Jaxamatae

JAXAMATAE (Ἰαξαμάται, Ἰαξαμᾶται, Ἰξομάται, Ixomatae, Ammian. 22.8.31; Exomatae, Val. Flacc. Argonaut. 6.144, 569) a people who first appear in history during the reign of Satyrus III., king of Bosporus, who waged war with Tirgatao, their queen. (Polyaen. 8.55.) The ancients attribute them to the Sarmatian stock. (Scymn. Fr. p. 140; Anon. Peripl. Eux. p. 2.) Pomponius Mela (1.19.17) states that they were distinguished by the peculiarity of the women being as tried warriors as the men. Ptolemy (Ptol. 5.9) has placed them between the Don and Volga, which agrees well with the position assigned to them by the authors mentioned above. In the second century of our era they disappear from history. Schafarik (Slav. Alt. vol. 1. p. 340), who considers the Sarmatians to belong to the Median stock, connects them with the Median word mat= = people,a s in the termination Sauromatae; but it is more probable that the Sarmatians, were Slavonians.