SocietyCentral Asia
The Scythians
Horse peoples no settled power managed to subdue
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The Persian king Darius's campaign against them failed utterly, because there was nothing to conquer. In frozen graves in the Altai, bodies survive with their tattoos intact — the oldest tattoos we have on human skin. The Scythian "animal style" influenced ornament from China to the Celts, and shows how far the steppe bound Eurasia together.
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The Scythians lived on horseback on the steppes north of the Black Sea. They had no cities to capture, so they could withdraw and return. Their graves are full of goldwork of the highest quality.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org