time the Scythians founded a new settlement at Yelizavetovskaya [ru] which functioned as the main
administrative, commercial and industrial centre of the lower Don river and northern Lake Maeotis
areas and was also the residence of local Scythian lords. The main burial centre of the Scythians during
this period was located in the Nikopol and Zaporizhzhia region on the lower Dnipro, where were located
the Solokha, Chortomlyk, Krasnokutsk and Oleksandropil [uk] kurgans. Rich burials, such as, for example,
the Chortomlyk mohyla [uk], attest of the wealth acquired from the grains trade by the Scythian
aristocracy of the 4th century BC, who were progressively buried with more, relatives, retainers, and
grave goods such as gold and silver objects, including Greek-manufactured toreutics and jewellery; the
Scythian commoners however did not obtain any revenue from this trade, and luxury items are absent
from their burials. Despite the pressure of some smaller and isolated Sarmatian groups in the east, the
period remained largely and unusually peaceful and the Scythian hegemony in the Pontic steppe
remained undisturbed, with the Scythian nomads continuing to form the bulk of the northern Pontic
region's population.[43][60][19]
The most famous Scythian king of the 4th century BC was Ateas, who was the successor and possibly the
son of the Scythian king buried at Agighiol, and whose rule started around the 360s BC. By this period,
Scythian tribes had already settled permanently on the lands to the south of the Danube, where the
people of Ateas lived with their families and their livestock, and possibly in Ludogorie as well, and at this
time both Crimea and the Dobruja region started being called "Little Scythia" (Ancient Greek: Μικρα
Σκυθια; Latin: Scythia Minor ). Although Ateas had united the Scythian tribes under his rule into a
rudimentary state and he still ruled over the traditional territories of the Scythian kingdom of the Pontic
steppe until at least Crimea, around 350 BC he had also permanently seized some of the lands on the
right bank of the Danube from the Thracian Getae, and it appears that he was largely based in the region
to the south of the Danube. Under Ateas, the Greek cities to the south of the Danube had also come
under Scythian hegemony, including Kallatis, over which he held control and where he probably issued
his coins; further attesting of the power that the Scythians held to the south of the Danube in his time,
Ateas's main activities which were centred in Thrace and south-west Scythia, such as his wars against
the Thracian Triballi and the Dacian Histriani and his threat of conquest against Byzantium, which might
be another possible location for where Ateas minted his coins. Ateas initially allied with Philip
II of Macedonia, but eventually this alliance fell apart and war broke out between Scythia and
Macedonia over the course of 340 to 339 BC, ending with the death of Ateas, at about 90 years old, and
the capture of the Scythians' camp and the 20,000 women and children and more than 2,000 pedigree
horses living there.[156][43][60][19]
The Scythians appear to have lost some territories on both sides of the Danube due to Ateas's defeat
and death, with the Getae moving to the north across the Danube and settling in the lands between the
Dnipro and the Prut rivers, although. These changes did not affect Scythian power: the Scythians still
continued to nomadise and bury their dead in rich kurgans in the areas to the north-west of the Black
Sea between the Dnipro and the Prut; the Scythian capital of the Kamianka site continued to exist as
prosperously and extensively as it had before the defeat of Ateas; and the Scythian aristocracy
continued burying their dead in barrow tombs which were as sumptuous as those of Ateas's time. In 331
or 330 BC, the Scythians were able to defeat an invasion force of 30,000 men led against them and
the Getae by Alexander III's lieutenant Zopyrion and which had managed to attain and besiege Pontic
Olbia, with Zopyrion himself getting killed. [60][43][19]