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Conflict Europe

Cimmerian & Scythian Invasions

720 BCE – 650 BCE · 70 years

Nomadic Cimmerian warriors swept out of the steppes, destroying the kingdom of Phrygia and threatening Lydia and Assyria. The Scythians followed, raiding deep into the Near East — one of the earliest great nomadic invasions from the Eurasian steppe.

See it on the timeline

Belligerents

The main peoples, kingdoms and states involved.

  • Cimmerians & Scythians
  • Phrygia, Lydia & Assyria

Key moments

Defining events in the Cimmerian & Scythian Invasions.

  1. c. 696 BC Destruction of Phrygia
  2. c. 670s BC Scythian raids into Assyria
  3. c. 652 BC Cimmerian attack on Sardis

Elsewhere in Europe at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Europe

Plitvice Lakes

3000 BCE – still standing

Polity · Europe

Cimerians

Attested 1500 BCE – 700 BCE

Trade route · Europe

Amber Road

1000 BCE – 400 CE

Conflict · Europe

Messenian Wars

743 BCE – 668 BCE

Landmark · Europe

Giant's Causeway

3000 BCE – still standing

Polity · Europe

Thrace

Attested 1500 BCE – 700 BCE

Conflict · Europe

Lelantine War

710 BCE – 650 BCE

Landmark · Europe

Danube Delta

3000 BCE – still standing

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 720 BCE and 650 BCE.

710 BCE Lelantine War 700 BCE Great Wall of China 700 BCE Thonis

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Great Wall of China Landmark · East Asia 700 BCE – still standing Dravidians Polity · South Asia 3000 BCE – 700 BCE Nile River Trade Trade route · Middle East 3000 BCE – 30 BCE Kushite Conquest of Egypt Conflict · Middle East 747 BCE – 656 BCE Mulifanua Lapita Site Landmark · Americas 800 BCE – 700 BCE Zhoa Polity · East Asia 1500 BCE – 700 BCE
Image credits7 pictures from Wikimedia Commons