the official language spoken throughout much of what is today Iran and the Caucasus. Iranian influence
spread to the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, where Persian was often spoken at court (though a
heavy Turko-Persian basis there was set already by the predecessors of the Ottomans in Anatolia,
namely the Seljuks and the Sultanate of Rum amongst others) as well to the court of the Mughal Empire.
All of the major Iranian peoples reasserted their use of Iranian languages following the decline of Arab
rule, but would not begin to form modern national identities until the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Scythians
The Scythians (/ˈsɪθiən/ or /ˈsɪðiən/) or Scyths (/ˈsɪθ/, but note Scytho- (/ˈsaɪθʊ/) in composition) and
sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians ,[3][4] were
an ancient Eastern[5] Iranic[6] equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th
centuries BC from Central Asia to the Pontic Steppe in modern-day Ukraine and Southern Russia, where
they remained established from the 7th century BC until the 3rd century BC.
Skilled in mounted warfare,[7] the Scythians replaced the Agathyrsi and the Cimmerians as the dominant
power on the western Eurasian Steppe in the 8th century BC.[8] In the 7th century BC, the Scythians
crossed the Caucasus Mountains and frequently raided West Asia along with the Cimmerians.[8][9]
After being expelled from West Asia by the Medes, the Scythians retreated back into the Pontic Steppe
and were gradually conquered by the Sarmatians.[10] In the late 2nd century BC, the capital of the
largely Hellenized Scythians at Scythian Neapolis in the Crimea was captured by Mithridates VI and their
territories incorporated into the Bosporan Kingdom.[11]
By the 3rd century AD, the Sarmatians and last remnants of the Scythians were overwhelmed by
the Goths, and by the early Middle Ages, the Scythians and the Sarmatians had been largely assimilated
and absorbed by early Slavs.[12][13] The Scythians were instrumental in the ethnogenesis of the Ossetians,
who are believed to be descended from the Alans.[14]
After the Scythians' disappearance, authors of the ancient, mediaeval, and early modern periods used
the name "Scythian" to refer to various populations of the steppes unrelated to them.[15]
The Scythians played an important part in the Silk Road, a vast trade network
connecting Greece, Persia, India and China, perhaps contributing to the prosperity of those
civilisations.[16] Settled metalworkers made portable decorative objects for the Scythians, forming a
history of Scythian metalworking. These objects survive mainly in metal, forming a distinctive Scythian
art.[17]
Names
Main article: Names of the Scythians
Etymology
The English name Scythians or Scyths is derived from the Ancient Greek name Skuthēs (Σκυθης)
and Skuthoi (Σκυθοι), derived from the Scythian endonym Skuδatā , meaning "archers."[1][18][2][19] Due to a
sound change from /δ/ to /l/ in the Scythian language, evolved into the form *Skulatā .[1][2] This
designation was recorded in Greek as Skōlotoi (Σκωλοτοι), which, according to Herodotus of
Halicarnassus, was the self-designation of the tribe of the Royal Scythians.[19]