The Sarmatians

Josh Rathbun

The people known as the Sarmatians were actually a number of tribes living in the area stretching from the Vistula River to the mouth of the Danube, and southward to the Black and Caspian seas. The Sarmatians flourished from about the 6th century BC up until the 4th Century AD. These tribes spoke many different languages, but shared many of the same elements of dress, technology, weaponry, battle tactics, as well as cultural practices.
Herodotus (Book 4: 110-117) knew these people as the Sauromatae, and claims they originated from a group of young Scythian men who where intermarried with a group of Amazon warriors. He also comments on the unusual amount of freedoms enjoyed by the Sauromatae women, which he believed to stem from their Amazonian ancestors. In 2003, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball excavated a Sarmatian burial of a woman warrior, adding to the belief that these Amazon warrior really existed.