Dahae: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
+ cat |
|||
| (214 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Ancient Iranian people of Central Asia}} |
|||
{{Sections|date=October 2009}} |
|||
{{Infobox tribe |
|||
The '''Dahae''' ({{lang-fa|داها}}, Latin; Greek ''{{lang|el|Δάοι}}'', {{lang|el-Latn|''Daoi''}}, and ''{{lang|el|Δάαι}}'', ''{{lang|el-Latn|Daai}}''), or '''Dahaeans'''<!-- allegedly. <ref>{{harvnb|Engels|1978|p=***???***}}</ref>. {{Citation |last=Engels|first=Donald W.|authorlink=|title=Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army |origyear= |year=1978 |publisher=University of California Press|location=California|isbn= 0-520-04272-7|pages=|chapter=}} --> were a confederacy of three [[Iranian people|Ancient Iranian]] tribes who lived in the region to the immediate east of the [[Caspian Sea]]. They spoke an [[Eastern Iranian language]]. |
|||
| name = Dahae |
|||
| local name = Daae |
|||
| type = People |
|||
| image = Confederaţia.Dahae.jpg |
|||
| image_size = |
|||
| alt = |
|||
| caption = |
|||
| ethnicity = |
|||
| location = present-day west and northwest Turkmenistan, far southwest Kazakhstan and far west Uzbekistan (most of the [[Ustyurt Plateau]]) |
|||
The first dateable mention of this nomad confederacy appears in the list of nations of [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes the great]] ''Daeva'' inscription. In this list of the peoples and provinces of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], the Dahae are identified in [[Old Persian]] as ''Dāha'' and are immediately followed by a "[[Saka]]" group, who are listed as being neighbors of the ''Dāha''. It is however unclear whether the Dahae are also the *Dāha people (or *Dåŋha, only attested in the feminine ''Dahi'') of the [[Avestan]] ''[[Yasht]]'' 13.144. An etymological relationship "is not proof that the two names refer to the same ethnic group."<ref name="deBlois_1993_581">{{harvnb|de Blois|1993|p=581}}.</ref> |
|||
| varna = |
|||
In the 1st century BCE [[Strabo]] (''Geographika'' 11.8.1) refers to the Dahae explicitly as the "Scythian Dahae" ("[[Scythian]]" is in Strabo not necessarily an equation with the "[[Saka|Sacae]]"). The historiographer further places the Dahae in the approximate vicinity of present-day [[Turkmenistan]]. |
|||
| descended = |
|||
| population = |
|||
| demonym = |
|||
| branches = [[Parni]], [[Xanthii]] and [[Pissuri]] |
|||
| language = |
|||
| religion = |
|||
| surnames = |
|||
}} |
|||
{{History of Iran}} |
|||
The '''Dahae''', also known as the '''Daae''', '''Dahas''' or '''Dahaeans''' ({{langx|peo|𐎭𐏃𐎠|translit=Dahā}}; {{langx|grc|Δαοι|translit=Daoi}}; {{lang|grc|Δααι}}, {{transl|grc|Daai}}; {{lang|grc|Δαι}}, {{transl|grc|Dai}}; {{lang|grc|Δασαι}}, {{transl|grc|Dasai}}; {{langx|la|Dahae}}; {{lang-zh|t=大益|p=Dàyì}};{{sfn|Yu|2004|p=19}} [[Persian language|Persian]]: {{lang|fa|{{script|fa-Arab|داهان}}}} {{transl|fa|Dāhān}}) were an [[Ancient Iranian peoples|ancient Eastern Iranian]] [[nomad]]ic [[tribal]] [[confederation]], who inhabited the [[steppe]]s of [[Central Asia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Daryaee |first=Touraj |author-link=Touraj Daryaee |year=2011 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-poAgAAQBAJ |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-199-73215-9 |quote=Our knowledge of the making of the Parthian state and of its chronology is full of gaps. We know that it was started by the nomadic tribe of Parni (or Aparni), belonging to the Dahae group of Iranian peoples.}}</ref> |
|||
==Identification== |
|||
The Dahae, together with the [[Saka]] tribes, are known to have fought in the [[Achaemenid]] armies at the [[Battle of Gaugamela]]. Following the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, they joined [[Alexander of Macedon]] in his quest to [[India]]. Saka coins from the [[Seleucid]] era are sometimes specifically attributed to the Dahae. |
|||
The Dahae may have been the {{transl|ae|Dāha-}} ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬛𐬁𐬵𐬀}}}}) or {{transl|ae|Dåŋha-}} ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬛𐬂𐬢𐬵𐬀}}}}) people mentioned in the [[Yasht|{{transl|ae|Yašt}}]]s as one of the five peoples following the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] religion, along with the {{transl|ae|Aⁱriia-}} ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀}}}}), {{transl|ae|Tūⁱriia-}} ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬙𐬏𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀}}}}), [[Sauromatian culture|{{transl|ae|Saⁱrima-}}]] ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬯𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬨𐬀}}}}), and {{transl|ae|Sāinu-}} ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬯𐬁𐬌𐬥𐬎}}}}), although this identification is uncertain.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
The Iranologist [[János Harmatta]] has identified the Dahā with the [[Massagetae]]/[[Massagetae|Sakā tigraxaudā]] based on ancient Graeco-Roman authors' mention of the {{transl|peo|Sakā tigraxaudā}} as living between the [[Amu Darya]] and [[Syr Darya]] rivers, where [[Arrian]] also located the Massagetae and the Dahae.<ref name="Harmatta">{{cite journal |last=Harmatta |first=János |date=1999 |title=Alexander the Great in Central Asia |url=https://akjournals.com/view/journals/068/39/1-4/article-p129.xml |journal=Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=39 |issue= 1–4|pages=129–136 |doi=10.1556/aant.39.1999.1-4.11 |s2cid=162246561 |access-date=July 4, 2022}}</ref> The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that the {{transl|xsc|Dahā}} were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae.{{sfn|Abetekov|Yusupov|1994}} |
|||
In the third century, a branch of Dahae called the [[Parni]] would rise to prominence under their chief [[Arsaces I|Arsaces]]. They invaded [[Parthia (satrapy)|Parthia]], which had just previously declared independence from the [[Seleucid]]s, deposed the reigning monarch, and Arsaces crowned himself king. His successors, who all named themselves Arsaces and are thus referred to as the [[Arsacid]]s, would eventually assert military control over the entire the Iranian plateau. By then, they would be indistinguishable from the Parthians, and would also be called by that name. |
|||
The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy">{{cite book |editor-last1=Dani |editor-first1=Ahmad Hasan |editor-link1=Ahmad Hasan Dani |editor-last2=Harmatta |editor-first2=János |editor-link2=János Harmatta | editor-last3=Puri |editor-first3=Baij Nath |editor-link3=Baij Nath Puri |editor-last4=Etemadi |editor-first4=G. F. |editor-last5=Bosworth |editor-first5=Clifford Edmund |editor-link5=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |last=Zadneprovskiy |first=Y. A. |author-link= |date=1994 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |chapter=The Nomads of Northern Central Asia After the Invansion of Alexander |url= |location=[[Paris]], [[France]] |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |pages=448–463 |isbn=978-9-231-02846-5 |quote=The middle of the third century b.c. saw the rise to power of a group of tribes consisting of the Parni (Aparni) and the Dahae, descendants of the Massagetae of the Aral Sea region. }}</ref> |
|||
While 'Dahae' was preserved in the toponym 'Dahestan'/'Dihistan' - a district "on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea" - "an urban center of the ancient Dahae (if indeed they possessed one) is quite unknown."<ref name="Bivar_1993_27">{{harvnb|Bivar|1993|p=27}}.</ref> |
|||
The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht, who has also identified the Massagetae with the {{transl|peo|Sakā tigraxaudā}},<ref>{{cite book |last=Olbrycht |first=Marek Jan |date=2000 |title=Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia |chapter=Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/11934986 |location=[[Kraków]] |publisher=[[:pl:Księgarnia Akademicka|Księgarnia Akademicka]] |pages=101–104 |isbn=978-8-371-88337-8 }}</ref> however considers the {{transl|peo|Dahā}} as being a separate group from the Saka to which the Massagetae/{{transl|peo|Sakā tigraxaudā}} belonged.<ref>{{cite book |last=Olbrycht |first=Marek Jan |author-link= |date=2021 |title=Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.): At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History |url= |location=[[Leiden]], [[Netherlands]] ; [[Boston]], [[United States]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |page=22 |isbn=978-9-004-46076-8 |quote=Apparently the Dahai represented an entity not identical with the other better known groups of the Sakai, i.e. the Sakai (Sakā) Tigrakhaudā (Massagetai, roaming in Turkmenistan), and Sakai (Sakā) Haumavargā (in Transoxania and beyond the Syr Daryā).}}</ref> |
|||
The Dahae should not by default be equated<!-- WHICH MEANS MORE THAN JUST LINGUISTICS --> with [[Vedic Sanskrit]]'s ''dasa''. While the two are etymologically related, there is no directly transferable functional equivalence. In the Vedas, ''dasa'' is an ambiguous term that could mean any number of things, including - but not limited to - being a reference to a tribe. Even in this latter case, it only ''may'' refer to the same tribe as the Dahae; "man", which is probably the literal meaning of the root of the name, appears in the name of many tribes and individuals. If the Iranic and Indic terms were all - in addition to being etymologically related - also functionally equivalent, it would be enormously difficult to explain how the Avestan tribe that is exalted alongside the [[Arya]]ns could simultaneously be vilified as the ''Daxiiu'', the [[Aniran|Anti-Aryans]].<ref name="deBlois_1993_581">{{harvnb|de Blois|1993|p=581}}.</ref> |
|||
== |
==Location== |
||
The Dahae initially lived in the north-eastern part of the [[Persians|Persian]] [[Achaemenid Empire]], in the arid steppes of the [[Karakum Desert]] near [[Margiana]], alongside the [[Saka]] groups and the [[Sogdia]]ns and [[Khwarazm|Chorasmians]],{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} and immediately to the north of [[Hyrcania]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Boardman |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Boardman (art historian) |editor-last2=Hammond |editor-first2=N. G. L. |editor-link2=N. G. L. Hammond |editor-last3=Lewis |editor-first3=D. M. |editor-link3=David Malcolm Lewis |editor-last4=Ostwald |editor-first4=M. |editor-link4=Martin Ostwald |last=Francfort |first=Henri-Paul |author-link=Henri-Paul Francfort |date=1988 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |volume=4 |chapter=Central Asia and Eastern Iran |location=[[Cambridge]], [[United Kingdom]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=173 |isbn=978-0-521-22804-6 |quote=The Dahas of Xerxes' 'Daiva' inscription (XPh) are perhaps to be situated to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahas mentioned by more recent writers are later to be found }}</ref> |
|||
During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of the [[Parni]], had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of the [[Caspian Sea]], in the lands to the north of [[Hyrcania]]. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east till the regions to the north of Areia.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
==Name== |
|||
The name of the Dahae, attested in the [[Old Persian]] form {{transl|peo|Dahā}}, is derived from a [[Saka language]] name meaning "man," based on the common practice among various peoples of calling themselves "man" in their own languages. This term is attested in the Khotanese form {{transl|kho|daha}}.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} The Dahae were a nomadic people, and no known sedentary settlement can be attributed to them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bivar |first=A. D. H. |author-link=David Bivar |date=1983 |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |volume=3.1. |chapter=The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids |url= |location=[[Cambridge]], [[United Kingdom]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=27 |isbn=978-0-521-20092-9 }}</ref> |
|||
The scholar [[David Gordon White]] has instead suggested that the name of the Dahae meant "Stranglers," and was derived from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[Proto-Indo-European root|root]] ''{{PIE|*dhau}}'', from which he also derived the name of the [[Dacians]].<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White |date=1991 |title=Myths of the Dog-Man |url= |location= |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |page=239 |isbn=}}</ref> |
|||
==History== |
|||
A splinter {{transl|peo|Dahā}} might possibly have migrated at an early date across the [[Iranian plateau]] and joined the [[Persians|Persian people]] who lived in its southwestern part, with the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] later referring to the {{transl|grc|Daoi}} as one of the nomadic Persian tribes, along with the [[Amardi|Mardians]], Dropicans, and [[Sagartians]], although this identification is uncertain.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
The {{transl|peo|Dahā}} were in control of the traffic between [[Khwarezm|Chorasmia]] in the north and [[Parthia]] and [[Hyrcania]] in the south.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
According to the Babylonian historian [[Berossus]], the founder of the Persian [[Achaemenid Empire]], [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]], died fighting against the Dahae.<ref name="Dandamayev">{{cite book |last=Dandamaev |first=M. A. |author-link=Muhammad Dandamayev |date=1989 |title=A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire |url= |location=[[Leiden]], [[Netherlands]] ; [[New York City]], [[United States]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |page=67 |isbn=978-9-004-09172-6 }}</ref> According to the Iranologist [[Muhammad Dandamayev]], Berossus identified the Dahae rather than the Massagetae as Cyrus's killers because they had replaced the Massagetae as the most famous nomadic tribe of Central Asia long before Berossus's time,{{sfn|Dandamayev|1994}}<ref name="Dandamayev"/> although some scholars identified the Dahae as being identical with the Massagetae or as one of their sub-groups.<ref name="Harmatta"/>{{sfn|Abetekov|Yusupov|1994}}<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> |
|||
The oldest certain recorded mention of the {{transl|peo|Dahā}} is in the [[Daiva Inscription]] of the Achaemenid king [[Xerxes I]] along with the {{transl|peo|Sakā Haumavargā}} and the {{transl|sa|Sakā tigraxaudā}}.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
The {{transl|peo|Dahā}} fought within the left wing of the Achaemenid army along with the Bactrians and the Saka against [[Alexander the Great]] at [[Battle of Gaugamela|Gaugamela]] in 331 BCE.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
The Dahae may have invaded Margiana and [[Aria (region)|Areia]] around 300 BCE, and during this invasion they destroyed the towns of Alexandreia and Heracleia located in these respective two countries.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of the [[Parni]], had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of the [[Caspian Sea]], in the lands to the north of Hyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east till the regions to the north of Areia.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
During the middle of the 3rd century itself, the Parni had moved into [[Hyrcania]], where they lived along the Ochus river. Their leader, [[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arsaces]], would found the [[Parthian Empire]].{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
During the 2nd century BCE, both the Dahae ({{lang|zh|大益}} {{transl|zh|Dayi}}) who still lived in the steppes and the Parthian Empire ({{lang|zh|安息}} {{transl|zh|Anxi}}), as well as the Chorasmians ({{lang|zh|驩潛}} {{transl|zh|Huanqian}}), and Sogdians ({{lang|zh|蘇薤}} {{transl|zh|Suxie}}) sent embassies to the [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]] of the [[Han dynasty]] which was ruling [[China]].{{sfn|Yu|2004|p=19}} |
|||
Interesting fact that currently lands of ancient Dahae are known as [[Mangystau Region]] of [[Kazakhstan]] and are inhabited by Adai- one of [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] tribes ([[Jüz]]). |
|||
===Legacy=== |
|||
The lands to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahae had settled in the 3rd century BCE became known as [[Dehestan (disambiguation)|{{transl|fa|Dehestān}}]] ({{lang|fa|{{script|fa-Arab|دَهستان}}}}) and {{transl|fa|Dahistān}} ({{lang|fa|{{script|fa-Arab|داهستان}}}}) after them.{{sfn|de Blois|Vogelsang|1993}} |
|||
== See also == |
|||
*[[Massagetae]] |
|||
*[[Parthian Empire]] |
|||
*[[Saka]] |
|||
*[[Scythian cultures]] |
|||
== References == |
|||
{{reflist|3}} |
{{reflist|3}} |
||
== |
== Sources == |
||
{{refbegin}} |
{{refbegin}} |
||
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Dani |editor-first1=Ahmad Hasan |editor-link1=Ahmad Hasan Dani |editor-last2=Harmatta |editor-first2=János |editor-link2=János Harmatta | editor-last3=Puri |editor-first3=Baij Nath |editor-link3=Baij Nath Puri |editor-last4=Etemadi |editor-first4=G. F. |editor-last5=Bosworth |editor-first5=Clifford Edmund |editor-link5=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |last1=Abetekov |first1=A. |author-link1=:ky:Абетеков, Асан Кемелович |last2=Yusupov |first2=H. |date=1994 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |chapter=Ancient Iranian Nomads in Western Central Asia |url= |location=[[Paris]], [[France]] |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |pages=24–34 |isbn=978-9-231-02846-5 }} |
|||
* {{citation|title=Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3.1|year=1993|publisher=Cambridge UP|location=London|editor-last=Fischer|editor-first=W.B.|editor2-last=Gershevitch|editor2-first=Ilya|chapter=The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids|last=Bivar|first=A.D.H.|pages=21–99}} |
|||
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Dani |editor-first1=Ahmad Hasan |editor-link1=Ahmad Hasan Dani |editor-last2=Harmatta |editor-first2=János |editor-link2=János Harmatta |editor-last3=Puri |editor-first3=Baij Nath |editor-link3=Baij Nath Puri |editor-last4=Etemadi |editor-first4=G. F. |editor-last5=Bosworth |editor-first5=Clifford Edmund |editor-link5=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |last=Dandamayev |first=M. A. |author-link=Muhammad Dandamayev |date=1994 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |chapter=Media and Achaemenid Iran |volume=2 |location=Paris |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |pages=35–64 |isbn=978-9-231-02846-5 }} |
|||
* {{citation|last=de Blois|first=François|chapter=Dahae I: Etymology|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=6|year=1993|location=Costa Mesa|publisher=Mazda|page=581}} |
|||
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Dahae |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |date=1993 |last1=de Blois |first1=François |last2=Vogelsang |first2=Willem |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation]]; [[Brill Publishers]] |location=[[New York City]], [[United States]] |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dahae |url-access=<!--WP:URLACCESS--> }} |
|||
* {{cite book |last=Yu |first=Taishan |date=2004 |title=A History of the Relationship Between the Western & Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern & Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp131_chinese_dynasties_western_region.pdf |series=[[Sino-Platonic Papers]] |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]] |location=[[Philadelphia]], [[United States]] |volume=131 |access-date=2022-07-05 }} |
|||
{{refend}} |
{{refend}} |
||
{{Achaemenid Provinces}} |
{{Achaemenid Provinces}} |
||
{{Sassanid Provinces}} |
|||
{{Parthian Empire}} |
|||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Dahae| ]] |
||
[[Category:Iranian nomads]] |
|||
[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]] |
|||
[[Category:History of Turkmenistan]] |
[[Category:History of Turkmenistan]] |
||
[[Category:Ancient Iranian peoples]] |
|||
[[Category:Scythians]] |
|||
[[ca:Dahes]] |
|||
[[de:Dahae]] |
|||
[[es:Dahes]] |
|||
[[fa:داها]] |
|||
[[ko:다하에]] |
|||
[[hr:Dahae]] |
|||
[[it:Dahai]] |
|||
[[hu:Dahák]] |
|||
[[ne:दह]] |
|||
[[new:पुखु]] |
|||
[[ja:ダーハ氏族]] |
|||
[[ro:Dahae]] |
|||
[[ru:Дахи (союз племен)]] |
|||
[[sh:Dahae]] |
|||
[[fi:Dahae]] |
|||
[[vi:Người Dahae]] |
|||
Latest revision as of 19:44, 25 October 2024
| Dahae Daae | |
|---|---|
| People | |
 | |
| Location | present-day west and northwest Turkmenistan, far southwest Kazakhstan and far west Uzbekistan (most of the Ustyurt Plateau) |
| Branches | Parni, Xanthii and Pissuri |
| History of Iran |
|---|
 The Gate of All Nations in Fars |
Timeline Iran portal |
The Dahae, also known as the Daae, Dahas or Dahaeans (Old Persian: 𐎭𐏃𐎠, romanized: Dahā; Ancient Greek: Δαοι, romanized: Daoi; Δααι, Daai; Δαι, Dai; Δασαι, Dasai; Latin: Dahae; Chinese: 大益; pinyin: Dàyì;[1] Persian: داهان Dāhān) were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia.[2]
Identification
[edit]The Dahae may have been the Dāha- (𐬛𐬁𐬵𐬀) or Dåŋha- (𐬛𐬂𐬢𐬵𐬀) people mentioned in the Yašts as one of the five peoples following the Zoroastrian religion, along with the Aⁱriia- (𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀), Tūⁱriia- (𐬙𐬏𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀), Saⁱrima- (𐬯𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬨𐬀), and Sāinu- (𐬯𐬁𐬌𐬥𐬎), although this identification is uncertain.[3]
The Iranologist János Harmatta has identified the Dahā with the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā based on ancient Graeco-Roman authors' mention of the Sakā tigraxaudā as living between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, where Arrian also located the Massagetae and the Dahae.[4] The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that the Dahā were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae.[5]
The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.[6]
The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht, who has also identified the Massagetae with the Sakā tigraxaudā,[7] however considers the Dahā as being a separate group from the Saka to which the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā belonged.[8]
Location
[edit]The Dahae initially lived in the north-eastern part of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, in the arid steppes of the Karakum Desert near Margiana, alongside the Saka groups and the Sogdians and Chorasmians,[3] and immediately to the north of Hyrcania.[9]
During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of the Parni, had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the lands to the north of Hyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east till the regions to the north of Areia.[3]
Name
[edit]The name of the Dahae, attested in the Old Persian form Dahā, is derived from a Saka language name meaning "man," based on the common practice among various peoples of calling themselves "man" in their own languages. This term is attested in the Khotanese form daha.[3] The Dahae were a nomadic people, and no known sedentary settlement can be attributed to them.[10]
The scholar David Gordon White has instead suggested that the name of the Dahae meant "Stranglers," and was derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dhau, from which he also derived the name of the Dacians.[11]
History
[edit]A splinter Dahā might possibly have migrated at an early date across the Iranian plateau and joined the Persian people who lived in its southwestern part, with the Greek historian Herodotus later referring to the Daoi as one of the nomadic Persian tribes, along with the Mardians, Dropicans, and Sagartians, although this identification is uncertain.[3]
The Dahā were in control of the traffic between Chorasmia in the north and Parthia and Hyrcania in the south.[3]
According to the Babylonian historian Berossus, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus, died fighting against the Dahae.[12] According to the Iranologist Muhammad Dandamayev, Berossus identified the Dahae rather than the Massagetae as Cyrus's killers because they had replaced the Massagetae as the most famous nomadic tribe of Central Asia long before Berossus's time,[13][12] although some scholars identified the Dahae as being identical with the Massagetae or as one of their sub-groups.[4][5][6]
The oldest certain recorded mention of the Dahā is in the Daiva Inscription of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I along with the Sakā Haumavargā and the Sakā tigraxaudā.[3]
The Dahā fought within the left wing of the Achaemenid army along with the Bactrians and the Saka against Alexander the Great at Gaugamela in 331 BCE.[3]
The Dahae may have invaded Margiana and Areia around 300 BCE, and during this invasion they destroyed the towns of Alexandreia and Heracleia located in these respective two countries.[3]
During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of the Parni, had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the lands to the north of Hyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east till the regions to the north of Areia.[3]
During the middle of the 3rd century itself, the Parni had moved into Hyrcania, where they lived along the Ochus river. Their leader, Arsaces, would found the Parthian Empire.[3]
During the 2nd century BCE, both the Dahae (大益 Dayi) who still lived in the steppes and the Parthian Empire (安息 Anxi), as well as the Chorasmians (驩潛 Huanqian), and Sogdians (蘇薤 Suxie) sent embassies to the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty which was ruling China.[1]
Interesting fact that currently lands of ancient Dahae are known as Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan and are inhabited by Adai- one of Kazakh tribes (Jüz).
Legacy
[edit]The lands to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahae had settled in the 3rd century BCE became known as Dehestān (دَهستان) and Dahistān (داهستان) after them.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Yu 2004, p. 19.
- ^ Daryaee, Touraj (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-73215-9.
Our knowledge of the making of the Parthian state and of its chronology is full of gaps. We know that it was started by the nomadic tribe of Parni (or Aparni), belonging to the Dahae group of Iranian peoples.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l de Blois & Vogelsang 1993.
- ^ a b Harmatta, János (1999). "Alexander the Great in Central Asia". Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 39 (1–4): 129–136. doi:10.1556/aant.39.1999.1-4.11. S2CID 162246561. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
- ^ a b Abetekov & Yusupov 1994.
- ^ a b Zadneprovskiy, Y. A. (1994). "The Nomads of Northern Central Asia After the Invansion of Alexander". In Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János; Puri, Baij Nath; Etemadi, G. F.; Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris, France: UNESCO. pp. 448–463. ISBN 978-9-231-02846-5.
The middle of the third century b.c. saw the rise to power of a group of tribes consisting of the Parni (Aparni) and the Dahae, descendants of the Massagetae of the Aral Sea region.
- ^ Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2000). "Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations". Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka. pp. 101–104. ISBN 978-8-371-88337-8.
- ^ Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2021). Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.): At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History. Leiden, Netherlands ; Boston, United States: Brill. p. 22. ISBN 978-9-004-46076-8.
Apparently the Dahai represented an entity not identical with the other better known groups of the Sakai, i.e. the Sakai (Sakā) Tigrakhaudā (Massagetai, roaming in Turkmenistan), and Sakai (Sakā) Haumavargā (in Transoxania and beyond the Syr Daryā).
- ^ Francfort, Henri-Paul (1988). "Central Asia and Eastern Iran". In Boardman, John; Hammond, N. G. L.; Lewis, D. M.; Ostwald, M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 4. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-521-22804-6.
The Dahas of Xerxes' 'Daiva' inscription (XPh) are perhaps to be situated to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahas mentioned by more recent writers are later to be found
- ^ Bivar, A. D. H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids". The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 3.1. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9.
- ^ White, David Gordon (1991). Myths of the Dog-Man. University of Chicago Press. p. 239.
- ^ a b Dandamaev, M. A. (1989). A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. Leiden, Netherlands ; New York City, United States: Brill. p. 67. ISBN 978-9-004-09172-6.
- ^ Dandamayev 1994.
Sources
[edit]- Abetekov, A. [in Kyrgyz]; Yusupov, H. (1994). "Ancient Iranian Nomads in Western Central Asia". In Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János; Puri, Baij Nath; Etemadi, G. F.; Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris, France: UNESCO. pp. 24–34. ISBN 978-9-231-02846-5.
- Dandamayev, M. A. (1994). "Media and Achaemenid Iran". In Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János; Puri, Baij Nath; Etemadi, G. F.; Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. 2. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 35–64. ISBN 978-9-231-02846-5.
- de Blois, François; Vogelsang, Willem (1993). "Dahae". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York City, United States: Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation; Brill Publishers.
- Yu, Taishan (2004). A History of the Relationship Between the Western & Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern & Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. Vol. 131. Philadelphia, United States: University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
| ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
See also Taxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire (according to Herodotus) | ||
Provinces of the Sasanian Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
* indicates short living provinces | ||