In the geography of Antiquity the Maeotian marshes (Palus Maeotis) lay at where the the Don River emptied into the "Maeotian Lake" (the Sea of Azov), in Lesser Scythia .the marshes served as a check to westward migrations of peoples from Scythia, the steppe of central Asia. The marshes figured in foundation myths of several successive cultures.

Though the original home of the Heruli is given by the 6th century chronicler Jordanes as in Thule (Scandinavia), their own mythology placed it in the Maeotian marshes.

The Iazyges, an apparently Iranian people were a tribe of Sarmatians that were first heard of on the Maeotis, where they were among the allies of Mithridates II of Parthia.

The Roman emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus, during a brief reign (September 25, 275, to April 276) secured a victory over the Alans near the Palus Maeotis.

The Magyars tell the tale of the White Stag of the Maeotian marshes.

The Maeotian Lake has given its name to an epoch of the late Miocene Period.