Sarmatia

In the ancient Greco-Roman world, Sarmatia was a geographic region that encompassed the western Eurasian steppe. It was inhabited by the Sarmatians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people.

The "Second Map of Asia" (Tabula Seconda de Asia), 1467

The Romans gave the name Sarmatia to the region which the ancient Greeks had formerly called Scythia because it had been inhabited by the Scythians. Beginning in the late 4th century BC the Sarmatians, a nomadic Iranian people related to the Eastern Iranic Scythians, moved from the east into the Pontic steppe, where they replaced the Scythians as the dominant power. Due to the Sarmatian incursion, "Sarmatia Europea" replaced "Scythia" as the name for the region.^[1][2]

Geography

According to the map of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa transmitted by Pliny the Elder in the late 1st century BCE, Sarmatia and Scythia Taurica were the countries between the Dnipro, the Volga and Ciscaucasia; and Pomponius Mela in the 1st century CE described Sarmatia as a large country found between the Vistula and the Ister.^[2]

Claudius Ptolemy divided Sarmatia into two parts: European Sarmatia and Asiatic Sarmatia.^[3]

European Sarmatia

European Sarmatia (Latin: Sarmatia Europea), bounded by the Vistula and the Sarmatian Mountains in the west; the Maeotian Sea and the river Tanais in the east; the territory of the Iazyges, Dacia and the Pontus Euxinus in the south; and the Venedicus Bay of the Sarmatian Ocean and part of an unknown land in the north.

Asiatic Sarmatia

Asiatic Sarmatia (Latin: Sarmatia Asiatica), bounded by European Sarmatia in the west; Scythia and part of the Caspian Sea in the east; the states of the Caucasus in the south; and an unknown land in the north.

See also

• Sarmatism