List of ancient Iranian peoples

Distribution of Iranian peoples in 100 BC: shown is Sarmatia, Scythia, Bactria and the Parthian Empire

This list of ancient Iranian peoples or ancient Iranic peoples includes names of Indo-European peoples speaking Iranian languages or otherwise considered Iranian in sources from the late 1st millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD.

Background

Main articles: Indo-Iranians and Proto-Indo-Europeans

The extent of the BMAC (according to the EIEC).

The Iranian languages form a sub-branch of the Indo-Iranian sub-family, which is a branch of the family of Indo-European languages. Having descended from the Proto-Indo-Iranians, the Proto-Iranians separated from the Proto-Indo-Aryans early in the 2nd millennium BCE. The Proto-Iranians are traced to the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia. The area between Afghanistan and the Aral Sea is hypothesized to have been the region in which the Proto-Iranians first emerged, following the separation of Indo-Aryan tribes.

Iranian peoples first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BCE. In Classical Antiquity, they were found primarily in Scythia (located in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Northern Caucasus) and Persia (in Western Asia). They divided into "Western" and "Eastern" branches from an early period, roughly corresponding to the territories of Persia and Scythia, respectively. By the 1st millennium BCE, Medes, Persians, Bactrians and Parthians populated the Iranian plateau, while others such as the Scythians, Sarmatians, Cimmerians and Alans populated the steppes north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, as far as the Great Hungarian Plain in the west. The Saka tribes remained mainly in the far-east, eventually spreading as far east as the Ordos Desert (North-Central China).

During Late Antiquity, the Iranian populations of Scythia and Sarmatia in the Eurasian Steppe were marginalized and assimilated by Germanic, Slavic and Turkic migrations. By the 10th century, the Eastern Iranian languages were no longer spoken in many of the territories they were once spoken, with the exception of Pashto in Central Asia, Ossetic in the Northern Caucasus and other minor languages in Badakhshan. Various Persian empires flourished throughout Antiquity, and fell to the Islamic conquest in the 7th century.

List

• West Iranian
  • Cadusii
  • Caspians
  • Corduchi
  • Cyrtii (mentioned by Strabo and possible ancestor of Kurds according to Muhammad Dandamayev) (See Carduchi in Encyclopædia Iranica)
  • Leucosyri (White Syrians)
  • Medes
  • Parthians
  • Persians
  • Sagartians (whose name survives in the name of the Zagros Mountains)
• East Iranian
  • Alans (some times considered part of the Sarmatians)
  • Arachosians
  • Arians
  • Bactrians
  • Dahae
    • Parni
  • Massagetae
    • Apasiacae
  • Khwarezmians
  • Saka
    • Amyrgians
    • Indo-Scythians
    • Kambojas (an Avestan speaking group of East Iranians living in what is now Afghanistan)
      • Ashvakas: Scholars link the historical Afghans (modern Pashtuns) to the Ashvakas (the Ashvakayanas and Ashvayanas of Pāṇini or the Assakenoi and Aspasio of Arrian). The name Afghan is said to have derived from the Ashvakan of Sanskrit texts. Ashvakas are identified as a branch of the Kambojas
      • Parama Kambojas, of the Alay Valley or Alay Mountains, north of Hindukush. In ancient Sanskrit texts, their territory was known as Kumudadvipa and it formed the southern tip of the Sakadvipa or Scythia. In classical literature, this people are known as Komedes. Indian epic Mahabharata designates them as Parama Kambojas
    • Orthocorybantians
  • Sarmatians
    • Antes
    • Aorsi
    • Basileans
    • Free Sarmatians
    • Iazyges
    • Iaxamate
    • Lemigantes
    • Metanastae
    • Roxolani
    • Saii
    • Serboi
    • Siraces
    • Tyrigetae
    • Yancai
  • Scythians
    • Agathyrsi
    • Budini
    • Gelonians
    • Scoloti
    • Sindi people
    • Tauri
  • Sogdians, possible ancestors of Yaghnobis
  • Zarangians

Possible Ancient Iranian peoples whose designation is uncertain

• Ashina Türks (uncertain, but highly possible)
• Bulgars (usually considered Turkic, but possibly containing Iranian elements)
• Cimmerians (uncertain, but highly probable)
• Hephthalites (uncertain, but highly probable)
• Kangju (probably identical to the Iranian Sogdians)
• Pannonian Avars (uncertain, but possible)
• Sigynnae (uncertain, but highly probable)
• Wusun (uncertain, but highly possible)
• Xiongnu (uncertain, but highly possible)
• Xionites (uncertain, but highly probable)
• Yuezhi (uncertain, but possible)

See also

• List of Celtic tribes
• List of Germanic peoples
• List of Slavic tribes
• List of ancient Italic peoples
• List of Ancient Greek tribes
• History of Iranian peoples in Europe
• List of Rigvedic tribes

Literature

• H. Bailey, "ARYA: Philology of ethnic epithet of Iranian people", in Encyclopædia Iranica, v, pp. 681–683, Online-Edition, Link
• A. Shapur Shahbazi, "Iraj: the eponymous hero of the Iranians in their traditional history" in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online-Edition, Link
• R. Curzon, "The Iranian Peoples of the Caucasus", ISBN 0-7007-0649-6
• Jahanshah Derakhshani, "Die Arier in den nahöstlichen Quellen des 3. und 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr.", 2nd edition, 1999, ISBN 964-90368-6-5
• Richard Frye, "Persia", Zurich, 1963