The Dandarii or Dandaridae were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

describes them as living among the

Maeotae The Maeotians (; ; ) were an ancient people dwelling along the Sea of Azov, which was known in antiquity as the " Maeotian marshes" or "Lake Maeotis".James, Edward Boucher"Maeotae" and "Maeotis Palus"in the ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geogr ...

, Sindi, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi,

Tarpetes The Tarpetes were an ancient people who once lived along the Maeotian marshes Palus Maeotis, in present-day Russia. The Tarpetes were one of many groups in that area that vanished, leaving little or no trace. Strabo describes them living among th ...

Obidiaceni The Obidiaceni were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi (people), Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri (Maeotae), Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Aspurg ...

Sittaceni The Sittaceni were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among others (x ...

Dosci The Dosci (Doschi) - were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi (people), Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri (Maeotae), Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittacen ...

, and Aspurgiani, among others. The Dandarii were one of the

tribes, who lived in the 1st millennium BC on the east and the south-eastern coast of the Azov sea. In the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

'', they were concluded to have been one of the ancestors to the

Circassians The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe (Adyghe language, Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in t ...

. Maeotae were engaged in farming and fishing. In the 4th–3rd centuries BC many of the Maeotae tribes were included into the

Bosporan Kingdom The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (; ), was an ancient Greco-Scythians, Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, centered in the present-day ...

.Меоты

References

Strabo's book 11 on-line
*{{SmithDGRG Peoples of the Caucasus History of the North Caucasus Kabardino-Balkaria Ancient Circassian tribes Ancient peoples of Russia