Scythian campaign of Darius I

Scythian campaign of Darius I
Map of the European Scythian campaign of Darius I
Date 513 BC Location Balkans, Ukraine and Southern Russia Result Scythian victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Achaemenid Empire	Royal Scythians
Commanders and leaders
Darius I Megabazus Ionian allies: Miltiades the Athenian Strattis of Chios Histiaeus of Miletus Coes of Mytilene	Idanthyrsus Scopasis Unnamed others
Strength
700,000 total 80,000 remained after the withdrawal of the Persians (Herodotus)[3][4]	Unknown number of Scythian horsemen[5]
Casualties and losses
Most of army[1]	Unknown

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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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 (except Gelonus), 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 consolidate his gains, and built a defence line.

Practically everything that is known of this campaign is from Herodotus's book The Histories; almost no Persian sources exist, and no Scythian ones. As a result, it is difficult to know for sure how much of Herodotus's account is accurate.