How Did Herodotus Combat The Scythians?

In the next chapter of the book, Herodotus focuses on the Persian war against Scythians and becomes fascinated with their unique warfare. The Scythians were the people of Indo- European origin who invaded Media, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt the Persian trade network along the Black sea. Darius commanded his army to prepare for war from all sides of his kingdom though his brother Artabanus warned him of attracting Scythians because of the difficulty of finding them (Herodotus, 140). Despite the advice, Darius led his army from Susa, reached the territory of Chalcedon where the bridge of Bosporus had been made. On the shore of Bosporus, he inscribed the name of all nations which formed his army and rewarded Mandrocles Samian with …show more content…
Thus, Darius followed his general advice and moved on to attack the Scythians territory (Herodotus, p.142). The Scythians soon learn of the Persian army and form a council of princes from all other nearby kingdoms to unite themselves against the Persian army. The assembled princes of the nation had divided opinions on this issue; some blamed the Scythians for bringing war into their territory and they should combat the Persian alone while others thought they should form an alliance(Herodotus, p.142). Ultimately, the Scythians were left alone to encounter Persian army Therefore, they decided to not stand in an open battle rather let the Persians chase them. The Scythians formed three bands and made plans that if the Persians find them they should retreat to the river or if they get tired of finding them, the Scythians should join together and punish them. As the Persian army marched through the Scythians territory, they could find nothing to damage as the lands were abandoned. Darius reached the desert and still could find no traces of Scythians (Herodotus,