The Arimaspoi and the Gold Guarding Gryphons-- Greek Sources on the Yuezhi
From Taishan Yu, we know the Yuezhi's eastern grazing lands ran from "inside and outside of Hetao " (the Ordos), and then extended northwest to the Altai and down to the Tian Shan. I know it's difficult to visualize the vastness of this territory. It's huge. Even modern archaeologists and historians have trouble picturing this geographical area, and they actually "shrink" it to a precise location-- the Gansu. This is an error of simplification, and describes a smaller area west of the Bend of the Yellow River... not even 1/4 of the actual territory the Yuezhi occupied prior to the Xiongnu invasion.
Join me for an enlightening Greek view of this location. It was originally recorded by Aristeas, the poetic Marco Polo of his day. His epic is no longer extant, but smatterings of it were copied by later Western writers. Aristeas traveled from the north Pontic trading marts, going eastward on the trade road until he reached the Issedones (the Pazyryk and Ukok cultures of the Altai). He never met the Arimaspi, only hearing about them, nor did he ever see a Gold Guarding Gryphon. I'm convinced the Yuezhi territories of the Chinese are an exact match to the location of the Arimaspi recorded by Aristeas the Greek.
"This Aristeas visited the Issedones; beyond these live the one-eyed Arimaspoi, beyond whom are the Gryphons that guard gold... I cannot say how the gold is produced but it is said that the one-eyed men steal it from the Gryphons." (Herodotus, Histories)
"Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the Gryphons, and the one-eyed men mounted on horses, who dwell about Plouton's Stream, that flows with gold." (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound)
"Now the place where the Gryphons live and the gold is found is a grim and terrible desert. Waiting for a moonless night, the treasure-seekers come with shovels and sacks and dig. If they manage to elude the Gryphons, the men reap a double reward, for they escape with their lives and bring home a cargo of gold." (Aelian, Natural History)
So, our "one-eyed men," the Arimaspi (Northeastern Iranian for "Horse-breeders"), live beyond the Altai. They ride horses, and "dwell about Plouton's Stream" (the Yellow River). And they go into a "grim and terrible desert" (the Gobi) where they steal gold from the Gryphons. Take a look at the map.
As a reference, we see the southern Yuezhi border as the Qilian Mountains (Altun Shan). To the east, we view the Bend of the Yellow River in the Ordos. Just north of it, we find the Gobi Desert which extends up to the Mongolian Altai, exactly the eastern portion of the Yuezhi's sphere as described in Chinese records of the Warring States Period (480 to 220 BC), and also recorded by Herodotus, Aeschylus, and Aelian, in the Greek texts. Possibly Aristeas reached eastward to the Issedones at Ukok, delineated on this map at the converging borders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China.
As for the Gold Guarding Gryphons? They are described by Aelian as existing in a "terrible desert," obviously taken from the epic poem of Aristeas. Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History believe Aristeas' Gryphons were based on bones and skulls of Protoceratops dinosaurs. The first "modern" specimen of a "sharp-beaked hound" was discovered in the Gobi during the 1920s by Roy Chapman Andrews, an AMNH archaeologist. Since then, hundreds of protoceratops skulls have been found in former Yuezhi territory.
Roy Andrews in the Gobi Desert with his 6.5 caliber Mannlicher (just in case a Gold Guarding Gryphon attacks).
The beaked Gryphon as described by Herodotus to Aelian, then found by Roy Andrews.
This gives credence to early Greek descriptions. It links the Yuezhi directly to the Arimaspi and Gryphons. By combining Greek descriptions, Chinese geography, and Roy Andrews' discoveries, we find a territory much larger than the Gansu Corridor. Here is another map, showing the Bend of the Yellow River, the extent of the Gobi, the relative size of Gansu, then a huge tract northwest to the Altai. Please click on it to view the expansive detail.
More to come from Greek and Roman sources. Thank you for following this thread.
From Taishan Yu, we know the Yuezhi's eastern grazing lands ran from "inside and outside of Hetao " (the Ordos), and then extended northwest to the Altai and down to the Tian Shan. I know it's difficult to visualize the vastness of this territory. It's huge. Even modern archaeologists and historians have trouble picturing this geographical area, and they actually "shrink" it to a precise location-- the Gansu. This is an error of simplification, and describes a smaller area west of the Bend of the Yellow River... not even 1/4 of the actual territory the Yuezhi occupied prior to the Xiongnu invasion.
Join me for an enlightening Greek view of this location. It was originally recorded by Aristeas, the poetic Marco Polo of his day. His epic is no longer extant, but smatterings of it were copied by later Western writers. Aristeas traveled from the north Pontic trading marts, going eastward on the trade road until he reached the Issedones (the Pazyryk and Ukok cultures of the Altai). He never met the Arimaspi, only hearing about them, nor did he ever see a Gold Guarding Gryphon. I'm convinced the Yuezhi territories of the Chinese are an exact match to the location of the Arimaspi recorded by Aristeas the Greek.
"This Aristeas visited the Issedones; beyond these live the one-eyed Arimaspoi, beyond whom are the Gryphons that guard gold... I cannot say how the gold is produced but it is said that the one-eyed men steal it from the Gryphons." (Herodotus, Histories)
"Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the Gryphons, and the one-eyed men mounted on horses, who dwell about Plouton's Stream, that flows with gold." (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound)
"Now the place where the Gryphons live and the gold is found is a grim and terrible desert. Waiting for a moonless night, the treasure-seekers come with shovels and sacks and dig. If they manage to elude the Gryphons, the men reap a double reward, for they escape with their lives and bring home a cargo of gold." (Aelian, Natural History)
So, our "one-eyed men," the Arimaspi (Northeastern Iranian for "Horse-breeders"), live beyond the Altai. They ride horses, and "dwell about Plouton's Stream" (the Yellow River). And they go into a "grim and terrible desert" (the Gobi) where they steal gold from the Gryphons. Take a look at the map.
As a reference, we see the southern Yuezhi border as the Qilian Mountains (Altun Shan). To the east, we view the Bend of the Yellow River in the Ordos. Just north of it, we find the Gobi Desert which extends up to the Mongolian Altai, exactly the eastern portion of the Yuezhi's sphere as described in Chinese records of the Warring States Period (480 to 220 BC), and also recorded by Herodotus, Aeschylus, and Aelian, in the Greek texts. Possibly Aristeas reached eastward to the Issedones at Ukok, delineated on this map at the converging borders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China.
As for the Gold Guarding Gryphons? They are described by Aelian as existing in a "terrible desert," obviously taken from the epic poem of Aristeas. Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History believe Aristeas' Gryphons were based on bones and skulls of Protoceratops dinosaurs. The first "modern" specimen of a "sharp-beaked hound" was discovered in the Gobi during the 1920s by Roy Chapman Andrews, an AMNH archaeologist. Since then, hundreds of protoceratops skulls have been found in former Yuezhi territory.
Roy Andrews in the Gobi Desert with his 6.5 caliber Mannlicher (just in case a Gold Guarding Gryphon attacks).
The beaked Gryphon as described by Herodotus to Aelian, then found by Roy Andrews.
This gives credence to early Greek descriptions. It links the Yuezhi directly to the Arimaspi and Gryphons. By combining Greek descriptions, Chinese geography, and Roy Andrews' discoveries, we find a territory much larger than the Gansu Corridor. Here is another map, showing the Bend of the Yellow River, the extent of the Gobi, the relative size of Gansu, then a huge tract northwest to the Altai. Please click on it to view the expansive detail.
More to come from Greek and Roman sources. Thank you for following this thread.
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
