Masters of the Steppe
When Greek colonists began establishing cities along the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, they did not arrive in an empty land. The vast steppe stretching north and east of the sea was home to powerful nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples whose military prowess, control of trade routes, and demand for luxury goods would shape the entire character of Greek Black Sea civilization.
Chief among these peoples were the Scythians — and later the Sarmatians who succeeded them as the dominant steppe power.
The Scythians: Warriors and Traders
The Scythians appear in Greek sources from the 7th century BCE onward. Herodotus devoted an entire book of his Histories to them, describing their customs, geography, and military culture with a mixture of genuine ethnographic curiosity and Greek cultural assumptions. Archaeologically, the Scythians are best known for their spectacular burial mounds (kurgans), which dot the Ukrainian and South Russian steppe in vast numbers.
Key features of Scythian material culture include:
- Animal-style art — a distinctive visual idiom featuring intertwined animals and mythological creatures, rendered in gold, bronze, and bone
- Highly developed goldsmithing, often produced by Greek craftsmen working to Scythian taste
- Sophisticated horse equipment reflecting a horse-centred culture and military identity
- Composite bows and akinakes (short swords) as characteristic weapons
The relationship between the Scythians and Greek coastal cities was complex: part symbiotic, part tense. Greek cities needed Scythian grain and were dependent on Scythian goodwill for access to the hinterland. In return, Scythian elites craved Greek wine, fine metalwork, and prestige goods.
The Sindi and Meotians: Closer Neighbours of Gorgippia
Immediately around Gorgippia, the dominant local peoples were not the Scythians of the open steppe but the Sindi and Meotians — settled agricultural and fishing communities of the Taman Peninsula and Kuban basin. These groups were distinct from the Scythians in lifestyle and culture, though they shared certain artistic and material traditions. The early name of Gorgippia itself — Sindike — reflects the Sindi presence in the region.
The Sarmatian Transition
From roughly the 4th century BCE onward, Scythian power on the steppe began to wane under pressure from the Sarmatians, a related but distinct Iranian-speaking people from east of the Don River. By the 2nd century BCE, Sarmatian groups — particularly the Roxolani and later the Alans — had become the dominant force across the Pontic steppe.
The Sarmatians differed from the Scythians in several notable ways:
- Greater prominence of women warriors in burial evidence, which may have inspired Greek myths of the Amazons
- A shift toward heavy cavalry (cataphracts) as the premier military force
- Distinctive polychrome jewellery using garnets and coloured stones
- Different burial rites, often involving side-crouched inhumations rather than the elaborate Scythian kurgan tradition
Impact on Gorgippia and the Bosporan Kingdom
The Bosporan Kingdom — of which Gorgippia was a part — navigated these steppe realities with considerable diplomatic skill. Bosporan rulers intermarried with Scythian and later Sarmatian dynasties, creating hybrid royal identities that blended Greek and steppe traditions. The art and inscriptions of the Bosporan cities reflect this cultural synthesis in remarkable ways, producing a visual and material culture unlike anything found in the Greek mainland or Aegean world.
For Gorgippia specifically, the steppe peoples were ever-present realities — trading partners, military threats, sources of enslaved labor, and cultural influences all at once. Understanding the Scythians and Sarmatians is inseparable from understanding Gorgippia itself.