Editing Cimmerians (section)

=====Alliance with the Medes=====
The Neo-Assyrian Empire did not remain on a defensive footing in response to the activities of the allied Cimmerian, Mannaean and Scythian forces, and it soon undertook diplomatic initiatives to separate Aḫšēri from his allies: by 672 BC, the Scythians had become the allies of the Neo-Assyrian Empire after Išpakāya's successor, [[Bartatua]], had asked for the hand of the eldest daughter of Esarhaddon, the Neo-Assyrian princess [[Šērūʾa-ēṭirat]], and promised to form an alliance treaty with the Neo-Assyrian Empire in an act of careful diplomacy.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1954|p=294}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=131}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Barnett|1982|p=359}}|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991a|p=129}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=564}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=509}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|pp=19–21}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=92–93}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=114}}|{{harvnb|Dugaw|Lipschits|Stiebel|2020|p=66}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|pp=749–750}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref>

The marriage between Bartatua and the Šērūʾa-ēṭirat likely took place,<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|1954|p=294}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=509}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|pp=19–21}}}}</ref> in consequence of which{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} the Scythians ceased to be referred to as an enemy force in the Neo-Assyrian records{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=92-93}} and the alliance between the Scythian kingdom and the Neo-Assyrian Empire was concluded,{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=8-9}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} following which the Scythian kingdom therefore remained on friendly terms with the Neo-Assyrian Empire and maintained peaceful relations with it.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}

The eastern Cimmerians meanwhile remained hostile to Assyria,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=94}} and, along with the Medes, were the allies of Ellipi against an invasion by the Neo-Assyrian Empire between {{c.|672}} and {{c.|669 BC}}.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=90-91}} The eastern Cimmerians also attacked the Assyrian province of [[Shupria|Šubria]] during this time.{{sfn|Barnett|1982|p=358}}{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}

It consequently became more difficult for the Neo-Assyrian Empire to control the Median city-states and the various polities in the [[Zagros Mountains]] at this point.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}} Soon, the Median chieftains [[Kaštaritu]] of [[Kār-Kaššî]] and Dusanni of Šaparda became powerful enough that their respective polities were seen by the Neo-Assyrian Empire as major forces in Media.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}} And when Kaštaritu rebelled against the Neo-Assyrian Empire and founded the first independent kingdom of the Medes after successfully liberating them from Neo-Assyrian overlordship in {{c.|671}} to {{c.|669 BC}},{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=83-84}} the eastern Cimmerians were allied to him.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Barnett|1982|p=358}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=105}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=564}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=85}}}}</ref>

Around {{c.|669 BC}}, the eastern Cimmerians experienced a defeat by the Neo-Assyrian army and were forced to retreat into their own territory,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=85}} and they were still on the territory of Mannai by {{c.|667 BC}}.{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}

However, some time in the late 660s or early 650s BC, the eastern Cimmerians left the Iranian Plateau and retreated to the west into Anatolia to join the western Cimmerians operating there: since Aḫšēri had depended on his alliance with the Cimmerians and Scythians to protect his kingdom from attacks by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, their departure provided Esarhaddon's successor to the Neo-Assyrian kingship, [[Ashurbanipal]] ({{reign|669|631 BC}}), with the opportunity to attack Mannai and recover some of the settlements which the Mannaeans had previously captured. And although Aḫšēri himself was able to withstand the Neo-Assyrian invasion, he had depended on the Cimmerians to suppress internal opposition to his rule, and their absence weakened him enough that he was soon deposed and killed by a popular rebellion which his son Uallî repressed before ascending to the throne of Mannai and submitting to the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=752-754}}

Thus, Ashurbanipal's situation improved once he was finally re-establish Neo-Assyrian overlordship over Mannai thanks to the retreat of the Cimmerians from the Iranian Plateau.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}