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Bartatua or Protothyes was a Scythians king who ruled during the period of the Scythian presence in Western Asia in the 7th century BCE.
Under Scythian pressure, the Cimmerians migrated to the south along the coast of the Black Sea and reached Anatolia, and the Scythians in turn later expanded to the south, following the coast of the Caspian Sea and arrived in the steppes in the Northern Caucasus, from where they expanded into the region of present-day Azerbaijan, where they settled and turned eastern South Caucasus into their centre of operations in Western Asia until the early 6th century BCE, with this presence in Western Asia being an extension of the Scythian kingdom of the steppes. During this period, the Scythian kings' headquarters were located in the steppes to the north of Caucasus, and contact with the civilisation of Western Asia would have an important influence on the formation of Scythian culture.
In the later mid-670s BCE, in alliance with an eastern group of the Cimmerians who had migrated into the Iranian plateau, Bartatua's Scythians were menacing the Assyrian provinces of Parsua and Bīt Ḫamban, and these joint Cimmerian-Scythian forces together were threatening communication between the Assyrian Empire and its vassal of Ḫubuškia. However, the Assyrians had started negotiations with Bartatua immediately after Išpakaia's death, and in 672 BCE he asked for the hand of Esarhaddon's daughter Šērūʾa-ēṭirat in marriage, which is attested in Esarhaddon's questions to the oracle of the Sun-god Utu. Whether this marriage did happen is not recorded in the Assyrian texts, but the close alliance between the Scythians and Assyria under the reigns of Bartatua and his son and successor Madyes suggests that the Assyrian priests did approve of this marriage between a daughter of an Assyrian king and a nomadic lord, which had never happened before in Assyrian history; the Scythians were thus brought into a marital alliance with Assyria, and Šērūʾa-ēṭirat was likely the mother of Bartatua's son Madyes.: "In approximately 672 BCE the Scythian king ( of Hdt., 1.103) asked for the hand of the daughter of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, promising to conclude a treaty of alliance with Assyria. It is probable that this marriage took place and the alliance also came into being (SAA IV, no. 20; Ivantchik, 1993, pp. 93-94; 205-9).": "С одной стороны, Мадий, вероятно, полуассириец, даже будучи «этническим» полускифом (его предшественник и, вероятно, отец, ‒ царь скифов Прототий, женой которого была дочь ассирийского царя Ассархаддона)" On
Bartatua's marriage to Šērūʾa-ēṭirat required that he would pledge allegiance to Assyria as a vassal, and in accordance to Assyrian law, the territories ruled by him would be his fief granted by the Assyrian king, which made the Scythian presence in Western Asia a nominal extension of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Under this arrangement, the power of the Scythians in Western Asia heavily depended on their cooperation with the Assyrian Empire; henceforth, the Scythians remained allies of the Assyrian Empire. Around this time, the Urartu king Rusa II might also have enlisted Scythian troops to guard his western borderlands.
Over the course of 660 to 659 BCE, Esarhaddon's son and successor to the Assyrian throne, Ashurbanipal, sent his general Nabû-šar-uṣur to carry out a military campaign against Mannae, who had previously, in alliance with Bartatua's predecessor Išpakaia, expanded their territories at the expense of Assyria. After trying in vain to stop the Assyrian advance, the Mannaean king Aḫsēri was overthrown by a popular rebellion and was killed along with most of his dynasty by the revolting populace, after which his surviving son Ualli requested help from Assyria, which was provided through the intermediary of Ashurbanipal's relative, the Scythian king, after which the Scythians extended their hegemony to Mannai itself.
The marital alliance between the Scythian king and the Assyrian ruling dynasty, as well as the proximity of the Scythians with the Assyrian-influenced Mannai and Urartu placed the Scythians under the strong influence of Assyrian culture.
Bartatua was succeeded by his son, Madyes, who would bring Scythian power in Western Asia to its peak.
| + Inscription of Saqqez | |||
| 1 | shekel]]. And it was presented to the king. | ||
| 2 | King Partitavas, the masters of the land pro- | ||
| 3 | -perty |
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