Nuovi sguardi sul nomadismo iranico antico

The nomadic populations settled north of the Black Sea have always attracted the attention of scholars. The names of these peoples, particularly the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans, were well documented in ancient sources. However, it was not at all clear what language they spoke. In the 19th century, two opposing hypotheses emerged: the first considered these peoples to be Iranian, the second Mongolian. The first hypothesis was based on linguistic data (the personal names preserved in ancient sources and inscriptions from Greek cities on the northern coast of the Black Sea), while the second was based on Hippocrates’ physical description of the Scythians and their way of life. Nomadic societies are deeply conservative, changing very slowly, and for this reason, northern Iranian nomadism shares common traits also with non-Iranian populations documented many centuries later. This article examines the characteristics of ancient Iranian nomadism with new considerations on its specificity.