Cimmerians
The Cimmerians were an ancient Eastern Iranic equestrian nomadic people originating in the Pontic–
Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into West Asia. Although the Cimmerians
were culturally Scythian, they formed an ethnic unit separate from the Scythians proper, to whom the
Cimmerians were related and who displaced and replaced the Cimmerians.[1]
The Cimmerians themselves left no written records, and most information about them is largely derived
from Assyrian records of the 8th to 7th centuries BC and from Graeco-Roman authors from the 5th
century BC and later.
Hellenic/Greek People
The Greeks or Hellenes (/ˈhɛliːnz/; Greek: Έλληνες, Éllines [ˈelines]) are an ethnic
group and nation native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Anatolia, parts of Italy and Egypt, and to a
lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. They also form a
significant diaspora ( omogenia ), with many Greek communities established around the world.[45]
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established on the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea and Black Sea, but the Greek people themselves have always been centered on
the Aegean and Ionian seas, where the Greek language has been spoken since the Bronze
Age.[46][47] Until the early 20th century, Greeks were distributed between the Greek peninsula, the
western coast of Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, Cappadocia in central Anatolia, Egypt, the Balkans,
Cyprus, and Constantinople.[47] Many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of
the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek
colonization.[48] The cultural centers of the Greeks have
included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, and Constantinople at various periods.
In recent times, most ethnic Greeks live within the borders of the modern Greek state or in Cyprus.
The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three
millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor. Other longstanding Greek populations can be found from
southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities
in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek
Orthodox Church.[49]
Greeks have greatly influenced and contributed to culture, visual arts, exploration, theatre, literature,
philosophy, ethics, politics, architecture, music, mathematics,[50] medicine, science, technology,
commerce, cuisine and sports. The Greek language is the oldest written language still in use and its
vocabulary has been the basis of many languages, including English as well as international scientific
nomenclature. Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world since
the fourth century BC and the New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in
Greek.[51][52][53]