10-20-2015, 03:58 PM
Hi, Evan, Michael, and anyone else following this thread,
The PDF you're looking for is, Origin of the Name Seres, by Gosciwit Malinowski. Google it up and you'll find it. Malinowski presents a long list of authorities, going back to the Greeks. Basically, I think, he surmises the name could have come from intermediaries in India.
Interestingly, Malinowski notes this (pp. 18-19), "By the end of the 3rd Century BC, the powerful khanate Xiongnu had established itself in these parts and its aggressive policy caused migrations of neighboring peoples of Wusun (Issedones?), Yuezhi (Tochars, Kushans), and Saka... to migrate westward." So, here again, we have the Issedones in the wrong location, and Malinowski joins Barry Cunliffe in misreading Herodotus.
Interesting, however, the Issedones (Indo-Iranian cultures of the Altai and northern Mongolia) begin to disappear from their northern location at roughly the time the Xiongnu are consolidated into a war-machine. Possibly Malinowski is correct (whether he knows it or not). If these northern cultures moved south, across the Ungar Pendi, they would neighbor the Saka, a closely related IE culture in customs, weapons, and art. Were the Issedones, in their new home, the Wusun as discovered by the Chinese? Oddly enough, the proto Akhal-teke horses found in Altai kurgans closely match the "heavenly horses" of the Wusun. Also, the Pazyryk people and later the Wusun were friendly toward and traded with the Chinese. Other IE tribes did not trade with the Han until later, such as the intensive yet successful negotiations with the Yue-chi.
For info on the Issedones and related tribes, I've found Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age to be helpful. The eastern tribes are well covered from Part III to Part V, by Yablonsky, Bokovenko, and Volkov. I'll close this post with a few pictures of an Issedone grave in northern Mongolia, and the Gryphon artifact buried with the warrior.
[attachment=12924]NewfindinginMongolia4(2).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=12925]NewfindinginMongolia3(2).jpg[/attachment]
The PDF you're looking for is, Origin of the Name Seres, by Gosciwit Malinowski. Google it up and you'll find it. Malinowski presents a long list of authorities, going back to the Greeks. Basically, I think, he surmises the name could have come from intermediaries in India.
Interestingly, Malinowski notes this (pp. 18-19), "By the end of the 3rd Century BC, the powerful khanate Xiongnu had established itself in these parts and its aggressive policy caused migrations of neighboring peoples of Wusun (Issedones?), Yuezhi (Tochars, Kushans), and Saka... to migrate westward." So, here again, we have the Issedones in the wrong location, and Malinowski joins Barry Cunliffe in misreading Herodotus.
Interesting, however, the Issedones (Indo-Iranian cultures of the Altai and northern Mongolia) begin to disappear from their northern location at roughly the time the Xiongnu are consolidated into a war-machine. Possibly Malinowski is correct (whether he knows it or not). If these northern cultures moved south, across the Ungar Pendi, they would neighbor the Saka, a closely related IE culture in customs, weapons, and art. Were the Issedones, in their new home, the Wusun as discovered by the Chinese? Oddly enough, the proto Akhal-teke horses found in Altai kurgans closely match the "heavenly horses" of the Wusun. Also, the Pazyryk people and later the Wusun were friendly toward and traded with the Chinese. Other IE tribes did not trade with the Han until later, such as the intensive yet successful negotiations with the Yue-chi.
For info on the Issedones and related tribes, I've found Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age to be helpful. The eastern tribes are well covered from Part III to Part V, by Yablonsky, Bokovenko, and Volkov. I'll close this post with a few pictures of an Issedone grave in northern Mongolia, and the Gryphon artifact buried with the warrior.
[attachment=12924]NewfindinginMongolia4(2).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=12925]NewfindinginMongolia3(2).jpg[/attachment]
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
