[gothic-l] Re: Sarmatians and Goths

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., Bertil Häggman <mvk575b at t...> wrote:
> Xoxana,
> 
> If I am not mistaken the Sarmatioans were the last wave of
> Iranian-speaking nomads to reach Europe. In the sixth to fourth
> centuries B.C., according to my info, they were living
> east of the Scythians. Herodotus, for example, placed them
> "fifteen days journey northward from the northern tip of
> Lake Maeotis" (east of Crimea). Sarmatians were descendants
> of the Srubnians.
> 
> It was not until the Goths arrived from Scandinavia that the
> Sarmatians lost their power. 



Bertil,

Do we really know that? The Sarmatians were after all still very 
powerfull at the time of the so called Marcomannic-Sarmatian wars of 
Marcus Aurelius (late 2nd century AD) and continued to play an 
important role until at least the 4th century.

In fact, the Romans dedicated commemorative coins only to the most 
important of enemies. They only dedicated 4 very small coin issues to 
the Goths ('Victoria Gothica' of Claudius II, Quintilius and Tacitus) 
over a period of  about 30 years. To the Sarmatians ,the Romans 
dedicated some 45 coin issues, some of them very large, in the period 
from about 170AD (Sarmaticus, Victoria Sarmatica and Sarmatica 
Devicta to about 440AD (last issue 'Sarmatica devicta'). At least 
from a Roman point of view this could indicated that the Sarmatians 
were perceived to be more significant than the Goths for a longer 
period of time.  

At any rate, by the time when some ancestors of what would later 
become the 'Vistula Gutones' may have arrived from Scandinavia in the 
1st century BC, the Sarmatians still seemed to have had a long and 
influencial period ahead of them. 

cheers
Dirk





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