Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
1 - Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2018
Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Chapter One introduces the environment and lifeway of pastoral nomadism, and evidence for the migration of early pastoralists extensively across the Eurasian steppe during the Bronze Ages. It also considers the establishment of large and powerful confederations made up of militarized pastoral nomads, skilled horseback-riding archer warriors under the control of elite military strategists. The last part of the chapter is focused on the histories of two such militarized confederations, those of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi. The defeat of the Yuezhi by the Xiongnu in c. 166 BCE set the Yuezhi off on a thirty-year migration, until they settled finally in southern regions of the modern nation of Uzbekistan, from where they would eventually go on to found the mighty Kushan Empire.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empires of Ancient EurasiaThe First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE, pp. 16 - 41Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
References
Selected Further Reading
Anthony, D. W., The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Christian, D., A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia vol. 1. Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire. Oxford: Blackwells, 1998.Google Scholar
Drews, R., Early Riders: The Beginning of Mounted Warriors in Asia and Europe. New York and London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2004.Google Scholar
MacFadden, B. J., Fossil Horses: Systematics, Paleobiology, and Evolution of the Family Equidae. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Okladnikov, A. P., “Inner Asia at the Dawn of History,” in Sinor, D., ed., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, reprint. 1994, pp. 79ff.Google Scholar
Pulleyblank, E. G., “The Chinese and Their Neighbours in Prehistoric and Early Historic Times,” in Keightley, D. N., ed., The Origins of Chinese Civilization. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Sherratt, A., “Plough and Pastoralism: Aspects of the Secondary Products Revolution,” in Hodder, I., Isaac, G. and Hammond, N., eds., Patterns of the Past. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 261–305.Google Scholar