Sarmatiana: A List of References, Old & New

[Alanus]

Thank you, Holly and Michael.
Nice to resurrect an old thread with new material. It's becoming a great data-base.

I'm not sure if these have been listed, but a "really old" one is Records of The Grand Historian (aka Sima Qian) Han Dynasty II, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia, 1993 revised. Sima Qian continues with the Han Dynasty by lengthy details on Emperor Wu Di... being the first ruler to contact and commence trade with the Wusun and Yue-chi. Thus we have an introduction to the "heavenly horses" and the "blood sweating horses," exceedingly similar to the Altai breed and the later Akhal-teke.

Another volume (somewhat dated) with general info on the steppe cultures is, The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia, by Rene Grousset, translated by Naomi Walford, 1970, Rutgers. Grousset loved his Persians and Mongols, somewhat at the expense of other and earlier steppe tribes, but he does mention "nomad hordes" in the first four or five dozen pages. Not worth buying but interesting in his seeming dismissal of the Saka and Alans. So, find it in a library and have a chuckle.

Well, anyway. Watch out for those "hordes" or they'll get-cha!