Around 529 BC the armies of the Persian Empire tried to conquer a mysterious and reclusive people who lived somewhere to the east of the Caspian Sea - to this day we do not know exactly where. The Persians acted simply because of Cyrus the Great's overweening ambition. As it turned out, Cyrus's armies were defeated and he was killed in the battle. The Massagetae, left once again to themselves, slipped back out of monumental history: back to their unusual customs of sex and death, to the horses for which they were famous, to their sun worship.

LRB 22 June 1989 | PDF Download