quote: This is the story of the life of the great queen of of the steppe - legendary Tomiris. She is destined to become a skillful warrior, survive the loss of close people and unite the Scythian/Saka tribes under her authority.
quote: Tomiris is a 2019 Kazakhstani feature film directed by Akan Sataev, which tells the story of the queen of the Massagetae, Tomyris, and the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. The film co-stars Almira Tursyn, Aizhan Lighg, and Ghassan Massoud.
The film was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan. The idea to create a film about Tomyris was brought by Aliya Nazarbayeva, the youngest daughter of the first president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. She was later employed as a general producer of the film. The premiere of the film took place in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on September 25, 2019. The film received mixed reviews from critics and, as of July 2020, grossed $1.3 million against a production budget of $6.5 million.
Background
quote: Tomyris was the queen of the Massagetae, an Iranian people from a Scythian pastoral-nomadic confederation of Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea, in parts of modern-day Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, western Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan. She reigned in the 6th century BC.[failed verification][failed verification] Tomyris led her armies to defend against an attack by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire, and, according to Herodotus, defeated and killed him in 530 BC.
Tomyris's archenemy Cyrus I was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Under his rule the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Western Asia and much of Central Asia. From the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus created the largest empire the world had yet seen.
Release and critical response
quote:
The film received mixed reviews, largely because Herodotus's version of events is not generally accepted by historians and researchers,and unlike in the film, Massagetae are Scythian people speaking an Iranian language, while in the movie all characters are represented by modern Kazakh (featuring Mongolian physiognomy and speaking a Turkic language). Criticism came from both the Kazakh and Iranian public mainly for considering the film as a feminist approach to the history of both countries. The Iranian public also criticized the film for using Herodotus's description of King Cyrus's death.
Some observers believe that the film was aimed to make Dariga Nazarbayeva's potential presidential bid in the future, the daughter of Kazakhstan's former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, more acceptable among ordinary Kazakhstanis.
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