War and Game

The most complex contributor to the pattern of Asian civilization lies in the regions where east met west through the expansion of the Greek and Persian Empires and the intrusion of Sakas or Scythians, Kushans, and Hephthalite Huns. This region, centering on modern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and the basins of the Syr Dar’ya and Amu Dar’ya Rivers, is one of the most interesting areas, because of the variety of peoples, religions, languages, and cultures that came and went, each contributing and at the same time adapting to the ways of other societies.

Hellenistic influence originating from the campaigns of Alexander the Great continued with the foundation of non- Greek states. Thus the Scythians, or Sakas, who conquered the Bactrian states in the late second century B.C.E., adopted many Greek traditions, including coinage with Greek script, Greek titles, and Greek methods of city planning. This pattern became even more pronounced when the Parthians succeeded the Scythians as rulers of the upper Indus and its tributaries. Hellenistic influence was still to be found under the Kushans, not least in the architectural features of their city at SURKH-KOTAL in Afghanistan. The most enduring Greek influence in the region, however, was the GANDHARA school of art founded in modern Pakistan. While drawing on Buddhism for its themes, Gandharan art owed a deep artistic debt to Greek sculptural traditions.

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In ancient times, the Ukraine was inhabited in turn by the Cimmerians (sih-MARE-ee-unz), Scythians (SITH-ee-unz), and Sarmatians (sar-MAY-shunz). The Caucasus was controlled first by the Urartians (oo-RAR-shunz) and later by the Armenians. Other notable civilizations of the area, primarily in what is now Georgia, included Colchis (KOHL-kis) and Iberia (ie- BEER-ee-uh—not to be confused with the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain and Portugal are located.)

The Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians were nomadic groups who originated deep in Central Asia and moved westward beginning in about 1000 B.C. First came the Cimmerians, who drove out the Trypilians (tri-PEEL-ee-unz), a group who had settled in the Ukraine as early as 6000 B.C. The Cimmerians occupied the region until they, too, were driven out, by the Scythians in the 700s B.C. They spread out to Asia Minor and Assyria, where they posed a threat for many years, and in about 600 B.C. took part in the destruction of Urartu.

People in the civilized countries of Europe and Asia considered these groups of people barbarians, but the Scythians, while not truly civilized—that is, they did not possess great cities and did not produce any notable literature—did engage in commerce with the Greeks. They spread their influence through military expeditions, and at one point their lands extended as far as the Balkan (BAWL-kun) Mountains in southeastern Europe. They managed to ward off attacks by the Persians in 512 B.C. and the Greeks under Alexander the Great in about 325 B.C.

By about 300 B.C., however, the Scythians had been driven back to their adopted homeland in the Caucasus. They were eventually overtaken by the Sarmatians, a closely related group. The Sarmatians retained control over the area until about A.D. 200, and joined forces with Rome against the various Germanic (jur-MAN-ik) tribes swarming over Europe at that time. Eventually the Huns, who brought down the Roman Empire, would push the Sarmatians out of the region in the A.D. 300s.