Editing Darius the Great (section)

===European Scythian campaign===
{{main|European Scythian campaign of Darius I}}
[[Image:DariusScythes fr.svg|thumb|300px|Map of the European Scythian campaign of Darius I]]
The [[Scythians]] were a group of north Iranian nomadic tribes, speaking an [[Eastern Iranian language]] ([[Scythian languages]]) who had invaded [[Media (region)|Media]], killed [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] in battle, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between Central Asia and the shores of the [[Black Sea]] as they lived between the [[Danube]] River, River [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] and the Black Sea.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1994|pp=41–50}}{{sfn|Woolf|Maddocks|Balkwill|McCarthy|2004|p=686}}

Darius crossed the [[Black Sea]] at the [[Bosphorus]] Straits using a bridge of boats. Darius conquered large portions of Eastern Europe, even crossing the [[Danube]] to wage war on the [[Scythians]]. Darius invaded European [[Scythia]] in 513 BCE,<ref>Miroslav Ivanov Vasilev. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Rh2oBgAAQBAJ "The Policy of Darius and Xerxes towards Thrace and Macedonia"] {{ISBN|90-04-28215-7}} p.  70</ref> where the Scythians evaded Darius's army, using feints and retreating eastwards while laying waste to the countryside, by blocking wells, intercepting convoys, destroying pastures and continuous skirmishes against Darius's army.{{sfn|Ross|Wells|2004|p=291}} Seeking to fight with the Scythians, Darius's army chased the Scythian army deep into Scythian lands, where there were no cities to conquer and no supplies to forage. In frustration Darius sent a letter to the Scythian ruler [[Idanthyrsus]] to fight or surrender. The ruler replied that he would not stand and fight with Darius until they found the graves of their fathers and tried to destroy them. Until then, they would continue their strategy as they had no cities or cultivated lands to lose.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=68–69}}

Despite the evading tactics of the Scythians, Darius's campaign was so far relatively successful.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|pp=239–243}} As presented by [[Herodotus]], the tactics used by the Scythians resulted in the loss of their best lands and of damage to their loyal allies.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|pp=239–243}} This gave Darius the initiative.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|pp=239–243}} As he moved eastwards in the cultivated lands of the Scythians in Eastern Europe proper, he remained resupplied by his fleet and lived to an extent off the land.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|pp=239–243}} While moving eastwards in the European Scythian lands, he captured the large fortified city of the [[Budini]], one of the allies of the Scythians, and burnt it.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|pp=239–243}}

Darius eventually ordered a halt at the banks of Oarus, where he built "eight great forts, some {{convert|8|mi|km|0|disp=sqbr|spell=in}} distant from each other", no doubt as a frontier defence.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|pp=239–243}} In his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', [[Herodotus]] states that the ruins of the forts were still standing in his day.{{sfn|Herodotus|2015|pp=352}} After chasing the Scythians for a month, Darius's army was suffering losses due to fatigue, privation and sickness. Concerned about losing more of his troops, Darius halted the march at the banks of the [[Volga River]] and headed towards [[Thrace]].{{sfn|Chaliand|2004|p=16}} He had conquered enough Scythian territory to force the Scythians to respect the Persian forces.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1994|pp=41–50}}{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=9–10}}