Foreign Relations History

Foreign Relations History

The Northeastern Scythians of the Achaemenid Empire in the Account of Ammianus Marcellinus

Document Type : Scientific - research article

Author
PhD Graduate in Ancient Iranian History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/hfr.2026.572617.1574
Abstract
Limited data are available concerning the eastern territories of the great kingdoms of ancient Iran, particularly the pre-Sasanian kingdoms. Accordingly, scholars have consistently faced greater difficulties in identifying the eastern extent of these kingdoms. An account by Ammianus Marcellinus from the fourth century CE is extant, which describes the territory of the contemporary Persian kingdom the Sasanian Empire. However, the lack of correspondence between his account and independent evidence, along with certain deficiencies within it, has led scholars to refrain from drawing upon the details he provides. Nevertheless, this unique account can make a significant contribution to reconstructing the Achaemenid territory in the northeast. The central question of the present study is: what data does Ammianus's account of the Central Asian Scythians provide regarding the Achaemenid territory in these regions? The findings, derived through the method of textual content analysis, will demonstrate that Ammianus's account of the northeastern lands of the Persian kingdom should in fact be attributed to the Achaemenid territory, and that both lands (Saka and Scythia beyond the Amu Darya mountains) are in this account representative of the northeastern territories of the Achaemenid Empire, which have been presented as territories of the Sasanian realm owing to their derivation from disparate sources. Ammianus regards the extent of the Persian kingdom's northeastern territory as reaching the land of the Arimaspians/ Pazyryk, and one may discern similarities between the details of his account and certain sources from the Achaemenid period, which contribute to a better understanding of the Achaemenid territory in Scythia. The method of data collection in this research is library-based
Keywords
Subjects

فارسی:
آلتهایم، فرانتس، (1398)، ساسانیان و هون­ها، ترجمه: هوشنگ صادقی، تهران: فرزان روز.
اومستد، آلبرت تن ایک، (1383)، تاریخ شاهنشاهی هخامنشی، ترجمه: محمد مقدم، تهران: انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی.
بابادی، امین و روزبه زرین­کوب، «گستره نفوذ اقوام تشکیل­دهنده اتحادیه سکاهای هوم­ورگا»، جهان ایرانی، 1404، سال 2، شماره 4.
بریان، پی­یر، (1396)، داریوش در سایه اسکندر، ترجمه: ناهید فروغان، تهران: ماهی.
تریپاتهی، راماشنکر، (1400)، تاریخ هند قدیم، ترجمه: ابوالفضل علیزاده طباطبایی، تهران: آواهیا.
توین­بی، آرنولد، (1379)، جغرافیای اداری هخامنشیان، ترجمه: همایون صنعتی­زاده، تهران: بنیاد موقوفات دکتر محمود افشار.
دریایی، تورج، (1392)، ساسانیان، ترجمه: شهرناز اعتمادی، تهران: توس.
دیودروس سیسیلی، (1384)، کتابخانه تاریخی، ترجمه: حمید بیکس شورکایی و اسماعیل سنگاری، تهران: جامی.
سولیمیرسکی، تادئوس، (1390)، سارمات­ها، ترجمه: رقیه بهزادی، تهران: طهوری.
شهبازی، علیرضا شاپور، (1389)، تاریخ ساسانیان، تهران: مرکز نشر دانشگاهی.
عریان، سعید، (1392)، راهنمای کتیبه­های ایرانی میانه، تهران: علمی.
فرای، ریچارد، (1380)، تاریخ باستانی ایران، ترجمه: مسعود رجب­نیا، تهران: انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی.
-----------، (1386)، میراث آسیای مرکزی، ترجمه: آوانس آوانسیان، تهران: بنیاد موقوفات دکتر محمود افشار.
فیشر، گرگ و دیگران، (1400)، اعراب و امپراتوری­های پیش از اسلام، ترجمه: مهناز بابایی، تهران: مروارید.
کریستن­سن، آرتور، (1368)، ایران در زمان ساسانیان، ترجمه: غلامرضا رشیدیاسمی، تهران: دنیای کتاب.
گروسه، رنه، (1365)، امپراتوری صحرانوردان، ترجمه: عبدالحسین میکده، تهران: انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی.
لوکوک، پی­یر، (1389)، کتیبه­های هخامنشی، ترجمه: نازیلا خلخالی، تهران: فرزان روز.
لوید، آلن ب.، (1388)، «هرودت و کمبوجیه: ملاحظاتی در باره یک تحقیق تازه»، تاریخ هخامنشی جلد سوم، روش و نظریه، ترجمه مرتضی ثاقب­فر، تهران: توس.
ماری، آزوین، (1388)، «هرودت و تاریخ شفاهی»، تاریخ هخامنشی جلد دوم، منابع یونانی، ترجمه: مرتضی ثاقب­فر، تهران: توس.
ویزهوفر، یوزف، (1399)، «مادی­ها و مفهوم توالی امپراتوری­ها در عهد باستان»، نگاهی نو به تاریخ ماد، ترجمه: وزیر منبری، سنندج: انتشارات دانشگاه کردستان.
 
لاتین:
Alemany, Agusti, (2000), Sources on the Alans, Leiden, Boston, Koln: Brill.
Alemany, Agusti, (2024), “From the Sarmatians to the Alans and Beyond: Some Source Problems”, The Sarmatians and the Others, Edited by Lavinia Grumeza, Victor Cojocaru and Cristina I. Tica, Cluj-Napoca: Mega.
Ammianus Marcellinus, (1894), The Roman History, Translator: C.D. Yonge, London: George Bell and Sons, York ST.
Arrian, (1884), Anabasis Alexander, Translator: E. J. Chinnock, London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Baumer, Christoph, (2012), The History of Central Asia, Vol. 1, London/New York: I. B. Tauris.
Benjamin, G. R. Craig, (2007), The Yuezhi, Origin, Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.
Bichler, Reinhold, (2021), “The Perspectives of Greek and Latin Sources”, A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Vol II, Edited by Bruno Jacobs and Robert Rollinger, Wiley Blackwell.
Ctesias, (1882), Ansient India, by J.W. Mccrindle and M.A and M.R.A.S, London: Trubner.
Ctesias, (2010), History of Persia, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and James Robson, London and New York: Routledge.
Dandamaev Muhammad A. and Vladimir G. Lukonin, (1989), The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran, Cambridge University Press.
Dimitriev, V. A., “The Achaemenid Kingdom in Ammianus Marcellinus’ Account (A Source Study Analysis)”, Iranica, 2017, Edited by O. L. Gabelko and Others, Kazan University Press, [In Russian].
Drijvers, Jan Willem, (1999), “Ammianus Marcellinus’ Image of Arsaces and Early Parthian History”, The Late Roman World and its Historian, Edited by J. W. Drijvers and D. Hunt, Taylor and Francis Group.
Herodot, (1920), Historis, Translator: A.D Godlay, London: William Heineman.
Hildebrandt, Berit, (2023), “Roman Silk Trade and Markets”, The World of the Ancient Silk Road, Edited by Xinru Liu and Pia Brancaccio, London and New York: Routledge.
Hulsewe A. F. P. and M. A. N. Loewe, (1979), China in Central Asia, the Early Stage: 125 BC – AD 23, Leiden: Brill.
Justinus, (1994), Epitome of the Philippic history of Pompeius Trogus, tr. Yardley, Scholar press: Atlanta.
Kent, Roland G., (1953), Old Persian, American Oriental Society, New Haven.
Mair, Victor and Prods Oktor Skjærvø, “Chinese Turkestan II. In Ore-Islamic Times”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1993, https://www.Iranica.org/articles/chinese-turkestan-ii
Makhlaiuk, Aleksander V. (2015), “Memory and Images of Achaemenid Persia in the Roman Empire”, Political Memory in and after the Persian Empire, Edited by Jason M. Silverman and Caroline Waerzeggers, Atlanta: SBL Press.
Masson, V. M., “Archeology V. Pre-Islamic Central Asia”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, https://www.Iranica.org/articles/archeology-v
Minardi, Michael, (2015), Ancient Chorasmia, Acta Iranica 56, Leuven, Paris and Bristol: Peeters.
Minardi, Michele, (2023), “The Northeastern Regions of the Persian Empire”, The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, Vol. V, The Age of Persia, Edited by Karen Radner, Nadine Moeller and D. T. Potts, Oxford University Press.
Mookerji, Radhakumud, (1947), The Gupta Empire, Bombay: Hind Kitabs LTD.
Narain, A. K., “The Sakā Haumavargā and the Aμυργιοι: the Problem of their Identity”, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 1987, New Series, Vol. 1.
Neelis, Jason, (2007), “Passages to India: Saka and Kusāna Migration Routes in Historical Contexts”, On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kusana World, Edited by Doris M. Srinivasan, Leiden: Brill.
Olbrycht, Marek Jan, (2011), “Tytulatura Pierwszych Arsakidow I Jej Polityczno-Religijne Konotacje”, The World of Antiquity, its Polish Researchers and the Cult of the Ruler, Publishing House of the Poznan Society.
Olbrycht, Marek Jan, (2021), Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250- 165 B.C.), Leiden; Boston: Brill.
Piankov, Igor V., “The Ethnic History of the Sakas”, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 1994, New Series, Vol. 8.
Pliny, (1962), Natural History, Translator: H. Rackham, London: William Heinemann, Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Potts, Daniel T., “A Scythian Pick from Vaske (Gilan) and the Identity of the XVIIth Delegation at Persepolis”, Stories of Long ago, AOAT 397, 2012.
Ptolemy, (1991), The Geography, Translator and Editor: Edward Luther Stevenson, New York: Dover Publications.
Quintus Curtius Rufus, (1946), History of Alexander, Translator: John C. Rolfe, London: William Heinamann, Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Sommer, Michael, (2017), “The Eternal Persian: Persianism in Ammianus Marcellinus”, Persianism in Antiquity, Edited by Rolf Strootman and Miguel John Versluys, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Strabon, (1930), The Geography, edited by T.E.Page , E.Capps, W.H.D.Rouse, Translator: Horace Leonard Jones, Loeb Classical Library, London : William Heinemann LTD; Cambridge Massachusette: Harvard University Press.
Tarn, W. W., (1938), The Greeks in Bactria & India, Cambridge University Press.
Thordarson, F., “Asii”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1987, https://www.Iranica.org/articles/asii -or-asiani-an-ancient-nomadic-people-of-central-asia-who-about-130-b
Yu, Taishan, (1998), A Study of Saka History, Sino-Platonic Papers, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Receive Date 17 February 2026
  • Accept Date 04 June 2026