Sakas

The Sakas, also known as Sacae or Scythians in Greek and Persian sources, were a group of Iranian-speaking nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe. They occupied a broad zone that stretched from the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Volga region in the west through Central Asia to the Hindu Kush and western Xinjiang in the east. The Saka designation encompassed multiple tribes and confederations sharing a common horse-archer culture and pastoral economy, rather than a single political unit.

Historically, the Sakas are attested from the early first millennium BCE and feature prominently in Greco-Persian and later Hellenistic sources. They engaged in extensive interactions with neighboring powers, including the Achaemenid Empire and, after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the successor Hellenistic states. By the 2nd century BCE, some Saka groups moved southward into the Indian subcontinent, giving rise to the Indo-Scythian kingdoms in regions such as Gandhara, Punjab, and Mathura. These groups minted coins, established urban centers, and interacted with contemporary Indian states, while gradually yielding ground to Kushan and other powers in subsequent centuries.

In archaeology and art, Saka-related communities are known for distinctive burial practices and rich grave goods found in kurgans, particularly in the Altai, Minusinsk Basin, and Xinjiang. The term “Saka” is used by scholars to describe certain Iranian-speaking steppe cultures as well as the groups that later entered the Indian subcontinent as Indo-Scythians.

Today, “Saka” reflects a historical and linguistic category rather than a single, continuous polity, and it remains a key term in studies of Eurasian steppe history.