Cossaei () were a warlike tribe inhabiting a mountainous district called Cossaea (Κοσσαία), likely related to the
Kassites
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylo ...
, on the borders of
Susiana to the south, and of
Media Magna to the north. They were a
hill tribe, and were armed with bows and arrows. Their land was sterile and unproductive, and they lived the life of robbers.
Strabo speaks of them as constantly at war with their neighbours, and testifies to their power when he says that they sent 13,000 men to assist the
Elymaei in a war against the people of
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...
and
Susiana.
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
led his forces against them and subdued them, at least for a time. The
Persian kings had never been able to reduce them, but had been in the habit of paying them a tribute, when they moved their court annually from
Ecbatana
Ecbatana ( peo, 𐏃𐎥𐎶𐎫𐎠𐎴 ''Hagmatāna'' or ''Haŋmatāna'', literally "the place of gathering" according to Darius I's inscription at Bisotun; Persian: هگمتانه; Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭧𐭬𐭲𐭠𐭭; Parthian: 𐭀� ...
to
Babylon, to pass their winter at the latter place. In character, they seem to have resembled the
Bakhtiari tribes, who now roam over the same mountains which they formerly occupied.
There is some variety in the orthography of their name in ancient authors.
Pliny calls them Cussii, and in some places they are apparently confounded with the
Cissii.
[Plin., ''H. N.'', vi. 27. s. 31.] It is possible that their name may be connected with the modern
Khuzistan.
References
{{SmithDGRG, title=Cossaei
Ancient peoples of Asia
Opponents of Alexander the Great