Eurasian nomads are a large group of peoples of the steppes of Central Asia, Mongolia and Eastern Europe (Pontic steppe). They have domesticated the horse, and their economy and culture emphasizes horse breeding and horse riding. They developed the chariot, cavalry and horse archery, introducing innovations like bridle, bit and stirrup, and often appear in history as invaders in Europe, Anatolia and China. Horse people is a generalized and somewhat obsolete term for such invaders. The term Eurasian refers to the cultural ties and linkages between those in a wider view of the Eurasian continent, centering on the Silk Road, and Central Asia. ... Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. ... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian: - step, Ukrainian: - step, Kazakh: - dala), pronounced in English as step, is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Eastern Europe is the eastern region of Europe variably defined. ... The Pontic steppe refers to the steppelands to the north of the Black Sea and on its eastern side as far as the Caspian Sea. ... There are a number of theories regarding the domestication of the horse. ... Horse breeding is the process of using selective breeding to produce additional individuals of a given phenotype, that is, continuing a breed. ... horse, see Horse (disambiguation). ... Hittite chariot (drawing of an Egyptian relief) Approximate historical map of the spread of the chariot, 2000 –500 BC. A chariot is a two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle. ... Kircholm, a 1925 painting by Wojciech Kossak. ... A horse archer (or horsed archer, mounted archer) is a cavalryman armed with a bow. ... A bridle is a piece of equipment used to control a horse. ... Tack is any of the various accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. ... Haniwa horse statuette, complete with saddle and stirrups, 6th century, Kofun period, Japan. ...

The Roman army hired Sarmatians as elite cavalrymen. Europe was exposed to several waves of invasions by horse people, from the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, down to the Migration period, and the Mongols and Seljuks in the High Middle Ages, and the Tatars down into modern times. The earliest example of an invasion by a horse people may have been by the Proto-Indo-Europeans themselves, following the domestication of the horse in the 4th millennium BC (see Kurgan hypothesis). Cimmerian is the first invasion of equestrian steppe nomads that we can grasp from historical sources. The "Huns" of the Migration period were not a single ethnicity, but a conglomerate of Mongolian, Turkic, Iranian and Germanic and Slavic warbands. Hermannus Contractus in the entry for the year 379 in his Chronicon lists Gothos, Hunnos, Alanosque as virtual synonyms. The Roman army is the set of land-based military forces employed by the Roman Kingdom, Roman republic and later Roman empire as part of the Roman military. ... Sarmatian Cataphract Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae (the second form is mostly used by the earlier Greek writers, the other by the later Greeks and the Romans) were a people whom Herodotus (4. ... European redirects here. ... The Cimmerians (Greek Κιμμέριοι, Kimmerioi) were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Russia and Ukraine, in the 8th and 7th century BC. Assyrian records, however, first place them in the region of Azerbaijan in... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) Events and trends Ruins of the training grounds at Olympia, Greece. ... Human migration denotes any movement of groups of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wanderers. ... Mongols (Mongolian: Монгол Mongol) are an ethnic group that originated in what is now Mongolia, Russia, and China or more specifically on the Central Asian plateau north of the Gobi desert and south of Siberia. ... The Seljuk Turks (Turkish: Selçuk; Arabic: سلجوق Saljūq, السلاجقة al-Salājiqa; Persian: سلجوقيان Saljūqiyān; also Seldjuk, Seldjuq, Seljuq) were a major branch of... The cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, a significant architectural contribution of the High Middle Ages. ... Historically, the term Tatar (or Tartar) has been ambiguously used by Europeans to refer to many different peoples of Inner Asia and Northern Asia. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... There are a number of theories regarding the domestication of the horse. ... (5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC - other millennia) // Events Sumerian city of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BC); Sumerian hegemony in Mesopotamia, with the invention of writing, base-60 mathematics, astronomy and astrology, civil law, complex hydrology, the sailboat, the wheel, and the potters wheel, 4000... In 1956 Marija Gimbutas introduced her Kurgan hypothesis combining Kurgan archaeology with linguistics to locate the origins of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) speaking peoples. ... The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes who appeared in Europe in the 4th century, the most famous person being Attila. ... Hermannus Contractus (also called Hermannus Augiensis, Hermann of Reichenau) (1013 July 18 – 1054 September 24) was an 11th century scholar, composer, and music theorist. ... January 19 - Theodosius I is elevated as Roman Emperor at Sirmium. ...

The concept of "horse people" was of some importance in 19th century scholarship, in connection with the rediscovery of Germanic pagan culture by Romanticism (see Viking revival), which idealized the Goths in particular as a heroic horse-people. J. R. R. Tolkien's Rohirrim may be seen as an idealized Germanic people influenced by these romantic notions. These peoples gave rise to the myth of the Amazons from the practise of some women being horse archers. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Germanic paganism refers to the religion and mythology of the Germanic nations preceding Christianization, including Norse, Anglo-Saxon mythology, information obtained from archaeological finds and remnants of pre-Christian beliefs in the folklore of medieval and modern Germanic peoples. ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... Early modern publications dealing with what we now call Viking culture appeared in the 16th century, e. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche portrays the Goths as cavalrymen. ... J. R. R. Tolkien in 1916. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Rohan. ... In Greek mythology, the Amazons () were either an ancient legendary nation of female warriors or a land dominated by women at the outer edges of their known world. ...

They can be divided into several large groups, on linguistic grounds:

• Indo-European
  • Proto-Indo-Europeans (Chalcolithic/Bronze Age)
  • Indo-Iranians (Bronze Age/Iron Age)
• Altaic
  • Mongols
  • Tungusic
  • Turkic
• Uralic
  • Ugric (Magyar)
  • Finnic

Chronological list: The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... Map of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), its expansion into the Andronovo culture during the 2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the BMAC in the south. ... Altaic is a putative language family which would include 60 languages spoken by about 250 million people, mostly in and around central Asia. ... Mongols (Mongolian: Монгол Mongol) are an ethnic group that originated in what is now Mongolia, Russia, and China or more specifically on the Central Asian plateau north of the Gobi desert and south of Siberia. ... Tungusic languages (or Manchu-Tungus languages) are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. ... This article is about the various peoples speaking one of the Turkic languages. ... Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages  Yukaghir  Samoyedic  Ugric  Finnic The Uralic languages form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... Ugric languages or Ugrian languages are generally held to be a branch of Finno-Ugric languages. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

• Iron Age/Classical Antiquity
  • Cimmerians | Issedones / Wusun | Parthians / Parni | Saka / Issedones / Massagetae / Scythians / Sarmatians | Sigynnae | Yuezhi / Hephthalites

• Migration period
  • Alans | Avars | Gepids | Goths | Huns | Rugians | Xiongnu

• Middle Ages
  • Bulgars | Jurchen | Kalmuks | Kipchaks | Magyars | Mongols | Nogais | Petchenegs | Seljuks | Tatars

Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... It has been suggested that Greco-Roman be merged into this article or section. ... The Cimmerians (Greek Κιμμέριοι, Kimmerioi) were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Russia and Ukraine, in the 8th and 7th century BC. Assyrian records, however, first place them in the region of Azerbaijan in... // Introduction Issedones, an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described by Herodotus in Book Four of his History. ... Wusun (烏孫) --- information about this historic people can be found in Chinese historical annals. ... Reproduction of a Parthian warrior as depicted on Trajans Column The Parthian Empire was the dominating force on the Iranian plateau beginning in the late 3rd century BCE, and intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between ca 190 BCE and 224 CE. Origins Bust of Parthian soldier, Esgh-abad Museum, Turkmenia. ... The Central Asian steppe has been the home of Iranian nomadic tribes for centuries. ... The Sakas are a peoples that lived in what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Iran, Ukraine, and Altay Mountains and Siberia in Russia, in the centuries before 300 AD. They are considered to be a branch of Scythians by most scholars. ... // Introduction Issedones, an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described by Herodotus in Book Four of his History. ... The Massagetae were an Iranian people of antiquity. ... Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the KulOba kurgan burial near Kerch. ... Sarmatia Europæa separated from Sarmatia Asiatica by the Tanais (the River Don), based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in London, ca 1770. ... Sigynnae (EcyGvvat, Eiyevvoc), an obscure people of antiquity. ... The migrations of the Yuezhi through Central Asia, from around 176 BCE to 30 CE. Yuezhi (Chinese:月氏, also 月支, Wade-Giles: Yüeh-Chih) or Da Yuezhi (Chinese:大月氏, also 大月支, Great Yuezhi) The Great Clan of Yue, is the Chinese name for an ancient Central Asian people. ... The Hephthalites, also known as White Huns, were a nomadic people who lived across western China, Central Asia, South Asia and northern India in the fourth through sixth centuries AD. The term Hephthalite derives from Greek, supposedly a rendering of Hayathelite (from the term Haital = Big/Powerful in the dialect... Human migration denotes any movement of groups of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wanderers. ... The Alans, Alani, Alauni or Halani were an Iranian nomadic group among the Sarmatian people, warlike nomadic pastoralists of varied backgrounds, who spoke an Iranian language and to a large extent shared a common culture. ... Map showing the location of Avar Khaganate, c. ... The Gepids (Latin Gepidae) were a Germanic tribe most famous in history for defeating the Huns after the death of Attila. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche portrays the Goths as cavalrymen. ... The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes who appeared in Europe in the 4th century, the most famous person being Attila. ... The Rugians (Latin rugii) were an East Germanic tribe whose ultimate origins have been traced to Rogaland in Norway, whose population probably was the Rugii that Jordanes mentioned as a tribe that still remained in Scandza. ... A Xiongnu belt buckle. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... For the people of Central Asia see Bulgars Bulgar language is an extinct language commonly considered Turkic but more recently Indo-Iranian Bulgar, or bulgarish is Yiddish word for Romanian dance bugarească (means Bulgarian cf. ... The Jurchens (Chinese: 女真, pinyin: nǚzhēn) were a Tungusic people who inhabited parts of Manchuria and northern Korea until the seventeenth century, when they became the Manchus. ... The Republic of Kalmykia (Russian: Респу́блика Калмы́кия; Kalmyk: Хальм Тангч) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... Kipchaks (also Kypchaks, Qipchaqs) are an ancient Turkic people, first mentioned in the historical chronicles of Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. Their language was also known as Kipchak. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mongols (Mongolian: Монгол Mongol) are an ethnic group that originated in what is now Mongolia, Russia, and China or more specifically on the Central Asian plateau north of the Gobi desert and south of Siberia. ... The term Nogai can refer to more than one thing: Nogai Khan was a Khan of the Golden Horde. ... Pechenegs or Patzinaks also known as Besenyők, were a semi-nomadic steppe people of Central Asia that spoke a Turkic language. ... The Seljuk Turks (Turkish: Selçuk; Arabic: سلجوق Saljūq, السلاجقة al-Salājiqa; Persian: سلجوقيان Saljūqiyān; also Seldjuk, Seldjuq, Seljuq) were a major branch of... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Bibliography

• Amitai, Reuven; Biran, Michal (editors). Mongols, Turks, and others: Eurasian nomads and the sedentary world (Brill's Inner Asian Library, 11). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2005 (ISBN 90-04-14096-4).
• Drews, Robert. Early riders: The beginnings of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe. N.Y.: Routledge, 2004 (ISBN 0-415-32624-9).
• Golden, Peter B. Nomads and their neighbours in the Russian Steppe: Turks, Khazars and Qipchaqs (Variorum Collected Studies). Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003 (ISBN 0-86078-885-7).
• Hildinger, Erik. Warriors of the steppe: A military history of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1700. New York: Sarpedon Publishers, 1997 (hardcover, ISBN 1-885119-43-7); Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2001(paperback, ISBN 0-306-81065-4).
• Littauer, Mary A.; Crouwel, Joost H.; Raulwing, Peter (Editor). Selected writings on chariots and other early vehicles, riding and harness (Culture and history of the ancient Near East, 6). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2002 (ISBN 90-04-11799-7).
• Shippey T.A. Goths and Huns: The rediscovery of Northern culture in the nineteenth century, in The Medieval legacy: A symposium. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 1981 (ISBN 87-7492-393-5), pp. 51–69.