The Cimmerians were an ancient Eastern Iranic equestrian nomadic people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into West Asia. Although the Cimmerians were culturally Scythian, they formed an ethnic unit separate from the Scythians proper, to whom the Cimmerians were related and who displaced and replaced the Cimmerians.
The Cimmerian migrations across West Asia
The Assyrian king Sargon II (left) and the crown prince Sennacherib (right).
Reproduction of a depiction of Cimmerian mounted archers from a Greek vase.
An Assyrian relief depicting Cimmerian mounted warriors
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities.
The Bistun Inscription of Darius the Great describes itself to have been composed in Arya [language or script].
Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes and across Central Asia.
According to Allentoft (2015), the Sintashta culture probably derived from the Corded Ware culture.
Saka horseman, Pazyryk, from a carpet, c. 300 BC