Editing Saka (section)

==Location==
{{Continental Asia in 325 BCE|right|{{center|The Sakas  (<small>{{Colorsample|#FFA500|0.6}}</small>), and main Asian polities, circa 325 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coatsworth |first1=John |last2=Cole |first2=Juan |last3=Hanagan |first3=Michael P. |last4=Perdue |first4=Peter C. |last5=Tilly |first5=Charles |last6=Tilly |first6=Louise |title=Global Connections: Volume 1, To 1500: Politics, Exchange, and Social Life in World History |date=16 March 2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-29777-3 |page=138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w5vlBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA138}}</ref><ref name="Atlas of World History"/><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gursoy |first1=M. |title=Жазба Және Археологиялық Деректер Негізінде Савромат-Сармат Тайпаларының Шығу Тегі |journal=BULLETIN Series Historical and Socio-political Sciences |date=28 February 2023 |volume=1 |issue=72 |page=157 |doi=10.51889/2022-1.1728-5461.16 |doi-access=free }}</ref>}}||Map of the Sakas.png}}
The {{transliteration|peo|Sakā tigraxaudā}} and {{transliteration|peo|Sakā haumavargā}} both lived in the steppe and highland areas located in northern Central Asia and to the east of the Caspian Sea.{{sfn|Cook|1985|p=252-255}}{{sfn|Dandamayev|1994|p=44-46}}{{sfn|Francfort|1988|p=168}}

The {{transliteration|peo|Sakā tigraxaudā}}/Massagetae more specifically lived around [[Chorasmia]]{{sfn|Francfort|1988|p=184}} and in the lowlands of Central Asia located to the east of the [[Caspian Sea]] and the south-east of the [[Aral Sea]], in the [[Kyzylkum Desert]] and the [[Ustyurt Plateau]], most especially between the [[Amu Darya|Araxes]] and [[Iaxartes]] rivers.{{sfn|Harmatta|1999}}{{sfn|Schmitt|2018}} The {{transliteration|peo|Sakā tigraxaudā}}/Massagetae could also be found in the Caspian Steppe.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000}} The imprecise description of where the Massagetae lived by ancient authors has however led modern scholars to ascribe to them various locations, such as the Oxus delta, the Iaxartes delta, between the Caspian and Aral seas or further to the north or northeast, but without basing these suggestions on any conclusive arguments.{{sfn|Schmitt|2018}} Other locations assigned to the Massagetae include the area corresponding to modern-day [[Turkmenistan]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2021}}

The {{transliteration|peo|Sakā haumavargā}} lived around the Pamir Mountains and the Ferghana Valley.{{sfn|Francfort|1988|p=184}}

The {{transliteration|peo|Sakaibiš tayaiy para Sugdam}}, who may have been identical with the {{transliteration|peo|Sakā haumavargā}}, lived on the north-east border of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] on the [[Iaxartes]] river.{{sfn|Cook|1985|p=252-255}}

Some other Saka groups lived to the east of the [[Pamir Mountains]] and to the north of the [[Syr Darya|Iaxartes river]],{{sfn|Francfort|1988|p=168}} as well as in the regions corresponding to modern-day [[Kyrgyzstan|Qirghizia]], [[Tian Shan]], [[Altai Mountains|Altai]], [[Tuva Depression|Tuva]], [[Mongolia]], [[Xinjiang]], and [[Kazakhstan]].{{sfn|Francfort|1988|p=184}}

The {{transliteration|och|Sək}}, that is the Saka who were in contact with the Chinese, inhabited the [[Ili (river)|Ili]] and [[Chu (river)|Chu]] valleys of modern [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[Kazakhstan]], which was called the "land of the {{transliteration|och|Sək}}", i.e. "land of the Saka", in the ''[[Book of Han]]''.<ref name="yu 2010 p13" />