Editing Cimmerians (section)

======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}}