User:Douglas Coldwell/Sandboxes/70
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Classical Antiquity, Scythia (Greek Σκυθία Skuthia) was the area in Eurasia inhabited by the Scythians, from the 8th century BC to the 2nd century AD. Its location and extent varied over time but usually extended farther to the west than is indicated on this map.[1] The area known as Scythia to classical authors included:
- The Pontic-Caspian steppe: Kazakhstan, southern Russia and eastern Ukraine (inhabited by Scythians from at least the 8th century BC)
- The northern Caucasus area, including Azerbaijan, and Georgia
- Sarmatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland up to Oceanus Sarmaticus[2] known also as Baltic.
- Southern Ukraine with the lower Danube river area and Bulgaria, also known as Scythia Minor
The Sakas (Indo-Scythians) expanded to Sistan (which was also known as Sakestan) and the Indus valley from the 1st century BC, but these regions are not usually included in the term "Scythia".
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- ^ Giovanni Boccaccio’s Famous Women translated by Virginia Brown 2001, p. 25; Cambridge and London, Harvard University Press; ISBN 0-674-01130-9 ".....extending from the Black Sea in a northerly direction towards Ocean." In Boccaccio's time the Baltic Sea was known also as Oceanus Sarmaticus.
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) Oceanus Sarmaticus
