Iranians and Greeks in South Russia - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

I20 THESARMATIANS
literary documents and inscriptions teach us about their state, their
manners and their beliefs ?
Very little. They were doubtless governed, like the Aorsians and
the Siracians in 49, by princes or kings. But nothing is known, either
about the power of these rulers, or about the social structure of the
state. To judge from a few words in Arrian, the system was tribal
and feudal, the component parts of each tribe being governed by
sceptre-bearers, a-KrjirTovxoL. We would gladly know, if the Alans
succeeded, as the Scythians succeeded, in creating a united state with
a hereditary dynasty : but it is doubtful, whether they did or not.
We learn a little more about their attitude towards the Greek
towns. Like the Scythians while the Scythians were masters of the
Russian steppes, they had never any intention of vanquishing or
annihilating the Greek cities. Even Olbia, which was destroyed by
the Getians, weak as she was and exposed on every side, was never
occupied by the Sarmatians. From the first to the third century A.D.,
her enemies were not the Sarmatians, but the Scythians of the Crimea.
It is true that after the union of the Sarmatians with the Goths, the
united tribes altered their method and began to conquer and destroy
the Greek cities, such as Olbia and probably Tanais. But even then
they preserved Panticapaeum with its social and political structure
intact. We shall see in the following chapter that they preferred to
percolate into the populations of the Greek cities and to Sarmatize
them gradually, adopting, however, the Greek language and some of
the Greek customs. This must be taken into account in our estimate
of Sarmatian civilization.
As to the Greek cities as such, the Sarmatians were content to
preserve them and to use them as commercial agents. Like the
Scythians, they had a high opinion of Greek civilization, and of Greek
goods : wine, oil, jewels, pottery, glass and metal vases. The Greek
towns on the Black Sea kept their position as centres of production
and exportation. They continued to work for customers in the South
Russian steppes.
The Sarmatians, as described by Greek and Roman authors, did
not greatly differ from the Scythians. They were Iranians, as we said
above : perhaps of purer blood than the Scythians, who had probably
incorporated certain Mongolian tribes into their political and military
organization.
The affinity between Scythians and Sarmatians is demonstrated by
common features in their clothing, armour, ethnographic type, and
social and political structure :
it is generally accepted, and I shall not
dwell upon it. More interesting are the differences between the two