Etienne de la Vaissière
EHESS-Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Cetobac, Department Member
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Central Asian Studies, Medieval Islamic History, Chinese history (History), Economic History, Oriental Studies, Eurasian Nomads, and 43 moreArchaeology of Central Asia, Central Asia (History), Silk Road Studies, Sasanian History, Abbasid History, Bactria (Archaeology), Tang Dynasty, Umayyads (Islamic History), Sogdian, Sogdian Archaeology, Inner Asian History, Kushan history, Khotanese, Dunhuang, Old Turkic Culture, Iranian Huns, Northern Wei, Central Asians/Sogdians in China, Khazar archaeology and history, Central Asia, Silk Road, Migrations, Medieval Kinship, Turfan, Caucasian History, Xiongnu, Hephtalites, Early Turks, Xuanzang, Tong Yabghu, Tribal identity, Völkerwanderung, Asie Centrale, Sogdian Traders, Old Turkic, Turkology, Islamic Archaeology, Hellenistic Bactria, Qanat systems, Archaeology of the Silk Road, Inner Asian Studies, Zoroastrians in China, and Early Medieval China History edit
March 1 @ 12:00 pm-2:00 pm Free Lecture by Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris Zoom lecture by Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences... more
March 1 @ 12:00 pm-2:00 pm Free Lecture by Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Zoom lecture by Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Link:
https://lateantiquemedievalstudies.commons.gc.cuny.edu/event/lecture-tbd-2/
Early New Persian was the language of the Early ʿAbbāsid army, an evolved form of the specific koinè of Marw of the first half of the 8th c. The historical and vocabulary data perfectly fit what is known of the situation in Marw. Marw was the only Northern, Parthian-speaking, region of Iran, twice very heavily manned from the South by soldiers speaking Middle Persian and then soldiers speaking Arabic. It was also the origin of ʿAbbāsid power and its armies were twice victorious, in 749 and 811. Their heirs, the ʿAbbāsid soldiers and administrators were in a perfect position to unify the various Iranian koinè of Iran around their own.
Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, is a specialist of the social and economic history of Central Asia in the early medieval period. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Sogdian Traders (Brill 2005) and Samarcande et Samarra: Élites d’Asie centrale dans l’empire abbasside (Peeters, 2007). He has just published Asie centrale 300-850. Des routes et des royaumes (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2024) a comprehensive history of Central Asia from the 4th to the 9th c. He has excavated or conducted surveys in Uzbekistan, in Afghanistan and Mongolia.
This lecture will take place online only. REGISTER VIA ZOOM to participate by following the link above.
Zoom lecture by Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Link:
https://lateantiquemedievalstudies.commons.gc.cuny.edu/event/lecture-tbd-2/
Early New Persian was the language of the Early ʿAbbāsid army, an evolved form of the specific koinè of Marw of the first half of the 8th c. The historical and vocabulary data perfectly fit what is known of the situation in Marw. Marw was the only Northern, Parthian-speaking, region of Iran, twice very heavily manned from the South by soldiers speaking Middle Persian and then soldiers speaking Arabic. It was also the origin of ʿAbbāsid power and its armies were twice victorious, in 749 and 811. Their heirs, the ʿAbbāsid soldiers and administrators were in a perfect position to unify the various Iranian koinè of Iran around their own.
Étienne de la Vaissière, professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, is a specialist of the social and economic history of Central Asia in the early medieval period. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Sogdian Traders (Brill 2005) and Samarcande et Samarra: Élites d’Asie centrale dans l’empire abbasside (Peeters, 2007). He has just published Asie centrale 300-850. Des routes et des royaumes (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2024) a comprehensive history of Central Asia from the 4th to the 9th c. He has excavated or conducted surveys in Uzbekistan, in Afghanistan and Mongolia.
This lecture will take place online only. REGISTER VIA ZOOM to participate by following the link above.
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This Zoom lecture (the link is above, in the File section, and in the PDF), for the Jean and Denis Sinor Faculty Fellowship Lecture Series at the kind invitation of Prof. Choksy, is an attempt to present and update my articles on the... more
This Zoom lecture (the link is above, in the File section, and in the PDF), for the Jean and Denis Sinor Faculty Fellowship Lecture Series at the kind invitation of Prof. Choksy, is an attempt to present and update my articles on the links between the Huns and the Xiongnu. After presenting my previously published hypothesis, starting from c. 20', I present the objections raised by Ch. Atwood, W. Pohl and U. Brosseder in recently published articles and try to answer to their objections, accepting some of them and vigourously fighting against some others. There are many new ideas, not yet published, in the lecture (for instance the emic character of the image of one tribe chasing the other on the green billiard table of the steppe, or the social status of the copper Hunnic cauldrons). The sound of the lecture is quite bad, on top of my halting speech, and I have to apologize for this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ib-mfAXC8Y&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ib-mfAXC8Y&t=2s
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This is the complete Table of Content of my new book, a "total" history of Early Medieval Central Asia from the Caspian to Gansu and from Mongolia to Afghanistan.I am dealing with an awful lot of topics, from regional Climatology to... more
This is the complete Table of Content of my new book, a "total" history of Early Medieval Central Asia from the Caspian to Gansu and from Mongolia to Afghanistan.I am dealing with an awful lot of topics, from regional Climatology to monetary history, pastoralism, globalization, the missionary activities of the major religions, the historry of the Turkish empire or the Chinese or Muslim local presence, etc. It can be bought , if possible directly on the website of my small but brilliant and erudite editor here
https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/9782251455211/asie-centrale-300-850
amazon.com only has the epub version, but amazon.fr, or the other ones, have both versions, printed and epub.
https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/9782251455211/asie-centrale-300-850
amazon.com only has the epub version, but amazon.fr, or the other ones, have both versions, printed and epub.
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Economic History, Ethnography, Central Asian Studies, Islam in China, Silk Road Studies, and 20 moreTang Dynasty, Xinjiang, Chinese history (History), Kushan history, Sogdian Archaeology, Sogdian, Nationalism & Conflict, Uyghurs, Chinese minorities, early Middle Ages, Silk Road Archaeology, late Classical world, Sogdian Culture, Central Asian History and Anthropology, Ancient and Roman Roads, Iranian Contribution to Early European Culture, Indo Greek Culture and History, Chinese Minority Education, Turkic & Altaic Studies, and Central Asian Societies
These are the introduction, conclusion and table of contents of the book. Summary: The integration of Central Asia into the Islamic empire during the VIIIth and IXth c. is here analyzed through the history of its nobility and military... more
These are the introduction, conclusion and table of contents of the book.
Summary: The integration of Central Asia into the Islamic empire during the VIIIth and IXth c. is here analyzed through the history of its nobility and military elites. With the caliphs Ma'mun and Mu'tasim, these nobles and soldiers, both Iranian and Turkish, took part in the government of the Muslim Empire in Iraq. They brought to Baghdad and Samarra their Central Asian hierarchies and the Abbasid elites were under their influences for half a century. But the slow decay of this Central Asian military system in Samarra gave way to the political disorders of the 860's. The mamluk system was then created in the 870's to better manage the Turkish cavalrymen.
Easily available at http://www.peeters-leuven.be/
Summary: The integration of Central Asia into the Islamic empire during the VIIIth and IXth c. is here analyzed through the history of its nobility and military elites. With the caliphs Ma'mun and Mu'tasim, these nobles and soldiers, both Iranian and Turkish, took part in the government of the Muslim Empire in Iraq. They brought to Baghdad and Samarra their Central Asian hierarchies and the Abbasid elites were under their influences for half a century. But the slow decay of this Central Asian military system in Samarra gave way to the political disorders of the 860's. The mamluk system was then created in the 870's to better manage the Turkish cavalrymen.
Easily available at http://www.peeters-leuven.be/
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Proceedings of a panel on the Hephtalites in the London SAA international congress
It can be ordered at http://www.bulletinasiainstitute.org/
It can be ordered at http://www.bulletinasiainstitute.org/
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Proceedings of a conference on the Afrasiab painting (Samarkand, mid 7th c.). Various different interpretation of this square room entirely painted with political and religious topics are proposed, as well as technical analysis of the... more
Proceedings of a conference on the Afrasiab painting (Samarkand, mid 7th c.). Various different interpretation of this square room entirely painted with political and religious topics are proposed, as well as technical analysis of the painting itself.
It should be in any library receiving the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, but it is very difficult to find it as a stand-alone book.
It should be in any library receiving the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, but it is very difficult to find it as a stand-alone book.
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Table of content, introduction
This book is difficult to find. It can be ordered at
efeo-diffusion@efeo.net
and there is one available at www.amazon.fr
This book is difficult to find. It can be ordered at
efeo-diffusion@efeo.net
and there is one available at www.amazon.fr
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Introduction, table of contents, and abstracts of the articles
Easily available at http://www.peeters-leuven.be/
Easily available at http://www.peeters-leuven.be/
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A cautious new hypothesis on the origin of New Persian
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Mongol going back to Mugulü as demonstrated by a Khotanese text? This is a tentative draft.
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This is a short draft and I will add the footnotes later. The Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg is an apocalyptic 10th c. text describing in the 15, 16 and 17 th chapters the end of the millenary of Zoroaster and the advent of the Savior Ushedar. The... more
This is a short draft and I will add the footnotes later. The Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg is an apocalyptic 10th c. text describing in the 15, 16 and 17 th chapters the end of the millenary of Zoroaster and the advent of the Savior Ushedar. The end of the Sassanian Dynasty is first described then 4 men are mentioned, 3 of them identified with Muslim-period major political actors while curiously the second one has been identified with Khosrow II. I demonstrate here that he is much more likely to be identified with the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutasim: the text is in full chronological order.
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This is the draft version of a text read at the PIAC 2017 conference in Hungary. It should be read in relation to the parallel articles of Dieter Maue, Mehmet Ölmez and Alexander Vovin.
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This small article elaborates on N. Schindel's 2011 article (The Era of the Bactrian Documents: A Reassessment, Gandhāran Studies, 5: 1-10) and proposes a unified chronological system for the Kushan and Bactrian documents: I demonstrate... more
This small article elaborates on N. Schindel's 2011 article (The Era of the Bactrian Documents: A Reassessment, Gandhāran Studies, 5: 1-10) and proposes a unified chronological system for the Kushan and Bactrian documents: I demonstrate that the centenary of the Kushan era in 227-8 AD took place in Bactriana, still Kushan at that time, and that the calendar went back to Year 1, as in India: it is most probably the Year 1 of the Bactrian documents. Actually, with this hypothesis, nothing happened as regard the chronological system after the Sasanian conquest of the region: the previous system simply went on up to the 8th c. The burden of the proof is on the proponents of a year 1 of the Bactrian Era in 223-4. They have to demonstrate why the system should have been modified.
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In the long debate on the Persian or Arab nature of the Abbasid movement, new data from Chinese, Bactrian and Archaeological sources on the oasis of Marw are introduced. These data provide us with a rough estimate of the maximum feeding... more
In the long debate on the Persian or Arab nature of the Abbasid movement, new data from Chinese, Bactrian and Archaeological sources on the oasis of Marw are introduced. These data provide us with a rough estimate of the maximum feeding power of the oasis of Marw. This feeding power is then taken into account to demonstrate that the Arab soldiers and their families settled there should have consumate between one third and two third of the food produced in the oasis. The Abbasid Revolution did not take place in an oasis with two widely divergent communities, a tiny community of powerful Arab warriors versus a vast majority of powerless Persian-speaking peasants, but of communities intermingled all over the oasis in quite equal numbers which had no choice but to cooperate during four generations before the Revolution. If the Revolutionary network before the Revolution seems to have been mainly Arab, the texts clearly describe an Abbasid army numerically dominated by Persians under Arab command. The existence of a mixed society does explain how an Arab network came to muster and to dominate a much more mixed military force, which gave way to a gradual Persian empowerment.
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This paper deals with Population estimates for 8th c. Central Asia. It makes use of a whole range of sources, from Chinese 8th c. census to depictions of 10th c. Arabic geographers, archaeological maps of the distribution of sites, and to... more
This paper deals with Population estimates for 8th c. Central Asia. It makes use of a whole range of sources, from Chinese 8th c. census to depictions of 10th c. Arabic geographers, archaeological maps of the distribution of sites, and to Russian 19th c. census. It aims not at being precise, but to provide very rough estimates and a sens of the global equilibrium between East Turkestan, West Turkestan, and the steppe.
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It seems that the Tuva fortress of Por Bajin might be described in an Arabic source, a fact which in turn has consequences on the interpretation of the site, the hitory of teh Arabic geographers, and teh political context of 9th c.... more
It seems that the Tuva fortress of Por Bajin might be described in an Arabic source, a fact which in turn has consequences on the interpretation of the site, the hitory of teh Arabic geographers, and teh political context of 9th c. Central Asia.
This is a short note, a small draft. I should add pictures and a map.
This is a short note, a small draft. I should add pictures and a map.
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This is a newly created map of the Sogdian trading networks in Asia with some commentaries in French.
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This map has been drawn for a forthcoming paper on the Early Medieval Central Asian population estimates. It shows the distribution of the oasis wall, of the Archaeological sites, and the pre-Mongol pattern of the of the Balkhab and its... more
This map has been drawn for a forthcoming paper on the Early Medieval Central Asian population estimates. It shows the distribution of the oasis wall, of the Archaeological sites, and the pre-Mongol pattern of the of the Balkhab and its channels.
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This map is an important proof of a profound geopolitical evolution in the second Turkish empire, unnoticed so far. Before 708, this empire prospered South of the Gobi and a big part of its elites's wealth came from the yearly pillages on... more
This map is an important proof of a profound geopolitical evolution in the second Turkish empire, unnoticed so far. Before 708, this empire prospered South of the Gobi and a big part of its elites's wealth came from the yearly pillages on Northern China. The economic basis of the imperial elites after 708, that is after the Chinese managed to build forts north of the Huanghe loop and consequently expelled the Turks from their century-old basis south of the Gobi, was very different. There were no longer any raids on Northern China. They had to rely only on the Mongolian steppe and its wealth. This in turn opens the possibility of a wholly new interpretation of the Orkhon inscriptions, as an attempt to deal with this catastrophic new situation, a passionate plea to make the best of a bad bargain. Before 708 the Turks were very happy to be far away from the Ötüken.
This map was published on p. 457 of “Away from the Ötüken : A geopolitical approach to the 7th c. Eastern Türks,” in J. Bemmann, M. Schmauder (ed.), The Complexity of Interaction along the Eurasian Steppe zone in the first Millennium AD, (Bonn Contributions to Asian Archaeology, 7), Bonn, 2015, p. 453-461. More in the article and pdf of the article available on demand!
This map was published on p. 457 of “Away from the Ötüken : A geopolitical approach to the 7th c. Eastern Türks,” in J. Bemmann, M. Schmauder (ed.), The Complexity of Interaction along the Eurasian Steppe zone in the first Millennium AD, (Bonn Contributions to Asian Archaeology, 7), Bonn, 2015, p. 453-461. More in the article and pdf of the article available on demand!
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Map drawn for a review published in Journal Asiatique, 291 1-2, 2003, p. 295-300 of Bregel, Yuri, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, (Handbuch der Orientalistik, VIII : Central Asia, 9), Leiden : Brill, 2003, 109 p. Please feel free to... more
Map drawn for a review published in Journal Asiatique, 291 1-2, 2003, p. 295-300 of Bregel, Yuri, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, (Handbuch der Orientalistik, VIII : Central Asia, 9), Leiden : Brill, 2003, 109 p. Please feel free to modify and adapt it to your needs: the layers can be modified in Illustrator. Although I have drawn it I claim no copyright, but would welcome that you mention the source. Actually, the best map of this region and this period has been published in J. Hamilton, Manuscrits Ouïghours du IXe-Xe de Touen-Houang, Louvain, 1986
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Map drawn for my Histoire des marchands sogdiens, Paris: Collège de France, 2002, map 5. Please feel free to modify and adapt it to your needs: the layers can be modified in Illustrator. Although I have drawn it I claim no copyright, but... more
Map drawn for my Histoire des marchands sogdiens, Paris: Collège de France, 2002, map 5. Please feel free to modify and adapt it to your needs: the layers can be modified in Illustrator. Although I have drawn it I claim no copyright, but would welcome that you mention the source.
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Mongolian Studies, Old Turkic, Turkology, Mongolia, Altaistic, and 11 moreTürkoloji, Mongolian and Central Asian Studies, Turcology, Mongolian Languages, Eski Türk Dili, Altayistik, Studia Uralo-Altaica, Mongolic Studies, Turkic & Altaic Studies, Turkic-Mongolic linguistic relationship, and University of Szeged
This short note proposes that a hapax legomenon in a fifth century list of enemies of Khotan might give a half a millennium antecedent to the name of the Mongols, as an alternative, and older, name of the Mongol-speaking Rouran.
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The debate on the religious interpretation of some panels of the Wirkak funerary bed has concentrated on two possibilities, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. it is clear that the dominant iconography is Zoroastrian: the barsom, the priests... more
The debate on the religious interpretation of some panels of the Wirkak funerary bed has concentrated on two possibilities, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. it is clear that the dominant iconography is Zoroastrian: the barsom, the priests with padām, the rooster symbol of the god Srōsh, in the eschatological scene the Chinwad bridge, and, maybe more important, the fact that the final Paradise is the Zoroastrian one, the House of Song—all that demonstrate that this is overall a Zoroastrian tomb. However, if some key and central parts can be identified as Zoroastrian, still some parts cannot. I have proposed in two previous articles that some panels, or part of them, can only be understood as reflecting Manichaean texts and images. This has been accepted in some articles, contested in others. I will provide here new texts and references, which, i hope, settle the question, paying special attention to texts earlier than the tomb.
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The discovery and publication of the Khüis Tolgoi inscription is an important step toward a better understanding of the political situation in Mongolia during the first Turkic empire. The stone was discovered in a lateral valley on the... more
The discovery and publication of the Khüis Tolgoi inscription is an important step toward a better understanding of the political situation in Mongolia during the first Turkic empire. The stone was discovered in a lateral valley on the left bank of the Tuul (Tola) river, close to the watershed with the Orkhon. As regards the language of the inscription, the major fact is that it belongs to the Mongolic family. This language should be an imperial language: Rouran or Tuoba are the most likely candidates. In this region, far removed from China’s border, it is more likely that it is Rouran and that it was chosen in opposition to the Sogdo-Turkish symbiosis of the early Turkish empire. The key point for dating it, without any precise archaeological context, is the mention on columns 5 and 10 of the qaghan of the Turks Niri 泥利 qaghan, who reigned from 595 to 604. No other names in the text would remind us of members of Niri’s Ashinas dynasty, so that it might be an inscription describing the defeat of Niri, not one celebrating his dynasty. Niri was defeated by the Tiele. A Tiele chief, the first important Uighur ruler, named Pusa 菩薩, might be the Bodhisattva qaghan mentioned at the beginning of the inscription. He was still active at the end of the 620s, but we do not know when his reign began, and when he died. He might have played a great role in the defeat of Niri qaghan 20 years earlier. Crucially, we are told also that he established his camp on the Tola, where the inscription was discovered. It seems, with due caution, that the Khüis Tolgoi inscription marks the beginning of the ascendancy of the Tiele, and possibly among them the Uighurs, in the north. The choice of a Mongolic language is a clear departure from the epigraphic choices of the Turkic qaghans and might go back to the prestige of the Rouran Empire. It might narrate the life of Bodhisattva qaghan, the creator of the Uighur power, or may be of an unknown and slightly earlier Tiele qaghan, beginning with the crushing of the Western Turk power of Niri qaghan.
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This is conference paper from 60th PIAC. Already published in JA by D. Maue and A. Vovin too. This is printed form of our joint research:
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Mongolian Studies, Old Turkic, Mongolian Languages, Mongolian linguistics, History of Turkic peoples, and 9 moreMongolic Studies, Mongolic languages, Old Turkic Written Monuments, Brahmic Scripts, The Mongolic Languages, Epigraphy ( Brahmi, Turkic & Altaic Studies, Turkic-Mongolic linguistic relationship, and Brāhmī scripts
in S. Whitfield (dir.), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith, London: British Library/British Museum, 2004, p. 19-23.
This is a quite old but synthetic text.
This is a quite old but synthetic text.
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Encyclopaedia Iranica's article on the title Yabghu
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Central Asian Studies, Central Asian History (Area Studies), Yeniseian Languages, Old Turkic, Chinese history (History), and 15 moreTurkic Linguistics, Chinese history, Middle Chinese, Old Chinese, Chinese Historical Phonology, Ket Language, Xiongnu, Chinese historical linguistics, Yeniseian linguistics, Xiong-nu, Old Turkic languages, The Xiongnu in Chinese Chronicles, Turkic and Mongolian Ethnic Relations, Old Turkic Phonology, and Turkich Langueges
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A gigantic (16 km2) early Kushan military camp, with a perfectly regular grid plan and a surrounding wall, was discovered from aerial photographs north of Bactra, on the road to a crossing of the Amu Daria. The date was established with... more
A gigantic (16 km2) early Kushan military camp, with a perfectly regular grid plan and a surrounding wall, was discovered from aerial photographs north of Bactra, on the road to a crossing of the Amu Daria. The date was established with both C14 and historical data.
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Military History, Aerial Archaeology, Hellenistic History, Afghanistan, Military Architecture, and 9 moreBactria (Archaeology), Central Asia, Kushan history, Sogdian Archaeology, Town planning, Uzbekistan, Google Earth, History of Architecture and Town Planning, and Archaeology of Central Asia in Parthian, Kushan and Sasanian times
This article demonstrates a profound geopolitical evolution in the second Turkish empire, unnoticed so far. Before 708, this empire prospered South of the Gobi and a big part of its elites's wealth came from the yearly pillages on... more
This article demonstrates a profound geopolitical evolution in the second Turkish empire, unnoticed so far. Before 708, this empire prospered South of the Gobi and a big part of its elites's wealth came from the yearly pillages on Northern China. The economic basis of the imperial elites after 708, that is after the Chinese managed to build forts north of the Huanghe loop and consequently expelled the Turks from their century-old basis south of the Gobi, was very different. There were no longer any raids on Northern China. They had to rely only on the Mongolian steppe and its wealth. This in turn opens the possibility of a wholly new interpretation of the Orkhon inscriptions, as an attempt to deal with this catastrophic new situation, a passionate plea to make the best of a bad bargain. Before 708 the Turks were very happy to be far away from the Ötüken.
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This is a short note forthcoming in Turcica: while a lot of excavations and surveys are currently taking place in Mongolia, this text of Idrisi seems to have been totally forgotten among the range of sources. This is a depiction of the... more
This is a short note forthcoming in Turcica: while a lot of excavations and surveys are currently taking place in Mongolia, this text of Idrisi seems to have been totally forgotten among the range of sources. This is a depiction of the Orkhon and Selenga valleys in the 9th c., during the Uighur period.
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Manichaean interpretation of the iconography of the 6th c. tomb of a Sogdian Sartapao, Wirkak, discovered in Xi'an, China. I have already argued on the Manichaean character of this iconography in a 2005 article in french (Mani en Chine):... more
Manichaean interpretation of the iconography of the 6th c. tomb of a Sogdian Sartapao, Wirkak, discovered in Xi'an, China. I have already argued on the Manichaean character of this iconography in a 2005 article in french (Mani en Chine): I return to this thesis with new elements, both textuals and from the recently published late Manichaean paintings from Southern China, identified in Japanese Collections by Y. Yoshida. I also discuss other hypothesis, ultimately rejected, that of Zoroastrianism and that of Khurramî, i.e. the syncretic Iranian beliefs known from Muslim sources diverging from the orthodox state-oriented official Zoroastrian Orthopraxy (see P. Crone's recently published Nativist Prophets).
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This the draft of an article written for the Encyclopaedia Iranica.
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Thanks to an external chronological hint in Khotanese history, I am trying here to date the legend of the first recorded escape of Silk technology outside of China, to Khotan. This is based on texts only, and not on archaeology.
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This is the corrected proof of the text. The whole book can be bought at
http://www.cambridge.org/fr/academic/subjects/history/economic-history/cambridge-history-capitalism-volume-1
http://www.cambridge.org/fr/academic/subjects/history/economic-history/cambridge-history-capitalism-volume-1
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Discovery of Octagonal Buddhist monastery (ies) of the 7th c. AD in Afghanistan, including the famous Nowbahar in the Bactra oasis. This octagonal shape, unknown in any other buddhist architectural tradition was an innovation of Iranian... more
Discovery of Octagonal Buddhist monastery (ies) of the 7th c. AD in Afghanistan, including the famous Nowbahar in the Bactra oasis. This octagonal shape, unknown in any other buddhist architectural tradition was an innovation of Iranian buddhism which suddenly came to an end due to its incorporation into the Arab empire. Consequently it left no traces in the other buddhist architectural schools, although octagonal stupas are well known. This innovative architecture was possible due to the immense wealth of the masters of the Nowbahar monasteries, who controlled the whole oasis (see La Vaissière, De Bactres à Balkh, 2010).
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This is a commentary of Theophylact Simocatta famous text on the Turks, taking into account the latest research on Central Asia. This text is the best depiction of China and Central Asia in Western sources before the 13th c. texts of the... more
This is a commentary of Theophylact Simocatta famous text on the Turks, taking into account the latest research on Central Asia. This text is the best depiction of China and Central Asia in Western sources before the 13th c. texts of the Papal envoys.
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Russian translation of "Oncles et frères". On the difficulties that the Chinese had to translate the Turkish vocabulary of kinship, the errors it created, and the political consequences for the History of the Turkish empire
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Medieval History, International Trade, Afghanistan, Central Asian Studies, History of Iran, and 12 moreSilk Road Studies, Tang Dynasty, Byzantine Studies, Late Antiquity, Umayyads (Islamic History), Central Asia, Turco-Iranian World, Ancient Trade & Commerce (Archaeology), Sogdian, Huns, Archaeology of the Silk Road, and Sogdian trade
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Ziebel, the Turkish qaghan of the Byzantine and Caucasian sources, ally of Heraclius, is identified in the Chinese sources and the history of the Western qaghanate reinterpreted
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On the difficulties that the Chinese had to translate the Turkish vocabulary of kinship, the errors it created, and the political consequences for the History of the Turkish empire
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A new hypothesis on the economic power of the Barmak in Bactra: they would have been master of the whole oasis and Bactra oasis could be described as a monastic republic, without any political power just before the Islamic conquest.
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Identification of the Qaghan who sent a letter to the emperor Mauricius in 595, as reported in Theophylact Simocatta
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Departure of Xuanzang in 629, not 627.
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Key to the understanding of Ptolemy's map of Central Asia
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Depiction of what a Central Asian ribat actually was from a social and longue durée point of view.
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The Hephtalites as a political entity, not a linguistic or ethnic one
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Translation and commentary of an official price list from Turfan
Research Interests:
Explanation of the global design of the Sogdian Afrasiab painting in Samarkand as an illustration of the "Four kings of the world", a literary and iconographic theme well known in Late Antique Central Asia
Research Interests:
This article aims at demonstrating that Sogdaia (today Sudak) in Crimea was indeed named from the Sogdian traders who traded there with the Imperial Byzantine warehouse.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A 6th c. Sogdian tomb in Chang'an displays some Manichaean features and iconography, so that the arrival of Manichaeism in China should be pushed backward by 150 years
Research Interests:
On the relationship between the Xiongnu and the Huns: the Sogdian and Bactrian testimonies naming Xiongnu Huns and Huns Xiongnu are here vindicated
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Depiction of the social structures of the Sogdian communities in Early Medieval China
Research Interests:
A painting from Panjikent shows most probably the earliest image of an Avesta codex
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Silk Road, Silk Road Studies, History of Indian subcontinet and Central Asia, Early Islamic Archaeology, Archaeology of Central Asia, and 25 moreEarly and Medieval Islamic Art and Architecture, Sogdian Archaeology, Sogdian, Sogdian art, Central Asian Archaeology, Central Asian wall paintings on the Silk Road, Archaeology, art history, social history of Central and South Asia, Sogdian Coins, Art and Archaeology, Early Islamic Central Asia, Art and Archaeology of Central Asia, Silk Road Archaeology, Archaeology of the Silk Road, Art & Archaeology of Iran and Central Asia, History of Central Asia, Archaeology of Central Asia in Parthian, Kushan and Sasanian times, the history of Soghd in the Early Medieval ages (5-8 centuries A.D.), Sogdiana, The Silk Road and other ancient trade routes, History of Sogdiana in 6-8 centuries, Sogdian Culture, History of the Silk Road, Great Silk Road, Central Asian History and Anthropology, Sogdian C Oins and Archaeological Material, and Pre-Islamic and Islamic archaeology of Central Asia
This volume is a comprehensive compilation of primary textual sources pertaining to the history of Hunnic peoples in the vast area encompassing Central and South Asia. Sources in nearly a dozen languages have been carefully selected by... more
This volume is a comprehensive compilation of primary textual sources pertaining to the history of Hunnic peoples in the vast area encompassing Central and South Asia. Sources in nearly a dozen languages have been carefully selected by scholars with a specialisation in the particular language and relevant research experience. Each excerpt in the chrestomathy is presented in the original language, accompanied by an authoritative translation into a modern European language to make it accessible to specialists of other fields. Many texts are, moreover, accompanied by a commentary highlighting crucial points of interest, problematic issues and connections to the information revealed in other sources. The Sourcebook is the outcome of an interdisciplinary workshop held at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary) in August 2017, organised by the project Beyond Boundaries and funded by the European Research Council. The initial compilation of source texts was selectively presented, analysed and discussed at this workshop, culminating in the present volume, whose publication has also been supported by the ERC.
The authors and the editor present the book to the community of scholars and enthusiasts in hopes that, by making pertinent primary sources accessible, it will serve as a solid foundation on which to base future research. The included commentaries are thus not intended to be exhaustive, but to instigate further enquiry. For in-depth discussion of many issues raised here, a Companion series is planned to follow the Sourcebook. The first companion volume, a study of the Alkhan by Hans Bakker, was released simultaneously by Barkhuis, Groningen, and is now also available as an open-access publication: https://www.academia.edu/42187077
The authors and the editor present the book to the community of scholars and enthusiasts in hopes that, by making pertinent primary sources accessible, it will serve as a solid foundation on which to base future research. The included commentaries are thus not intended to be exhaustive, but to instigate further enquiry. For in-depth discussion of many issues raised here, a Companion series is planned to follow the Sourcebook. The first companion volume, a study of the Alkhan by Hans Bakker, was released simultaneously by Barkhuis, Groningen, and is now also available as an open-access publication: https://www.academia.edu/42187077