Sarmatia
a name given by the Romans to all the country in Europe and Asia between the Vistula and the Caspian Sea. The people inhabiting this country were usually called Sauromatæ by the Greeks, and Sarmatæ by the Romans. The Sarmatians began to threaten the Roman empire in the reign of Nero (54-68). Since that time they figure promiscuously among the barbarians who vexed the N. E. frontier of the Roman empire. They were finally subdued by the Goths, with whom, in process of time, they were amalgamated.