Origin of the Alans

[Michael Kerr]

 We have some literary evidence from both Chinese and Roman sources that mention that nomadic herdsmen spent the summers in the highlands and winters on the lowlands. Sima Guang who was an 11th century historian and not to be mistaken for Sima Qian who wrote about 1100 years before, wrote about the Northern Wei emperor T’ai-wu-Ti who reigned from 424-452 AD, when he declared during a Council of War against the Rouran (Proto Mongolians and Turks), The Wei were themselves sinicized proto-Turks who knew well the lifestyle and herding practices of their nomadic enemies. T’ai-wu-Ti said the best time to wage war against the Rouran was during the summer because then they would be grazing their herds in the north around the highland areas of Lake Baikal and at this time their horses were not available for warfare, since the stallions were covering the mares and the mares were suckling foals. The Rouran moved their herds south in the autumn and spent the winter harassing the Chinese border areas. Another reason why nomads move north and into highland regions around Siberia and Mongolia in Summer is to avoid the plagues of midges which can be annoying to both human and beast. Even the Sarmatians, Iazyges and Roxolani in Hungary and the western area of the Black Sea seemed to migrate to higher ground in summer to breed and rest their mounts but always were ready to campaign and raid against the Romans in winters as mentioned by Cassius Dio in his description of the Battle of the Ice on the Danube where the Romans won a victory against the over-confident Iazyges.

 Just as an aside since the Yueh-chih come up a lot in this particular thread, T'ai-wu-Ti played a big part in encouraging  and bringing glassmaking to China. Chinese glass was always inferior to Roman and later on, Kushan glass but T'ai-wu-Ti brought in Yueh-chih or Kushan glassmakers as well as Sogdians and set up factories in his kingdom. Although the Kushan empire was long gone, Kushan glassmakers set up shop in Sogdiana  to make and sell their goods 

Regards

Michael Kerr