Editing Cimmerians (section)

=====In West Asia=====
The inroads of the Cimmerians and the Scythians into West Asia over the course of the 8th to 7th centuries BC, which were early precursors of the later invasions of West Asia by steppe nomads such as the [[Huns]], various [[Turkic peoples]], and the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]], in [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages|Mediaeval Period]],{{sfn|Fuchs|2023|p=761}} had destabilised the political balance which had prevailed in the region between the dominant great powers of Assyria, Urartu, and Phrygia,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75}} and also caused the decline and destruction of several of these states' power, consequently to the rise of multiple new powers such as the empires of the [[Medes]] and [[Lydians]],{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=73}} thus irreversibly changing the geopolitical situation of West Asia.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75-76}}

These Cimmerians and Scythians also influenced the developments in West Asia through the spread of the steppe nomad military technology brought by them into this region, and which were disseminated during the periods of their respective hegemonies in West Asia.{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=75}}

After the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and following the conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire which had succeeded it by the Persian Achaemenids, the Babylonian scribes of the Achaemenid Persian Empire used the name of the Cimmerians ({{Transliteration|akk-x-latbabyl|Gimirri}}: {{lang|akk-x-latbabyl|{{cuneiform|12|𒆳𒄀𒈪𒅕}}}}<ref name="ORACCBabylonian1">{{cite web |title=Xerxes I 12 |url=https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ario/Q007216 |website=Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions online |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] }}</ref> and {{lang|akk-x-latbabyl|{{cuneiform|12|𒆳𒄀𒂆𒊑}}}}<ref name="ORACCBabylonian2">{{cite web |title=Darius I 31 |url=https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ario/Q007164 |website=Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions online |series=[[Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus]] |publisher=[[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] }}</ref>) in [[Neo-Babylonian Akkadian language|Neo-Babylonian Akkadian]] to indiscriminately and anachronistically refer to all of the nomads of the steppes, including both the Pontic [[Scythians]] and the Central Asian [[Saka]], because of their similar nomadic lifestyles.<ref name="Babylonian">{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2001|pp=319–320}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=23}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=62}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=211}}}}</ref> The Achaemenid Babylonian scribes therefore designated the bows used by Saka mounted archers as {{lit|Cimmerian bows}} ({{lang|akk-x-latbabyl|{{cuneiform|12|𒄑𒉼 𒄀𒂆𒊒𒄿𒋾}}}}, {{Transliteration|akk-x-latbabyl|qaštu Gimirrîti}} and {{lang|akk-x-latbabyl|{{cuneiform|12|𒄑𒉼𒈨 𒄀𒂆𒊒𒀪}}}}, {{Transliteration|akk-x-latbabyl|qašātu Gimirruʾ}}).{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=211}} The Greeks similarly used the name of the Scythians as a generalising term for all stepp nomads, and the Byzantines later also similarly used it as an archaising term to designate the [[Huns]], Slavs and other eastern peoples centuries after the actual Scythians had disappeared.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=320}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=62}}

The Cimmerians appear in the [[Hebrew Bible]] under the name of [[Gomer|{{Transliteration|he|Gōmer}}]] ({{langx|he|גֹּמֶר}}; {{langx|grc|Γαμερ|translit=Gamer}}), where {{Transliteration|he|Gōmer|italics=no}} is closely linked to [[Ashkenaz|{{Transliteration|he|ʾAškənāz|italics=no}}]] ({{lang|he|אשכנז}}), that is to the Scythians.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Phillips|1972|p=133}}|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=96}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=62}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=34}}}}</ref>

Due to the fear that the Cimmerian invasions caused among the Greeks of Ionia, they were remembered in Greek tradition, and an inscription from 283 BC mentioned that the Greek city-states of [[Samos]] and Priene were still engaging in a lawsuit disputing the territory of Batinetis which had been abandoned during the Cimmerian invasion of Ionia and Aeolia.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2006|p=148}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2010|p=70}}|{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2019|p=35}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=218}}}}</ref>

In the mediaeval period, Armenian tradition assigned the name of the Biblical Gōmer to the [[Konya Plain]] and to [[Cappadocia]], which was therefore called {{Transliteration|hy|Gamirkʿ}} ({{lang|hy|[[wikt:Գամիրք|Գամիրք]]}}) in the [[Armenian language]].{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}