From: tgpedersen
Message: 57815
Date: 2008-04-21
>Note the weapon name:
>
> --- 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. ****
>