ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANCIENT SAKAS

The Sakas were the successors of the Bronze Age culture known as the Andronovo culture1¹Andronovo cultureArcheological culture in the territory of the southern Trans-Urals, south of the West Siberian Plain, Kazakhstan, the Altai region of the Ob River, the Kuznetsk, and Khakass-Minusinsk depressions (sixteenth to twelfth centuries BCE)and inhabited a large part of the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, its north, center, and south.

Various ancient texts refer to the Saka differently. It is known that some of them settled in Media2²MediaMedia—an ancient Iranian-speaking state in the seventh to sixth centuries BCE and a historical region in the west of modern Iranin the seventh century BCE. These were the Cimmerians of Babylonian sources.3³The Babylonian EmpireAncient Babylon was a city-state in Mesopotamia, in the second to first millennium BCE, the capital of the Babylonian Empire, one of the largest states of antiquity. It fell to the Achaemenids in 539 BCE.

In Achaemenid inscriptions,4⁴The AchaemenidsA dynasty of ancient Persia (circa 705–330 BCE)three groups of Sakas, corresponding to three confederations—the Sakā Tigraxaudā, the Sakā Haumavargā, and the Sakā Paradrayā (sakã tjaj taradrajã)—are mentioned. Despite the accumulation of consonants, tiresome to the eye, these names are quite intriguing.

The first can be translated as ‘Saka in Pointed Hats’, but scholars' opinions diverge on the meaning of Sakā Haumavargā. In general, haoma is a plant that has a narcotic effect, which is much the same as Cannabis sativa or fly agaric. Some researchers claim that it refers to ‘Saka turning into wolves’ through the consumption of haoma. Others believe that ‘haumavargā’ means ‘preparing haoma’. Thus, the Sakā Haumavargā were well-known for their fondness for fly agaric and either indulged in the narcotic brew made from these mushrooms or, worse, turned into wolves after consuming it. Such occurrences, we must admit, are not uncommon even today. The most mundane of all turned out to be the representatives of the third group of the Sakas, the Sakā Paradrayā. They were simply the ‘Saka living beyond the river’. They were essentially identical to the Scythians, and ancient authors referred to the Sakas as Asian Scythians.

While enumerating various Saka tribes, Herodotus5⁵HerodotusAn ancient Greek historian of the fifth century BCE, often referred to as ‘the father of history’mentions the tribe of Orthocorybantes, who seem to correspond to the Sakas in pointed hats or the Massagetae. In the fifth century BCE, the ‘Sakas in pointed hats’ and the Massagetae inhabited the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, the southern regions of Kazakhstan, and Jetisu, the southeast of present-day Kazakhstan. Herodotus also writes about the Amyrgians, believed to be Sakas, who were fond of the fly agaric brew. The Persians referred to one group of Sakas as the ‘Sakas beyond Sogdiana’ (‘parikani’ according to ancient authors). Their neighbors were the Saka haumavargā, who lived near the Pamir-Alay Mountains and in the Fergana Valley. The Iranians called their land Sakastan.

Ancient Chinese chronicles refer to the Sakas of Jetisu as ‘ses’ or ‘sai’ and recount their clashes with the Yuezhi people.6⁶The Sakas as seen from ChinaAccording to Chinese sources, under pressure from the Yuezhi, an Eastern Iranian people who initially inhabited the territories of present-day Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu, and most likely Cilin in China, the Saka chieftain and their royal lineage were pushed into the Jibin (northeastern India), beyond the Pamirs.Indian sources also speak of the era of the Sakas. The Mahabharata recounts how the Sakas, living in Sakadwipa, penetrated into the territory of Afghanistan and central India, seized Taxila, the capital of the Gandhara state, and in 85 BCE established their rule in this region. The Sakas played a significant role in the fate of many Central Asian states.7⁷The Sakas and ancient empiresThe Sakas played a significant role in the foundation of the empire of the Great Kushans, which rose to prominence in the early era on the territories of present-day Afghanistan, India, and Central Asia. They crossed high mountain passes and descended to Herat, then went to Arsacid Iran (The Arsacids—an ancient dynasty of the Parthian Empire in the third century BCE). Several groups of Sakas founded a dynasty in the kingdom of Adiabene, with its capital in Kirkuk (from 128–125 BCE until the beginning of our era), and then settled in Arachosia, ruled at that time by King Mithridates II (Arachosia—the Hellenistic name of the territory of southeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. It was part of the Parthian kingdom of Mithridates II (124/123–88/87 BCE).). The name of the Sakas is preserved in the name of the Sistan province (formerly Sakastan). From Arachosia, passing through the Bolan Pass, the Sakas advanced further to India, where they created a short-lived empire, stretching to the gates of what is now Delhi and Mumbai.

The Sakas were accomplished warriors, and their tribal organization provided an excellent foundation for their cavalry. The ‘civilized’ world knew them as magnificent horsemen, with their horses being renowned for their endurance. The Sakas had perfected many details of making horse harnesses. This is not surprising as horse breeding and horsemanship have been known in Kazakhstan since the Chalcolithic period. Sakas also had infantry warriors, mounted archers, as well as cataphracts—riders who fought in armor armed with spears and long swords. The latter category of warriors belonged to the Saka elite.

The military achievements of the Sakas were highly respected by their contemporaries. It is known that the Persian king Cyrus the Great (559–530 BCE) was killed in the battle with the Massagetae, and that he was killed by the Sakas in pointed hats. The army of Alexander the Great8⁸Alexander the GreatA Greek king and great conqueror of antiquity (356–323 BCE). He founded an empire that united many lands of the East and the West.had squadrons of Saka horsemen, and his legionaries were defeated by the Sakas in a battle that took place near the Jaxartes River (modern-day Syr Darya).

In written sources, however, the anthropological characteristics of the Sakas are almost absent. From The Anabasis of Alexander by Flavius Arrian,9⁹Flavius ArrianAn ancient Greek historian and geographer (circa 80—circa 160 AD)we know that Alexander the Great’s tallest warriors barely reached the shoulders of Saka warriors. In Chinese sources describing the northern and western Saka tribes (ses), there are mentions of green-eyed people, or Sakas, with the eyes the color of lapis lazuli, with red hair and red faces. Based on anthropological materials and artistic representations that have survived, anthropologists have suggested that the Sakas constituted a mixed group.

Thus, for instance, images of Sakas in pointed hats on reliefs on the staircase leading to the audience hall of the Persepolis Palace10¹⁰PersepolisAn ancient Persian city in southwestern Iran, one of the capitals of the Achaemenid Empire from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCEbear a striking resemblance to contemporary Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. In the depictions of warriors, one can discern narrow trousers tucked into tall boots and buttoned jackets with a dagger strapped to the belt. The tall hats of the Sakas resemble the Kazakh ceremonial headgear known as saukele.

The leader of the Sakas, whose remains were found in the Issyk Kurgan in Jetisu, was buried in similar attire adorned with ritual symbols. Despite belonging to the Europoid anthropological type, the deceased exhibited Mongoloid features, indicative of the intermingling of peoples from Central Asia. Most Saka skulls found in the Jetisu burial site share similar characteristics. The Sakas of the Pamir region predominantly had what is known as the Pamir-Fergana anthropological type. The Sakas-Haumavargā, those who enjoyed the brew of fly agaric, resembled present-day Afghans, and their attire resembled that of Bactria.11¹¹BactriaA historical Iranian-speaking region in the territories of modern-day Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan

The Sakas belonged to the Indo-European language group. The names of the Sakas mentioned in written sources are primarily of north Iranian origin. The Khotanese-Saka language, known from the Buddhist texts found during excavations in eastern Turkestan, diverged from Iranian languages by the eighth century BCE. It is possible that some tribes, considered by their neighbors as Sakas, spoke Tocharian languages, which are non-Iranian and belong to the Indo-European languages of the centum group.

The linguistic affiliation of the Sakas, unfortunately, is not yet fully understood; however, some documents recently discovered during ongoing excavations provide some information. Thus, a silver bowl discovered in 1969–70 in the burial of a Saka king-priest in the Issyk burial ground contains an inscription written in an unknown language. It was later found that the inscription was either of an alphabetic or syllabic nature.12¹²Syllabic scriptIn these writing systems, the characters represent individual syllables.The Russian linguist V.A. Livshits discovered that some characters on the bowl were also found among other archeological discoveries made in Central Asia, such as the birch bark inscriptions from Tuva discovered by A.M. Mandelstam. The most interesting discovery from this perspective was made in 1967 by the French geologist M.A. Buter, who, 80 kilometers from Ghazni on the Dasht-e-Nawur plateau, found a stone with three inscriptions dating back to the era of the Great Kushans around the beginning of our era.13¹³Great KushansA state, likely of the Yuezhi people, founded in the territories of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India, peaking between 105 and 250 CEOne inscription was in Greek–Bactrian, the second in an unknown language, and the third in Kharosthi. No one could determine who the people who made the inscription in the unknown language were.

The author of this article, like V.A. Livshits, believes that the inscription here was made by the Sakas. The inscription from Dasht-e-Nawur is a trilingual one, meaning that the same text was represented in three languages. In the two deciphered texts, Greek-Bactrian and Kharosthi, there are mentions of campaigns by the Kushan king Vima Kadphises against the Saini people and his establishment of an altar to the god Mithra. The third inscription, in an unknown script, is the largest. As was later found, it contains text in one of the Saka languages spoken by the Great Yuezhi, the founders of the Kushan Empire. Thus, and this is an important achievement in understanding the history of Asia, the script of the Sakas was official in the empire of the Great Kushans.

According to Iranian sources referring to the lands of the Sakas as Sakastan, the regions inhabited by these tribes covered the territory corresponding to southeastern Iran, Central Asia, and present-day Afghanistan. Indian sources refer to the area of the original settlement of the Sakas as the country of the Sakas—Sakadwipa.

So where exactly was this famous land of the Sakas, partially depopulated as a result of the Great Migrations?14¹⁴Great MigrationsA term for several large-scale migrations of peoples from Asia and eastern Europe, provoked by the invasion of the Huns in the fourth century CE, to the territory of the Roman EmpireHerodotus provides us some interesting information: when Darius I (Darius the Great), king of the Achaemenid Empire (522–486 BCE), sent his troops against the Sakas in pointed hats, he had to confront Saka vanguard units in a location far from the Sakas' original homeland. Using their preferred tactic of cavalry units, the Sakas unexpectedly attacked the enemy. Losing soldiers, an enraged Darius sent his envoys to the Saka leader with an offer to engage in open battle. ‘Let the Persians find and destroy the graves of our ancestors, and then they will know how the Sakas fight,’ was the Sakas' response.

In any ancient society, the people are embodied by their leaders. The Sakas were no exception: the heart of the Saka country lay where their most famous ancestors were buried. Without a doubt, from the fifth to the first century BCE, the territory of Jetisu, like no other place, fit this definition. Indeed, nowhere else, whether in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, or Southern Siberia, have Saka burial sites of such impressive sizes been found. Some of them reach heights of 16 or 18 meters with diameters ranging from 100 to 150 meters. They are located in the foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains, in the valleys along the riverbanks. The burial mounds are grouped together and often form a complex of several dozen mounds.

The burial sites of tribal confederation leaders, tribal chiefs, and distinguished warriors were clearly distinct from other burial sites, and the difference in the size of the structures indicated the hierarchy that existed in the Saka elite. Archeologists have discovered places for sacrificial ceremonies, traces of fire and memorial feasts, underground passages and cromlechs,15¹⁵CromlechAn ancient structure consisting of several elongated stones placed vertically into the ground forming circlesas well as specially fenced ritual areas near the large burial mounds.

In some cases, remnants of temples associated with the cult of fire were recorded. It is evident that magnificent bronze and iron tripod cauldrons, altars, tables for sacrifices, censers for incense, cauldrons, and mortars and pestles used for rituals were placed there. All these items were crafted with great skill, and their decoration belongs to the ‘Scythian-Siberian animal style’. A significant number of workers were involved in the construction of royal tombs, which sometimes lasted quite a long time. For example, it was estimated that it would take a worker 4,000 days to build the Issyk burial mound, where a king (yabgu) who ruled the Sakas in the fourth and third centuries BCE was buried. The construction of the Bes-Shatyr burial mound in the Ili Valley by the same worker would have taken ten times longer.

The Sakas buried their leaders in wooden sarcophagi made of Tian Shan spruce or in stone tombs. Ordinary warriors with weapons were buried in stone cists16¹⁶Cistsstructures made of stone slabs that were placed undergroundor in earthen burials with the low mounds on top. Herdsmen, craftsmen, and farmers were buried in simple graves without weapons and with poor burial inventories.

Saka society also included settled communities, whose residents were farmers or traders. The ornaments found in rich mounds were mostly made by these settled Sakas. Based on the sources we have, the warriors, from whom the future leaders were chosen, constituted the ruling class. In the Saka empires in India, there was a system of inheritance through the female line, similar to the practice in the kingdom of Elam.17¹⁷ElamAn ancient state formation in southwestern IranPower was passed on to the son of the king's sister, and the most influential person in the state after the king was the one referred to as the king's brother (meaning the husband of the royal sister and father of the heir), who had the right to mint his own coins. Despite the division between secular and religious authority, the leader was also a priest. The society also had a class of priests who served in fire temples and the necropolises of ancestors.

Herodotus recounts that the Sakas, like many other Indo-Iranian peoples, used narcotics during their religious ceremonies. Thus, incense burners containing cannabis were discovered in the burial mounds of Pazyryk (Altai) and in the Issyk burial mound in Jetisu.

We know that the Sakas formed confederations of tribes led by a king. Thus, Saka society exhibited the structural characteristics of early class-based societies that emerged in the ancient world and in its features resembled Avestan society.18¹⁸AvestaA collection of sacred texts of the Zoroastrians, or fire worshipers, and the oldest artifact of ancient Iranian literature

The ideology of the Sakas was based on archaic Indo-Iranian myths, some of which have been preserved in the Rig Veda19¹⁹Rig VedaA collection primarily of religious hymns, the first artifact of Indian culture in Sanskrit, the Vedic language. It is one of the four religious texts known as the Vedas, and it was compiled around 1700–1100 BCE. and the Avesta, or later Zoroastrian literature. The Saka influence can be traced in the structure of certain verses in the Avesta, in Central Asian epics such as the Shahnameh20²⁰Shahnameh (The Book of Kings)An extraordinary artifact of Persian literatureand in the legend of Rustam,21²¹RustamA legendary hero of Persian eposas well as in the legends of Turkic peoples and in the toponymy of Central Asia.

The sun god, like Mithra of the Avesta, likely held a central place in Saka mythology. The Saka king pledged allegiance to the sun, considering himself its representative and even the embodiment of Mithra on earth. As the personified center of the world, the unifier and father of all social classes, the leader was simultaneously considered the high priest. He would be buried by all his subordinates. Thus, the finest examples of Saka culture, symbols of all strata of society, are found in the royal tombs. Enemies of the Sakas knew about the hidden wealth in royal tombs. Many of the burial sites of Saka leaders were repeatedly looted during invasions of the Jetisu by the Yuezhi, Usun, Xiongnu, and other peoples. Some were also looted in the nineteenth century.

The Issyk Kurgan, located in south-eastern Kazakhstan and excavated by archeologists from the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences in 1969–1970, is an exception. The burial chamber found beneath the kurgan remained untouched by looters. It contained the remains of one of the leaders of the Saka confederation and was constructed at the turn of the fourth and third centuries BCE. Both in size and structure, this burial chamber, unlike the other royal kurgans in the burial ground, was nothing extraordinary.

The more lavish the ritual, the more convincing it was, and the Sakas, still at the height of their power, spared no expense in honoring their leaders. Many items found in the Issyk Kurgan were very valuable and, apparently, not used in everyday life. Others were only thinly coated with gold, revealing a familiar desire to impress.

Based on the position of the remains found beneath the Issyk Kurgan, it can be inferred that the body was laid on its back, with the head facing west in the left part of the burial chamber. To the right of the remains were items of a ritual nature: trays, dishes of various shapes and sizes, ladles, bowls, cups, and pitchers made of various materials (wood, ceramics, bronze). An engraved inscription was found on one of the bowls. Alongside the deceased, his sword and dagger were placed in scabbards inlaid with gold.

The end of the scabbard was tied to the leg of the deceased to prevent the weapon from hitting the leg while walking. In the left hand was a leather pouch adorned with gold and containing a mirror made of gilded bronze and cosmetic paint for rituals. He wore a gold torque necklace with images of tiger heads around his neck, representing symbols of power. On one of his gold rings was an image of the solar deity Mithra. The structure of the costume's decorative elements was associated with the Sakas’ conception of the ideal organization of the cosmos.

The deceased's ceremonial attire consisted of a leather jacket decorated with thousands of gold plates, narrow trousers, and tall boots. He wore a headgear consisting of a high, pointed cap with earflaps. This was the attire of a horseman. It is worth noting that Saka leaders were chosen from warrior-horsemen. The deceased’s jacket was possibly an imitation of a cataphract, the metallic defensive armor of a mounted warrior. The red and gold colors of the clothing symbolized, in the eyes of Indo-Iranian peoples, the warrior caste, which was associated with the sun. The protective value of this golden armor lay not in the strength of the gold but in its symbolic power, the magical strength of the solar metal.

The headgear, worn only during festivities and ritual ceremonies, was adorned with mysterious patterns arranged vertically and divided into three tiers. In the center was a decorative frieze with depictions of golden mountains and trees. At the foot of the mountains were earthly animals: tigers and goats, and on the mountain peaks were birds and winged tigers. The ornamentation, according to Saka beliefs, depicted the spine of the World Mountains surrounding the periphery of the universe. The decor also reflects the tripartite organization of the universe (from bottom to top): the underworld, earth, and the celestial realm. The animal figures arranged in the shape of a cross symbolize the four cardinal directions. At the center of the headgear composition was the emblem of the sun—four winged horses and four golden arrows. It also symbolized the cosmos as a whole and served as a royal insignia. Overall, the way the decorations on the headgear were composed epitomized dominion over the three spheres and the world illuminated by the sun as it moved from east to west.

Likely, during his lifetime, the Golden Man identified with the sun god and was considered the ruler of the world. Such notions of the scale of sacred authority among leaders were widespread among various ancient peoples. There is a significant similarity between the symbolism of the golden attire and Indo-Iranian Avesta mythology, and the hymns of the Rig Veda, and Zoroastrian cosmogonist texts compiled in the Pahlavi Bundahishn.22²²BundahishnA Middle Persian text on cosmogony, mythology, and Zoroastrian legends

Equally intriguing is the study of the zoomorphic decorations of that costume. On the one hand, they demonstrate close analogies with the art of the peoples of the Near East (Assyria, Babylon, Iran) and Bactria and the art of the south Siberian tribes and Central Asia (Pazyryk, Ordos art, and Hunnic art) on the other. The animal style as it existed among the Sakas of Jetisu represents original creativity. Saka art indicates the existence not only of military contacts but also of more productive creative connections with many cultures of the continent.

This animal style, combined with other elements, laid the groundwork for the emergence of the great art of the Kushans and Sogdians in the first centuries of our era. Additionally, the Huns and Sakas played a significant role in the development of the Han Chinese Empire.23²³HanA period in Chinese history from 206 BCE to 220 CE

The era of the Sakas represents a pivotal moment in Asian history. At the beginning of the new era, the migrations of the ‘Saka circle’ changed the face of Eurasia.

The study of this community and the significance of their legacy is just the beginning. It can be argued that the Sakas played a substantial role in the formation of peoples such as the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, Tajiks, and some peoples of Afghanistan (Dards), Iran, India, and China. Their name is possibly linked to the names used for the Yakuts (Sakha), Kazakhs (Sayaki), and Turkmens (Sakha).

The era of the Sakas coincided with two epochs in traditional European historiography: antiquity and the Hellenistic period. The contribution of the Sakas to the history of Asia can be compared to the influence that ancient culture and the achievements of Hellenistic city-states had on the nomadic peoples surrounding them.