Cimmerians
| Cimmerian | |
|---|---|
| Region | Caucasus |
| Era | 8th century BC |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
|
Linguist list
|
08i |
| Glottolog | None |
The Cimmerians (also Kimmerians, Greek Kimmerioi) are an ancient people, first mentioned in the late 8th century BC in Assyrian records.
Likely originating in the Pontic steppe and invading by means of the Caucasus, they probably assaulted Urartu, a state in north eastern Anatolia subject to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, in c. 714 BC. They were defeated by Assyrian forces under Sargon II in 705 and turned towards Anatolia, conquering Phrygia in 696/5. They reached the height of their power in 652 after taking Sardis, the capital of Lydia; however an invasion of Assyrian controlled Anshan (Persia) was thwarted by the Assyrians. Soon after 619, Alyattes of Lydia defeated them. There are no further mentions of them in historical sources, but it is likely that they settled in Cappadocia.
The origin of the Cimmerians is unclear. They are mostly supposed to have been related to either Iranian or Thracian speaking groups which migrated under pressure of the Scythian expansion of the 9th to 8th century BC.
According to Herodotus, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC (i.e. what is now Ukraine and Southern Russia), although it isn't possible to identify the Cimmerians as the bearers of any specific archaeological culture in the region.
The supposed origin of the Cimmerians north of the Caucasus at the end of the Bronze Age loosely corresponds with the early Koban culture (Northern Caucasus, 12th to 4th centuries BC), but there is no compelling reason to associate this culture with the Cimmerians specifically.
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