Teušpâ (, and ) was an early 7th-century BC king of the

Cimmerians The Cimmerians were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into W ...

Name

and are Akkadian forms of a name which originates from a Cimmerian dialect of the

Old Iranian The Iranian languages, also called the 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 language ...

Scythian language The Scythian languages are a group of Eastern Iranic languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle Iranic period), spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their desce ...

. The linguist

János Harmatta János Harmatta (2 October 1917 – 24 July 2004) was a Hungarian linguist. He deciphered the Parthian ostraca An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase ...

reconstructed this original Cimmerian name as , which means "swelling with strength." Askold Ivantchik instead proposes three alternative suggestions for an Old Iranian origin of : * "abductor of horses" * "abductor dog" * "divine dog" Despite the apparent similarity of 's name with that of his

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

contemporary (), they do not seem to be etymologically related.

Historical background

In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, a significant movement of the nomads of the Eurasian steppe brought the Scythians into Southwest Asia. According to Herodotus, this movement started when the

Massagetae The Massagetae or Massageteans, also known as Sakā Tigraxaudā or Orthocorybantians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian Saka people who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia and were part of the wider Scythian cultures. The Massagetae rose to powe ...

or the

Issedones The Issedones () were an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described in the lost ''Arimaspeia'' of Aristeas, by Herodotus in his ''History'' (IV.16-25) and by Ptolemy in his ''Geography''. ...

migrated westwards, forcing the Scythians to the west across the Araxes and into the Caspian Steppe, from where they displaced the

. Under Scythian pressure, the Cimmerians migrated to the south through the ,

Alagir Alagir (; ) is an industrial town and the administrative center of Alagirsky District in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia, located on the west bank of the Ardon River, west of the republic's capital Vladikavkaz. As of the 2010 C ...

and Darial passes in the Greater Caucasus mountains and reached Western Asia, where they would remain active for much of the 7th century BCE.

Reign

Around 680 BC, the Cimmerians separated into two groups, with their bulk having migrated into Anatolia, while a smaller group remained in the area near the kingdom of

Mannai Mannaea (, sometimes written as Mannea; Akkadian: ''Mannai'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Minni'', (מנּי)) was an ancient kingdom located in northwestern Iran, south of Lake Urmia, around the 10th to 7th centuries BCE. It neighbored Assyria and Urart ...

and later migrated into

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

. Teušpâ was the king of the western Cimmerian

horde Horde may refer to: History * Orda (organization), a historic sociopolitical and military structure in steppe nomad cultures such as the Turks and Mongols ** Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s ** Wings of the Golden Hor ...

, who had moved into Anatolia. In 679 BC, Teušpâ led a Cimmerian incursion against the western borderlands of the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, Nort ...

and was defeated and killed by the Assyrian king

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...

near Ḫubušna in

Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...

. Despite this victory, the military operations of the Assyrians were not fully successful and they were not able to firmly occupy the areas around Ḫubušna, nor were they able to secure their borders.

References

Sources

* * * * Cimmerian kings 7th-century BC monarchs in Asia {{MEast-royal-stub