Massagetae

thumb|Tomyris and the Head of Cyrus, Frankenthal porcelain, c. 1773 thumb|Queen Tomyris learns that her son Spargapises has been taken alive by Cyrus, by Jan Moy (1535–1550). upright=1.3|thumb|Tomyris Plunges the Head of the Dead Cyrus Into a Vessel of Blood by Rubens

The Massagetae or Massageteans, also known as Sakā Tigraxaudā or Orthocorybantians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian Saka people who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia and were part of the wider Scythian cultures. The Massagetae rose to power between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, expelling the Scythians out of Central Asia and into the Caucasian and Pontic Steppes, an event which was to have wide-reaching consequences. The Massagetae are most famous for their queen Tomyris and her alleged defeat and killing of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.

Skunkha (Old Persian: ), was king of the Massagetae| ("Saka who wear pointed caps"), a group of the Saka, in the 6th century BC.

thumb|“Cyrus Defeats Spargapises,” from The Story of Cyrus, Adapted from designs by Michiel Coxie (1499–1592), Woven at the workshop of Albert Auwercx (1629–1709) thumb|Queen Tomyris learns that her son Spargapises has been taken alive by Cyrus, by Jan Moy (1535-1550). Spargapises (Saka: ; ; ; ) was the son of queen Tomyris of the Massagetai.

Sanesan () or Sanatruk () was the king of Maskut in the early 4th century. Sanesan's people, the Mazk'kut'k, have variously been identified as the Massagetae or as the Meskheti.