Notes

Prologue: Attila on the Road to Rome

1See Judith Herrin, Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe (Princeton, 2020), pp. 1–16.

2See Christopher Kelly, The End of Empire: Attila the Hun and the Fall of Rome (New York/London), pp. 224–226.

3See Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe (Cambridge, 2013), pp. 37–42, who argues convincingly for the Huns inheriting imperial institutions, including diplomatic protocol, from the Xiongnu.

4See Yu Ying-shih, Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations (Berkeley, 1967), pp. 36–54.

5See Mark Edward Lewis, China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 73–85.

6See J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, Volume I (New York, 1958), pp. 289–290. The precise intentions of Honoria in appealing to Attila are still uncertain.

7For Attila ruling a steppe confederation from the Middle Danube to the Volga Rivers, see Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe (Cambridge, 2013), pp. 43–60, supporting the older opinions by E. A. Thompson, The Huns revised edition (Oxford, 1999), pp. 177–185, and Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns: Studies in Hun History and Culture (Berkeley, 1973), pp. 94–129. For a revisionist opinion, diminishing the significance of the Huns, see Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians (Oxford, 2006), pp. 329–332 and 360–366. See R. Lindner, “Nomadism, Huns, and Horses,” Past and Present 92 (1981), pp. 1–19, who argues the Huns, once settled on the Hungarian grasslands, lacked sufficient pastures to maintain a large army of horse archers. Attila, however, was in the position of the Ottoman sultans of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, who could summon large cavalry forces from the Tatars of the Crimea and the South Russian Steppes. See Rhoads Murphy, Ottoman Warfare, 1500–1700 (New Brunswick, NJ, 1999), pp. 160–161.

8See G. Turville-Petre, The Heroic Age of Scandinavia (London, 1951), pp. 27–37, and Jan de Vries, Heroic Song and Heroic Legend (Oxford, 1962), pp. 44–71, for Attila in the Norse cycle of the Volsungs (in saga and Eddic poetry) and the Middle High German epic Nibelungenlied.

9See H. M. D. Parker, A History of the Roman World, A.D. 138 to 337, second edition (London, 1958), p. 147. The citizens attributed the defeat of Maximinus to intervention of their god Belenus, who was sometimes identified with Apollo.

10See Thompson, Huns, pp. 158–159.

11Ibid., pp. 160–161.

12See John Michael O’Flynn, Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire (Alberta, 1983), pp. 190–191, and Bury, History of Later Roman Empire, I, p. 295.

13See Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 137–138.

14Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 262–264, Thompson, Huns, pp. 160–163, and Bury, History of Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 295–296.

15See Bury, History of Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 295–296.

16See Gerard Friell and Stephen Williams, The Rome that Did Not Fall: The Survival of the East in the Fifth Century (London/New York, 2005), p. 87.

17See Kelly, End of Empire, p. 263. The next morning, Attila’s bodyguard slew Ildico immediately inasmuch as they expected foul play. Ildico lived on in legend as Gudrun of Norse poetry and saga, and Kriemhild of the Nibelungenlied.

18See Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 142–149. The rebellion is better characterized as a Hun civil war among Attila’s sons Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak. Ellac fell fighting on the Nedao River against a coalition of Germanic vassals headed by Andaric, King of the Gepidae.

19See chapter 5.

20Herodotus, Histories IV. 1–205; Penguin translation, Herodotus, Histories, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt (New York), pp. 217–280. Herodotus based his account on eyewitness reports of Greeks who traded and lived among the Scythians.

21Ammianus Marcellinus 31. 2. 1–12; Penguin translation, Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354–376) (New York, 1986), pp. 411–412. See Thomas S. Burns, Rome and the Barbarians, 100 B.C.–A.D. 400 (Baltimore, 2003), pp. 1–40, for critique of the stereotypical images of barbarians in Greek and Roman sources.

22The reaction of Zhang Qian was incorporated in the Hanshu 6. 1. See Joseph P. Yap, ed. and trans., The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Huns: A Collection of Chapters from the Shiji, Hanshu, and Hou Hanshu (Independent Publication), pp. 275–276. For the reaction of Ahmad ibn Fadlan, see Ibn Fadlan, Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated by Paul Lund and Caroline Stone (New York, 2012), pp. 25–39.

23See E. Denison Ross and Vilhelm Thomsen, “The Orkhon Inscriptions: Being a Translation of Professor Vilhelm Thomsen’s Final Danish Rendering,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), pp. 861–876.

24See Paul Kahn, trans., The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan, revised edition (Boston, 1988), pp. ix–x. The second Great Khan Ögedei (1229–1241) commissioned the work in Mongolian shortly after the death of his father, Genghis Khan. The text, however, only survives in later Chinese redaction rather than in the original Mongol language.

1: The Peopling of the Eurasian Steppes

1See Annabel Walker, Aurel Stein: Pioneer of the Silk Road (Seattle, 1995), pp. 136–171.

2See J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair, The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Eastern Peoples from the West (London, 2000), pp. 230–255.

3See James A. Millward, Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang (New York, 2007), pp. 322–332, for the competing political claims and separatist aspirations of the Uyghurs.

4See Walker, Aurel Stein, pp. 41–70.

5See Sven Hedin, Durch Asiens Wüsten. Drei Jahre auf neuen Wegen in Pamir, Lop-nor, Tibet und China, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1899). Hedin subsequently mounted expeditions to Tibet in 1904–1907. He fell into disrepute by his admiration of, and correspondence with, Adolf Hitler, although Hedin later came to criticize National Socialism and the Third Reich.

6See Ferdinand von Richthofen, “Über die zentralasiatischen Seidenstrassen bis zum 2. Jh. n. Chr,” Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin 4 (877), pp. 96–122.

7See Walker, Aurel Stein, pp. 164–171. See analysis of the documents by Imaeda Yoshiro, “Provenance and Character of Dunhuang Documents,” Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko 66 (2008), pp. 81–102.

8This language family is by convention denoted as Tocharian, even though speakers of the language did not define themselves as such. The term is based on Greek Tokharoi, which designated the inhabitants of Sogdiana and Bactria in the Kushan era. For the decipherment of the language, see J. P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth (London, 1998), pp. 56–63.

9See Philip Baldi, An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages (Carbondale, 1983), pp. 142–150, and Mallory and Mair, Tarim Mummies, pp. 299–304.

10Many scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth century employed the term Aryan (from Sanskrit arya or “noble”) to denote the language family now designated Indo-European. Nazi ideologues identified language with race and so forever discredited the term Aryan.

11See Michael Palencia-Roth, “The Presidential Address of Sir William Jones: The Asiatick Society of Bengal and the ISCSC,” Comparative Civilizations Review 56 (2007), pp. 21–39, for analysis of Jones’s method and conclusions. For the text of the address, see Sir William Jones, “The Third Anniversary Discourse: On the Hindus, 1786,” in The Works of Sir William Jones, Volume 3 (Bengal, 1977), pp. 24–46.

12See Bedřich Hrozný, Die Sprache der Hethiter: ihr Bau und ihre Zugehörigkeit zum indogermanischen Sprachstamm (Leipzig, 1917), the groundbreaking work in the decipherment of Hittite. For the distribution of the Hittite (more properly called Neshite), Luvian, and Palaic languages in Anatolia, see Trevor R. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites, 2nd edition revised (Oxford, 2005), pp. 10–20, and David W. Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (Princeton, 2002), pp. 41–47 and map, fig. 3.1.

13Trevor R. Bryce, Life and Society in the Hittite World (Oxford, 2002), pp. 57–60, for the adaptation of cuneiform script, which was ill-suited to express the diphthongs of Hittite, an Indo-European language.

14See Mallory and Maier, Tarim Mummies, pp. 63 and 184–185.

15See Folke Bergman, Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang, Especially in the Lop-Nor Region, Volume 1 (Stockholm, 1939), pp. 51–332, for his excavations of Xizhoe Cemetery in 1934. For discussion and analysis of the finds, see Victor H. Mair, “The Rediscovery and Complete Excavation of Ördek’s Necropolis,” Journal of Indo-European Studies. 34 (2006), pp. 273–318.

16See Mallory and Maier, Tarim Mummies, p. 191.

17See ibid., pp. 181–183.

18See ibid., pp. 230–252. For analysis of DNA evidence, see F. Zhang, C. Ning, and A. Scott, “The Genomic Origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin Mummies,” Nature 599 (2021), pp. 256–261.

19See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 285–287.

20See René Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, translated by Naomi Walford (New Brunswick, N.J., 2010), pp. 50–53.

21For the catalog of frescoes, see Roderick Whitfield and Anne Farrer, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art from the Silk Route (London, 1990).

22See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 65–75.

23See J. P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth (London, 1989), pp. 143–185, who rules out the thesis of Russell Gray and Quentin Atkinson, “Language-Tree Divergence Times Support the Anatolian Theory of Indo-European Origin,” Nature 426 (2003), pp. 435–439, who proposed Anatolia as the homeland, based on a statistical compilation of similar sounds mapped as if they were genetic codes. This is a flawed approach; neither scholar is a linguist nor archaeologist. Such word lists, without studying grammar, syntax, or isoglosses, have no linguistic or cultural context. An Anatolian homeland for PIE makes no sense because cuneiform texts reveal that the speakers of Anatolian languages were the elite ruling a majority of non-Indo-European Hattians. It would turn the speakers of PIE into the earliest agriculturalists, who, from at least 3000 BC, are known to speak non-Indo-European languages such as Hattian and Hurrian. Also, there is no evidence for horses in Anatolia until the Anatolian speakers brought the horse with them from the steppes.

24See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 18–21 and 193–223, and Philip L. Kohl, The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia (Cambridge, 2007), pp. 137–144.

25See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 134–159.

26See ibid., pp. 21–38, and for Baldi, Indo-European Languages, pp. 14–22.

27In the early first millennium BC, the initial hard labial sound p in Germanic languages shifted to a fricative f sound in the first Germanic consonantal shift, the so-called Grimm’s law. The linguist Jacob Grimm first noted this linguistic rule. He is, however, far better remembered for his compilation of fairy tales rather than his linguistic law. See Baldi, Indo-European Languages, pp. 129–139.

28See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 63–77.

29See ibid., pp. 193–201, and map, fig. 10. 2.

30See ibid., pp. 135–190.

31See ibid., pp. 300–317.

32See ibid., pp. 340–349.

33See Kohl, Making of Bronze Age Eurasia, pp. 57–85.

34See Bryce, Kingdom of Hittites, pp. 12–14.

35See ibid., pp. 21–43, and Seton Lloyd, Early Highland Peoples of Anatolia (New York, 1967), pp. 38–56, for the Assyrian merchant communities (karum), and their commercial records in the Akkadian language and written in the cuneiform script on clay tablets.

36See Bryce, Kingdom of Hittites, pp. 64–100.

37See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 39–48, and Baldi, Indo-European Languages, pp. 151–164.

38See ibid., pp. 307–311, and J. P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth (London, 1980), pp. 56–63.

39See Mallory and Mair, Tarim Mummies, pp. 270–273, and Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 58–59.

40See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 27–30, for diverging into the Centum and Satem branches of Indo-European languages.

41See Baldri, Indo-European Languages, pp. 130–132.

42Ibid., pp. 144–145.

43Ibid., pp. 55–56.

44For Corded Ware culture, see Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 360–382. For DNA analysis documenting the migration of Yamnaya populations into Europe, see Morton E. Allentoft et al., “Population Genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia,” Nature 552 (2015), pp. 167–172.

45See Nicholas Patterson et al., “Ancient Admixture in Human History,” Genetics 192 (2012), pp. 1065–1093, and David Reich, “Ancient DNA Suggests Steppe Migrations Spread Indo-European Languages,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 162 (2018), pp. 39–55. The small percentage of Neanderthal DNA was passed into the general European populations via the hunter-gatherers.

46Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 363–370.

47See Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 30–35 and 66–75. I accept the position that Greek and Macedonian were distantly related, but, in Classical times, mutually unintelligible languages. See Eugene N. Borza, In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, 2nd edition (Princeton, 1990), pp. 77–79. We have neither sufficient vocabulary nor grammar to determine conclusively whether Macedonian was a separate language or a Greek dialect, possibly related to Northwest or Doric Greek—the latter position an article of faith by modern Greek nationalists today. Inscriptions from the Kingdom of Macedon in the Archaic and Classical periods are in the Greek dialect spoken by the stone cutter rather than Macedonian (and the same is true from contemporary inscriptions in Thrace). Macedonian, along with other Balkan languages such as Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian, were spoken vernaculars not committed to writing. King Archelaus (413–399 BC) declared Attic Greek the language of the Macedonian court in a deliberate effort to Hellenize his kingdom. Greeks, however, regarded Macedonians as barbarians speaking an unintelligible language, even though the royal family since the reign of Alexander I (ca. 490–454 BC) was accorded the Hellenic status by the Olympic commission. See especially Plutarch Alexander 52; Penguin translation, Plutarch, The Age of Alexander, revised edition, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert and Timothy E. Duff (New York, 2011), p. 276, when Alexander the Great shouts orders to his bodyguard in Macedonian so that the Greeks present cannot understand.

48The archaeological break between Early Helladic III and Middle Helladic I, in ca. 1900 BC (and represented by destruction levels at sites on mainland Greece and followed by a new material culture with Minyan ware as the marker), is considered the date of the arrival of the first Greek speakers. See R. J. Hopper, The Early Greeks (New York, 1976), pp. 16–25. For decipherment of Linear B as Greek, see John Chadwick, The Decipherment of Linear B, 2nd edition (Cambridge, 2014). Linear A and the earlier hieroglyphic syllabary from Crete are still not deciphered, but the language of these tablets was not Indo-European.

49See Herodotus. VII. 73 and VIII. 138 (Penguin translation, pp. 397–398 and 495). Herodotus also notes that the Macedonians first settled near the Gardens of Midas in Mygdonia, where the Phrygians had dwelled before they migrated into Asia Minor. See Bartomeu Obrador-Cursach, “On the Place of Phrygian among the Indo-European Languages,” Journal of Language Relationship 17 (2019), pp. 234–239, for links between Greek and Phrygian.

50See Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 76–84.

51See Pablo Librado et al., “The Origins and Spread of Domestic Horses from the Western Eurasian Steppes,” Nature 598 (2021), pp. 634–640. For chariot at Sintashta and spread of chariot warfare, see P. J. Kuznetsov, “The Emergence of Bronze Age Chariots in Eastern Europe,” Antiquity 80 (2006), pp. 638–645, and Stephen Lindner, “Chariots in the Eurasian Steppe: a Bayesian Approach to the Emergence of Horse-Drawn Transport in the Early Second Millennium B.C.,” Antiquity 94 (2020), pp. 361–380.

52See E. E. Kuzmina, The Prehistory of the Silk Road, edited by Victor H. Mair (Philadelphia, 2008), pp. 57–58 and 88–93.

53See Kohl, Making of Bronze Age Eurasia, pp. 104-213.

54Meluhha is used as the preferred name of this first civilization of India; it is also designated the Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan civilization. The latter name is from the major site of Harappa first excavated by Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921–1922. See Romila Thapar, Early India from the Origins to A.D. 1300 (Berkeley, 2002), pp. 79–94. For the trade routes, see E. C. L. During Caspers, “Sumer, Coastal Arabia and the Indus Valley in Protoliterate and Early Dynastic Eras: Supporting Evidence for a Cultural Linkage,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 22 (1979), pp. 121–135, and Julian Reade, “The Indus-Mesopotamia Relationship Reconsidered,” Intercultural Relations between South and Southwest Asia: Studies in Commemoration of E. C. L. During Caspers (1934–1996), edited by E. Olijdam and R. H. Spoor (Oxford, 2008, BAR International Series 1826), pp. 12–18.

55See Asko Parpola, The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and Indus Civilization (Cambridge, 2015), pp. 69–91.

56See Richard L. Bulleit et al., “Camel,” Encyclopedia Iranica IV. 7 (New York, 1990), pp. 730–739. The root word may be derived from Proto-Indo-European ues, “to be wet,” denoting the ejaculation of semen by camels. See Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 35–56, for the close relationship of Avestan Iranian and Vedic Sanskrit.

57See Thapar, Early India, pp. 104–117, and Parpola, Roots of Hinduism, pp. 92–106, for the controversy over the transmission and historical context of the Vedas.

58See S. Dhammika, The Edicts of King Asoka: An English Rendering (Kandy Sri Lanka, 1993), The Wheel Publication No. 386/387. The translations are available online: https://web.archive.org/web/20140328144411 http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html.

59See W. King and R. C. Thompson, The Sculptures and Inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia: A New Collation of the Persian, Susian and Babylonian Texts (London, 1907). For the Persian text, see George G. Cameron, “The Old Persian Text of the Bisitun Inscription,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 5 (1951), pp. 47–54.

60See Stefano de Martino, “The Mittani State: The Formation of the Kingdom of Mittani,” in Constituent, Confederate and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch, and Jesper Eidem (Berlin, 2014), pp. 61–74.

61See Paul Thieme, “The ‘Aryan’ Gods of the Mitanni Treaties,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 80 (1960), pp. 301–317.

62For text of the cuneiform tablet (now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin), see Gerhard F. Probst, Joachim Marzahn, and Peter Raulwing, Kikkuli–Text (Lexington, KY, 2010). See online translation: http://imh.org/exhibits/past/legacy-of-the-horse/kikkuli-1345-bce/. The site is maintained by the International Museum of the Horse. See discussion by O. R. Gurney, The Hittites (Baltimore, 1953), pp. 124–125.

63See Jane R. MacIntosh, A Peaceful Realm: The Rise and Fall of the Indus Civilization (Boulder, CO, 2002) and The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives (Santa Barbara, 2008). Recommended website for Harappan civilization is: www.harappa.com.

64The language is most likely descended from a proto-Dravidian language. For controversy over the language recorded on the glyphs, see Travatham Mahadevan, “Study of Recent Attempts to Decipher the Indus Script: Aryan or Dravidian or Neither?”(1995–2002), Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 8 (2002), pp. 1–19. The definitive scholarly study on decipherment is Walter A. Fairservice Jr., The Harappan Civilization: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script (Leiden, 1992). For the corpus of inscriptions, see Sayid Ghulam Shah and Asko Parpola, eds., Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions, 2 vols. (Helsinki, 1992).

65See Thapar, Early India, pp. 117–136, for the Aryan impact on the transformation of Indian culture in the Early Iron Age.

66See Mallory and Mair, Tarim Mummies, pp. 185–187 and 329–330, and C. Keyser, C. Bouakaze, and E. Crubézy, et al., “Ancient DNA Provides New Insights into the History of South Siberian Kurgan People,” Human Genetics 126 (2009), pp. 395–410.

67See R. E. Emmerick, “Iranian Settlement East of the Pamirs,” in The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume III. 2: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, edited by Ehsan Yarshater (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 265–266, and Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “The Wu-sun and Sakas and the Yüeh-chih Migration,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 33 (1970), pp. 154–160. For the Saka language and its importance for Buddhist literature at Khotan, see Carsten Colfe, “Development of Religious Thought,” in Cambridge History of Iran, III. 2, pp. 849–851.

68See Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, pp. 50–53.

69See Nicola di Cosmo, “The Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China,” in The Cambridge History of Ancient China from the Origins of the Civilization to 221 B.C., edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 941–944.

70See Herodotus IV. 11-13 (Penguin translation, pp. 220–221). Recent DNA analysis supports these migrations reported by Herodotus. See Mari Järve et al., “Shifts in the Genetic Landscape of the Western Eurasian Steppe Associated with the Beginning and End of the Scythian Dominance,” Current Biology 29 (2019), pp. 2430–2441, and Maja Krzewin´ska, et al., “Ancient Genomes Suggest the Eastern Pontic-Caspian Steppe as the Source of Western Iron Age Nomads,” Science Advances 4 (2018), pp. 1–13.

71See Sarah C. Melville, The Campaigns of Sargon II, King of Assyria, 721–705 B.C. (Norman, 2016), pp. 126–128 and 207–220.

72See H. W. R. Saggs, The Might That Was Assyria (London, 1984), pp. 96–87, and Melville, Campaigns of Sargon II, pp. 187–192.

73Strabo, Geographica I. 3. 21, dated either to 696 (by Eusebius) or 676 (by Julius Africanus). See Selim Ferruh Adali, “Cimmerians and Scythians: The Impact of Nomadic Powers on the Assyrian Empire and the Ancient Near East,” in Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Greco-Roman World, Inner Asia and China, edited by Hyun Jin Kim, Frederick Juliaan Vervaet, and Selim Ferruh Adali (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 67–68.

74See ibid., pp. 73–75.

75See Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 48–56.

76See Amelie Kurt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period (London/New York, 2007), pp. 31–33, with translations of the cuneiform sources.

77See Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, 3rd edition (New York, 1992), pp. 372–388.

78See Herodotus I. 116-134 (Penguin translation, pp. 48–56), and Pierre Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by Peter T. Daniels (Winona Lake, Indiana, 2002), pp. 13–30.

79See ibid., pp. 31–61 and 107–164.

2: Surviving on the Eurasian Steppes

1See John of Plano Carpini, “History of the Mongols,” in Mission to Asia, translated by Christopher Dawson (New York, 1966), p. 8.

2Herodotus, Histories, IV. 46–47; translations from Penguin edition of Herodotus, Histories, revised edition, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt (New York, 1972), pp. 230–231.

3See Erik Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to 1700 A.D. (New York, 1977), pp. 7–8.

4See Ibn Fadlan and Land of Darkness, pp. 14–16 (Penguin translation).

5See William of Rubruck, “The Journey of William of Rubruck,” in Mission to Asia, pp. 129–131.

6See Robert N. Taaffe, “The Geographic Setting,” in The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, edited by Denis Sinor (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 19–40.

7See Michael H. Glantz, “Creeping Environmental Disasters: Central Asia’s Aral Sea,” in The Aral Sea Environment, edited by Andrey G. Kostianoy and Aleksey N. Kosarev (Leiden, 2010), pp. 305–315.

8See Peter B. Golden, Central Asia in World History (Oxford, 2011), pp. 12–17.

9See Denis Sinor, “The Establishment and Dissolution of the Türk Empire,” in The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, edited by Denis Sinor (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 297–302.

10For the campaign of Genghis Khan against Khwarazm, see Michael Prawdin, The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy, translated by Eden and Cedar Pau (New York, 1961), pp. 157–159. For Tamerlane’s campaign against Tokhtamysh, Khan of the Golden Horde, see Justin Marozzi, Tamerlane, Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World (New York, 2004), pp. 180–184.

11See Jack Weathersfield, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (New York, 2002), pp. 13–14, and see also pp. xxxiii–xxxv for his invaluable observations based on five years’ experience living among the Mongols.

12Ammianus Marcellinus 31. 2. 1–12; Penguin translation, Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354-378), translated by Walter Hamilton (New York, 1986), pp. 411–412.

13See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, pp. 98–99.

14See John of Plano Carpini, Mission to Asia, pp. 16–17. William of Rubruck, ibid., pp. 95–101, likewise so reports the Mongol diet.

15See Paul Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, translated by Thomas N. Haining (Oxford, 1991), pp. 19–23.

16See Herodotus, Histories IV. 17 and 54 (Penguin translation), pp. 223 and 233. See Thomas S. Noonan, “The Grain Trade of the Northern Black Sea in Antiquity,” American Journal of Philology 94 (1973), pp. 231–242. The high king of the Royal Scythians exacted tribute from the agriculturalists and taxed the grain trade to pay for the luxury imports from the Greek world; see Boardman, Greeks Overseas, pp. 256-264.

17See Ross and Thomsen, “Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), pp. 863–864.

18See Golden, Central Asia, pp. 16–20.

19See Craig Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia: The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE–250 CE (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 91–175, and contra Valerie Hansen, Silk Road: A New History (Oxford, 2012), pp. 235–242, who minimizes the economic significance of the international trade.

20See Richard Stoneman, Palmyra and Its Empire: Zenobia’s Revolt against Rome (Ann Arbor, 1994), pp. 31–50. For the range of goods taxed in tariff law, see John F. Matthews, “The Tax Law of Palmyra: Evidence for Economic History in a City of the Roman East,” Journal of Roman Studies 74 (1984), pp. 157–180.

21The routes traversed by caravans from the Roman Empire were recorded by Isidore of Charax in the first century BC; see Wilfred H. Schoff, trans., Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax: The Greek Text, with a Translation and Commentary (Philadelphia, 1914). The emperor Augustus ordered a Latin translation.

22For the role of Sogdian merchants, see Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia from Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion (Princeton, 1998), pp. 183–198. The range of exotic and luxury goods which Sogdian merchants carried to China is well-documented in the early Islamic era; see Edward H. Schafer, The Golden Apples of Samarkand (Berkeley, 1963), pp. 58–278.

23See Thomas Thilo, “Chang’an: China’s Gateway to the Silk Road,” Between Rome and China: History, Religions and Material Culture of the Silk Road, edited by Samuel N. C. Lieu and Gunner Mikkelsen (Turnhout, 2016), pp. 91–100.

24See Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 183–192, for the crucial role of the Kushan Emperors in promoting these routes.

25See ibid., and pp. 204–237, for scale and importance of Roman commerce in the Indian Ocean. For text and translation of the Periplus Maris Erythraei, see Lionel Casson, trans., The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Princeton, 1989).

26See Michael McCormick, Origins of the European Economy: Communication and Commerce, A.D. 300–900 (Cambridge, 1), pp. 237–254. The slave trade of Western Eurasia fed the demand for labor in the early Islamic world. The trade in Turkish slaves met the demand for soldiers in the Abbasid Caliphate; see Hugh Kennedy, The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State (London/New York, 2001), pp. 118–147.

27See Richard Bulliet, Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World History (New York, 2009), pp. 96–126.

28Modu Chanyu employed scribes who used Chinese ideogram to keep records in Chinese and the language of the Xiongnu. Chinese chroniclers and historians assume that later chanyu of the Xiongnu could recognize ideograms. Buddhist missionaries translated religious texts into Iran, Tocharian, and Turkish languages by adapting the North Indian scripts Brahmi and Karosthi; see György Kara, “Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages,” The World’s Writing Systems, edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright (Oxford, 1996), pp. 536–539. The Turkish runic alphabet was ultimately derived from the Aramaic alphabet and it was widely used among Turks, Uyghurs, Bulgars, and Magyars between the seventh and tenth centuries. See Wolfgang Scharlipp, An Introduction to the Old Turkish Runic Inscriptions (Engelschoff, 2000).

29See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 117–120 and 140–143.

30See Weathersfield, Genghis Khan, pp. 37–41.

31See Kahn, trans., Secret History of the Mongols, pp. 3–4.

32Yelu Dashi (1087–1143) was the direct descendant of Abaoji, also known as the Emperor Taizu of the Liao dynasty (916–926), head of the Yelu clan of Khitans who founded the Liao Empire in northern China.

33For the efficacy of animal sacrifice, see Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth (Berkeley, 1996), pp. 1–82.

34See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, p. 128.

35See M. L. West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth (Oxford, 2007), pp. 166–193, and Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 130–134 and 140–142.

36See Ehsan Yashater, “Iranian Common Beliefs and World View,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 347–353.

37See Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 131–133, for the prominent role of Indra in Vedic myth.

38See ibid., p. 135, for twin fraternal gods.

39See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 95–96 and 397–398.

40See West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth, pp. 26–119, for the meters and rules of oral poetry.

41Calvert Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics (Oxford, 1995), pp. 397–304.

42Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 839–852; Penguin translation, Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, translated by Dorothea Wender (New York, 1973), pp. 50–51. See also Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon, pp. 448–452.

43The earliest telling of the combat is in Rig-Veda I. 32, and it is expanded in the later Mandala, Riga-Veda IV. 18. See Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon, pp. 464–470.

44See H. A. Hoffner, Hittite Myths (Atlanta, 1990), pp. 11–14, for the translation of the myth which was reenacted at the annual Purulli festival held at Hattusas, the Hittite capital. See discussion by Trevor Bryce, Life and Society in the Hittite World (Oxford, 2002), pp. 215–219, and Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon, pp. 452–460.

45Völuspá, ll. 54–55; see translation of Lee M. Hollander, Poetic Edda (Austin, 1962), p. 11. Snorri Sturluson retells the story in the Prose Edda, translated by Jesse L. Byock (New York, 2005), p. 53. See Calvert, How to Slay a Dragon, pp. 429–440.

46For the techniques of recitation of oral poetry, see seminal works of Millman Parry, The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collective Papers of Milliman Parry, edited by Adam Parry (Oxford, 1989), and Albert Lord, The Singer of Tales, 3rd edition (Cambridge, MA, 2019).

47These were then the tributaries of the Indus, which have since shifted course to the east, and the Sarasvati has since disappeared altogether.

48See Jules Cashford, trans., The Homeric Hymns (New York, 2001). See also Richard Janko, Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns: Dichronic Development in Oral Poetry (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 18–41.

49See Jean-Paul Roux, Die alttürkische Mythologie (Klett-Cotta, 1997), p. 255.

50See Ross and Thomsen, “Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), pp. 864.

51See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 153–155.

52See John A. Boyle, “Turkish and Mongol Shamanism in the Middle Ages,” Folklore 83 (1972), pp. 177–193, and Reuven Amitai-Preiss, “Sufis and Shamans: Some Remarks on the Islamization of the Mongols in the Ilkhanate,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 42 (1999), pp. 27–46.

53See Gülten Yener, “The Creation and Procreation: The Turkish Epic in English Translation with an Introduction and Commentary,” M.A. Thesis, Emporia State University, Kansas, 1965. The myth is based on the folklore collected by Mustafa Sepetcioglu in 1965. For English rendition of the myth in verse, see https://larryavisbrown.com/turkish-creation-myth/. The site is maintained by Professor Larry Avis Brown, Department of Theater, Lipscomb University.

54See Richard Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization, 2nd edition (New York, 2010), pp. 37–58.

55See Susan Whitfield, Life along the Silk Road (London, 1999), pp. 27–35.

56The Mauryan emperor Ashoka (268–232 BC) embraced the faith, presided over the Third Buddhist Council, backed missionaries, and promulgated edicts promoting dharma throughout his empire. See Thapar, Early India, p. 222. The Indo-Greek King Menander (165–130 BC) was more likely a patron rather than a convert, but he was remembered as both just and an adherent of dharma by later Buddhist writers; see Tarn, Greeks in Bactria and India, pp. 265–268. The Kushan Emperor Kanishka (127–150) presided over the Fourth Buddhist Council, built and endowed stupas, and supported missionaries; see Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 192–197.

57For reforms of Kartir, see R. N. Frye, “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3. 1 (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 128–130. The inscriptions concerning the reforms were displayed at the royal complex at Naqsh-e Rajab, five miles north of Persepolis. Four colossal reliefs cut in the living rock celebrate the investitures of the Shahs Ardashir I and Shapur I, the victories of Shapur I over the Roman emperor Philip I, and the reforms of Kartir, promoted by Shah Hormizd I (272–273). For text and translation of the inscription, see David N. MacKenzie, “Kerdir’s inscription,” in The Sasanian Rock Reliefs at Naqsh-i Rustam. Naqsh-i Rustam 6, Iranische Denkmäler. Lief. 13. Reihe II: Iranische Felsreliefs I (Berlin, 1989), pp. 35–72.

58See Garth Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity (Princeton, 1994), pp. 61–79 and 138–152.

59See Samuel N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China: A Historical Survey (Manchester, 1985), pp. 117–152. Our understanding of Manichaeism as world religion rather than a Christian heresy was profoundly changed by the discovery and publication of the Mani Codex from Cologne; see Albert Henrichs and Ludwig Koenen, “Ein griechischer Mani-Codex (P. Colon. inv. nr. 4780),” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 5 (1970), pp. 97–216. For English translation, see Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu, Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 46–103.

60See Larry Clark, “Manichaeism among the Uygurs: The Uygur Khan of the Bokug Cvlan,” New Light on Manichaeism, edited by Jason D. BeDuhn (Leiden, 2009), pp. 61–72.

61See Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth, pp. 76–79 and 121–124, and Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, pp. 59–84.

62Theophylactus Simocatta, History V. 10. For the translation, see Michael and Mary Whitby, trans., The History of Theophylact Simocatta (Oxford, 1986), pp. 146–147. In 588, Shah Khusrau II sent to Constantinople Turkish captives who had been tattooed with crosses on their foreheads.

63See Alphonse Mingana, The Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far East: A New Document. (Manchester, 1925), pp. 8–9.

64See Kevin Alan Brook, The Jews of Khazaria, 3rd edition (New York, 2018), pp. 77–108.

65See Golden, Central Asia, pp. 63–75.

66See West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth, pp. 411–504, for the celebration of these deeds in verse.

67See Anthony, Horse, Wheel, and Language, pp. 300–305.

68H. W. E. Saggs, Civilization before Greece and Rome (New Haven, 1989), pp. 213–215.

69See P. Librado et al., “The Origins and Spread of Domestic Horses,” Nature 598 (2021), pp. 634–640.

70See Herodotus, Histories, IV. 22-23 (Penguin translation, p. 238).

71Strabo, Geographica XIV. 2. See also C. Bennett Pascal, “October Horse,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 85 (1981), pp. 261–29, for comparable Roman horse sacrifice.

72See Mallory, Indo-Europeans, pp. 135–136, for the ashvamedha, which was promoted by the Gupta emperors.

73See Robert Drews, The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. (Princeton, 1995), pp. 104–147.

74See Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppes, pp. 33–56.

75See Ross and Thomsen, “Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), pp. 868–869.

76See Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China, 6th edition, revised (Berkeley, 2018), p. 135. The reliefs of the horses were placed in the mausoleum of Taizong at Zhao, Shaanxi.

77See Herodotus, Histories IV. 110–115 (Penguin translation), pp. 249–251.

78See Morris Rossabi, Kublai Khan, His Life and Times (Berkeley, 1986), pp. 104–105.

3: Scythians and the Great King of Persia

1Hdt IV. 132 (Penguin translation, p. 256).

2Herodotus IV. 83–146 (Penguin translation, pp. 242–261). Herodotus is the main source of the expedition, dated to either 515 or 512 BC. See Pierre Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by Peter T. Daniels (Winona Lake, 2002), pp. 141–146.

3See Herodotus I. 205–216 (Penguin translation, pp. 81–85), and Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, pp. 38–40 and 49–50.

4For the size and logistics of the Achaemenid army, see F. Maurice, “The Size of the Army of Xerxes in the Invasion of Greece in 480 B.C.,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 50 (1930), pp. 210–235. See Herodotus VII. 60, 64–66 (Penguin translation, pp. 395–397), for his description of Persian, Median, Bactrian, and Sogdian cavalry in the army of Xerxes. See Xenophon, Anabasis, III. 2; Penguin translation Xenophon, Persian Expedition, translated by Rex Warner (New York, 1872), pp. 151–153, for exhorting his fellow Greek mercenaries, armed as hoplites (heavy infantry), on how to oppose Persian horsemen.

5See John L. Myers, Herodotus, Father of History (Chicago, 1958), pp. 168–172, for the sources of Herodotus on the Scythians.

6Herodotus IV. 136 (Penguin translation, p. 258).

7See Herodotus IV. 137–139 (Penguin translation, pp. 258–259).

8See Herodotus V. 23–25 (Penguin translation, pp. 287–288).

9See Herodotus V. 35–36 (Penguin translation, pp. 291–292). Aristagoras was already inclined to revolt because he had compromised himself in the eyes of King Darius by promoting the ill-fated Persian expedition against Naxos. For the role of Histiaeus in fomenting the Ionian Revolt (499–494 BC), see A. Blamire, “Herodotus and Histiaeus,” Classical Quarterly 53 (1959), pp. 142–154, and G. A. H. Chapman, “Herodotus and Histiaeus’ Role in the Ionian Revolt,” Historia 21 (1972), pp. 546–568.

10See Herodotus V. 37–126 and VI. 1–43, pp. 93–338, for the Ionian Revolt (499–494 BC), and A. R. Burn, Persia and the Greeks: Defense of the West, 546–478 B.C. (New York, 1962), pp. 193–220.

11See Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, pp. 357–471.

12See ibid., pp. 783–800, and Muhammad A. Dandamaev and Vladimir G. Lukonin, The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 177–237.

13See most recent analysis by G. A. Gnecchi-Ruscon et al., “Ancient Genomic Time Transect from the Central Asian Steppe Unravels the History of the Scythians,” Science Advances 7 (2021), pp. 1–14.

14See Galen, De Temperamentis. 2, and Ammianus Marcellinus, Histories XXI. 2. 2, describing the Alans. See also remarks of Pliny the Elder, Natural History 6. 24.

15Herodotus IV. 8 (Penguin translation, p. 219), crediting the Pontic Greeks for his information.

16See Barry Cunliffe, The Scythians: Nomad Warriors of the Steppes (Oxford, 2019), pp. 265–289; Tamara Talbot Rice, The Scythians, 3rd edition (London, 1961), pp. 146–177; and Hermann Parzinger, “Burial Mounds of Scythian Elites in the Eurasian Steppe: New Discoveries,” Journal of British Archaeology 5 (2017), 331–355.

17Herodotus IV. 22–23 (Penguin translation, p. 238).

18See Talbot Rice, Scythians, pp. 92–124.

19See ibid., pp. 96–97.

20See ibid., pp. 77–78 and 97–99.

21See ibid., pp. 154–161.

22Herodotus IV. 110–117 (Penguin translation, pp. 249–251).

23Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 16. King Pyrrhus was referring to the orderly legionary camp of the Romans.

24See John Boardman, The Greek Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade, 4th edition (New York, 1999), pp. 232–264.

25See Zopfia H. Archibald, “The Bosporan Kingdom,” in Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IV (1994), pp. 476–511.

26See David MacDonald, An Introduction to the History and Coinage of the Kingdom of the Bosporus (Lancaster, PA, 2005), pp. 13–38 and 69–122.

27See Herodotus IV. 46. 76–77 (Penguin translation), pp. 239–240.

28See Plutarch, Solon 5, for a meeting between the Athenian lawgiver and Ancharsis. See Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers I. 41–42 and 101–105, who credits Anacharsis as a proponent of the Cynic philosophy; see J. F. Kindstrand, Anacharsis: The Legend and the Apophthegmata (Uppsala, 1981), pp. 85–95.

29Herodotus IV. 78–80 (Penguin translation, pp. 240–241).

30Atheas or Ateas is mentioned briefly in Classical sources, see notably Plutarch, Moralia 174; Justin, Epitome 9. 2; Lucian, Macrobii 10; and Orosius, Against the Pagans 3. 13; see CAH article on Scythians, and John Gardiner-Garden, “Ateas and Theopompus,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 109 (1989), 29–40.

31See Tamara Talbot Rice, “The Scytho-Sarmatian Tribes of South-Eastern Europe,” in The Roman Empire and Its Neighbors, by Fergus Millar, 2nd edition (New York, 1981), pp. 270–275.

32For the development of cataphracti, see A. D. H. Bivar, “Cavalry Equipment and Tactics on the Euphrates Frontier,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 26 (1972), pp. 271–291.

33See Cicero, Acad. 3. 2. 1, who made the comparison to exalt the fame of his political ally Pompey the Great (Cn. Pompeius Magnus), who finally defeated Mithridates.

34See Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy (Princeton, 2010), pp. 332–358.

35Tacitus, Germania 3. 3; Penguin translation, Tacitus, The Agricola and Germania, translated by S. A. Handford (New York, 1973) p. 129.

36See Talbot Rice, “Scytho-Samartian Tribes,” Roman Empire and Its Neighbors, pp. 289–293.

37See Pat Southern, Domitian, Tragic Tyrant (Bloomington, 1997), pp. 93 and 99–100, and Julian Bennett, Trajan: Optimus Princeps, 2nd edition (Bloomington, 2001), pp. 163–166, for the Roxolani and Jazyges allying with Dacians against Rome. For their alliance with the Germanic Quadi and Marcomanni in 167–180, see Anthony Birley, Marcus Aurelius (New Haven, 1989), pp. 208–209. The Roxolani had the singular distinction of annihilating the Legio XXI Rapax in 92 AD.

38See Cassius Dio 72. 19 (LCL translation, Vol. 9, pp. 59–61), for treaty arrangements imposed on the Jazyges by Marcus Aurelius in 178–179. Marcus Aurelius had contemplated the incorporation of the Roxolani and Jazyges as a new province Sarmatia; see SHA, Vita Marci 24. 5 and 27. 10 (LCL translation, Vol. 1 t, pp. 191 and 201).

39Josephus, The Jewish War VII. 230; Penguin translation, Josephus, The Jewish War, revised edition, translated by G. A. Williamson (New York, 1970), pp. 392–393.

40For the most readily available translation of the text of Arrian’s Tactica, see online translation at https://members.tripod.com/~S_van_Dorst/Ancient_Warfare/Rome/Sources/ektaxis.html.

41For analysis of Arrian’s tactical formation, see A. K. Goldsworthy, The Roman Army at War, 100 B.C.–200 A.D. (Oxford, 1996), pp. 136–138, and Everett Wheeler, “The Legion as Phalanx,” Chiron 9 (1979), pp. 303–318.

4: Alexander the Great: Walling off Gog and Magog

1Arrian, Anabasis IV. 4. 1–3; Arrian, Campaigns of Alexander, revised edition, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt (New York, 1971), pp. 204–205. See also A. B. Bosworth, Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great (1988), pp. 116–119.

2For Greek conceptions of Central Asia and India in 329 BC, see M. Cary and E. H. Warmington, The Ancient Explorers, revised edition (Baltimore, 1963), pp. 174–179.

3Herodotus IV. 44 (Penguin translation, pp. 239–240).

4For conquest of Upper Satrapies, see Bosworth, Conquest and Empire, pp. 104–116. For the expansion of the Macedonian army by recruiting Greek mercenaries and Iranian cavalry, see ibid., pp. 266–277, and see also H. W. Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers from the Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus (Oxford, 1933), pp. 186–199, and G. Griffith, “A Note on the Hipparchies of Alexander,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 82 (1963), pp. 68–74.

5See Frank L. Holt, Alexander the Great and Bactria: The Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia, Mnemosyne Supplement 104 (Leiden, 1995), pp. 61–70, and Bosworth, Conquest and Empire, pp. 245–250, for the fortified settlements along the northern frontier.

6Arrian, Anabasis. IV. 3. 3–5.1 (Penguin translation, pp. 204–206); Curtius Rufus VII. 8–10; Penguin translation, Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander, translated by John Yardley (New York, 1984), pp. 167–173. See J. F. C. Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great (New York, 1959), pp. 236–241.

7Private communication from my colleague and dear friend Professor Eugene N. Borza, the leading expert of Macedon, who held many such polls during his career.

8Arrian, Anabasis I. 3–4 (pp. 46–47, Penguin translation), and Diodorus Siculus XVI. 84–98 and XVII. 1–16; translation, Diodorus of Sicily, The Library, Books 16–20, translated by Robin Waterfield (Oxford, 2018), pp. 76–94. See also Bosworth, Conquest and Empire, pp. 28–35, and Fuller, Generalship of Alexander, pp. 61–85 and 219–226.

9See Goldsworthy, Roman Army at War, pp. 129–134, and A. B. Bosworth, “Arrian and the Alani,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 81 (1977), pp. 247–255.

10Joseph P. Yap, The Western Regions: Xiongnu and Han: From the Shiji, Hanshu and Hou Hanshu (Independent Publication, 2019), pp. 59–70.

11See Ralph D. Sawyer, “Military Writings,” in A Military History of China, edited by David Graff and Robin Higham (Lexington, KY, 2012), pp. 97–114. The most important manual was Wujing Zongyao, compiled on orders of the Song emperor Renzong (1022–1063), with the earliest formula for black gunpowder and descriptions of incendiary arrows and bombs.

12See G. T. Dennis, Maurice’s Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy (Pennsylvania, 1984), the first Byzantine manual discussing how to cope with nomadic foes. For later manuals, see G. T. Dennis, Three Byzantine Military Treatises (Washington, DC, 1986) and The Tactica of Leo VI, revised edition (Washington, DC, 2014), for text (translation and commentary of anonymous manuals of the late sixth and tenth centuries, with stress on stealth, ambush, and skirmishing by cavalry). See discussion by Sir Charles Oman, A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, Volume 1 (London, 1925), pp. 200–217.

13See Brent Nosworthy, The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics, 1689-1763 (New York, 1989), pp. 223–227.

14See Holt, Alexander and Bactria, pp. 78–86, and W. W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, 3rd edition, revised by Frank L. Holt (Chicago, 1986), pp. 5–32.

15See M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, Volume II (Oxford, 1941), pp. 1238–1300, and Susan Sherwin-White and Amelie Kuhrt, From Samarkand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire (Berkeley, 1993), pp. 10–113.

16See excavation reports by Paul Bernard, “Alexandre et Aï Khanoum,” Journal des Savants 2 (1982), 125–138, and Fouilles d’Ai Khanoum I (Campagnes 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968). Memoires de la Delegation Archeologique Francaise en Afghanistan 21 (Paris, 1973). For English summary of the finds, see https://www.worldhistory.org/article/165/ai-khanum-the-capital-of-eucratides/.

17The French documentary is by P. Cabouat and A. Moreau, “Eurasia-L’Alexandrie oubliée,” NHK-France 5-Point du Jour, 2004.

18See Cary and Warmington, Ancient Explorers, pp. 163–167 and 173–189.

19See Sherwin-White and Kuhrt, From Samarkand to Sardis, pp. 91–103. Megasthenes, envoy of Seleucus I (395–281 BC), resided at the court of King Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra (modern Patna), in ca. 290–280 BC. His account was incorporated by later authors, most notably by Arrian in his own Indica. See Richard Stoneman, The Greek Experience of India from Alexander to the Indo-Greeks (Princeton, 2019), pp. 129–238.

20See Cary and Warmington, Ancient Explorers, pp. 222–232.

21For circulation of Greco-Bactrian tetradrachmae as international trade coins, see Frank L. Holt, “The Euthydemid Coinage of Bactria: Further Hoard Evidence from Aï Khanoum,” Revue numismatique 6, 23 (1981), pp. 7–44. The standard catalog remains Osmund Bopearachchi, Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques: Catalogue raisonné (Paris, 1991).

22See Richard Stoneman, trans., The Greek Alexander Romance (New York, 1991), pp. 8–23.

23See Richard Stoneman, Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend (London/New York, 2008), pp. 230–245, with detailed summary of growth of the legend among the many versions.

24See ibid., pp. 128–149, for the many different versions about Alexander’s dealings with the Amazons. The Greek Alexander Romance III, 25–26 (Penguin translation, pp. 141–144) does report the visit of Queen Thalestris; Plutarch, Alexander 46 (Penguin translation, p. 330) and Diodorus Siculus XVII. 77 (Oxford translation, p. 143) first report the encounter. See Elizabeth Baynham, “Alexander and the Amazons,” Classical Quarterly 21 (2001), pp. 115–126.

25Arrian, Anabasis IV. 15 (Penguin translation, pp. 227–228).

26See Justin, Epitome, II. 4; Justin, Epitome of the Philippic Histories, translated by John S. Watson and revised by Giles Lauren (Sophron Editor, 2017), pp. 30–32.

27See John B. Friedman, The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought (Cambridge, MA, 1981), pp. 170–172.

28Alexander Romance, III. 1–35 9 (Penguin translation, pp. 7–23 and 128–159). See George Cary, The Medieval Alexander (Cambridge, 1956), pp. 71–163, and Andrew R. Anderson, Alexander’s Gate: Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations (Cambridge, MA, 1932), pp. 3–57.

29See Stoneman, Alexander the Great, pp. 170–189, for the diverse tales of Alexander’s dealing with the unclean nations.

30Suetonius, Nero 19. 2 (Penguin trans., p. 222); Tacitus, Hist. I. 6. 2 (Penguin trans., p. 24); Cassius Dio 63. 8. 1 (LCL Vol. 8, p. 149), and Pliny the Elder, Natural History VI. 40 (LCL Vol. 2, p. 367).

31See Barbara Levick, Vespasian (New Haven, 1999), pp. 168–169, and Barry W. Jones, The Emperor Domitian (London/New York, 1992), pp. 156–159.

32Josephus, Jewish War VII. 244 (Penguin trans., pp. 392–293), who identifies the Derbent Pass as the Gates of Alexander. See also Anderson, Alexander’s Gate, pp. 58-86.

33Revelation 19. 11-21. 8.

34See Scott D. Westrem, “Against Gog and Magog,” Text and Territory: Geographical Imagination in the European Middle Ages, edited by Sylvia Tomasch, Sylvia and Gilles Sealy (Philadelphia, 1998), pp. 54–78, and Anderson, Alexander’s Gate, pp. 87–90.

35Koran, sura 18 (Al Kahf) and sura 21 (Al-Anbiya); see Emeri J. van Donzel and Andrea Barbara Schmidt, Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam’s Quest for Alexander’s Wall (Leiden, 2010), pp. 50–54.

36See Anderson, Alexander’s Gate, pp. 91–105.

37See van Donzel and Schmidt, Gog and Magog, pp. 90–93.

38See Richard Stoneman, “Alexander the Great in Arabic Tradition,” The Ancient Novel and Beyond, edited by Stelios Panayotakis, Maaike Zimmerman, and Wytse Keulen (Leiden, 2003), pp. 1–21.

39See Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated by Paul Lund and Carol Stone (New York, 2012), pp. 40–41.

40Ibid., p. 41.

41See van Donzel and Schmidt, Gog and Magog, pp. 86–117.

5: Modu Chanyu and the Great Wall of China

1See Derk Bodde, “The State and Empire of Ch’in,” The Cambridge History of China, Vol. I, edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 40–51.

2See Jonathan Clements, The First Emperor of China (Stroud, 2006), pp. 113–138.

3See Hiromi Kinoshita, “Qin Palaces and Architecture,” The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army, edited by Hiromi Kinoshita and Jane Portal (Cambridge, MA, 2007), pp. 83–92. See also Charles Sanft, “The Construction and Deconstruction of Epanggong: Notes from the Crossroads of History and Poetry,” Oriens Extremus 47 (2003), pp. 160–176.

4See Jessica Rawson, “The First Emperor’s Tomb: The Afterlife Universe,” in The First Emperor, pp. 114–151.

5Lukas Nickel, “The Terracotta Army,” The First Emperor, pp. 158–159.

6See Pengliang Lu, “The Ingenuity of Qin and Han Craftsmanship,” Age of Empires: Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties, edited by Zhixin Jason Sun (New York, 2017), pp. 30–50.

7See Arthur Waldron, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 30–52.

8See Nicola di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 127–138.

9See Clements, First Emperor, pp. 103–109.

10See John Man, The Great Wall (New York, 2008), pp. 29–36.

11See ibid., pp. 15–18, and Clements, First Emperor, p. 111.

12The Emperor Qin Shi Huang inherited a long-established policy among the northern Chinese Kingdoms of building walls on distant frontiers to regulate the movement of nomads; see di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 141–149.

13See David Graf and Robin Higham, eds., A Military History of China (Lexington, KY, 2012), pp. 76–77.

14See Edward Burman, The Terracotta Warriors (New York, 2018), pp. 105–131, and Yang Hong, “The Military Armaments of the Qin and Han,” in Age of Empires, pp. 51–61.

15See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 174–175. For the strategic importance of the Ordos triangle, see Waldron, The Great Wall of China, pp. 61–71.

16See Bodde, “State and Empire of Ch’in,” in Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 64–66.

17See Thomas J. Barfield, The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 B.C. to A.D. 1757 (Oxford, 1989), pp. 32–34.

18See Vu Ying-Shih, “The Hsiung-nu,” in The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, edited by Denis Sinor (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 110–125.

19See Joseph J. Yap, The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Han from the Shiji, Hanshu and Hou Hanshu (Independent Publisher, 2019), pp. 287–299.

20See the perceptive comparison of the two historians by Thomas R. Martin, Herodotus and Sima Qian: The First Great Historians of Greece and China (Boston, 2010), pp. 1–28.

21See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 175–178. The source is Hanshu 6. 6–7; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 286–287.

22Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 57. See Michael Loewe, “The Structure and Practice of Government,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 470–475. In 140 AD, the Han Empire comprised eighty commanderies or tax districts, with populations between two hundred fifty thousand and two million per commandery. At an average of seven hundred fifty thousand residents per commandery, the Han Empire of the mid-second century AD was comparable in size and population to the Roman Empire, whose population is estimated at 65 million.

23See Bodde, “The State and Empire of Ch’in,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 71–84.

24See Michael Loewe, “Structure and Practice of Government,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 463–490. For the widespread acceptance of the emperor’s Mandate of Heaven, see Marianne Bujard, “State and Local Cults in Han Religion,” Early Chinese Religion, Volume II, edited by John Lanerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Leiden, 2009), pp. 777–812. For the significance of mastery of the Confucian canon, see Michael Nylan, “Classics without Canonization: Learning and Authority in Qin and Han,” ibid., pp. 721–776.

25See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 35-36, and Hanshu 6. 13–16; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 292–297.

26See Yu Ying-shih, “Han Foreign Relations,” Cambridge History of China, Vol. I, pp. 436–460, for Han expansion into Korea and the southern lands of the Yangtze.

27See Yu Ying-shih, Trade and Expansion in Han, pp. 36–54.

28See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 190–196.

29See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 47–49, for the significance of distributing gifts to Xiongnu elite and vassal rulers.

30See Yu Ying-shih, Trade and Expansion, pp. 92–132, for the economic benefits of frontier trade.

31Hanshu 6. 17; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 297–299. See also Yu Ying-shih, “The Hsiung-nu,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, p. 127, and di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 188–190.

32Hanshu 8-9 and 12; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 287–289 and 292. See also Yu Ying-shih, “The Hsiung-nu,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 127–128.

33See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 176–181.

34Hanshu 6. 10; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 288–289. See also di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 181–183.

35See ibid., pp. 185–188.

36Shiji 3; see Joseph P. Yap, Wars with the Xiongnu: A Translation from Zizhi Tongjian (Bloomington, 2009), pp. 109–111.

37See Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 60–69, arguing that Attila and his Huns were the heirs to an imperial bureaucratic tradition of the Xiongnu.

38See ibid., pp. 127–131.

39See David N. Keightley, “The Shang: China’s First Historical Dynasty,” The Cambridge History of Ancient China from the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C., edited by Michael Lowe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 236–246.

40See Hyuan Jin Kim, Huns, Rome and Birth of Europe, pp. 21–26, for a perceptive comparison of the Xiongnu and Scythian confederations.

41J. C. Greenfield, “Aramaic in the Achaemenid Empire,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume II: The Median and Achaemenid Periods, edited by Ilya Gershevitch (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 698–713.

42See Keith Hopkins, “Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 B.C.–400 A.D.),” Journal of Roman Studies 70 (1980), pp. 120–121; during the later Roman Empire or Dominate, the ratio increased perhaps to one senior official to every one hundred fifty thousand subjects. By Chinese standards, the Roman Empire was woefully under-governed. For Han administration, with comparison to the Roman imperial counterpart, see Dingxin Zhao, “The Han Bureaucracy: Its Origin, Structure and Development,” State Power in Rome and China, edited by Walter Scheibel (Oxford, 2015), pp. 56–89. The fundamental study remains Hans Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Times (Cambridge, 1980).

43See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 65–67.

44Hanshu 6.29; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 308–310.

6: The Xiongnu and Chinese Emperors at War

1Shiji 1. 1–13; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 1–15. See also Michael Loewe, “Zhang Qian,” A Biographical Dictionary of Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods (Leiden, 2000), pp. 687–689.

2Shiji 1. 18; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 20–21.

3See Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, p. 68, for significance of the report of Zhang Qian.

4See Michael Loewe, “The Campaigns of the Han Wu-ti,” in Chinese Ways in Warfare, edited by Frank Kierman and John Fairbanks (Cambridge, 1974), pp. 80–95.

5See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 201–205, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 53–54.

6See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 232–236, and Michael Loewe, “The Western Han Army: Organization, Leadership, and Operation,” in Military Culture in Imperial China, edited by Nicolas di Cosmo (Cambridge, MA, 2009), pp. 71–97.

7See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 231–233.

8See ibid., pp. 229–232.

9See Loewe, “Campaigns of Wu-ti,” in Chinese Ways in Warfare, pp. 67–122.

10Yap, Wars with Xiongnu, pp. 146–153.

11See ibid., pp. 154–176.

12Hanshu 2. 1–6; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 59–68. See also di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 237–240.

13Hanshu 2. 14 and 4. 1–9; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 74–76 and 162–172. See also di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 241–244.

14See Yap, Wars with Xiongnu, pp. 186–194.

15See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 56–57, for losses. See also Loewe, “Western Han Army,” in Chinese Ways of Warfare, pp. 71–77 and 81–82, for the Han expeditionary armies.

16Shiji 1. 15–17; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 17–20. See also Yu Ying-shih, “Hsiung-nu,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 141–142.

17See Yap, Wars with Xiongnu, pp. 205–220.

18See ibid., pp. 200–229, for the primary account from the Shiji on the War of the Heavenly Horses.

19Ibid., pp. 257–262; this was the third unsuccessful expedition of Li Guangi Li in 90 BC. He suffered defeats at the hands of the Xiongnu in 99 and 97 BC; see ibid., pp. 235–240 and 243–244.

20Hanshu 2. 16; see Yap, Western Regions, p. 78.

21See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 267–270.

22See Walter Scheibel, “State Revenue and Expenditure in the Han and Roman Empires,” State Power in Rome and China, pp. 150–180.

23See Yu Ying-shih, Trade and Expansion, pp. 65-88, for perceptions of the Xiongnu and treatment of captives.

24See Yu Ying-shih, “Hsiung-nu,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 135–138, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 60–63.

25Hanshu 7. 1–11; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 352–368, and Joseph P. Yap, Wars with the Xiongnu: A Translation from Zhizi Tongjian (Independent Publication, 2009), pp. 348–352 (account of Shiji). See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 60–63, and Yu Ying-shih, “Hsiung-nu,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 135–144.

26See Hans Bielenstein, “Wang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han,” Cambridge History of China, Vol. I, pp. 224–232.

27See ibid., pp. 232–240.

28For the currency reforms of Wang Mang, see Robert Tye, Wang Mang (South Uist, 1993), and compare the currency reforms of Diocletian (284–30); see Kenneth W. Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy 300 B.C. to A.D. 300 (Berkeley, 1996), pp. 148–157. Both rulers instituted a new fiduciary currency to meet state expenditures.

29Hanshu 7. 33–40; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 382–394, and pp. 526–545. See also Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 71–80.

30Houhan Shu 8. 1–3; Yap, Western Regions, pp. 413–414.

31Yap, Wars with Xiongnu, pp. 562–601; Shiji 17 deals exclusively with the demise of Wang Mang.

32See Barfield, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 71–78.

33See Yu Ying-shih, “Hsiung-nu,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 143–149.

34See Yu Ying-shih, “Han Foreign Relations,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 400–405, for the diplomacy deployed by the Han emperors Ming (57–75) and Zhang (75–88) against the Xiongnu.

35The later Han emperors discontinued conscription into the imperial army except in the frontier commanderies where barbarians and provincials of mixed origin were recruited. See Rafe de Crespigny, “The Military Culture of the Later Han,” Military Culture in Imperial China, pp. 93–95.

36See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 77–80.

37Hou Hanshu 23–29; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 517–526. See also Yu Ying-shih, “Han Foreign Relations,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 404–405, and de Crespigny, “Military Culture of Later Han,” pp. 97–103.

38Laurie Chen, “Archaeologists Discover Story of China’s Ancient Military Might Carved in Cliff Face,” South China Morning Post (21 August 2017). The text of the inscription was reported in Hou Hanshu 10.32; see Yap, Western Regions, p. 94. For poetic inscriptions, see also David Knechtges, “From the Eastern Han to the Western Jin (A.D. 25–317),” in The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Vol. I, edited by Kang-i Sun Chang and Stephen Owen (Cambridge, 2010), p. 138.

39Hou Hanshu 9. 32–45 and 49–50; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 527–542 and 548–549. See also Yu Ying-shih, “Han Foreign Relations,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 412–415.

40Hou Hanshu 9, 30–31 and 46–49; see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 526–527 and 542–549.

41See Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 188–190.

42See John E. Hill, Through the Jade Gate, China to Rome: A Study of the Silk during the Later Han Dynasty 1st to 2nd Centuries CE (Charleston, SC, 2009), Vol. I, pp. 21–31.

43See ibid., II, pp. 16–20.

44Translation from ibid., I, pp. 26–27.

45See Julian Bennett, Trajan, Optimus Princeps (New Haven, 1997), pp. 184–185.

46See Liu Xinru, “Looking towards the West: How the Chinese Viewed the Romans,” in Silk: Trade and Exchange along the Silk Roads between Rome and China in Antiquity, edited by Erit Hilderbrandt and Carole Gillis (Oxford, 2016), pp. 1–6.

47See Yu Ying-shih, “Han Foreign Relations,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 415–432.

48See Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 191–192.

49See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 85–97.

50See B. J. Mansvelt Beck, “The Fall of the Han,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 341–376.

7: The Sons of Heaven and the Silk Road

1See Sally Hovey Wriggins, The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang, revised edition (Boulder, CO, 2004), pp. 45–48. The statues were carved during the rule of the Hephthalites. The smaller Eastern Buddha, depicting Gautama Buddha as Sakyamuni, stands nearly 125 feet (39 meters) high and was carved in ca. 570. The Western Buddha, depicting Gautama Buddha as Vairocana, was carved ca. 618 BC and stands nearly 197 feet (60 meters) high. The mural frescoes dated from the late sixth through eighth centuries.

2See Benjamin Borse, Xuanzang, China’s Legendary Pilgrim and Translator (Boulder, CO, 2021), pp. 201–202.

3See Robert Ford Company, “Buddhism Enters China in Early Medieval China,” Old Society, New Belief: Religious Transformation of China and Rome, ca. 1st–6th Centuries, edited by Mu-chou Poo, H. A. Drake, and Lisa Raphals (Oxford, 2017), pp. 13–34.

4Wiggins, Silk Road Journey, pp. 19–45.

5See ibid., pp. 119–136.

6See Mallory and Mair, Tarim Mummies, pp. 315–331. The Tocharians and Iranians of the Andronovo culture likely transmitted wheeled vehicles and skills in metallurgy to the Chinese of the Shang Dynasty (1554–1046 BC) and the nomadic way of life to the peoples on the Mongolian steppes. See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 15–59.

7Hanshu 6. 17, and see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 297–299. See also A. K. Narain, “The Indo-Europeans in Inner Asia,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 155–156.

8Shiji 1. 1–9; with notes by Yap, Western Regions, pp. 1–9. For the probable route of the migration west, see Narain, “Indo-Europeans,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 156–157. The Yuezhi reached their new homes first in the grasslands of the Ili valley, and then on the grasslands of north of the Oxus River in Bactria (Chinese Daxia).

9See A. D. H. Bivar, “The History of Eastern Iran,” Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3. 1: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, edited by Ehsan Yarshater (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 192–194, for migration of the Sacae.

10See ibid., pp. 194–198.

11See Craig, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 181–183.

12Shiji 1. 4–5, and see Yap, Western Regions, pp. 6-7. See also Narain, “Indo-Europeans,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 157–158.

13See Narain, “Indo-Europeans,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 159–160, discussing the Chinese references in the Hou Hanshu 128. 9a. For the coins, see David Jongeward and Joe Cribb, Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins: A Catalogue of Coins from the American Numismatic Society (New York, 2015), pp. 23–27.

14See ibid., p. 90, nos. 37. The fractional silver coins depict Heraeus standing; see p. 90, nos. 38–44. The identification of Heraeus as Kujula Kadphises is incorrect. See below note 14.

15See Razieh Taasob, “Heraios Coinage and Khalchayan, Attribution and Chronology: Revisited,” Anabasis: Studia Classica et Orientalia 10 (2019), pp. 219–160, redating the coins to ca. 1–30 AD, and contra Joe Cribb, “The Heraeus Coins: Their Attribution to the Kushan King Kujula Kadphises, c. AD 30–80,” Essays in Honour of Robert Carson and Kenneth Jenkins, edited by Martin Price, Andrew Burnett, and Roger Bland (London, 1993), pp. 116–140, who attributed the coins to the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises. See now Robert C. Senior, The Coinage of Hermaios and Its Imitations Struck by the Scythians: A Study (Lancaster, PA, 2000).

16See Craig, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 183–185.

17See Jongeward and Cribb, Kushan Coins, pp. 44 and 80–81, nos. 248–251. Vima Taku is styled in Greek as the “Great Savior” (soter megas).

18See Craig, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 190–193.

19See Craig, Empires of Ancient Eurasia., pp. 185–188, with full discussion of the sources.

20See Jongeward and Cribb, Kushan Coins, pp. 65–69.

21See B. N. Mukherjee, “The Great Kushana Testament,” Indian Museum Bulletin 32 (1995), 1–105. See discussion by Nicholas Sims-Williams and Joe Cribb, “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4 (1995–1996), 76–142.

22See David Jongeward and Joe Cribb, Kushan Coins, p. 70, nos. 370–373.

23The headless statue, in the museum at Mathura, has been identified as that of Kanishka. See V. S. Agrawala, “Catalogue of the Mathura Museum,” The Journal of Uttar Pradesh Historical Society 21 (1950), pp. 71–79.

24The illumination is from Rabanus Maurus (Archbishop of Mainz), De Laudibus Sancti Crucis, ca. 840; now in the Bodleian Museum, Oxford.

25See Jongeward and Cribb, Kushan Coins, p. 71, nos. 375–376.

26See ibid., p. 70, no. 370.

27See ibid., p. 105, nos. 752–754.

28See Joe Cribb, “Kanishka’s Buddha Image Coins Revisited,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 6 (2000), pp. 151–189.

29See Matthew W. King, In the Forest of the Blind: The Eurasian Journey of Faxian’s Record of Buddhist Kingdom (New York, 2022), pp. 159 and 175. The stupa was seen by Faxian, in ca. 399–414, Sung Yun (who gives the fullest description) in 518, and Xuanzang in 630.

30See David B. Spooner, “Excavations at Shāh-ji-Dherī,” Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909), p. 49.

31John H. Marshall, “The Stūpa of Kanishka and Relics of the Buddha,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 41 (1909), pp. 1056–1061.

32See Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia, pp. 192–193.

33See Karl Potter, Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 A.D. (New Delhi, 1998), pp. 111–117.

34See David Whitehouse, “Begram, the Periplus and Gandharan Art,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 2 (1989), pp. 93–100, and S. Mehendale, “Begram: Along Ancient Central Asia and Indian Trade Routes,” Cahiers d’Asia centrale 1 (1986), pp. 47–64.

35See Osmund Bopearachchi, “Greeks, Scythians, and Parthians in Central Asia and India,” in Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Graeco-Roman World, Inner Asia and China, edited by Hyun Jin Kim, Frederik J. Vervaet, and Selim Ferruh Adali (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 264–268.

36See Benjamin, Ancient Empires of Eurasia, pp. 193–197.

37See John Marshall, A Guide to Sanchi (Calcutta, 1918), still a perceptive report of the sculpture and architecture, and Julia Shaw, Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, c. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD (London/New York, 2013), pp. 50–53.

38See Wriggins, Silk Road Journey, pp. 97–118.

39See Thapar, Early India, pp. 313–317, for the prosperity and patronage of Buddhist sanctuaries by wealthy members of the Vaishya caste.

40See ibid., pp. 288–289.

41See Wriggins, Silk Road Journey, pp. 160–165, and Brose, Xuanzang, pp. 149–151.

42See Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, pp. 37–58.

43See Cary and Warmington, Ancient Explorers, pp. 123–131.

44See Lionel Casson, trans., The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Princeton, 1989), pp. 22–29, and Steven E. Sidebotham, Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa, 30 B.C.–217 A.D. (Leiden, 1986), pp. 48–112. This trade did not result in a significant drain of gold and silver specie from the Roman world to India and China. See Kenneth W. Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 (Berkeley, 1987), pp. 297–300.

45Strabo, 2. 5. 12. See Casson, Periplus Maris Erythraei, pp. 188–191, 201–206, and 210–223, for the ports of Barbaricum, Barygaza, and Muzaris.

46See Benjamin, Ancient Empires of Eurasia, pp. 213–236, for the routes and ports frequented by Roman merchants. See Thapar, Early India, for the rise of prosperity in the Indian ports due to this trade.

47See Narain, “Indo-Europeans,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 169–173, and Benjamin, Ancient Empires of Eurasia, pp. 243–249.

48See Richard N. Frye, “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians,” Cambridge History of Iran II. 1, pp. 126–127.

49See Thapar, Early India, pp. 282–288.

50The destruction commenced on March 2, 2001, and took several weeks to complete. The mural frescos are forever lost. The meticulous efforts to reassemble the fragments will likely never be completed under the current Taliban regime. A number of replicas have been erected, most notably the eighty-foot statue in the gardens of the Thai temple at Sarnath in 2011, where Gautama Buddha first taught his rule of dharma.

8: The Parthians, Nomadic Foes of Imperial Rome

1Plutarch, Crassus 19–33; Penguin translation, Plutarch, Fall of the Roman Republic, translated by Rex Warner (New York, 1972), pp. 134–155, and Dio 60. 16–20 (Loeb Classical Library, volume 3, pp. 435–447). See also A. K. Goldsworthy, (New Haven, 2010), pp. 304–320, and Neilson C. Debevoise, A Political History of Parthia (Chicago, 1938), pp. 70–95, for analysis of the campaign and battle.

2See A. D. H. Bivar, “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 24–28.

3Ibid., pp. 27–31.

4Edwyn R. Bevan, The House of Seleucus: A History of the Hellenistic Near East under the Seleucid Dynasty (London, 1902), pp. 233–235, and Debevoise, Poliltical History of Parthia, pp. 22–25.

5See M. Rahim Shayean, Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia (Cambridge, 2011), pp. 39–45, for the significance of the title for the Arsacid kings.

6See Bevan, House of Seleucus, pp. 242–244, and Debevoise, A Political History of Parthia, pp. 30–35.

7Ibid., pp. 244–246.

8Ibid., pp. 247–250.

9Painting by Charles Antoine Coypel, 1749.

10The play was performed in 1644 and was published three years later in 1647. Pierre Corneille, however, was anticipated by the little-known French poet and playwright who composed his own Rodogune at the court of Queen Christina of Sweden in 1642.

11Justin, Epitome 42. 1–2; and see Bivar, “History of Eastern Iran,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 195–196.

12See Wilhelm Eilers, “Iran and Mesopotamia,” Cambridge History of Iran III. 1, pp. 481–493.

13See Malcolm A. B. Colledge, The Parthians (London, 1967), pp. 77–88. Cuneiform text reveals the sophistication of the grain market in Babylonia. See Peter Temin, The Roman Market Economy (Princeton, 2017), pp. 66–70.

14See Benjamin, Ancient Eurasian Empire, pp. 268–274.

15Isidore of Charax, Parthian Stations: An Account of the Overland Trade Route Between the Levant and India in the First Century B.C.; The Greek Text with a Translation and Commentary, translated by Wilfred H. Schoff (Philadelphia, 1914).

16See David Sellwood, An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia (London, 1971), pp. 16–20, types 1–4.

17See ibid., pp. 57–72, types 23–27.

18See ibid., pp. 73–75, types 28–29.

19See David Sellwood, “Parthian Coins,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 282–288.

20See Matthew P. Canepa, The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE–642 CE (Berkeley, 2018), pp. 81–82.

21Hanshu 62; see William Watson, “Iran and China,” Cambridge History of Iran, p. 545. See critique of report by Wang Tao, “Parthia in China: A Re-examination of the Historical Records,” The Age of the Parthians, edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart (London, 2007), pp. 93–95.

22See Canepa, The Iranian Expanse, pp. 81–84.

23See ibid., pp. 324–332, and Colledge, Parthians, pp. 166–177.

24See Matthew Canepa, The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran (Berkeley, 2009), pp. 138–145.

25See Plutarch, Antony 34–52; Penguin translation, Plutarch, Rome in Crisis, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert and Christopher Pelling (New York, 2010), pp. 357–376, and Dio 49. 21. 1–31. 4 Loeb Classical Library, Vol. 5, pp. 389–407. Antony invaded on invitation of Median King Artavades I, who planned to revolt from Phraates IV; see Sherwin-White, Roman Foreign Policy, pp. 307–310, and Debevoise, Poliltical History of Parthia, pp. 121–142. Phraata, on the highway between Lake Umiah and Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) in Azerbaijan, is unlocated. It might have been near Takht-e Sueyman (“Fires of Suleiman”), later seat of a Zoroastrian fire altar complex.

26See Dio 54. 7. 36–8. 3 (Loeb Classical Library, Vol. 6, pp. 301–303); Suetonius, Augustus, 21. 3; Penguin translation, Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, translated by Robert Graves (New York, 1957), pp. 53–54; and Vellius Paterculus, Roman History 2. 100. 1 Loeb Classical Library, p. 257. See Sherwin-White, Roman Foreign Policy, pp. 322–341, and Bivar, “History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 66–68.

27See A. K. Goldsworthy, The Roman Army at War, 100 B.C.–A.D. 200 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 183–191 and 228–235. For evolution of Roman logistics, see Jonathan P. Roth, The Logistics of the Roman Army at War (264 BC.–A.D. 235) (Leiden, 1990), pp. 279–320.

28See Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, translated by A. Shapiro (Ann Arbor, 1988), pp. 105–115. For depiction of the returned standards on coins, see C. H. V. Sutherland and R. A. G. Carson, Roman Imperial Coinage, second edition, Volume I (London, 1984), p. 62, no. 286–297 (aurei and denarii) and p. 83, nos. 508–510 (cistophori).

29Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18. 40. 2–4. See also Debevoise, Political History of Parthia, pp. 147–150.

30See Bivar, “Political History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1., pp. 67–68.

31Sellwood, Coinage of Parthia, pp. 176–178, types 55–58.

32Bivar, “Political History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 67–68.

33See David Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the End of the Third Century after Christ (Princeton, 1950), pp. 497–499 and 548–553, for the turbulent succession crises in Armenia.

34See A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Foreign Policy in the East, 168 B.C.–A.D. 1 (Norman, 1986), pp. 194–195.

35See Kenneth W. Harl, “Rome’s Greatest Foes: Parthia and Sassanid Persia,” Great Strategic Rivalries from the Classical World to the Cold War, edited by James Lacey (Oxford, 2016), pp. 112–113.

36See ibid., pp. 110–115.

37See Tac., Ann. 13. 35. 3; Penguin translation, Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, translated by Michael Grant (New York, 1956), p. 300, contrasting the disciplinarian Corbulo to the depraved Nero. In 58, Corbulo commanded the legions III Gallica, IV Scythica, V Macedonica, and VI Ferrarta and a strong vexillatio of X Fretensis; see H. M. D. Parker, The Roman Legions (Cambridge, 1958), pp. 182–188.

38Tac., Ann. 13. 6–9 and 34–41 (Penguin translation, pp. 287–288 and 299–305); and Dio 62. 19. 2–4 Loeb Classical Library, Vol. 8. pp. 119–127. For chronology of the campaign, see Magie, Roman Rule, p. 414, n. 46. For the Parthian perspective, see Bivar, “History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 79–86, and Debevoise, Political History of Parthia, pp. 179–202.

39Tac., Ann. 15. 24–26 (Penguin translation, pp. 355–359).

40Suet., Nero 13 (Penguin translation, p. 214) and Dio 62. 28. 1–7 (Loeb Classical Library, Vol. 8, pp. 135–137).

41See Parker, Roman Legions, pp. 106–115 and 145–160. The legions VI Ferrata, XII Fulminata, and XVI Flavia were stationed in Cappadocia; legions III Gallica, IV Scythica, were stationed in Syria; and X Fretensis was stationed in Palestine after 70. See Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor, pp. 566–592. The kingdom of Commagene was annexed in 72, and the provinces of Galatia and Cappadocia were united under a propraetorian legate. For construction of highways, see Stephen Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor (Oxford, 1993), Vol. I, pp. 118–142.

42See Bennett, Trajan, pp. 184–185.

43See ibid., pp. 190–198. For the movements of Trajan and chronology of his Parthian War, the reconstruction of Christopher C. Lightfoot, “Trajan’s Parthian War and the Fourth Century Perspective,” Journal of Roman Studies 80 (1990), pp. 114–120, is preferred over the one proposed by Bennett, Trajan, pp. 192–196. For the Parthian perspective, see Bivar, “History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 86–92.

44See Bennett, Trajan, p. 199.

45See ibid., pp. 200–202.

46See E. M. Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule (Leiden, 1981), pp. 389–427.

47SHA, Vita Had. 22; Penguin translation, Lives of the Later Caesars, translated by Anthony Birley (New York, 1976), pp. 80–81.

48See Bennett, Trajan, p. 202. Trajan had crowned Parthamaspates as the philo-Roman Parthian king whose realm comprised Babylonia and the client kingdoms of Charax, Elymais, and Persis.

49See, notably, Benjamin Isaac, The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East, revised edition (Oxford, 1993), p. 26, and E. N. Luttwak, Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century CE to the Third, revised edition (Baltimore, 2016), pp. 73–74.

50A. Birley, Marcus Aurelius (New York, 1987), pp. 123–125, and Bivar, “History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1., pp. 93–94.

51See Harl, “Rome’s Greatest Foe,” Great Strategic Rivalries, pp. 124–125.

52See J. F. Gilliam, “The Plague under Marcus Aurelius,” American Journal of Philology 82 (1961), pp. 225–251.

53See Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 184–189.

54Harl, “Rome’s Greatest Foe,” Great Strategic Rivalries, pp. 124–125.

55See Anthony Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor (New Haven, 1988), pp. 108–120 and 130–135, and Bivar, “History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1., pp. 94–95.

56Dio 79. 7–8 (Loeb Classical Library), Vol. 9, pp. 349–352, and see Pat Southern, The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine (London/New York, 2001), pp. 53–54 and 169, n. 69.

57See ibid., pp. 54–55.

58See Bivar, “History of Iran under Arsacids,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 95–97.

9: Heirs of the Xiongnu: The Northern Wei

1These are now known as caves 16–20; see Joy Lidu Yi, Yungang, Art, History, Archaeology, Liturgy (London/New York, 2017), pp. 54–77.

2See Scott Pearce, “Northern Wei,” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume II: Six Dynasties, 220–589, edited by Albert E. Dien and Keith N. Knapp (Cambridge, 2019), pp. 168–172, for the reign of Wencheng.

3See Scott Pearce, “A King of Two Bodies: The Northern Wei Emperor Wencheng and Representations of the Power of the Monarchy,” Frontiers of History in China 7 (2012), pp. 90–105.

4See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 118–119, for unification of the Xianbei under Tuoba Gui. The ethnic and linguistic identity of the Xianbei is still in dispute, but they were apparently vassals of the Xiongnu who formed their own loose confederacy after the collapse of the Xiongnu Confederation at the end of the first century AD.

5See Zhang Xunliao, “Daoist Stelae of the Northern Dynasties,” Early Chinese Religion, Part Two: The Period of Division (220–589 AD), edited by John Lagerwey (Leiden, 2009), pp. 535–539. In 446, the emperor Taiwu, at the urging of the Taoist reformers Kou Qianzhi and Cui Hao, permitted the destruction of Buddhist monasteries. The other three state persecutions of Buddhism were ordered by the emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in 567; the emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty in 845; and Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty in 955. For a perceptive comparison of the persecution of Buddhists by the Chinese emperors to the persecution of Christians by Roman emperors, see Hyun Jin Kim, “Justin Martyr and Tatian: Christian Reactions to Encounters with Greco-Roman Culture and Imperial Persecution,” Old Society, New Belief: Religious Transformation of China and Rome, ca. 1st–6th Centuries, edited by Mu-chou Poo, H. A. Drake, and Lisa Raphalos (Oxford, 2017), pp. 78–79.

6See Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Daoism,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 559–571, for the revelations and innovations of the Taoist Celestial Masters who reconciled Taoist beliefs with popular Chinese religion. From the late second century AD, Taoists denounced Buddhist monks as sorcerers.

7See Robert Ford Company, “Buddhism Enters China in Early Medieval China,” Old Society, New Belief, pp. 13–34.

8See E. Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China (Leiden, 1959), pp. 22–25. The reconstruction was permitted by Han emperor Ming (57–75).

9See Mallory and Mair, Tarim Mummies, pp. 289–301.

10See Flotz, Religions on the Silk Road, pp. 39–49.

11See Jan Nattier, A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms Period (Tokyo, 2008), pp. 18–41 and 73–76.

12For the translation of Faxian’s account, see James Legge, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399–414) (Oxford, 1886); reprinted by Paragon Book (New York, 1965).

13See Mark Edward Lewis, China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties (Cambridge, MA, 2009), pp. 54–86.

14See John Kieschnick, “Buddhist Monasteries,” Early Chinese Religion, pp. 545–574.

15See Gil Raz, “Buddhism Challenged, Adopted and in Disguise: Daoist and Buddhist Interaction in Medieval China,” Old Society, New Belief, pp. 109–128.

16See Edwards, China between Empires, pp. 28–53.

17See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 85–101, for raids by nomads and the rise of border states after 220.

18See di Cosmo, Ancient China and Enemies, pp. 286–290, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 76–80.

19See B. J. Mansvelt Beck, “The Fall of Han,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 335–340.

20See ibid., pp. 355–357.

21See Ian Rafe de Crespigny, “Wei” and “Wu,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 35–49 and 50–65, respectively, and J. Michael Farmer, “Shu-Han,” ibid., pp. 67–78.

22These were the Gallo-Roman Empire founded by Postumus (260–267), comprising the Western provinces, the central empire held by Gallienus (253–268) and centered on Italy, the Balkans and North Africa, and the eastern provinces under the control of the rulers of Palmyra Odenathus (263–267) and Zenobia (268–272). See Southern, From Severus to Constantine, pp. 81–101.

23See Alaric Watson, Aurelian and the Third Century (London/New York, 1999), pp. 70–100, for reunification of the Roman Empire by Aurelian (270–275).

24See Damien Chaussende, “Western Jin,” Cambridge History of China, II, p. 93, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 93. This so-called disaster of Yongjia ended the power of the Western Jin emperors, and shifted the political axis of northern China to the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420) with its capital at Jiankang (today Nanjing).

25See Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 227–232. Alaric, however, maintained strict discipline among his Visigoths. Churches were respected and violence against the residents was prohibited. Alaric conducted a massive blackmail rather than a sack.

26See Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History (Oxford, 2012), pp. 117–118. This is Sogdian letter 5. A translation is available online by Nicholas Sims-Williams at the Silk Road website maintained by the University of Washington, Seattle: http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/sogdlet.html.

27The rulers assumed the imperial names Yuan and Cheng, respectively. Sima Yan should not be confused with his namesake and predecessor who ruled under the imperial name of Wu. See Charles Holcomb, “Eastern Jin,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 96–98.

28See Lewis, China between Empires, pp. 11–17 and 51–71.

29See ibid., pp. 54–85, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 100–114.

30See ibid., pp. 104–114 and 172–177.

31See ibid., pp. 118–119, and Lewis, China between Empires, pp. 77–81.

32Edwards, China between Empires, pp. 100–102 and 126–217. See Shing Muller, “Northern Material Culture,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 384–4417, for the archaeological evidence that points to a distinct northern Chinese society.

33See Edwards, China between Empires, pp. 127–128.

34See Lan Dong, Mulan’s Legend and Legacy in China and the United States (Philadelphia, 2010). To date, Hua Mulan has been celebrated in three theatrical dramas, fourteen films, six TV series, eight novels, three children’s books, and six video games.

35See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 118–119.

36See Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, pp. 60–61. Chinese chroniclers and historians also call these barbarians Juan-Juan. DNA analysis confirms the nomadic Avars (Abars) of Central Europe during the sixth and seventh centuries were East Asian ancestry, thereby confirming their claims as descendants of the Rouran. See V. Csáky, D. Gerber, I. Koncz et al. “Genetic Insights into the Social Organisation of the Avar Period Elite in the 7th century AD Carpathian Basin,” Scientific Reports 10, 948 (2020), 1–14, and Walter Pohl, “Ethnicity and Empire in Western Eurasian Steppes,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 193–202.

37See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 120–122.

38See Nikolay N. Kradin, “From Tribal Confederation to Empire: The Evolution of the Rouran Society,” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 58 (2005), pp. 49–151.

39See ibid., pp. 152–169.

40See Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, p. 40.

41See Hyun Jin Kim, Huns, p. 46.

42See Kradin, “From Tribal Confederation to Empire,” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 58 (2005), pp. 149–169.

43See Nicola di Cosmo, “The Relations between China and the Steppe: From the Xiongnu to the Türk Empire,” Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity: Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750, edited by Nicola di Cosmo and Michael Maas (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 47–49, for the early Northern Wei emperors as heirs to the military traditions and foreign policy of the Han emperor Wudi.

44See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 122–123.

45See ibid., p. 123.

46See David A. Graff, “The Art of War,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 289–295.

47See Scott Pearce, “The Northern Wei,” Cambridge History of China, I, pp. 165–168.

48Livy. 34. 9. 12; see Livy, Rome and the Mediterranean, translated by Henry Bettenson (New York, 1976), p. 152.

49See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 124–127; Lewis, China between Empires, pp. 81–82; and Pearce, “Northern Wei,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 169, for the Sinified policies of Xiaowen.

50See ibid., pp. 172–173. See also A. G. Wenley, The Great Empress Dowager Wen Ming and the Northern Wei Necropolis at Fang Shan (Washington, DC, 1947), pp. 1–10.

51See Pearce, “Northern Wei,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 173–175.

52See ibid., pp. 172–173.

53See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 127, and Pearce, “Northern Wei,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 178–182.

54See Andrew Eisenberg, “Collapse of a Eurasian Hybrid: The Case of the Northern Wei,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 375–377.

55See ibid., pp. 179–183, and Albert E. Dien, “Eastern Wei and Northern Qi,” Cambridge History of China, II, pp. 103–107, and “Western Wei and Northern Zhou,” in ibid., pp. 210–224.

56Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 126–127.

57See Denis Sinor, “The Establishment and Dissolution of the Türk Empire,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 297–301.

58See Arthur F. Wright, “The Sui Dynasty” (581–617), The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T’ang China, 589–906, edited by Denis Twitchett (Cambridge, 1979), pp. 57–73.

59Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 62–64.

60See Richard Lim, “Trade and Exchanges along the Silk and Steppe Routes,” Empires and Exchanges, p. 80, for the Rouran kaghans driving the Hephthalites west and southwest into Transoxiana.

10: The Hephthalites: Huns in Iran

1Shah Peroz waged three campaigns against the Hephthalites, most likely in 474, 478, and 484. The date of the first campaign, and subsequent ransom of Peroza by Zeno, was likely either the late summer or fall of 474. On January 9, 475, the usurper Basilicus staged a revolt and Zeno fled Constantinople. Zeno crushed the revolt and retook Constantinople in August of the next year, 476. Zeon, an untutored Isaurian, earned the hatred of the ruling classes of the capital. He and his wife, Ariadne, had been crowned emperor and empress on January 29, 474, as guardians of their sickly son Leo II, age seven, who was the preferred successor of the emperor Leo I, who had died on January 18, 474. Leo II, however, died in November. The two prime accounts by the historians Procopius and Joshua the Stylite are confused as to the dates and details of Peroz’s campaigns against the Hephthalites. Procopius reports only two campaigns, whereas Joshua the Stylite briefly reports three. See Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 127–128, and Ilkka Syväne, “The Three Hephthalite Wars of Peroz 474/5–484,” Historia I S´wiat 10 (2010), pp. 95–116, for the chronology of Peroz’s camapigns. See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 389–394, for events in Constantinople.

2Theophylact Simocatta IV. 11. 2–3 (Whitby translation, pp. 117–118).

3See Michael Whitby, The Emperor Maurice Tiberius and His Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on the Persian and Balkan Wars (Oxford, 1988), pp. 297–304. The emperor Maurice Tiberius provided Khusrau II with an army so that Shah recovered his throne.

4See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 319–322 and 389–394.

5See R. N. Frye, “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, p. 147, and Rezakhani, ReOrienting Sasanians, pp. 126–127.

6See Hyun Jim Kim, The Huns (London/New York, 2018), pp. 45–47. Étienne de la Vaissière, “The Steppe World and the Rise of the Huns,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, edited by Michael Maas (Cambridge, 2015), pp. 184–185.

7Procopius, Persian War I. 3. 1-5. Loeb Classical Library translation of Procopius, History of the Wars, Vol. I, translated by H. B. Dewing (Cambridge MA, 1914), pp. 13–15.

8See Klaus Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns and Their Successors from Bactria to Gandhara (4th to 8th Centuries CE), Vol. I (Vienna, 2014), pp. 307–405.

9See Rezakhani, ReOrienting Sasanians, pp. 87–89, and A. D. B. Bivar, “The History of Eastern Iran,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 211–212.

10Ammianus Marcellinus, History 16. 9. 1–4; for Loeb Classical Library translation, see Ammianus Marcellinus, translated by John C. Rolfe, Vol. I (Cambridge, MA, 1963), pp. 241–243. The Roman emperor Constantius II learned from his envoys sent to negotiate a truce that Shah Shapur had departed to deal with the Kidarites.

11Ammianus Marcellinus, History 17. 5. 1 (LCL translation, Vol. I, p. 333).

12Ammianus Marcellinus, History 18. 6. 22 (LCL translation, Vol. I, pp. 447–449).

13Ammianus Marcellinus, History. 18. 7. 1–19. 9. 9 (LCL translation, Vol. 1, pp. 449–515), for the campaign of Shapur II and siege of Amida. See Kimberly Kagan, The Eye of Command (Ann Arbor, 2008), pp. 23–51, for the accuracy of Ammianus’s account. On three occasions, in 2002, 2010, and 2011, I have examined the walls of Diyarbakır (ancient Amida) and thereby verified the details of Ammianus’s account of the siege.

14Ammianus Marcellinus, History 19. 1. 7–10 (LCL translation, pp. 473–479).

15See Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns, Vol. I, pp. 26–38 and 43–97, for a catalog of gold, silver, and copper coins.

16See Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 36–37.

17See Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, p. 124.

18Procopius, Persian Wars, I. 3. 3–6 (Loeb Classical Library translation, p. 15).

19See E. A. Thompson, “The Foreign Policies of Theodosius II and Marcian,” Hermathena 76 (1950), pp. 56–75.

20See Prudence O. Harper and Pieter Meyers, Silver Vessels of the Sasanian Period, Volume I, The Royal Imagery (New York, 1981), pp. 40–88.

21See Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 127–128, and Syväne, “Three Hephthalite Wars,” Historia I S´wiat 10 (2010), pp. 95–108.

22See ibid., pp. 109–113.

23See Frye, “History of Iran under the Sasanians,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, p. 149, and Payne, “Reinvention of Iran,” Age of Attila, p. 288.

24See Patricia Crone, “Kavad’s Heresy and the Mazdakite Revolt,” Iran 29 (1991), pp. 21–42, and “Zoroastrian Communism,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 36 (1994), pp. 447–462.

25Parvaneh Pourshariati, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederation and the Arab Conquest of Iran (London/New York, 2008), p. 267, and Tourai Daryaee, Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (London/New York, 2009), p. 27.

26See Procopius I. 6. 7–10 (LCL translation, Vol. 1, pp. 45–47), for Kavad’s escape with the aid of his wife. See C. E. Bosworth, trans. and ed., The History of al-Tabarī, Volume V: The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen (Albany, NY, 1999), p. 136, for escape with the aid of his sister.

27Khodadad Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 132–134.

28Frye, “History of Iran under Sasanians,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 149–151.

29See Daniel T. Potts, “Sasanian Iran and its Northeastern Frontier,” Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity, edited by Michael Mass and Nicola di Cosmo (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 296–297.

30See Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns I, pp. 397–403 and 419–426. The Hephthalites also countermarked many Sassanid dirhems received in tribute; see Robert Göbl, Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien Volume II (Munich, 1967), pp. 112–138 and for catalog of the countermarks.

31See Potts, “Sasanian Iran and its Northeastern Frontier,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 297–299.

32See Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 37–38. For the contemporary history of the caravan cities of the Tarim basin, see R. E. Emmerich, “Iran Settlement East of the Pamirs,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 263–275.

33See Canepa, Two Eyes of the Earth, p. 143.

34See Eberhard W. Sauer, Persia’s Imperial Power in Late Antiquity: The Great Wall of Gorgan and Frontier Landscapes of Sasanian Iran (Oxford, 2013).

35See Thapasr, Early India, p. 286, and and Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 99–102.

36See Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns I, pp. 220–222, with full discussion of the Chinese sources, and Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 94–95.

37See ibid., pp. 99–102.

38See Vondrovec, Coinage of Iranian Huns, pp. 23–50.

39See Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 104–109.

40See ibid., pp. 183–185 and 291–300, types 44–81.

41For Xuanzang’s complaint about Mihirakula’s destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas, see translation by Li Rongxi, trans., The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions (Berkeley, 1996), pp. 97–100.

42See Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns, Vol. I, pp. 86–214, for coinages of the later rulers of the Alchon Huns. For the high volume of coinage by the Alchon Huns, see Pankaj Tandon, “The Identity of Prakās´āditya,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 25 (2015), pp. 667–668.

43See Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 111–113, and Thapar, Early India, p. 287.

44See Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, pp. 157–161.

45See Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns, Vol. I, pp. 447–459.

46Mahabharata 2. 50, where the Hunas participate as allies in the Rajasuya sacrifice for the consecration of Yudhishthira.

47See Roger C. Blockley, “The Division of Armenia between the Romans and the Persians at the End of the Fourth Century A.D.,” Historia 36 (1987), pp. 222–234.

48See R. W. Thomson, “Armenia in the Fifth and Sixth Century,” The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XIV: Late Antiquity, Empire, and Successors, A.D. 425–600, edited by Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins, and Michael Whitby (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 662–677. Armenian resistance to enforced Zoroastrianism by the Persian Shahs climaxed in the revolt of Vardan Mamikonian, who fell at the Battle of Avarayr in 451. Vardan Mamikonian is still hailed as a martyr and one of the greatest national heroes of Armenia.

49See Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 51–58.

50See C. D. Gordon, “Subsidies in Roman Imperial Defence,” Phoenix 3 (1949), pp. 60–69, and critique by Roger C. Blockley, “Subsidies and Diplomacy: Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity,” Phoenix 39 (1985), pp. 62–74.

51See Bivar, “History of Eastern Iran,” Cambridge History of Iran, III. 1, pp. 214–216.

11: Huns, Allies and Foes of Rome

1Ammianus Marcellinus XXX1. 3. 1–8 (Loeb Classical Library, Vol. 3, pp. 394–409). See Michael Kulikowski, Rome’s Gothic Wars from the Third Century to Alaric (Cambridge, 2007), pp. 111–112. I accept the view that Ermanaric ruled over a confederation of Goths and Iranian-speaking tribes on the Pontic-Caspian steppes; see Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths, translated by Thomas J. Dunlap (Berkeley, 1979), pp. 86–9, and contra the skepticism of Peter Heather, Goths and Romans 332–489 (Oxford, 1991), pp. 86–89, who argues Ermanaric was only king of the Tervingi Goths.

2See ibid., p. 106. The surviving fortifications comprise a southern and northern section of 77 miles (125 kilometers) and 75 miles (120 kilometers), respectively. The project testifies to the engineering and strategic thinking which the Goths had learned from the Romans.

3See Noel Lenski, Failure of Empire Valens and Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. (Berkeley, 2002), pp. 320–325.

4Jordanes, Getica 23. 129–130. See Jordanes, The Origins of the Goths, translated by Charles C. Mierow (Princeton, 1998), pp. 15–16. The translation is also available online at: https://people.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html.

5The story is celebrated in the Hamðismál and Guðrúnarhvöt in the Poetic Edda; see Hollander, Poetic Edda, pp. 311–321. The tale is retold by Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda (Penguin translation, pp. 101–103), and in the Volsunga Saga. See Jesse L. Byock, trans., The Saga of the Volsungs (New York, 1990), pp. 106–108. Bragi Boddason also alluded to the story in the oldest skaldic poem, Ragnarsdrápa. The combat was depicted on the shield of Ragnar Lodbrok.

6For the accuracy and historical method of Ammianus Marcellinus, see John Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus (Baltimore, 1989), pp. 8–32.

7Ammianus Marcellinus 31. 2. 1–12 (Penguin translation, p. 411).

8See Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 291–255, for Hun way of war. For the accuracy of Ammianus Marcellinus, see John Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus (Baltimore, 1989), pp. 17–32.

9See Kulikowski, Rome’s Gothic Wars, pp. 84–86.

10For the Battle of Abrittus, see Zosimus, New History I. 23, and Zonares XX. 21. See Parker, History of Roman World, p. 161. The bodies of Trajan Decius and his son Herennius Etruscus were never recovered. The next emperor Trebonnianus Gallus (251–253) allowed the Goths to retire with their loot and captives, and subsequently paid a subsidy. See Aleksander Bursche, “The Battle of Abrittus, the Imperial Treasury and Aurei in Barbaricum,” Numismatic Chronicle 173 (2013), pp. 151–170, for Goths capturing the imperial treasury after the battle.

11See Wolfram, History of the Goths, pp. 36–43.

12See Ammianus Marcellinus, XXXI. 3, 4–5. 8 (LCL translation, Vol. 3, pp. 401–413), and see also Lenski, Failure of Empire, pp. 341–355.

13See Ammianus Marcellinus XXXI. 12–14 (LCL translation, Vol. 3, pp. 463–489), and see Lenski, Failure of Empire, pp. 325–341 and 355–368, and Thomas S. Burns, “The Battle of Adrianople: A Reconsideration,” Historia 22 (1973), pp. 336–345.

14See Thomas S. Burns, Barbarians within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375–425 A.D. (Bloomington, 1994), pp. 69–79.

15See Kim, Huns, pp. 66–74. Prior to the report of Ammianus Marcellinus, the Roman world had no knowledge of the Huns; see Thompson, Huns, pp. 19–25.

16Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 376–382 and 441–443.

17See ibid., pp. 297–357.

18See ibid., pp. 260–270.

19See ibid., pp. 51–52.

20There is no direct evidence that the Huns of the fourth and fifth century AD inherited imperial institutions of the Xiongnu Confederacy of the second and first centuries BC. Therefore, do not accept the view that the Huns of Europe were the direct political heirs of the Xiongnu as argued by Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 17–42, and “The Political Organization of Steppe Empires and Their Contribution to Eurasian Interconnection: The Case of the Huns and Their Impact on the Frankish West,” Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Greco-Roman World, Inner Asia and China, edited by Hyun Jin Kim, Frederick J. Vervaet, and Selim Ferruh Adali (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 15–33. Attila employed Roman engineers, soldiers, and scribes; see Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 125–128. Attila’s chief secretary (notarius) in 449–452 was Orestes, who kept records in Latin. Orestes later returned to Roman service and elevated his son Romulus Augustulus (475–476) as last Western Roman emperor.

21See Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 18–19.

22See ibid., pp. 26–50, and Thompson, Huns, pp. 29–35.

23This is readily documented by the Huns adopting personal names of Germanic and Iranian origin; see ibid., pp. 386–392.

24See Thompson, Huns, pp. 35–36 and 63–65, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 59–73.

25See Pat Southern and Karen R. Dixon, The Late Roman Army (New Haven, 1996), pp. 67–75, and J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom (Oxford, 1991), pp. 7–88, for recruitment of foederati, “federates.”

26See Heather, Fall of Roman Empire, pp. 216–217.

27See Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops, pp. 90–91 and 125–127.

28See O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 33–41.

29See Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 216–218.

30See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 110–115, and Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 211–213.

31See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 115–121.

32See ibid., I, pp. 132–135, and Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops, pp. 111–125.

33See Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, p. 59.

34See Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 225–226.

35See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 160–166.

36See Heather, Fall of Roman Empire, pp. 194–196, noting that Radagaisus’s people likely migrated to escape the Huns. See also Jeroen W. P. Wijnendaele, “Stilicho, Radagaisus, and the So-Called Battle of Faesulae (406 CE),” Journal of Late Antiquity 9 (2016), 267–284.

37See Guy Halsall, Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568 (Cambridge, 2007), pp. 210–212, and Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 209–211.

38See Halsall, Barbarian Migrations, pp. 220–224, for Roman civil wars compromising imperial defense. For the withdrawal of Roman forces from Britain, see Sheppard Frere, Britannia: A History of Roman Britain (London, 1974), pp. 407–410.

39O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 56–59, and Halsall, Barbarian Migrations, pp. 212–214.

40See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 174–185, and Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 227–232. For the disbelief and shock among Romans at the sack of Rome, see Samuel Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire, second edition (New York, 1958), pp. 303–321.

41See Wolfram, History of the Goths, pp. 161–167, for the settlement of Visigoths in Aquitania.

42See Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops, pp. 127–128.

43See Norman H. Baynes, “The Decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe: Some Modern Explanations,” Journal of Roman Studies 33 (194), pp. 29–35, for perceptive comparison of the resources and leadership of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.

44See Kenneth G. Holum, Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity (Berkeley, 1982), pp. 48–78 and 79–111, for the empresses Aelia Eudocia and Aelia Pulcheria, respectively.

45See Doug Lee, “Theodosius and His Generals,” Theodosius II: Rethinking the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, edited by Christopher Kelly (Cambridge, 2013), pp. 90–108. After the fall of Ganias, the emperor and his civil officials kept the generals in check so that none could aspire to the position of their counterparts in the Western Roman Empire.

46See R. C. Blockley, East Roman Foreign Policy: Formation and Conduct from Diocletian to Anastasius (London, 1992), pp. 45–58, for cordial relations between Rome and Persia during the reigns of Arcadius and Theodosius II. For the threat of the Hephthalites, see Potts, “Sasanian Iran and Its Northeastern Frontier,” in Empires and Exchanges, pp. 287–301.

47See J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 112–114.

48See Alexander van Millingen, Byzantine Constantinople: The Walls of the City and Adjoining Historical Sites (London, 1899), pp. 40–94.

49See Stephen Trumbull, The Walls of Constantinople, A.D. 324–1453 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 110–19, for building and matériel of the Theodosian Wall with excellent illustrations.

50See van Millingen, Byzantine Constantinople, pp. 55–58.

51See ibid., pp. 40–51.

52See ibid., pp. 53–55.

53See ibid., pp. 51–53.

54Hendrik W. Dey, The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome, A.D. 271–855 (Cambridge, 2011), pp. 1–48 and 110–122.

55See J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. II (New York, 1925), pp. 180–195 and 238–252, for the Gothic sieges of Rome in 537–539, 546 and 549. For the damage to Rome from the sieges during the Gothic War, see Dey, Aurelian’s Wall, pp. 48–62.

56See Donald Queller, The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, revised edition, pp. 172–192.

57See Stephen Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (Cambridge, 1965), pp. 133–144.

58See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 59–60, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 73–74, for the mission of Olympiodorus to the Hun court.

59See ibid., pp. 74–75.

60See Thompson, Huns, pp. 227–230, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 81–82.

61See ibid., pp. 82–83.

62Ibid., pp. 89–90, and Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, p. 271.

63See ibid., pp. 358–375. For DNA analysis, see Endre Neparáczki, Zoltán Maróti et al., “Y-chromosome Haplogroups from Hun, Avar and Conquering Hungarian Period Nomadic People of the Carpathian Basin,” Scientific Reports 9 (2019), published online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5, and Zoltán Maróti et al., “Whole Genome Analysis Sheds Light on the Genetic Origin of Huns, Avars and Conquering Hungarians,” BioRXiv (2020), published online: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.19.476915v1.full.

64See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 84–85.

65See Burns, Romans and Barbarians, pp. 356–360.

66See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 85–90.

12: Attila, the Scourge of God

1See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 69–101, for the translation of the mission of Priscus. See also Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 279–289 (also providing a translation of Priscus’s account), and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 153–173.

2See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 74–75.

3See ibid., pp. 78–81. Attila had many encampments, and Priscus reports that he was received at an encampment that might have been the Theiss River; see Thompson, Huns, pp. 276–277. It is surmised that the principal settlement was near Aquincum, which might have functioned as a capital for the Huns. Aetius likely ceded Aquincum and the province of Valeria, in return for military assistance either from Ruglia in 425 or from Attila in 437; see Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, p. 272 (favoring the former date) and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 87–89 (favoring the latter date).

4See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 94–96, and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 174–188, for the banquet and the reception of the Western envoys.

5See Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 61. Priscus’s description is preserved by Jordanes, Getica, 34. 182.

6Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 95.

7See Thompson, Huns, pp. 69–70, and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 93–97.

8See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, p. 275.

9See Thompson, Huns, p. 97, and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 104–105.

10See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 273–274, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 110 and 116–117.

11Thompson, Huns, pp. 81–82, and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 186–188.

12See Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 183–184 and 267–269. Attila almost certainly wanted to transmit the lordship of the empire to his favored son, Emac, but the plan risked civil war among the brothers.

13See O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 88–103, and Thompson, Huns, pp. 36–39.

14See Kim, Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 3–60, supporting the older opinions by Thompson, Huns, pp. 177–185, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of the Huns, pp. 94–129, and contra revisionist opinion, diminishing the significance of the Huns, see Peter Heather, “The Huns and the End of the Roman Empire in Western Europe,” English Historical Review 110 (1995), pp. 4–41, and Lindner, “Nomadism,” Past and Present 92 (1981), pp. 1–19.

15See Kim, Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 127–130, and see also Penny MacGeorge, Late Roman Warlords (Oxford, 2002), pp. 276–282.

16See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 274–278.

17See Thompson, Huns, p. 136. See Thompson, “Foreign Policies,” Hermathena 76 (1950), pp. 62–65. Theodosius II saw as his priority the recapture of Carthage and the rich African provinces rather than the northern frontier along the lower Danube.

18See Thompson, Huns, pp. 89–98.

19See Thompson, “Foreign Policies,” Hermathena 76 (1950), pp. 60–66, and Ferrill, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 137–138, for Aspar’s two campaigns against the Vandals in 432–434 and 442.

20See Thompson, Huns, pp. 99–100, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 119–123.

21See Alan Cameron, Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium (Oxford, 1976), pp. 100–104.

22See Thompson, Huns, pp. 101–102.

23See Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy, p. 310. The sum of 18,500 pounds of gold was equivalent to 1,334,600 gold solidi. The solidus (4.74 grs.) was struck 72 to the Roman Pound.

24See ibid., pp. 311–312, for payoff of Philip I to Shah Shapur in 244 and Justinian’s Eternal Peace with Shah Khusru I in 532. These were 10,000 and 11,000 Roman pounds of gold, respectively but each was a single payment rather than annual tribute.

25See Holum, Theodosian Empresses, pp. 207–208.

26See ibid., pp. 209–211, for marriage of Marcian and Aelia Pulcheria. See Thompson, “Foreign Policies,” Hermathena 76 (1950), pp. 69–70, suggesting that Marcian too put the defeats of the Vandals as a top priority and so contemplated a new expedition against the Vandals. Marcian, however, preferred diplomacy to war, and during his seven-year reign amassed a reserve of 100,000 pounds of gold. See Warren Treadgold, Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081, pp. 193–195 and 202–203.

27O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 77–78. For Aetius’s stay among the Huns, see Thompson, Huns, pp. 38 and 60.

28See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 221–225.

29See O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 75–76. See Stewart I. Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta, pp. 189–190, for the hostility of the empress Galla Placidia to Aetius. See ibid., pp. 226–234, for intrigues against Aetius and her promotion of Count Boniface, governor of Africa, as a rival to Aetius.

30See Thompson, Huns, p. 40.

31Procopius, Vandal Wars I. 3. 14–15 (LCL translation), volume 2, p. 27, praising both Aetius and Boniface. See Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, annotated by J. B. Bury (The Modern Library, New York) II, p. 170, for his laudatory assessment of Aetius: “His prudence, rather than his virtue, engaged him to leave the grandson of Theodosius in the possession of the purple; Valentinian was permitted to enjoy the peace and luxury of Italy, while the patrician appeared in the glorious light of a hero and patriot, who supported near twenty years the ruins of the Western Empire.” Undoubtedly, the empress Galla Placidia would challenge Gibbon’s judgment.

32O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 88–95, and see J. R. Moss, “The Effects of the Policies of Aetius on Western Europe,” Historia 22 (1973), pp. 711–731.

33See Stewart Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta, pp. 200–211 and 230–235. For Aetius’s schemes to link himself by marriage into the imperial family, see O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 95–100.

34See Thompson, Huns, pp. 72–74.

35For the evolution of the legend, see Turville-Petre, Heroic Age of Scandinavia, pp. 27–37, and de Vries, Heroic Song and Heroic Legend, pp. 44–49.

36See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 288–291, and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 224–230.

37These would be the “Five Baits” employed by the Chinese emperor, including the marriage of the Xiongnu chanyu to a Chinese princess and recognition of the chanyu as an equal ruler. See Yu Ying-shih, Trade and Expansion in Han, pp. 36–54. Attila likely had similar expectations from a marriage proposal.

38See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 291–293; Thompson, Huns, pp. 143–151; and Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 231–245.

39See ibid., pp. 152–153, for Aetius’s alliance with Theoderic.

40See Arther Ferrill, The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation (London, 1986), pp. 145–151, and Ulf Tackholm, “Aetius and the Battle on the Catalaunian Fields,” Opuscula Romana 7.15: (1969), pp. 259–276, for reconstruction of the battle.

41See Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, p. 268.

42See Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 248–249, for the ferocity of the fighting.

43See O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 97–98, for Aetius’s long-term aims of renewing the alliance with Attila. See Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 249–251, for withdrawal of the Hun army.

44Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 294–296.

45See Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 262–264, Thompson, Huns, pp. 160–163, and Bury, History of Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 295–296.

46See Thompson, Huns, pp. 163–166, and Kelly, End of Empire, p. 263.

47See Thompson, Huns, pp. 167–174.

48Se Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 267–268, and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 144–149.

49See Heather, Goths and Romans, pp. 242–244. The emperor Marcian permitted the Ostrogoths to settle in Pannonia.

50See Thompson, Huns, pp. 175–176.

51Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 298–299, and O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 101–103.

52Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, pp. 299–301, and Heather, Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 375–379.

53Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, II, p. 319.

54The exception was Majorian (457–461), the last effective emperor of the Roman West. See MacGeorge, Late Roman Warlords, pp. 201–214, and Stewart I. Oost, “Aëtius and Majorian,” Classical Philology 59 (1964), pp. 23–29.

55See O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 104–128, and Penny MacGeorge, Late Roman Warlords (Oxford, 2002), pp. 165–293.

56See O’Flynn, Generalissimos, pp. 129–148, and MacGeorge, Late Roman Warlords, pp. 270–280. The constitutional position of Odoacer and significance of the deposition of Romulus Augustulus are still subject to debate. See A. H. M. Jones, “The Constitutional Position of Odovacar and Theoderic,” Journal of Roman Studies 52 (1962), pp. 126–130; Michael McCormick, “Odoacer, Emperor Zeno, and the Rugian Victory Legation,” Byzantion 47 (1977), pp. 212–222; and Brian Croke, “A.D. 476: The Manufacture of a Turning Point,” Chiron 13 (1983), 81–119.

57Jordanes, Getica 35, citing as his source Priscus of Pantium. See in Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 93–94, for the translation of Priscus’s report. See also Kelly, End of Empire, pp. 102–104 and Maenchen-Helfen, World of Huns, pp. 278–280, who stresses the sacred sword as the manifestation of divine kingship.

58See Peter Heather, “Christianity and the Vandals in the Reign of Geiseric,” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. 50 (2007), pp. 137–147. See Victor of Vita, History of the Vandal Persecutions, translated by John Moorhead (Liverpool, 1992), who records the confessors who defied the Arian Vandal kings.

59See Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 94–96.

60See Saga of Volsungs (Penguin translation), pp. 96–105.

61See Nibelungenlied, translated by A. T. Hatto (New York, 1965), pp. 242–290.

62See John C. G. Röhl, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1859–1941: A Concise Life, translated by Sheila de Bellaigue (Cambridge, 2014), pp. 68–69.

63See Laurence V. Moyer, Victory Must Be Ours: Germany in the Great War 1914–1918 (New York, 1995), pp. 95–97.

64See Jon Solomon, The Ancient World in Cinema (New Haven, 2001), pp. 115–120.

65See ibid., pp. 96–98.

66See Thompson, Huns, pp. 226–231, for a judicious assessment of Attila’s achievement.

67See Kim, Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 69–88.

68See Peter Brown, “Eastern and Western Christendom in Late Antiquity: A Parting of the Ways,” Orthodox Churches and the West, edited by Derek Baker (Oxford 1976), pp. 1–24; reprinted in Peter Brown, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley, 1982), pp. 166–195.

13: The Heirs of Attila and the New Rome

1See H. Turtledove, The Chronicle of Theophanes Anni Mundi 6095–6305 (A.D. 602–813) (Philadelphia, 1982), pp. 22–23, and Geoffrey Dodgeon and Samuel N. C. Lieu, trans., The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars Part II. A.D. 363–630 (London/New York, 2002), pp. 205–207, for the account of Theophanes. See also Walter E. Kaegi, Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 132–141 and 146–147, and Walter Pohl, The Avars: A Steppe Empire in Central Europe, 567–522 (Ithaca, NY, 2015), pp. 274–275 and 290–292.

2See Averil Cameron, “The Theotokos in Sixth Century Constantinople: A City Finds Its Symbol,” Journal of Theological Studies 29 (1978), pp. 79–108, for the veneration of Mary as the protectress of the city.

3See Pohl, Avars, pp. 90–93, and James Howard-Johnston, The Last Great War of Antiquity (Oxford, 2021), pp. 207–213, for the Avars’ inability to assault the Long Walls of Constantinople in 626.

4See Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 23–30, and Kaegi, Heraclius, pp. 100–191, for Heraclius’s campaigns against Sassanid Persia.

5See ibid., pp. 177–180. The Sassanid aristocracy deposed Shah Khusrau II in 628, and elevated to the throne Khusrau’s son Kavad II, who concluded the peace with Heraclius. In 629, Heraclius assumed the Greek title basileus, “king,” which had previously been used as the title for the Persian Shah. As a result of the peace in 636, the Shah of Persia was no longer deserving of the title.

6See Sinor, “The Establishment and Dissolution of the Türk Empire,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 297–301, for the overthrow of the Rouran Kaghanate by the Gök Turks.

7See Pohl, Avars, pp. 11–38, for the migration of the Avars to the Pontic-Caspian Steppes in 554–557, covering over 3,000 mile (5,000 kilometers).

8See Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, revised edition, translated by G. Moravcsik, and R. J. H. Jenkins (Washington, DC, 2002), pp. 49–50. Since the sixth century, the task of the Byzantine governor in Cherson was to placate the leading nomadic confederation on the Pontic-Caspian steppes.

9See Alexander Sarantis, Justinian’s Balkan Wars: Campaigning, Diplomacy and Development of Illyricum, Thrace, and the Northern World A.D. 527–65 (Prenton, 2016), pp. 333–336. The Avar envoys arrived in Constantinople either in 557 or 558.

10See Peter Heather, Rome Resurgent: War and Empire in the Age of Justinian (Oxford, 2018), pp. 303–332, for the losses in the Roman West in the generation after Justinian’s death. For the high costs of Justinian’s wars, Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy, pp. 195–199, and Michael F. Hendy, Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c. 300–1450 (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 164–173.

11See Heather, Rome Resurgent, pp. 285–286 and 316. See Pohl, Avars, pp. 36–37, for the refusal of Justin II to grant land or a subsidy to the Avars out of fears of reprisals by the Ishtemi, Kaghan of the Gök. In 572, under the fifty-year treaty negotiated by Justinian with Khusrau I in 562, Roman payments of 30,000 solidi were to be paid annually. Justin, regarding such payments as tribute, refused payment and so provoked the Persian War of 572–590. See Theophylact Simocatta III. 9. 3. 11. See Michael Whitby, The Emperor Maurice and His Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare (Oxford, 1988), pp. 250–254.

12See J. A. S. Evans, The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power (London/New York, 1996), pp. 267–268, and Pohl, Avars, pp. 36–37 and 78–83. The empress Sophia arranged for the adoption and elevation of the general Tiberius II Constantine as Caesar in 574. The madness of Justin II is reported by John of Ephesus, Ecclesiastical History III. 1-6, see online translation https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ephesus_3_book3.htm. Translation from William Cureton, trans., The Third Part of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus (Piscataway, NJ), 2012.

13Theophylact Simocatta I. 3. 25; see Michael and Mary Whitby, trans., The History of Theophylact Simocatta: An English Translation with Introduction and Notes (Oxford, 1985), p. 24. See also Pohl, Avars, p. 89.

14See Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards, translated by William D. Foulke (Philadelphia, 1974), III. 22, p. 43, who omits the contribution of the Avars. See Pohl, Avars, pp. 62–68. For the migration of the Lombards into Italy in 567, see Neil Christie, The Lombards: The Ancient Langobards (Oxford, 1999), pp. 63–91. Since the Battle of Nedao (454), the Gepidae had posed a threat to Byzantine provinces in the Balkans. See Alexander Sarantis, “War and Diplomacy in Pannonia and the Northwest Balkans during the Reign of Justinian: The Gepid Threat and Imperial Responses,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 63 (2009), pp. 15–40.

15See Pohl, Avars, pp. 62–68, for Avars taking possession of Pannonia in 567. For the DNA analysis demonstrating the Avars’ descent from nomads of the eastern Eurasian steppes, see Maróti et al., “Whole Genome Analysis Sheds Light on the Genetic Origin of Huns, Avars and Conquering Hungarians,” BioRXiv (2020), published online: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.19.476915v1.full.

16See Samuel Szádeczky-Kardoss, “The Avars,” in Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 225–228.

17For the migration of Slavs into the Balkans, see Florin Curta, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 58–100.

18See Menander the Guardsman, History, fragment 23. 3; see R. C. Blockley, trans., The History of Menander the Guardsman (Liverpool, 1985), p. 240. See also Whitby, Emperor Maurice, p. 88, preferring 581 for the date of the surrender, and Pohl, Avars, pp. 83–89, for the Avar siege and capture of Sirmium in 582.

19See Florin Curta, “Avar Blitzkrieg, Slavic and Bulgar Raiders, and Roman Speical Ops: Mobile Warriors in the Sixth Century Balkans,” Central Eurasia in the Middle Ages: Studies in Honour of Peter B. Golden, edited by Osman Karatay and István Zimonyi (Wiesbaden, 2016) pp. 69–90.

20The unknown author of the Strategikon composes his treatise to counter the cavalry tactics of the Avars. See comments by Dennis, trans., Maurice’s Strategikon, pp. 11–14.

21See John V. A. Fine Jr., The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century (Ann Arbor), pp. 25–40. The Greek speakers of Thrace and Moesia fled to the Greek cities on the Aegean and Euxine shores. Latin speakers of Pannonia and Dalmatia settled in the Dalmatian coastal cities.

22See Peter Brown, “A Dark Age Crisis: Aspects of the Iconoclastic Controversy,” English Historical Review 88 (1971), pp. 21–22, for the efficacy of appeals of intercession to Saint Demetrius.

23Theophylact Simocatta IV. 11. 2-3 (Whitby translation, pp. 117–118). See also Whitby, Emperor Maurice, pp. 292–304.

24See ibid., pp. 156–165, and Pohl, Avars, pp. 163–194.

25See Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 1–2 (Turtledove translation) and Theophylact Simocatta VIII. 10. 4–5 (Whitby translation, pp. 225–227). See also Walter E. Kaegi, Byzantine Military Unrest, 471–843: An Interpretation (Amsterdam, 1981), pp. 110–119, for grievances of soldiers and breakdown of discipline. For the hostile sources on Phocas, see David M. Olster, The Politics of Usurpation in the Seventh Century: Rhetoric and Revolution in Byzantium (Amsterdam, 1993), pp. 1–22 and 165–186.

26Theophylact Simocatta IV. 11. 2–3 (Whitby translation, pp. 117–118), and see Whitby, Emperor Maurice, pp. 292–304.

27See Kaegi, Heraclius, pp. 37–54.

28See Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 23–30. See also Kaegi, Heraclius, pp. 100–191, and Howard-Johnston, Last Great War, pp. 214–320, for Heraclius’s campaigns against Sassanid Persia. To pay for the war, Heraclius borrowed gold and silver plates from the Orthodox church to strike gold solidi and silver hexagrams in great numbers, and he debased the copper coinage; see Harl, Coinage in Roman Economy, pp. 199–203. Heraclius is often credited with major reforms in civil administration, and reorganization of the army based on themes. These reforms, however, were likely the work of his heirs, Constans II (641–668) and Constantine IV (668–585). See J. F. Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 202–215.

29See Pohl, Avars, pp. 305–311 and 376–396.

30For the Revolt of Samo and establishment of the Slavic Kingdom of Great Moravia, see Pohl, Avars, pp. 305–318 and 392–395, and Francis Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe (London, 1949), pp. 11–19 and pp. 288–291.

31See Pohl, Avars, pp. 372–387.

32See Fine, Early Medieval Balkans, pp. 66–69, and Pohl, Avars, pp. 326–335, for the migration of the Bulgars into Moesia. For the nomadic origins of the Bulgars, who spoke a distinct Western Turkish dialect, see Peter B. Golden, “The Peoples of the South Russian Steppes,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 260–262, and Warwick Ball, The Eurasian Steppe: People, Movement, Ideas (Edinburgh, 2021), pp. 233–239.

33Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 170–173 (Turtledove translation). See also Warren Treadgold, The Byzantine Revival, 780–842 (Stanford, 1988), pp. 68–73, and Dennis P. Hupchick, The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies (Cham, Switzerland, 2017), pp. 83–87.

34See ibid., pp. 89–114.

35See ibid., pp. 123–127. The treaty was negotiated in 814, ratified in 816, and renewed in 836. For frontier of the kaghanate, see J. B. Bury, “The Bulgarian Treaty of A.D. 814, and the Great Fence of Thrace,” English Historical Review 25 (1910), pp. 276–287.

36See Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 283–285. For description and explanation of the mechanics of the throne room, see Gerard Brett, “The Automata in the Byzantine Throne Room of Solomon,” Speculum 29 (1954), pp. 477–478, and Allegra Iafrate, The Wandering Throne of Solomon: Objects and Tales of Kingship in the Medieval Mediterranean (Leiden, 2015), pp. 55–105.

37See Dimitri Oblensky, The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe, 500–1453 (Crestwood, N.Y., 1971), pp. 117–121, and, for the Patriarchate of Great Preslav, pp. 160–172.

38See Hupchick, Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars, pp. 149–220. During the second war (913–924), Symeon pressured the regents Patriarch Nicholas Mysticus (913–915) and Zoe Carbospina (915–920) to grant a marriage of his daughter to the young emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. In 920, the admiral Romanus Lecapenus seized power in Constantinople, married his daughter Helena Lecapena to Constantine VII, and thwarted Symeon’s imperial ambitions by refusing battle and bribing Slavic princes to revolt. See Stephen Runciman, The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study in Tenth Century Byzantium (Cambridge, 1929), pp. 81–101.

39See ibid., pp. 155–167, and Shaun Tougher, The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People (Leiden, 1997), pp. 177–185, for the Byzantine-Bulgarian War of 894–896. The war was ignited over the Byzantine withdrawal of Bulgarian trading rights.

40See Peter B. Golden, “The Peoples of the Russian Forest Belt,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 242–247, for the origins of the Magyars. See Tougher, Reign of Leo VI, pp. 176–177, and C. A. Macarthy, The Magyars in the Ninth Century (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 177–179, for the Byzantine diplomatic agreement calling for a Magyar invasion of Bulgaria.

41See Hupchick, Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars, pp. 160–162. Tsar Symeon courted the Pechenegs into an alliance to attack the Magyars in 895. For the migration of the Magyars and settlement on the Hungarian grasslands in the winter of 895–896, see Macarthy, Magyars in Ninth Century, pp. 179–188, and Z. I. Kosztolnyik, Hungary under the Early Árpáds, 890s to 1063 (New York, 2002), pp. 83–112.

42See Charles R. Bowlus, The Battle of Lechfeld and its Aftermath, August 955: The End of the Age of Migrations in the Latin West (London, 2016), pp. 97–130.

43See Pál Engel and Andrew Ayton, ed., The Realm of St Stephen: History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526, translated by Tamás Pálosfalvi (London/New York, 2006), pp. 26–29, and Kosztolnyik, Hungary under Early Árpáds, pp. 113–136. King Stephen received a royal coronation, compliments of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester III.

44See Hupchick, Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars, pp. 247–320, and Mark Whittow, The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025 (Berkeley, 1996), pp. 374–390. The emperor John Tzimisces annexed the eastern realm of Bulgaria, along with its capital Preslav in 971, after he defeated the Rus invasion of Prince Sviatoslav of Kiev. Basil II waged a ruthless, methodical conquest of Western Bulgaria in 990–1018.

45See Peter F. Sugar, Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1804 (Seattle, 1977), pp. 224–234, for the significant demographic and ethnic changes.

46Menander the Guardsman, History, fragment 4 (Whitby translation, p. 53); see also Pohl, Avars, pp. 50–53.

47See ibid., fragment 19 (Whitby translation), pp. 171–173.

48See Kaegi, Heraclius, pp. 143–145, for the alliance of Heraclius and the Western Turks.

49See Kevin A. Brook, The Jews of Khazaria, third edition (Lanham, MD, 2018), pp. 1–19 and pp. 125–138.

50For the Arab sieges of Constantinople in 674–677 and 717–718, see respectively, Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 52–54 and 82–91 (Turtledove translation). See also Romily Jenkins, Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, 610–1071 (New York, 1966), pp. 42–44 and 60–65. See Whittow, Making of Byzantium, pp. 25–37, for the daunting logistical and geographic barriers faced by Arab armies in waging war in Anatolia or against Constantinople.

51See Brook, Jews of Khazaria, pp. 199–205.

52See Golden, “Peoples of the Russian Steppes,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, p. 264. In 737, the future Umayyad caliph Marwan II (744–750) defeated and compelled the Khazar Kaghan to embrace Islam.

53See Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 66–67 (Turtledove translation), for the overthrow and exile of Justinian II in 695, and pp. 70–72 for the Khazar alliance and the return of Justinian II in 705. See also Constance Head, Justinian II of Byzantium (Madison, 1972), pp. 99–107.

54See ibid., pp. 142–150.

55Brook, Jews of Khazaria, pp. 45–48.

56See The Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 101–102 (Turtledove translation). See also Lynda Garland, Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, 527–1204 (London/New York, 1999), pp. 73–74, and Brook, Jews of Khazaria, pp. 123–124. The marriage was arranged in 732 when envoys of Leo III concluded an alliance with the Khazar Kaghan Bihar against the Abbasid Caliphate. The Greek rendition of the princess’s name in Turkish. Tzitzak is derived from same root word as çiçek in modern Turkish.

57The contest is recorded in the life of Saint Philaretus; see M. H. Lourmy and M. Leroy, “La vie de Saint Philarète,” Byzantion 9 (1934), pp. 135–143. See Garland, Byzantine Empresses, pp. 8–81, and Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 90–91, for the first detailed report of the bridal competition in 788, when the empress Irene arranged for the fixed contest so that her choice, Mary of Amnia, married her son Constantine VI. It is surmised that a similar contest might have been held when Irene was selected as the wife of Leo IV, the Khazar (775–780).

58See Brook, Jews of Khazaria, pp. 67–76.

59See ibid., pp. 37–40 and 71–73.

60See Gun Westholm, “Gotland and the Surrounding World,” The Spilling Hoard: Gotland’s Role in the Viking Age World Trade, edited by Gun Westholm (Visby, 2009), pp. 139–143 and fig. 21.

61Similar political considerations might have influenced Uyghur Bögü Qaghan (759–789) to embrace Manichaeism rather than Buddhism, which was widespread in northern China and a recognized religion under the Tang emperors. See Vladimir Perukhin, “The Choice of Faith in the Turkic Empires: The Uighurs and the Khazars,” Central Eurasia in the Middle Ages, pp. 285–292.

62See Brook, Jews of Khazaria, pp. 77–108, for the conversion of Khazars to Judaism.

63See D. M. Behar et al. (October 2003), “Multiple Origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y Chromosome Evidence for Both Near Eastern and European Ancestries,” American Journal of Human Genetics 73 (2003), pp. 768–779. Ashkenazi Jews share both Middle Eastern and European ancestries, but not Central Asia. See also Danielle Venton, “Highlight: Out of Khazaria—Evidence for Jewish Genome Lacking,” Genome Biology and Evolution 5 (2013), pp. 75–76.

64See Whittow, Making of Byzantium, pp. 248–252.

65See Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings (Oxford, 1968), pp. 241–258. For the range of trade goods the Rus brought back to Gotland and Sweden, see Count Eric Oxenstierna, The Norsemen, translated by Catherine Hutter (Greenwich, CT, 1965), pp. 122–144.

66See Golden, “Peoples of South Russian Steppes,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 270–275, for the Pecheneg confederacy.

67Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, pp. 48–50 (Moravcsik and Jenkins translation).

68See Jones, History of Vikings, pp. 245–245, and Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200 (London, 1996), pp. 27–49.

69See Androshchuk, “Rural Vikings and Viking Helgo,” Archaeology, Artefacts and Human Contacts in Northern Europe: Cultural Interactions between East and West, edited by Ulf Fransson and Ingmar Jansson (Stockholm, 2007), pp. 153–163. The statuette is now on display in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.

70See Ibn Fadlan and Land of Darkness, pp. 89–95 (Penguin translation).

71See ibid., pp. 54–55.

72Translation from A. M. Talbot and D. E. Sullivan, The History of Leo the Deacon (Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 199–200.

73See Samuel H. Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor, trans., The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text (Cambridge, MA, 1973), pp. 5–61. See Jones, History of Vikings, pp. 245–247, for possible identification of Rurik with Erik, a brother of Harald Klak (827–852), the duplicitous Viking vassal of Louis the Pious who was granted Frisia.

74Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Russian Primary Chronicle, p. 60. See A. A. Vasiliev, The First Russian Attack Constantinople in 860 (Cambridge, MA, 1946), for detailed study of the sources.

75Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, pp. 57–65 (Moravcsik and Jenkins translation).

76Prince Oleg of Kiev (ON Helgi) launched an attack in 907; see Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Russian Primary Chronicle, p. 64. The attack is not recorded in Byzantine sources, but there is reason to doubt the report’s veracity. See Romily Jenkins, “The Supposed Russian Attack on Constantinople in 907: Evidence of the Pseudo-Symeon,” Speculum 24 (1949), pp. 405–406. Prince Igor (ON Ingvar) launched two attacks in 943 and 944, and secured a favorable commercial treaty; see Franklin and Shepard, Emergence of Rus, pp. 112–138.

77See Adrienne Mayor, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World (Woodstock, NY, 2003), pp. 215–216. The philosopher Callinicus of Heliopolis (today Baalbek, Lebanon) discovered the formula, and carried it to Constantinople. The emperor Constantine IV equipped siphon-bearing warships (siphonophoroi) that could deliver the incendiary against the Arab ships during the first Arabic siege of the city in 674–677. See Chronicle of Theophanes, p. 53 (Turtledove translation).

78See Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Russian Primary Chronicle, pp. 214–216. The Chronicle dates the conversion to 957, but she may have been baptized or accepted the status of a catacheum during an earlier visit in ca. 955. See Omeljan Pritsak, “When and Where Was Olga Baptized?” Harvard Ukrainian Studies 9 (1985), pp. 5–24.

79See Franklin and Shepard, Emergence of Rus, pp. 144–145. For political and institutional decline of the Khazar confederacy, see, Jews of Khazaria, pp. 133–142.

80Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan, trans., The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century (Washington, DC, 2003), v. 2–3 (pp. 129–133) and VIII. I–IX. 12 (pp. 187–199), Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Russian Primary Chronicle, pp. 86–90. See also Whittow, Making of Byzantium, pp. 260–262, and Franklin and Shepard, Emergence of Rus, pp. 139–151.

81Leo the Deacon, History IX. 11–12, pp. 199–201.

82See Michael McCormick, Eternal Victory, Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Early Medieval West (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 170–175.

83See Golden, “Peoples of South Russian Steppes,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 277–279.

84For the revolt of the eastern army under Bardas Phocas (986–989), see Michael Psellus, Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, translated by E. R. A. Sewter (New York, 1966), pp. 40–43, and John Skylitzes, A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057, translated by John Wortley (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 318–321. See also Whittlow, Making of Byzantium, pp. 362–374, and Anthony Kaldellis, Streams of God, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade (Oxford, 2017), pp. 94–102. For the Varangian Guard, see Sigfús Blöndel, The Varangians of Byzantium, translated by Benedikt S. Benedikz (Cambridge, 1978), pp. 32–53.

85See Oblensky, Byzantine Commonwealth, pp. 254–260.

86See Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Russian Primary Chronicle, pp. 91–111.

87See Franklin and Shepard, Emergence of the Rus, pp. 209–244 and 323–364.

88See ibid., pp. 252–256, 271–273, and 327–329, and Golden, “Peoples of the South Russian Steppes,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 280–284.

89Anna Komnene, The Alexiad, second edition, translated by E. R. Sewter (New York, 2003), pp. 219–234. See also Michael Angold, “Belle époque or crisis (1025–1118)?” The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, c. 599–1492, edited by Jonathan Shepard (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 611–612, and Golden, “Peoples of the South Russian Steppes,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, p. 275.

90See Franklin and Shepard, Emergence of Rus, pp. 294–295 and 365–367.

91See Serge A. Zenkovsky, trans., Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles and Tales, revised edition (New York, 1974), pp. 167–192, for a translation of the epic of Prince Igor.

92See Oblensky, Byzantine Commonwealth, pp. 266–308.

14: Turkish Kaghans and Tang Emperors

1See Ross and Thomsen, “The Orkhon Inscriptions” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), pp. 861–871. For the purpose of the propaganda of the inscription and the monument, see Sören Stark, “Aspects of Elite Representation among the Sixth and Seventh Century Türks,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 333–334.

2See Denis Sinor, “The Establishment and Dissolution of the Türk Empire,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 287–291, and Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Wiesbaden, 1992), pp. 115–124.

3See Sinor, “Türk Empire,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 291–297, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 131–133.

4See Nikolai M. Ziniakov, “Ferrous Metallurgy and Blacksmith Production of the Altay Turks in the Sixth to Tenth Centuries A.D.,” Arctic Anthropology 25 (1988), pp. 48–100.

5See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 132–133.

6See ibid., p. 132, and Jonathan K. Skaff, Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580–800 (Oxford, 2017), pp. 205–207.

7See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 133–135.

8See Pohl, Avars, pp. 33–37, for the migration of Avars west.

9See Sinor, “Türk Empire,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 298–299.

10Menander, History, fragment 10, pp. 111–125 (Blockley translation). See Pohl, Avars, pp. 51–52.

11Ross and Thomsen, “The Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 5 (1930), p. 864.

12See Saim Sakaoğlu, “From Tale to Fact: On the Concept of Sovereignty in Altaic Communities,” in Altaica Berolinensia: The Concept of Sovereignty in the Altaic World, edited by Barbara Kellner-Heinkele (Berlin, 1993), pp. 209–213, and Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 149–150.

13See Sinor, “Türk Empire,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 288–289, Bumin promoting the tribal legend of descent from the wolf.

14See Ross and Vilhelm Thomsen, “The Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), p. 865, for the Turks fighting like wolves.

15See Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 15–26.

16The only Lir language still spoken is Chuvash, descended from the language of the Volga Bulgars. Since the nineteenth century, most of the Chuvash people have converted to Orthodox Christianity and employ the Cyrillic alphabet.

17Béla Kempf, “Old Turkic Runiform Inscriptions in Mongolia: An Overview,” Turkic Languages 8 (2004), pp. 43–52, and Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 140–151.

18See Vilhelm Thomsen, Inscriptions de l’Orkhon Déchiffrées (Helsinki, 1896), and see Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 151–152.

19See Hildinger, Warriors of Steppe, pp. 18–20 and 78–79.

20See Lynn White Jr., Medieval Technology and Social Change (Oxford, 1966), pp. 14–28, who has argued for a date of the ninth century for the introduction and widespread use of metal stirrups. The date is too late. The author of the Strategikon notes the use of metal stirrups by Byzantine cavalry of the later sixth century. See Kelly DeVries, Medieval Military Technology (Petersborough, 1992), pp. 95–122.

21See Hans J. van de Ven, Warfare in Chinese History (Leiden, 2000), pp. 6–7. The manual is entitled Questions and Replies between Emperor Taizong of Tang and Li Weigong. For the tactics and treatise of Li Jin, see David Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300–900, pp. 192–196.

22See Hugh Kennedy, Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State (London/New York, 2001), pp. 134–141, for recruitment of Oghuz and Kipchak Turks into Islamic armies from the ninth century on.

23Translation from S. C. Levi and R. Sela, Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources (Bloomington, 2010), p. 56.

24See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 136–137, and Michael R. Drompp, “Infrastructures of Legitimacy in Inner Asia: The Early Türk Empires,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 308–316.

25See A. C. Peterson, “Court and Province in Mid-and Late Tang,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 238–551, for analysis of the wealth and population of the Tang Empire in the eighth century.

26See Ross and Thomsen, “Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 5 (1930), pp. 867–868.

27See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 147–148, and Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 137–138, for the roles of Kül Tegin and his senior commander, Tonuykuk.

28See Arthur F. Wright, “The Sui Dynasty (581–617),” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 57–72.

29Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 136–138, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 131–134.

30See Pourshariati, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, pp. 126–127, and Rezakhani, ReOrienting the Sasanians, p. 217. Tardu Kaghan likely had backed Bagha Kaghan in an effort to break Sassanid power; see Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 132–133.

31See Pourshariati, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, pp. 129–134. Shah Khusrau II, with the detachment provided by Maurice Tiberius and his rallied followers, defeated Bahram Chobin at the Battle of Blarathon (near modern Ganzak in northwestern Iran) in August 591.

32See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 138, and Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 132–135.

33See Howard J. Wechsler, “The Founding of the Tang Dynasty: Kao-tsu (reign 618–26),” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 153–167. The emperor Gaozu took over the Sui military and administration forged by the first Sui emperor Wen (581–604). See Graff, Chinese Medieval Warfare, pp. 160–176, for the decisive role of Prince Li Shimin (the future emperor Taizong) in defeating rivals for the imperial throne.

34For Tang armies, see ibid., pp. 183–204. For the Tang adoption of tactics of their nomadic foes, see Jonathan K. Skaff, “Tang Military Culture and Its Inner Asia Influences,” Military Culture in Imperial China, pp. 185–191.

35See Man, Great Wall, pp. 88–89, for Tang repairs to the Great Wall. For imperial promotion of prosperity and improvements to the Grand Canal, see Charles Benn, China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in Tang Dynasty (Oxford, 2002), pp. 19–70 and 177–194.

36See Wechsler, “Kao-tsu,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 181–182.

37Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 139–140.

38See Nicola di Cosmo, “The Relations between China and the Steppe: From Xiongnu to the Türk Empire,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 51–53.

39See Wechsler, “Kao-tsu,” Cambridge History of China, III, p. 181, and Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, pp. 185–186.

40See Wechsler, “Kao-tsu,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 182–187, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 140–142, for the rivalry between Li Shimin (the future emperor Taizong) and his older brother Li Jiancheng.

41See Howard J. Wechsler, “T’ai-tsung (reign 626–49),” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 188–193.

42See Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 93–99.

43See ibid., pp. 100–101.

44See Ross and Vilhelm Thomsen, “The Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), p. 865.

45See Thomas S. Burns, Barbarians within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375–425 A.D. (Bloomington, 1993), pp. 73–111.

46See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 140–141, and Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 53–60. The emperor Taizong was exceptionally open to considering the recommendations of his mandarin ministers; see Wechsler, “T’ai-stung,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 193–200.

47Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 56–58, and Wechsler, “T’ai-stung,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 193–194 and 197–198.

48See Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 62–94, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 142.

49See Wechsler, “T’ai-tsung,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 224–232.

50See Wechsler, “T’ai-tsung,” Cambridge History of China, III, p. 223, and Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 55–58.

51See Jonathan K. Skaff, “Tang China’s Horse Power: The Borderland Breeding Ranch System,” Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Graeco-Roman World, Inner Asia, and China, edited by Hyun Jim Kim, Frederick J. Vervaet, and Selim Ferruh Adali (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 34–59.

52See Wechsler, “T’ai-tsung,” Cambridge History of China, III, p. 223, and Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 55–58.

53See Denis Twitchett and Howard J. Wechsler, “Kao-tsung (reign 649–91) and the Empress Wu: The Inheritor and the Usurper,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 279–281.

54Graff, Warfare in Medieval China, pp. 205–226, for the costs of Tang military success.

55See Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 244–250, and Jonathan Clemens, Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God (Albert Ridge Books, 2014), pp. 34–46.

56See ibid., pp. 34–46, 55–86, and Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 251–273.

57See ibid., pp. 282–285.

58See ibid., pp. 279–281, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp.146–147.

59See E. Denison Ross and Vilhelm Thomsen, “The Tonyukuk Inscription: Being a Translation of Professor Vilhelm Thomsen’s Final Danish Rendering,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 6 (1930), pp. 37–43. See also Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 148–149, and Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 137–138.

60For the monumental stelai and tumuli, see Edward Tryjarski, “On the Archaeological Traces of Old Turks in Mongolia,” East and West 21 (1971), pp. 121–135.

61See Denis Twitchett, “Hsüan-tsung (reign 712–757),” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 379–382.

62See ibid., pp. 430–435. The defeats were humiliating given the efforts to reform the army earlier in the reign; see ibid., pp. 415–418.

63See Michael T. Daley, “Court Politics in Late T’ang Times,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 561–563.

64See ibid., pp. 563–564.

65See Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, pp. 227–251, for long-term consequences.

66See Colin MacKerras, “The Uighurs,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 317–318.

67See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 153–155.

68See Twitchett, “Court Politics,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 166–169. Uyghur cavalry proved vital in the recapture of the capital Chang’an from An Lushan, but the Emperor Suzong and Bögü Kaghan quarreled throughout the campaign in 756.

69See Skaff, Sui-Tang Ching, pp. 209–218. Bayanchur Kaghan (749–759) married Princess Xiaogu; Bogu Kaghan (759–780) married Princess Congbui; Tun Baga Tarkhan (780–789) married Princess Xian’an; Baoyi Kaghan (808–821) married Princess Yong’an; and Chongde Kaghan (821–824) married Princess Taihe, who was welcomed back to the Tang court in 843.

70See MacKerras, “Uighurs,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, p. 328, for a description of the city by the Arab visitor Tamim ibn-Bahr in 821, and pp. 335–341, for the prosperity stimulated by supplying the capital.

71See Rong Xinjiang, “Sogdian Merchants and Sogdian Culture on the Silk Road,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 84–95.

72See Clark, “Manichaeism among the Uygurs,” New Light on Manichaeism, pp. 61–72, and MacKerras, “Uighurs,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 329–335.

73See Lieu, Manichaeism, pp. 117–152, for career and doctrines of Mani.

74For the translation of the Mani Codex, see Gardner and Lieu, Manichaean Text, pp. 46–103.

75See Foltz, Religions of Silk Road, pp. 71–77. See Scott F. Johnson, “The Languages of Christianity on the Silk Road and the Transmission of Mediterranean Culture into Central Asia,” Empires and Exchanges, pp. 220–234, for Aramaic employed by Christian missionaries.

76See Daley, “Court Politics,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 666–669. In 843, the emperor Wuzong targeted Manichaeism, because over one hundred thousand armed Uyghur refugees had crossed into Northern China after the collapse of the Kaghanate.

77See Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth, pp. 76–79 and 121–124.

78See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 155–157.

79See Robert M. Somers, “The End of the T’ang,” Cambridge History of China, III, pp. 773–781.

15: Turks and the Caliphate

1John Haldon, The Byzantine Wars (Stroud, Glouchestershire, 2001), pp. 82–86 and, for analysis of the sources, pp. 212–213. See also Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 300–301. The battle is sometimes called after Azen, the location near Dazimon where the battle was fought.

2See Walter E. Kaegi, “The Contribution of Archery to the Turkish Conquest of Anatolia,” Speculum 39 (1964), pp. 99–102; reprinted in Army, Society and Religion in Byzantium (London, 1982), chapter XIX.

3See Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 302–305, and pp. 444–445, note pp. 413–414, for the chronology of the siege and capture of Amorium, and the Abbasid retreat.

4The embassy is reported in the Annales Bertiniani; see L. Nelson, trans., The Annals of St-Bertin (Manchester, 1991), p. 44. See also Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 309–310. The Byzantine envoys were accompanied by Rus, who had arrived in Constantinople from lands north of the Black Sea and could not return home. These Rus, who were Swedes, represented themselves as agents of a Swedish Kaghan, presumably dwelling on the banks of the middle Volga River. They could not return home through the northern routes because of hostile Turkomen tribes on the south Russian steppes, most likely Magyars or Pechenegs. Louis the Pious and his court were astonished to learn that these Rus were Swedes, and so Northmen or Vikings whose kin were raiding the Frankish Empire.

5See Kennedy, Armies of the Caliphs, pp. 104–106.

6See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 148–150, and Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 138–140.

7See ibid., pp. 233–236, for Khazar Kaghans uniting sundry Turkic-and Altaic-speaking tribes on the western steppes.

8See Kaegi, Heraclius, pp. 141–149, and Howard-Johnston, Last Great War, pp. 295–304. It is also possible that Ziebel might have been a subordinate commander of the Kaghan.

9See Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 97–105, for the Sabirs and Onoğurs, likely Turkic-speaking tribes designated Huns by Byzantine authors, who occupied the Pontic-Caspian steppes after the collapse of the empire of Attila in 454.

10See Peter B. Golden, “The Karakhanids and Early Islam,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 348-352, and History of the Turkic Peoples, pp. 196–199.

11For the cultural and political world of Transoxiana in 650, see Johan Elverskog, Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road (Philadelphia, 2010), pp. 9–55, and E. V. Zeimal, “The Political History of Transoxiana,” Cambridge History of Iran, I, pp. 263–278.

12See Helmut Hoffman, “Early and Medieval Tibet,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 382–385, for the conquests of the cities of the Tarim Basin by the Tibetan emperor Khri-srong-Ide-btsan (755–797).

13See Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 182–184 and 280–282.

14See Fred M. Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests (Princeton, 1991), pp. 82–220, and Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In (New York, 2007), pp. 66–199.

15See P. Crone and G. M. Hinds, God’s Caliph: Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam (Cambridge, 1980), pp. 4–43 and 80–96, and Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century, 3rd Edition (London/New York, 2015), pp. 69–75.

16See J. J. Saunders, A History of Medieval Islam (London, 1965), pp. 59–76; Kennedy, Prophet and Caliphates, pp. 75–81; and M. A. Shaban, Islamic History: A New Interpretation, Volume I: A.D. 600–750 (A.H. 132) (Cambridge, 1971), pp. 60–78, for the civil war and victory of Muawiya in 661.

17For the Arab sieges of Constantinople in 674–677 and 717–718, see respectively, Chronicle of Theophanes, pp. 52–54 and 82–91 (Turtledove translation). See also Kennedy, Great Arab Conquests, pp. 328–334, and Hoyland, In God’s Path, pp. 105–110 and 172–178.

18See Kennedy, Great Arab Conquests, pp. 225–254.

19For imitative Sassanid silver dirhems, see Heinz Gaube, Arabo-sasanidische Numismatik (Braunschweig, 1973).

20See Kennedy, Armies of Caliphs, pp. 104–105, and M. A. Shaban, The Abbasid Revolution (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 24–26, for recruitment of Iranians of Khurasan into the heavy cavalry and infantry.

21See Kennedy, Great Arabic Conquests, pp. 255–276, and H. A. R. Gibb, The Arabic Conquests in Central Asia (New York, 1923), pp. 29–58, for the campaigns of Qutayba ibn Muslim.

22See ibid., pp. 276–289, and Khalid Yahya Blankinship, The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads (Albany, NY, 1994), pp. 109–110 and 125–129.

23See Shaban, Abbasid Revolution, pp. 138–168, and Saunders, History of Medieval Islam, pp. 96–105, and Blankinship, The End of the Jihad State, pp. 206–222.

24See Paul M. Cobb, White Banners: Contention in ‘Abbasid Syria, 750–880 (Albany, NY, 2001), pp. 43–47. Eighty Umayyad princes were invited to the banquet held at abu-Futrus, near Jaffa, on June 22, 750.

25Roger Collins, Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity, 400–1000 (New York, 1983), pp. 169–174.

26See Kennedy, Prophet and Caliphates, pp. 123–132, and Hugh Kennedy, When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty (New York, 2004), pp. 12–15.

27See Eliyahu Ashtor, A Social and Economic History of the Near East in the Middle Ages (Berkeley, 1978), pp. 86–124 and 132–146, for population growth and expansion of cities stimulating trade and prosperity.

28See Kennedy, When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World, pp. 112–159.

29See Bernard Lewis, “The Isma’ilites and the Assassins,” A History of the Crusades, Volume I, edited by Kenneth M. Setton and Marshall W. Baldwin (Madison, 1959), pp. 99–104.

30See A. R. Gibb, “The Isma’ilites and the Assassins,” in History of Crusades, I, pp. 99–156, and Fahhad Daftary, A Short History of the Ismalis: Tradition of a Muslim Community (Edinburgh, 1998), pp. 45–106.

31See Skaff, Sui-Tang China, pp. 180–184 and 280–284, for the emperor Xuanzong’s policy in the Western Regions.

32See Robert G. Hoyland, In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire, pp. 185–186.

33See ibid., pp. 186–187. The campaign was beyond the limits of Tang logistics; see David Graff, “The Reach of the Military: Tang,” Journal of Chinese History 1 (2017), pp. 243–268.

34See Kennedy, Great Arab Conquests, pp. 293–295, and H. A. R. Gibb, The Arab Conquests in Central Asia (New York, 1923), pp. 97–98.

35Hyunbee Park, Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia (Cambridge, 2012), pp. 25–27. The first paper mill in Baghdad was in 794–795, a generation after the Battle of Talas, and no source records the transfer of the technology of paper-making to the Islamic world by the Chinese captured at the battle.

36See Golden, History of the Turkic Peoples, pp. 189–210.

37See Ashtor, Social and Economic History, pp. 71–91.

38See Ashtor, Social and Economic History, pp. 36–70, and Andrew M. Watson, Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 1–76.

39See Michael McCormick, The Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce, A.D. 300–900 (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 237–264. See also Peter Spufford, Money and Its Use in Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 66–71, for movement of silver specie vital for the slave trade in Central and Eastern Europe providing labor for the Islamic world.

40See Ashtor, Social and Economic History, pp. 115–121, and Ghada Hashem Talhami, “The Zanj Rebellion Reconsidered,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 10 (1977), pp. 443–461. It was the greatest African slave rebellion until the successful revolt and foundation of the state of Haiti by François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture in 1789–1798.

41See Kennedy, Armies of the Caliphs, pp. 120–122, and Daniel Pipes, Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis of a Military System (New Haven, 1981), pp. 35–45.

42See Kennedy, Prophet and Caliphates, pp. 156–169.

43Lewis, “Isma’ilites and the Assassins,” History of the Crusades, I, pp. 104, and Daftary, History of the Ismalis, p. 88. He was Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Mahdī, descendant of Ali and Fatima through their younger son Husain, recognized as the third iman and killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680.

44See Kennedy, Armies of the Caliphs, pp. 120–124, and Prophets and Caliphates, pp. 156–169.

45See Kennedy, When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim Word, pp. 261–296. Samarra was the Abbasid capital in 836–892. The Turkish bodyguard (haras) dominated the court in the decade of 861–870, during the so-called anarchy of Samarra; see ibid., pp. 169–172. The four caliphs were al-Mutawakkil (847–861), who was murdered during his dinner; al-Must’in (862–866), who was forced to abdicate, tortured and died in prison; al-Mu’tazz (866–869), who was deposed and murdered in prison; and al-Muhtadi (869–870), who was murdered. A fifth al-Muntasir (861-862) either died of illness or from poisoning on orders of his Turkish officers.

46See Saunders, History of Medieval Islam, pp. 106–124.

47See Frye, “Samanids,” Cambridge History of Iran, IV, p. 143.

48See Peter Golden, Central Asia in World History (Oxford, 2011), pp. 64–68.

49See Foltz, Religions of Silk Road, pp. 91–93, and Golden, Central Asia, pp. 69–71.

50For an introduction to Islam, see Alfred Guillaume, Islam (Baltimore, 1954). Still fundamental for the career and tenets of the Prophet Muhammad is W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman (Oxford, 1975).

51The evening of June 18, 2010, at the village of Menzil. I was accompanied by my friend and alumnus Stephanos Roulakis, who had discovered the order’s presence and the mosque.

52See Foltz, Religions of Silk Road, pp. 92–93 and 127–128.

53See J. A. Boyle, “Turkish and Mongol Shamanism in the Middle Ages,” Folklore 83 (1972), pp. 184–193.

54See Michael Khodarkovsky, Russia’s Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500–1800 (Bloomington, 2002), pp. 175–176 and 195–196.

55See Peter M. Golden, “The Peoples of the Russian Forest Belt,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 237 and 239, and History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 212–213. In 965, the Bulgar Kaghan sent envoys to exhort Prince Vladimir of Kiev to embrace Islam.

56See Michael Crichton, Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan, Relating to His Experience with the Northmen in A.D. 922 (New York, 1976).

57See Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, p. 213. The Oghuz Turks had gained familiarity with Islam after long dealings with Muslim merchants of the Samanid Emirate.

58See Golden, “Karakhanids,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, p. 357.

59See Frye, “Samanids,” Cambridge History of Iran, IV, p. 137.

60See Edgar Knobloch, Beyond the Oxus: Archaeology, Art and Architecture of Central Asia (Totowa, NJ, 1972), pp. 27–28, and Melanie Michailidis, “Dynastic Politics and the Samanid Mausoleum,” Ars Orientalis 44 (2014), pp. 20–39.

61See C. E. Bosworth, “The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids,” Iran 6 (1968), pp. 33–44, for the creation of the high culture of Eastern Islam in the ninth through eleventh centuries.

62See Oleg Grabar, “The Visual Arts,” Cambridge History of Iran, IV, pp. 329–363, and G. Lazard, “The Rise of the New Persian Language,” ibid., pp. 595–632.

63Sir Richard Burton so commented in his “Terminal Essay” after completing The Book of the Thousand and One Arabian Nights in 1888.

64See Abolgasem Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, translated by Dick Davis (New York, 1997), pp. xiii–xx.

65See A. C. S. Peacock, The Great Seljuk Empire (Edinburgh, 2015), pp. 181–183. For a translation of his compendium, see Mah․mud ibn al-Husain al-Kashgari, Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Diwan lugat at-turk), 2 volumes, translated by Robert Dankoff and James Kelly (Cambridge, MA, 1984). The map is housed in the National Library, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.

16: The Seljuk Turks and Their Sultanate

1See Haldon, Byzantine Wars, pp. 168–181, for the course of battle, and pp. 216–117, for the sources. For the best analysis of the battle and the sources, see J.-C. Cheynet, “Manzikert: un désastre militaire?” Byzantion 59 (1980), pp. 410–438. Michael Attaleiates, John Skylitzes (or his continuator), and Michael Psellus are the prime Byzantine sources. See Michael Attaleiates, The History, translated by Anthony Kaldellis and Dimitris Krallis (Washington, DC, 2012), 20. 9–29, pp. 270–302; Eric McGeer, trans., Byzantium in the Time of Troubles: The Continuation of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes (1057–1079) (Leiden, 2020), V. 1–18, pp. 111–129; and Michael Psellus, Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, translated by E. R. A. Sewter (New York, 1966), pp. 354–355. Michael Psellus, hostile to Romanus Digenes, offers little other than snide remarks about the emperor’s mistakes and cruelty to the Empress Eudocia.

2My comments are based on my visits of Malazgirt and a survey of the battlefield in 2010 and 2011, with thanks to the observations by my friends Stephanos Roulakis and Jason Sanchez, who accompanied me on the first and second visit, respectively.

3See Golden, History of the Turkic Peoples, pp. 205–211, for the migration of Oghuz Turks.

4See Bulliet, Cotton, Climate, Camels, pp. 102–114.

5See McCormick, Origins of European Economy, pp. 237–264. For the slave trade in the early Islamic world, see F. Ragib, “Les marchés aux esclaves en terre d’Islam,” Merrati e mercanti nel’alto medioevo, Settimane 40 (Spoleto, 1993), pp. 721–764.

6See Ibn Fadlan and Land of Darkness, pp. 45–46.

7Ibid., pp. 8–9.

8Ibid., pp. 9–10.

9Ibid., pp. 14–15.

10Ibid., p. 13.

11Ibid., pp. 12–13.

12Ibid., p. 18.

13Ibid., pp. 14 and 20.

14See Golden, “Karakhanids,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 361–362.

15See Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 209–210, and Claude Cahen, “The Turkish Invasion: The Selchükids,” History of the Crusades, I, pp. 139–140.

16See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 25–27 and 246–247.

17See R. N. Frye, “The Samanids,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume IV: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs, edited by R. N. Frye (Cambridge 1975), p. 160.

18See ibid., pp. 159–160.

19See Golden, “Karakhanids,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 363–365.

20See Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 214–216.

21See C. E. Bosworth, “The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume V: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, edited by J. A. Boyle (Cambridge, 1968), pp. 18–19.

22See C. E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, 994–1040 (Edinburgh, 1983), pp. 48–56.

23See ibid., pp. 129–144.

24See ibid., pp. 39–44.

25See Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran V, pp. 6–7. This Samanid emir Alp Tigin is not to be confused with the Bughra Khan Alip Tigin of the Karakhanid dynasty.

26See Bosworth, Ghaznavids, pp. 78–79 and 227, and Keay, India, pp. 205–212, for Mahmud’s campaigns into India.

27A. C. S. Peacock, The Great Seljuk Empire (Edinburgh, 2015), pp. 33–35, and Bosworth, Ghaznavids, pp. 219–226.

28Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran V, p. 19.

29See ibid., pp. 19–20.

30See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 39–43, and Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran V, pp. 21–23.

31See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 135–136.

32See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 37–38, and C. E. Bosworth, The Later Ghaznavids: Splendour and Decay: The Dynasty in Afghanistan and Northern India. 1040–1186 (Edinburgh, 1977), p. 128, and “Early Ghaznavids,” Cambridge History of Iran IV, p. 195.

33See Bosworth, Later Ghaznavids, pp. 9–33.

34See Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran V, pp. 23–24.

35See Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History, c. 1071–1330, translated by J. Jones-Williams (London, 1968), pp. 66–71, for the first Turkish raids into Anatolia directed against the Armenian cities of Ani and Kars.

36See Herbert Busse, “Iran under the Buyids,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume IV: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs, edited by R. N. Frye (Cambridge 1975), pp. 262–289.

37See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 48–50, and Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran V, pp. 42–53.

38See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 52–54, and Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran V, pp. 65–66. Securing Khurasan and the northeastern frontier of the Jaxartes River were the priorities of Alp Aralan rather than waging war against the Byzantine Empire.

39See Michael Brett, The Fatimid Empire (Edinburgh, 2017), pp. 13–20, and Stanley Lane-Poole, A History of Egypt under the Saracens (New York, 1969), pp. 92–116.

40See Lewis, “Ismal’ilites and Assassins,” History of Crusades I, pp. 104–106, and Saunders, History of Medieval Islam, pp. 131–132.

41See Brett, Fatimid Empire, pp. 13–37, and Lane-Poole, History of Egypt, pp. 117–120.

42See Brett, Fatimid Empire, pp. 60–83.

43See ibid., pp. 171–176 and 269–273.

44See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 50–51; Brett, Fatimid Empire, pp. 193–197; and A. R. Gibb, “The Caliphate and Arab States,” History of Crusades I, pp. 89–92.

45See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 53–54.

46See Yaacov Lev, “The Fatimids and Byzantium, 10th–12th Centuries,” Graeco-Arabica 6 (1995), pp. 203–205. Although al-Hakim, who descended into madness in his later years, destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 1009, the church was repaired by Byzantine artists under his successor al-Zahir (1021–1036). For the madness of the Caliph and his persecution of Christians, see Stanley-Poole, History of Egypt, pp. 125–136. The treaty enabled ever more pilgrims from Western Europe to travel to Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the eleventh century; see Steven Runciman, “The Pilgrimages to Palestine before 1095,” History of Crusades I, pp. 74–78.

47See Peter Charanis, “The Byzantine Empire in the Eleventh Century,” History of Crusades I, p. 219.

48Michael Psellus, Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, pp. 53–380 (Penguin translation), is the prime source for the political failure of the heirs of Basil II (956–1025). For the decline of the professionalism of the Byzantine army, see Warren Treadgold, Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081 (Stanford, 1992), pp. 39–42. For the debasement of the gold currency initiated by Constantine IX Monomachus (1042–1055), see Michael F. Hendy, Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c. 300–1450 (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 506–512. The gold nomisma (4.54 grs) was debased from 90.5% to 10.5% fine in 1042–1092.

49See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, p. 55.

50See ibid., pp. 58–59.

51See Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 72–83.

52See ibid., pp. 91–96, and Alexander D. Beilhammer, Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040–1130 (London/New York, 2017), pp. 202–204 and 268–285.

53See Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 78–83, and Beilhammer, Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, pp. 171–179 and 204–231.

54See Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 61–64. The Caliph Harun ar-Raschid established a military settlement with a mosque at Tyana (today Kemerhisar) on the Anatolian plateau in 806. Most of the Arab colonists abandoned the city after the first winter. See Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, p. 145.

55See Speros Vyronis Jr., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through Fifteenth Century (Berkeley, 1971), pp. 1–68, for the state of Byzantine Asia Minor in 1071. For the geography of Asia Minor, see Hendy, Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy, pp. 21–68.

56See Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Volume I (Cambridge, 1952), pp. 175–194, for the First Crusade march across Asia Minor from Nicaea to Antioch. In the march of four months (July–October 1097), it is estimated that 4,500 cavalry and 30,000 infantry set out from Nicaea, suggesting a total of 100,000 crusaders and noncombatant pilgrims. Between one-third and one-half of those who began the march did not reach Antioch.

57See Anna Komnene, Alexiad, pp. 87–88, and Paul Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel Komnenos, 1143–1180 (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 180–227.

58See Vyronis, Decline of Middle Hellenism, pp. 85–120.

59See Vryonis, Decline of Medieval Hellenism, pp. 223–224 and 351–402, and Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 110–142.

60See Vyronis, Decline of Medieval Hellenism, pp. 452–461. These Christians of Karaman, classified as Greeks in 1923, were deported to Greece, a homeland their ancestors never knew. These Christians were descendants of the Luvian and Hattian populations of the Bronze Age who had adopted Greek in the Hellenistic Age and converted to Christianity in the fourth through sixth centuries.

61See Tamara Talbot Rice, The Seljuks in Asia Minor (New York, 1961), pp. 115–186, and J. M. Rogers, “Çifte Minare Medrese at Erzurum and Gök Medrese at Sivas,” Anatolian Studies 15 (1965), pp. 63–85. The medresses far more than the mosques transformed the urban landscape. Over 3,500 memorial türbler and tekkler to pious Muslims erected between 1100 and 1350 Islamized the sacred space of the countryside.

62See Vryonis, Decline of Medieval Hellenism, pp. 288–350, for the decline of Christian institutions in Asia Minor.

63See Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 192–193, 214–215, and 351–358. See also Afzal Iqbal, The Life and Work of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi (Kuala Lumpur, 2014).

64See A. J. Arberrry, trans., Mystical Poems of Rumi (Chicago, 1968).

65The Museum of the Mevlana (Mevlana Müzesi) houses numerous votive offerings of the pious since his death in 1273, and it is still the most frequently visited site by tourists and Muslim pilgrims.

66For DNA of the Turkish population today, see Can Alkan et al., “Whole Genome Sequencing of Turkish Genomes Reveals Functional Private Alleles and Impact of Genetic Interactions with Europe, Asia and Africa,” Geonomics 15 (2014), pp. 1–12; available online: https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2164-15-963. My wife, Sema, a native of Siverek in southeastern Turkey, had her DNA tested by Ancestry.com soon after our marriage in 2014. We learned that her descent was nearly 75% Armenian, 19% Mediterranean (consistent with Greek and Italian ancestry), and 6% Middle Eastern. I surmise her ancestors were Armenian, Byzantine Greek, and Syrian Christians, all of whom learned Turkish and converted to Islam between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. There was no ancestry from Central Asia. Successive regimes in Ankara have been reluctant to permit widespread DNA testing because the results shatter the nationalist Turkish myth of a common origin from Central Asia.

67See John Keay, India: A History (New York, 2001), pp. 241–327. All Muslim regimes from the first sultans of Delhi to the Mughal emperors faced the same constraints.

68See A. A. Vasiliev, History of Byzantine Empire, Volume I (Madison, 1952), p. 356.

69Michael Psellus, Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, pp. 282–283 (Penguin translation), and Michael Attaleiates, History 21. 8, pp. 316–319.

70See Anna Komnene, Alexiad, pp. 50–78 (Penguin translation). See also Vasiliev, History of Byzantine Empire, II, pp. 380–389, and Anthony Kaldellis, Streams of Gold, Rivers of God: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium 985 A.D. to First Crusade (Oxford, 2017), pp. 261–270.

71Runciman, A History of the Crusades, I, p. 71.

72See Barbara Hill, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Anna Komnene’s Attempted Usurpation,” Anna Komnene and Her Times, edited by Thalia Gouma-Peterson (New York, 2000), pp. 45–62.

73See Anna Komnene, Alexiad, pp. 127–236 and 508–519, and see also Vasiliev, History of Byzantine Empire, II, pp. 380–389. There is need of a modern biography of Alexius I. The fundamental work is still Ferdinand Chalandon, Essai sur le règne d’Alexis Ier Comnène 1081–1118 (Paris, 1900), reprinted by Hachette Livre & Bibliothèque nationale, 2018. For the Norman invasion, see Graham Loud, The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest (Singapore, 2000), pp. 209–222.

74See Hendy, Studies in Byzantine Monetary Economy, pp. 513–519.

75See Jonathan Harris, Byzantium and the Crusades, second edition (London, 2014), pp. 59–76, and Peter Charanis, “Byzantium, the West and the Origin of the First Crusade,” Byzantion 19 (1949), pp. 24–36. The purported letter Alexius, in Latin, to Count Robert of Flanders with a request for mercenaries was likely composed in 1106–1108, as a means to justify the crusade of Bohemond against Constantinople. The author might have used a Latin translation of a genuine letter of Alexius for the composition of the middle sections of the letter; see J. Joranson, “The Problem of the Spurious Letter of the Emperor Alexius to the Count of Flanders,” American Historical Review 55 (1950), pp. 812–815.

76Anna Komnene, The Alexiad, revised edition, translated by E. R Sewter (New York, 2009), pp. 377–37, and see pp. 122–123 for her comments on the irresistible charge of European knights. For her prejudices toward Western Europeans, whom she calls Celts, see Peter Frankopan, “Perception and Projection of Prejudice: Anna Comnena, the Alexiad, and the First Crusade,” in Gendering the Crusades, edited by Susan Edgington and Sarah Lambert (New York, 2002), pp. 59–76.

77Five versions of the speech of Pope Urban II have come down to us; see Edward Peters, trans., The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials (Philadelphia, 1971), pp. 1–16. See also Frederic Duncalf, “The Councils of Piacenza and Clermont,” History of Crusades, I, pp. 220–252.

17: The Legend of Prester John and the Gurkhans of Cathay

1Otto, Bishop of Freising, The Two Cities: A Chronicle of Universal History to the Year 1146 A.D., translated by Charles C. Mirrow (New York, 1928), VII. 33, pp. 443–444. Latin text with English translation is also in Keagan Brewer, Prester John: The Legend and its Sources (Farnham, Surrey, 2015), pp. 42–45.

2See Runciman, History of Crusades, II, pp. 225–246, for the capture of Edessa by Imad al-Din Zengi atabeg of Mosul.

3See Robert Silverberg, The Realm of Prester John (Athens, Ohio, 1972), pp. 3–39, and I. de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (Stanford, 1971), pp. 29–40, for the origins and development of the legend of Prester John.

4See Jonathan Phillips, The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom (New Haven, 2007), pp. 37–60. Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, assumed the leading role in inspiring many to assume the cross.

5See Runciman, History of Crusades, II, pp. 278–290, and Phillips, Second Crusade, pp. 207–227.

6See Geoffrey Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany, second edition (New York, 1947), pp. 163–164.

7See Ralph V. Turner, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France, Queen of England (New Haven, 2009), pp. 70–122, and W. L. Warren, Henry II (Berkeley), pp. 42–45.

8See Brewer, Prester John, pp. 67–91, for Latin text and English translation of the purported letter of Prester John. The letter has survived in a number of versions with later interpolations.

9See Silverberg, Realm of Prester John, pp. 40–73, and Brewer, Prester John, pp. 13–17.

10See ibid., pp. 92–96, for letter of Pope Alexander II to John, King of the Indians.

11See Runciman, History of Crusades, II, pp. 436–474.

12See Michal Biran, The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History between China and the Islamic World (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 41–47; Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 104–105; and Charles E. Nowell, “The Historical Prester John,” Speculum 38 (1953), pp. 441–443.

13See ibid., pp. 105–118.

14See Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 107–113.

15See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 105–106.

16See Herbert Franke, “The Forest Peoples of Manchuria: Khitans and Jurchens,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 400–403.

17See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 164–165, and Denis Twitchett and Klaus-Peter Tietze, “The Liao,” The Cambridge History of China, Volume VI: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368, edited by Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 42–53.

18See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 168–169.

19Twitchett and Tietze, “The Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 60 aetiological 62.

20See Franke, “The Forest Peoples,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 403–407, for aetiological myths of the Khitans.

21See F. W. Mote, Imperial China, 900–1800 (Cambridge, MA, 1999), p. 31. The legend about the birth of Abaoji is comparable to that of Temujin, the future Genghis Khan.

22See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 167–168. Chinese advisers encouraged the imperial pretensions of Abaoji.

23See Robert M. Somers, “The End of the T’ang,” Cambridge History of China, III, p. 781.

24See ibid., pp. 781–782, and Gungwu Wang, The Structure of Power in North China during the Five Dynasties (Stanford, 1967), pp. 191–121.

25Somers, “End of T’ang,” Cambridge History of China, III, p. 784.

26See Wang, The Structure of Power, pp. 125–126.

27See Twitchett and Tietze, “Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 60–67.

28The offer was hardly attractive, because Abaoji and his successor repeatedly campaigned on the Mongolian steppes to assert their hegemony over Turkic and Mongolian tribes; see Mote, Imperial China, pp. 56–68. Furthermore, the Khitans had occupied the Orkhon valley since the late ninth century; see Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 165. Many Uyghurs, who had settled in northern China after the fall of their kaghanate, served as bureaucrats and merchants to the Khitan emperor; see Mote, Imperial China, pp. 35–36.

29See Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 2–7. The Khitans were accorded an official chronicle, History of Liao (Liao Shi), which survives in an early fourteenth century version, which is based on sources dating from the tenth century; see Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 13–15.

30See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 175, for population estimates.

31See ibid., pp. 173–174, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 39–40. Abaoji instituted the fiction that his Chinese subjects were a separate tribe within the Khitan Confederacy, even though they governed by mandarin officials employing Chinese law. See ibid., pp. 40–41, for resentment of the Khitan tribal leaders over Abaoji’s authoritarian administration and preference for Chinese ways and officials.

32See Franke, “Forest Peoples,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 407–408.

33See Mote, Imperial China, p. 41.

34See ibid., pp. 43–44 and 81–86. See Twitchett and Tietze, “Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 63–64, for Abaoji ordering the construction of Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian temples in his Chinese-style capital, Shangjing. See also Herbert Franke, “The Chin Dynasty,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 312–314, stressing that the Jurchen emperors of the Jin Dynasty were following the Khitan traditions of patronizing Buddhism.

35See Twitchett and Tietze, “Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 60, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 49.

36See ibid., pp. 49–51 and 54–56.

37See Twitchett and Tietze, “Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 68–69.

38See ibid., pp. 69–75. The entrance of Yelü Deguang into Kaifeng was the high point of his reign.

39See ibid., pp. 76–80, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 62–68.

40See Ruth Dunnel, “The Hsi Hsia,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 154–158, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 168–171.

41Dunnel, “Hsi Hsia,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 158–164, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 171–179.

42See Dunnel, “Hsi Hsia,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 176–179, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 179–182.

43See ibid., pp. 351–354, for the population estimates of the Song Empire. For the revenues of the Song Empire, see Mote, Imperial China, pp. 359–364, and Peter J. Golan, “The Sung Fiscal Administration,” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume V, Part 2: Sung China, 960–1279, edited by John W. Chaffee and Denis Twitchett (Cambridge, 2015), pp. 139–213.

44See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 289–298.

45See Dieter Kuhn, The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China (Cambridge, MA, 2009), pp. 99–137, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 253–351, for the Neo-Confucian examination system and domination of the Confucian mandarins.

46See Charles Hartman, “Sung Government and Politics,” Cambridge History of China, V.2, pp. 32–80.

47See Kuhn, Confucian Rule, pp. 29–48, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 98–112, for the rituals and ideology of the Song court.

48For technological innovations and economic growth, see Dieter Kuhn, The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China (Cambridge, MA, 2009), pp. 213–232, and Joseph P. McDermott, “Economic Change in China, 960–1279,” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume V. 2, pp. 321–409. William McNeill, Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000, second edition (Chicago, 1984), pp. 25–62, concludes that the Song Empire was on the brink of an industrial revolution in the late tenth century.

49See Wang Tseng-Yü, “A History of the Sung Military,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 214–249. The lack of cavalry hindered Song offensive operations, while innovations in artillery, firebombs, fortifications, and the navy were aimed to negate the advantage in cavalry enjoyed by the Khitans and Jurchens; see Graff, Military History of China, pp. 220–223.

50Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 174, Mote, Imperial China, pp. 70–71, and Twitchett and Tieze, “Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 104–110. The treaty has been dated to either 1004 or 1005.

51See Franke, “Forest Peoples of Manchuria,” Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, pp. 411–419, and Herbert Franke, “The Chin Dynasty,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 216–220.

52See Herbert Franke, “Chinese Texts on the Jurchen: A Translation of the Jurchen Monograph,” San ch’ao pei meng hui pien, Zentralasiastische Studien 9 (1979), pp. 153–154.

53See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 194–199.

54See Franke, “Chin Dynasty,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 223–224.

55See Twitchett and Tietze, “Liao,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 149–153, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 199–206.

56See ibid., pp. 206–211.

57See ibid., pp. 307–308, for the terms of the treaty of Shaoxing in 1141.

58For the Song navy, see Angela Schottenhammer, “China’s Emergence as a Maritime Power,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 454–460. Song engineers excelled in fortifying cities and Song generals were expert in defending fortified cities. See Herbert Franke, “Siege and Defense of Towns in Medieval China,” Chinese Ways in Warfare, pp. 151–201.

59See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 180–181, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 229–236, for the Jin emperors centralizing government and adopting Chinese ideology and diplomacy.

60See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 182–184.

61See Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 19–22.

62See ibid., pp. 22–26.

63See ibid., pp. 26–28.

64See ibid., pp. 28–30.

65See ibid., pp. 35–37, for the march west, and pp. 33–35, for Khitans who had fled west before 1130.

66See ibid., p. 38.

67See ibid., pp. 38–40

68For analysis of ruins, see online publication of H. Yamaguchi, K. Kiyama, N. Shimizu, and Altangerel, “Archaeological Research of the Khitai Dynasty’s Balgash City Ruins, Cultural Heritage on the Steppes, Using GIS,” Proceedings of the 22nd CIPA Symposium, October 11-15, 2009, Kyoto, Japan (Kyoto, 2009).

69See Biran, Qara Khitai, p. 41.

70See Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, pp. 101–103, and Bosworth, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 140–144.

71See Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 41–45.

72See ibid., pp. 180–191.

73See ibid., pp. 48–59.

74See ibid., pp. 171–191.

75See ibid., pp. 196–201.

76See ibid., pp. 102–128 and 146–160, for the Karakhitan Chinese-style bureaucracy and nomadic military.

77See ibid., pp. 191–194.

78See Brewer, Prester John, pp. 98–100, for Latin text and English translation of the letter of Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre, written in March 1221.

79See James M. Powell, Anatomy of a Crusade, 1213–1221 (Philadelphia, 1986), pp. 175–194.

18: From Temujin to Genghis Khan

1See Kahn, trans., Secret History of the Mongols, pp. 114–125. See also Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 89–96; Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 65–66; and Michael Prawdin, The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy, revised edition, translated by Eden and Cedar Paul (New York, 1961), pp. 85–90.

2See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 90–91, who proposes the title is best translated as “oceanic ruler,” and so in keeping with the traditional rendering of the title as “universal lord.”

3Peter B. Golden, “Inner Asia in c. 1200,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age, edited by Nicola di Cosmo, Allen J. Frank, and Peter B. Golden (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 9–25, and David Morgan, The Mongols (Oxford, 1986), pp. 32–54.

4See Bosworth, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 26–27, and consult Juha Janhunen, Mongolian (Amsterdam, 2012), for origins of Mongol language and its divergence from the Turkic languages.

5See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 95. Genghis Khan ordered the keeping of records in Mongolian written in the Uyghur script from 1206 on. In ca. 1269, Kublai Khan ordered a new alphabet known as the square script (Phags-pa), which was devised by the Tibetan monk Drogön Chogyal Phagpa. See Mote, Imperial China, p. 484.

6See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 87–89, on the size of Mongol armies. Muslim chroniclers claim Genghis Khan invaded Khwarazm with an army of 800,000. The number, while exaggerated, included the engineers, infantry, and cavalry of allied and subject populations. Based on a national levy of 129,000 horsemen at the death of Genghis Khan, the population of eastern steppes is often reckoned between 750,000 and 1 million. The current population of the Republic of Mongolia is nearly 3.4 million.

7See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 50–54, and Golden, “Inner Asia,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 18–25, for the distribution of tribes in Mongolia in 1162.

8See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 192–185, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 236–243, for the diplomacy of Jin emperors.

9Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 8–14.

10Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 12–13.

11See Kuhn, Secret History, p. 13. See also Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 13–15.

12See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 16–20, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 19–25, for the family hierarchy.

13See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 21–22, for the betrothal of Börte to Temujin.

14See Kuhn, Secret History, pp. 15–16, and Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 22–23.

15See ibid., pp. 23–24, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 19–23, for Hoelum’s role in preserving the family.

16See Kuhn, Secret History, p. 18. See also Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 23–24, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 23–27, for Temujin’s murder of Begter.

17See Kuhn, Secret History, p. 19. See also Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 24, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 25, for the curse of Hoelum.

18Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 25–28.

19See Kahn, trans., Secret History of Mongols, pp. 50–51.

20See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 31, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 28–29.

21See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 31–33, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 40–41.

22See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 19–20, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 63–64.

23See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 9–23, for judicious evaluation of the Secret History, Chinese chronicles, and the accounts of the Persian historians Ata-Malik Juvayni and Rashid al-Din.

24See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 34–35, for the abduction of Börte.

25See ibid., pp. 36–37, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 31–37.

26See ibid., p. 36.

27See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 37–41.

28See ibid., pp. 50–51, and Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 64–65.

29See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 51–52.

30See ibid., pp. 53–61, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 54–63.

31See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 66–67.

32See ibid., pp. 32 and 53.

33See ibid., pp. 67–71, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 68–70.

34See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 71–73, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 70–72.

35See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 73–83, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 71–74.

36See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 79–80, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 75.

37See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 90–87, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 77–81.

38Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 76–77.

39See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 87–88, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 62–64.

40See Kuhn, Secret History, pp. 87–88, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 64, for the final words of Jamuka.

41See Richard A. Gabriel, Genghis Khan’s Greatest General: Subotai the Valiant (Westport, CT, 2005), pp. 15–16.

42See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 145–149.

43See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 378–389, for the ritualized diplomacy of the Song, Jin, and Xi Xia court that hindered perception of emerging Mongol threat.

44See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 149–150, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 129–130.

45See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 164–165, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 36–38.

46See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 106.

47See ibid., p. 146, figure 18, and pp. 145–147. The painting is now in the National Museum, Tapei.

48See ibid., pp. 152–169.

49See ibid., pp. 197–198, and Morgan, Mongols, pp. 40–44.

50See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 96–101, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 97–101.

51See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 134–136, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 200–209.

52See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 197. Nestorian Christianity was favored at the Mongol court because it was the faith of the Keraits and his favorite daughter-in-law, Sorghaghtani Beki, wife of his son Tolui.

53See Theophylactus Simocatta, History V. 10, pp. 146–147 (Whitby translation).

54See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 197, who stresses Genghis Khan showed little interest in the doctrine of Buddhism in contrast to his grandson Kublai Khan.

55See ibid., pp. 136–140, and Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the Islamic World from Conquest to Conversion (New Haven, 2017), pp. 92–93, for the administrative arrangements for the Islamic lands when Genghis Khan gained familiarity with Islam.

56See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 180–181. Genghis Khan shared the views of the Karakhitan rulers toward Islam; see Birat, Qara Khitai, pp. 180–191. See also Jackson, The Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 89–92, noting the Muslims found Genghis Khan tolerable after the overthrow of Muhammad Shah.

57See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 187–196, and Morgan, Mongols, pp. 84–95.

58Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 149–150.

59Stephen Pow and Jingjing Liao, “Subutai: Sorting Fact from Fiction Surrounding the Mongol Empire’s Greatest General (With Translations of Subutai’s Two Biographies in the Yuan Shi),” Journal of Chinese Military History 7 (2018), pp. 43-52.

60Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 21–22, and Stephen Pow, “The Last Campaign and Death of Jebe Noyan,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 27 (2016), pp. 32–34. For Jelme administering to the wound of Temujin, see Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 63.

61See Kahn, trans., Secret History, p. 111. See also Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 79–80.

62See Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 1–24 and 137–142.

63See Condoleezza Rice, “The Making of Soviet Strategy,” Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, edited by Peter Paret (Princeton, 1986), pp. 648–676, for the decisive role of Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky in creating the Soviet strategic doctrine of deep battle.

64The NKVD, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, translated as People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, was the secret police of Josef Stalin and the predecessor of the later Soviet KGB (Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti), or the Committee for State Security in 1954–1991.

65See Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (New York, 2005), pp. 222–226. The trial was a sham, complete with forged documents. The reputation of Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was only rehabilitated in 1957.

66See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 295–296. Subetai retired to his encampment on the Tuul River near modern Ulaanbaatar and died in 1248 at the age of seventy-two.

67See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 88–90, and Timothy May, The Mongol Art of War: Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Military System (Yardley, PA, 2007), for organization of army.

68See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 90–91, and May, Mongol Art of War, pp. 58–85.

69See Morgan, Mongols, p. 90, and Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 92–94, for the officers drawn from bodyguard (keshig).

70See Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the Islamic World from Conquest to Conversion (New Haven, 2017), pp. 154–173, for the best analysis of the Mongol use of terror and assessment of the numbers of people massacred reported in the sources.

71See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 117.

72See Jackson, The Mongols and the Islamic World, pp. 169–173.

73Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 164.

74See Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 183–184, for the Jin emperors pursuing a traditional policy of divide et impera (“divide and conquer”) on the steppes. See also Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 82–83, for the reception of the news of coronation of Genghis Khan in 1206. See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 105–106, who stresses Genghis Khan saw the Jin emperors as personal foes.

19: Genghis Khan, the World Conqueror

1See Kahn, Secret History, pp. 114–135, recording the words of Genghis Khan in bestowing rewards and pronouncing laws. See also Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 166–168 and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 3–9.

2Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 165–166.

3See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 131–132, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 3–9.

4See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 131, for conscription of males into hashar service in future sieges. See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 170–173, for the assault of Samarkand.

5See Frye, “Samanids,” Cambridge History of Iran, IV, pp. 142–143, for literary culture of the city and its renowned library. See Grabar, “Visual Arts,” ibid., pp. 331–343, for Samanid architecture.

6See J. Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (Oxford, 1998), pp. 63–65.

7See G. Michell, Architecture of the Islamic World (London, 1995), pp. 258–259. Mohammad Arslan Khan had constructed the minaret in 1127.

8See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 174–178.

9See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 142–145.

10See Bowsorth, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 225–228, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 46–70.

11See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 101–105, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 103–107.

12See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 96–101, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 97–101.

13See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 92–94.

14See May, Mongol Way of War, pp. 36–38.

15See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 90–92 and 95–96.

16See Agnes Birtalan, “Ritual of Sworn Brotherhood (Mong, anda bol-, Oir, and Ax düü bol-) in Mongol Historic and Epic Tradition,” Chronica. Annual of the Institute of History, University Szeged. 7–8. (2007–2008), pp. 44–56.

17See May, Mongol Way of War, pp. 32–36.

18See ibid., pp. 57–60 and 89–90.

19See Mote, Imperial China, p. 427, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 194–195.

20See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 67–77.

21See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 105–107 and 113–115.

22See Dunnel, “Hsi Hsia,” Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 207.

23See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 104, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 107–108.

24See “Hsi Hsia,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 208–209.

25See ibid., p. 208, Barfield, Perilous Frontier, p. 199, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 255.

26See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 108–109, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 81–84.

27See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 109–110, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 117–122.

28See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 283–288.

29See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 107–108, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 242–243, for the decline in the professionalism and training of the Jin army.

30See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 236–243, and Barfield, Perilous Frontier, pp. 181–182, for disaffection of the Han Chinese, Uyhgur, and Khitan subjects of the Jin emperor.

31See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 119, and Man, Great Wall, p. 165. See ibid., pp. 166–169, for the Mongols easily overrunning the Great Wall and Jin defenses.

32Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 90.

33See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 110. When Genghis Khan refused to negotiate, the Jin envoy Ming’an promptly defected and entered the service of Genghis Khan.

34See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 110, for the wounding of Genghis Khan.

35Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 110–111.

36Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 112, and Franke, “Chin Dynasty,” Cambridge History of China, V, pp. 252–254.

37Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 114.

38See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 114–115, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 96–97.

39See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 138–139.

40Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 139–140, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 97–100.

41See ibid., pp. 101–107.

42See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 130–135.

43See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 115–116.

44See ibid., pp. 116–117.

45See ibid., p. 117.

46See Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 60–74.

47See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 86, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 62.

48See Biran, Qara Khitai, pp. 76–77.

49See ibid., pp. 77–78.

50Se ibid., pp. 78–79.

51See ibid., pp. 80–84.

52See ibid., pp. 82 and 194–196.

53See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 118–119, Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 103–104, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 145–146.

54See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 119.

55See ibid., pp. 120–121, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 105–106.

56See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 119–120, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 143–149.

57See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 122–123, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 155–156.

58See ibid., pp. 164–166.

59See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 51–54. Muhammad Shah’s perception of the Mongols was based on Islamic views of the Turkish nomads.

60See Kennedy, Armies of Caliphs, pp. 168–182. The slave soldiers of Muhammad Shah were comparable to those of the Abbasid Caliph and Samanid emirs.

61See James M. Powell, Anatomy of a Crusade, 1213-1221 (Philadelphia, 1986), pp. 157–173, and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 156–162, for the advance of the Fifth Crusade in 1219. See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 43–45 and 73, for Muslim perceptions of the Crusader threat. Hence, Muhammad Shah spent most of his reign conquering Iran and Iraq so that he could obtain the fatwa of the Abbasid Caliph to champion jihad against the Crusaders; see Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 154–156.

62See Joinville and Villehardouin, Chronicles of the Crusades, translated by M. R. B Shaw (New York, 1963), pp. 245. Jean de Joinville, who fell captive during the Seventh Crusade, was spared because of his kinship to Frederick II, whom the Muslims respected as a great sovereign.

63See Powell, Anatomy of Crusade, pp. 175–194, and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 165–170. Pope Gregory IX, frustrated by the emperor’s repeated delays, excommunicated Frederick II in 1228; see ibid., pp. 178–179.

64See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 157–159, and May, Mongol Way of War, pp. 54–57.

65See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 164–166, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 77–78.

66See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 166 and 171–172, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 78.

67See ibid., p. 78, and John Man, Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection (New York, 2007), p. 163, but the incident may be apocryphal.

68See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 165 and 170.

69See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 76–77 and 89–92, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 113–117, for the terms offered cities that surrendered and punishment for those cities that resisted.

70See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 132–133, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 170–171.

71See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 135, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 78.

72See John Fennell, The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304 (London, 1983), pp. 64–68.

73See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 173–176, and J. A. Boyle, “The Political and Dynastic History of the Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 312–314.

74See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 176, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 80.

75See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 176–177, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 80. For the atrocities committed in the sack of Nishapur, see Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 117–118, and Boyle, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, p. 314.

76See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 163–165, Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 193–194, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 117–119.

77See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 133–134, Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 80, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 185–186.

78See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, p. 134, Boyle, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 318–319, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 194–197.

79See Boyle, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 319–320, Jackson, Mongols and the Islamic World, p. 80, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 197–199.

80Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 179–181.

81See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 140–141, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 255–256.

82See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 153–181, and Thomas T. Allsen, Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 41–50.

83See Saunders, History of Medieval Islam, pp. 170–176, and see also Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 22–40, for the Islamic historical traditions concerning the Mongols.

84See Golden, History of Turkic Peoples, pp. 307–308.

85See Claude Cahen, “Mongols and the Near East,” History of Crusades, II, pp. 729–730.

86See Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 192–193, 214–215, and 351–358. Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–1273) was born in Balkh, and his family fled to Nishapur in 1218–1219, then to Baghdad, and finally to Karaman in Asia Minor by 1225. In 1228, the Seljuk Sultan Ala ad-Dīn Kayqubad (1220–1237) invited Baha ud-Dīn Walad to settle in Konya.

87See Golden, History of the Turkic Peoples, pp. 357–358.

88See Silverberg, Realm of Prester John, pp. 71–73, and Brewer, Prester John, pp. 98–100.

89See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 189–190, and Gabriel, Subotai the Valient, pp. 90–96.

90See Kuhn, Secret History, pp. 154–156. See also Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 120–123, Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 225–227, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 97–100.

91See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 123.

92See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 124–125, Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 78 and 89, and Boyle, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, p. 317.

93See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 124–125. See also Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 104, Genghis Khan conferring the city on Jochi.

94See Kuhn, Secret History, pp. 158–159. See also Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 124–125, and Boyle, “Political History,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, p. 319.

95See Beatrice Forbes Manz, “Temür and the Early Timurids to c. 1450,” Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 185–186.

96See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 136–137, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 218–220.

97See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 112–114, and Jackson, Mongols and the Islamic World, pp. 96–100.

20: Batu and the Devil’s Horsemen

1See Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 98–99. See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 217, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 139–140.

2See Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 99–101. See also John Fennell, The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304 (London, 1983), p. 66.

3See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 434–436; Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 101–102; and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 140–142.

4See Charles Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 64–74 and 126–130, and Fennell, Crisis of Medieval Russia, pp. 162–168, for the Russian view of Tartar yoke.

5From Chronicle of Novgorod; translation by Serge A. Zenkovsky, Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles and Tales, revised edition (New York, 1974), p. 196.

6See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 211–220, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 139–143.

7See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 211–214.

8See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 142–145. See Jackson, The Mongols and the West (London, 2005), pp. 45–47, noting that the campaign was waged to advance an ideology of world conquest.

9See Morgan, Mongols, pp. 108–111, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 95–97, for the diversity of the empire and the challenge confronting Ögedei.

10See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 436–439, for Ögedei’s apprecation of Chinese civilization. See also Michael C. Bose, “Uyghur Technologists of Writing and Literacy in Mongol China,” T’oung Pao, Ser. 2, 91 (2005), pp. 396–435, for the prevalence of literacy among the heirs of Genghis Khan in the second and third generations and members of the aristocracy.

11See David Morgan, “Who Ran the Mongol Empire?” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2 (1982), p. 135. See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 90, for the career of Yelü Chucai.

12See Morgan, “Who Ran the Mongol Empire?” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2 (1982), pp. 124–136. See also Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 238–240, and Golden, “Rise of Chinggisids,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 33–36.

13See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 240, and Michael Rossabi, Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (Berkeley, 1988), pp. 123–124. The Mongols adopted the paper currency (jiaochao) issued by the Jin Emperors. For the origins and development of paper currency, see John Pickering, “The History of Paper Money in China,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 1. 2 (1844), pp. 136–142.

14See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 132–133.

15See ibid., pp. 133–136, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 435, for the construction of Karakorum. For excavations by the German team of archaeologists, see Helmut R. Roth, ed., Qara Qorum-City (Mongolia). 1: Preliminary Report of the Excavations (Bonn, 2002). The excavation team maintains a website: https://dbpedia.org/page/Karakorum.

16Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 240–244.

17See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 136–139.

18See J. J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests (Philadelphia, 1971), pp. 75–76, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 248. The Song emperor Lizong rejected overtures from the Jin emperor Aizong to make common cause against the Mongols.

19See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 75–76, and Wang Tseng-Yü, “A History of the Sung Military,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 247–248.

20See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 150–152, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 250–251.

21See Ross and Thomsen, “The Orkhon Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5 (1930), pp. 864–865.

22See Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West (Harlow, 2005), pp. 45–49, Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 142–145, and Fennell, Crisis of Medieval Russia, p. 77.

23See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 240–244, and Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 76–77.

24See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 249–251, and Denis Sinor, “The Mongols in the West,” Journal of Asian History 33 (1999), pp. 6–7.

25See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, p. 57.

26See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 81–82.

27See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 81.

28See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 82, and Sinor, “Mongols in West,” Journal of Asian History 33 (1999), pp. 9–10.

29See Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 47–49.

30See Fennell, Crisis of Medieval Russia, pp. 75–76, for the disunity among the princes of Russia.

31See May, Mongol Art of War, pp. 78–80.

32L. R. Partington, A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder (Baltimore, 1999), pp. 176–177, 242–246, and 262–265. Batu’s Chinese engineers employed fire arrows (nicknamed “flying dragons”), ignited by black powder and hurled by torsion artillery. The Southern Song army had devised this siege technology in the twelfth century.

33See Fennell, Crisis of Medieval Russia, pp. 78–79, and Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 82–83.

34See Fennell, Crisis of Medieval Russia, p. 79.

35See Robert Michell and Nevill Forbes, trans., The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 (London, 1914), pp. 31–32, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 250.

36See Michell and Forbes, Chronicle of Novgorod, pp. 33–34. See also Fennell, Crisis of Medieval Russia, pp. 79–80, and Runciman, History of the Crusades, III, p. 251.

37See Janet Martin, Medieval Russia 980–1584 (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 138–139. The prime source for the battle is Robert Michell and Nevill Forbes, eds., The Chronicle of Novgorod (London, 1914), p. 83.

38See Jackson, Mongols, pp. 68–75, for Mongols overrunning Russia and Eastern Europe in 1238–1241. For suffering and demographic impact, see Charles J. Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History (Bloomington, 1985), pp. 75–86.

39See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 101.

40See ibid., pp. 84–85, and Sinor, “Mongols in West,” Journal of Asian History 33 (1999), pp. 11.

41See George Perfecky, The Hypatian Codex (Munich, 1973), pp. 43–49. The Hypatian Codex, dating from 1425, preserves excerpts of three older chronicles reporting events of the twelfth through fourteenth centuries. It reports only two thousand of the fifty thousand residents of Kiev survived the massacre.

42See Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 51–63.

43See Peter Jackson, “Medieval Christendom’s Encounter with the Alien,” Historical Research 74 (2001), pp. 353–354, for Pseudo-Methodius’s classification of nomadic barbarians as Ishmaelites and offsprings of Gog and Magog. See Benjamin Garstad, ed. and trans., Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius. An Alexandrian World Chronicle (Cambridge, MA, 2012), pp. 15–52, for the vilification of the Ishmaelites.

44Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora, anno 1240; see translation by John Allen, Matthew Paris’s English History from 1235 to 1273 (London, 1852), pp. 253–257. Translation available online at https://archive.org/details/matthewparissen01rishgoog/page/256/mode/2up. See also Silverberg, Realm of Prester John, pp. 74–76, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 148–149.

45See Halperin, Russia and Golden Horde, pp. 87–103.

46See ibid., pp. 77–86 and 90–103.

47See Isabel de Madariaga, Ivan the Terrible, First Tsar of Russia (New Haven, 2005), pp. 86–89, and Robert L. Frost, The Northern Wars, 1558–1721 (Harlow, Essex, 2000), pp. 16–22, for the military innovations of Ivan IV, the Terrible.

48See de Madariaga, Ivan the Terrible, pp. 92–106, and Michael Khodarkovsky, Russia’s Steppe Frontier: Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500–1800 (Bloomington, 2002), pp. 100–125.

49See W. Bruce Lincoln, The Conquest of a Continent: Siberia and the Russians (Ithaca, NY, 1994), pp. 33–72, and Khodarkovsky, Russia’s Steppe, pp. 126–184.

50See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquest, p. 84, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 150–152.

51See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 85, and Sinor, “The Mongols in the West,” Journal of Asian History 33 (1999), pp. 11–13.

52See Jackson, Mongols and West, p. 63, and Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, p. 85. For the Medieval sources, see Radosław Liwoch, “The Mongols in Poland in the 13th century. Traces of the Invasions,” Archaeology of Conflicts, edited by Pavel Drnovský and Petr Hejhal (Cˇervený Kostelec, 2020), pp. 55–67.

53See Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, p. 85, and Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, p. 112.

54See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 85.

55See Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 112–121; Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 63–64; and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 257–259.

56Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 259.

57See Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, pp. 85–86; Z. J. Kosztolnyik, Hungary in the Thirteenth Century (New York, 1996), pp. 152–153; and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 260–261.

58See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 261–262.

59Sinor, “The Mongols in the West,” Journal of Asian History 33 (1999), p. 14.

60See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 263–264, and Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, pp. 122–123.

61See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 86; Kosztolnyik, Hungary, pp. 156–157; and Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, p. 123.

62See ibid., pp. 124–125, and Kosztolnyik, Hungary, pp. 158–159.

63See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 264–265, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 154–155. See Curta, Southeastern Europe, pp. 312–413, noting that the devastation was comparable to the later Black Death. The Italian prelate Roger of Torre Maggiore, who witnessed the invasion, wrote Carmen Miserabile super Destructione Regni Hungariae per Tartaro (Song of Lamentation of the Destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary).

64See Thomas of Spalato, Historia 161, and see also Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, p. 124. Hungarian losses are reported at fifty thousand to seventy thousand out of a force of eighty thousand.

65See Curta, Southeastern Europe, pp. 410–112; Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 155–156; and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 265.

66See Kosztolnyik, Hungary, p. 169, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 267.

67See Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, p. 233, note 48, and Kosztolnyik, Hungary, pp. 151–168. For Mongol use of disinformation, see Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 47–49.

68See Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, pp. 87–88, and Sinor, “The Mongols in the West,” Journal of Asian History 33 (1999), pp. 19–20, stressing losses in battles and logistics as the prime reasons for the withdrawal.

69See Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, pp. 86–87.

70See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 158–159, and Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued his Empire (New York, 2010), pp. 95–96. But see Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 106–107, for a more judicious assessment of the role of Mongol princesses during succession crises.

71See Weatherford, Mongol Queens, pp. 96–100.

72See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 100–106, stressing how succession crises limited Mongol expansion.

73See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp. 32–38 and 43–59.

74See DeVries, Medieval Military Technology, pp. 213–250, and Philippe Contamine, War in the Middle Ages, translated by Michael Jones (Oxford, 1984), pp. 101–115.

75See W. L. Warren, King John (Berkeley, 1961), pp. 57–59 and 96–99, for his castle building and loss of Normandy in 1202–1204.

76See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 175–176, who has penned the best description of Frederick II.

77See Contamine, War in the Middle Ages, pp. 65–100, for the arms, organization, and tactics of Western armies in the thirteenth century.

78See David Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor (Oxford, 1988), pp. 355 and 359–360.

79Kosztolnyik, Hungary, pp. 170–171.

80See David Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor (Oxford, 1988), p. 25. See also Jackson, Mongols and West, p. 68, for rumors that Frederick considered recruiting Mongols as allies against the Papacy.

81See Abulafia, Frederick II, p. 267.

82Thomas Curtis van Cleve, The Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Immutator Mundi (Oxford, 1972), pp. 392–409, and Abulafia, Frederick II, pp. 290–307.

83See van Cleve, Frederick II, pp. 405–407, and Abulafia, Frederick II, pp. 303–305.

84See Abulafia, Frederick II, p. 359, and van Cleve, Frederick II, pp. 434–435.

85See Abulafia, Frederick II, pp. 359–360.

86See ibid., p. 355.

87See Abulafia, Frederick II, p. 359, and van Cleve, Frederick II, pp. 434–435.

88See Abulafia, Frederick II, pp. 380–389. For the destruction of the Hohenstaufen monarchy, see Norman Housley, The Italian Crusades: The Papal-Angevin Alliance and the Crusade against the Christian Lay Powers, 1254–1343 (Oxford, 1982), pp. 15–34.

89See Abulafia, Frederick II, p. 366–373.

90See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 84 and 110–112.

21: The Mongol Sack of Baghdad

1See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 308–309, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 130.

2See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 110.

3See ibid., pp. 109–110. Hulagu and his older brother, the Great Khan Möngke, had agreed that the expedition’s aim was to destroy any Muslim spiritual authority that might oppose Mongol rule.

4Marco Polo, The Description of the World, translated by Sharon Kinoshita (Indianapolis, 2016), chapter 25, pp. 20–21. The story was circulated among Christian writers soon after the capture of the city. See Saunders, History of the Mongol Conquests, p. 231, note 76, and J. A. Boyle, “The Death of the Last Abbasid Caliph,” Journal of Semitic Studies 6 (1961), pp. 145–161.

5See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 231, note 75.

6See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 181 and 183–184.

7See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 359–360, and Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 111–112.

8See Runciman, History of the Crusades, I, pp. 285–288.

9See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 348–349.

10See ibid., pp. 353–380.

11See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 303–304, and Jackson, Mongols and Islam, pp. 125–126.

12See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 97–98.

13See Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescured his Empire (New York, 2010), pp. 93–94.

14See Mote, Imperial China, p. 446, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 143.

15See Weatherford, Mongol Queens, pp. 95–99.

16See Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 100–101, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 165.

17See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 167–168.

18Weatherford, Mongol Queens, pp. 95 and 99–100, for the clash between Güyük and Töregene. Güyük resented the influence of his mother’s protégée counselor Fatima, a Shi’ite Persian or Tajik.

19See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 292–293, for Ögedei preferring Shiremum over Güyük.

20See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, chapter 30, pp. 175–181.

21See Weatherford, Mongol Queens, p. 101.

22See Jackson, Mongols and West, p. 103.

23See Mote, Imperial China, p. 447, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 165–166.

24See Weatherford, Mongol Queens, pp. 101–105, who fails to account for the crucial role of Batu in assisting Sorgkaghtani Beki to assume the regency.

25See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 165–167.

26See ibid., pp. 167–170, and Mongol Queens, pp. 108–110.

27See ibid., pp. 106–108.

28See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 122–123.

29See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, chapter 30, pp. 175–176. See also Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 199–200.

30See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 303–304, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 131–135.

31See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 107–113.

32See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 249–250.

33See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 78, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 81–83.

34See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 61, and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, p. 250.

35See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 78–79; Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 82–83; and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, p. 250.

36See Claude Cahen, “The Turks in Iran and Anatolia before the Mongol Invasions,” History of Crusades, II, pp. 672–674.

37See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 224–226.

38See Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Europe, pp. 135–136.

39See ibid., pp. 136–137, and Talbot Rice, Seljuks, pp. 74–75.

40See Claude, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 269–314.

41See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 79–80. King Hethum of Cilician Armenia (1226–1270) sent envoys to Karakorum in hopes of convincing the Mongol court, then dominated by Töregene, to back his alliance with the princes of Outremer to recapture Jerusalem.

42See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic West, p. 121.

43See ibid., pp. 133–142, for the advantages of Hulagu’s army over its opponents.

44See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 108–109, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 177–178.

45See A. C. Boyle, “Dynastic and Political History of the Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 340–341. The army pitched camp in the grasslands immediately east of the city.

46See Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Secret Order of the Assassins: The Struggle of the Early Nizari Ismailis Against the Islamic World (Philadelphia, 2008), pp. 41–78 and 115–120, and Bernard Lewis, The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam (New York, 2008), pp. 64–89.

47See Hodgson, Assassins, pp. 260–263, and Lewis, Assassins, pp. 93–94.

48See Hodgson, Assassins, pp. 82–83, 110–114, and 133–138. See also Lewis, Assassins, pp. 10–12, and “Isma’lites and Assassins,” History of Crusades, I, pp. 108–11.

49See Bernard, Assassins, pp. 95–96. See also Hodgson, Assassins, pp. 22–28, for the hostile Sunni writers about the sect who approved of the order’s destruction.

50See Bernard, Assassins, pp. 94–95.

51See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 128–129, and Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, p. 110.

52See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 129–130; Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 308-309; and Saunders, History of Mongol Conquest, p. 110.

53See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 182–183.

54See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 308–309, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 130.

55See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 130.

56See Saunders, History of Mongol Conquests, pp. 112–113.

57See ibid., p. 130, and Reuven Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281 (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 26–27.

58See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 130, and H. A. R. Gibb, “The Ayyubids,” History of Crusades, p. 714.

59See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 130.

60See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 184–185, and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 307–308.

61David O. Morgan, “Mongols in Syria,” Crusade and Settlement, edited by P. W. Edbury (Cardiff, 1985), pp. 231–235, and Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks, pp. 28–29.

62See Louise B. Robbert, “Venice and the Crusades,” History of Crusades, V, pp. 408–445, and William H. McNeill, Venice, The Hinge of Europe, 1081–1797 (Chicago, 1974), pp. 52–57. Venetian vessels supplied the Ayyubid and Mamluk regimes in Cairo with metals, timber, grain, and slaves for the Mamluk army.

63See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 308 and 311–312.

64See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 47–62; Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 317–218; and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 187–190.

65See Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks, pp. 27–28, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 131–132.

66See Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks, p. 36, and Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, p. 132.

67See P. M. Holt, The Age of Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517 (Harlow, Essex), pp. 86–89.

68See Mustafa M. Ziada, “The Mamluk Sultans to 1293,” History of Crusades, II, pp. 737–740.

69See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 261–265, and Joseph R. Strayer, “The Crusades of Louis IX,” History of Crusades, II, pp. 494–498.

70See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 265–290, and Joseph R. Strayer, “The Crusades of Louis IX,” History of Crusades, II, pp. 498–503.

71See William C. Jordan, Louis IX and the Challenge of the Crusade: A Study in Rulership (Princeton, 1979), pp. 65–104, for the revenues of the French monarchy and its ability to pay for the Seventh Crusade and the ransom.

72See Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks, pp. 37–39, and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 311–312.

73See Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 132–133.

74Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks, pp. 39–45.

75See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 324–329 and 387–425.

76Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks, pp. 46–48.

77See ibid., pp. 56–63, and Ziada, “Mamluks,” History of Crusades, II, pp. 746–747.

22: Kublai Khan and the Unification of China

1Polo, Description of World, chapter 75, pp. 64–67.

2See Polo, Description of World, chapters 76 and 83, pp. 67 and 72, on greatness of Kublai Khan. See also Mote, Imperial China, pp. 444–445, and Laurence Bergreen, Marco Polo from Venice to Xanadu (New York, 2007), pp. 154–166.

3See Polo, Description of World, chapter 96, pp. 86–88.

4See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 123–124, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 449–451.

5See David Morgan, “Who Ran the Mongol Empire?” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2 (1982), p. 135, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 90.

6See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 28–30, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 448–450.

7See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 70–75.

8See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 22–23, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 303–304.

9See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 14–16 and 28–31, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 450–451.

10See Kuhn, Age of Confucian Rule, pp. 99–119, for the Neo-Confucian values of kingship. Chinese accounts invariably attribute the achievements of Kublai Khan to his Confucian advisers, but this is a conceit and Kublai Khan decided based on his own knowledge and judgment; see Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 14–16.

11See Bin Yang, Between Wind and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE) (New York, 2009), pp. 265–276.

12Yang, Between Wind and Clouds, pp. 81–92.

13Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 24–25, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 308–315. The noyan Bayan was indispensable in organizing the shipments of supplies and military equipment by river transportation.

14See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 24–25, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 452.

15See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 25–27; Mote, Imperial China, p. 452; and Yang, Between Wind and Clouds, pp. 277–281.

16See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 27–28.

17See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 315–316, and Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 43–45, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 421.

18See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 45–46, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 188.

19See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 47–49, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 455.

20See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 50, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 316.

21See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 47–48 and 50–51, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 421–422.

22See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 55–56; “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 423–424; and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 318.

23See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 50–51, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 189–190.

24See Boyle, “Political History of Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 353–354.

25See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 57–59, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 319–320.

26See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 59–61, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 424.

27See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 61–62, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 190.

28See Boyle, “Political History of Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 354–355. Hulagu died on February 8, 1261.

29See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 59–61, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 321.

30See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 136–144, and Charles Hartman, “Sung Government and Politics,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 80–138.

31See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 208.

32See Richard L. Davis, Wind Against the Mountain: The Crisis of Politics and Culture in Thirteenth-Century China (Cambridge, MA, 1996), pp. 29–30, but in fairness to the emperor, Duzong was born with paralysis in his limbs due to the efforts of his mother, Princess Huang Dingxi, to abort the pregnancy.

33See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 318–320.

34See Tseng-Yü, “Sung Military,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 233–238. For fortifications and artillery of Song army, see Franke, “Siege and Defense of Towns,” Chinese Ways in Warfare, pp. 152–179.

35See Mote, Imperial China, p. 319. Given the state of the Song army and expectations of the mandarin elite, Jia Sidao pursued the only policy acceptable to the court.

36See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 77 and 104–105.

37See Morris Rossabi, “The Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 433, and Khubilai Khan, p. 86. Kublai’s nephew and Ilkhan Abaqa Khan (1262–1282) sent the unit of Arab and Persian engineers commanded by the veteran officers Ismma’il and Ala ad-Din.

38See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 83–84, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 461–462.

39See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 25, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 322, for Bayan as commander.

40See Tseng-Yü, “Sung Military,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 248–249, for indispensable expertise of Liu Cheng in siege warfare.

41See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 81–83, and Rossabi, “The Reign of Khubilai Khan, Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 433.

42Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 84–85.

43Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 85–87, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 432–433.

44See ibid., p. 433, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 319.

45See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 87–90, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 434–435.

46See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 320 and 463.

47Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 88, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, p. 434.

48See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 90–91, and Tseng-Yü, “History of Sung Military,” Cambridge History of China, V. 2, pp. 248–249.

49Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 92–93, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 435–436.

50See William E. Henthorn, Korea: The Mongol Invasions (Leiden, 1963), pp. 208–210. See also Randall J. Sasaki, The Origins of the Lost Fleet of the Mongol Empire (College Station, Texas, 2015), pp. 57–141, for the limitations of the naval technology.

51See Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy, 600-1600 (London, 1980), pp. 119–200, who argues that Christian Europe enjoyed the advantage of two separate traditions of naval technology, one based in the Mediterranean and the other based in the North and Baltic Seas. The frequent exchanges of technology between the two regions led to the launching of oceangoing vessels in the fifteenth century.

52See Henthorn, Korea, pp. 150–172, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 210–211.

53Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 209, and Ishii Susumu, “The Decline of the Kamakura Bakufu,” translated by Jeffrey Mass and Hitomi Tonomura, Medieval Japan, Volume III, edited by Kozo Yamamura (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 131–135.

54See Kozo Yamamura, “The Growth of Commerce in Medieval Japan,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, pp. 344–376.

55See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 100–102, and Susumu, “Decline of Kamakura Bakufu,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, pp. 136–138.

56Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 102, and Susumu, “Decline of Kamakura Bakufu,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, pp. 138–140.

57Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 103, and Susumu, “Decline of Kamakura Bakufu,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, p. 140.

58See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 208–209, Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 211–212, and Susumu, “Decline of Kamakura Bakufu,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, pp. 145–146.

59See ibid., pp. 143–144.

60See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 209–212, and Susumu, “Decline of Kamakura Bakufu,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, pp. 146–147.

61See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 212, and Susumu, “Decline of Kamakura Bakufu,” Cambridge History of Japan, III, pp. 147–148.

62See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 212.

63See ibid., pp. 67–70, for Chabai’s role as counselor to Kublai Khan, and pp. 224–226, for the death of Chabai plunging Kublai Khan into grief and loneliness.

64See ibid., pp. 206 and 227.

65See ibid., p. 225.

66See ibid., pp. 226–227.

67Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 213–114. The conditions are well-known to me given my own experiences traveling in Thailand and Cambodia in 1999.

68See Marco Polo, Description of World, chapter 122, pp. 110–112.

69See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 214–215, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 212.

70See Rossabi, “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 484–487.

71See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 217–218, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 213.

72See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 219.

73See ibid., p. 220, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, p. 213.

74See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 220.

75See Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 213–214, for an assessment of the limits of Mongol and Chinese naval power in comparison to Western states.

76See István Vásáry, “The Jochid Realm: The Western Steppe and Eastern Europe,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age, edited by Nicola di Cosmo, Allen J. Frank, and Peter Golden (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 76–77.

77See Rossabi, Genghis Khan, p. 115, and Boyle, “Political History of Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 355–356.

78See Allen, Culture and Conquest, pp. 144–188.

79Rossabi, “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 442–445.

80See Weatherford, Mongol Queens, pp. 121–124.

81See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 127–129 and 172–176.

82Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 229–231.

83See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 28–30, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 452 and 457–458.

84See Mote, Imperial China, pp. 459–460.

85Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 137–138, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 457–458.

86See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, p. 226.

87Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 226 and 228.

88See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 31–35, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 197–198.

89Polo, Description of World, chapter 75, pp. 64–67.

90Rossabi, “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 454–457, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 198–200.

91See ibid., p. 199.

92Polo, Description of World, pp. 84–85 and 73–76.

93See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 188–190, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 448 and 476–478.

94Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 134–135.

95See Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan, pp. 145–147. The paintings are now in the National Museum, Taipei.

96See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 161–172.

97See ibid., pp. 131–137, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 450–452.

98See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 179–183, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 473–478.

99Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 131–137, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 459–460.

100See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 183–184.

101See ibid., pp. 189–199, and “Reign of Khubilai Khan,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 478–482 and 496–499.

102See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 116–127, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 503–507.

103See Polo, Description of World, chapters 86–90, pp. 77–81.

104See Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 141–143.

105See ibid., p. 141.

106See ibid., p. 228.

107See ibid., p. 141.

108See ibid., pp. 155–156, and Mote, Imperial China, p. 484. The script was far better adapted for the Mongolian language than the Uyghur script.

109Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 156–159.

110See John Dardess, “Shun-ti and the End of Yüan Rule in China,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 572–580, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 380–389.

111See Dardess, “Shun-ti,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 580–584, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 541–563.

112See Man, Great Wall, pp. 244–273.

23: Papal Envoys, Missionaries, and Marco Polo

1See Laurence Bergreen, Marco Polo from Venice to Xanadu (New York, 2008), pp. 324–332, and Stephen G. Haw, Marco Polo’s China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan (London/New York, 2006), pp. 41–42 and 176–178. There is no reason to believe that the work is a fabrication by Rustichello.

2Polo, Description of World, chapter 75, pp. 64–67.

3See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 13–25. Although the Polos traveled on the golden passport of Kublai Khan as envoys from the Papacy, they were motivated by the business opportunities shared by the great Venetian families of merchant princes.

4See Haw, Marco Polo’s China, pp. 52–67. Critics have stressed that Marco Polo reports neither the Great Wall nor Chinese ideograms, but the Great Wall had fallen in disrepair under Mongol rule and was more a military highway rather than the masonry barrier of the Ming Dynasty; see Man, Great Wall, pp. 114–117. Marco Polo was one of many foreign officials employed by Kublai Khan who neither knew nor needed Chinese; see Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 127–219 and 179–200.

5See ibid., pp. 147–148, noting Marco Polo very likely exaggerated his importance within the bureaucratic hierarchy of Kublai Khan.

6See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp 63–68. Giovanni da Pian del Caprine was awed by the number of envoys and vassal rulers across Eurasia who paid court to the Great Khan Güyük.

7Friar Benedict penned a summary report of the mission without details about the Mongol court and life. See “The Narrative of Brother Benedict the Pole,” Mission to Asia, pp. 79–84.

8See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp. 32–38 and 43–59.

9See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 89.

10See Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, pp. 156–175.

11See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 141.

12See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 315–316.

13Polo, Description of World, pp. 1–2.

14See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 330–335 and 347–349.

15See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 84–88.

16See Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 87 and 91–92, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 86–87.

17See Jackson, Mongols and West, pp. 60–61, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 41–42.

18See ibid., pp. 84–86.

19See Mark G. Pegg, The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245–1246 (Princeton, 2001), pp. 48–50.

20See Powell, Anatomy of Crusade, pp. 158–160.

21See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 89–90.

22See ibid., pp. 90–91.

23See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp. 3–4.

24See ibid., pp. 50–51, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 90–92.

25See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp. 51–52, and see also de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 93.

26See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, p. 53.

27See ibid., pp. 53–54.

28See ibid., p. 54.

29See ibid., pp. 54–55.

30See ibid., pp. 56–57.

31See ibid., p. 57. Father Benedict agreed in Carpine’s judgment of Batu; see Benedick, “Report,” Mission to Asia, p. 80.

32See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, p. 57.

33See ibid., p. 57. Father Giovanni received from Batu a golden pass, but he was not quite sure of the meaning of the metal object.

34See ibid., pp. 58–61.

35See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 96.

36See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp. 63–67. Father Benedict was equally impressed by the coronation; see Benedick, “Report,” Mission to Asia, pp. 82–84.

37See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, pp. 6–14.

38See ibid., pp. 14–18.

39See ibid., pp. 43–50.

40See “Two Papal Bulls of Pope Innocent IV Addressed to the Emperor of the Tartars,” Mission to Asia, pp. 73–78.

41See “Guyuk Khan’s Letter to Pope Innocent IV (1246),” in Mission to Asia, pp. 85–88. See also de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 102–106.

42See Carpini, “History of Mongols,” Mission to Asia, p. 69–71.

43See ibid., pp. 71–72.

44See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 109–110.

45See ibid., p. 111.

46See ibid., p. 112. No reports have survived about the outcome of these missions, and so the missions were most likely unsuccessful.

47See ibid., p. 115.

48See ibid., pp. 115–117.

49See Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 283–285.

50See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 117.

51See ibid., pp. 117–118.

52See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, p. 260, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 120.

53See ibid., pp. 120–122.

54See Weatherford, Mongol Queens, p. 102, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 123.

55See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, p. 260, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 123–124.

56See ibid., p. 125.

57See ibid., pp. 126–127.

58See Bernard Hamilton, “The Latin Empire and Western Contacts with Asia,” Contact and Conflict in Frankish Greece and the Aegean, 1204–1453: Crusade, Religion and Trade between Latins, Greeks and Turks, edited by Nikolaos G. Chrissis and Mike Carr (Farnham, Surrey, 2016), p. 50.

59See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, pp. 89–91, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 127.

60See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, p. 92.

61See ibid., p. 113.

62See ibid., p. 108.

63See ibid., pp. 111–112 and 123–124, and Runciman, History of Crusades, III, p. 297.

64See ibid., pp. 133–114, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 126.

65See ibid., pp. 128 and 131–133.

66See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, pp. 119–120.

67See ibid., p. 114.

68See ibid., pp. 125–128.

69See ibid., p. 127.

70See ibid. p. 99.

71See ibid., pp. 131–149.

72See ibid., pp. 130–131.

73See ibid., pp. 149–151.

74See ibid., pp. 154–155.

75See ibid., pp. 157–158.

76See ibid., pp. 147–197.

77See ibid., pp. 138–141 and 191–194.

78See ibid, pp. 187–194, and de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, p. 138.

79See William of Rubruck, “Journey,” Mission to Asia, pp. 194–197.

80See ibid., pp. 206–209 and 213–218.

81See ibid., p. 219.

82See de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys, pp. 138–143.

83See ibid., pp. 160–167.

84See ibid., pp. 201–204.

85See Liu, Silk Road, pp. 109–126; Jackson, Mongols and Islamic World, pp. 210–241; and Allen, Culture and Conquest, pp. 115–188. For Kublai Khan’s promotion of trade and prosperity, see Rossabi, Khubilai Khan, pp. 119–127, and Weatherford, Genghis Khan, pp. 220–227. For the economic revival of Iran and Transoxiana from the reign of Ilkhan Abaqa (1265–1282) on, see I. P. Petrusneysky, “The Socio-Economic Condition of Iran under the Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 499–514.

86See Polo, Description of World, p. 2, and Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 25–26.

87See Robbert, “Venice and Crusades,” History of Crusades, V, pp. 408–445, and Donald M. Nicol, Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 148–165, for the expansion of Venetian trade and naval power in the thirteenth century.

88See Polo, Description of World, pp. 2–3, and Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 27–28.

89Polo, Description of World, p. 4. See also Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 28–30, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 333–334.

90Polo, Description of World, pp. 5–8, and Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 31–33.

91See ibid., pp. 33–35, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 334–335.

92See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 35–37. It is remarkable that none of the surviving sources report the reunion of Marco Polo with his father in Venice.

93See Polo, Description of World, pp. 8-9. See also Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 39–41, and Prawdin, Mongol Empire, pp. 335–336.

94Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 135–136.

95See Haw, Marco Polo’s China, pp. 60–63.

96Polo, Description of World, chapter 62, p. 50. Campçio has been identified as Ganzhou; see Haw, Marco Polo’s China, p. 90.

97Benjamin of Tudela (1130–1172), the Jewish traveler from Spain, wrote in Arabic a detailed account of his journey in the Middle East. See Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Travels in the Middle Ages, translated by Marcus Nathan Adler (Malibu, CA, 1993). Ibn Battuta (1304–1369) composed the most detailed of Arabic travelogue from Morocco to Central Asia and India. See Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, translated by Timothy Mackintosh-Smith (Toronto, 2003).

98See Polo, Description of World, chapters 41–43, pp. 33–36, and chapter 52, pp. 61–62, for descriptions of the Assassins and Samarkand, respectively.

99See Polo, Description of World, chapter 54, p. 42. See also Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 77–79.

100See Polo, Description of World, chapter 46, pp. 37–38.

101See ibid., chapters 58–59, pp. 45–46. See also Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 83–85, 195–197, and 278–283.

102See Polo, Description of World, chapters 65–69, pp. 52–59.

103See ibid., chapter 68, pp. 54–55. See also Silverberg, Realm of Prester John, pp. 119–132.

104Bergreen, Marco Polo, p. 117.

105Polo, Description of World, chapters 76–82, pp. 67–72, 92–93, and 103–104.

106See ibid., chapter 79, pp. 69-70.

107See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 131–133.

108See ibid., pp. 141–166.

109See Polo, Description of World, chapters 140–157, pp. 123–143. See also Haw, Marco Polo’s China, pp. 82–123.

110See Polo, Description of World, chapter 130, p. 116 (lion hunts), chapters 140–157, pp. 123–143 (cities of China), and chapter 158, pp. 143–144 (ship building).

111See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 300–303.

112See ibid., pp. 303–304.

113See ibid., pp. 305–308.

114See ibid., pp. 315–316.

115See C. W. R. D. Moseley, trans., “Introduction,” The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (New York, 1983), pp. 9–18.

116See The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, pp. 103–190.

117See Bergreen, Marco Polo, pp. 348–350.

118See ibid., p. 354. Christopher Columbus also read the fabulous account of Sir John Mandeville.

24: Tamerlane, Prince of Destruction

1Tamerlane is the English rendition of the Persian Timur-e lang, Timur the Lame. His birth name is Timur or Temur, Turkish for “iron.” I have used Tamerlane throughout as this form of his name is most readily recognized.

2See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 31–32, and Mikhail Gerasimov, The Face Finder (Philadelphia, 1971), pp. 129–157.

3See Beatrice F. Manz, “Tamerlane’s Career and Its Uses,” Journal of World History 13 (2002), pp. 1–25.

4For the legend of the curse, which Gerasimov denied, see Oksanam, “Facial Reconstruction, Nazis, and Siberia: The story of Mikhail Gerasimov,” Atlas Obscura, January 25, 2011; online publication: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/facial-reconstruction-nazis-and-siberia-the-story-of-mikhail-gerasimov.

5R. Pinder-Wilson, “Timurid Architecture,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume VI: The Timurid and Safavid Periods, edited by Peter Jackson and Laurence Lockhart (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 737–738.

6See ibid., pp. 737–744, and Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 207–230.

7See Beatrice F. Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 107–127.

8See H. R. Roemer, “Tīmūr in Iran,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume VI: The Timurid and Safavid Periods, edited by Peter Jackson and Laurence Lockhart (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 83–97.

9See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 211–212, and Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange (Roan, Kilberran, 2009), pp. xvi–xvii.

10See de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 245–266.

11See de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 181–182. See also Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 378–379.

12Edgar Allan Poe published his poem “Tamerlane” in 1827 in a collection entitled Tamerlane and Other Poems. Text is available online at https://poets.org/poem/tamerlane.

13See Park Honan, Christopher Marlowe: Poet and Spy (Oxford, 2005), pp. 323–325, and Leslie Hotson, The Death of Christopher Marlowe (London, 1925), pp. 39–40 and 65–66. Scholarly and numerous popular books have speculated on a conspiracy to assassinate Marlowe; see Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe, revised edition (New York, 2002).

14See review by Dominic Cavendish (25 August 2018), “Tamburlaine, RSC: A Very Modern Reading of Marlowe’s Violent Play,” The Daily Telegraph, September 16, 2018.

15See Charles Stewart, The Mulfuzat Timury, or, Autobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timur (Cambridge, 2013).

16See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 101–106.

17See ibid., Tamerlane, pp. 46–47, and Ilker Evrim Binbas, “The Histories of Sharaf al-Din ‘Ali Yazdi: A Formal Analysis,” Acta Orientalia 65 (2012), pp. 391–417.

18See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 84-85, and Ilker Evrim Binbas, Sharaf Al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī (ca. 770s–858/ca. 1370s–1454), Prophecy, Politics, and Historiography in Late Medieval Islamic History (Chicago, 2009), pp. 1-19.

19Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 77–78.

20See ibid., pp. 8–9 and 85–86. See Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Tamerlane: The Life of the Great Amir, translated by Robert McChesney (New York, 2017).

21See Mazorri, Tamerlane, pp. 7–9, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 43–44.

22See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 32–39.

23See ibid., pp. 7–8, and Manz, Tamerlane, p. 60.

24See Boyle, “Political History of Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 413–417, for the fragmenting of the Ilkhanate after the death of Abu Sa’id (1305–1335).

25See I. P. Petrushevsky, “The Socio-Economic Conditions of Iran under the Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 494–514, for the revival of commerce and prosperity from the late thirteenth century on.

26See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 22–24, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” in The Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 43.

27Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 24–25, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 43–45.

28See ibid., pp. 29–30.

29See ibid., pp. 29–30, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,”Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 45.

30See Marozzi, Tamerlane, p. 30, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 44–45.

31See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 27–29.

32Roemer, “Tīmūr in Iran,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 41.

33See Marozzi, Tamerlane, p. 31. Ababshah and the fictional memoirs of Timur report the unlikely tale that Tamerlane was wounded by a shepherd who fended off Tamerlane in an ambush to steal sheep.

34See de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 181–182. See also Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 378–379. The historian Ibn Khaldun gives a similar description after his meeting with Tamerlane outside of Damascus in 1401; see ibid., p. 306.

35See ibid., p. 40; Manz, Tamerlane, pp. 58–60; and Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, pp. 412–414.

36Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 40–43, and Manz, Tamerlane, pp. 56–57.

37See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 45–46, and Manz, Tamerlane, p. 57.

38See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 43–44, 64–66, and 273–274. See remarks of de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 225–230, about the wives and offspring of Tamerlane.

39See Manz, Tamerlane, pp. 58–64, and Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, pp. 442–426.

40See ibid., pp. 409–412.

41See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 348–349. See also Dardess, “Shun-ti,” Cambridge History of China, VI, pp. 580–584, and Mote, Imperial China, pp. 541–563. In 1370, Tamerlane acknowledged a distant overlordship of the Ming Emperor Hongwu (1368–1398), who had, in effect, succeeded to the throne of Kublai Khan.

42Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 96–96 and 396–397.

43See Manz, Tamerlane, pp. 66–89, and Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 99–102.

44See ibid., pp. 294–295 and 327. These elephants also played an important ceremonial role at the court of Samarkand; see de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 230–233.

45See Manz, Tamerlane, pp. 90–106.

46See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 114–117.

47See ibid., pp. 118–125, offering insightful comment based on his direct experience and visit of the city.

48See ibid., pp. 116–117.

49See ibid., pp. 125–126.

50See ibid., pp. 64–67 and 97–99, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 51–57.

51See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 131–154, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 57–64.

52See Marozzi, Tamerlane, p. 131.

53See ibid., pp. 132–138.

54See ibid., pp. 91 and 132

55See ibid., pp. 137–138. Ilkhan Öljaitü (1305–1316) founded the city as his capital. See Boyle, “Political History of Il-Khans,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 399–406. See de Calvijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 132–133, for the city as a hub of the silk and spice markets a century later.

56See Marozzi, Tamerlane, p. 137.

57See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 142–143, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 58–59.

58See Marozzi, Tamerlane, p. 143.

59See Vásáry, “Jochid Realm,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 79–82, for the civil wars in the Jochid realm, and the early career of Tokhtamysh.

60See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 76–77, and Vásáry, “Jochid Realm,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 82–83.

61See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 159–161, and Vásáry, “Jochid Realm,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 82–83.

62See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 139–140.

63Robert O. Crummey, The Formation of Moscovy, 1304–1613 (London/New York, 1987), pp. 49–54, and Halperin, Russia and Golden Horde, pp. 56–57. Tokhtamysh avenged the defeat that Grand Duke Dimitry Ivanovitch inflicted on the forces of the Golden Horde under the commander Mamai at the Battle of Kulikovo on September 8, 1380. The Grand Duke had won the first victory of the Russians over the Mongols.

64See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 143–148. Tamerlane only waged jihad against the Christians of Georgia, whereas all his other foes and victims were overwhelmingly Muslims.

65See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 146–147, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 59.

66See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 150–154.

67See ibid., pp. 162–165, and Manz, Tamerlane, pp. 71–72.

68See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 177–188.

69See ibid., pp. 188-191.

70See ibid., p. 192.

71See ibid., pp. 192–193.

72See ibid., pp. 193–196.

73See ibid., pp. 197–198, and Vásáry, “Jochid Realm,” The Cambridge History of Inner Asia, p. 84. The new khan Temur Qutlugh (1397–1399) was the grandson of Urus Khan (1369–1377) and an implacable enemy of Tokhatmish.

74See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 207–230. The beauty of the city’s architecture awed de Calvijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, pp. 188–205.

75See de Madariaga, Ivan the Terrible, pp. 92–106, and Khodarkovsky, Russia’s Steppe Frontier, pp. 100–125.

76See Keay, India, pp. 263–278.

77See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 237–240.

78See Keay, India, pp. 247–249.

79See ibid., p. 256.

80See ibid., p. 24.

81See ibid., pp. 241–245, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 69–70.

82See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 239 and 263.

83See ibid., pp. 264–269.

84See ibid., pp. 269–274. The Hindu population was either massacred or enslaved thereby giving Tamerlane the pretext of waging jihad. See Keay, India, p. 278.

85See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 275–284.

86See ibid., pp. 284–286.

87See Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 64–65.

88See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 277–279.

89See ibid., pp. 280–282.

90See ibid., pp. 282–283.

91See Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 65–66.

92Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 314–316, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 66–67.

93Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 287–288, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 77.

94See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 292–294, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 76-77.

95See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 294–297.

96See ibid., pp. 297–300.

97See ibid., pp. 301–306, and Manz, Tamerlane, p. 17.

98See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 307–312.

99See ibid., pp. 308–310.

100See Runciman, History of Crusades, III, pp. 458–461, and Aziz S. Ativa, “The Crusade in the Fourteenth Century,” History of Crusades, III, pp. 23–26.

101Howard Crane, “Art and Architecture. 1300–1453,” Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume I: Byzantium to Turkey, 1071–1453, edited by Kate Fleet (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 288–292.

102Runciman, Fall of Constantinople, pp. 40–41, and Nevra Necipoğlu, Byzantium between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 149–183.

103See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 327–331.

104See ibid., pp. 331–333, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 77–78.

105See ibid., pp. 334–337.

106See ibid., pp. 338–341.

107See ibid., pp. 333–334.

108See Halil Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600 (London, 1973), pp. 17–19.

109See ibid., pp. 19–27, and Rudi P. Lindner, “The Incorporation of the Balkans into the Ottoman Empire,” Cambridge History of Turkey, I, pp. 134–137.

110See ibid., pp. 352–353.

111See ibid., pp. 354–356, and de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, p. 192.

112See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 394–400, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, V, pp. 80–82.

113See Marozzi, Tamerlane, pp. 400–404, and Roemer, “Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, p. 83.

114See ibid., pp. 405–413, and H. R. Romer, “The Successors of Tīmūr,” Cambridge History of Iran, VI, pp. 98–101.

115See Livy, History XXII. 51; see Penguin translation, and Livy, The War with Hannibal, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt (New York, 1965), p. 151. Maharbal replied to Hannibal’s refusal to march on Rome after his victory at Cannae in 216 BC: “Assuredly, Maharbal replied, no one has been blessed with all the gods’ gifts. You know, Hannibal, how to win a fight; you do not know how to use your victory.”