The Sarmatians

Similar to the Scythians, the Sarmatians were a nomadic Steppe people from the western part of that region. They were an Iranian speaking people and shared many of the characteristics of the many Steppe nomad peoples with whom they contended and dealt with over the years. However, there are two features of the Sarmatians which are distinctive and which cause them to be remembered today.

The first is that grave finds suggest that some women were involved in fighting. Greek writers wrote of the Amazons in such a way as to suggest a Steppe tribe as the source of their ideas. Perhaps it is the case that the Sarmatians had a history of matriarchy (as a number of other peoples did) that had been lost by the time of recorded history. Women did fight in some cultures, although it was not common and was more likely to occur when all members of a people were obliged to defend territory or possessions against an aggressor.

The second distinctive feature employed by the Sarmatians was the use of full armour both for warriors and for their horses. Unlike all other Steppe peoples, the Sarmatians fielded heavily-armoured lancers in preference to the fast-moving and deadly composite bow armed archers that terrorized the sedentary peoples of Europe and China. The approach was successful in military terms and Sarmatians were sought out as valued allies. Evidence shows that a group of Sarmatian warriors was stationed in England as part of the occupying Roman forces and others were spread across the Empire. However, the approach had an even more notable impact: seeing the success of armoured cavalry on the battlefield, more and more western and European monarchs decided to adopt the same approach.

While geography and the possession of the crossbow meant that developing horse archers was not suitable for western Europe, the larger horses and a culture of wishing to meet and decide battle on a face-to-face basis derived from Greek influences made the knight the perfect choice. For a millennium after the Sarmatians themselves melted away from history, no doubt absorbed into another federation of more successful tribes, their heritage remained prominent across the continent. Armoured knights smashed into each other on scores of battlefields through the centuries. When faced with more mobile opponents and in difficult terrain, as was the case during the Crusades, for example, that desire to meet face-to-face could result in disastrous consequences.