33. The Scythians and Persians
The Assyrians were eventually replaced by the Persians as the Middle East’s dominant power. In 513 BC, Persian king Darius I sought to end Scythian raids on his empire by conquering them. So he assembled a huge army, and launched an invasion of Scythia along the western Black Sea coast, and into today’s southern Ukraine and Russia. The nomads simply retreated into the vastness of the Steppe, taking their families and herds with them, and avoiding the decisive pitched battle that Darius sought. Instead, they pulled back, laying waste the countryside in the Persians’ path, blocking wells and destroying pastures, while attriting the invaders with skirmishes and hit and run attacks.