Fifty five hundred of these warriors were sent by emperor Marcus Aurelius to guard Roman settlements in Britain against attacks by the Celts. In our times the archaeological evidence related to presence of this Sarmatian force was discovered in Britain. Sarmatians even built there their own retirement villages!

Around these times specialists observe the first appearance of Celtic dragon image, which highly likely came from Sarmatian sources. The most curious fact is that in the religion of the Sarmatians, the altar represented a sword embedded in a stone. As we remember from Arthurian legends, famous Excalibur was that kind of the sword. Excalibur could only be drawn from the stone by Arthur, the rightful king. In some versions of the legend the sword is not even called Excalibur but with another name - Sword in the Stone.

This establishes an interesting and valid possibility between the Arthurian legends and the Sarmatians. There is also another interesting coincidence. Arthur’s father was called Uther Pendragon, which, basically, means “Dragon’s head” and refers to the dragon head symbol on a shield. The evidence suggests that the Sarmatians with their armor created a military caste that survived several centuries and provided the leadership in the early feudal era.

Archaeological search still continues. So, there will be more discoveries that may establish Sarmatian presence and their influence on Celtic Britain.

What similarities can the system of knighthood in England share with nomadic tribes that lived on the vast steppes of what is now Russia and the Ukraine? How can any link between them be possible?

There is a theory that knighthood was brought to Britain by Sarmatians, an Iranian language speaking people who displaced the Scythians. Sarmatians tribes migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around fifth century B.C. and eventually settled in most of southern European Russia, Ukraine, and the eastern Balkans. In fact, their realm was even wider. At some point it extended from China in the east and the Roman empire in the west.

Among other things Sarmatians adopted the dragon motif. They were skillful horse riders and archers, they were also famous for using heavily armored cavalry in their battles. They wore dragon emblems on their shields and armor.

A first big clash between Sarmatians and Romans took place in the third century AD. There was a big battle between them near the mouth of the Danube River on the Black Sea. Romans overcome the Sarmatians but were very impressed with their fighting prowess. That is why, one of the terms of the peace agreement with Sarmatians, included the following condition advanced by Romans. They demanded six thousand Sarmatians warriors and their horses join the Roman army.

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Vitellius ruled only three months from till December 22, 69. The armies of the eastern provinces had proclaimed a rival emperor; their commander, Vespasian. Very soon all Roman legions of the East, Dalmatia, and Illyricum had declared for Vespasian. Everybody deserted Vitellius. On the entrance of Vespasian’s troops into Rome he was dragged out of some hiding place and there struck down. He was beheaded and his head paraded around Rome. His brother and son were also killed.

The Senate acknowledged Vespasian as emperor on the following day, December 22, 69. This was the end of the Year of Four Emperors. Vespasian turned out to be quite a savvy administrator and reformer. He ruled for ten more years and died of natural causes in 79.

On the news of Otho’s suicide, Vitellius was recognized as emperor by the Senate. It is interesting to say that around 120 people claimed the credit for killing emperor Galba, being anxious to win Otho’s favour and hoping for a large reward. A list of their names was drawn up, which fell into the hands of Vitellius when he succeeded Otho as emperor. Every one of them was executed.

Vitellius turned out to have extremely violent nature. He quickly accrued large debts by conducting numerous feasts, banquets and triumphal parades that brought treasure close to bankruptcy. Yet, those who dared to demand repayment for debts were tortured and executed. He also started killing citizens who named him as their heir, often together with any co-heirs. New emperor also lured each and every rival into the palace with promises and assassinated them without any remorse.

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Year 69 AD in Europe is called the Year of Four Emperors. In this remarkable period four Roman emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian consecutively became the rulers of the empire. Three of them would rise and fall, while the last one - Vespasian - became the founder of the stable Flavian dynasty that succeeded Julio-Claudians.

After forced suicide of emperor Nero in 68 AD, Roman general Galba was recognized as emperor and welcomed into the city at the head of his legions. However Galba rule ended on January 15, 69, when a large group of Praetorian guard killed him in the Forum. Assassins hacked Galba’s corpse to pieces and paraded his severed head on a pole.

Roman senator Otho was recognized as emperor by the Senate that same day. He belonged to the noble Etruscan family descended from princes of Etruria. He ruled till April 16 of the same infamous year of 69 AD. Rebellious general Vitellius easily defeated him in the battle. Otho stabbed himself in the heart with a dagger, which he had concealed under his pillow, and died as his attendants entered the tent.

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These proved to be one of the biggest mistakes Japanese emperor ever made. While Kammu eventually disbanded his army, emperor’s power was slowly declining. Powerful clansmen around Kyoto became ministers and their relatives purchased the positions of magistrates. They were greedy and imposed heavy taxes leaving many farmers without land. Soon they began to recruit these landless farmers as guards and train them intensely in martial arts. The recruits in small numbers would accompany tax collectors and their presence usually restrained thieves and bandits from attacks and robbery. Through protective agreements and political marriages, they accumulated political power, eventually surpassing the traditional aristocracy.

At the same time new clans were created by farmers who took up arms to protect themselves from the imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes. These new clans formed alliances to protect themselves against more powerful clans, and adopted Japanese armor and weapons. They also laid the foundations of Bushido, their ethical code and were supposed to behave in a certain manner. Up until fourteenth century samurai were generally illiterate brutes. Yet, naturally, they aspired to the more cultured abilities of the nobility but most of them never achieved their goal at that time.

Believe it or not, but initially a samurai was not a soldier but a public servant. Somewhere in the seventh century Japanese emperor Tenji introduced new reforms that divided imperial bureaucrats into twelve ranks. The first rank belonged to the highest emperor’s adviser. Those of sixth rank and below were referred to as “samurai” and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these samurai were civilian public servants, the name has been derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be called samurai for many more centuries.

In early ninth century emperor Kammu was trying to conquer the aboriginal people of Japan who lived in the northern part of the country. His armies could not defeat them, so he had to conduct a military reform and introduced a new military title - shogun, which is equivalent to English word general. Since that time emperor started relying more on powerful regional clans because he needed their help to conquer aborigines. The warriors of the clans were skilled in mounted combat and archery and they became the base of emperor’s reformed army.

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One of the key part of Bushido is the ritual of seppuku. Somehow in English we use commonly the word hara-kiri instead of seppuku. There are important differences between two words. Basically, for samurai, the ritual is called seppuku, he would never use the word hara-kiri. Only ordinary Japanese people called this ritual hara-kiri, which is a colloquialism, that means “belly-cutting”.

Samurai warriors was used seppuku to avoid falling into enemy hands and to attenuate shame. Samurai women could only commit the act with permission. The feudal lords of samurai could also order samurai to commit seppuku. During seppuku samurai would cut his abdomen. He was supposed to be still alive when he finished the cutting and stretch out his neck for an assistant to cut his head off. The main point of the act was to restore or protect samurai’s honor as a warrior. This is why ordinary Japanese people were never ordered or expected to commit seppuku.

Among samurai seppuku was considered an act of great courage. It meant that samurai completed his life with his transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The spirit of a samurai was released when he cut his abdomen in the most dramatic fashion. As it is an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes during the agony the samurai asked a loyal comrade to decapitate him.