Editing Scythians (section)

===Decline and fall of Pontic Scythia===
The defeat against Philip II was followed by a series of military defeats which led to a significant decline during the late 4th century BC.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=118}} Although the experience of Philip II's military dealings with the Scythians led his son [[Alexander the Great]] to choose to avoid attacking them,{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=56}} [[Wars of Alexander the Great|his conquests]] harmed trade networks Pontic Olbia depended on.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=129}} In 331 or 330 BC, Alexander III's general [[Zopyrion]] campaigned against the Scythian kingdom. Although Zōpyriōn's army was defeated by the Scythians,<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=44}}|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1995|p=29}}|{{harvnb|Batty|2007|p=211}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=129}}}}</ref> his attack initiated the final decline of Olbia, and various tribes from the West such as the [[Celts]] started moving into its territories.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=129}}

In 309 BC, the Scythian king Agaros participated in the [[Bosporan Civil War]] on the side of [[Satyrus II|Satyros II]] against his half-brother [[Eumelus of Bosporus|Eumēlos]].{{sfn|Melyukova|1995|p=29}} Agaros provided Satyros with 20,000 infantrymen and 10,000 cavalrymen,{{sfn|Olkhovsky|1995|p=72}} and after Satyros was defeated and killed, his son fled to Agaros's realm for refuge.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=118}}|{{harvnb|Alekseyev|2005|p=45}}|{{harvnb|Batty|2007|p=204}}|{{harvnb|Batty|2007|pp=213–214}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}}}</ref> In the early 3rd century BC, the Scythian kingdom started declining economically as a result of competition from Egypt, which under the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] had again become a supplier of grain to Greece.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=85}}

In the early 3rd century BC, the Scythian kingdom faced a number of interlocking unfavourable conditions, such as climatic changes in the steppes and economic crises from overgrazed pastures and a series of military setbacks, as well as the intensifiation of the arrival from the east of the [[Sarmatians]],<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1990|p=107}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=44}}|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1995|p=30}}|{{harvnb|Olkhovsky|1995|p=72}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|pp=110, 117–118}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2018}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=111}}}}</ref> who captured Scythian pastures.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=213}} With the loss of its most important resource,{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=213}} the Scythian kingdom suddenly collapsed,{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=107}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} and the Scythian capital of Kamianka was abandoned.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=197}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=199}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=81}} The Sarmatian tribe responsible for most of the destruction were the [[Roxolani]].{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=199}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=144}} 

As a consequence, the material culture of the Scythians also disappeared in the early 3rd century BC.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} The peoples of the forest steppe also became independent again, returning to their sedentary lifestyle while all Scythian elements disappeared from their culture.{{sfn|Melyukova|1995|p=55-56}} Grain exports from the northern Pontic region declined drastically,{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=86}} while Greek inscriptions stopped mentioning names of Scythian slaves.{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=87}} Following the invasion, the Sarmatian tribes became the new dominant force of the Pontic Steppe,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=118}} resulting in the name "{{translit|la|Sarmatia Europa}}" ({{lit|European Sarmatia}}) replacing "{{translit|la|Scythia}}" as the name of the Pontic Steppe.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=212}}

Sarmatian pressure against the Scythians continued in the 3rd century BC,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=118}} so that the Sarmatians had reached as far as the city of [[Chersonesus]] in the Tauric Chersonese by 280 BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} and most native and Greek settlements on the north shore of the Black Sea were destroyed by the Sarmatians over the course of the {{c.|270s}} to {{c.|260s BC}},{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=119}} Celts, the Thracian Getae, and the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] [[Bastarnae]] from the west, also put the Scythians under pressure by seizing their lands.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Melyukova|1990|p=107}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=40}}|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=44}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=110}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=118}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000b|p=131}}}}</ref> By the early 2nd century BC, the Bastarnae had grown powerful enough that they were able to stop the southward advance of the Sarmatians along the line of the Istros river.{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=145}}