2 ms·

Given the colonialism of Greece, couldn't they have been Greek mercenaries? The Herodotus source linked just says the Greeks in Sicily fought, not the Greeks of

Given the colonialism of Greece, couldn't they have been Greek mercenaries? The Herodotus source linked just says the Greeks in Sicily fought, not the Greeks of Sicily.

alchemism 5y ago
Scythian archers were paid to guard the walls of Athens, so there was a clear understanding in doing business with barbarians (which is their word).
- mc32 5y ago
  Weren’t Scythians also Greek? Or rather Greeks came from one of the Scythian tribes? Or am I mistaken in my recollection?
  - Bayart 5y ago
    Those we call Scythians now are a group of Eastern Iranian horse-ridding people living on the Eurasian Steppe between modern Romania and Kazakhstan. What Greeks called Scythians was anybody riding a horse and living a bit North. Starting from Late Antiquity they've been completely pushed out of the steppe, at least culturally, by nomads that came from further East (Turkic peoples). The last Eastern Iranian group living North of the Caucasus is the Ossetians.
  - w0de0 5y ago
    In as much as they probably shared deep ancestors in the Yamnaya culture, haha. But no, that’s not the origin of the Greeks. You’re probably thinking of the Scythian-Greek syncretism that occurred in Greek Crimean colonies during a the Hellenistic (post Alexander) and early Roman periods.
Bayart 5y ago
Greek colonies employed mercenaries rather than the other way around. But Greek mercenaries were quite popular in Greece proper (between city-states) and around it. Egyptians and Persians used them extensively. One of the famous stories of the ancient world (you can find it in the Anabasis) is that of the Ten Thousand : an army of Greek soldiers left stranded in Persian territory after their Persian employer, Cyrus the Younger, died in battle.
- w0de0 5y ago
  The context of the Anabasis, it always seemed to me, was that Greek hoplites had just finished whooping a massive Persian invasion - and the whole near east took notice of such highly effective heavy infantry.

Given the colonialism of Greece, couldn't they have been Greek mercenaries? The Herodotus source linked just says the Greeks in Sicily fought, not the Greeks of Sicily.

alchemism 5y ago

Scythian archers were paid to guard the walls of Athens, so there was a clear understanding in doing business with barbarians (which is their word).

mc32 5y ago
Weren’t Scythians also Greek? Or rather Greeks came from one of the Scythian tribes? Or am I mistaken in my recollection?
- Bayart 5y ago
  Those we call Scythians now are a group of Eastern Iranian horse-ridding people living on the Eurasian Steppe between modern Romania and Kazakhstan. What Greeks called Scythians was anybody riding a horse and living a bit North. Starting from Late Antiquity they've been completely pushed out of the steppe, at least culturally, by nomads that came from further East (Turkic peoples). The last Eastern Iranian group living North of the Caucasus is the Ossetians.
- w0de0 5y ago
  In as much as they probably shared deep ancestors in the Yamnaya culture, haha. But no, that’s not the origin of the Greeks. You’re probably thinking of the Scythian-Greek syncretism that occurred in Greek Crimean colonies during a the Hellenistic (post Alexander) and early Roman periods.

Bayart 5y ago

Greek colonies employed mercenaries rather than the other way around. But Greek mercenaries were quite popular in Greece proper (between city-states) and around it. Egyptians and Persians used them extensively. One of the famous stories of the ancient world (you can find it in the Anabasis) is that of the Ten Thousand : an army of Greek soldiers left stranded in Persian territory after their Persian employer, Cyrus the Younger, died in battle.

w0de0 5y ago
The context of the Anabasis, it always seemed to me, was that Greek hoplites had just finished whooping a massive Persian invasion - and the whole near east took notice of such highly effective heavy infantry.