HIST 221 Lecture 2: Central Asia
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Central-Asian Nomads
What’s a barbarian?
I. Sources
A. outsiders
B. archaeology
C. EFFECT: defined by others
II. Geography
A. Steppes = highway
1. East/West: 6000 miles
2. North/South: 500-600 miles
III. Lifestyle
A. Seasonal migration
B. ↑ dairy, meat
C. Dependent on trade w/ sedentary
1. Export: horses, slaves,
2. Import: metal, vegs, fruits, luxury items
D. Wagons, yurts
E. Women ↓ oppressed
IV. Horse domestication
A. humans moved onto steppes (6500-5000 BC)
B. domesticated horse (4000s BC)
C. bit & bridle (3700 BC)
D. horse hitched to wheel (3500 BC)
V. Clans
A. fluid nobility: ability > birth
VI. REOCCUR: Confederation
A. charismatic leader unites clans
B. ruler = gift-giver
1. how to obtain gifts?
a. Raid & extort (Xiongnu & Huns)
b. Control trade networks (Scythians)
2. EFFECT: Warfare goal
a. Goal = parasite
b. Not to conquer sedentary. No fixed land
c. Want tribute from sedentary
C. inner tribes = dominant
1. conqueror, royal, luxury items
D. outer tribes
1. conquered & incorporated
2. poorer, dependent
E. lateral succession
1. bro inherits before sons
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2. effect: civil wars
VII. Warfare
1. horse archers
YOUTUBE: History Channel, Ancients behaving badly Attila 8:00-9:10; 24:34-25:30
2. skirmish, retreat, re-attack
VIII. How could sedentary defeat nomad?
A. invading = difficult
1. withdraw, scorched earth, little food
2. quick & difficult to kill
3. Chinese horses weaker. Little selenium = weak bones
B. fomenting civil war = easier
C. downfall
1. Ccvil war or other nomads
D. most effective strategies
1. divide nomads
a. ally w/ neighbors’ neighbor
2. walls
IX. Xiongnu
A. Chinese influence
1. Mandate of Heaven
2. use Chinese bureaucrats
B. Goal
1. exploit China
2. NOT conquer China
C. Qin dynasty
1. Pursued north of Yellow River
2. Tried to drive into Gobi desert
3. Great Wall defined border
D. Modu Chanyu (d.174 BC)
1. Chanyu = title “son of endless sky”
2. organized Xiongnu
3. Defeated & established diplomacy w/ Han
a. married Chinese princess & obtained goods
b. protected Silk Road
E. Han dynasty
1. Iron fist: sent armies to north & lost Battle of Mt. Baideng (200 BC)
2. Courtship: 5 baits
a. Marriage: Xiongnu leader & Chinese princess
b. Silk
c. Rice
d. Grain
e. Wine
f. Goal: turn Xiongnu from raiders (Oakland?) to traders
3. Zhang Qian
a. envoy sent west to find allies against Xiongnu
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b. captured & forced to marry Xiongnu wife (10yrs)
c. escaped & ↑ intell
4. Han-Xiongnu War (127 BC-AD 89)
a. 5 baits undermined Chinese emperor’s authority
i) son of heaven, yet equal to Xiongnu leader
b. Han invaded Xiongnu territory (127 BC)
i) logistical problems (water, horses, Gobi Desert)
ii) Han won battles; Xiongnu army destroyed (114 BC)
iii) Han ↑ deaths; ↑ $; bankrupted Han
c. China added west territory
i) can’t meet military obligations; debase coinage; internal
opposition
d. Xiongnu civil war (58 BC)
i) Han ally w/ southern Xiongnu (near Great Wall) to fight northern
Xiongnu (Mongolia)
ii) Northern Xiongnu defanged (AD 50)
e. Han reclaimed Tarim Basin (AD 91)
i) silk road passes through
VI. Scythians (900-300 BC)
A. Interaction w/ Greeks
1. Black Sea trade
a. export: grain, timber, amber, slaves
2. mercenaries for Greeks
3. Athenian police
4. inspired amazon myth
a. ARCHAEOLOGY: +300 warrior women graves
b. GREEK MYTH: horse-ridding warriors, equal of men, independent,
hunt, war, foreign, cut-off breasts, tatooed
Achilles, Hercules proved courage by killing Amazon
c. GREEK HISTORY: Scythians so savage even their women fight in war
i) gender equality = barbaric
d. little Greek girls had amazon dolls
Herodotus on the Scythians: 4.2.74-5
Hemp grows in Scythia: it is very like flax; only that it is a much coarser and taller plant: some grows
wild about the country, some is produced by cultivation: the Thracians make garments of it which
closely resemble linen; so much so, indeed, that if a person has never seen hemp he is sure to think
they are linen, and if he has, unless he is very experienced in such matters, he will not know of which
material they are.
The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping under the felt coverings, throw
it upon the red-hot stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapor as no Grecian vapor-
bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy, and this vapor serves them instead of a water-
bath; for they never by any chance wash their bodies with water
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Document Summary
What"s a barbarian: outsiders, archaeology, effect: defined by others, sources. Geography: steppes = highway, east/west: 6000 miles, north/south: 500-600 miles. Lifestyle: seasonal migration, dairy, meat, dependent on trade w/ sedentary, export: horses, slaves, import: metal, vegs, fruits, luxury items, wagons, yurts, women oppressed. Horse domestication: humans moved onto steppes (6500-5000 bc, domesticated horse (4000s bc, bit & bridle (3700 bc, horse hitched to wheel (3500 bc, clans. Reoccur: confederation: fluid nobility: ability > birth, charismatic leader unites clans, ruler = gift-giver, how to obtain gifts, raid & extort (xiongnu & huns, control trade networks (scythians, effect: warfare goal, goal = parasite, not to conquer sedentary. No fixed land: want tribute from sedentary, inner tribes = dominant, outer tribes, lateral succession, conquered & incorporated, poorer, dependent, conqueror, royal, luxury items, bro inherits before sons. Youtube: history channel, ancients behaving badly attila 8:00-9:10; 24:34-25:30: skirmish, retreat, re-attack.
