Massagetae
Sakā tigraxauda Massagetae | |
|---|---|
| c. 8th century BCE–c. 3rd century BCE | |
| Common languages | Saka language |
| Religion | Scythian religion |
| Demonyms | Sakā tigraxaudā Orthocorybantes Massagetae |
| Government | Monarchy |
| King or Queen | |
• c. 530 BCE | Tomyris |
• c. 520 BCE | Skuⁿxa |
| Historical era | Iron Age Scythian cultures |
• Established | c. 8th century BCE |
• Disestablished | c. 3rd century BCE |
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The Massagetae or Massageteans, also known as Sakā Tigraxaudā or Orthocorybantians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian Saka people who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia and were part of the wider Scythian cultures. The Massagetae rose to power between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, expelling the Scythians out of Central Asia and into the Caucasian and Pontic Steppes, an event which was to have wide-reaching consequences. The Massagetae are most famous for their queen Tomyris and her alleged defeat and killing of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
The Massagetae declined after the 3rd century BCE, after which they merged with some other tribes to form the Alans, a people who belonged to the larger Sarmatian tribal confederation, and who moved westwards into the Caucasian and European steppes, where they participated in the events of the Migration Period.