The Rise of the Steppe Nomads

Episode 2 The Rise of the Steppe Nomads

Barbarian Empires of the Steppes (2014)

Dr Kenneth Harl

Film Review

In this lecture Herl describes the linguistic and archeological research that has allowed historians to trace the origin and migration of various steppe nomads.

Our first evidence of pastoral steppe nomads dates from 6500 – 5000 BC when some Proto-Indo-European speakers shifted from hunting gathering to herding and seasonal nomadism. Historically most wild horses originated from the Eurasian steppes. The first Eurasian nomads domesticated them for food, ie meat, milk and fermented mare’s milk.

By 4200 BC, steppe nomads were riding them bareback, enabling significant expansion of their herds. According to Harl, spoked wheels most likely originated on the Russian steppes. They were used for “gerts.” In the fifth century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus describes these mobile tents drawn by oxcarts. The steppe nomads also perfect a light chariot for battle around 2100 BC. At this time, they began migrating and spreading their lifestyle north, west and east to European steppes and forests and the Mediterranean.

Those migrating northwest spoke Celtic and Germanic languages, those migrating north spoke Slavic languages and those migrating east spoke Indo-Iranian languages (which evolved into Persian and Sanskrit).

The nomads’ invention of the saddle and composite bow led to another mass migration starting in the 18th century BC, with the Cimerians (Herodotus refers to them as Scythians) launching period raids on the Assyrians and Phrygians.* Harl believes that the Assyrians early adoption of nomad military technology enabled the creation of their vast empire (14th – 7th century BC) . See Mesopotamia and the Rise of the Assyrian Empire

Indo-Aryan nomadic speakers began moving into the Indus and Ganges Valleys around 1500 BC and intermarried with the local population. Likewise their inventions helped enrich early Chinese, Persian, Greek and Roman civilizations.

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*Phrygia was a kingdom in west central Anatolia. The King Midas myth traces back to the Phrygian empire.

 

 

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/5694984

Reclaiming Our History: The Myth of Celtic Purity in Ireland

The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People

BBC

Film Review

This is the first (of five) episodes in the BBC documentary series on the history of Ireland, which provides a comprehensive history of the use of (English and Scottish) settler colonialism to subdue the indigenous population. This model which would be copied in North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and by Israel in the displacement of the indigenous Palestinian population.

Part 1, covering the period 8000 BC to 1100 AD, dispels the myth of Celtic purity in Ireland.

It describes the first human settlers arriving in Ireland immediately after the last Ice Age. They would begin farming around 4,000 BC, and there is clear evidence of trading with the Baltic region and Iberian peninsula from 2,500 BC on. Contrary to more recent mythology, ancient Irish inhabitants weren’t genetically distinct from Celtic settlers in Britain or northern France.

During the Roman occupation of Britain (55 BC to 383 AD), the early Irish exported cattle and leather products to British elites.

Following the departure of the Roman legions in 383 AD, Irish raids on the west coast of Britain increased. Britons were captured as slaves to fuel Ireland’s thriving slave trade. St Patrick, who is credited with bringing Catholicism to Ireland, was a Welshman initially brought to Ireland as a slave.

Ireland’s feuding tribal kings welcomed the advent of Christian monasteries to help them consolidate their power. The monks developed a written alphabet for the Celtic language, and Irish monasteries became a global center of learning as literacy declined on the European continent.

Over the 8th, 9th and 10th century, Ireland was hit by a series of Viking raids and invasions. The latter, who had trade routes extending as far as the Baltic Sea and Constantinople, established the city of Dublin as Europe’s largest slave market.

By the 11th century, the Vikings had thoroughly integrated into Celtic society through intermarriage and conversion to Catholicism.