Gourt Home::Gourt :: Massagetae
The Massagetae were an Iranian people of antiquity.
According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great of Persia met his death in a battle with the Massagetae living beyond Araxes river, a people from the southern deserts of Kwarezm in today Uzbekistan, Bukhara. The queen of the Massagetae, Tomyris, prevailed after Cyrus previously defeated Tomyris's son Spargapises.
Ammianus Marcellinus considered the Alans to be the former Massagetae: "iuxtaque Massagetae Halani et Sargetae", "per Albanos et Massagetas, quos Alanos nunc appellamus", "Halanos pervenit, veteres Massagetas". At the close of the fourth century CE, Claudian, the court poet of Emperor Honorius and the patricius Stilicho, wrote of Alans and Massagetae in the same breath: "the Massagetes who cruelly wound their horses that they may drink their blood, the Alans who break the ice and drink the waters of Maeotis' lake." (In Rufinem)
The following information about the Massagetae is based on Herodotus' Histories.
Occupations
The Massagetae lived on their herds and fishing, milk being their chief drink. They employed gold and brass in decorating their war equipment, having neither iron nor silver in their country.
Society
They were similar to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living. Each man had one woman, yet their wives were held in common, this custom differentiating the Massagetae from the Scythians. Queen Tomyris succeeded her dead husband, the former king of the Massagetae.
Religion
The Massagetae worshipped only one god, the sun, and sacrificed a horse in its honour.
Army
They fought both on horseback and on foot, neither method being strange to them: they used bows and lances, but their favourite weapon was the battle-axe. Their spears were made of brass.
See also
External links
Iranian peoples | Eurasian nomads
Масагети | Massageten | Massagètes | Massagetaene | Массагеты
"Massagetae"