View source for Caspians

{{Short description|Inhabitants of Caspiane}}
{{Redirect|Caspian people}}
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[[File:Ethnic Caucasia-en.png|thumb|332x332px|Ethnic map of the Caucasus in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.]]
The '''Caspians''' ({{langx|fa|کاسپی‌ها}}, ''Kaspyn''; {{langx|el|Κάσπιοι}}, ''Káspioi''; [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]: ܟܣܦܝ, ''kspy''; {{langx|xcl|[[wikt:կասպք|Կասպք]]}}, ''Kaspk’'';<ref>Robert H. Hewsen. The Geography of Ananias of Širak: Ašxarhacʻoycʻ, the Long and the Short Recensions. — Reichert, 1992. — P. 254.</ref> {{langx|la|Caspi}}, ''Caspiani'') were an [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]] people of [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] who dwelt along the southwestern shores of the [[Caspian Sea]], in the region known as [[Caspiane]].<ref>"''A Cyro Caspium mare vocari incipit; accolunt Caspii''" (Pliny, ''Natural History'' vi.13); for a Greek [[ethnonym]] of the [[Aegean Sea]], however, see the mythic [[Aegeus]].</ref> ''Caspian'' is the English version of the Greek [[ethnonym]] ''Kaspioi'', mentioned twice by [[Herodotus]] among the [[Achaemenid]] [[satrap]]ies of [[Darius the Great]]<ref>Herodotus, iii.92 (with the [[Pausicae]]) and 93 (with the [[Sacae]]).</ref> and applied by [[Strabo]].<ref>Strabo (11.2.15) gives a lost work of [[Eratosthenes]] as his source.</ref> The name is attested in [[Old Iranian]].<ref name="Iranica">Rüdiger Schmitt, [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/caspians-gk Caspians], in ''[[Encyclopedia Iranica]]''. Accessed on 4 April 2010.</ref>
The Caspians have generally been regarded as a pre-[[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] people. They have been identified by [[Ernst Herzfeld]] with the [[Kassites]],<ref>Herzfeld, ''The Persian Empire'', (Wiesbaden) 1968:195–99, noted by Rüdiger.</ref> who spoke a language not identified with any other known language group and whose origins have long been the subject of debate. However, [[Onomastics|onomastic]] evidence bearing on this point has been discovered in [[Hebrew and Aramaic papyri|Aramaic papyri]] from [[Egypt]] published by P. Grelot,<ref>Grelot, “Notes d'onomastique sur les textes araméens d'Egypte,” ''Semitica'' '''21''', 1971, esp. pp. 101–17, noted by Rüdiger.</ref> in which several of the Caspian names that are mentioned—and identified under the gentilic כספי ''kaspai''—are, in part, etymologically Iranian. The Caspians of the [[Egyptian papyri]] are therefore generally considered as either an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian people]] or strongly under [[Greater Iran|Iranian cultural influence]].<ref name="Iranica" />
In the 5th century BC, during the [[Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt|Persian rule in Egypt]], a regiment (Aramaic ''degel'') of Caspians was stationed in [[Elephantine]], as attested in the [[Elephantine papyri]]. They are called ''kspy'' in Aramaic and shared their regiment with [[Khwarezmian language|Khwarezmians]], [[Bactrians]] and other [[Iranian peoples]]. They were not the only garrison on Elephantine. There was also a regiment of [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Jews]].<ref>Karel van der Toorn (2016), "Ethnicity at Elephantine: Jews, Arameans, Caspians", ''Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University'', '''43'''(2), 147–164. {{doi|10.1080/03344355.2016.1215532}}</ref>
The Caspians are called ''Caspiani'' in [[Pomponius Mela|Mela]]'s ''De situ orbis'', ''Caspi'' in [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', and ''Caspiadae'' in [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]]' ''Argonautica''. In the last work, the Caspians are allies of King [[Perses of Colchis]] and appear amongst the [[Scythian peoples]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_ArAAAAYAAJ |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |date=1849 |publisher=C.C. Little and J. Brown |pages=272 |language=en}}</ref> They are said to have [[War dog|fighting dogs]] that they take to their graves. This might in fact reflect a variant of the [[Zoroastrian]] custom of [[sky burial]], one in which the deceased is left for the dogs to devour.<ref>Henri J. W. Wijsman (ed.), Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonautica, Book VI: A Commentary'' (Brill, 2000), p. 59.</ref>
The Caspiadeans reappear in the [[medieval]] ''[[Historia de via Hierosolymitana]]'' among the people arrayed against the forces of the [[First Crusade]] (1096–1099). The anonymous poet, drawing on Flaccus, probably sought to connect the [[Seljuk Turks]], the Crusaders' actual enemy, with the ancient Scythians.<ref>Nicholas Morton, ''Encountering Islam on the First Crusade'' (Cambridge University Press, 2016), p. 203.</ref>
== References ==
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[[Category:Ancient history of Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Iran]]
[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Asia]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Europe]]
[[Category:History of Talysh]]