Editing Bastarnae (section)

=== Scytho-Sarmatian ===
Strabo includes the [[Roxolani]], generally considered by scholars to have been a [[Sarmatian]] tribe, in a list of Bastarnae subgroups.<ref name="Strabo VII.3.17"/> However, this may simply be an error due to the close proximity of the two peoples north of the Danube Delta.

In the third century, the Greek historian [[Dio Cassius]] (155–235 AD) stated that the "Bastarnae are properly classed as Scythians" and "members of the Scythian race".<ref>Dio LI.23.3, 24.2</ref> 
:"During the same period in which these events occurred Marcus Crassus was sent into Macedonia and Greece and carried on war with the Dacians and Bastarnae. I have already stated who the former were and why they had become hostile; the Bastarnae, on the other hand, who are properly classed as Scythians, had at this time crossed the Ister and subdued the part of Moesia opposite them, and afterwards subdued the Triballi who adjoin this district and the Dardani who inhabit the Triballian country."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/51*.html|title=Cassius Dio — Book 51|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref>

Likewise, the sixth-century historian [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosismus]] (490s–510 AD), reporting events around 280 AD, refers to "the Bastarnae, a Scythian people".<ref name="Zosimus I.34">Zosimus I.34</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/zosimus/zosimus-new-history-1/zosimus-new-history-1.71/|title=Zosimus, New History 1.71 – Livius|website=www.livius.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref>

However, late Greco-Roman chroniclers used the term "Scythian" without regard to language. The earliest [[Scythians]] were steppe nomads associated with Iranic languages, as were their successors the Sarmatians, who were also called Scythians, while classical authors such as Zosimus also routinely refers to the [[Goths]], who were undoubtedly Germanic-speakers, as "Scythians". On the other hand, it is likely that Bastarnae were influenced the surrounding Sarmatians, as reflected in Tacitus' comment that "mixed marriages" debasing them to appear more like the Sarmatians.<ref name="Tacitus G.46"/>