Editing Sea of Azov (section)

===Antiquity===
{{main|Bosporan Kingdom}}
The [[Maeotian Swamp|Maeotian marshes]] around the mouth of the [[Tanais River]] (the present-day [[Don River, Russia|Don]]) were famous in [[classical antiquity|antiquity]], as they served as an important check on the migration of nomadic people from the [[Eurasian steppe]]lands. The [[Maeotians]] themselves lived by fishing and farming, but were avid warriors able to defend themselves against invaders.<ref name=straystray>[[Strabo]]. ''[[Geographica (Strabo)|Geographica]]'', xi. {{in lang|la}}.</ref> Misled by its strong currents,<ref name=eb9/> [[History of geography#Antiquity|ancient geographers]] had only a vague idea of the extent of the sea, whose fresh water caused them to typically label it a "swamp" or a "lake". [[Herodotus]] (5th century BC) judged it as large as the [[Black Sea]], while the [[Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax|Pseudo-Scylax]] (4th century BC) thought it about half as large.<ref name=digrog/>

It was long believed to provide direct communication with the [[Arctic Ocean]].<ref name=eb9/> [[Polybius]] (2nd century BC) confidently expected that the strait to the Sea of Azov would close in the near future, due to ongoing deposition of sediments from rivers.<ref>[[Polybius]]. {{lang|grc|Ἱστορίαι}} [''Historíai'', ''[[The Histories (Polybius)|The Histories]]''], iv.39. {{in lang|grc}}</ref> In the 1st century, [[Strabo]] reckoned the distance from the Cimmerian Bosporus (the [[Strait of Kerch]]) to the mouth of the Tanais at {{nowrap|2200 [[stadion (unit of length)|stadia]]}}, a roughly correct figure,{{efn
|The length of the [[stadion (unit of length)|stadion]] varies in Strabo's work depending upon his sources and conversions,<ref>
[[Strabo]]. ''[[Geographica (Strabo)|Geographica]]''. Trans. by H.C. Hamilton as [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3Dpreface ''The Geography of Strabo'', "Preface"]. George Bell & Sons (London), 1903.</ref> but this would have been around 350 to 400 kilometres.}} but did not know that its width continuously narrows.<ref name=digrog/>

[[Miletus|Milesian]] [[Greek colonization|colonization]] began in the 7th century BC. The [[Bosporan Kingdom]] was named for the Cimmerian Bosporus rather than for the more famous [[Bosporus]] at the other end of the [[Black Sea]]. Briefly annexed by [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]] from the late 2nd century BC, it stretched along both southern shores of the Sea of Azov from the time of [[Greek colonization]] to the end of the [[Roman Empire]], serving as a [[client kingdom]] which exported wheat, fish, and [[slavery in antiquity|slaves]] in exchange for Greek and Roman manufactures and luxuries. Its later history is uncertain but probably the [[Huns]], after defeating the [[Alans|Alans people]] who had settled in the region from central Asia, overran it in the late 4th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sinor |first1=Denis |author1-link=Denis Sinor |title=The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521243041 |page=180 |edition=2004}}</ref>