Migrations and Invasions: How Steppe Nomads Shaped the Near East

Nomadic peoples dwelling on the Eurasian steppes have historically played a major role in shaping the civilizations of the Near East. On three occasions, nomads quitting their ancestral grasslands for the Near East have changed the course of civilization. Their gateway has been Transoxiana (Arabic Mawarannahr), the lands between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and south of the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) Rivers that today comprise Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, southern Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. This region sustained irrigated agriculture and cities from early Antiquity, but also its grasslands offered pastures for the herds and flocks of nomads. On three occasions, nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes crossed the Jaxartes River and entered the Near East. In so doing, they defined the modern Middle East.