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.: "During the first millennium BCE, nomadic people spread over the Eurasian Steppe from the Altai Mountains over the northern Black Sea area as far as the Carpathian Basin... Greek and Persian historians of the 1st millennium BCE chronicle the existence of the Massagetae and Sauromatians, and later, the Sarmatians and Sacae: cultures possessing artefacts similar to those found in classical Scythian monuments, such as weapons, horse harnesses and a distinctive 'Animal Style' artistic tradition. Accordingly, these groups are often assigned to the Scythian culture... " The Massagetae rose to power between the 8th and 7th centuries BC, expelling the Scythians out of Central Asia and into the Caucasian and Pontic Steppes, an event which was to have wide-reaching consequences. The Massagetae are most famous for their queen Tomyris and her alleged defeat and killing of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
The Massagetae declined after the 3rd century BC, after which they merged with some other tribes to form the Alans, a people who belonged to the larger Sarmatian tribal confederation, and who moved westwards into the Caucasian and European steppes, where they participated in the events of the Migration Period.
Names Massagetae The name is the Latin form of Massagétai.
The Iranologist Rüdiger Schmitt notes that although the original name of the Massagetae is unattested, it appears that the most plausible etymon is the Iranian . is the plural form, containing the East Iranian suffix , which is reflected in Greek . The singular form is and is composed of the Iranian and , meaning "fish," derived from Young Avestan (; cognate with Vedic ). The name literally means "concerned with fish," or "fisherman." This corresponds with the remark made by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (1.216.3) that "they live on their livestock and fish." Schmitt notes that objections to this reasoning, based on the assumption that, instead of , a derivation from Iranian "fish" (compare Ossetian ()) would be expected, is "not decisive." Schmitt states that any other interpretations on the origin of the original Iranian name of the Massagetae are "linguistically unacceptable."
The Iranologist János Harmatta has, however, criticised the proposal of 's derivation from , meaning "fish-eating (men)," as being semantically and phonologically unacceptable, and instead has suggested that the name might be derived from an early Bactrian language name , from an earlier related to the Young Avestan terms (), (), (), meaning "men," with the ending of the name being derived from the East Iranian suffix or from the collective formative syllable from which the suffix evolved. According to Harmatta's hypothesis, the Bactrian name would have corresponded to the name , meaning "men," used by the Massagetae for themselves.
The Old Persian name () meant "Saka who wear pointed hats", with the descriptive (), meaning "wearer of pointed hats," is composed of the terms (), "pointed," and (), "cap.", and is believed to refer to the Massagetae. This name was a reference to the Phrygian cap worn by the ancient Iranian peoples, of which the wore an unusually tall and pointed form.
The name given to the / is derived from the Latin name , which is derived from the , which is itself the literal translation of the Old Persian name (), meaning "wearer of pointed hats.",: As for the term "Orthocorybantii", this is a translation of Iranian "wearers of pointed caps": "The (who wear pointed caps) were known to Greek authors as the , a direct translation of the Old Persian name": "Herodotus calls the Sakâ tigrakhaudâ the ("pointed hat men")"
Apasiacae The proposed etymologies for the Massagataean sub-tribe of the Apasiacae, whose name is not attested in ancient Iranian records, include , meaning "Water-Sakas," and , meaning "rejoicing at water," which have so far not been conclusive.
The Sanskrit element āpa means "water" and saka means Scythian appears in several Indo-Iranian religious and legal contexts, including terms associated with oaths, rivers, and cosmic order. The name Āpa-Śaka has also been identified in Mahabharata descriptions of sakas. According to the Mahābhārata Bhīṣma Parva 6.10–12 (geographical descriptions of Śākadvīpa and river-defined peoples) and Mahābhārata Sabha parva 2.29–32 (Nakula's western campaign mentioning Śakas in watery or coastal regions) apa sakas are identified. Greek authors such as Strabo and Ptolemy place the Apasiacae in regions dominated by major river systems of Central Asia, which aligns geographically with Indian epic Mahabharata descriptions of Śaka groups associated with water-defined territories.
Identification
The Iranologist János Harmatta has identified the Massagetae as being the same as the people named ("Sakā who wear pointed caps") by the Persians and by Graeco-Romans. Harmatta's identification is based on the mention of the as living between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, where Arrian also located the Massagetae.: However, we must not forget that the Old Persian epigraphic texts distinguish for Saka tribes or peoples: 1. "Sakas who are living beyond the sea" (=European Scythians). 2. "Sakas worshipping the Hauma" (in Central Asia, the of the Greek geographers), 3. "Sakas who wear the pointed cap" (between the = Amu darya and the Sir-darya rivers, 4. "Sakas who are living beyond Sogdiana (=beyond the Sir-darya river)"---------------------------------------------------------------------------In the quoted passage, however, Arrian says that these Scythians, living in the neighbourhood of the Sogdians between the Amu-darya and the Sir-darya rivers, were called . Consequently, the name may be the individual denomination, the proper name of this Iranian nomadic people.
The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht has also identified the Massagetae with the .
János Harmatta has also identified the / with the , with this identification being based on the location of the former between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, where Arrian also located the Dahae.: In the quoted passage, however, Arrian says that these Scythians, living in the neighbourhood of the Sogdians between the Amu-darya and the Sir-darya rivers, were called . Consequently, the name may be the individual denomination, the proper name of this Iranian nomadic people. But a clear judgement in this matter is impeded by the fact that Arrian (III. 28, 8) describes the () as living on this side of the Tanais = Sir-darya, i.e. between the Sir-darya and Amu-darya rivers. From this report it follows that the Massagetae were identical with the Dahae. The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that the were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae. C. J. Brunner suggested that the Daha were either neighbours of the Saka Tigraxauda or that both groups were part of the same people.
The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.: "The middle of the third century b.c. saw the rise to power of a group of tribes consisting of the Parni (Aparni) and the Dahae, descendants of the Massagetae of the Aral Sea region."
Marek Jan Olbrycht considers the as being a separate group from the Saka, and therefore as not identical with the Massagetae/.: "Apparently the Dahai represented an entity not identical with the other better known groups of the Sakai, i.e. the Sakai (Sakā) tigrakhaudā (Massagetai, roaming in Turkmenistan), and Sakai (Sakā) Haumavargā (in Transoxania and beyond the Syr Daryā)."
Based on Strabo's remark that the Massagetae lived partly on the plains, the mountains, the marshes, and the islands in the country irrigated by the Araxes river, the Iranologist Rüdiger Schmitt has also suggestive a tentative connection with the (Ancient Egyptian ), the "Saka of the Marshes, Saka of the Land," mentioned in the Suez Inscriptions of Darius the Great.
Sub-tribes The Massagetae were composed of multiple sub-tribes, including: the () the () the (; , romanized: ; , romanized: ) The Sanskrit element āpa means "water" and saka means Scythian appears in several Indo-Iranian religious and legal contexts, including terms associated with oaths, rivers, and cosmic order. The name Āpa-Śaka has also been identified in Mahabharata descriptions of sakas.
Location
The Massagetae lived in the Caspian Steppe as well as in the lowlands of Central Asia located to the east of the Caspian Sea and the south-east of the Aral Sea, more precisely across the large area stretching from the lands around the Amu Darya and Zarafshan rivers up to the steppes and the deserts to the north of the Khorasan mountain corridor, that is in the region including the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts and the Ustyurt Plateau, especially the area between the Oxus and Iaxartes rivers and around Chorasmia. The territory of the Massagetae thus included the area corresponding to modern-day Turkmenistan and might possibly have extended to parts of Hyrcania as well.: "It may thus be hypotesized that the inhabited an area that covered (some of) the lands among the Amu Daryâ and the Zarafshân. They may even have inhabited ancient , since the Behistun text does not mention any campaigns in that area, in spite of the fact that is listed as one of the rebellious lands. With hostile inhabiting the deserts and steppes of the lands north of the Khurâsân desert corridor, ...": "In section 2 the of the XPh were provisionally located among the confines of the Karakum desert. This leads us again to the problem of the , whom we located in much of the same area, namely in the steppes east of the Caspian and who are distinguished by a combination of Medic and Scythic features."
One of the Massagetaean sub-groups, the Apasiacae, lived either on the east coast of the Aral Sea between the Oxus and Tanais/Iaxartes rivers, or possibly along the Oxus in western Bactria, or between the Caspian and Aral Seas": "the Pausikai could be the same as the Apsiakai of Polybius and Strabo between the Oxus and the Jaxartes."
Another Massagetaean sub-group, the Derbices, lived in the arid area to the north of the Atrek river bordered by the Caspian Sea to the west, by Hyrcania to the south, the Oxus river in the east, and the Balkhan Mountain and the Ochus river and its estuary were in their territory. During the Achaemenid period, some Derbices had migrated to the southwest along the shore of the Caspian Sea and reached central Tabaristan. The Derbices shared the region between the Caspian Sea and the Oxus with the Dahae, who might however have been identical with the Massagetae, and the Derbices might have extended to the east of the Oxus, with the Greek author Ctesias even extending their range up to the borders of Bactria and India.
The imprecise description of where the Massagetae lived by ancient authors has however led modern scholars to ascribe to them various locations, such as the Oxus delta, the Iaxartes delta, between the Caspian and Aral seas or further to the north or north-east, but without basing these suggestions on any conclusive arguments.
History Early history