Nauca - Daughter of the Steppes by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

{1} Cybele: Ancient Asian goddess, venerated as ‘Mother of the Mountains’ and associated with rocks, wild animals and birds of prey.

{2} Gorytos : Scythian-style large quiver which could contain a bow, up to a hundred arrows, plus a pair of javelins.  Widely used by horse riders of the steppes.

{3} Hinduwani steel : A type of high-carbon steel made in Southern India, starting in the 6th Century B.C.E.  When adopted by Arab artisans, it was renamed ‘Damascus Steel’.

{4} Tanais : An old Greek emporium (trading post) situated on the delta of the Tanais (Don) River, some 30 km west from modern Rostov-on-Don.

{5} Emporium : Greek designation for a trading post.

{6} Kingdom of Pontus: Situated along the southern coast of the Black Sea, in present day Turkey.  Ruled from the late 2nd Century B.C.E. to the early 1st Century B.C.E. by King Mithridates VI, who fought three successive wars against Rome and eventually lost.

{7} Pontus Euxinus: Ancient name for the Black Sea.

{8} Archon: Title for a local ruler or administrator in Ancient Greece.

{9} Sarmatian: Iranian dialect related to Saka-Scythic, which evolved into Modern Ossetian.

{10} Obol : Small silver coin from Ancient Greece.  It took six obols to equate one drachma.

{11} Lady Amezan : Ancient divine warrior horsewoman of the Caucasus Nart Sagas.  Her name meant ‘Forest Mother’.

{12} Anatolia : Eastern part of present day Turkey.

{13} Bactria : Ancient kingdom which mostly covered parts of modern Afghanistan.

{14} Pontus : Name of the part of modern Turkish Anatolia that was ruled by King Mithridates VI.

{15} Sea of Oxus: The Sea of Aral.

{16} Sea of Oxus: Ancient name of the Aral Sea.

{17} Oxus River: Ancient name of the Amu Darya River.

{18} Susia : Ancient name of Bagram, in Northern Afghanistan.

{19} Ecbatana : Ancient name of Hamadan, in Iran.

{20} Pataliputra: Ancient name of Patna, in Northeast India.

{21} Pontus Euxinus: Ancient name of the Black Sea.

{22} Bagh Nakh: Ancient Indian knuckledusters.

{23} Buxoro: Ancient name of Bukhara.

{24} Satrap: Title for a regional ruler inside the Persian and Parthian Empires.

{25} Niya : Ancient name of the oasis town of Minfeng.

{26} Ahura Mazda : God of Good in the Zoroastrian religion.