The Thyssagetae ( grc, Θυσσαγέται) were an ancient tribe described by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

as occupying a district to the north-east of

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. His ...

, separated from the

Budini The Budini (Ancient Greek: Βουδίνοι; ''Boudínoi'') was a group of people (a tribe) described by Herodotus and several later classical authors. Described as nomads living near settled Gelonians, Herodotus located them east of the Tanais ri ...

by a "desert" that took seven days to cross.Herodotus. ''Histories'', 4.22.1: "...after the desert, if one inclines somewhat to the east, the Thyssagetae are reached, a numerous nation quite distinct from any other, and living by the chase." The Thyssagetae therefore seem to have occupied the southern end of the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, north of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

. According to the 19th Century archaeologist Sir

Ellis Minns Sir Ellis Hovell Minns, FBA (16 July 1874 – 13 June 1953) was a British academic and archaeologist whose studies focused on Eastern Europe. Educated at Charterhouse, he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge studying the Classical tripos includi ...

, the form of their name suggests that the Thyssagetae spoke an

Iranian language The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

, such as

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...

, like the neighbouring

Massagetae The Massagetae or Massageteans (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Sakā tigraxaudā (Old Persian: , "wearer of pointed caps") or Orthocorybantians (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ),: As for the term “Orthocorybantii”, this is a translati ...

(on the north-east shores of the Caspian).Ellis Hovell Minns, (2011; orig. 1903), ''Scythians and Greeks: A Survey of Ancient History and Archaeology on the North Coast of the Euxine from the Danube to the Caucasus'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press p. 107. The 15th Century chronicler

Giacomo Filippo Foresti Giacomo Filippo Foresti da Bergamo (1434–1520) was an Augustinians, Augustinian monk, known as the author of several significant early printed works. He was a chronicler and Biblical scholar. His ''Supplementum chronicarum'' (first printed at ...

(a.k.a. Jacobus Philippus Foresti da Bergamo) mentioned a river in the area named the ''Thisageta'', and Minns suggested that the name of the

Chusovaya The Chusovaya (russian: Чусова́я) is a river flowing in Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia. A tributary of the Kama, which in turn is a tributary of the Volga, it discharges into the Chusovskoy Cove of the Ka ...

(or Chussovaja) River in the Urals may be linked to the Thyssagetae. While Herodotus claimed that four rivers from the land of the Thyssagetae flowed into the

Maeotis The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

(Sea of Azov), he appears to have been mistaken. He may have confused the Caspian Sea with the Maeotis, as one of the rivers, named the "''Oarus''", was almost certainly the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

Notes

Sources

*{{EB1911 , wstitle=Thyssagetae , volume=26 , page=26 , first=Ellis Hovell , last=Minns , author-link=Ellis Minns Ancient peoples of Russia Nomadic groups in Eurasia Tribes described primarily by Herodotus Iranian nomads Scythian tribes

See also

Notes

Sources