Editing Cimmerians (section)

====In Anatolia====
At an unknown time,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210}} the western Cimmerian group moved into Anatolia,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} where it would be particularly active in the regions of Tabal, Phrygia and Lydia{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=82}}{{sfn|Summers|2023|p=116}} and would be involved in wars against these latter two states as well as against the Neo-Assyrian Empire,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=91}} which itself avoided confrontations with the Cimmerians unless doing so was necessary.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=213}}

This Cimmerian movement into Anatolia consisted of a large scale migration, with Cimmerian families taking their mobile possessions, animals, as well as conquered booty, along with them.{{sfn|Summers|2023|p=116}} This migration is archaeologically attested in the form of the expansion of the Scythian culture into this region,{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} although the further details of the exact time and trajectory through which the Cimmerians moved into Anatolia, and whether these movements consisted of a single group or of disparate divisions, are however unknown.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=210}}

=====Defeat by Esarhaddon=====
Around the same time, the rulers of the Neo-Hittite kingdom of [[Cybistra#Iron Age|Ḫubišna]], which occupied a strategic position containing many settlements and routes linking the [[Konya Plain]] with Cilicia, might have demanded help from the Cimmerians against possible Neo-Assyrian attempts to take control of their region following the death of [[Warpalawas II]] of [[Tuwana]], or the Cimmerians might have attempted to invade this region on their own.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}} The Neo-Assyrian Empire reacted to maintain its control of Cilicia by conducting a campaign in 679 BC during which Esarhaddon killed the Cimmerian king Teušpâ and annexed a part of the territory of the kingdom of [[Ḫilakku]] and of the kingdom of Kundi and Sissû in the region of Que.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=131}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}|{{harvnb|Barnett|1982|p=358}}|{{harvnb|Hawkins|1982|p=427}}|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991b|p=127}}|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991c|p=145}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=57–58}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=60–61}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=181}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=38}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=19}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|p=44}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref>

Despite this victory, and although Esarhaddon had managed to stop the advance of Cimmerians in the Neo-Assyrian province of Que so that this latter region remained under Neo-Assyrian control,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}} the military operations were not successful enough for the Assyrians to firmly occupy the areas around of Ḫubišna, nor were they able to secure the borders of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, leaving Que vulnerable to incursions from Tabal, Kuzzurak and Ḫilakku,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=65}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=213-214}} who were allied to the western Cimmerians who were establishing themselves in Anatolia at this time{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=123}} and might still have maintained connections with them even after Esarhaddon's victory at Ḫubišna.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}}

=====Invasion of Phrygia=====
With Urartu incapable of stopping the Cimmerian advance,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=67}} some time around {{c.|675 BC}},{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=73-74}} under their king Dugdammî{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=132}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}} (the Lygdamis of the Greek authors{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}}), the western [[Cimmerian invasion of Phrygia|Cimmerians invaded and destroyed]] the empire of [[Phrygia]], whose king [[Midas]] committed suicide, and sacked its capital of [[Gordion]],<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Vaggione|1973|p=526}}|{{harvnb|Cook|1982|p=196}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}|{{harvnb|Young|1988|p=20}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=624}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=181}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=38}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|p=44}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=67}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=106}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=273–274}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=288–289}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=213}}}}</ref> although they appear to have neither settled within the city nor destroyed its fortifications.{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=634}}

The western Cimmerians consequently settled in Phrygia{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} and subdued part of the [[Phrygians]]{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=74}}{{sfn|Kõiv|2022|p=263}} so that they controlled a large area consisting of Phrygia from its western limits which bordered on [[Lydia]] to its eastern boundaries neighbouring the Neo-Assyrian Empire,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=69}} after which they made [[Cappadocia]] into their centre of operations.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=136}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=213}}}}</ref>

These western Cimmerians soon became sedentary, and by {{c.|670 BC}}, they had established their rule over native Anatolian settlements as well as formed their own settlements in Central Anatolia, with the city of Ḫarzallē or Ḫarṣallē being the capital city of the Cimmerian king Dugdammî. Each of these settlements had rulers referred to by Neo-Assyrian sources as {{lit|city-lords}} ({{langx|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒇽𒂗𒌷𒈨𒌍}}|translit=bēl ālāni}}): these administrators consisted of both Cimmerians and members of other ethnic groups who lived within Dugdammî's kingdom.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=103–104}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=64}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=216}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|pp=218–219}}}}</ref>

According to a tradition later recorded by [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], the Cimmerians found several tens of thousands of [[Medimnos|{{Transliteration|grc|medimnoi}}]] of wheat in the underground granaries of the Phrygian village of Syassos that they used as food for a long time.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=69}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=213}}

=====Activities in Anatolia=====
When Esarhaddon conquered the nearby state of Šubria in 673 BC, Rusa II supported him, attesting of a period of non-aggression between Urartu and Assyria under the reigns of Rusa II and Esarhaddon.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=67}}

Assyrian sources from around this same time also recorded a Cimmerian presence in the area of the Neo-Hittite state of [[Tabal (state)|Tabal]].{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=73}}

And between {{c.|672}} and {{c.|669 BC}}, an Assyrian oracular text recorded that the Cimmerians, together with the Phrygians and the Cilicians, were threatening the Neo-Assyrian Empire's newly conquered territory of [[Melid]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=68}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=74}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}}}</ref>

The western Cimmerians were thus active in Tabal, Ḫilakku and Phrygia in the 670s BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=74}} and, in alliance with these former two states, were attacking the western Neo-Assyrian provinces.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=123}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}} At unknown dates, the western Cimmerians also invaded [[Bithynia]] and [[Paphlagonia]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=69}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=221}}}}</ref>

In the early 660s BC, the power of the Cimmerians grew drastically and they became the masters of Anatolia,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}} where they controlled a large territory{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=23}} bordering Lydia in the west, covering Phrygia around Gordion and the Sangarios river, and reaching the Taurus Mountains in [[Cilicia]] and the borders of Urartu in the east, and encompassing the area bounded by the Black Sea in the north and the Mediterranean Sea in the south.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=70}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}}}</ref>

The core territories of the western Cimmerians were in Central Anatolia between the Konya Plain and the Neo-Assyrian province of Que, but also extended to parts of the Konya Plain itself, including its western parts, and to Cappadocia, as well as to the west of Tabal,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=213}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216}} implying that some of the Neo-Hittite states in and near the Konya Plain had become subjected to the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Summers|2023|p=116}}

The disturbances experienced by the Neo-Assyrian Empire as result of the activities of the Cimmerians in Anatolia led to many of the rulers of this region to try to break away from Neo-Assyrian overlordship,{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=132}} with Ḫilakku having become an independent polity again under the king Sandašarme{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=68}} by the time that Esarhaddon had been succeeded as king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by Ashurbanipal, so that by then the Cimmerians had effectively ended Neo-Assyrian control in Anatolia.{{sfn|Grayson|1991c|p=145}}

=====Reunification of the Cimmerians=====
Soon, in the late 660s or early 650s BC, the western Cimmerians were reinforced by the eastern Cimmerians who had left the western Iranian plateau to move to the west into Anatolia.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}

======First contacts with the Greeks======
[[File:Kimmerer1.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Reproduction of a depiction of Cimmerian mounted archers from a Greek vase.]]
Beginning in the 8th century BC, the [[Ancient Greece|ancient]] [[Greeks]] were first starting to make expeditions in the Black Sea, and encounters with friendly native populations quickly stimulated trade relations and the development of more regular commercial transits, which in turn led to the formation of [[Emporium (antiquity)|trading settlements]].{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=29-30}} The first Greek colony in the Black Sea, founded by settlers from [[Miletus]] around {{c.|750 BC}}, was that of [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]],{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=30}} in whose region the Cimmerians were active at this time.{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=79}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=82}}

The Cimmerians destroyed Sinope during the 7th century BC and killed its founder, Habrōn, after they had invaded Paphlagonia.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2010|p=68}}|{{harvnb|Xydopoulos|2015|p=121}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=37}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2021|p=22}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}}}</ref> The Greek colony of [[Cyzicus]] might also have been destroyed by the Cimmerians so that it had to be re-founded at a later date.{{sfn|Graham|1982|p=119}} Thus, it was at this time that the Cimmerians first came into contact with the Greeks in Anatolia,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=86}} constituting the first encounter between the ancient Greeks and steppe nomads.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=91}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=35}}

In 671 to 670 BC, Cimmerian contingents were serving in the Assyrian army,{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=214}} and Neo-Assyrian sources were referring to the spread of military technology and animal husbandry products referred to in Assyrian sources as "Cimmerian leather straps" and "Cimmerian bows" into the Neo-Assyrian Empire from {{c.|700}} to {{c.|650 BC}}.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=69}}

=====First attack on Lydia=====
With their eastern and southeastern borders abutting the Neo-Assyrian, which had been powerful enough to defeat their king Teuspa some years earlier,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=215}} in the late {{c.|670s}} and early {{c.|660s BC}}, the Cimmerians under Dugdammî instead redirected their activities towards western Anatolia, where they attacked the kingdom of [[Lydia]],<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=643}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|pp=214–215}}}}</ref> which under its king [[Gyges of Lydia|Gyges]] had been filling the power vacuum in Anatolia created by the destruction of the Phrygian Empire and was establishing itself as a new rising regional power.{{sfn|Cook|1982|p=197}}{{sfn|Hawkins|1982|p=431}}{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=44}}

However, the Lydian forces were initially not able to resist this invasion,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=96-97}} and Gyges sought to find help to face the Cimmerian invasions by initiating diplomatic relations with the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 666 BC:{{sfn|Xydopoulos|2015|p=120}} without accepting Assyrian overlordship, Gyges started to send regular embassies and diplomatic gifts to Ashurbanipal, with another Lydian embassy to the Neo-Assyrian Empire being attested from {{c.|665 BC}}.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|pp=401–402}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=404}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|pp=644–645}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=96–97}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=39}}|{{harvnb|Dale|2015|p=160}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=71}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=215}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=758}}}}</ref>

Since it was due to the threat of the Cimmerians that Gyges had made friendly overtures to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Ashurbanipal considered the Cimmerian presence in Anatolia more useful than fighting them. Therefore, he adopted a policy of accepting whatever gifts and praise that Gyges would offer him, in exchange of which Ashurbanipa promised him support from the gods [[Ashur (god)|Aššur]] and [[Marduk]] while keeping him waiting and abstaining from providing any military support to Lydia.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}

These Cimmerian attacks also destroyed the relations between Lydia and Phrygia, and archaeological evidence from the Lydian site of Daskyleion shows that the Cimmerian invasion ended the development of trade and economic production in the early 7th century BC which had contributed to integrating both Lydia and Ionia into the Mediterranean economy.{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=45-46}} Lower class Ionian Greeks and Carians affected by this Cimmerian invasion appear to have formed a significant part of the colonists who went to set up new settlements throughout the shore of the Black Sea in the 7th century BC, such as the colonies of [[Berezan Island|Borysthenēs]], [[Histria (ancient city)|Histria]], [[Sozopol|Apollonia Pontica]], [[Mangalia|Kallatis]], and [[Shabla|Karōn Limēn]].{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=46-49}}

Gyges's struggle against the Cimmerians soon turned in his favour without Neo-Assyrian support, so that he was able to defeat them between {{c.|665}} and {{c.|660 BC}},<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=402}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=404}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=97–98}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=102}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Dale|2015|p=160}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=264–265}}}}</ref> possibly through campaigns in western Central Anatolia to the east of Sardis and the south of the core Phrygian territory,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216-217}} after which he sent captured Cimmerian city-lords as diplomatic gifts to Ashurbanipal.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=98}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=215}}}}</ref>

Gyges then stationed Carian and Ionian mercenaries at [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]],{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=45}} which provided an impetus for the formation of new Greek colonies in the Propontis and therefore made the Black Sea accessible to Greeks from Ionia.{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=46}}

The defeat of the Cimmerians by Gyges in turn weakened their allies, Mugallu of Tabal and Sandašarme of Ḫilakku, enough that they were left with no choice but to submit to the authority of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in {{c.|662 BC}}.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=124}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=71}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=757}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref>

=====Hegemony in the Levant=====
Facing resistance from the Lydians in the west, the Cimmerians moved eastwards, against the Neo-Assyrian Empire:{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101}} despite their defeat by Gyges in the {{c.|660s BC}}, the Cimmerians' power soon grew much so that by {{c.|657 BC}} they were not only in control of a large territory in Anatolia and were one of the main political forces operating in this region, but were also able conquer part of what had previously been secure western possessions of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, such as the province of Que or even part of the [[Levant]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Brinkman|1991|p=53}}|{{harvnb|Brinkman|1991|p=53}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=99–100}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=216}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref>

These Cimmerian aggressions worried Ashurbanipal about the security of the northwest border of the Neo-Assyrian Empire enough that he sought answers concerning this situation through [[divination]].{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=403}} And, as a result of these Cimmerian conquests, by 657 BC, the Assyrian astrologer Akkullanu was calling the Cimmerian king Dugdammî by the title of {{Transliteration|akk-x-neoassyr|šar-kiššati}} ({{lit|King of the Universe}}),{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}} which in the Mesopotamian worldview was a title that could belong only a single ruler in the world at any given time, and was normally held by the King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This attribution of the title of {{Transliteration|akk-x-neoassyr|šar-kiššati}} to a foreign ruler was an unprecedented situation of which there is no other known occurrence throughout the duration of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=219}}

Akkullanu nevertheless also assured to Ashurbanipal that he would eventually regain the {{Transliteration|akk-x-neoassyr|kiššūtu}}, that is the world hegemony which rightfully belonged to him, from the Cimmerians who had usurped it.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}

This extraordinary situation meant that, under Dugdammî, who was their most powerful king,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} the Cimmerians had become a force feared by Ashurbanipal, and the Cimmerians' successes against the Neo-Assyrian Empire meant that they had become recognised in ancient West Asia as equally powerful as Ashurbanipal himself.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}

This situation remained unchanged throughout the rest of the 650s and the early 640s BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=105}} with the Cimmerian aggressions worrying Ashurbanipal regarding the security of his northwestern border so much that he often sought answers regarding this situation through divination.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101-103}}

These setbacks, along with Ashurbanipal's refusal to provide military support to Lydia, discredited Neo-Assyrian power enough that Gyges understood that he could not rely on Assyrian support against the Cimmerians, and, once the Cimmerians had moved to the east and their attacks on his kingdom decreased, he therefore ended diplomacy with the Neo-Assyrian Empire and instead sent troops to help the Egyptian kinglet [[Psamtik I]] of [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]],<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Braun|1982|p=36}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|pp=757–758}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref> who had himself been a Neo-Assyrian vassal who was then eliminating the other Neo-Assyrian vassal kinglets in Lower Egypt to unite the whole of Egypt under his own rule.{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=402-403}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=645}} Ashurbanipal responded to Gyges's disengagement with the Neo-Assyrian Empire by cursing him.{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=645}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=215}}

=====Exhaustion of Assyria=====
Neo-Assyrian power experienced another significant blow in 652 BC, when Esarhaddon's eldest son, [[Šamaš-šuma-ukin]], who had succeeded him as king of Babylon, rebelled against his younger brother Ashurbanipal: it took Ashurbanipal four years to fully suppress the Babylonian rebellion by 648 BC, and another year to destroy the power of [[Elam]], who had supported Šamaš-šuma-ukin,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}} and, although Ashurbanipal would nevertheless be able to maintain control over Babylonia for the rest of his reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire finally emerged from this crisis severely worn out.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=72}}

One of the oracular responses received by Ashurbanipal in 652 BC itself claimed that the goddess [[Inanna|Ishtar]] had promised to him that the Cimmerians would be defeated similarly to how Ashurbanipal himself had defeated the Elamites and killed their king [[Teumman]] in 653 BC.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101-102}}

Meanwhile, Dugdammî might have taken advantage of the civil war within the Neo-Assyrian Empire caused by Samas-suma-ukin's rebellion to attack northwestern Neo-Assyrian provinces.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=218}}

=====Attack on Šubria=====
In the 650s BC, the Cimmerians were allied to Urartu{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=70}} and were serving as auxiliaries in the service of its king Rusa II, who was then attempting to attack the newly conquered Assyrian province of Šubria near the Urartian border.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=74–76}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=213}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=750}}}}</ref> Urartu was thus integrating steppe nomad mercenaries into its armed forces, and was also trying to borrow the military technology of these peoples.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=212}}

======Alliance with the Treres======
[[File:Sozopol Archaeological Museum IMG 4219.JPG|thumb|right|350px|A Thracian mounted warrior followed by a warrior on foot.]]
Around the {{c.|660s BCE}}, the [[Thracians|Thracian]] tribe of the [[Treres]] migrated across the [[Bosporus|Thracian Bosporus]] and invaded Anatolia from the north-west,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}{{sfn|de Boer|2006|p=44-45}}{{sfn|Kõiv|2022|p=268}} after which they allied with the Cimmerians,{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} and, from around the {{c.|650s BC}}, the Cimmerians were nomadising in Anatolia along with the Treres.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}{{sfn|de Boer|2021|p=20}}

=====Second attack on Lydia=====
The Cimmerians and Treres under Lygdamis and the Treran king Kōbos,{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=407}} and in alliance with the [[Lycians]] or [[Lycaonia]]ns, attacked Lydia for a second time in 644 BC:{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=405-406}} this time they defeated the [[Lydians]] and captured their capital city of [[Sardis]] except for its citadel, and Gyges was killed during this attack.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=406}}|{{harvnb|Braun|1982|p=36}}|{{harvnb|Cook|1982|p=197}}|{{harvnb|Hawkins|1982|p=452}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=643}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=104–105}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=181}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=508}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=39}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=19}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|pp=44–45}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Dale|2015|p=160}}|{{harvnb|Xydopoulos|2015|p=120}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=71}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=106}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2021|p=20}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=264–265}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=269}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=272–273}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=758}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=215}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}}}</ref> The Neo-Assyrian sources blamed Gyges's death on his own [[hubris|{{Transliteration|grc|hubris}}]], that is on his own independent actions, by claiming that the Cimmerians invaded Lydia and killed him as punishment for him providing Psamtik I with the troops he used to eliminate the other pro-Assyrian Egyptian kinglets and unify Egypt under his sole rule.{{sfn|Spalinger|1976|p=135-136}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=215}}

After this attack, Gyges's son [[Ardys of Lydia|Ardys]] succeeded him as king of Lydia and resumed diplomatic activity with the Neo-Assyrian Empire with the hope of military support which Ashurbanipal again did not provide.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=405}}|{{harvnb|Braun|1982|p=36}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=104}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=273}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=289}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=758}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=215}}}}</ref> As a result, Ardys might possibly have been forced to submit to the Cimmerians,{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=215}} although the Cimmerians themselves never ruled Lydia.{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=217}}

=====Attack on Ionia and Aeolia=====
After sacking Sardis, Lydgamis and Kobos led the Cimmerians and the Treres into invading the Greek city-states of the [[Troad]],{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}{{sfn|Tokhtas’ev|1991}} [[Aeolis|Aeolia]] and [[Ionia]] on the western coast of Anatolia,<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=129}}|{{harvnb|Cook|1982|p=197}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=508}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|pp=91–92}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=19}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=70}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2021|pp=20–21}}}}</ref> where they destroyed the city of [[Magnesia on the Maeander|Magnesia on the Meander]] as well as the [[Temple of Artemis|Artemision]] of [[Ephesus]].<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Graham|1982|p=116}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=113}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993b|pp=308–309}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=508}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=82}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=19}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|p=45}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Xydopoulos|2015|p=120}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=35}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2021|pp=20–21}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=217}}}}</ref> The city of [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] joined Ephesus and Magnesia in resisting the Cimmerian invasion.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993b|p=311}}
[[File:History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria (1903) (14783417153).jpg|thumb|250px|left|Painting depicting Cimmerian mounted warriors from a [[Klazomenian sarcophagi|Klazomenian sarcophagus]].]]
[[File:Cimmerian.jpg|thumb|150px|Reproduction of a depiction of a Cimmerian archer from a Greek vase.]]

The Cimmerians and Treres remained on the western coast of Anatolia inhabited by the Greeks for three years, from {{c.|644}} to {{c.|641 BC}}, where later Greek tradition claimed that Lygdamis had occupied [[Antandrus|Antandros]] and [[Priene]], which forced a large number of the inhabitants of the coastal region called [[Batinētis]] to flee to the islands of the Aegean Sea.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=114}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=35}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=218}}}}</ref>

=====Activities in Cilicia=====
Sensing the exhaustion of Neo-Assyrian power following the suppression of the revolt of Šamaš-šuma-ukin, the Cimmerians and Treres moved to Cilicia on the north-west border of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in {{c.|640 BC}} itself, immediately after their third invasion of Lydia and the attack on the Asian Greek cities. There, Dugdammî allied with Mugallu's son and successor as king of the then rebellious Assyrian vassal state of Tabal, Mussi, to attack the Neo-Assyrian Empire.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=8}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=124}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=71}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=106}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=758}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref>

Although the Urartians had sent tribute to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 643 BC, the Urartian king Sarduri III ({{reign|{{c.|645}}|{{c.|625 BC}}}}), who had been a Neo-Assyrian vassal, was at this time also forced to accept the suzerainty of the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=118}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=218}}

However, Mussi died before the planned attack on Neo-Assyrian Empire and his kingdom collapsed when its elite fled or was deported to Assyria, while Dugdammî carried it out but failed because, according to Neo-Assyrian sources, he became ill and fire broke out in his camp.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Hawkins|1982|p=432}}|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991c|p=145}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=124}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=758}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref> Following this, Dugdammî was faced with a revolt against himself, after which ended his hostilities against the Neo-Assyrian Empire and sent tribute to Ashurbanipal to form an alliance with him, while Ashurbanipal forced Dugdammi to swear an oath to not attack the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=407}}{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=758-759}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=219-220}}

======Death of Dugdammî======
Dugdammî soon broke his oath and attacked the Neo-Assyrian Empire again, but during his military campaign he contracted a grave illness whose symptoms included paralysis of half of his body and vomiting of blood as well as gangrene of the genitals, and he consequently committed suicide in 640 BC<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=132}}|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=407}}|{{harvnb|Hawkins|1982|p=432}}|{{harvnb|Grayson|1991c|p=145}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=107}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=124}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=33}}}}</ref> in Cilicia itself.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=114}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|p=39}}|{{harvnb|Xydopoulos|2015|p=120}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=72}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=271}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=215}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=218}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=220}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=759}}}}</ref>

Dugdammî was succeeded as king of the Cimmerians in Cilicia by his son [[Sandakšatru]],<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=407}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=63}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=220}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=759}}}}</ref> who continued Dugdammî's attacks against the Neo-Assyrian Empire{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=115}} but failed just like his father.{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=124}}

The power of the Cimmerians dwindled quickly after the death of Dugdammî,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=107}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=221}} although the Lydian kings Ardys and Sadyattes might however have either died fighting the Cimmerians or were deposed for being incapable of efficiently fighting them, respectively in {{c.|637}} and {{c.|635 BC}}.{{sfn|Dale|2015|p=160-161}}

=====Final defeat=====
[[File:Britishmuseumbintepehorserelief.jpg|thumb|left|300px|A relief depicting mounted Lydian warriors on slab of marble from a tomb.]]
Despite these setbacks, the Lydian kingdom was able to grow in power, and the [[Lydians]] themselves appear to have adopted Cimmerian military practices such as the use of mounted cavalry, with the Lydians fighting using long spears and archers, both on horseback.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=74}}

Around {{c.|635 BC}},{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=408}} and with Neo-Assyrian approval,{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=9}} the Scythians under their king [[Madyes]] conquered Urartu,{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=564}}{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=39}} entered Central Anatolia,{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=129}} and defeated the Cimmerians and Treres.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Spalinger|1978a|p=406}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=567}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=508}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=517}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2006|p=45}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=151}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|p=759}}}}</ref> This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes's Scythians, whom [[Strabo|Strabo of Amasia]] credits with expelling the Treres from Asia Minor, and of the Lydians led by their king [[Alyattes]],{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=23-24}} who was himself the son of Sadyattes as well as the grandson of Ardys and the great-grandson of Gyges, whom Herodotus of Halicarnassus and [[Polyaenus|Polyaenus of Bithynia]] claim permanently defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=124–125}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}}|{{harvnb|Xydopoulos|2015|p=120}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|pp=74–75}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|de Boer|2021|p=25}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|pp=267–269}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=220}}}}</ref>

In an inscription from after {{c.|638 BC}}, Ashurbanipal thanked the god Marduk for the fate which had struck Sandakšatru, suggesting that he had experienced a horrifying death not unlike his father's.{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=759}}

The Cimmerians completely disappeared from history following this final defeat,{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=559}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} and they were soon assimilated by the various populations and polities of Anatolia, such as Lydia, Media, and Pteria.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}} It was also around this time that the last still-existing Syro-Hittite and Aramaean states in Anatolia, which had been either independent or vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Phrygia, Urartu, or of the Cimmerians, also disappeared, although the exact circumstances of their end are still very uncertain.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=72}}

Scythian power in West Asia thus reached its peak under Madyes, with the West Asian territories ruled by the Scythian kingdom extending from the [[Kızılırmak River|Halys river]] in Anatolia in the west to the Caspian Sea and the eastern borders of Media in the east, and from Transcaucasia in the north to the northern borders of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the south.{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=134}}{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=408}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=327}} And, following the defeat of the Cimmerians and the disappearance of these states, it was the new Lydian Empire of Alyattes which became the dominant power of Anatolia,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=95}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=220}} while the city of Sinope was re-founded{{sfn|Bouzek|2001|p=39}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=37}} by the Milesian Greek colonists Kōos and Krētinēs.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2010|p=69}}{{sfn|Xydopoulos|2015|p=121}}