23. The First Steppe Terrors
For millennia, nomads from the Eurasian Steppe, including the likes of Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane, terrorized the settled peoples on their borders. Centuries before those figures became bywords in barbaric destruction, they were preceded by the Scythians, a nomadic confederation of Iranian peoples inhabiting the Steppe between Central China to the east and the Carpathian Mountains to the west.
Controlling an overland trade network that connected the Greeks, Chinese, Persians, and Indians, the Scythians created the first Steppe empire that terrorized its neighbors. Starting in the 7th century BC, the Scythians began raiding into the Middle East. Their first major disruptive role was the taking a leading part in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC.