Iazyges - Nomads or Not?

[Macedon]

Regarding the text itself, it really says "in the Scythian manner" and refers to the manner of setting up the bridge, that is some men occupying with the framework and others with the platform. He does not call the bridge itself "Scythian" but the manner the builders are used.

[Michael Kerr]

Thank you for your response & correction to translation but I don't think it is just a term for the manner in which teams are organised or used unless Scythians had some fame through their ability to erect rough structures for use in winters quickly, maybe they arranged their raiding parties, some raiders to come with planking & tools, some with brushwood or reeds & probably rope & these groups could assemble a reasonably sturdy plank “floating" bridge on regular foundations of brushwood (me surmising here & floating on thin ice pardon the pun but could raiding parties reach a prearranged & well tested spot on ice with spare horses & wagons loaded with wood & tools, use materials to build structure & return with same wagons & horses loaded with booty, livestock & hostages to recross bridge & leave bridge & let river destroy bridge in thaw.) but Maurice must have had a wealth of examples of previous Roman engineering feats and how working parties were used for examples so why mention “in the Scythian manner" so the fact that he is referring to in the Scythian manner might mean that their methods of erecting these floating bridges must have over time become known to the Romans so IMHO I must disagree about it meaning how work groups were used although you have me at a disadvantage as I only have the English translation & I can't read Greek. I am by no means suggesting that “Scythians" were expert bridge builders who could throw a quick pontoon bridge over a wide river like Trajan's pontoon bridge on the Danube on Trajan's Column my comment about Scythians being specialist bridge engineers was meant to be tongue in cheek but couldn't Maurice have meant a simple bridge of reeds, twigs or brushwood foundations to distribute weight on ice with a rough form of planking for horse traffic or could he be referring to a cheap easy to assemble structure where with easy access to reeds & trees which I think Scythians/Sarmatians would have found & used in abundance on Danube River for winter raids, maybe they carried their own wood as a lot of steppe raiders had teams of 2 to 4 horses so maybe they carried wood on spare horses as Maurice suggested in his treatise that Roman troops do but could he simply be saying that Scythians/steppe peoples were known in his time for erecting these ice traversing structures in his treatise & something commanders of later Roman armies probably adopted.
Regards
Michael Kerr

[Macedon]

"καὶ γεφυρωμάτων κατασκευάς, εἰ δυνατὸν, τὰς λεγομένας πλωτάς, ὥστε ἀσκόπως τὰς διελεύσεις τῶν ποταμῶν γίνεσθαι, πολλῶν ὄντων καὶ δυσβάτων ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ αὐτῶν· καὶ κατὰ τὸ Σκυθικὸν σχῆμα, τοὺς μὲν γεφυροῦν, τοὺς δὲ πουλπιτοῦν."

"and constructions of bridging, if possible, the so-called "floating", so that the crossing of the rivers may be effected without being seen, since there are many (rivers) and difficult to cross in their country. And in the Scythian manner, some building the bridge, others the platform."

This is the translation, practically word for word. The "in Scythian manner" can, in my opinion, only be linked with the teams of men working on the construction grammatically, but whether the intention of Maurice was another, I of course cannot say. In order to support that he is generally speaking about the type of the bridge, we have to first assume that the Greek is either corrupt or simply a mistake (or just bad expression) on the part of the author.

Dennis has made some mistakes and his translation here is a bit misleading. For example the "askopos" means "without being seen" and he mistook it for "akopos", which means "effortlessly" (unless he used a different Greek version of the text where this is indeed different). His "Build them in Scythian manner, some men erecting the framework, others laying down the planks." is also problematic and as he has done, he seems to leave space in order for the sentence to be interpreted the way you wish to, but it is too English in logic and in Greek you cannot really do that properly. Plus, the building materials he has instructed to be pre-constructed and carried are Roman and not Scythian, if he wished to describe a bridge being made as the Scythians would, he would, always in my opinion, have expressed it differently. He is not describing the building of a bridge construction being made with local materials.

[Michael Kerr]

Macedon wrote:

"and constructions of bridging, if possible, the so-called "floating", so that the crossing of the rivers may be effected without being seen, since there are many (rivers) and difficult to cross in their country. And in the Scythian manner, some building the bridge, others the platform."

I see your point about the difficulty of translating Greek text as Dennis's text reads build them in the Scythian manner, some men erecting the framework, others laying the planks but I do feel Scythians (I don't think the Romans had contact with the Scythians, unlike the Greeks except maybe Bosporan cities so Scythian could mean any number of different Steppe people from Sarmatian, Alan, Hun through to Avar by Maurice's time) must of gained some notoriety for bridging streams reasonably quickly undetected &how they went about their business to achieve this task and maybe the Romans adopted this method and improved it over time or why would Maurice mention it but I suppose we must agree to disagree, however I was intrigued by the term “the so-called floating" bridge & I searched for floating/pontoon bridges and found an entry in Vegetius's De Re Militari Book III Dispositions for action/passages Of rivers where he talks about different means of crossing rivers & he mentions a few methods but adds.

“But the most commodious invention is that of the small boats hollowed out of one piece of timber and very light both by their make and the quality of the wood. The army always has a number of these boats upon carriages, together with a sufficient quantity of planks and iron nails. Thus with the help of cables to lash the boats together, a bridge is instantly constructed, which for the time has the solidity of a bridge of stone."

Unfortunately he doesn't elaborate where this practice originated (so no help to me in my argument as Vegetius probably got this from an earlier source) but maybe this was the type of “floating" bridge alluded to in the Strategikon.
Just as a matter of interest Maurice mentions in
Strategikon Book VII Strategy. The points which the general must consider
Camps and maintenance of the horses in them.

When the enemy is approaching our camp, and especially if it looks as though the fighting is to be done in the Scythian manner, our options are as follows.

Does the Greek text match this translation? Sorry again for straying off topic but I don't know if this topic has enough legs to warrant its own thread.
Regards
Michael Kerr

[Macedon]

"Χρὴ ἐν τοῖς ἀπλήκτοις τῶν πολεμίων ἐγγιζόντων καὶ προσδοκωμένου πολέμου Σκυθικοῦ μάλιστα γίνεσθαι..."

"It is necessary, when the enemy are approaching the camps, and especially if a Scythian war is expected,..."

So, yes, the translation of Dennis here retains the meaning of the sentence. "A Scythian war" here is obviously and correctly so, interpreted as "war in the Scythian manner", it is very usual in (ancient) Greek to use adjectives in this way.