The Sarmatians, who were known to the literate world from the 6th century BC onwards, were the eastern neighbours of the Scythian tribes, to whom they were probably related.
When the Scythians became more sedentary, from the 4th century BC onwards, the Sarmatians moved in to seize the steppe regions formerly under Scythian control. The burial mounds in Sarmatian territory are similar to those in Scythia in their rites.
By the early centuries AD, various Sarmatian groups were harassing the borders of their settled neighbours, eastern Romans and Anatolian kingdoms; the threat they posed increased with time as they spilled over into the Balkans and central Europe.
Classical sources record that Sarmatian women enjoyed equal status with their men, taking part in military operations. Archaeological support for this comes from a number of burials of female warriors found in the Sarmatian region.
Like their Scythian predecessors, the Sarmatians owed their success in warfare to their military innovations: the use of scale-armoured cavalry wielding heavy lances.
