Origin of the Alans

[Michael Kerr]

  Just digressing back to the earlier comment on a previous post about the Yuezhi and Buddhism even if not affecting the Alans directly. One of the coastal trading cities of north-western India, Barygaza (Baruch) was ruled by a dynasty of Saka kings who were probably driven south into India by the Yuezhi or possibly  the Parthians who were expanding east. These Saka kings established various kingdoms known as the Western Satraps. One of these kings sent envoys to Augustus in 26 BC while he was campaigning in Spain. They had a shared enemy in the Parthians. The delegation was probably sent by Azes who was the last Saka king to rule in Indo-Scythia.

  He was probably responsible for a second embassy sent in 22 BC and on this occasion the Sakas sailed to a port on the Persian Gulf and made their way overland to Roman Syria and Antioch. He feared that his Indian possessions were about to be taken over by the Parthians. Barygaza was one of the few natural harbours on the north-western coast of India but it was still dangerous as the town lay a few miles upstream on the Narmada River from the ocean and the tides and sandbanks were treacherous. By the time of Ptolemy the Romans stopped trading there as the Sakas were losing control to the neighbouring Satavahanas and had changed their trading routes.

 With the monsoon winds, there was a brisk trade with the Romans, they exported rice, sesame oil, cotton, gemstones, dyes and possibly silk. Gemstones of many assorted colours and properties, especially were in high demand by the Romans for rings, necklaces and earrings and Pliny identified India as the most prolific source of these. Pliny also mentions that the Romans imported new varieties of millet from India which produced greater crop yields in Italy. The Romans in turn exported wine, glass, copper, tin, lead and Mediterranean dried red coral which could be polished and cut. The Sakas gave the Romans favourable exchange rates for denarii which by the time of Augustus had a high silver content, these could be melted down to produce their own currency and this also attracted Roman bankers who could make rich profits with these favourable rates.

 Many Roman traders lived in Barygaza and adopted local customs including Buddhism. Some of these early converts continued to practice their eastern beliefs when they returned west. Apparently there are several busts from the Imperial period which depict Roman men with their hair fashioned in Indian styles, long hair styled into a cranial knot worn by Buddhist holy men to signify the attainment of spiritual knowledge. Later on one of these portrait heads (see attachment below) has been fitted onto a torso depicting the chest and shoulders of a general in Roman armour. Two distinct cultures in one. 

Information obtained from the book "The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean, The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India" by Raoul McLaughlin.  

   

Bust from National Museum of Rome around about 2nd century AD.

Regards

Michael Kerr