Editing Cimmerians (section)

===Ethnicity===
The Cimmerians were a [[Iranian peoples|Iranic people]]<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}|{{harvnb|Harmatta|1996|p=1996}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1999|p=517}}|{{harvnb|Olbrycht|2000a|pp=92–93}}|{{harvnb|Bouzek|2001|pp=43–44}}|{{harvnb|Xydopoulos|2015|p=119}}}}</ref> sharing a common language, origins and culture with the [[Scythians]],{{sfn|Melyukova|1990|p=98}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2001|p=339}} although they may have been an ethnically heterogeneous tribal confederation living under an Iranic aristocracy, not unlike how the polity of the Scythians consisted of various peoples living under the dominance of the Iranic Royal Scythians.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=93}}

And, while the Cimmerians are archaeologically, culturally and linguistically indistinguishable from the Scythians, all Mesopotamian and Greek sources contemporary to their activities sources both nevertheless clearly distinguished between the Cimmerians and the Scythians as separate political entities,<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Jacobson|1995|p=33}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|2001|p=339}}|{{harvnb|Parzinger|2004|p=18}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2017|p=61}}}}</ref> suggesting that the Scythians and Cimmerians were merely two member tribes of a single cultural group.{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=33}}

Other suggestions for the ethnicity of the Cimmerians include the possibility of them being [[Thracians|Thracian]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92}} However the proposal of a Thracian origin of the Cimmerians is untenable and arose from a confusion by Strabo of Amasia between the Cimmerians and their allies, the Thracian tribe of the [[Treri|Treres]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=92-93}} According to the scholar [[Igor M. Diakonoff|Igor Diakonoff]], the possibility of the Cimmerians being Thracian-speakers is less likely than that of them being Iranic-speakers.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=51}}

====Language====
{{Main|Cimmerian language}}