01-26-2013, 02:06 AM
Michael, Robert, and everyone
Any book dealing with Iazyges in Britain has to be speculative... really speculative. And from those I have read, perhaps the worst was Littleton & Malcor's. If there was any "Sarmatian" influence on the Arthurian legend, it may have come-- speculatively-- from the Alans, who were Sarmatian.
The Iaz were NOT Sarmatians. And they did NOT have cataphracts, and therefore did not use a contus. This "legend" has filtered though so many quasi-historical books that it has somehow been accepted as fact. For good info on who the Iaz were, read Janos Harmatta's book on the Sarmatians and their language. The Roxolani WERE Sarmatians, being the lead group of Alanic society that followed the Iaz into Pannonia. But to playact with "Iazages," either in Britain or on gameboards, is not following history nor the culture of a group that were related to Scythians, not to Sarmatians. :dizzy:
Any book dealing with Iazyges in Britain has to be speculative... really speculative. And from those I have read, perhaps the worst was Littleton & Malcor's. If there was any "Sarmatian" influence on the Arthurian legend, it may have come-- speculatively-- from the Alans, who were Sarmatian.
The Iaz were NOT Sarmatians. And they did NOT have cataphracts, and therefore did not use a contus. This "legend" has filtered though so many quasi-historical books that it has somehow been accepted as fact. For good info on who the Iaz were, read Janos Harmatta's book on the Sarmatians and their language. The Roxolani WERE Sarmatians, being the lead group of Alanic society that followed the Iaz into Pannonia. But to playact with "Iazages," either in Britain or on gameboards, is not following history nor the culture of a group that were related to Scythians, not to Sarmatians. :dizzy:
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb