page_title: Scythian campaign of Darius I
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Scythian campaign of Darius I / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Saka beyond the sea, Xerxes I tomb relief
context_page_description: The Scythian campaign of Darius I was a military expedition into parts of European Scythia by Darius I, the king of the Achaemenid Empire, in 513 BC. The Scythians were an East Iranian-speaking people who had invaded Media, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between Central Asia and the shores of the Black Sea as they lived between the Danube and Don Rivers and the Black Sea. The campaigns took place in parts of what is now the Balkans, Ukraine and southern Russia.
  The Scythians managed to avoid a direct confrontation with the Persian army due to their mobile lifestyle and lack of any settlement, while the Persians suffered losses due to the Scythians' scorched earth tactic. However, the Persians conquered much of their cultivated lands and damaged their allies, forcing the Scythians to respect the Persian force. Darius halted the advance to avoid further losses, and built a defence line.
context_section_description: As the Cambridge History states, Darius inflicted widespread damage on the Scythians and their allies, weakened the prestige of the Royal Scythians especially, and upset the balance of power among the various peoples of the region. But because he failed to bring the Scythians to battle, he was unable to secure any territorial gains and he did not even complete the building of the forts at what could have been a frontier. The campaign was little more than an expensive stalemate. As winter now had come, Darius did not return to attack, and marched towards Thrace, towards his firmly secured territories.
  Some form of Persian authority perhaps remained after Darius withdrew, for the "Scythians across the Sea" (Old Persian cuneiform: 𐎿𐎣𐎠𐏐𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹𐏐𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹, Sakā tayaiya paradraya) are mentioned at Naqsh-e Rustam as one of the peoples the king conquered outside of Persia. Persian rule could have never extended beyond the Danube in any strength, however.
caption: "Scythian across the Sea", depicted as a soldier of the Achaemenid army circa 480 BCE on the tomb of Xerxes I at Naqsh-e Rustam.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "595", "Image ImageLength": "1000", "Image DateTime": "2018:10:21 08:57:38", "Image Software": "PaintShop Pro 20,00", "Image InterColorProfile": "[]", "Image ExifOffset": "86", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3414", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6723", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "595", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1000"}