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

Ill
THE CIMMERIANS AND THE SCYTHIANS IN SOUTH
THE
RUSSIA (VIII-Vth CENTURIES B.C.)
oldest historical allusions, Greek and Assyrian, to South
Russia belong or refer to the eighth and seventh centuries b. c, and
tell us of two peoples who played a prominent part at that period,
and not in the history of South Russia alone : the Cimmerians and the
Scythians. The Assyrian documents—oracles, letters, and chronicles
—belong to the reigns of Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and
Ashurbanipal, that is, to the second half of the eighth and to the
seventh century, and reveal to us a somewhat troubled period in the
annals of the two great states in the basin of Euphrates—the Chaldian
kingdom of Van (Armenia), and Assyria.
Indo-European tribes were advancing from the east and north to
the frontiers of these kingdoms. The tribes which are constantly
being named are the Gimirrai (Cimmerians) and the Ashguzai
(Scythians), the former attacking the Chaldian kingdom from the
north, the latter pressing forward, step by step, into the eastern
portions of the Vannic and Assyrian kingdoms.
I cannot dwell long upon the history of these movements. We
know that the Cimmerians forced their way to the Vannic frontier as
early as the end of the eighth century ; invaded part of the kingdom,
which was enfeebled by contests with Sargon II, in the last years of
the century, after 714 ; and probably succeeded in mingling with the
Vannic population. At the beginning of the seventh century, when
Rusas II was king of Van (680-645 B.C.), and Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal
of Assyria, the Cimmerians, in alliance with Rusas II and with
several Indo-European tribes, such as the Medes (Madai), the Mannaeans,
the Sakerdians, began a fierce struggle with Assyria. There
is good reason to suppose that this struggle was partly caused by the
heavy pressure of the Scythians, advancing eastwards in force on the
Vannic kingdom and its eastern neighbours. The common interest
of the Scythians and of the Assyrians accounts for the alliance concluded
between Esarhaddon and the Scythian king, Bartatua, which
was undoubtedly aimed at the allied Chaldians and Cimmerians. The