Imagine, for a moment, that it is the sixth century BC. A lone herder watches over his grazing cattle somewhere on the western Eurasian steppe. A low rumble drifts towards him, at first barely a whisper, then slowly but surely, a dust cloud forms out of the shimmering haze on the distant horizon. There is little time for the herder to flee, even on horseback he is no match for the incoming riders on their thorough-bred mounts, thundering across the plain. If he somehow managed to outpace them, or they simply lost interest in the pursuit, his cattle – the life and livelihood of the steppe pastoralist – would be left at their mercy.
These sights and sounds were the dread of all who inhabited the vast steppes of Eurasia in antiquity. Whether they fished its bountiful rivers, herded their cattle across the unending grasslands, or eked a living from the very soil, the ‘Royal’ Scythians, the elite of the western nomads, were an ever-present threat in this great sea of grass.
To the south and west, the rhythms of life were different. The sea at its centre was of the literal kind. Small villages and towns clung to the coasts of the dark waters which
