Hello, Luke
My post was basically in answer to your statement that the dragon on the Equites Taifali shield was in no fashion "a creature." I simply pointed out it was an actual creature that historically went back 5,000 years, and basically had not changed-- same ears, same shape curled into a near circle. This dragon originated in China, not in Dacia, or by the Celts, or arriving from Egypt, or any other speculative region mentioned by various authors to fill their wild scenario that King Arthur descended from Mary Magdalene.
If Helmut Nickel traced the pearl to the Tang Dynasty, he didn't look back far enough. In the same fashion, Bachrach made no mention of the Tailfali, nor the Rhoxalani, or Siraces, etc., because he was writing about a particular tribe named the "Alans," and specifically those Alans which settled in Western Europe. By using Bachrach, you're submitting negative evidence, ie the Taifali, or Rhoxalani, or Siraces, were not an Alan tribe, or even worse-- they did not exist. Writers like Bachrach, or Littleton and Malcor, discussed the Alans as a singular tribe so named, and they either forgot or were unaware the Alans were more than a tribe-- they were a specific Culture with more than one name. These authors (and a host of others) had not studied their subject fully: particularly cultural, burial, and religious connections going back to the root. (Same thing with the crenelated mane shown on Tang artwork. There's a failure by historians with "connecting the dots;" and further research finds crenelated manes depicted by the Han, the Qin, the Zhou, yet originating with the Saka in the Altail.)
We can completely eliminate the "pearl" from this discussion (let's do that), and we're still left with a legless and eared dragon representing a draco windsock. The windsock itself has an origin through tribes once living in China; it first shows up on the Orlat battle plaque, found in ancient Kangju. Here it is isolated from the battle scene:
The sock has yet to be attached to a "head," and it's carried by either the Yuezhi or Wusun, the two tribes that migrated west from China, and two of the tribes culturally identified with a confederation that became known as the Alans during the next century. In this fashion, many Chinese forms and symbols reached Europe, including the eared dragon, the water dragon ("chilong"), jade sword fittings, and the Chinese sword itself.
As for the ethnicity of the Taifali, that's always open to debate. They were the only cavalry for the Tyrfingi Goths for a period of nine generations. Wolfram specifically states they were expert horsemen and lived in wagons. The Tyrfingi Goths even named themselves after a sacred sword, Tyrfing, ritually planted upright in the ground for worship. This is not a Germanic ritual, it's historically and specifically an Alan one (see Ammianus Marcellinus). Obviously, their use of this ritual didn't arrive from nowhere like "virgin birth."
Lack of documentation forces us to speculate, but let's do it wisely-- they most likely received this Alan form of worship from their dependents and closest neighbors, the Taifali. Cultural transmission is a two-way street, and the Taifali become our singular candidates. The eared dragon symbol originated in central Asia. By gene-count, Alans had a 30% Asian admixture. And this accounts for an Asian creature arriving on the Taifali shield, and it bespeaks of their cultural heritage, neither Germanic nor European but Alanic.
But really, all of this is perhaps inconsequential. The important thing is the depiction of an eared dragon on the shield, which could not have originated in any other geographical location other than China, and which to the Chinese was a mythical "creature." In contrast, your eye could not see a "creature;" and instead of admitting it was one, your reply to me danced all over place upon a road of pearls and ying-yang symbols. Presenting further "negative evidence" cannot dismiss an actual "creature" so stylistically Asian.
My post was basically in answer to your statement that the dragon on the Equites Taifali shield was in no fashion "a creature." I simply pointed out it was an actual creature that historically went back 5,000 years, and basically had not changed-- same ears, same shape curled into a near circle. This dragon originated in China, not in Dacia, or by the Celts, or arriving from Egypt, or any other speculative region mentioned by various authors to fill their wild scenario that King Arthur descended from Mary Magdalene.
If Helmut Nickel traced the pearl to the Tang Dynasty, he didn't look back far enough. In the same fashion, Bachrach made no mention of the Tailfali, nor the Rhoxalani, or Siraces, etc., because he was writing about a particular tribe named the "Alans," and specifically those Alans which settled in Western Europe. By using Bachrach, you're submitting negative evidence, ie the Taifali, or Rhoxalani, or Siraces, were not an Alan tribe, or even worse-- they did not exist. Writers like Bachrach, or Littleton and Malcor, discussed the Alans as a singular tribe so named, and they either forgot or were unaware the Alans were more than a tribe-- they were a specific Culture with more than one name. These authors (and a host of others) had not studied their subject fully: particularly cultural, burial, and religious connections going back to the root. (Same thing with the crenelated mane shown on Tang artwork. There's a failure by historians with "connecting the dots;" and further research finds crenelated manes depicted by the Han, the Qin, the Zhou, yet originating with the Saka in the Altail.)
We can completely eliminate the "pearl" from this discussion (let's do that), and we're still left with a legless and eared dragon representing a draco windsock. The windsock itself has an origin through tribes once living in China; it first shows up on the Orlat battle plaque, found in ancient Kangju. Here it is isolated from the battle scene:
The sock has yet to be attached to a "head," and it's carried by either the Yuezhi or Wusun, the two tribes that migrated west from China, and two of the tribes culturally identified with a confederation that became known as the Alans during the next century. In this fashion, many Chinese forms and symbols reached Europe, including the eared dragon, the water dragon ("chilong"), jade sword fittings, and the Chinese sword itself.
As for the ethnicity of the Taifali, that's always open to debate. They were the only cavalry for the Tyrfingi Goths for a period of nine generations. Wolfram specifically states they were expert horsemen and lived in wagons. The Tyrfingi Goths even named themselves after a sacred sword, Tyrfing, ritually planted upright in the ground for worship. This is not a Germanic ritual, it's historically and specifically an Alan one (see Ammianus Marcellinus). Obviously, their use of this ritual didn't arrive from nowhere like "virgin birth."
Lack of documentation forces us to speculate, but let's do it wisely-- they most likely received this Alan form of worship from their dependents and closest neighbors, the Taifali. Cultural transmission is a two-way street, and the Taifali become our singular candidates. The eared dragon symbol originated in central Asia. By gene-count, Alans had a 30% Asian admixture. And this accounts for an Asian creature arriving on the Taifali shield, and it bespeaks of their cultural heritage, neither Germanic nor European but Alanic.
But really, all of this is perhaps inconsequential. The important thing is the depiction of an eared dragon on the shield, which could not have originated in any other geographical location other than China, and which to the Chinese was a mythical "creature." In contrast, your eye could not see a "creature;" and instead of admitting it was one, your reply to me danced all over place upon a road of pearls and ying-yang symbols. Presenting further "negative evidence" cannot dismiss an actual "creature" so stylistically Asian.
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
