Eastern Iranian peoples Iranian peoples

hormizd i, sassanian coin

while iranian tribes of south better known through texts , modern counterparts, tribes remained largely in vast eurasian expanse known through references made them ancient greeks, persians, chinese, , indo-aryans archaeological finds. greek chronicler, herodotus (5th century bce) makes references nomadic people, scythians; describes them having dwelt in today southern european russia , ukraine. first make reference them. many ancient sanskrit texts later period make references such tribes witness of pointing them towards southeastern-most edges of central asia, around hindukush range in northern pakistan.

it believed these scythians conquered eastern cousins, sarmatians, mentioned strabo dominant tribe controlled southern russian steppe in 1st millennium ce. these sarmatians known romans, conquered western tribes in balkans , sent sarmatian conscripts, part of roman legions, far west roman britain. these iranian-speaking scythians , sarmatians dominated large parts of eastern europe millennium, , absorbed , assimilated (e.g. slavicisation) proto-slavic population of region.

the sarmatians differed scythians in veneration of god of fire rather god of nature, , women s prominent role in warfare, possibly served inspiration amazons. @ greatest reported extent, around 1st century ad, these tribes ranged vistula river mouth of danube , eastward volga, bordering shores of black , caspian seas caucasus south. territory, known sarmatia greco-roman ethnographers, corresponded western part of greater scythia (mostly modern ukraine , southern russia, smaller extent north eastern balkans around moldova). according authors arrowsmith, fellowes , graves hansard in book grammar of ancient geography published in 1832, sarmatia had 2 parts, sarmatia europea , sarmatia asiatica covering combined area of 503,000 sq mi or 1,302,764 km.

throughout first millennium ad, large presence of sarmatians once dominated ukraine, southern european russia, , swaths of balkans, gradually started diminish due assimilation , absorption germanic goths, areas near roman frontier, , climactically (proto-slavic peoples. abundant east iranian-derived toponyms in eastern europe proper (e.g. of largest rivers; dniestr , dniepr) , balkans, loanwords adopted predominantly through eastern slavic languages , adopted aspects of iranian culture amongst slavs, remnant of this. connection between proto-slavonic , iranian languages furthermore proven earliest layer of loanwords in former. instance, proto-slavonic words god (*bogъ), demon (*divъ), house (*xata), axe (*toporъ) , dog (*sobaka) of scythian origin.

a further point on behalf of extensive contact between these scytho-sarmatian iranian tribes in eastern europe , (early) slavs shown in matters regarding religion. after slavic , baltic languages diverged –- evidenced etymology –- slavs interacted iranian peoples , merged elements of iranian spirituality beliefs. example, both iranian , slavic supreme gods considered givers of wealth, unlike supreme thunder gods in many other european religions. also, both slavs , iranians had demons –- given names similar linguistic roots, daêva (iranian) , divŭ (slavic) –- , concept of dualism, of , evil.

the sarmatians of east, based in north caucasus, became alans, ventured far , wide, branch ending in western europe , north africa, accompanied germanic vandals during migrations. modern ossetians believed sole direct descendants of alans, other remnants of alans disappeared following germanic, hunnic , slavic migrations , invasions. group of alans allied goths defeat romans , settled in called catalonia (goth-alania).

silver coin of indo-scythian king azes ii (reigned c. 35–12 bce). buddhist triratna symbol in left field on reverse



scythian horseman, pazyryk, detail carpet, c. 300 bce

some of saka-scythian tribes in central asia later move further southeast , invade iranian plateau, large sections of present-day afghanistan , deep present day pakistan (see indo-scythians). iranian tribe related saka-scythians parni in central asia, , later become indistinguishable parthians, speakers of northwest-iranian language. many iranian tribes, including khwarazmians, massagetae , sogdians, assimilated and/or displaced in central asia migrations of turkic tribes emanating out of xinjiang , siberia.

the dominant surviving eastern iranian peoples represented pashtuns, origins believed province of ghor, began spread until reached far west herat, north areas of southern , eastern afghanistan; , eastward towards indus. pashto language shows affinities avestan , bactrian.

the modern sarikoli in southern xinjiang , ossetians of caucasus (mainly south ossetia , north ossetia) remnants of various scythian-derived tribes vast far , wide territory once dwelled in. modern ossetians descendants of alano-sarmatians, , claims supported northeast iranian language, while culturally ossetians resemble north caucasian neighbors, kabardians , circassians. various extinct iranian peoples existed in eastern caucasus, including azaris, while iranian peoples remain in region, including talysh , tats (including judeo-tats, have relocated israel), found in azerbaijan , far north russian republic of dagestan. remnant of sogdians found in yaghnobi-speaking population in parts of zeravshan valley in tajikistan.