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The Aorsi, known in Greek language sources as the Aorsoi (Ἄορσοι), were an ancient Iranian peoples people of the Sarmatians group, who played a major role in the events of the Pontic Steppe from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD.
They are often regarded as connected to the contemporaneous Eurasian steppe state of Yancai (or Yentsai) mentioned in ancient China records. The Alans, first mentioned by Middle Eastern and European scholars in the 1st century AD, are regarded as successors of the Aorsi.
During the reign of Pharnaces II of the Bosporan Kingdom, according to Strabo, king Spadines of the Aorsi along the Tanais could muster a force of 200,000 horsemen, while the Upper Aorsi could muster even more.
In the Annals, Tacitus (c. AD 56 – after 117) writes that in the Bosporan War of 49 AD, the Adorsi king Eunones supported the Pro-Ancient Rome faction of Tiberius Julius Cotys I, while the king Zorsines of the Siraces supported the anti-Roman Tiberius Julius Mithridates.Tacitus. Together with Roman cohorts and Roman-armed Bosporans, the Aorsi besieged the poorly fortified town of the Siraces and massacred its population, forcing their king Zorsines to yield hostages and prostrate himself before the image of Roman emperor Claudius.Tacitus. Tacitus.
Facing inevitable defeat, Mithridates surrendered and threw himself before the feet of Eunones.Tacitus. Eunones was deeply moved by Mithridates' plight, and sent envoys to Claudius supporting Mithridates' request to be executed without a Roman triumph.Tacitus. Claudius agreed in a letter to Eunones, and although Mithridates was eventually brought to Rome through Pontus, he was spared from execution and instead exiled.Tacitus. Tacitus. After the Bosporan War the Siraces were significantly weakened while the Aorsi rose in strength.
Y. A. Zadneprovskiy suggests that the subjugation of Yancai by Kangju occurred in the 1st century BC. The westward expansion of Kangju obliged many of the Aorsi and other Sarmatians to migrate westwards. This migration contributed significantly to the Migration Period in Europe, which played an important role in world history.
In the 1st century AD, the Alans achieved a dominant position among the Sarmatians living between the Don River and the Caspian Sea. The Alans were a people from the east closely related to the Aorsi, whom they either absorbed or conquered. Some of the Aorsi appear to have migrated west to the north of Crimea, where they maintained a semi-independent existence. Ptolemy also speaks of the Alanorsi, suggesting that a fusion of some sorts between them had occurred.
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