Transliterated Variants: Saka, Shaka, Sakai, Sacae, Scyth, Scythi, Scythia, Scythae, Scythiae, Scythes, Sythia, Skityai, Skuthai, Skythai, Skythia, Scythia, Scynthia, Scynthius, Sclaveni, Scoloti, Skodiai, Scotti, Skoloti, Skoth-ai, Skuth-a, Skoth, Skuthes, Askuza, Asguzai, Askuasa, Iskuzai

• They were horse-riding nomadic tribes who dominated the Central-Asian or Eurasian Steppe during a broad time-frame known as Classical Antiquity.
• They, and many of their descendant peoples, were skilled in horse archery and are now regarded as Horse archer civilizations.
• Much of what is known of them we gain from the Histories (Book IV), a 5th century BC work by the Greek historian Herodotus. He focused primarily on their western branch, not surpisingly noting their proximity to Greece. He called them Scythian. He generally called the more eastern branch the Sacae.
• Their origin is generally dated to the 8th century BCE, near the time of the forced settlement of the same region by Assyria with Israelites.
• At some point in their history, they began calling themselves by the term "Skudat" and/or "Skuda", which many have suspected to mean Archers (Ref?).
• The Assyrians called them "Ashkuz", "Khumri" (Ref?), and "Gimirri".
• The Classical Greeks called them "Skythai" or "Scythian".
• The Persians called them "Saka".
• The Romans called them "Scythiae".
• Later in their history, the Chinese called them "Sai".
• The Behistun Rock Inscription is an message cut into the side of a mountain in modern-day western Iran, depicting the war accomplishments of Darius the Great. The same text was inscribed in three ancient cuneiform languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (Akkadian), the latter being spoken by both the Babylonians and Assyrians. The monument is "monumental" for many reasons, but for the purpose of further identifying "Saka" peoples, the inscription makes it clear that the Scythians were also called "Gimirri" (Cimmerian) in the Assyrian and Babylonian tongue. (Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets by E. Raymond Capt.)
• The Parthian Empire was largely made up of Saka-Scythian stock and allied frequently with non-Parthian Saka-Scythians.
• The 1st century Roman (Jewish) historian Flavius Josephus depicted the Parthian-Sacae-Scythian peoples as descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, a people carried into captivity by Assyria more than 700 years earlier. "...the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers." Antiquities of the Jews, 11.5.2, from The Works of Josephus, translated by Whiston, W., Hendrickson Publishers. 1987. 13th Printing. p. 294
• “We have reasonable grounds for regarding the Gimirri, or Cimmerians, who first appeared on the confines of Assyria and Media in the seventh century B.C., and the Sacae of the Behistun Rock, nearly two centuries later, as identical with the Beth-Khumree of Samaria, or the Ten Tribes of the House of Israel.” -George Rawlinson, note in his translation of History of Herodotus, Book VII, p. 378
• "It should be made clear from the start that the terms 'Cimmerian' and 'Scythian' were interchangeable: in Akkadian the name Iskuzai (Asguzai) occurs only exceptionally. Gimirrai (Gamir) was the normal designation for 'Cimmerians' as well as 'Scythians' in Akkadian." Van Loon, Maurits Nanning. "Urartian Art. Its Distinctive Traits in the Light of New Excavations", Istanbul, 1966. p. 16
• "Evidence from the Hebrew Bible and from Assyrian inscriptions shows clearly that several hundred thousands of Israelites from the Northern Ten Tribes were taken captive in several waves of Assyrian invasion and deported. These deportees were resettled predominantly in the area at the foot of the Caucus Mountains near modern day Armenia. At about that same time, historical sources record that hordes of “nomadic” peoples emerged from this same region, known variously as Scythians and/or Cimmerians. While the relationship between these two groups is unclear, most reputable historical sources admit that their origin and history before the 7th century B.C.E. is unknown. What is known and fairly well documented is the westward migrations of these peoples around the Black Sea, up the Danube River, and into Northern and Central Europe, where they become know variously as Celts, Cimbri, or Gauls. From there the migrations continued into Denmark, Scandinavia, France, the British Isles, and even Spain. Since these were all colonizing nations, the stock of their ancient Scythian/Cimmerian ancestors was distributed throughout the world." Jones, Dennis. UNITED ISRAEL BULLETIN VOLUME 61, NO.1 pg.10-11
• "Chinese sources tell of the construction of the Great Wall in the third century BC and the repulse of various marauding tribes. Forced to head west and eventually south, these tribes displaced others in an ethnic knock-on effect which lasted many decades and spread right across Central Asia. The Parthians from Iran and the Bactrian Greeks from Bactria had both been dislodged by the Shakas coming down from somewhere near the Aral Sea. But the Shakas had in turn been dislodged by the Yueh-chi who had themselves been driven west to Xinjiang by the Hiung-nu. The last, otherwise the Huns, would happily not reach India for a long time. But the Yueh-chi continued to press on the Shakas, and having forced them out of Bactria, it was sections or clans of these Yueh-chi who next began to move down into India in the second half of the first century AD." Historian John Keay. pg.110