Animal styleAnimal style art is an approach to decoration found from Qazaqstan,China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period, characterized by its emphasis on animal motifs. The zoomorphic style of decoration was used to decorate small objects by warrior-herdsmen, whose economy was based on breeding and herding animals, supplemented by trade and plunder. Animal art is a more general term for all art depicting animals.
MauesMaues (Greek: Μαύης ; ΜΑΥΟΥ (epigraphic); Kharosthi: 𐨨𐨆𐨀 , , called 𐨨𐨆𐨒 , on the Taxila copper plate; also called 𐨨𐨅𐨬𐨐𐨁 𐨨𐨁𐨩𐨁𐨐 , in the Mathura lion capital inscription,) was the first Indo-Scythian king, ruling from 98/85 to 60/57 BCE. He invaded India and established Saka hegemony by conquering Indo-Greek territories. Maues's name primarily attested from his coins appear under the Gandhari form (𐨨𐨆𐨀) and the Ancient Greek form (Μαύης), both of which are variants of the same Scythian Saka language name *Mava, meaning "tiger" and "hero".
Aria (region)Aria (Ἀρ(ε)ία Ar(e)ía, آريا; Latin Aria, representing Old Persian. 𐏃𐎼𐎡𐎺 Haraiva, Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬋𐬌𐬬𐬀 Harōiva) was an Achaemenid region centered on the city of Herat in present-day western Afghanistan. In classical sources, Aria has been several times confused with the greater region of ancient Ariana, of which Aria formed a part. Aria was an Old Persian satrapy, which enclosed chiefly the valley of the Hari River (Greek Ἄρ(ε)ιος, this being eponymous to the whole land according to Arrian) and which in antiquity was considered as particularly fertile and, above all, rich in wine.
Saka languageSaka, or Sakan, was a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang, China. It is a Middle Iranian language. The two kingdoms differed in dialect, their speech known as Khotanese and Tumshuqese. The Saka rulers of the western regions of the Indian subcontinent, such as the Indo-Scythians and Western Satraps, spoke practically the same language.
Ordos cultureThe Ordos culture () was a material culture occupying a region centered on the Ordos Loop (corresponding to the region of Suiyuan, including Baotou to the north, all located in modern Inner Mongolia, China) during the Bronze and early Iron Age from the 6th to 2nd centuries BCE. The Ordos culture is known for significant finds of Scythian art and may represent the easternmost extension of Indo-European Eurasian nomads, such as the Saka, or may be linkable to Palaeo-Siberians or Yeniseians.
Tillya TepeTillya tepe, Tillia tepe or Tillā tapa (طلا تپه, literally "Golden Hill" or "Golden Mound") is an archaeological site in the northern Afghanistan province of Jowzjan near Sheberghan, excavated in 1978 by a Soviet-Afghan team led by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi. The hoard found there is often known as the Bactrian gold. The hoard is a collection of about 20,600 ornaments, coins and other kinds of artifacts, made of gold, silver, ivory, etc.
History of KazakhstanKazakhstan, the largest country fully within the Eurasian Steppe, has been a historical crossroads and home to numerous different peoples, states and empires throughout history. Throughout history, peoples on the territory of modern Kazakhstan had nomadic lifestyle, which developed and influenced Kazakh culture. Human activity in the region began with the extinct Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus one million–800,000 years ago in the Karatau Mountains and the Caspian and Balkhash areas.
Abhira peopleThe Abhira people is mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. They are thought to be people who moved in from eastern Iran in the aftermath of the invasion of Alexander the Great. Their main base was in the Indus delta (modern Sindh and Kathiawar), where their country is mentioned as "Abiria" and "Aberia" in classical sources. There were also other communities of Abhiras in modern Haryana.
Tashtyk cultureThe Tashtyk culture was Late Iron Age archaeological culture that flourished in the Yenisei valley in Siberia from the 1st century CE to the 4th century CE. Located in the Minusinsk Depression, environs of modern Krasnoyarsk, eastern part of Kemerovo Oblast, it was preceded by the Tagar culture. The Tashtyk culture was first surveyed by the Russian archaeologist Sergei Teploukhov. Teploukhov suggested that it had been initially Indo-European dominated, only to become overcome by the Yenisei Kirghiz around the 3rd century AD.
Pamir languagesThe Pamir languages are an areal group of the Eastern Iranian languages, spoken by numerous people in the Pamir Mountains, primarily along the Panj River and its tributaries. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Pamir language family was sometimes referred to as the Ghalchah languages by western scholars. The term Ghalchah is no longer used to refer to the Pamir languages or the native speakers of these languages. One of the most prolific researchers of the Pamir languages was Soviet linguist Ivan Ivanovich Zarubin.
