Ancient history

Tomiris, the queen of the Massagetae who defeated and killed Cyrus the Great

If history, due to reasons that are too long to deal with, is predominantly led by male characters, even more so in military history, since war has been almost exclusively a matter of that sex.

Now, there is no shortage in the chronicles of references to female warriors or that they stood at the head of their armies in extreme situations. One of the most prominent, yet lesser known, was the queen of the Massagetae, Tomiris , who defeated and killed Cyrus II the Great himself .

The massagete It was a people of nomadic life that lived in ancient times in the steppe of Central Asia , a region between the northeast of the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea, coinciding with parts of the current territories of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Although they were somewhat related to the Getae, according to what little we know about their language, they belonged to the Iranian group. and bordered on the Scythians , a confederation of tribes with whom some associate them as well.

As is often the case with the peoples of the 6th century BC, it is Herodotus in his Nine Books of History the main source of information (Book I, CCV-CCXVI) and who points out the similarities between the Massagetae and the aforementioned Scythians in their mastery of equestrian technique, fighting with a bow and war axe, and the use of precious metals ( gold, bronze) in breastplates as they do not have iron.

The Greek historian also reviews customs of his daily life , as they worshiped the sun, they made religious sacrifices of horses, they practiced livestock and not agriculture, they had a great fondness for drinking fermented milk and they did not marry, marrying without more, although the women used to live together; women were considered important enough to allow them to occupy the throne.

This condition of the feminine massageta world, unusual in ancient times, undoubtedly contributed to originate the legend of Tomiris about his victory over Cyrus II, the Achaemenid king of Persia who forged an empire in the Near East - the largest of his time, which lasted until its conquest by Alexander - and who finally perished at the hands of the Massagetae. /p>

In this context, the legendary story collected by Herodotus arises, according to which Cyrus fell in love with her and she offered him marriage but her offer was rejected, which led the offended king to direct his war machine towards that territory in a campaign of conquest .

The Persian troops advanced forcefully and the others met them under the command of Espargapises , son of the queen and general in chief, who put up a fight and fought a battle that, although it was not decisive, in practice meant that they had managed to stop the invasion for the time being. The swords were still raised but, says the Greek author, everything was due to a trap:knowing that his enemies were not used to drinking wine , the Persians abandoned their stores and equipment, leaving behind a copious amount of that drink.

And the Massagetae soldiers bit,getting drunk to celebrate that they had managed to stop the powerful Ciro. He took the opportunity to make an incursion in which he took them by surprise , killing a third of the troops and capturing a large number of prisoners, including Espargapises. Her mother, outraged by the trick, sent an email to the enemy ranks recriminating the deception, demanding the release of her offspring and accusing Ciro of being a man insatiable with blood , warning him with one of those literary phrases that make history: I swear to you by the sun, supreme lord of the Massagetae, that no matter how thirsty you are for blood, I will satisfy you with it.

Unfortunately for her, her son, overwhelmed by shame in the face of such a disaster, chose to commit suicide . Already immersed in hatred, Tomiris personally led her warriors and charged at the Persians, crushing them; the attack was so sudden and brutal that Ciro himself died fighting and his corpse was decapitated, taking his head before the resentful queen.

Then she ordered a skin to be filled with human blood and immersed the head of the fallen monarch in it while she blurted out a memorable declaration to that remains:You lost my son by cheating on him even though I was alive and I am your winner . But I will satisfy you with blood keeping my word. This is how Herodotus tells it, but also chroniclers such as Strabo, Polyenus, Cassiodorus or Jordanes, among many others, explain that Cyrus the Great he died trying to conquer the Massagetae, probably between 559 and 530 BC. Xenophon, on the other hand, says that he did not die at the front but in bed; the truth is that there is no certainty about how his final was .

Tomiris, which today has given its name to a planetoid, went on to enrich popular culture of the peoples of Central Asia, comparing her figure and her historical dimension with that of other great warrior women of the area, such as Zenobia (who tried to defend Palmyra from the Roman invasion), Hypsicrates (the concubine of Mithridates VI, whom she succeeded at the head of Pontus against Republican Rome), Artemisia (the queen of Halicarnassus who led her own squadron against the Greeks at Salamis) or even Penthesilea (the queen of the mythical Amazons).