Pages: 17-31

The author argues that a nomadic confederation of tribes headed by the Daai (Dahae), with its centre in the Southern Urals, had a hand in the initiation of destabilization of the political situation in the North Pontic area (the 1st part of the 4th century BC). From the turn of the 4th—3rd centuries BC campaigns to Scythia were undertaken by nomads from the territory of Sarmatia formed eastwards from the Tanais (the Don River) after the disintegration of the Dahae tribal confederation. The Lower Volga area was the political centre of Sarmatia. Sarmatians did not occupy the territory of Scythia, they only exercised political control over it. The situation changed in the 2nd century BC, when new nomadic groups came to Sarmatia from the east, making the demography considerably more complicated. From that time on, Sarmatia occupies the steppe territory up to the Dnieper River destabilizing the situation west of the Dnieper.

Keywords: North Pontic area, Lower Volga region, Southern Ural region, Scythia, Sarmatia, the Dahae.

Information about author:

Anatoly Skripkin (Volgograd, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Volgograd State University. Universitetsky Ave., 100, Volgograd, 400062, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]