The Legend of Tomiris
Friday, September 30, 2022 5:58:38 PM | (Age Not Specified)
Unfortunately, it is not a historically accurate movie. Tomyris was Scythian, who were East Iranian nomadic tribes that existed before the arrival of Alexander the Great (329 BC) just to give a context into the timeline. Yes, they inhabited the lands that now belong to Turkic nations, but Scythians are not their ancestors. Scythians are the nomadic ancestors of Sogdians and Bactrians, who have been mentioned in many Chinese, Persian and Greek texts for being skillful merchants. Just like there is a difference between a German and Germanic people, there is a difference between Persians (originated from Pars tribes and West Iranians) and Iranian people, such as Kurds, Tajiks (East Iranians), Ossetians, etc.
The ancestors of current day Kazakh and Kyrgyz people migrated to Central Asia from Southern Siberia starting in 6th century AD. A genetic study done by Yunusbayev (Kazakh himself) published in PLoS Genetics, shows that the origin of all Turkish and Turkic people lead to Southern Siberia (Altay regions) and Mongolia. You can lie in text, but not in your DNA.
Tomyris fought against the invasion of Cyrus, despite both sharing Iranian background. Just like Ukrainians are fighting Russians despite both being Slavic.
Cyrus is portrayed as a barbarian, but he is remembered as a very progressive king for his time, who allowed people of his occupied lands to practice their own religion, including Jews (he is mentioned in Torah and Bible for allowing them to rebuilt the Temple of Solomon). He introduced the first mentioned instance of federal type of country management, just like the US, where each satrap (state) had its own governor.
But as Tajiks, we also believe that Tomyris was an awesome warrior that killed Cyrus. She was a true leader who united Saka and Scythian tribes to fight the Persians.
Showing both of their merits and failures are not mutually exclusive. You can be a visionary wanting to expand your kingdom, and a loving matriarch refusing to fal
