The Assyrians rendered the name of the Scythians as Iškuzaya ( ), māt Iškuzaya ( ),
and awīlū Iškuzaya ( ),[20][21] or ālu Asguzaya ( ), māt Askuzaya ( ), and māt
Ašguzaya ( ).[20][22]
The ancient Persians meanwhile called the Scythians " Sakā who live beyond the (Black) Sea" (
, romanized: Sakā tayaiy paradraya ) in Old Persian and simply Sakā (Ancient
Egyptian: (^) , romanized: sk ; (^) , romanized: sꜣg ) in Ancient Egyptian, from which was derived the
Graeco-Roman name Sacae (Ancient Greek: Σακαι; Latin: Sacae ).[23][24]
Modern terminology
See also: Scytho-Siberian world
The Scythians were part of the wider Scytho-Siberian world, stretching across the Eurasian
Steppes[19][25] of Kazakhstan, the Russian steppes of the Siberian, Ural, Volga and Southern regions, and
eastern Ukraine.[26] In a broader sense, Scythians has also been used to designate all early Eurasian
nomads,[25] although the validity of such terminology is controversial,[19] and other terms such as "Early
nomadic" have been deemed preferable.[27]
Although the Scythians, Saka and Cimmerians were closely related nomadic Iranic peoples, and the
ancient Babylonians, ancient Persians and ancient Greeks respectively used the names "Cimmerian,"
"Saka," and "Scythian" for all the steppe nomads, and early modern historians such as Edward
Gibbon used the term Scythian to refer to a variety of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples across the
Eurasian Steppe,[28]
the name "Scythian" in contemporary modern scholarship generally refers to the nomadic Iranic
people who from the 7th century BC to the 3rd century BC dominated the steppe and forest-
steppe zones to the north of the Black Sea, Crimea, the Kuban valley, as well as the Taman and
Kerch peninsulas,[29][24]
while the name "Saka" is used specifically for their eastern members who inhabited the
northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin;[24][30][ better^ source^ needed ][31][32]
and while the Cimmerians were often described by contemporaries as culturally Scythian, they
formed a different tribe from the Scythians proper, to whom the Cimmerians were related, and
who also displaced and replaced the Cimmerians in the Pontic Steppe.[33]
The Scythians share several cultural similarities with other populations living to their east, in particular
similar weapons, horse gear and Scythian art, which has been referred to as the Scythian
triad .[19][27] Cultures sharing these characteristics have often been referred to as Scythian cultures, and
its peoples called Scythians .[25][34] Peoples associated with Scythian cultures include not only the
Scythians themselves, who were a distinct ethnic group,[35] but
also Cimmerians, Massagetae, Saka, Sarmatians and various obscure peoples of the East European
Forest Steppe,[19][25] such as early Slavs, Balts and Finnic peoples.[36][37]
Within this broad definition of the term Scythian , the actual Scythians have often been distinguished
from other groups through the terms Classical Scythians , Western Scythians , European
Scythians or Pontic Scythians .[25] Nevertheless, the archaeologist Maurits Nanning van Loon in 1966
instead used the term Western Scythians to designate the Cimmerians and referred to the Scythians
proper as the Eastern Scythians .[38]