Ten years ago, I agreed to record a course with the Great Courses (formerly known as the Teaching Company) on the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes. I created this course in response to requests by many customers for a course on the Silk Road. The course on DVD and streaming formats has since proved most popular. But I owe a debt of thanks to literary agent Adam Gauntlett, who approached me about writing a grand narrative of the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes and how they contributed so much to the world in which we live.
Adam’s timing was perfect because my wife and I, given our age and medical condition, were compelled to isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021. I had to cancel my plans of a sabbatical leave overseas working in coin cabinets and numismatic institutes. Those who are familiar with my scholarship know that I publish on the coinages and economic history of the Roman world. Instead, I turned to writing a sweeping narrative covering forty-five centuries from the first steppe nomads who domesticated the horse and learned how to exploit the endless grasslands of Eurasia to Tamerlane (1370–1405), the Prince of Destruction, the last conqueror who based his empire on the invincible horse archers. I chose to close this book with Tamerlane’s death. In less than two generations after his death, the handheld firearms of a military revolution ended the supremacy of the horse archer forever. At the same time, the European voyages of discovery turned the oceans into the highways of a new global economy that replaced the caravan routes of the Silk Road across the Eurasian steppes. The steppe nomads steadily lost their decisive role in history over the next two centuries.
I recognize that I have ventured far beyond the limits of my professional training as a Classical historian, devoted to the great books of Greece and Rome. Yet the story of these peoples on the Eurasian steppes has always fascinated me from a young age when I first read about the spectacular exploits of Attila and the Hun and Genghis Khan. As I was completing this book, I was excited to read initial reports that archaeologists might have uncovered the burial of Genghis Khan. If so, this discovery will be hailed the greatest archaeological find of the twenty-first century. This report is also a sobering reminder of how future breakthroughs in comparative linguistics, archaeology, and DNA analysis may modify some of what I have written. Yet I hope that I have presented an exciting, and plausible, narrative of these remarkable peoples that will stand the test of time.
In turning lecture notes into a book, I had to master over a decade of new scholarship. I also had to rethink the presentation and emphasis of this story. Hence, I wrote new chapters on the little-known Kushans, Rouran, Northern Wei, Hephthalites, and Karakhitans. I have treated at length the legend of Prester John that captured the imagination of Medieval Europeans and so led them to misunderstand the Mongols. In another chapter, I took up the story of the travelers Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, William of Rubruck, and Marco Polo, who returned from the Mongol court with new insights and information that forever shattered popular misconceptions of the Eurasian nomads, and so ultimately launched the European voyages of discovery to reach the Cathay of Kublai Khan. Above all, I gained a new appreciation for the genius of Kublai Khan, the most consequential ruler of the thirteenth century, who united rather than just conquered China. In each chapter, I have aimed to explain the impact of each of these nomadic peoples on their world and what their legacy means to us today.
I acknowledge my debt to the many scholars trained in the languages and literatures of Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Russian whose works I have consulted. My book rests on their collective research and insights. I am at home in the Classical, Byzantine, and Western Medieval worlds, and here, at a number of points, I have offered my own interpretation of events. I also gained, later in life, a knowledge of Turkish from working on archaeological excavations in Turkey for twenty-five years in the era before the pandemic. Even more important, I married my wife, Sema, a citizen of Turkey, and in eight years of marriage, I have learned more about Turkey and Turkish society than the previous twenty-five as an academic visitor studying in research institutes, museums, and dig houses.
I owe a debt of thanks to many people who have assisted and encouraged me to pursue this ambitious project. Foremost is my wife, Sema, whose patience, love, and encouragement enabled me to complete this book. Again I acknowledge my inestimable debt to Adam Gauntlett. My editor, Peter Joseph, and the entire staff of Hanover Square Press have been splendid in their work to turn a manuscript into a printed book. They all have my thanks for their patience and hard work. Among my friends and colleagues, I single out Jason David Sanchez, who is conversant in both Classical and modern Chinese, and is an independent scholar with expertise on the Silk Road and the reception of Buddhism in China. Jason read over the chapters dealing with China, and offered corrections, bibliography, and insights. Jason and my alumnus and friend Stefanos Roulakis have also been indefatigable companions on my travels across Anatolia in search of battlefields, sites, and roads of the Roman and Byzantine periods. I also thank my friend and colleague Professor Thomas R. Martin at the College of Holy Cross, a fellow Classicist who admires Chinese civilization. Tom reviewed not only the chapters on the Classical world, but also those of the Qin and Han Empires. I also must thank my colleagues Professors Samuel Ramer and Brian DeMare for their assistance in Russian and Chinese history, respectively. I especially appreciate my dear friend and colleague Professor Michael Kuczynski, who read over the text for its style. Finally, I must thank my alumnus and friend Patrick Vizard, who has been indispensable in assisting me in learning how to exploit the scholarly resources on the internet. They all contributed significantly to this book, and any errors are mine alone.