Within the Scythian religion, the goddess Artimpasa and the Snake-Legged Goddess were significantly
influenced by the Mesopotamian and Syro-Canaanite religions, and respectively absorbed elements
from Astarte-Ishtar-Aphrodite for Artimpasa and from Atargatis-Derceto for the Snake-Legged
Goddess.[108]
Conquest of Mannai
The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal
Over the course of 660 to 659 BC, Esarhaddon's son and successor to the Assyrian throne, Ashurbanipal,
sent his general Nabû-šar-uṣur to carry out a military campaign against Mannai. After trying in vain to
stop the Assyrian advance, the Mannaean king Aḫsēri was overthrown by a popular rebellion and was
killed along with most of his dynasty by the revolting populace, after which his surviving
son Ualli requested help from Assyria, which was provided through the intermediary of Ashurbanipal's
relative, the Scythian king Bartatua, after which the Scythians extended their hegemony
to Mannai itself.[105][100]
Around this same time, Bartatua's Scythians were also able to take over a significant section of the
south-eastern territories of the state of Urartu.[100]
Madyes
Bartatua was succeeded by his son with Šērūʾa-ēṭirat, Madyes, who soon expanded the Scythian
hegemony to the state of Urartu.[109][43][42]
Conquest of Media
When, following a period of Assyrian decline over the course of the 650s BC, Esarhaddon's other
son, Šamaš-šuma-ukin, who had succeeded him as the king of Babylon, revolted against his brother
Ashurbanipal in 652 BC, the Medes supported him, and Madyes helped Ashurbanipal suppress the revolt
externally by invading the Medes. The Median king Phraortes was killed in battle, either against the
Assyrians or against Madyes himself, who then imposed Scythian hegemony over the Medes for twenty-
eight years on behalf of the Assyrians, thus starting a period which Greek authors called called the
“Scythian rule over Asia,”[109][48][43][42] with Media, Mannai and Urartu all continuing to exist as kingdoms
under Scythian suzerainty.[109]
During this period, the Medes adopted Scythian archery techniques and equipment due to their
superiority over those of the West Asian peoples,[46] and the trade of silk to western Eurasia might have
started at this time through the intermediary of the Scythians during their stay in West Asia, with the
earliest presence of silk in this part of the world having been found in a Urartian fortress, presumably
imported from China through the intermediary of the Scythians.[98]