The Eurasian Steppe

Tells the story of the Eurasian steppe, from legends of Amazons and Gog and Magog to its effects on Europe in the 21st century

Shows how the history, languages, ideas, art forms, peoples, nations and identities of the steppe have shaped almost every aspect of the life of Europe

Explores the history of steppe peoples, from the Scythians to the Mongols, with discussion of both ea...

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Tells the story of the Eurasian steppe, from legends of Amazons and Gog and Magog to its effects on Europe in the 21st century

Shows how the history, languages, ideas, art forms, peoples, nations and identities of the steppe have shaped almost every aspect of the life of Europe

Explores the history of steppe peoples, from the Scythians to the Mongols, with discussion of both earlier and later movements

Looks at the art of the steppe, from animal style to avant-garde, and explores how Scythian art influenced Chinese, Persian, Anatolian, Greek and Russian art

Draws on historical, archaeological and art-historical sources to build a picture of life on the steppe from prehistory to the present

Read an extract from chapter 6, Scythian Gold, on the Edinburgh University Press blog

A geographical area, not a political entity, the steppe connects the western and eastern parts of the Eurasian land mass. As such, it is always open, subject to constant movement between Asia and Europe. Steppe peoples such as Huns, Avars and Turks changed the course of European history, while others such as Finns, Magyars and Bulgars form European nations. The steppe saw the world’s only Jewish Empire, while the Mongols conquered an empire from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Indeed, Europe’s largest nation, Russia, was formed from the fusion of Eurasian nomadic and European sedentary elements.

The peculiar nature of the steppe has resulted in peoples originating in parts of Asia now forming a permanent part of the European community, and that movement has affected European history and identity since earliest times. Warwick Ball tells the story of that movement from prehistory to the present. From nomadic peoples to conquering empires, from tales of Amazon women to art nouveau, and from golden grave goods to the formation of countries that still exist today, you'll discover how the steppe has continually shaped Europe’s destiny. Ultimately, Ball shows that the steppe and the movement of peoples across it are so crucial that they question the very idea of ‘Europe’ as a separate cultural and historical construct.

Warwick Ball is a Near Eastern archaeologist and author who spent over twenty years carrying out excavations, architectural studies and monumental restoration throughout the Middle East and adjacent regions. Over the past fifty years he has lived, worked and travelled in most countries between Europe and China covered by this book, in particular in remote parts of Inner Asia. H...

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Warwick Ball is a Near Eastern archaeologist and author who spent over twenty years carrying out excavations, architectural studies and monumental restoration throughout the Middle East and adjacent regions. Over the past fifty years he has lived, worked and travelled in most countries between Europe and China covered by this book, in particular in remote parts of Inner Asia. He has excavated in Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, Afghanistan (where he was Acting Director of the British Institute of Afghan Studies), Jordan, and Iraq (where he was Director of Excavations with the British School of Archaeology in Iraq). For five years he was founder, editor and Editor-in-Chief of Afghanistan, the journal of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies published by Edinburgh University Press. He has written widely on the history and archaeology of the region, including Syria: An Architectural and Historical Guide (3rd edition 2006) and The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology, Architecture (2008). Two major academic books, the Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan (Oxford University Press) and The Archaeology of Afghanistan (Edinburgh University Press) were published in 2019. In 2020, the University of St Andrews confirmed they would be offering the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters on the author in recognition of his work in Near Eastern archaeology.

Introduction
1. The Nature of the Steppe. Some Geographical Observations
The steppe
The way of the nomad
Waves, hordes and movement
Dominoes and boundaries
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Introduction
1. The Nature of the Steppe. Some Geographical Observations
The steppe
The way of the nomad
Waves, hordes and movement
Dominoes and boundaries
Nomads and conquest
The steppe and trade
2. The Beginnings of Eurasia. Permanence, Movement and Prehistory
Permanence in a nomadic environment
The Cucuteni-Tripolye ‘mega-sites
Maikop: treasures, wheels and burials of the north Caucasus
Across the Caucasus and beyond: the Kuro-Araxes expansion
An island sanctuary: the megaliths of Vera Island
Yamnaya and Afanasievo Cultures: the first Indo-Europeans?
Newcomers from the East? The mysterious Okunev of south Siberia
A country of towns and chariots
The beginning of the nomad cultures
Andronovo, Seimo-Turbino and forest-steppe symbiosis
The Oxus Civilisation
The dance of the steppe: movement over vast areas
3. Indo-Europe. Prehistory and Language
Philosopher’s stone or can of worms: the search for the Indo-Europeans
Histories in prehistory
The devil in the divine: is there a common Indo-European identity?
The great Tokharian trek
Westward-ho: hard-wired to win
4. History and Myth. Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians; Gog, Magog and Excalibur
The Scythian homeland
Karasuk origins
Tagar monumental kurgans
The frozen tombs
To the western steppe
From Kurdistan to India and China: the Scythian kingdoms in the East
Kurdistan
From Sakastan to Indo-Scythia
From China through the Karakoram Passes
The western steppe
The Gomer, the Ashkenaz, and Gog and Magog
First Scythian settlements in the west
Contact and conflict: the Greek states of the Black Sea
The Black Sea Scythian kingdoms
Sarmatian warriors
The Scythian and Sarmatian legacy
5. Amazons. Women of the Steppe and the Idea of the Female Warrior?
Greeks bearing myths
Matriarchy ‘Old Europe’
Evidence from archaeology
Evidence from ethnology
Ottoman women: a case study
The idea of the warrior woman
A ‘lande of Amazony’?
6. The Art of the Steppe. From Animal Style to Art Nouveau
Gold
The main elements of Scythian and Sarmatian art
Origins of the animal style
Later survivals of steppe art
7. Twilight of the Gods. The Huns, Attila and the End of Antiquity
The end of civilisation?
Origins in the east
Xiongnu material remains
The Huns in Central Asia, Persia and India
A Hun kingdom in Europe
The kingdom of Attila
Walling off the Barbarian
Legacy of the Huns
8. Descendants of the She-wolf. The Emergence of Turkish-speaking Peoples
What is a ‘Turk’?
Huns, wolves, caves and princesses
Turks and Buddhism: the Northern Wei of China
The first Eurasian empire
Revival under the Uighurs
Slaves, merchants and conquerors
Prosperity, power and civilisation: the lure of Islam
9. European Nations from the Steppe. Nomads and Early Medieval Europe
Finns, Karelians, Estonians and epic identities
The Avars and European knighthood
The Bulgars and the beginning of statehood in Russia
The formation of the Bulgarian Empire
From Siberia to Holy Roman Empire: the formation of Hungary
Polovtsian dances
10. The Atlantis of the Steppe. The Khazar Empire and its Legacy
Origin of the Khazars: Cossack or Caesar?
Conversion to Judaism
A route paved with silver
The cities of Khazaria
Cans of worms and the Khazar legacy
11. The ‘Men from Hell’. Setting the West Ablaze: The Mongols in Europe
An ‘Age of Catastrophe’
Dress rehearsal: the Western Liao
From ‘just and resolute butcher’ to ‘Buddhist holy man’
The invasion of Europe
Prester John and the Crusades
Xanadu to the Volga
12. Golden Hordes. The Tatar Khanates of Russia
Under the shadow of Genghis Khan: the house of Tamerlane
A people of Europe?
Poland-Lithuania and the Horde versus Muscovy and Crimea
Europe’s last Mongol state
The last migration
13. A Modern Steppe Empire. Russian Identity and the Steppe
Russia east or west?
The Mongol legacy
The Mongols create a church
Muscovy becomes a steppe empire
Eurasia as politics
The steppe, archaeology and identity in Russia
The steppe, art and identity in Russia
Bibliography
Index
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