The Maeotian Swamp or Maeotian Marshes (, ''hē Maiōtis límnē'', literally ''Maeotian Lake''; ) was a name applied in antiquity variously to the

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s at the

mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...

of the Tanais River in

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

(the modern Don in southern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) and to the entire

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

which it forms there. The sea was also known as the (, ''hē Maiōtis límnē''; ) among other names. The people who lived around the sea were known as the

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

, although it remains unclear which was named for which.James, Edward Boucher
"Maeotae" and "Maeotis Palus"
in the ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'', , . Walton & Maberly (London), 1857. Accessed 26 Aug 2014. The

Kerch Strait The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is to wide and up ...

joins the Sea of Azov and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. The

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

were a tribe of the Maeotes. To the south of the Maeotes, east of the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

were the Sindes, their lands known as Scythia Sindica. The marshes served to check the westward migration of nomad peoples from the

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. The

Iazyges The Iazyges () were an ancient Sarmatians, Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in 200BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In , they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Pannonian steppe between the Danube ...

, a

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

tribe, were first heard of on the Maeotis, where they were among the allies of

Mithridates II of Parthia Mithridates II (also spelled Mithradates II or Mihrdad II; ''Mihrdāt'') was king of the Parthian Empire from 124 to 91 BC. Considered one of the greatest of his dynasty to ever rule, he was known as Mithridates the Great in antiquity. Mithridate ...

. The untrustworthy 4th-century ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'' claims the Roman emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus secured a victory over the

Alans The Alans () were an ancient and medieval Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today North Caucasus – while some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded ...

near the marshes during his brief reign in 275 and 276.

References

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