# Utians

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{{Short description|Ancient Iranic people mentioned in the histories of Herodotus}}
[[File:Persis map.jpg|thumb|Persian Empire 500 BC Map showing [Persis](/source/Persis) and Utians]]
The '''Utians''' or '''Utii''' were [ancient](/source/Ancient_Iranian_peoples) [western](/source/Western_Iranian_languages) [Iranic](/source/Iranian_peoples) [nomad](/source/nomad)ic camel-driving people, known primarily through the writings of the [ancient Greek](/source/ancient_Greece) historian [Herodotus](/source/Herodotus).<ref name="discovering">{{cite book
 | last =Zaghamee
 | first =Reza
 | authorlink =
 | title =Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World
 | publisher =Mage Publishers Incorporated
 | series =
 | volume =
 | date =2013
 | pages =
 | language =English
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=cMKZEAAAQBAJ
 | isbn = 9781933823799
 | accessdate=2023-06-15}}</ref><ref name="handbook">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last =Bryce
 | first =Trevor 
 | title =Utians
 | encyclopedia =The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire
 | pages =757
 | publisher =[Taylor & Francis](/source/Taylor_%26_Francis)
 | language =English
 | date =2009
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=E1aF0hq1GR8C
 | isbn = 9781134159086
 | accessdate = 2023-06-15}}</ref><ref>[Herodotus](/source/Herodotus), ''[Histories](/source/Histories_(Herodotus))'' 3.93</ref> Herodotus describes them as "dressed in skin with the hair on".<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Briant
 | first =Pierre
 | title =From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire
 | publisher =[Penn State University Press](/source/Penn_State_University_Press)
 | series =
 | volume =
 | date =2002
 | pages =195
 | language =English
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=FDULEAAAQBAJ
 | isbn = 9781575065748
 | accessdate=2023-06-15}}</ref>

There exists little independent record of these people, and it is somewhat unclear whom Herodotus was referring to. He describes them as forming part of the 14th province of the [Persian empire](/source/Persian_empire), sharing this province with other peoples named [Sagartians](/source/Sagartians), [Sarangians](/source/Sarangians), [Thamanaeans](/source/Thamanaeans), [Mycians](/source/Mycians), and the unnamed inhabitants of the islands of the [Erythraean Sea](/source/Erythraean_Sea).<ref name="handbook"/>

Herodotus also describes them as serving in the army of [Xerxes I](/source/Xerxes_I), under the command of [Arsamenes](/source/Arsamenes), son of [Darius the Great](/source/Darius_the_Great), during the [Second Persian invasion of Greece](/source/Second_Persian_invasion_of_Greece) in 481 BCE.<ref>[Herodotus](/source/Herodotus), ''[Histories](/source/Histories_(Herodotus))'' 7.68</ref>

On the [Behistun Inscription](/source/Behistun_Inscription) of [Darius the Great](/source/Darius_the_Great), a land in Southern Persis called "Vautiya" or "Yautiya" is described. Some scholars have suggested that might be the same as the homeland of the people Herodotus called "Utians".<ref name="handbook"/><ref>{{cite book
 | editor-first=Roland
 | editor-last=Oetjen
 | title =New Perspectives in Seleucid History, Archaeology and Numismatics: Studies in Honor of Getzel M. Cohen
 | publisher =[De Gruyter](/source/De_Gruyter)
 | series =
 | volume =
 | date =2019
 | pages =
 | language =English
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=iUXCDwAAQBAJ
 | isbn = 9783110388558
 | accessdate=2023-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last =Christensen
 | first =Peter
 | title =The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environment in the Middle East, 500 B.C. - A.D. 1500
 | publisher =[Bloomsbury Publishing](/source/Bloomsbury_Publishing)
 | series =
 | volume =
 | date =2015
 | pages =36
 | language =English
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=IBiWDwAAQBAJ
 | isbn = 9781838609368
 | accessdate=2023-06-15}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2014-02-01 |title=خبرگزاری میراث فرهنگی - متن کامل کتیبه بیستون |url=http://www.chn.ir/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=85356 |access-date=2025-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201224334/http://www.chn.ir/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=85356 |archive-date=1 February 2014 }}</ref>

{{Quote box
| quote = A man named Vahyazdāta, residing in a city called Tārvā in a region named Yautiyā in Persia, rose up for a second time in Persia. He told the people: "I am Bardiya, the son of Cyrus." After that, the Persian army at the palace, which had previously come from Anshan, disobeyed me and turned to Vahyazdāta. He became king in Persia.
| author = Darius the King
| source = [Behistun Inscription](/source/Behistun_Inscription), 2nd Column, Clause 5<ref name=":0" />
}}

The Utians are generally believed to have ranged over southern [Carmania](/source/Carmania_(region)) near its border with [Gedrosia](/source/Gedrosia_(satrapy)).<ref name="discovering" /> Other scholars, notably [Josef Markwart](/source/Josef_Markwart), have proposed that Herodotus was confusing his references, and was actually talking about a group of [Armenia](/source/Armenia)n people from [Utik](/source/Utik), the [Vitii](/source/Vitii), possibly the ancestors of the [Udi people](/source/Udi_people).<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Potts
 | first =D. T. 
 | title =Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era
 | publisher =[Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press)
 | series =
 | volume =
 | date =2014
 | pages =103, 106
 | language =English
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ssLADwAAQBAJ
 | isbn = 9780199330805
 | accessdate=2023-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last =Marquart
 | first =Joseph
 | authorlink =Josef Markwart
 | title =Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Eran II
 | publisher =
 | series =
 | volume =
 | date =1896
 | pages =
 | language =German
 | url =
 | isbn = 
 | accessdate=}}</ref><ref>[Pliny the Elder](/source/Pliny_the_Elder), ''[Natural History](/source/Natural_History_(Pliny))'' 6.42</ref> Still other scholars, such as [Amélie Kuhrt](/source/Am%C3%A9lie_Kuhrt), have proposed the Utians are identical to the [Uxii](/source/Uxii).<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Kuhrt
 | first =Amélie
 | authorlink =Amélie Kuhrt
 | title =The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period
 | publisher =[Taylor & Francis](/source/Taylor_%26_Francis)
 | date =2013
 | pages =528
 | language =English
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=bb7eH1LHRcAC
 | isbn = 9781136016943
 | accessdate=2023-06-15}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Historical Iranian peoples
Category:Iranian nomads
Category:Classical antiquity
Category:Tribes described primarily by Herodotus
Category:Near East in classical antiquity

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Utians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utians) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utians?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.