{{Short description|Historical ethnic group of the Sea of Azov}} [[Image:Roman Empire 125.svg|thumb|right|Map of the Roman empire under Hadrian ({{Reign|117|138|era=AD}}), showing the location of the Maeotae on the eastern shore of the eponymous {{langx|la|Palus Maeotis}} (Sea of Azov)]] {{Circassians}} thumb|Maeotan symbol The '''Maeotians''' ({{langx|grc|Μαιῶται|translit=Maiōtai}}; {{langx|la|Maeōtae}}<ref>Other variant transcriptions include '''Mæotians''', '''Maeotae''', '''Maeotici''', and '''Mæotici'''.</ref>) were an ancient people dwelling along the Sea of Azov, which was known in antiquity as the "Maeotian Swamp" ({{langx|la|Palus Maeotis}}).<ref name=digrog>James, Edward Boucher. [https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofgree02smit#page/244/mode/2up "Maeotae" and "Maeotis Palus"] in the ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'', {{nowrap|1st ed.}}, {{nowrap|Vol. II}}. Walton & Maberly (London), 1857. Accessed 26 Aug 2014.</ref>
==Identity== The etymology of the name and the identity of the people remain unclear. Edward James<ref name=digrog/> and William Smith{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} were of the opinion that the term "Maeotian" was applied broadly to various peoples around the Sea of Azov, rather than the name of the sea deriving from a certain people. Their subdivisions included the Sindi, the Dandarii, the Toreatae, the Agri, the Arrechi, the Tarpetes, the Obidiaceni, the Sittaceni, the Dosci, and "many" others.<ref name=straystray>Strabo. ''Geographica'', xi. {{in lang|la}}.</ref> Of these, the Sindi are the best attested, and were probably the dominant people among the Maeotians.<ref name="Cambridge">{{harvnb|Boardman|Edwards|1991|p=572}}</ref> The language of the Maeotians—and even its language family—is uncertain. One princess of the Ixomates was called Tirgatao,<ref>Polyaenus. ''Stratagems'', 8.55.</ref> comparable to ''Tirgutawiya'', a name on a tablet discovered in Hurrian Alalakh.<ref>AT 298 II.11.{{clarify|date=August 2014}}</ref>
Ukrainian archaeologists and modern Hellenists claim that Maeotians were ancient Greeks who established colonies in Maeotia. A Greek historian Apostolos Vakalopoulos claimed that Greeks settled in the south of present-day Donbas and later established colonies on the coast of Kuban. He did not contest the possibility of Greeks intermixing with the local Sarmatians. {{clarify|text=The Maeotians named themselves after the name of the region, Maeotia, as the Greeks named it.|reason=This is contradicted elsewhere in this same article (and in at least some related articles), which indicate that the etymology is not clear (whether the people were named after the area or vice-versa). Is this perhaps just part of what Apostolos Vakalopoulos claimed? If so, the wording should be clarified. If not, citation needed.|date=September 2024}}
Karl Eichwald claimed that the Maeotians originated as a "Hindu" (Indian) colony,<ref>Eichwald, Karl. Alt Geogr. d. Kasp. M.{{clarify|date=August 2014}} {{nowrap|p. 356.}}</ref> but this view is rejected by the majority of scholars.<ref>Bayer,{{who|date=August 2014}} Acta Petrop.{{clarify|date=August 2014}} ix. {{nowrap|p. 370}}.</ref><ref>St. Croix,{{who|date=August 2014}} Mem. de l'Ac. des Inscr.{{clarify|date=August 2014}} xlvi. {{nowrap|p. 403}}.</ref><ref>Larcher,{{who|date=August 2014}} ad Herod.{{clarify|date=August 2014}} vii. {{nowrap|p. 506.}}</ref><ref>Ukert, Friedrich August, {{nowrap|Vol. iii.}}{{clarify|date=August 2014}} {{nowrap|pt. 2}}, {{nowrap|p. 494}}.</ref> Soviet archaeologists, historians, and ethnographers concluded that the Maeotians were one of the Circassian tribes.{{refn|"The Kuban tribes (Adyghe people) are usually referred to by the ancient writers under the collective name Maeotae"<ref>The Great Soviet Encyclopedia. "[http://gatchina3000.ru/big/002/515_bolshaya-sovetskaya.htm Adyghe people]".</ref>}}{{refn|"The study of language, toponymy and onomastics of the north-Western Caucasus gives the grounds referred ancient Maeotae population to the Adyghe- Kassogians ethnic array, which is also in line with archeological monuments Maeotae culture and its links with the subsequent cultures of medieval Adyghe (Circassians)."<ref>Piotrovsky, Boris. ''[http://www.mirknig.com/knigi/guman_nauki/1181393678-meoty-predki-adygov.html Maeotae, the Ancestors of the Adgyghe (Circassians)]''. 1998.</ref>}} The Cambridge Ancient History classifies the Maeotians as either a people of Cimmerian ancestry or as Caucasian aboriginals.<ref name="Cambridge"/> The modern Adyghe name of the people is {{Langx|ady|label=none|МыутIэхэр|translit=Mıwt'əxər}}.
==Early history== The earliest known reference to Moesia is from the logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos.<ref>Hellanicus's actual reference is to a ''Maliōtai'' ({{lang|grc|Μαλιῶται}}), which Sturz{{who|date=August 2014}} emended to ''Maiōtai''.</ref> According to Strabo, the Maeotians lived partly on fish and partly from agriculture but were as warlike as their nomadic neighbors. These wild hordes were sometimes tributary to the factor at the River Tanais (the present-day Don) and at other times to the Bosporani. In later times, especially under Pharnaces II, Asander, and Polemon I, the Bosporan Kingdom extended as far as the Tanais.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite book |last1=Boardman |first1=John |last2=Edwards |first2=I. E. S. |author-link1=John Boardman (art historian) |author-link2=I. E. S. Edwards |date=1991 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 3. Part 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGBGauNBK8kC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521227178 |access-date=March 2, 2015 }} Category:Cimmerians Category:Ancient Circassian tribes Category:Ancient peoples of Russia Category:History of the western steppe Category:Scythia