasion of the Achaemenid Empire, the Massagetae provided the Achaemenid army with 40,000 troops, which was a larger number than the troops furnished by all the other inhabitants of the coast of the Caspian Sea put together.[23]
The Massagetae, along with the Sogdians and Bactrians, participated in the rebellion ofSpitamenes againstAlexander III of Macedon, but they later submitted to him again after Spitamenes was murdered.[2]
Among the scholars who do not identify the Massagetae with the Dahae,Rüdiger Schmitt suggests that the Massagetae were instead absorbed by theDahae by the laterHellenistic period.[2]Muhammad Dandamayev has suggested that the Dahae had replaced the Massagetae as the most known people of the Central Asian steppes.[27][28] Marek Jan Olbrycht suggests that the Dahae migrated to the west from the areas east of the Aral Sea and around the Iaxartes valley and expelled the Derbices from their homeland, after which the latter split, with a part of them migrating into Hyrcania and others to the lowerUzboy river.[51]
During the Hellenistic period, a section of the Massagetaean sub-tribe of the Derbices had migrated to the southwest along the coast of the Caspian Sea and reached centralTabaristan, while another sub-group moved to the south-east intoMargiana.[23]
Around 230 BCE, theParnian king and founder of theParthian Empire,Arsaces I, sought refuge from theSeleucid kingSeleucus II Callinicus by fleeing among the Massagataean sub-tribe of the Apasiacae.[19] Seleucus's attempted campaign to recover the eastern satrapies of his empire was initially successful. However, the outbreak of revolts in the western part of his empire prevented him from continuing his war against the Parthians, who, with the backing of the Apasiacae, were ultimately successful.[52]
The dominance of the Massagetae in Central Asia ended in the 3rd century BCE, following the Macedonianconquest of Persia, which cut off the relations between the steppe nomads and the sedentary populations of the previousPersianAchaemenid Empire. The succeedingSeleucid Empire started attacking the Massagetae,Saka andDahae nomads who had lived to the north of its borders, which in turn led to these peoples putting westward pressure from the east on a related nomadic Iranian people, the Sarmatians. The Sarmatians, taking advantage of the decline of Scythian power in the west, crossed the Don river and invadedScythia starting in the late 4th century and the early 3rd century BCE.[53][7]
The Massagetae themselves merged with tribal groups in Central Asia to form theAlans, a people who themselves belonged to the largerSarmatian group. Related to theAsii who had invadedBactria in the 2nd century BCE, the Alans were pushed by theKang-chü people to the west into the Caucasian and Pontic steppes, where they came in contact and conflict with theParthian andRoman empires. By the 2nd century CE, they had conquered the steppes of the north Caucasus and the north Black Sea area and created a powerful confederation of tribes under their rule.[53][7]
In 375 CE, theHuns conquered most of the Alans living to the east of theDon river, massacred a significant number of them and absorbed them into their tribal polity, while the Alans to the west of the Don remained free from Hunnish domination and participated in the movements of theMigration Period. Some free Alans fled into the mountains of the Caucasus, where they participated in the ethnogenesis of populations including theOssetians and theKabardians, and other Alan groupings survived inCrimea. Other free Alans migrated into Central and then Western Europe, from where some of them went toBritannia andHispania, and some Alans joined theGermanicVandals into crossing theStrait of Gibraltar and creating theVandal Kingdom inNorth Africa.[7][53]
Byzantine authors later used the name "Massagetae" as an archaising term for theHuns,Turks,Tatars and other related peoples who were completely unrelated to the populations the name initially designated in Antiquity.[2]
A 9th century work byRabanus Maurus,De Universo, states: "The Massagetae are in origin from the tribe of the Scythians, and are called Massagetae, as if heavy, that is, strong Getae."[54][55] In Central Asian languages such asMiddle Persian andAvestan, the prefixmassa means "great," "heavy," or "strong."[56]
Some authors, such asAlexander Cunningham,James P. Mallory,Victor H. Mair, andEdgar Knobloch have proposed relating the Massagetae to theGutians of 2000 BC Mesopotamia, and/or a people known in ancient China as the "DaYuezhi" or "Great Yuezhi" (who founded theKushan Empire in South Asia). Mallory and Mair suggest thatDa Yuezhi may at one time have been pronouncedd'ad-ngiwat-tieg, connecting them to the Massagetae.[57][58][59] These theories are not widely accepted, however.
Many scholars have suggested that the Massagetae were related to theGetae of ancient Eastern Europe.[60]
Tadeusz Sulimirski notes that theSacae also invaded parts of Northern India.[61]Weer Rajendra Rishi, an Indian linguist[62] has identified linguistic affinities between Indian and Central Asian languages, which further lends credence to the possibility of historicalSacae influence in Northern India.[56][61]
According toStrabo, the Massagetae lived on the plains, the mountains, the marshes, and the islands in the country irrigated by the Araxes river.[2]
Some Massagetae were primarily fishermen, and other groups of the tribe bred sheep for their milk and wool, but also harvested root vegetables and wild fruits.[2] None of the Massagetae, however, practised any form of agriculture, and their food consisted of meat and fish, and they primarily drank milk, but not wine.[5] According to the Greek author Strabo, the Derbices did not consume any female animals.[23]
Gold and bronze were plentiful where the Massagetae lived, but they did not use any iron or silver because these were not available in their country.[5]
The Massagetae might possibly have practised cranial deformation.[23]
Like all ancient Iranian peoples, the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā wore knee-length tunics which were either straight and closed (following Median fashion) or open with lapels, both styles being fastened by a belt at the waist (following typically Scythic fashion). Underneath, they wore narrowtrousers andmoccasins. Over these, they sometimes wore a cloak with long and narrow sleeves, and thepointed cap, although their tribe wore a distinctive form of this headdress which had a sharp point, and from which the names given to them by the Persians (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭Tigraxaudā) and the Greeks (ΟρθοκορυβαντεςOrthokorubantes), both meaning "wearer ofpointed caps," were derived. The use of the Median closed tunic among theSakā tigraxaudā was the result of extensive contact between theTigraxaudā and the Medes during the period of the Median Empire.[14][12][63][16][64]
The fishermen wore seal skins, while the sheep-breeders wore clothing made of wool.[2]
The Massagetae wore golden headdresses, belts, shoulder straps, and used golden harnesses and bronze armour for their horses.[2]
The Massagetae fought both on foot and on horseback, and their weapons consisted of bows and arrows, spears, and battle-axes, and their horse armour, spearheads, and arrowheads were golden.[2][5]
The Massagetae especially used spears whose blades were made of copper or iron, due to which the Greek called them theaikhmophoroi (αιχμοφοροι), meaning "spear-bearers."[65]
The name of the Massagetaean prince, recorded in the Greek formSpargapisēs (Σπαργαπισης) and reflecting the Scythian form*Spargapis, is ofScythian language origin, and his name and the name of theAgathyrsi kingSpargapeithes and the Scythian kingSpargapeithes (Scythian: *Spargapaiϑah) are variants of the same name.[66][67][2]
The name of theSakā tigraxaudā kingSkuⁿxa might be related to theOssetian term meaning "distinguishing oneself," and attested asskₒyxyn (схоыхын) in theDigor dialect, and asæsk'wænxun(ӕскъуӕнхун) in theIron dialect.[68][69]
Herodotus mentioned that the Massagetae worshipped only the sun god, to whom they sacrificed horses. This is seen to indicate the cult of the Iranian sun godMithra, who was associated with the worship of fire and horses.[2][22] When Cyrus attacked the Massagetae, their queen Tomyris swore by the Sun to kill him if he did not return to his kingdom.[5]
However,Strabo recorded that the Derbices, who were either identical with the Massagetae or one of their sub-tribes, worshipped "Mother Earth," interpreted as the Earth and Water goddessApi.[70]
The Massagetae contracted monogamous marriages, although the wives could have sexual relations with other men. When a Massagetaean man wanted to have sexual relations with a woman, he would hang hisgorytos outside of her tent, inside of which the couple would proceed to have intercourse.[2][5]Edvard Westermarck, however, inThe History of Human Marriage, suggested that Herodotus and Strabo, on whose writings this understanding of Massagetaean marriage customs is based, might have been mistaken, and that the relevant custom was instead one, said to be common in Central Asia, by which brothers shared a single wife.[71]
According to Herodotus, members of the Massagetae were sacrificed and cooked and eaten with the meat of sacrificial animals. Members of the Massagetae who died of illness were buried or left as food for wild animals.[2]
The Massagetae are in origin from the tribe of theScythians, and are called Massagetae, as if heavy, that is, strong Getae.
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The evidence of both the ancient authors and the archaeological remains point to a massive migration of Sacian (Sakas)/Massagetan tribes from the Syr Daria Delta (Central Asia) by the middle of the second century B.C. Some of the Syr Darian tribes; they also invaded North India.