Regional Descriptions: Help the EBII Team

[Friendly Sword]

Hey Arjos;

I read through the description; it looks awesome. I have a question though.

I assume the relevant territory labeled in the map provided in this thread that is being described here is Dahyu Siraca. Presumably Danu=Don, Terka=Terek, Achardeus=Kuban etc etc. Why has the name been changed to Aekhsyragty Baestae? What language is the source for this? I am not challenging it; I am just curious, as I am unfamiliar with this as a name for the territory of the siraces/sirakes/sirakoi.

Thanks!

[Arjos]

I've been working on Iranian languages, especially Ossetic and the Skytho-Sauromatian inscriptions from the Pontic region. Together with the corpus of sagas from the Kaukasos. Hopefully this is a closer language to the one used in the steppe during EBII's timeframe...
Also lacking scripts, I've written it down as close as possible to their pronunciation. Exception being "ae", which to this day has several of them, but possibly the closest was a mid-central vowel...

Dahyu Siraca was a little constructed from Old Iranian and the rendering of the ethnonym as recorded by Hellenic sources...
It is tricky but etimologies can be identified, thankfully there are few modern scholars working on it. Just need to improve my russian to read more of them XD

Also challenges and any help are always welcomed! ^^

Edit: you may actually notice a change to the name, because I forgot about lenition laws!

[Arjos]

Province: Aursyty Baestae

Traveller's Log

After crossing the Rah River, the traveller enters Aursytae Baestae where the Aursytae dwell. By the delta are saline wetlands, which make good pasture for livestock and many caravans can be seen traversing. While upstream the Rah River are burial grounds with several mounds, each used by a Sauromatian family. Farther to the North the landscape becomes arid, first being dotted by salt domes, but eventually turning into a desert, which skirts the Kaspion Sea. Here rainfall rarely occurs, but it is the shortest route and, thanks to their domesticated camels, the locals can endure the voyage. However the other areas of Aursyty Baestae are almost as arid, this is definitely a hard country. Nevertheless these grounds hold the main pastures and meadows of the Aursytae, here it is where they most frequently wander and are known as the Aursyty Zaekkhytae. By the floodplains millet is sown at temporary campsites, where the Aursytae return seasonally to gather the harvest. As the steppe comes to an end around the Rah River the landscape becomes a particularly hilly plateau. Woodlands also are once again encountered in this area, but less and less people live there. The locals describe the northern region as an untraversable forest, which only Ugra hunters dare enter. While to the East, as far as the Dzhaikhs River, the landscape gradually becomes more open with a narrow steppic corridor. Here since time immemorial the Sauromatae have buried their men and women in mounds, according to their fire worshipping traditions. Differing from those by the Rah River, several of these were constructed with stones, some including platforms, cromlechs or simply stone heaps. At this point plains soon end, hillocks quickly turn into highlands and then into the Urala Mountains. These are the highest peaks of the region, but compared to other ranges in the world they are not particularly formidable. Here by tributaries of the Rah River lie open settlements and fortresses, built by communities mainly oriented to hunting and fishing, but also known for their highly developed metalworking skills. However these are divided by growing internal tensions and pressure from the nomadic communities. Numerous valleys and ridges parallel one another in an ever more forested area, marked by ever colder days. No horseman wanders here and legends hold that progressing northwards would be pointless, because the snow falls so thick and copious to obfuscate the view as if countless feathers were poured down.

Geography

Aursyty Baestae is a vast province mostly comprising flatlands, which extends into the Taiga. Springs are pretty short and dry, with warm summers and autumns followed by cold winters. Typical fauna of the area closer to the Kaspion Sea include wild boars, otters, weasels, brown hares, wild rabbits, muskrats, many semi-desert rodents, aurochs, European bisons, wild horses and saiga herds. In the plains typical plants are Artemisia, volga fescue, feather grass and wheat grass. While the floodplain forests comprise oaks, poplars, willows, ash trees, pine trees and birches. Instead closer to the Urala Mountains Siberian spruces, larches, elms and firs are dominant. These forests are roamed by reindeers, sables, polecats, minks and, although not specific to the region, Eurasian dippers, Golden eagles, chaffinchs, Eurasian dotterels, Northern black grouses and Ural owls may be found.

The People, Society and Government

The Aursytae were first and foremost traders, whose commercial wanderings went from the Euxeinos Sea to Central Asia. Already from the 5th century BCE the Sauromatian military aristocracy living in this region was equipped with bronze helmets, and scale or plate armour. However these were not of local production, tin deposits being limited in the area, and control of exchange networks for smelted metal or finished artifacts became one of the distinctive Sauromatian social aspects. Particular to the people living by the Rah River was also the distinction between unalloyed copper, arsenical bronze, tin and tin-leaded bronze for specific items. The use of tin seems to have been limited to cups and mirrors, emphasising its prestige and ritual status, marked even more by the different colour properties. Aurs means white and it probably stood for religious purity, indeed characteristic to the Aursytae were small portable altars carved from stone or censers made out of stone or clay. All of these were used in fire cult rituals and it seems that women filled the role of priestesses. While the men were mounted archers, who favoured trilobed tanged arrows as their weapons. The pastoralism that developed in Aursyty Baestae was more than an economic specialisation, it constituted a distinctive way of life. In general the men handled the herding, butchering, trade, organisation of migrations and fighting, while women the cooking, packing, unpacking of possessions for transport and processing of wool, hides and milk. However no fixed gender roles existed and women held freedom in general, exercising great political influence. This is what shocked foreign observers and tied the Amazones mythos to the Sauromatian tribes, but in reality these nomadic women were equal members of society in an unforgiving environment and were expected to partecipate actively in the sustenance of the tribe.

History

The southern Urala steppes in the 4th century BCE experienced massive nomadic migrations, resulting from internal developments of mobile cattle-breeders from the northeastern forest-steppe. Of great influence were also the campaigns of Alexandros Megas, which undermined the traditional simbiotic relationship between nomadic and sedentary populations in Central Asia. This led to a demographic explosion at the end of the century, whereby several groups migrated en masse into the Rah-Danu interfluvial area, assimilating the related locals. The Aursytae set themselves on establishing a monopoly over the existing trading routes. Throughout the 3rd century BCE they were mainly occupied with escorting caravans, helping drive out the Skulata and destroy their fortified settlements. These actions secured their supremacy and allowed the Aursytae to become the largest Sauromatian tribe, constituting almost a separate nomadic federation. Leading the caravans to the Bosporan markets, keeping close to the areas of migration, brought much wealth to the Aursytae. Their networks extended as far as Huwarazmish, were Bosporan coins circulated well into the 2nd century BCE. While the western borders of Aursyty Baestae were firmly controlled by Sauromatian kinsmen, the Aursytae also extended their influence to the Ugric populations in the forested North. Their intrusion resulted in the creation of independent polities, which then traded with the neighbouring nomadic chiefdoms. However the Aursytae had to deal increasingly with pressure coming from the east, which ended the relatively trouble-free epoch. Namely around the middle of the 2nd century BCE the Alantae were growing in power as a tribal union and had to assume a more aggressive stance to fend off Hsiung-nu expansion. For the time this resulted in a second wave of migration, which carried some Aursytae along with the movement toward the West. This event coincided with the collapse of the Aekhsaitae and, although not yet displaced from Aursyty Baestae, left the Aursytae to take care of themselves on their own, surrounded by potential enemies. Thankfully Mithradates VI Eupator Dionysos of Pontos in the late 2nd century BCE offered a new fulcrum for the Sauromatian tribes, which brought back political stability. Throughout the first half of the 1st century BCE the Aursyty Aeldar Spadaen managed to keep intact his tribe, leading 200,000 riders and preserved the trading supremacy. However this was a flimsy balance, but it nevertheless lasted into the 1st century CE and even the Avgvsti of Roma considered the Aursytae their allies. In 45 CE the Aeldar Eunon thus supplied cavalry to the Roman forces poised against the Aekhsyraedzhytae and later pleaded for leniency to Avgvstvs Clavdivs over the conquered. Despite the successes, influence from Central Asia was growing among the upper strata of Aurs society, several members taking on practices like the deformation of the skull. Around the half of the 1st century CE the Alantae finally migrated westwards, assimilated all the Aursytae and together left the pastures of Aursyty Baestae forever.

Strategy

Aursyty Baestae is the northern hallway between Asia and Europe, through it run profitable trading routes. It is also a melting pot, where new cultures take form, the latest being the Sauromatian one. Thus to certain nomads it is something of an ancestral homeland and to any ruler it is a breeding ground for excellent horsemen.

[Arjos]

Province: Aekhsaity Baestae

Traveller's Log

Beyond the Danu River and its arching tributaries the traveller finds himself in a vast land inhabited by restless tribes. Lately their migrating bands have taken the area as their pastureland, but everyday they wander southwards looking for riches and fame. The southernmost country belongs to the Rukhsalantae, a most warlike tribe, while the upper reaches of the Danu River belong to the Aekhsaitae. These are the royal Sauromatian tribe, whose leadership in war is uncontested by the other Sauromatae. Therefore the surrounding steppes are generally known as Aekhsaity Baestae. These nomadic grounds have recently pushed back the Skulata and have assimilated the Tursakata. Indeed now the burial mounds by the water courses belong to the Rukhsalantae and Aekhsaitae. Although few of them practice farming, the mainly dwell on both sides of the Danu, in what have come to be known as the Aekhsaity Zaekkhytae. Generally they spend their lives in tents made of felt, fastened on waggons, and round about the tents are the herds which afford the milk, cheese and meat on which they live. From time to time they move to other places that have grass, spending the summers in the plains and the winters in marsh-meadows. To the North dwell the Ugrat and, although still spacious, their country is interspersed with woodlands. Like other Sauromatae they have migrated from afar, but they mostly deal with the Mardkhvara tribes to the forested North, with whom they hold close kinship. Beyond them people no longer live in tents, but in open and fortified settlements. There local ore in exploited and once smelted it is traded to their nomadic neighbours, otherwise the Mardkhvara spend most of their time foraging and tending to their livestocks. In this region the Rah River bends westwards and the landscape is one of bogs, lakes and marshes. Farther North lie deep forests and only the most dauntless, or senseless, hunters venture into.

Geography

Aekhsaity Baestae for the most part is an undulating plateau of grassland. This consists of drought-resistant perennial and annual herbaceous plant, which are particularly rich and are mixed with legumes, daisies and irises. While the forest steppe to the North, as the name denotes, alternate with oak, littleleaf linden, field maple and ash woodlands, oaks becoming the sole feature at higher latitudes. Different is the plain bounded by the tributaries of the Rah River, which is covered by mixed and pine forests, together with sandy areas and a large number of wetlands. Summers as hot and winters cold, with considerable diurnal variation in temperature. Although rainfall is insufficient, reach its maximum during summer, in winter a stable snow cover persists until March. The fish fauna native to the Danu River mainly consists of belugas, Russian sturgeons and starry sturgeons. Roaming the valleys and meadows instead are squirrels, foxes, hares, wolves, wild boars, elks, European bisons, aurochs, wild horses and deers.

The People, Society and Government

The Aekhsaitae, just as their name denotes, were the rulers of the Sauromatae. They led the black mantles, meaning all the Sauromatian warriors. Although they held some sort of religious prestige, this was merely the product of the conquests and charisma of their tribal leaders. Military force in the steppe initiated unification, but to maintain cohesion the Aekhsaitae had to offer real economic benefits. These were realised by granting access to luxury goods and trade opportunities, that the single tribes could not have gained on their own. In turn the lesser Sauromatian Aeldaerttae accepted subordinate political positions, but direct control over all the tribes was never achieved. What the Aekhsaitae led was a nomadic confederacy and far from being mindless plunderers, they concentrated their efforts on exacting tribute, keeping friendly relations with foreign centers of production and securing trade routes. The Aekhsaitae also kept the central geographic position, surrounded by a protective ring formed by the other tribes and throughout their wanderings this condition was maintained. Overall Sauromatian society comprised three classes: the Wezdaettae, or nobles, the Sau Laegtae, or warriors, and the Khumgaerdgutae, or plowers, to describe common people from dependant farming communities. However all of these were free, slavery was not widespread in Sauromatian society, being limited to few household servants, rather it was the most requested comodity by Hellenistic markets. In proportion to their prominence the Sauromatae also tattoed themselves with mythological motifs, while during ceremonies women painted their faces with dots and parallel lines, which held cultic significance. Feasts, linked to ceremonies, were the most important social events. The happiest and most frequent topic of conversation was recounting about military deeds. Whoever ended up being considered the best was rewarded sacred drinks, the highest honour among the Sauromatae.

The Rukhsalantae were above everything else warriors. Along with the Aekhsaitae they were equipped with helmets, scale armours and spears or lances to act as heavy cavalry. They eagerly provoked war, for looting seems to have been their main source of income. All of this made them excellent mercenaries, which neighbouring polities eagerly sought to hire. It also comes as no surprise that the Rukhsalantae worshipped the sword and in battle they always led the charge, brandishing blades that measured up to 130 cm. Their ethnonym literally stands for "the luminous honourable ones", meaning "Western Alan people", speaking for their Central Asian origins.

The Ugrat were Ugric speakers, originally living near the Urala Mountains, who migrated westwards with other cattle-breeders during the Sauromatian ethnogenesis. They were some of the northernmost Eurasian nomads, wandering between the Upper Rah and Dzhaikhs Rivers, and this resulted in splittings of groups, who went on living as gatherers. Although little is known about them during the Hellenistic period, preserved oral traditions speak of warriors eager to prove themselves, but also capable of engaging in violence solely out of boredom. Through their dealings with neighbouring peoples, they learned about composite bows with bone laths. Their appellative stood for "the powerful ones" and they were particularly crafty hunters, who trained their horses to lie on their bellies and play dead. At the same time the Ugrat and their dogs hid among bushes and trees, soon as their game approached the horses, the hunters would shoot and jump on their mounts to pursue, while the dogs would seize the prey. Although they lived in close contacts with Iranian nomads and were part of the Sauromatian confederation, the Ugrat preserved their own animistic and shamanistic traditions.

History

At the end of the 4th century BCE the battered Skulata retreated below the Danu River and the Sauromatae became masters of the steppes. Led by the Aekhsaitae, the newcomers in the early 3rd century BCE launched assaults to establish tributary dependencies, eliminate opposition and gain easy loot. These actions proved to be extremely successful, forging close and allied relations with the local tribes. For many Hellenes living by the Northern Pontic Littoral, the Sauromatae were also valuable allies, whose assistance could help them retain political independence from larger poleis. However such standings required tribute to the Aekhsaitae and certain communities could not bear the financial burden, resulting in punitive raids. This was exactly what happened to Olbia around 225 BCE, when the Sauromatian Armdar Aekhsidafarn found fault with the gifts due to him. However the new order that was established across the Pontic steppes favoured greatly local markets. The Sauromatae by then had broken Skulatian power, forcing their remnants to retreat in Mikra Skythia and the Taurike Chersonesos. At this time the Aekhsaitae moved their main encampments by the Danu-apara River, the Rukhsalantae to the lower Danu River and the Ugrat to the North of the Aekhsaitae. So from the 2nd century BCE what used to be Aekhsaity Baestae, became pasturelands and hunting grounds of the Ugrat. Who distanced themselves from the Sauromatae after the collapse of the Aeksaitae around the middle of the 2nd century BCE. This allowed the Ugrat to remain relatively unaffected by the events of the following centuries. Only the coming of Turkic groups much later on, would result in new ethnogenetic processes for the people living between the Danu and Rah Rivers. Being now closer to the Taurike Chersonesos, the Aekhsaitae now started to exercise suzerainty over the Skulata and became a major political power, sought by Hellenistic polities. By 179 BCE their Armdar Gatal's power was undiscussed across the steppes: the Skulata became a tribal dependency and the Skythian refugees in Mikra Skythia would be ultimately defeated around 150 BCE. However Gatal was succeeded by Madusag, who proved to be totally given up to a life of luxury and his wife Amag took over the leadership of the Aeksaitae. This seemed like a good moment to the Skulata for reaffirming their independence. They quickly started to raid the Tauric Hellenes, who on their part appealed to Amag for help. Still considering the Skulata as her subordinates, she requested a cessation of all hostilities, but her prohibition was received with contempt. The Skythian ruler Argotos had already married Kamasarue, the widow of Pairisades III of the Kimmerios Bosporos and relied on her son Pairisades IV assistance. However Amag with her retinue of 120 Sauromatae, in one night and day, rushed to Skythian Neapolis and stormed the palace. Arriving unexpectedly, for Amag and her riders had managed to kill all the scouting parties, Argotos was slayed, together with his friends and relations. Then Amag ruled in favour of Chersonesos, which had suffered territorial loses at the hand of Argotos, and put in power Skilouros among the Skulata. He was Argotos' son, but still a minor and his hereditary rights were not in discussion. However following these events, around the middle of the 2nd century BCE, the power of the Aekhsaitae collapsed. Either with Amag's death the royal clan was estinguished or her successors were unable to resist the new wave of migration from Central Asia. The newcomers probably did not recognise the Aekhsaitae as protectors and in the following conflict might have caused the end of the former Sauromatian hierarchy. In the late 2nd century BCE each tribe seems to have had to rely on its own power alone. Olbia now reasserted its autonomy and started to beat back the Sauromatae. Lead by the Strategos Nikeratos, the Olbiopolitai even managed to support a party in an internal strife at Chersonesos that had developed, setting the first stone for a Symmachia. Nikeratos at this time led parties as far as the forest-steppe by the Danu-apara River, but he was finally ambushed and killed in a night assault. The Sauromatian tribes west of the Danu River at this time seems to have sided with Skilouros. Who now presented himself as the new centre of power for the nomadic tribes. He quickly launched an aggressive policy against the Hellenes, conquered several ports, reconstructed Neapolis and made Olbia a tributary dependency once more. However Skilouros was not considering himself a successor of the Aekhsaitae, he built a Heroon to honour Argotos and started to mint coins in his image: the power of the Skulata had been restored in his eyes. When Palakos succeded him around 113 BCE unrest had been brewing and the Hellenic poleis had been calling for from help from Mithradates VI of Pontos. Whose Strategoi Diophantos and Neoptolemos by 106 BCE had eliminated the Skulata, making their Basileus the new leader of the Sauromatian tribes. Whose Aeldaerttae now intermarried with the Pharnakidai and led their bands as Pontic allies in the following century. Nothing is heard of about the Aekhsaitae in this period, while the Rukhsalantae proved excellent mounted troops in Mikra Asia. However when Pontic power failed and even the Pharnakid Bosporos started to become a puppet of the Roman Avgvsti, with the coming of the unstoppable Alantae around the middle of the 1st century CE, their Rukhsalan kinsmen decided to leave the steppes above the Euxeinos Sea, joining the Aevzaegtae at the Istros River.

Strategy

Aekhsaity Baestae is the current homeland of the Sauromatae, where some of the best horsemen in the steppes can be recruited. While not particularly rich in resources, the control of this province will allow superb military forces, which otherwise would be poised against the neighbouring regions.