--- david_russell_watson <
liberty@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, george knysh
> <gknysh@...> wrote:
> >
> > GK: Some prefer "swords" to "arrows". In any
> case,
> > "archer" for Sarmatian sounds strange since
> Scythian
> > supposedly meant the same thing.
>
> That would only seem to me to provide a precedent
> for
> the semantics of Piotr's suggestion.
****GK: Indeed. But there remain oddities. "Scythian"
apparently only suggests "archer" while "Sarmatian"
has that but is also broader. Another thing to keep in
mind is that the term is Scythian (we don't know that
they reproduced the Sarmatian self-appellation). In
any case "archer" while possible does not close the
discussion. The old "swordsman" remains an
alternative. And there might be something else we're
missing.****
The Sarmatians
>
> did originate as a type of Scythian,
****GK: "Imported" auxiliaries from Media according to
Diodorus.****
so surely
> started
> out as archers before they developed their technique
>
> using lances.
****GK: In Herodotus, for what it's worth, the spear
is on a par with the bow as a Sarmatian weapon. ****
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