Almost all of the major events of the Iazyges, such as the two Dacian
Wars—in both of which the Iazyges fought, assisting Rome in subjugating the
Dacians in the first war and conquering them in the second—are connected
with war. Another such war is the Marcomannic War that occurred between 169
and 175, in which the Iazyges fought against Rome but were defeated by
Marcus Aurelius and had severe penalties imposed on them.

Although the Iazyges were nomads before their migration to the Tisza plain,
they became semi-sedentary once there, and lived in towns, although they
migrated between these towns to allow their cattle to graze. Their language
was a dialect of Old Iranian, which was quite different from most of the
other Sarmatian dialects of Old Iranian. According to the Roman writer
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, when an Iazyx became too old to fight in battle,
they were killed by their sons or, according to Roman geographer Pomponius
Mela, threw themselves from a rock.

The graves made by the Iazyges were often rectangular or circular, although
some were ovoid, hexagonal, or even octagonal. They were flat and were
grouped like burials in modern cemeteries. Most of the graves' access
openings face south, southeast, or southwest. The access openings are
between 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in) and 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) wide. The graves
themselves are between 5 m (16 ft) and 13 m (43 ft) in diameter.

After their migration to the Tisza plain, the Iazyges were in serious
poverty. This is reflected in the poor furnishings found at burial sites,
which are often filled with clay vessels, beads, and sometimes brooches.
Iron daggers and swords were very rarely found in the burial site. Their
brooches and arm-rings were of the La Tène type, showing the Dacians had a
distinct influence on the Iazyges. Later tombs showed an increase in
material wealth; tombs of the 2nd to early 4th century had weapons in them
86% of the time and armor in them 5% of the time. Iazygian tombs along the
Roman border show a strong Roman influence.

The Iazyges used hanging, asymmetrical, barrel-shaped pots that had uneven
weight distribution. The rope used to hang the pot was wrapped around the
edges of the side collar; it is believed the rope was tied tightly to the
pot, allowing it to spin in circles. Due to the spinning motion, there are
several theories about the pot's uses. It is believed the small hanging
pots were used to ferment alcohol using the seeds of touch-me-not balsam
(Impatiens noli-tangere), and larger hanging pots were used to churn butter
and make cheese. The Iazyges were cattle breeders; they required salt to
preserve their meat but there were no salt mines within their territory.
According to Cassius Dio, the Iazyges received grain from the Romans.

The Iazyges wore heavy armor, such as Sugarloaf helms, and scale armor made
of iron, bronze, horn, or horse hoof, which was sown onto a leather gown so
the scales would partially overlap. They used long, two-handed lances
called Contus; they wielded these from horses, which they barded. Their
military was exclusively cavalry. They are believed to have used saddle
blankets on their horses. Although it was originally Gaulic, it is believed
the Iazyges used the Carnyx, a trumpet-like wind instrument.

One of the Iazygian towns, Bormanon, is believed to have had hot springs
because settlement names starting with "Borm" were commonly used among
European tribes to denote that the location had hot springs, which held
religious importance for many Celtic tribes. It is not known, however,
whether the religious significance of the hot springs was passed on to the
Iazyges with the concept itself. The Iazyges used horse-tails in their
religious rituals.