Episode 12: Kimmerians: Sundered and Scattered

On today's episode, we track the movements of the Medes, the Scythians, the Lydians, and the Kimmerians, as we finally end this leg of our journey. 

Transcript

A young boy stared into a fire. He listened quietly as an older man, the elder of the clan, spoke in soft whispers. The man’s voice sang into the air as he recounted a tale as old as the stars. There was a tinge of sorrow, of melancholy, of sadness. The old man regaled the children with tales of great heroes and mighty kings, of evil villains and tragic lords. He spoke harshly about a people from the rivers and sand, the mighty Assyrians; the old man hurled insults and screams at a people of the endless grass, the vile Scythians.

And on and on did his tale go for. And the whole time, the boy sat in silent contemplation. He wondered at the history of his people, at their trials, and follies. Their great victories and terrible failures. But, through it all, the young boy could not understand one key thing. 

His people had been sundered, reduced to nothing but a life of subsistent wandering. They were harshly judged wherever they marched, scorned by those who lived in walls and towers. His people continued to wander with their animal flocks, to find new pasture lands between the ever-changing seasons, but even still, there was little for them, and their people dwindled slowly.

The boy ventured a question to the elder. 

“What did we do to deserve such a fate? Why are we casted aside, left to history to rot and waste away? What sin was ours?”

The elder turned to him. The man’s eyes were soft and for a moment, they shimmered like the night’s stars. He opened his mouth and nodded.

“A thousand others have lobbed a thousand charges to us. Whether they are true or not, I cannot say. But, I can say this.”

The elder turned to the rest of the tribe. There were only a few dozen of them left. They had a modest number of animals, of sheep and cattle, though perhaps they all knew that their time was coming. Even still, the man spoke.

“For all that we and others have done, let it be known this. We existed and our presence was known. We once ruled the lands from the valleys to the hills; we rode forth upon mighty steeds and spread fear and courage throughout the land. Though we are diminished and dwindled, we have done as we did and will live as we ought. Though we are to be left to the ruin of history, we have made our mark. We, the Kimmerian people, will forever live in the annals of time.”

And with that, the man turned away and stared off into the hills of the Anatolian Plateau, mesmerized by the sight of lands that had once been theirs. 

Welcome back to the Nomads and Empires podcast, episode 12. Today, we say goodbye to the Kimmerians. We have been following their movements since 8 now, and after our brief journey with them, we must bid our farewells. But, not just yet. That would be getting ahead of ourselves. 

So let’s recap. Indeed, by the 630s, the Kimmerians still seemed to be a strong player on the world stage. As we noted on the last episode, the Kimmerians at this time were probably divided into a number of different tribes and polities, with some acting as mercenaries in Assyrian and Urartian armies, while others behaving antagonistically towards these Near Eastern powers. One particular group was led by a man named Tugdamme, who had been named “King of the Saka and the Gutian.” Another name ascribed to Tugdamme was Shar Kishatti, or “King of the World.” Evidently, Tugdamme likely represented the most significant Kimmerian leader in the region, and under his reign, the Kimmerians would attempt a number of key invasions. 

These include one or several invasions of the Kingdom of Lydia. These invasions highlight to us the strength of Tugdamme’s leadership and hint at pretty keen charismatic skills. In one of the attacks, the Kimmerians allied with a people known as the Treres, and it is possible that other groups joined in an anti-Lydian coalition. From the 640s-630s, Lydia would suffer from repeated invasions and raids. Several Lydian kings, such as Ardys and Sadyattes, were possibly killed by the Kimmerians. It would be left to a young prince named Alyattes to pick up the pieces and oust the Kimmerians once and for all. But, we aren’t there yet. 

At this point in time, we have a pretty good if somewhat vague understanding as to the areas of Kimmerian control in the mid-7th century BCE. Through their invasions of Phrygia and Lydia, the Kimmerians almost certainly maintained a presence in the lands of central and western Anatolia. According to the scholar Selim Adah, the Kimmerian heartland may have been the Konya Plain. Assyrian documents point to some Kimmerian rule over the land of Cilicia. There also probably remained some Kimmerians along the Urartian frontier, to the far east of the Anatolian peninsula. The decline of Urartu remains a mystery, and though names like the Scythians and the Medes are the ones most commonly associated with the polity’s collapse, one cannot rule out the option of an ambitious Kimmerian chieftain seeking vengeance on the Urartians once and for all.

Now, I use the term “vague,” when talking about Kimmerian control over parts of Anatolia because the nature of controlling territory in this period of time cannot be equated to our modern conceptions of land and conquest. In a lot of instances, we are talking about territory where settled polities such as the Phrygians ruled urban settlements, and where the Kimmerians operated in nearby pasturelands and hills. In other instances, Kimmerian rulership may have been stronger, with various cities, towns, and villages offering tribute to their nomadic ruler. I would also imagine in other cases, some Kimmerian individuals may have settled down, residing in sedentary areas as well. Again, I think the best way to consider this area is one of fluidity, where various groups may equally claim the same area and occupy it simultaneously but with different purposes and uses. 

In fact, this is a helpful point to make, as we should really understand this dynamic for future episodes. Here, we are forced to ask ourselves the very definition of a “nomadic state,” as the Kimmerians offer us a first glimpse at why such a term may be difficult. When most individuals think of this term, there is a conception of “pure nomadism,” where groups were led by a chief such as a khan, where groups moved from pasture to pasture, and where groups pitched yurts and gers and played music on moorin khuurs, and other such generalizations. This conception has never been correct. 

As defined by Selim Adah, an associate professor at the University of Ankara, “the nomadic state is a state with territorial boundaries, pastoralist and urban elements, structures of authority operated by rulers of tribes and the military elite, and finally a ruling dynasty.” Note here that elements of pastoralism exist, but are not the most defining characteristic, and that there is indeed an urban element to this. The Kimmerians “were agro-pastoralists who controlled and managed urban landscapes and territorial boundaries.” We see evidence of this multifaceted societal structure in the work of Claudia Chang. We’ve referenced her work before, and I am going to dedicate an entire episode on this later, but her archaeology has shown to us that nomadic states often did include fully sedentary and semi-sedentary populations that were deeply connected to the overarching steppe nomad structure. The Scythians will be no different. 

With such a definition in mind, I now want to segue into a consideration on what life may have been like in Kimmerian Anatolia. We have some specific details, once again derived from Assyrian documents. However, we also can extrapolate on other points by the experiences of other nomadic groups that would come to call Anatolia home as well. 

For the average Anatolian, life under the Kimmerians could range from completely transformative to, well, not meaning much at all. It is probably accurate to consider that the Kimmerian presence was a minor one, from a population perspective. Turkic migrations from the 1000s CE can provide a good parallel, as in the rise of the Seljuk Empire, around a million Turks entered Anatolia. I am cautious about the figure, but the point is this: despite this influx, the Turkic nomads were not the largest ethnic group in the region, and though they maintained a heightened sociopolitical position, a smattering of Greeks, Armenians, and other peoples resided in the Anatolian Peninsula and maintained their customs well into the Ottoman era. 

We can estimate a similar case here for the Kimmerians. In their invasions and raids of Lydia, Phrygia, Cilicia, and so forth, de jure control over a territory was likely limited. We noted this already. The Kimmerians therefore may have resorted to coalition building with various players within the Anatolian Peninsula to maintain power. We already know their alliances with the Treres and the Lycians, but the Kimmerians also supported a number of city-states in Anatolia and the ancient Near East. In episode 11, we mentioned how the city of Tabal received Kimmerian assistance to fend off Assyrian advances. Within Kimmerian territory in Anatolia, a similar system emerged, where the Kimmerians appointed “city lords” who ruled over urban centers. Assyrian documents refer to these lords as “bel ali,” which connotes a military and political figure who ruled over a defined territory. Such city lords and major nomadic leaders coalesced together into a sort of council that may have assisted Kimmerian leaders like Tugdamme. Political science conceives of two types of steppe-state formation, with one of the forms being “between the steppe tradition and the sedentary tradition… where steppe rulers were intimately involved in state-making but where rulers eventually came to be drawn from the sedentaries.”

This is likely the political configuration of the Kimmerians under Sandakhshatra sometime in the 640s-630s BCE. Sure, the Kimmerians had faced some defeats and the loss of Tugdamme represented a major setback, but by this point, the Kimmerians were entrenched in Anatolia. The Assyrians had lost major credibility in the region due to their inability to defend their clients from Kimmerian raids. Tugdamme’s successor, if he could play his cards right, was at the precipice of creating a truly major political power. All Sandakhshatra had to do was make the correct move.

Tugdamme, as we may remember from the last episode, was rallying men for a raid into Assyria but passed from illness before this could transpire. Sandakhshatra evidently wished to continue his father’s goals.The Assyrians were still perceived to be weak and a successful raid would prove a major propaganda victory for the new ruler. If he could prove his merit as a warrior and as a provider of loot, then surely Sandakhshatra’s hold on power would be secure. 

The Cambridge Ancient History dates the next Kimmerian campaign to either 635 BCE or 625 BCE. It’s not exactly clear if this was an Assyrian counteroffensive into Cilicia or if this was an Assyrian defense mounted against a Kimmerian incursion. In either case, we know something striking. The Assyrians called upon a very important ally: the Scythians. The Scythians were led by a chief named Madyes, who was the son of the previous chief Bartatua. Further, Madyes’s mother may have been an Assyrian princess, specifically the daughter of Esarhaddon. Thus, Madyes and his band of Scythians was likely an Assyrian vassal. Madyes is an incredible figure in his own right, having marched his forces across the Near East, fighting battles near Egypt and Persia, but we’ll talk more about him in a future episode.

This battle between Madyes of the Scythians and Sandakhshatra of the Kimmerians proved decisive. Madyes was backed by the Assyrians and may have received support from the Lydians of Alyattes. Sandakhshatra received aid and men from the Treres. Once again, we have little information on the battle that took place, but I can imagine it featured a heavy amount of cavalry, mounted archers, and skirmishers. Arrows probably peppered the air, while Assyrian heavy infantry did their best to shield themselves and force down the Kimmerian horsemen. The battle was probably rough, difficult, and grueling, but in the end, a victor was declared. The Scythians won the day, pushing the Kimmerians back into Anatolia.

The Kimmerians, badly defeated, were still not fully annihilated. It is unclear if Sandakhshatra survived the battle, but if he did, he probably returned to Anatolia to reestablish his presence, maintain control, and stabilize the situation. Evidently, the damage to the Kimmerians was so severe that many of our secondary sources cite this battle as the end of the Kimmerians. However, this isn’t necessarily the case. One final battle remains before this journey is over, and to discuss this last development, we must now move our focus. We’ll leave Sandakhshatra to lick his wounds, while we now return to the Kingdom of Lydia and its ruler King Alyattes.

Moving our timeline back to the 640s, we are reminded by the fact that Lydia and its capital Sardis had faced a number of Kimmerian attacks. Sardis was burned and several Lydian kings had perished in the unrelenting fighting. Alyattes, in ways similar to Rusa I and Sargon II, was born in an era of chaos and turmoil. And like the other two figures, Alyattes would be responsible for the revival of his state into a major polity. 

Upon ascending the throne, Alyattes set off on a number of major reforms. Alyattes is particularly known for establishing electrum coins in Lydia, among other economic reforms. Following the steps of his ancestor Gyges, Alyattes also began to foster relations across the known world. Trade between the Greek Peninsula and Lydia flourished, and gold mines in the area of Atarneus and Paragmum were well exploited. Alyattes was known to build a number of structures, including temples and fortifications. As recounted by the scholar Christopher Roosevelt, “at no other time in the Lydian and Achaemenid periods did Sardis see the same flurry of urban building projects.”

Of course, Alyattes knew that the Kimmerians were operating throughout the area, and his foreign and military policy reflected this looming threat. Interestingly, Alyattes appears to have reformed his army, adapting a number of Kimmerian tactics. Archery became a renowned skill among the Lydians. The usage of cavalry was heavily promoted, and a generation later, during the reign of Alyattes’ son Croeses, we are told by Herodotus that, “there was at this time no people in all of Asia who were braver or more valiant soldiers than the Lydians. Their fighting was from horseback, where they carried great lances, and they were themselves excellent horsemen.” Another Greek source, that of the poet Mimnermus, tells us that the Lydian horsemen would form ranks and fire arrows into their enemies. However, the Lydians did more than copy Kimmerian tactics. The Lydians adapted their martial prowess in other directions, as siege weaponry became especially important and would be used to devastating effect in Anatolia. The inclusion of steppe tactics made the Lydian army into a war machine. They were mobile and swift, but also capable of long and protracted sieges and maneuvers. 

These developments came at the right time. Before confronting the Kimmerians, Alyattes was first beset by a war with a people known as the Milesians. This particular war was actually one started by his father Sadyattes, and Herodotus remarks that Alyattes had “inherited” the conflict. And as we said, the Lydian army was a war machine.

“[Alyattes] invaded and attacked Miletus in this way: as soon as the corn was ripe, he invaded the country; he would march into the music of pipes and harps and flutes, treble and bass, and as often as he came into Milesian territory, he would cast down no houses in the countryside, nor would he burn any or wrench the doors off, but let all stand in place; but the trees and the crops of the land he would destroy…”

Herodotus further explains that this tactic of burning crops but not homes was engineered so that the Milesians could return to their lands and attempt to till the burned soil. Once crops flourished again, Alyattes would return, once again taking the grain and burning the fields, but leaving the homes spared. It is said that Alyattes used this tactic for five years, before finally signing a peace treaty with the Milesians.

But, Alyattes was not content with subduing Miletus. He waged additional wars against his Anatolian neighbors, including the peoples of Ionia and Caria. One key event involves the city of Smyrna, which was evidently destroyed. The destruction of Smyrna may have occurred after the Lydian-Kimmerian conflict, but what we find there is a good perspective on the changes taking place in the Lydian army. Archaeologists have found a siege mound near the city, revealing to us that the Lydians used slingers and archers as the bulk of their force. Interestingly, Lydian arrowheads could still be found on the walls of several mud-brick homes. 

Through these conquests, Alyattes consolidated Lydia into a “territorial empire.” Land was secured and fortified. Areas of control were more delineated and resource gathering appears to have been more centralized. The Cambridge Ancient History speculates that through these wars of conquests and loot, the Lydians were able to stabilize their own frontiers and may have allowed the Lydians to develop manned fortifications in the land of Phrygia. A stronger presence in Phrygia would provide the Lydians with more resources, including horses, precious metals, and grain. In fact, Alyattes’ key strategy seems to have revolved around the consolidation and securitization of his resources. Just before the final Lydian-Kimmerian battle, Alyattes stationed his son Croesus as the governor of Adramyttium, an area known for its gold metals and an area adjacent to a major Kimmerian center.

By coopting Kimmerian tactics into the Lydian military, by consolidating his territory and resources, by centralizing his government and promoting economic development, Alyattes had readied the Kingdom of Lydia into a confrontation with the Kimmerians. I don’t think Alyattes conducted these acts to solely deter the Kimmerians, but I do think every policy and political development would help the Lydians in their final confrontation. 

And so, we have reached the end. 

Sometime in the late 600s BCE, the Lydians and Kimmerians met again on the battlefield. We have few details here, fewer even than the ones between the Kimmerians and the Scythians. We can imagine that only a few years or a decade had passed since that particular battle. We can probably imagine the Kimmerians still licking their wounds, attempting to rebuild an army. A sizable portion may have been new to warfare; perhaps good riders but inexperienced in the art of war. 

What led to this final battle, I can’t say, though some secondary sources speculate this was at Assyrian urging. 

The Lydian army would match the Kimmerians with horsemen and archers. Arrows probably pelted the air on both sides. Light cavalry would chase off skirmishers and bowmen. Heavier cavalry, armed with lances, fanned to the wings. The fighting could’ve been long and difficult, with both sides pushing one another in a tug-of-war until one side broke and fled. Or, the fighting could have been quick and decisive, with one side ordering a key charge that pushed the other into a significant route. We’re merely speculating here. We have no details. But, by the end of this battle, the Kimmerians had sundered and were no longer a political power. Their years of existence in the Near East had collapsed. By the end of the 7th century BCE, the Kimmerians were no more. Under the reign of Alyattes, the Kingdom of Lydia had finally secured their vengeance. 

In the words of Herodotus: “It was Alyattes who made war upon Cyaxares, the descendent of Deioces, and the Medes, and he who chased the Kimmerians out of Asia…”

After defeating the Kimmerians, Alyattes would continue to rule Lydia for some time. Let’s just briefly go over the last years of Alyattes before coming back to the Kimmerians one last time. In the aftermath of this battle, Anatolia probably was beset by a power vacuum that an incredibly strong Lydia could exploit, and so Alyattes would turn eastward. Lydian influence over Phrygia increased in this time. Lydian coins and goods in Phrygian cities like Gordium hint at a heightened trade presence and even possibly a tributary relationship. Herodotus tells us that during the time of Alyattes’ son Croesus, the Lydians ruled over a number of peoples including Paphlagonians and Bithynians, and we can assume that some of these groups had been subjugated during the time of Alyattes. The Lydian state became a cosmopolitan one, filled with a number of peoples all connected in various Anatolian trade routes and buoyed by Lydian coinage.

As the Lydians progressed further and further eastward, other states became increasingly worried. Our friends, the Neo-Assyrian Empire, had fallen in the late 600s BCE to the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Medes, and it would be the Medes who became worried at this ascendent Lydia. Around 590 BCE, King Cyaxares of the Medes expelled a number of Scythians from his territory. These Scythians fled into Lydian territory, seeking protection from Alyattes. The Lydian king agreed to this, an act that inflamed Cyaxares. The Median king demanded Alyattes return the Scythians, but Alyattes refused. Using this as a casus belli, the Medes declared war on the Lydians. The war would last five years, only ending in 595 BCE after a great battle occurred. We are told that in the final battle, a solar eclipse darkened the sky and spread fear among the Lydian and Median ranks. Seeing this as an omen, Alyattes and Cyaxares signed a peace treaty; Alyattes would marry his daughter to Cyaxares’ son and peace was agreed.

Now in a final post-script, the Kimmerians raise their heads one more time. Although Herodotus only mentions the Scythians as having been expelled by the Medes, the Cambridge Ancient History suspects that Kimmerian bands were probably in this group as well. A group of Kimmerians had been mercenaries for the Assyrians and did operate in territory controlled by the Medes. It’s probable that Kimmerian riders had acted as mercenaries for the Medes, had fought in the Median war against Assyria, and had been expelled by Cyaxares. The Cambridge Ancient History remarks, rather keenly, that the Kimmerians probably played a role in creating conflict and disruptions in this time. But, after this last episode, we can conclusively state that the Kimmerians were no more. We have no other mention of their activities or movements. 

The Kimmerian sojourn has ended. 

I want to now take the last few minutes to consider the Kimmerians on a broader scale. Though they seemed to have disappeared in the historical record, their influence could still be felt. As Herodotus, says: “Even today in this Scythian country, there are Kimmerian walls, a Kimmerian ferry, a part of the country called Kimmeria, and what is called the Kimmerian Bosporus.” Anatolian polities became directly impacted by the Kimmerians, and some such as the Lydians adapted their weapons and tactics to devastating effect. The Kimmerians became ingrained in the cultural memory of the Ancient Greeks, who perceived this group as one of the primordial evils of the world. The Kimmerians, though their reign was brief, would have a cultural impact lasting generations.

But, this is only part of the story. For our own narrative, the Kimmerians represented a number of firsts in recorded history. Their origins in the Sayan-Altai region and their movements westward into the steppes of Kazakhstan and Ukraine epitomized later steppe movements. Scythians, Turks, and Mongols all made the same journey from the eastern steppe to the western steppe. But the Kimmerians went further than that. Through tragic circumstances or opportunistic desire, the Kimmerians made their way south through the Caucasus, a move that would be echoed by later steppe polities like the Khazars. They would make their way even further, splitting into a number of directions and ending up in Anatolia, a story that is rhymed by various Turkic groups in the 11th century CE. The Kimmerians became mercenaries, the Kimmerians developed political institutions, and the Kimmerians became a fixture in the political world of the Middle East. And most importantly, the Kimmerians can claim to be the first, at least in recorded history, to have accomplished such acts. 

Though the Kimmerian presence in secondary literature, in sweeping histories of the steppe and its peoples, is short, spanning no more than a few pages at most, their impact is immense. Their horses were renowned. Their arrows spread fear. Their continued struggle after setbacks and military defeats highlights a tenacity that in many ways is unrivaled. 

And so, I think we can consider the Kimmerians as an important bridge. They are the ones that push us from the realm of prehistory into that of written history. Rather than discussing archaeological cultures like that of the Tagar and the Karasuk, we are given a name, provided sources on their existence, and are shown intimate details on their lives. Now, the Kimmerians never provided us with a full picture; things were fuzzy, dates were inconsistent, and accuracy often was plagued by speculation and historical biases, but we were at least given something tangible. As we move forward, we enter further and further into the realm of historical authors. 

And now, we move forward. The steppe continues on and on. As we end our time with the Kimmerians, we now ride off into the history of the Scythians, a people who we’ve danced around briefly so far, but have yet to dive fully into. The Scythians are by far an even more influential group in the minds of Greco-Roman authors. We have substantially more information, we have a large variety of scholars and academic works, and we have even more historical interactions to examine. The Scythians will be involved with the Persian Empire. They will have relations with the Greco-Bosporan Kingdom. They will have splinters like the Saka and the Sarmatians. 

It’s time to say goodbye to the Kimmerians and welcome the Scythians. 

In the next few episodes, we are going to take a break from the historical narrative. Instead, we’ll examine the Scythians broadly by looking at their historiography and other overarching topics. I want to dedicate an episode solely to Scythian arts and culture, another episode to religion, and another to their many subdivisions. By setting this groundwork now, we can have a better picture of the Scythians as a whole and why historical developments occurred the way that they did. 

Finally, I also want to announce that I’ll be releasing some bonus episodes as well. These bonus episodes will explore some of the folk tales, legends, and stories of the Eurasian steppes, but also of peoples adjacent to it. Through retellings and context, I hope to shed light on figures like Dede Korkut and Manas. So, do keep an eye out on that. 

Otherwise, that’s it. As always, please reach out to me with questions, concerns, corrections, and so forth on nomadsandempires@gmail.com. You can also find my Twitter, @NomadEmpiresPod for updates and other historical finds. It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I hope to see you all again in the next chapter. Next time, we dive into the world of the Scythians. 

Thanks as always, and see you on the windy plains of the Eurasian steppe.

MUSIC: Feras Charestan - Salat al-Sabah