Bartatua

Akkadian Bartatua and Ancient Greek Protothúēs are derived from a Scythian language name which has been reconstructed by Rüdiger Schmitt as either *Pṛθu-tuvā, meaning "widely powerful",[3] or *Pṛθu-tavā, "with far-reaching strength", and by János Harmatta as *Prta-tavaʰ, meaning "having force to fight".[6]

In the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, a significant movement of the nomads of the Eurasian steppe brought the Scythians into Southwest Asia. According to Herodotus, this movement started when the Massagetae migrated westwards, forcing the Scythians to the west across the Araxes river (likely the Volga),[7] from where they displaced the Cimmerians.[7] The Cimmerians fled to the south along the coast of the Black Sea and reached Anatolia;[8] the Scythians in turn pursued the Cimmerians, but followed the coast of the Caspian Sea and arrived in the region of present-day Azerbaijan, where they settled around what is today Mingachevir, Ganja and the Mugan plain, and turned eastern Transcaucasia into their centre of operations until the late 6th century BCE.[9][10][11]

Bartatua was the successor of the previous Scythian king, Ishpaka, and might have been his son. After Ishpaka had attacked the Neo-Assyrian Empire and died in battle against the Assyrian king Esarhaddon around 676 BCE, Bartatua succeeded him.[12]

Unlike Ishpaka, Bartatua sought a rapprochement with the Assyrians, and in 672 BCE[13] he asked for the hand of Esarhaddon's daughter Serua-eterat in marriage, which is attested in Esarhaddon's questions to the oracle of the Sun-god Shamash.[12] Whether this marriage did happen is not recorded in the Assyrian texts, but the close alliance between the Scythians and Assyria under Bartatua's reign suggested that this matrimonial alliance did happen, and it is possible that Serua-eterat might have been the mother of Bartatua's son Madyes;[14] henceforth, the Scythians remained allies of the Assyrian Empire until it started unravelling after the death of Esarhaddon's son Ashurbanipal.[12]

Bartatua's marriage to the Assyrian princess required that he would pledge allegiance to Assyria as a vassal, and in accordance to Assyrian law, the territories ruled by him would be his fief granted by the Assyrian king, which made the Scythian presence in Southwest Asia a nominal extension of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[12] Under this arrangement, the power of the Scythians in Southwest Asia heavily depended on their cooperation with the Assyrian Empire.[15]

Bartatua died in ca. 645 BCE, succeeded by his son, Madyes, who would bring Scythian power in Southwest Asia to its peak.[12]