Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)
The Sarmatians and the Germanic peoples (6100-4500 БС) (4500-2700 BC) (2700/2500-800 BC) new population group, the Sarmatian Jazygians arrived to the Great Hungarian Plain during the 1st century AD, at roughly the same time as the Romans began the organisation of the new province in Transdanubia. The nomadic tribal alliance of the Sarmatians, a people of Iranian stock related to the Scythians, dominated the steppe extending from the Ural Mountains to the River Danube. The Danube-Tisza Interfluve marked the westernmost point of their expansion. The first Sarmatian migration was followed by several smaller ones. From the 2nd century, they extended their control to the regions beyond the River Tisza and created a dense network of settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain from the 3rd century. Arriving as stockbreeding nomads, the Sarmatian tribes (Jazygians and, later, Roxolans and Alans) soon adopted a more sedentary, farming life-style, while preserving their legendary ferociousness, a trait noted by Greek and Roman historians, who described them as dangerous enemies of the Empire. The Sarmatians often acted in concert with the neighbouring Quads, when the latter marched against or raided Pannonia. The Quads, a people speaking an eastern Germanic tongue, migrated southward along the River Ipoly from their original settlement territory between the Morava and the Vág rivers sometime during the 2nd century, and advanced to the northern boundaries of modern Budapest along the River Danube. The frontier between the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes lay in County Pest and it is possible that one section of the Csörsz Dyke, a 1200 kilometres long ditch and rampart system constructed around the Sarmatians’ settlement territory to check the advance of peoples from the north and east, had in fact marked this frontier. Following the arrival of the Huns and their allies in the late 4th century, the sources gradually fall silent about the Sarmatians and the Quads. Even though they apparently lost their independence, many elements of their culture, their craft traditions and beliefs were adopted by the peoples succeeding them. 1. Enamelled brooch from Szód liget 2. Bead necklaces from Sződliget 3. Sunken rectangular building with a nine-men's morris board scratched on the floor at Cegléd • Valéria Kulcsár 1 2 3 fé
