The Scorched earth Wikipedia page tells us that “the Scythians used scorched-earth methods against the Persian Achaemenid Empire, led by King Darius the Great, during his European Scythian campaign. The Scythians, who were nomadic herders, evaded the Persian invaders and retreated into the depths of the steppes after they had destroyed food supplies and poisoned wells.”
The European Scythian campaign Wikipedia page details that “Darius crossed the Black Sea at the Bosphorus Straits using a bridge of boats. Darius conquered large portions of Eastern Europe, even crossing the Danube to wage war on the Scythians. Darius invaded Scythia with his general Megabazus, where the Scythians evaded Darius’s army, using feints and retreating eastwards while laying waste to the countryside, by blocking wells, intercepting convoys, destroying pastures, and engaging in continuous skirmishes against Darius’s army. Seeking to fight with the Scythians, Darius’s army chased the Scythian army deep into Scythian lands, mostly in what is modern-day Ukraine, where there were no cities to conquer and no supplies to forage.
‘Royal Scythia, Greece, Kyiv Rus‘ book describes the Campaign in greater detail using the ancient sources.
