SCYTHIAN VICTORY OVER KING DARIUS’S PERSIAN TROOPS
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SCYTHIAN VICTORY OVER KING DARIUS’S PERSIAN TROOPS
At the end of the sixth century before Christ the area of modern southern Ukraine suffered from the invasion of the troops of Persian king Darius the
First. That campaign was reported in the works by ancient Greek historian Herodotus.
In 514 the Persian army crossed the Thracian Bosporus. The Persians built a bridge of boats near the mouth of the Danube and invaded Scythia. Over a month Darius was moving eastwards chasing the Scythians. Herodotus noted that Scythians fielded three military detachments against the Persians. But that was done not to confront them. According to their idea, a detachment commanded by king Scopasis, retreating, had to take the Persians to the banks of the Don along the Azov Sea coast. The other Scythian warriors headed by kings Idanfirs and Taksakis were to encourage the enemy to go north. According to Herodotus, these tactics
The Histories by Herodotus
of the Scythians were quite successful. The Persians moved inland of the uninhabited Scythia by hundreds of miles. Eventually, Darius camped on the bank of the Oar River. That was the place to hold the battle between the Persian troops and Scythians, mentioned in the works by Herodotus.
Thus, both armies lined up for the battle. The detachments of the Persian troops deployed for the attack were ready to attack the enemy, but at that time hares ran across the field. Therefore, the Scythians, being inborn hunters, forgot about the Persians and started hunting. The battle was over prior to its commencement. This curious story of the battle was provided by Herodotus. Considering the absence of any other sources, it is hardly possible to identify whether the ancient Greek historian's story is true. We can but suggest that, due to the significant quantitative advantage of the enemy army, the Scythian commanders planned to imitate the battle, understanding that the vast steppe expanse itself was an efficient tool in fighting against the foe.
Image of Darius I on an ancient Greek vase
Therewith, the situation of the Persians was indeed rather miserable. Unexpectedly for himself Darius I realized that the odds of winning were against him. To keep on moving in the strange steppes was too dangerous, so he had nothing to do but retreat. In addition, even the return to the Danube crossing with no serious losses from starvation and diseases would be a success for him. It would be a bigger success if he was able to cross the Danube, since his allies, the Greeks, had undertaken to guard the bridge for two months only. Therefore, leaving his camp at night on the Oar River, the king rushed to leave Scythia with the best and able part of his army. The Scythians got a great deal of trophies and captives. At that time the detachment of king Scopasis approached the bridge guarded by the Greeks, and required their promise that the bridge would be drawn in due time. Nevertheless, it turned out later that the Greeks were reluctant to draw the bridge and destroyed only a part of it from the Scythian side. So, when Darius with his troops came up to the Danube, the bridge was quickly renewed. The Persian army successfully crossed to the right bank of the river and returned home. It is to be noticed that Darius's campaign failure in moving to the Northern Black Sea coast united the population of Scythia in their struggle against the external enemy. As to the Persian king himself, he learnt from that unsuccessful campaign and did not participate in any foreign campaigns any longer and, instead, sent his commanders to head the armies.
Scythian warriors on electrum vase from Kul-Oba
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