Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/259

 SARMATIANS. 21^ from their neighbors on the other side of the Tanais, chiefly by this peculiarity, that the women among them were warriors hardly less daring and expert than the men. This attribute of Sarmatian women, as a matter of fact, is well attested, though Herodotus has thrown over it an air of suspicion not properly be- longing to it, by his explanatory genealogical mythe, deducing the Sarmatians from a mixed breed between the Scythians and the Amazons. The wide extent of steppe eastward and north-eastward of the Tanais, between the Ural mountains and the Caspian, and beyond the possessions of the Sarmatians, was traversed by Gre- cian traders, even to a good distance in the direction of the Altai mountains, the rich produce of gold, both in Altai and Ural, being the great temptation. First, according to Herodotus, came the indigenous nomadic nation called Budiui, who dwelt to the northward of the Sarmatians, 1 and among whom were es- or Persian origin, but to be, also, the progenitors of the modern Sclavonian family: "Sarmatae, Slavorum hand dubie parcntcs," (Introduct. ad Inscr. Sarmatic. Corp. Inscr. part xi, p. 83.) Many other authors have shared this opinion, which identifies the Sarmatians with the Slavi ; but Paul Joseph Schafarik (Slavische Alterthiimer, vol. i, c. 16) has shown powerful reasons against it. Nevertheless, Schafarik admits the Sarmatians to be of Median origin, and radically distinct from the Scythians. But the passages which are quoted to prove this point from Diodorus (ii, 43), from Mela (i, 19), and from Pliny (II. N. vi. 7), appear to me of much less authority than the assertion of Herodotus. In none of these authors is there any trace of inquiries made in or near the actual spot from neighbors and competent informants, such as we find in Herodotus. And the chapter in Diodorus, on which both Boeckh and Schafarik lay especial stress, appears to me one of the most untrustworthy in the whole book. To believe in the existence of Scythian kings who reigned over all Asia from the eastern ocean to the Caspian, and sent out large colonies of Medians and Assyrians, is surely impossible ; and Wesseling speaks much within the truth when he says, " Verum hoec dubia admodum atque inccrta." It is remarkable to see Boeckh treating this pas- sage as conclusive against Herodotus and Hippokrates. M. Boeckh has also given a copious analysis of the names found in the Greek inscriptions from Scythian, Sarmatian, and Maeotic localities (ut sup. pp. 107-117), and he endeavors to establish an analogy between the two hitter classes and Median names. But the analogy holds just as much with regard to the Scythian names. 1 The locality which Herodotus assigns to the budini creates difficulty.