Marina Silva, Thomas Booth, Joanna Moore, Kyriaki Anastasiadou, Don Walker, Alexandre Gilardet, Christopher Barrington, Monica Kelly, Mia Williams, Michael Henderson, Alex Smith, David Bowsher, Janet Montgomery, Pontus Skoglund
In the second century CE the Roman Empire had increasing contact with Sarmatians, nomadic Iranian speakers occupying an area stretching from the Pontic-Caspian steppe to the Carpathian mountains, both in the Caucasus and in the Danubian borders of the empire.1 , 2 , 3 In 175 CE, following their defeat in the Marcomannic Wars, emperor Marcus Aurelius drafted Sarmatian cavalry into Roman legions and deployed 5,500 Sarmatian soldiers to Britain, as recorded by contemporary historian Cassius Dio.4 , 5 Little is known about where the Sarmatian cavalry were stationed, and no individuals connected with this historically attested event have been identified to date, leaving its impact on Britain largely unknown...
December 11, 2023: Current Biology: CB