Everything in nomad society had to move with the seasons. This is because the tribes depended on their herds for nearly every basic staple: meat and milk for sustenance, and wool for clothes. Sheep were bred for hardiness, as grazing on the steppes was seasonal and often sparse. Few other domesticated animals could survive reliably on the steppes; cattle certainly lacked the resilience to do so. The image of gentle herdsmen moving slowly across the steppes in search of rich grasslands is, however, less than the whole picture. Sheep may formed the basis of the Scythian economy, but this was a warrior society that preyed on its own kind, and on the settled farmers along the borders of the steppes.
