Late Sarmatian or early Alan costume

[Alanus]

True again.

I was referring to "cultures" in a tight context. There was a difference between the Sauromatae-Sarmatian culture and the more eastern Alanic culture, probably because the Sarmatians were influenced by the Scythians and Greeks. They had "slaves," actually more like what we now call "low clients," and they used short Scythian-styled swords. (Tacitus) The Alans attached no slaves to themselves, and all considered themselves free, or "noble" as Ammianus phrased it. Only when they joined the East Germanic tribes did this notion change, since the Goths and Vandals had "unfree" clients. But in either case, these unfree were not anything like the Roman concept of a slave.

The Roxolani used a longer sword with possibly a lighter blade, maybe a Chinese influence upon the early Saka. When the Roxolani arrived upon the Hungarian Plain and combined their culture with the Iazyges (Saraumatae), then we find the term "Sarmatians" used to describe this group. After the end of the 2n century, the Hungarian graves change, more tumuli and the presence of longer swords. (Harmatta)

I was simply saying that the overall influences upon the Sauromatae- Sarmatians was heavily western (Scythian-Greek), while the Alanic culture has a definate eastern influence (Chinese-Hunnic). The people buried in the kurgans of the Altai, Issyk Kul, and then at Filippovka have Asiatic features in the nasal and facial structure (aka Saka-Massagetae-Alanic) while the Sauromatae-Scythians do not seem to have these features. The Sauromatae spoke a language very close to Scythian, but Herodotus explained that "they never learnt it (Scythian) properly;" while the Alans spoke a northeastern Iranian tongue that was related to Sogdian; the implication, I suppose, being that both of these more eastern cultures extended from the Saka, the "tall hat Scythians."

But as you note, these Sarmatian and Alanic cultures were further influenced by the East Germans and then the Romans. I agree-- no culture stands alone... infused enough that Attila and his brother Blaeda had Gothic names.

Back to costume, obviously some cultural differences were never accepted. The Huns, just as Turkic peoples today, wore loose-fitting boots and trousers that the Alans never seem to have adopted. The pill-box hat may have been Turkic but most likely Sogdian, and it was even adopted as informal dress in the Roman army... as was the ancient steppe-Indic swastika.

Alanus
A.J. Campbell