The Silk Road Volume 1 Number 1 January 15, 2003 第1卷 第1號 “The Bridge between Eastern and Western Cultures” 一月十五日 In This Issue • WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE!

• [email protected]: A YE- Since the Soviet collapse, the nations of Central One reason for our distorted image of Central MENI TRADING LINK THREE THOUSAND Asia have shaken off imposed obscurity to make Asia has been the diffi culty of access for west- YEARS OLD headlines of their own. The emergence of these ern travelers, scholars, and archaeologists. new states has helped to focus attention once Russian and Chinese investigators working in • THE ORIGIN OF CHESS AND THE SILK again on their history, culture, and people. For their respective languages have done most of ROAD most of us, these were places whose names we the fi rst hand observation and reporting. The barely knew a decade ago. Collectively more experienced fi eld archaeologists • THE MONGOLS AND THE SILK ROAD they form the heart of Eurasia. Today in Russia and China—Elena Kuzmina • AGE OF MONGOLIAN EMPIRE: A BIB- they may be known as Ukraine, Armenia, from Moscow and Wang Binghua from LIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Urumchi, for example—have more di- Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and rect experience with Central Asian sites Kyrghizstan, but in the more remote and materials than practically all of past, along with Afghanistan, Xinjiang, the American investigators combined. and Gansu, they evoked images of the an- Their reports and publications, in Russian and cient Silk Road—oases, caravanserai, nomads, Chinese, are available in the west to only a lim- strange empires, fantastic beasts, and exotic ited number of specialists. Much of this material people. The public fascination with these dis- is now becoming available, and only some of tant lands has rekindled a dormant curiosity in that more recently still in translation. Next Issue the obscure past and modern folkways of what we now call Central Asia—the lands which em- The remove of Central Asian studies has con- • BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY ON ISLAMIC braced the multitude branches of the ancient tributed to its orphan status in major western WORLD BY PROFESSOR JOHN E. WOODS Silk Road. academic institutions. Mostly the region and its history is a ward of more entrenched and • BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY ON THE SOG- DIANS Those of us, scholars and amateurs, who seek better-supported traditional disciplines. Since timely and accurate information on the Silk Herodotus in Greece and Ssu Ma Chien in • ARTICLE BY DE LA VAISSIÈRE ON THE Road and Central Asia have many obstacles China, Central Asia has been parceled out as a SOGDIANS to overcome. The Silk Road, a newsletter, was remote and vestigial appendage of the Greek or conceived and developed to help those with an Chinese world. It has been viewed as a projec- • ARTICLE BY CONNIE CHIU “WEATHER interest to overcome those obstacles and to tion and subjectively constructed “other” to its AND MIGRATIONS DURING THE JIN DY- provide a central reference source for accurate better-known foils. NASTY” information on developments in various areas of Silk Road and Central Asian studies. The status of Central Asia as a separate aca- • AND MORE... demic subject has also suffered because liter- When we refer to “Central Asia” or “The Silk ary remains for the region are scant, for one, Road” we are not referring to one in the same and not in well attested languages and scripts. thing—they are not interchangeable terms. Written Central Asian documents appear rela- Central Asia is relatively easily defi ned. It is tively late in time compared to its better known roughly the geographic region of Asia from neighbors. The mission of unlocking the myster- the Urals in the west to Xinjiang and Gansu ies of these long lost regions has fallen almost in Western China. South to North, it includes exclusively to archaeology, and even then, only About the regions north of the Caucasus, Taurus, relatively recently. The Silk Road is a publication of Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Kun Lun, to the the Silkroad Foundation. Please Arctic Ocean. The Silk Road is centered on The term “the silk road,” as indicated earlier, feel free to contact us with any Central Asia but comprises, in our use of the presents another cluster of problems. There questions or contributions. term, more than geography—it stands by ex- was a silk road long before silk was actively tension for complex historical and cultural pro- traded by China, and there was a silk road for Silkroad Foundation cesses which need to be further investigated. thousands of years after that before the term P.O. Box 2275 “the silk road” was coined. In a sense, the silk Saratoga, CA 95070 Our knowledge of Central Asia and its Silk Road road was brought to Eurasia by the fi rst mod- Editor: Charles Cox conduits is impeded by several factors. The na- ern humans out of Africa some 100,000 years tive territory of our interest, for one, is as re- ago. As they discovered and adapted to new [email protected] mote to us as the territory of native Americans Eurasian habitats, they exchanged adaptations is to a Russian enthusiast. In addition, we have and technologies with one another and traded The Silk Road can also be viewed inherited in the west a legacy of 19th Century with each other for tools and goods. Gradually, online at romantic and exotic notions of Central Asia modern humans developed adaptations to http://www.silkroadfoundation based on dated travel accounts and Victorian most of Eurasia, especially in the wake of the .org fi ctions. The distortions inherent in these no- melting glaciers in the last 15,000 years. By tions have been ably and devastatingly decon- the Neolithic, about 8000 years ago, modern ©2003 Silk Road Foundation structed in Edward Said’s Orientalism. humans had transformed the great expanse of Eurasia into a large cultural interaction sphere, which effectively connected, on many direct and indirect levels, virtually all of the human oases and caravans transporting trade mummies in Xinjiang has focused major inhabitants of the continent from one end to and exchange via intermediaries between attention, and subsequent controversy, the other and from pre-historic times until dispersed peoples and cultures. There are on the early interactions between Chinese the present. The silk trade out of China only more nuanced dimensions to the Silk Road and Indo-Europeans. The stream of schol- began to be a major factor in Han times than simply trade and exchange which are arly articles in specialized journals dealing and reached its full flowering in the Tang worth our while to explore. with the Silk Road and Central Asian history Dynasty. It was not the silk that created the has also burgeoned in recent years. More silk road, however. Rather, a complex net- The obscurity of Central Asia has begun to explorations and excavations of the region work of trade routes, formal and informal, be dispelled. Over the past one hundred commence each year. Even television spe- maritime and terrestrial, facilitated the silk years, methodical exploration of this region cials have appeared with some regularity. trade and prospered from it. The necklace has revealed traces of larger communities And finally, there have been a number of of caravan oases centered in Central Asia and settlements dating from very early specialist and popular book length studies readily adapted to the silk trade across times. These were first brought to light on the Silk Road and its peoples. These Eurasia. It could be argued that the com- by bold military emissaries dispatched to developments have helped to create an plex network of links across Eurasia was this region by the political authorities of informed public interest in the Silk Road the first manifestation of what we now call the combatants in what is now referred to and Central Asian. globalization. For historians, this silk road as “the great game”. A generation of no network is part of world systems theory. less emboldened explorers followed them In response to this growth in interest, The Ironically, the silk road label was itself not on either side of the turn from the 19th Silk Road’s purpose is to monitor research, invented until the late nineteenth century to the 20th centuries. As word of the finds exhibitions, publications, and events relat- by Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833- of Sir Aurel Stein, Sven Hedin, and others ing to Central Asia and the Silk Road, and to 1905), long after silk had seen its glory—he finally came out, the archaeologists came communicate this information, at no cost, referred in German to “Die Seidenstrassen”. in. Beginning with Pumpelly’s excavations in print and online, to interested subscrib- The term was late in coming, but it has at Anau in Turkmenistan in 1904, there ers. Though our format is still evolving, stuck, at least in the west, as the name for followed, especially in the past twenty-five The Silk Road will include non-specialist the thing it describes. years, a series of spectacular archaeologi- articles on relevant subjects, a calendar cal discoveries in the once remote and pre- of events, exhibitions, and performances, For our newsletter, The Silk Road, how- sumably isolated reaches of Central Asia. notices of published research, articles, and ever, “the silk road” is not simply a time These discoveries have begun to reveal just books, progress reports on important ar- or merely a place. While it embraces the how central Central Asia’s role was to the chaeological field surveys and excavations, traditional meaning of a complex network of evolution of Eurasian society and civiliza- reviews of important new books in the caravan routes and oases linking China and tion. And as a result of these discoveries, field, announcements of guided tours, ex- the Levant, “the silk road” for our purposes we are now also aware of the existence of cavations, and special events and courses. encompasses in addition more abstract pro- many peoples, cultures, and civilizations in In this effort we invite and encourage our cesses and dynamic interactions. The Silk Central Asia of which we were previously readers to participate in the creation of our Road is not an historical artifact, a thing unaware. The Kushans for example; the newsletter. We will give serious editorial that was deliberately created by human Sogdians; the Bactrians; the Bronze Age attention to unsolicited contributions which agency, existed for limited purposes, and people of the Khopet Dag; the Uighurs; the are relevant to the focus of our publication then died out. Rather, in our wider use of mysterious, perhaps “Tocharian,” people of and consistent with our mission. the term, the Silk Road is a by-product of Xinjiang; as well as the Sarmatians. human interaction and exchange on many Roger L. Olesen levels, concrete and abstract. As a concept, There remain many obstacles to a fuller un- the Silk Road embraces the pre-history and derstanding of the pivotal role the Central history of modern humans since their ar- Asian peoples played in the dynamics of the Silkroad Foundation rival in Eurasia. In this sense, the Silk Road Silk Road. Through time, Central Asia has corresponds to the entire continent, it still been the geographical context for myriad exists, and it is still active in transforming empires and innumerable cultures, continu- peoples’ lives in ways which are worth our ous migrations and conquests, revolts and effort to identify and understand. wars, as well as contested religions and ideologies. No less today than in the past. Recent historians and archaeologists have Given the broad canvas, the sources and evolved a new model of Eurasia as an ex- materials for the study of the Silk Road are tensive cultural interaction sphere, a “world necessarily fragmented. It is not surprising, system” if you will, with direct and indirect then, that the studies of subjects related to interaction across the continents entire ex- the Silk Road are generally limited in time panse on many levels going back 50,000 and place, focused on a particular culture to 100,000 years. In this wider context of or people. But Central Asia is also central space and time, the Silk Road is a symbol of to the history of greater Eurasia. It is its the manifold interactions and processes by position at the center of Eurasia, as Andre means of which peoples and cultures influ- Gunder Frank’s pamphlet The Centrality of enced each other’s material culture, behav- Central Asia (Amsterdam: VU University ior, and beliefs—for example, by trade and Press, 1992), has so persuasively argued, exchange certainly, but also by less direct that makes Central Asia the pivot at all diffusion of ideas and technologies, by mi- levels of the Silk Road phenomenon. In gration and conquest, by genes and jeans, spite of the obstacles, interest in the Silk by art and literature, by music and dance, Road and Central Asia has grown globally by costume and design, by food and drink. in recent years. There have been many These examples are not meant to preclude major exhibitions of art from the Silk Road other less or more obvious possibilities. region. Yo Yo Ma, in a series of recent ap- And in this wider sense, the Silk Road as pearances, has highlighted Silk Road mu- symbol transcends its traditional idea of sic. The spectacular discovery of Caucasoid

2 to avoid paying the tax on goods they were [email protected]: taking back to Yemen.

However, until the sea routes through the A YEMENI TRADING LINK THREE Red Sea and a fast open sea passage to India using the monsoon, superceded the long overland camel caravans it is probably THOUSAND YEARS OLD fair to say that any Chinese-Yemen connec- tions were nebulous. The critical shift took Diana Pickworth place in the first century BC. That silk was esteemed, we know from a retrospective Visiting Scholar description by the 10th century Arab his- torian al-Hamdani. Where he describes the University of California at Berkeley windows of Ghumdan, the last Sabaean Dept. Near Eastern Studies royal palace in Sanaa thus; “of teak wood hung with silk curtains,” this description provides a clear demonstration of both an eastern connection for trade, and a plea- sure in luxurious and prestigious items.

To understand the distribution pattern of the The following is a summary of lecture de- century. From Xian in China, to the eastern traded items, through and out of Yemen, it livered by Diana Pickworth on 10/16/2002 Mediterranean coast by a single route is to is necessary to understand both the geog- at Stanford University understate the case and is too narrow a raphy of the country, and its political struc- definition. This name described a vast trad- ture throughout the first millennium BC and ing complex which was more intricate both for the early part of the first millennium in the number of commodities it carried and AD. One must remember that many traded the routes it followed than is implied in the goods were thought by Mediterranean pur- Three kings of Assyria and King Solomon name. Today’s Superhighway of the internet chasers to have originated in Yemen; this of ancient Israel placed orders with the would be a closer parallel. was an error of omission since many came traders of Saba, and none were disap- originally from India and Ceylon, or from pointed. Delivery by camel and later by Where does the modern Republic of the African coast. ship continued, despite political change in Yemen, and my title “Sheba@Saba- both the southwestern Arabian Peninsula Trading.com” fit into the ancient map of a The physical map of Yemen shows the and in the northern areas of the coastal Silk Superhighway? The southwest Arabian uplifted north-south range of mountains; east Mediterranean lands and inland Peninsula was a transshipment point from these form a barrier between the inland Mesopotamia, modern Iraq. the early first millennium BC for items from areas and the coastal strip on the Red India and Ceylon via the long, north-south Sea. The narrow Tihama is home to fisher As one aspect of the ancient Silk Route camel caravan route traversing the Arabian people. Today all memories of its former involved in the movement of Far Eastern, Peninsula. Saba, as the main federation was coffee glory, in the Rasulid period, at the Indian and Indian Ocean island products, called, sent to the Mediterranean kingdoms small port of Mokha are forgotten. A mocha the traders of Sheba were secretive about and inland Mesopotamian cities of the royal at Starbucks is more alive. This was not the origins of the desired items. Gold, courts of Assyria and Babylon the fragranc- always the case and very early occupation frankincense, myrrh and a vast variety of es they used to burn for their gods; these of the land along the coast dates from be- medicinal herbs from the Indian subcon- included frankincense and myrrh. Indigo- tween 8,000 BC and 6,000 BC, when fish tinent increased in price as they passed dyed cloth, pepper, cardamon, and precious eating Neolithic communities subsisted on through controlled warehouses and check- stones all passed through the fabled land. the wealth of natural marine resources points moving to their destinations in the and flourished. This culture spread from north. However, many of the items came Yemen is not attested as a country name the north at Sihi in modern Saudi Arabia all from further east than their purchasers until the beginning of the first century AD; the way around the Bab al Mandeb to Aden, realized. The fabled land of great wealth, it means simply the south or the right hand developing into a Bronze Age coastal cul- Saba, responded to a market economy and side. The almost unbelievable longevity, and ture. Recent research suggests that in the was often a middle man in the process. affection of the people of the southwest of eighth century BC a connection was estab- the Arabian Peninsula for their country lished across the Red Sea by the Sabaeans, I will discuss the early inland cities of Marib, and its past is so strong that any number who set up a colony settlement in Ethiopia the Sabaean capital, Tumna, the capital of of companies reflect the ancient name in at Axum. Our early traders did not sleep. Qataban, and Shabwa in the Hadramawt; their modern trading name. There are The Red Sea was difficult to navigate for all of these were sited around the edge of Saba or Sheba gas stations, hotels, barber early vessels and a strong wind pattern the Ramlat Sabatayn desert, and were part shops, juice stands, and groceries, and in can only be used to advantage up until of a chain of small kingdom cities in what all of them the name embodies a history of the 20 degrees north; beyond this latitude, is modern day Yemen. We will also visit the trading which goes back to the early first sailing can only be accomplished in the site of Qana, a port on the Indian Ocean millennium BC. No anonymity here, no ab- winter season when a southerly wind aids whence the Romans later received their stract Silk Route which names neither the shipping and the strong north wind abates. myrrh and frankincense. beginning nor the end, nor the rulers of the The ports of Qusair and Jedda reflect this countries involved. We hear from the angry need to have an overland option, and a land The Silk Road is a 19th century name cre- vassal of the King of Assyria, situated at a transshipment port at this point of the Red ated by a visionary European scholar who trading post on the middle Euphrates, of the Sea; it was this physical constraint which labeled, and thus created an image for an aggressive tactics and tax avoiding habits allowed the Nabateans to gain such power ancient trading system of the first millen- of the traders of Sheba as early as 850 BC. on the Arabian side, as they controlled the nium AD. He certainly would be hired by The caravan was skirting around the town northern end of the trade route in the early any top level advertising agency of the 21st first millennium AD.

3 The uplifted mountains of the coastal range with deeper levels of the cities associated To understand the role Yemen was destined reach 9,000 feet and it was on the upland with the mid-first millennium incense route. to play in the Silk Route it is necessary to plateaus created by these mountains that Certainly, deep sediment deposits were understand its role in both space and time. the early Bronze Age farming communities documented at Timna and at Marib, and the The relationship of Iran, India, and Ceylon settled and created their wealth during the growth of these cities was not precipitous. trading east to China and also west to second millennium BC. Upon this base, Yemen is critical. They were early pivot later, technologically superior kingdoms The origin of our caravans transporting their points. In the first millennium BC, Yemen developed to the west on the edges of wealth to the Mediterranean was coinciden- is trading alone, carrying the products the Ramlat Sabat’ayn,which desert rarely tal with the domestication of the camel as from these three by overland camel trade reaches 900 feet. The interaction between a beast of burden. A short east-west cop- to Gaza. The shift to maritime transporta- the resource-rich higher settlements and per transportation route across Sinai was tion was essentially the point when a more the resource-poor, lower desiccating desert- the first experimental route in 1500 BC. fluid China to Gaza operation began, and edge settlements catalyzed development in Only the camel—in Arabia the one humped the long Yemeni coastline profited the the lower areas whose income ultimately dromedary—could sustain long dry spells homeland in the second phase of the route derived from the control and exploitation between the wells at the oases. We find, in the first millennium AD. of trade caravans. There the sub-desert cli- therefore, that the route from the source mate is associated with steppe vegetation; of the frankincense and myrrh to the des- To follow the overland route, we must it was control and advanced water technol- tination at Gaza on the Mediterranean is start at the area of its greatest resource ogy that enabled the cities to feed large predetermined by spaced watering wells for wealth. The southeastern region of Yemen populations and thus survive. Research in the camels. These had to be associated with in modern Shihr and Hadramawt was the Yemen has lagged far behind that of other strongly guarded and armed storage areas prime growing area for frankincense resin near eastern countries and the mountain controlled at each stop by powerful leaders. producing trees. While it appears that the settlements have only been documented in Shifts in power were constant and the route trees were farmed in earlier times the range the last ten years. Early excavators were moved accordingly. of suitable habitat is primarily but by no surveying in the wrong areas, sure that means only in this area. Earlier explorers earlier occupation should be associated report frankincense trees in all of the main

4 river valleys as far north as the Asir high- another watering point. A memorial inscrip- to excavate a well as a rescue archaeology lands of modern Saudi Arabia. tion carved at the top of the pass was sadly exercise, before an apartment house was destroyed by road improvements in the last built over it, sealing it forever. It was in the The gum was gathered in spring and au- ten years; it was dynamited and lost after Haflah al Qadi area, on al-Mari Street where tumn when the tree trunks were tapped. 2,000 years. The fortified ancient town of three ancient wells are documented. The resin was gathered and transported to Haribat was built with the outer house walls the first station at Shabwa. This is located as part of the city defensive wall system. The Silk Road did indeed pass through inland, on the southwestern edge of the Aden, and below the Rasulid level there desert. The Royal Palace of the king of Marib, ancient Mariaba, and its fabled gar- were discarded Chinese ceramics. These Hadramawt was excavated by the French, dens and dam is so large that even today it have been discussed with Li He of the Asian and an associated deep sounding made. is difficult to read the ancient topography. Art Museum; noteworthy were a blue cup Today, it is a ruin and only occasional tour- The medieval city sits on top of the ancient from Fujian, celadon ware, and early 11th ists make a visit. We have no documenta- palace and scattered throughout the valley century AD grey-white, fine-paste ware tion from this site of the trade policies. A are ancient temples and mounds. The dam, pieces. While the Portuguese forts further sealing and seal from the deep sounding which tamed the Wadi Dhana, is a sample along the coast contained 17th and 18th date to the late first millennium BC. The of the fine stone working techniques and century Chinese porcelains, the well held documentation of commodities in this case engineering sophistication available to earlier samples representing continued con- appears to have been made on parchment, the inhabitants. Today reevaluation of the tact with the Far East. Yemen was without with the document rolled and held by a Mahram Bilquis is ongoing by the American question a part of the Silk Road. string, the knot sealed and stamped. This Foundation for the Study of Man, while the is the only example I know of this tech- German Archaeological Institute teams are References nique in Yemen. Close to Shabwa is an old working in the cemetery and also on the salt mine, called Ayadime, and this must citadel. The Baran temple, recently restored 1. A.F.L. Beeston, “The Mercantile Code of certainly have been a strategic resource by the German Institute, was reopened for Qataban,” Qahtan, 1 (1959) : 2-20. in the ancient period for the preservation visitors after a 1,500 year pause. of fish. Today, chunks of salty dried shark are carried north and held in high esteem From Marib, the caravans wend their way About The Author as an aphrodisiac. The salt is excellent and north to Qarnu and on to Najran, now in Dr. Diana Pickworth was educated at UCB and still used today. Saudi Arabia, but Yemeni until quite re- received her doctorate from the Department cently. A border delineation between the of Near Eastern Studies, in Ancient Art and The next stop is Tumna, the capital city of two countries was signed in 2000 AD. It is Archaeology. She is a National Fellow of the ancient Qataban. Excavated from this site is still a further 1,200 miles to Gaza, having Explorers Club of New York. She was Assistant a market decree dating to the fifth century already traversed 430 miles from Shabwa Professor at the University of Aden in the BC. This text was published by Beeston1, to Najran. Today, desert dwelling bedu drive Republic of Yemen and Field Director at the site and it can be compared to the rules of the around in Toyotas and know every outcrop of Kadimat as-Saff in the Lahej Protectorate, Sanaa Suq today. The text was inscribed on of rock; the topography is dangerous and a new site theoretically the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Tubanu. She has excavated a stone column, and was set up in the mid- unforgiving, and one cannot move without in Iraq at the site of Nineveh with the UCB team dle of a central clearing for all to see. Those a guide. The VHF radio, Toyota, and satellite led by David Stronach, and at the site of Tel Dor who could trade were named, and taxation dish reign supreme there today. They are in in Israel for Professor Andy Stewart. Most re- and payment rules rigorously stipulated. A touch with the world. cently in the Yemen she has excavated at Qana, rasifum building, possibly a raised platform Timna, Kadimat as-Saff, and Bintayn Methul. associated with a temple, was probably the By the end of the first millennium BC, a sig- Survey work has been carried out extensively area of the ancient market. nificant shift in transportation methods led in Yemen by Dr. Pickworth, most recently on the Island of Socotra in the Indian ocean, and to the beginning of a slow demise of these southeast of the Rub ar-Khali in the Yemeni This building and a temple was excavated desert kingdoms. The discovery by Greek Jawf. in the fifties by W.F. Albright, again by the sailors that they could sail directly to India French in the nineties, and today by the on the monsoon and transship through ©2003 Diana Pickworth, all rights re- Italians. The nearby necropolis of Tumna Qana, via Aden and the Red Sea to and served. Permission for quotations, copies, has been a source of illegal antiquities. from Gaza, created a new power base and or reproduction in whole or in part must Many of the carved alabaster statues of a shift in trading practices. come from the author. bulls’ heads and memorial plaques origi- nated there. The necropolis is unusual, in Qana was excavated by a Russian team that the design of the tombs, which are from the Oriental Institute of Moscow ossuaries with narrow central passages, is over a period of eighteen years. The elite not duplicated elsewhere in Yemen. A con- houses, temples, warehouses, and burials tinual tension between the small kingdoms portray a busy port. Large, 15-inch round, existed, and in the fourth century BC the cakes of frankincense were excavated in the Qatabanians succumbed to become part of storage areas and from one of the houses a the Sabaean Federation. woman’s hoard of jewelry and bottles dem- onstrate how a lady of means lived in the The route from Tumna to Marib, the capital first century AD, in a remote outpost. of the Sabaean Federation, lies in a north- westerly direction. The Nagd Marqad path From Qana the ships sailed to Aden, known lies around the edge of the desert, a lon- to the classical world as Eudymon Arabia, ger, flatter route. There seem to have been where the safe deep water harbor—a part political reasons at certain periods to use of the ancient volcano—was nestled next the steeper and possibly shorter Mablaqah to Sirah Island. In the area close to the Pass. This pass is a dizzying track up and ancient port in modern Crater—called Aden over a low mountain which leads into the by the locals—the old, original settlement Wadi Harib. The modern town of Henu es- was, and remains today, inside the volca- Zureir, the location of ancient Haribat, was no’s caldera. Here, I was fortunate enough

5 19th century AD Stewart Culin created the and even numbers as being feminine. Nine, HE RIGIN OF theory that all board games had magical the largest single-digit, odd number, was T O or religious origin. This is not evident, for taken to mean the ultimate masculine, and instance, in the three-dimensional Tic-Tac- was symbolic for the supreme sovereignty HESS AND THE Toe (Mill), for which a board was engraved of the emperor. It was sometimes combined C by Roman soldiers on the cobble streets of with the number five to represent imperial Old-Jerusalem. majesty. Tiananmen Hall is 9 bays wide and ILK OAD 5 bays deep. The combination 9x5 also ap- S R The Egyptian game Senet was clearly a re- pears on the two halves of the Chinese Los Altos, California ligious game. It was a racing game played chessboard (after inclusion of the river). on a 10x3 board. There is also a version The transfer to a 9x9 board from an 8x8 The classical research about the origin of with 8 linear squares followed by 4x3, the one, based on the imperial importance of Chess concentrated on investigating writ- “twenty-game”. The exact rules of either the number 9 seems more likely to have ten and archaeological evidence resulting are not known, but boards have been found happened than the other way around. in opinions about Indian/Persian1 or Chinese together with half-flat sticks, the forerun- origin of the game. The available evidence ners of dice. The names or meanings of the Chess Pieces and Boards was, however, not sufficient for a convincing squares had to do with the stations of the theory. So the question about the origin of way to the empire of the dead. There are The oldest clearly recognizable Chess pieces Chess still has to be considered open. Some numerous references to Senet in inscrip- have been excavated in ancient Afrasiab, speculations assumed military, mathemati- tions and papyrus scrolls. The use of Senet today’s Samarkand, in Uzbekistan. These cal, or divinification models as the basis for as an Egyptian glyph gives an indication are seven ivory pieces from 762, with some the game. Most scholars of Chess history of its importance. According to the Nordic of them possibly older, meaning that they do, however, agree that the relationships to poem, The Edda, the Germanic gods spent stem from the 6th to 8th century AD. It is these models showed after Chess already their free time in their residence Asgard not clear whether one of the pieces can be existed. Another idea, which was part of playing board games, but The Edda was not identified as a Queen. Otherwise, the oc- some theories, was the assumption that written down until the twelfth century AD. currence of the 6 different pieces within a Chess, with all its present complexity, was sample of seven out of the total 32 pieces invented by a single person. But this is ex- A possible forerunner of Chess is an Indian is statistically surprising. The pieces to- tremely unlikely. game, known as Ashtapada, which means in Sanskrit a square board of 64 squares, 8 day are kept in a downtown museum in A significant step towards the better under- rows of 8 squares. It was played with dice Samarkand. standing was the founding of the Initiative and pieces, a race game possibly going Some other old pieces, possibly Chess Group Königstein (IGK2) in 1991 and its back to the fifth century BC. Chinese re- pieces, are the occasionally named Chess seminars, in which the present Chess cords mention its introduction from India to pieces of an elephant and a zebu bull historians can present their research and China as early as 220 BC to 65 AD, roughly kept in Tashkent. They were excavated opinions. Its member Gerhard Josten during the early Han Dynasty. in Dalverzin-Tepe, an ancient citadel looked for evidence in the structure of of the Kushan Empire now in Southern Chess. He came up with three basic unique The likelihood of a race-game being a fore- Uzbekistan, and stem from the 2nd centu- elements: the king, the pawns, and the of- runner of Chess is preserved in the promo- ry. The Russian Chess history expert Linder ficers (counters, pieces). His theory is that tion of a pawn to a piece when reaching feels that they are not Chess pieces, but these elements stem from different sources the 8th row. Hinduism prohibits gambling. belonged to a forerunner of Chess [Linder and are combined into present day Chess. The revival of Hinduism during the Gupta 1994]. They could mean an earlier than This was supposed to be done by either Dynasty led to an enforcement of this anti- previously assumed existence of Chess. Silk Road merchants, who were waiting gambling policy in the 6th century AD. This Second, there is a piece in the Metropolitan for better weather conditions in one of the is used as an argument by some scholars Museum in New York from the 6th or 7th major trading places like Kashgar in today’s for supporting the idea of an Indian origin century, bought in Baghdad around 1930, Southwest China, or by game enthusiasts in of Chess. It is stated that the suppression representing an elephant out of dolomite the Kushan Empire. The Kushans had some of dice forced the transformation of a race stone of 2-7/8 inch height [Gunter 1991]. experience with merging elements from game into a strategic game. When I dis- An ivory piece, probably a Chess piece from different cultures. Josten suggests that cussed this with some Indian historians the 6th century, has been excavated re- the king and its behavior is taken from the during a visit to India, I got clarification cently at a Byzantine palace in the ancient ancient Chinese game Go, the pawns come that the gambling inhibition was local and city of Butrint in Albania. This modifies the from Indian racing games and the officers did not apply to total India. theory that Chess was moved to the West are taken from divinification or astrological by the Arabs in favor of Christian/Byzantine methods. I have added an alternative for Chinese Chess today is played on a board involvement. the astrological roots of the officer-moves with 9x8 squares or 10x9 edges. The with the possibility that their moves are pieces, inscribed draughtsmen, are placed based on the images occurring within the on the edges and not on the squares of the Written Reports game of Tic-Tac-Toe. 9x8 field. The use of inscribed draughts- men instead of stand-up figures means an The oldest known Chess books or parts No matter which theory is valid, the im- additional level of abstraction and would thereof are in Arabic, written about 850 portance of the Silk Road for spreading the therefore speak against an origin in China. AD. Before that, there are only incidental game is undisputable. However, sources suggest that originally possible references to the existence of Chinese Chess was also played with stand- the game in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, or Forerunners and the Chinese ing figures. In the middle of the 10-row Chinese literature, but there is no complete field is a “river”, which was added later, Variation description of the game, nor an indication meaning originally that the board was 9x9, that rules had stabilized. The earliest men- considering the edges, or 8x8 considering tions stem from around 600 AD. Chess or Board games are very ancient and can be the squares. The number nine has a spe- Chaturanga3 have not been mentioned in traced back at least 4,500 years to the first cial importance in China. Ancient Chinese an otherwise very complete travel report city of Ur and Egyptian paintings. In the regarded odd numbers as being masculine by the Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Xian, who

6 traveled through India at the beginning of 578) from the Northern Chou-Dynasty. The difference to other authors he believes that the 5th century AD. The total number of emperor even gave lectures on the game the divination techniques apply only to the Persian references to Chess from around to his staff. It was, however, not Chess officers and not to the complete game of 600 is two out of a total of five works of since according to early sources it had as Chess. Based on the fact that the geometry middle-Persian secular literature which are its pieces the sun, the moon, the stars, and of the Babylonian astrolabe allows all of the known to have survived from that period. the constellations, meaning that it was in important types of moves of the Chess of- Very little is known about Chess in India all likelihood a complex astrological ritual. ficers and the external kinship of the astro- for about half a millennium after that. It Interesting in Chinese Chess is the 3x3 for- labe to the Byzantine Chess board, Josten is not clear whether the Chess mentioned tress, an exact image of Tic-Tac-Toe. states that the Babylonian astrolabe is an by the Persian sources was a game for two adequate ideal for these pieces. Supporting or for four players, whether it was played Indirect Evidence the astronomical/astrological connection is with dice, and what moves were allowed. the 19th century theory that all board The conclusion by Murray [Murray 1913] games have religious roots. Chess has and Eales [Eales 1985] is that before the There is an analogy between the Indian been from the beginning a game for intel- 7th century, the existence of Chess in any army and the Chess army. Chinese armies lectuals and astrologists were considered land is not demonstrable. Eales mentions did not have elephants, or only very oc- in ancient times part of the intellectual that the compiler of a 12th century Chess casionally had a limited number in the elite. In antiquity, the stars were looked at manuscript wrote “It is universally acknowl- southwestern part of the China. as either images of gods or subjects with edged that three things were produced from which the gods chased around. This is the The earliest Chess terms appear in Sanskrit, India: the game, the book Kalila wa Dimna justification for astrology and possibly for the Persian and Arab versions are very (a book of literary fables) and the decimal an early use of the game of Chess to ob- similar. Whyld points out the fact on the numbers (including the Zero).” tain oracles. The astrolabe constitutes an IGK website (http://www.netcologne.de/ analog computation device5, consisting of ~nc-jostenge) that the first Chess terms Ann C. Gunter [Gunter 1991] reports about various rings movable against each other. mentioned appearing in Sanskrit is not one of the surviving texts in Middle Persian, The user found the altitude of the sun or convincing. He also mentions the fact that The Explanation of Chess and Invention of stars by means of a graduated circle on one in the story of Chess moving from India to Backgammon (Wizarishn i catrang ud ni- side of the device and then turned to the Persia it is said to come from Hind, a name hishn i new-ardashir). In a said competition other side to perform his calculations on which was not used for India until after the between the great Sassanian ruler Khusraw the movable star map, a two-dimensional 11th century AD. I, who ruled from 531 until 579, and the representation of the three-dimensional Indian King Dewisharm, Dewisharm sent heavens. The straight line moves occur Davidson [Davidson 1949] studied the a Chess game to Khusraw requesting that in these operations, the knight move is a “Geography of Chess”. Starting with India Khusraw’s wise men explain the rationale combination of both. These methods are he finds four major radiations: A northeast of this game. The wise man Wuzurg-Mihr also indicated in ancient astroglyphs from radiation into China, between 800 and 1000 explained the rationale of the game and Chaldaean times. AD along the Silk Road; a southeast radia- then proceeded to a challenge of his own tion into Burma and Indo-China, between to the Indian ruler. This supposedly was the As an alternative possibility to the divinifi- 800 and 1100 AD; a westward radiation invention of Backgammon (called nard in cation I offer, the game of Tic-Tac-Toe could into Persia and the Arab countries, between the literature), and the invention of present be viewed as providing the roots for the 600 and 800 AD, reaching Spain before the day dice (the numbers of which correspond moves of the counters. Tic-Tac-Toe is played 1008 battlefield will of the Count of Uregel, to cosmological principles of the then com- by 2 players, e.g. Black and White, with a which directed the inheritance of his Chess- mon Persian religion, Zoroastrianism). Dice set of pieces of equal value each, on a 3x3 pieces; and a northward radiation into were, however, already known by the an- board. The players move alternatively with Siberia, between 1400 and 1500 AD. cient Egyptians and certainly not invented the goal to get three of the own pieces in as late as Khusraw I’s time. It has not been one horizontal, vertical or diagonal row. In Gerhard Josten from the IGK bases his possible to locate Dewisharm, and to find the following diagram, that goal is achieved “merger theory” on three elements in the out which of the kingdoms that existed by occupying the points 1, 2, 3, or the par- structure of Chess. The element of hunt after the fall of the Gupta Dynasty that allels; the points 1, 4, 7, or the parallels; or games is represented by the king, the ele- he ruled. the diagonals 1, 5, 9, or 3, 5, 7: ment of divination counters for the moves by the officers and the element of race Sloan [Sloan 1985] bases his theory about games by the pawns. Chinese Chess origin on two Chinese po- 1 2 3 ems, one stemming from the 2nd century The imprisonment of the king occurs in a 4 5 6 BC. Since Chess is often wrongly confused similar way in the Chinese territorial game with the far older Go, this could also be the 7 8 9 Go, called Weiqi4 in China, which means case here (or a mixup with another board this element likely comes from China. Go game). is played on a 19x19 board by placing al- ternatively black and white pieces on the Tic-Tac-Toe was played at least 3000 years The Sinologist Joseph Needham and Pavle board. Horizontal and vertical connections ago. It is also called “Three Men’s Morris”, Bidev, both part of the Initiative Group of pieces of the same color form chains. where “morris” is a corruption of merels, Königstein, have, based on the theory The number of empty fields neighboring the Latin word for counters [Pritchard about religious roots for all board games, any members of a chain horizontally or 1994]. From a game-theoretic point of suggested that the historical Chess of 7th vertically give the degree of freedom of the view, it is always a draw and is trivial. A century India was directly descended from chain. A chain, including one consisting of a more challenging extension was played a divinatory game (or ritual) in China. Bidev 6 single piece, without any degree of freedom extensively . The placing of the following suggests that Chess has its roots in the cult is taken prisoner. The situation of one piece piece of the same color (2 moves ahead) of the Chinese god Thai Yi. Needham has taken prisoner could be the one which was is either vertical, horizontal, diagonal or in shown that there are references to an “im- applied to a mated king in Chess. diagram (1) the point 8 following the point age-game” (hsiang chhi is elephant-game 1, or equivalent sequences this is similar to or image-game) in works of the 6th cen- Josten believes that the officers have their a knight’s move in Chess. Thus all move tury, devised by the Emperor Wu Ti (561- origin in old divination techniques, but in

7 sequences of the pieces in Chess are rep- Historic Views Chess, almost as it is played today, sud- resented. denly came into existence, invented by one person. The idea of it being a combination There are a number of books on Chess The pawns and their idea almost certainly of elements from other board-games has history, in particular the scholarly studies come from India. Most of the ancient board merit. Since almost all known board games written by H.J.R. Murray [Murray 1913] and games seem to have been racing games have religious backgrounds the astrological Richard Eales [Eales 1985]. The German played with dice or its forerunner, sticks component is entirely possible, even though book by H.F. Maßmann [Maßmann 1839] with one flat side, which were thrown I prefer the version that all elements come dismisses older legends about the origin and the number being determined by the from other games, e.g. Tic-Tac-Toe, as the of Chess, like the one that Palamedes of number of resulting flat sides being up or basis for the counters. Kushan as the area Euboa invented it during the 10-year siege down. of origin is highly possible, especially be- of Troy in order to help avoid boredom cause of the 2 excavated debated pieces among the Greek soldiers. Maßmann is of Ashtapada is an ancient Hindu race game from the second century AD, which were the firm opinion that Chess was invented in played with dice on an 8x8 board, which found in the area of the Kushan Empire. later might have become the Chess-board. India and came from there via Persia and The method of play for Ashtapada has been the Arabs to the West. The beginning of The books are by no means closed. In forgotten. It seems logical that there has historical research about the origin of Chess my opinion, the Chinese origin is the least to be an incentive for succeeding in a race, is a 1694 publication by Thomas Hyde, De likely one from the ones discussed. Josten’s which is given by the conversion of a pawn Ludis Orientalibus. hypothesis is very intriguing but still needs into an officer, when the pawn reaches some more work. The theory about India Hyde states the facts implicit in older Arab the last row7. To change a gambling game being the original country seems to hold sources, leading to his conclusion that into a strategic race game requires some together but will probably have to give in Chess originated in India and then trav- strategic possibilities to block or speed up to another theory because of the lack of eled by way of Persia and the Arab world to the race, such as opposite pawns and the reports about follow-up within India during western Europe and on the Silk Road to the possibility to take an opposite piece by a the next 500 years after 600 AD. diagonal move. East. The myths and legends before Hyde are all not historical, but all of them, except References A challenge for this theory is to explain the those of obvious later invention, point to Persia or India as the country of origin. use today, and in the total history of Chess, [Davidson 1949] Henry A. Davidson, A military names for the officers with no pre- Li [Li 1998] refers to a publication by Short History of Chess, New York 1949, vious names for these pieces being known. 228 pages. Also in the early Arab sources the king is Irwin, read in 1793 in Dublin [Irwin, An Account of the Game of Chess, as Played not imprisoned but killed. [Eales 1985] Richard Eales, CHESS -The by the Chinese, Transactions of the Royal History of a Game, New York 1985, 240 Irish Academy (Dublin 1793), pg. 53-63]. As far as the area of origin is concerned, pages. Josten points to the Central Asian Kushan According to this paper, Chess was invented by the Chinese General Han Xin to men- Empire, a culture that had intensive con- [Gunter 1991] Ann C. Gunter, Art from tally occupy his troops during a long winter tact with the Near East, India, and China. Wisdom: The Invention of Chess and reciprocal surveillance in 204-203 BC. Li It would have combined various elements Backgammon, in Asian Art, Winter 1991, describes in detail how he believes Han Xin from games from these regions in one pg. 7-21. game. The Kushans, called “the forgotten decided on the layout and moves, which Kushans” by some scholars, ruled from eventually led to the Chinese form of chess. [Li 1998] David H. Li, Who? Where? about 50 BC until about 200 AD a big em- Han Xin died in 196 BC. Li mentions that When? Why? How? The Genealogy of pire, which included a substantial part of there are citations in Irwin’s paper, but he Chess, Bethesda, MD 1998, 383 pages. India, and included the excavation place does not give any. I agree with other au- where the above mentioned 2nd century AD thors that a paper written 2,000 years after [Linder 1994] I.M. Linder, The Art of “Chess-pieces” were found. The Kushans, the fact does not constitute proof. Chess Pieces, Moscow, “H.G.S.” publish- having become affluent by trading on the ers, 1994, 288 pages. Silk Road, were privy to cultural mergers as Josten points to the history of the British shown by their contemporaneous tolerance colonialism in India. The majority of India [Maßmann 1839] H.F. Maßmann, of Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, as well as was under the control of the East India Geschichte des mittelalterlichen vor- their gold coins displaying Greek, Roman, Company in the first half of the 19th zugsweise des deutschen Schachspiels, Iranian, Hindu and Buddhist deities. century. As a result of revolts in 1857 the Quedlinburg und Leipzig 1839, 222 pages. Company was dissolved and India was Josten’s hypothesis about the Kushan placed under the direct control of the British [Murray 1913] H.J.R. Murray, A History of origin from the days of the Kushan Empire Crown. In 1909 Britain granted India some Chess, Oxford University Press 1913, 900 would imply a lack of reports about Chess self-government. Josten suggests that pages. for about half a millennium before 600 AD, the researchers Thomas Hyde and H.J.R. which might be explained as having been Murray, who were active during the 19th [Pritchard 1994] Pritchard, David: The a maturing period. The two pieces from and early 20th century found willing ears Family Book of Games, Time-Life Books, Dalverzin-Tepe could support the theory. with their claim of an Indian origin of Chess. 1994, 200 pages. This of course neglects the contributions of Another thought would be that Chess the early German researchers who reached [Sloan 1985] Sam Sloan, The Origin of emerged on the Silk Road, when merchants similar conclusions to the British ones. Chess, Copyright Sloan Publishers ISBN 0- were idly waiting for better weather condi- 9609190-1-5, 27 pages. tions for travel, and playing board games. Summary A key place of this type was Kashgar in Notes today’s far western China, which also be- Unfortunately, written references to Chess longed for a time to the Kushan Empire. or its development have not been found 1. The idea of Persia being the country of yet from before the two Persian records origin appears to be only a slight modi- of about 600 AD. It is very unlikely that fication of the theory about Indian origin

8 and is therefore not separately consid- In the Middle East, Mongol task forces, ered. HE ONGOLS beginning in 1229, established bases in T M Azerbaijan, and from them intimidated or 2. http://www.netcologne.de/ forced into vassal status the Trebizondian ~nc-jostenge AND THE ILK Byzantines, Anatolian Seljuks and Cilician S Armenians, among all of whom Westerners, 3. Indian name for Chess and/or a fore- mostly Italians, had an important com- runner OAD mercial presence. The European Crusaders R on the Levant coast too now had a new, 4. ”the surrounding game” Mongol near-neighbor in Iran and Anatolia. In 1256, these Mongols were heavily rein- 5. The invention of the astrolabe is usu- forced by contingents sent to exterminate ally attributed to the Greek astronomer the (original) Assassins, subjugate or de- Hipparchos, at around 170 BC. This would John Masson Smith, Jr. stroy the Caliphate in Iraq, and extend the mean a relatively late appearance of the empire to the southwest. Although Syria astrolabe in Chaldaean astronomy. and Egypt were successfully defended by University of California, Berkeley the Mamluks, the Assassins were wiped 6. I saw for instance an engraving of a out, as was the Caliph. Baghdad was corresponding board in the cobblestones wrecked, and much commerce that had of Old Jerusalem. Boards of this Tic-Tac- been focussed on it now shifted north to The Mongols reached Europe in 1221, on Toe expansion can also be found in some Tabriz and Trebizond. Roman museum collections. a reconnaisance of the western extent of the Eurasian steppe, the land on which There were many other Mongol armies: no- Mongol armies could most easily support 7. There is no conversion in Chinese mad forces, Mongols and especially Turks, themselves “wherever a horse is able to Chess. (which included soldiers, their families, and tread.” Their force was a detachment of the domestic animals needed for their sup- the great army Chinggis Qan (Genghis port) all across Inner Asia, in North China, Khan) was leading through Central Asia, and in Mongolia proper; and troops drawn eastern Iran, Afghanistan, and into India. from conquered or vassal settled peoples: The detachment crossed northern Iran, Chinese, Iranian, Russian and many others, wintering in Azerbaijan (1220-21), passed usually based on farmlands in their home the Caucasus mountains, spent the next countries, although some were sent abroad winter in the Crimea, explored the Volga on expeditions. For instance, Chinese ar- region, and returned to Mongolia; it fought tillerists or garrison troops to Iran, or winning battles all along the way, including Russians to China. Through the reign of one against an alliance of Turkic Cuman no- Möngke Qan, (1251-59), all of these forces, mads and Russians. The incursion came to from the Ukraine to Manchuria, were con- the notice of Europe, but since such nomad trolled from the Qan’s camp, usually some- disturbances in that region were a common where in Mongolia, via the yam service, the occurrence, and because the new intrud- Mongol pony-express, which connected all ers had withdrawn, apparently for good, it of them, and passed, in part, along the made little impression. Silk Road. In most local matters, however, these armies constituted components of the In 1236-42 the Mongols returned, acting regional establishments set up by Chinggis on the knowledge gained on their previ- in favor of his dynastic family. The estab- ous expedition: that the steppe extended lishments now, by the mid-thirteenth cen- into the North Pontic region (Ukraine and tury, impinging on Europe from the Western Crimea), that their armies could there- steppe and the Middle East were governed, fore sustain themselves all the way—the respectively, by Batu and Hülegü, both horses eating grass and the soldiers eating grandsons of Chinggis. Each commanded horses—and that the local inhabitants were a regular army of fifteen tümens: for in- incapable of serious resistance. This time stance, Hülegü’s order of battle at the siege the Mongols came in great force, with at of Baghdad included fifteen commanders. least twelve tümens (divisions of, nominal- Since these commanders led tümens, each ly, 10,000 men), judging by the number of composed of ten regiments (hazara), the commanders, mostly princes, mentioned. military component of each establishment They overwhelmed the Cumans, Russians included 150 high officers and their (often and Hungarians, and defeated a large multiple) wives. To these were added many army of Germans and Poles. And although administrative officials and their wives. And the Mongols shortly abandoned Hungary finally, there were the leader’s guards, at (probably indefensible by a nomad-based least a tümen of them (Qubilai, according garrison), they based a large army in to Marco Polo, had 12,000 guardsmen, ro- Ukraine and on the Volga, conscripting tating on duty in units of 3000). many of the Cumans and monitoring their Russian vassals, and conjoined to it further These leaders had both imperial and forces in North Central Asia (approximately personal interests. The imperial interest, Kazakhstan), creating the sub-realm of the which was shared by the commoners, was empire that came to be known in the West Chinggis Qan’s project of world-conquest. as the Golden Horde. This threatening new This project developed from Chinggis’ un- power caught the attention of Europe: the derstanding of nomad society and culture, Mongol empire now had a presence and a and appraisal of the balance of power at frontier in Eastern Europe. the start of the thirteenth century. Nomad

9 societies were warrior societies, with “This is the order of the everlasting the march to the Middle East (as mentioned abundant manpower available for military God. ‘In Heaven there is only one above), into southern (Sung) China, and undertakings (seven men in every ten; cf. eternal God; on earth there is only against Korea; large raiding parties also one in ten conscriprted from settled popu- one lord,Chinggis Qan. This is the intruded repeatedly into northwestern lations in Mongol practice), since pastoral word of the son of God [Chinggis]… India. These expansive efforts continued subsistence chores could be handled by which is addressed to you. until, roughly, the turn of the century: women and children; with abundant horses Whosoever we are, whether Mongol South China was conquered, Japan, Burma, (actually, ponies) for cavalry from pastoral- or Naiman or Merkit or Muslim, and Vietnam and Java were attacked, and the ism (pastoralism that also met the logistic wherever ear is capable of hearing, Middle Eastern Mongols kept trying to seize needs of nomad armies); and home-made and wherever a horse is able to Syria. Besides these substantial campaigns, weapons—bows, arrows and clubs—effec- tread, [italics added] there make it the raids on India continued, as did incur- tive in combination with the ponies. This heard and understood.’” (Letter of sions into Eastern Europe. military aptitude derived from pastoralism Möngke Qan to King [“Saint”] Louis in another way also. Small camps simpli- IX of France, in Rubruck, 202) This project gave the Mongol leadership a fied herding and reduced the need for lively interest in the countries as yet beyond nomadic movement, but also much dimin- their reach. To obtain such information, the ished security from rustlers and kidnappers Chinggis issued his invitation in ca. 1203, Mongols used exploratory expeditions, of- (Chinggis and his family had their animals when he was winning the struggle for rule ten over great distances, as with the foray rustled twice, two women—his mother and over all of (Outer) Mongolia. He knew the (mentioned above) through northern Iran, his wife—raped, and himself kidnapped). military resources of Mongolia, knew that the Caucasus, southern Russia, the Crimea Large encampments, küriyen, with 2,000- the only comparable forces, the largely no- and Central Inner Asia. They also interro- 3,000 families and huge herds, perhaps mad cavalries of China’s northern frontier gated prisoners, and questioned travellers 200,000-300,000 sheep or equivalents, (in today’s Manchuria and Inner Mongolia) like Rubruck and merchants like Marco gave protection, within a circle of wagons, were divided between the Hsi-hsia and Kin, Polo. but required very frequent moves as ac- and within Kin between Jurchen and Kitan, cessible pasture was used up. The nomads so that the Mongols could attack them “[Möngke Qan’s officials] began to had to be prepared for fight or flight at all severally with great superiority. Success in ask us numerous questions about times, and part of the preparation involved this undertaking would give Chinggis all the the kingdom of France: whether it cultivation of appropriate appreciation and (surviving) cavalry of eastern Inner Asia, contained many sheep, cattle and attitudes. One should understand when to and the largest such force anywhere. World horses—as if they were due to move fight and when to run, and know that, while conquest, which had been talked about by in and take it all over forthwith.” strength, skill, weapons and numbers, are Huns and Turks in times gone by, did not (William of Rubruck, 155-6) very important, they are not all-important. seem like empty boasting now. Bravery, audacity and cunning can alter the odds. Nomad men, in their constant inse- “[Chinggis Qan] made many laws “When Messer Niccolo [Polo] and curity, had to try to think like heroes, to and statutes…. [one] is that [the Messer Maffeo [Polo] arrived at the imagine themselves as heroes, so as to be Mongols] are to bring the whole court of [Qubilai Qan] he received able, if necessary, to act like heroes. Nomad world into subjection to them, nor them honorably and welcomed them culture was, and in places still is, a war- are they to make peace with any na- with lavish hospitality and was alto- riorist culture. When Chinggis Qan invited tion unless they first submit….” (John gether delighted that they had come. these would-be heroes to participate in the of Plano Carpini, 25) He asked them many questions: first greatest military undertaking of all time, about the Emperors, the government they could not turn him down. of their dominions, and the mainte- By the mid-thirteenth century, this project nance of justice; then about kings, was well under way, with giant armies on princes, and other nobles. Next, he

10 asked about the Lord Pope, and all the practices of the Roman Church and the customs of the Latins. And Messer Niccolo and Messer Maffeo told him all the truth about each matter….” (Marco Polo, 36)

Some of the results of these inquiries may be found in the work of the Mongols’ Persian vizier, Rashīd al-Dīn (II, 325), as, for instance, the figure of 400,000 for the army of Hungary (a mistake, based on the Mongols’ calculation that, as in nomad so- cieties, the army included the whole adult male population). The intelligence require- ments of the Mongol army thus supported a policy of receptivity to would-be visitors from the outside world.

As for the personal interests of the Mongol elite, these varied, of course, from person to person, but most wanted to enjoy the fruits of their extraordinary conquests. They had previously led a simple existence in the fastnesses of Outer Mongolia; Chinggis and his small following, early in his career, successfully pillaged a Tatar community, and came to be “considered grand and gained renown” because the loot included a silver cradle and a gold-brocaded quilt, and “at that time such luxury items were rare among the Mongols.” (Rashīd I, 164) During Chinggis’ campaigns of expansion into China, and especially with the taking of the Kin dynasty’s northern capital (ap- prox. modern Beijing) in 1215, the Mongols of qumis (qumis is a “lite” drink, hence the needed. The guards, all 10,000-12,000 of gained an appreciation of the wealth, espe- large volume, the approximate equivalent them, were issued banquet robes as well, a cially in foodstuffs and textiles, now avail- of 19 shots of 90-proof whiskey). different one to wear at each of the thirteen able to them through plunder and extortion, monthly celebrations. taxation and exchange. The government es- The Mongol elite enjoyed many such par- tablished a program intended to provide for ties—and they dressed up for them. Qubilai Cloth-of-gold served not only as clothing, the general population of Outer Mongolia entertained at festivals for the New Year but for bed covers, animal-caparisons, very substantial supplies of food and drink and for each of the thirteen lunar months, and draperies. In the latter category, the (more, in fact, than could be supplied). on assorted “festive occasions,” and on embellishment of the huge royal palace More successfully, the Mongol dynastic and birthdays. Birthday parties would have tents, found in the camps of all the re- military elite provided themselves with the been frequent: Qubilai had four wives and gional rulers, as well as in some of their best of everything. They consumed large 22 sons by them; daughters not specified, urban centers, involved prodigious quanti- volumes of alcoholic beverages such as fer- plus a number of concubines and 25 more ties of nasij, as their interiors were entirely mented honey (bal) and millet (buza), rice sons (daughters again not counted); and lined, walls and ceiling, with the cloth-of- mead, and wines, exotic to the Mongols, the birthdays of his other relatives, his gold; one such tent is said to have seated and, in the case of wine, pleasingly pow- great commanders, their wives and chil- 1,000 persons. Some of the great officers erful by comparison with their domestic dren, were doubtless celebrated as well. and officials also possessed such tents. tipple, fermented mare’s milk (qumis), “All the [Mongols] celebrate their birthdays And since these great tents could not be which they also continued to consume in as festivals,” says Marco Polo. (137f) The pitched and struck quickly—the ordinary quantities. Foodstuffs were likewise lav- guests probably included all those eligible Mongol ger, housing a single family, could ishly provided, especially horsemeat, the to have parties in their honor, and, for the be erected or taken down in less than a favorite, and mutton, the most widely lunar month festivities, the 9,000 off-duty day, whereas one palace-tent, of the Middle available in the pastoral economy. For a guards, and most likely their wives, were Eastern ruler, Ghazan Khan, took a month quantifiable example, William of Rubruck also invited. Guest lists of 40,000, as re- to set up—the rulers probably had several (202) reported the following provisions ported by Marco Polo (137f), seem quite of them, one in each of their most-regularly for a banquet hosted by Möngke Qan: “a plausible. At these many parties the top used camp-sites, at minimum, one each in hundred and five carts laden with mare’s Mongols wore very fancy dress, in many their summer-camp (yaylaq) and winter- milk, and ninety horses to be eaten.” Ninety cases, robes of cloth-of-gold (nasij). Those camp (qishlaq). Mongolian ponies would have yielded about of high rank had nine different banquet- 20,000 lbs of meat, three lbs of meat for outfits for winter wear, and fourteen for The Mongol grandees not only wanted to each guest at a party for 7,000 (consist- summer, including one of nasij for each enjoy silks, but to profit from them as well. ing largely of the Qan’s off-duty guards, season. Since there were more than 20,000 Silk had since time immemorial been a kind most likely); assuming 1000-lb loads on top-level bureaucrats to provide for in the of currency in China, a tool of its diplomacy, the drink-carts, each of the 7,000 would Mongols’ East Asian (Yuan) realm alone, and the basis of its international trade over also have been served about two gallons around 50,000 robes would have been the aptly named Silk Road. Owing to the in-

11 ternational popularity among the wealthy of silk, its produc- tion had spread across Inner Asia to the Middle East, where the Mongols found and took over its silk factories as they had in China. Furthermore, they established new silk factories, in Inner Mongolia, the Tarim Basin, and two in China proper, to in- crease the volume of silk production, and to develop new silk products. Chinese weavers were sent to Samarkand to collaborate with the local Muslim weav- ers, and Muslim weavers—who were specialists in cloth-of-gold—were brought to China. Wealthy Mongols invested in these enterprises, and in the vending of their products, forming commercial associa- tions (ortaqs) with merchants experi- enced in transport- ing—over the Silk Road, for instance, but also by sea--and exchanging these goods abroad. Such Mongols could also arrange for their merchant partners to use the facilities of the yam to obtain provisions, fresh animals and secure lodgings for their Under the Mongols, furthermore, the Silk Now, under the Mongols, commercial and caravans. In the century, approximately, of Road had more routes than in earlier times. other travelers could use both the steppe Mongol rule in Eurasia, the Silk Road flour- Before the Mongols unified Inner Asia, its and the desert branches of the Silk Road. ished as never before. Disputes between nomads were divided among a plethora of Plano Carpini and Rubruck, respectively spy the Mongol realms sometimes delayed or independent, rivalrous tribes and great- and missionary, were taken by Mongol es- diverted commercial traffic, as happened power client-tribes set against the inde- corts over steppe routes, at paces that they to Marco and the other Polos, who had pendents. In this geo-political setting, found impressive and uncomfortable. They to resort to a slow and difficult route be- trade was often—and often rightly—viewed reported long days in the saddle, lots of tween Iran and Eastern Turkestan on their as trading with the enemy and discouraged trotting, and long daily distances covered, way to China to avoid rumored strife in by prohibitions and despoliations. Such although the overall distances divided by Transoxiana. But the Mongol regional gov- dangers minimized commercial transit the days of journeying mostly indicate an ernments usually, and the Mongols general- over the steppe route through the “nomad average pace of about 20 miles per day, ly, remained eager to promote and engage zone,” despite its considerable logistical which conforms to the distance between in commerce, even, sometimes, at risk to advantages: grasslands and water-sources stages of the yam; on Rubruck’s return trip, their own interests. Mongols in Afghanistan, stretching between Hungary and Manchuria however, the daily average was 36 miles for instance, allowed regular passage of supporting myriad potential transport and per day. The yam supported not only the large numbers of horses being exported food animals. Instead, much if not most of pony express of the Mongol command and by the Golden Horde (the Mongol realm in the time, merchants preferred to risk des- control system, but the merchant caravans modern Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan) to ert travel, whose predictable hazards made that brought the qan and his court, and the India, for use by the sultans of Delhi against commercial transit difficult, but also pre- establishments of the dynastic and military Mongols invading from Afghanistan. cluded nomad inhabitation and interference. elite, the spoils of empire, and distributed

12 the surplus luxury goods from the factories shipping. From there, one hired transport City,” also Da Du or modern Beijing). Silk that catered to these Mongol grandees. to Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga could be purchased in China at one sum river; with a horse-cart, the journey was for 20 (Genoese) pounds; with the 25,000 Very shortly after coming into direct con- 10-12 days, or 25 days by ox-cart. Boat gold florins of venture capital suggested tact with Europe, The Mongols and their passages up the Volga took the travellers to by Pegolotti, exchanged for linen and then commercial associates began selling to the imperial towns of Saray (Palace) in one sum at 5:1, a merchant could buy, after Europeans; China silk could be bought day, and Saraychuk (Little Palace) in eight expenses of (perhaps) 400 sum, around in Italy by 1257. Not long after, Italian days. These were seasonal residences of 92,000 Genoese pounds of silk, and, as- merchants reached China. Marco Polo’s the nomadic Mongol rulers of the Golden suming a safe return to Italy, sell them for father and uncle arrived in ca. 1265, on Horde, and therefore considerable commer- about three times their cost. The Silk Road, a diplomatic mission for which they were cial centers. The next leg of the journey under the Mongols, ended in Italy, whence recruited by an envoy of Hülegü while they led to Urgench on the Amu Darya River, the riches of the Mongol Empire found their were in Inner Asia on a commercial ven- somewhat south of the Aral Sea, 20 days by way to the rest of Europe. “Tartar cloth” is ture: bringing jewels as “gifts,” to the ruler camel-wagon; Pegolotti recommended that mentioned not only by Dante and Boccaccio, of the Golden Horde, in return for which the travelling merchant invest his capital in but by Chaucer, and many examples of it they were presented with goods worth fine Italian linens and sell them in Urgench, have been found in Europe. twice as much as the jewels. The Polos where they brought high prices, in return traveled to China again in ca 1275, taking for Mongol currency: the silver ingot of These close and frequent contacts with Marco along, hoping, no doubt, to buy such about 7.5 ounces, about 216 g, called sum the Mongols revealed a new world to the goods at the source and reap the largest (sommo in Italian). With these, and per- Europeans. Previously, the hazards of travel share of the profit from importing them haps some of the best linens, the merchant among nomads, and the barriers to passage into Europe. This undertaking was appar- should proceed to Otrar on the Syr Darya through the Muslim states had left the West ently sidetracked, and they spent the next (north of modern Tashkent), 35-40 days by almost entirely ignorant of the countries twenty years there, with Marco supposedly camel-wagon, then to Almaligh on the Ili and peoples beyond Russia and the Middle in the Qan’s service, but in the end com- River, 45 days by pack-donkey, and then to East. India and Ethiopia, conflated, were merce won out, and they returned to Italy the Chinese cities of Kanchow, 70 days by located past the Muslims; the land (China) laden, according to Marco, with jewels. The donkey, and the great port-city of Qinsay whence Rome had, indirectly, imported reported success of such early adventures, (modern Hang-chow), 45 days—maybe silk, had been forgotten; and these farther substantiated by imports of real goods, more—by horse. The pace of these com- eastern regions, factually unknown, were then led to much more commercial activity mercial travels approximated that of Plano populated in the Western imagination by on the part of Europeans in Inner and East Carpini and (for his outward journey) notional monsters or imaginary Christian Asia. By ca. 1320, the way east, and the Rubruck: about 20 miles per day. At Qinsay, kingdoms in accordance with wishful think- most reliable mercantile strategy to employ the silver sum ingots had to be exchanged ing or even stories passed on by Muslims there, could be reduced to a succinct set of for the legal tender of China: paper money and by the Mongols themselves. John of recommendations by a Florentine banker, called balish by Pegolotti (and equivalent Plano Carpini, the first European visitor to Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, experienced in value, presumably, to the silver balish, report on Mongolia, was told, for instance, in eastern Mediterranean commerce. The a large ingot of about 4 pounds 12 ounces, of dog-headed people, and of people with route he suggested began at the port city or 2,160 g). After Qinsay, the merchant but one leg and arm, who moved by hop- of Tana, in the northeast corner of the could go on to the Mongols’ principal politi- ping or turning cartwheels; the dog-headed Black Sea and easily accessible by Italian cal center in China, Khanbaligh (“The Qan’s people were already “known” to Muslim and

13 European writers. William of Rubruck (170), the Kerait chiefs had, for instance, been empire, with vast populations of real peo- the next to report from Mongolia, inquired under Nestorian influence. They sought ple, possessing immense wealth, some of more skeptically about “the monsters and also to reach Mongol leaders alleged to be which latter could be shared by Westerners human freaks who are described by Isidore Christians, to little avail, since these were on very good terms. and Solinus [the dog-headed and single- essentially polytheistic (a position difficult limbed]” (R/J&M, 201] and, on finding no for monotheistic Christians and Muslims to Just as the Empire’s territories, peoples eye-witnesses, doubted their existence. grasp), with perhaps individual preferences and riches were becoming well-known in (We should remember our own Bigfoot for particular Nestorian priests. Marco Polo the (especially Italian) commercial circles and Loch Ness monster as we smile at (119) gives a quotation of Qubilai (Kubla of Europe, the Empire was beginning to medieval credulity.) Besides the freaks, Khan) which expresses the Mongol atti- implode. After the death of Möngke Qan there was also the “Christian priest-king, tude well: “There are four prophets who in 1259, imperial unity had been lost. But Prester John,” wishfully developed in the are worshipped and to whom all the world for another three-quarters of a century, the twelfth century from reports out of (actual) does reverence. The Christians say that four (or, occasionally, five) now-independent Ethiopia of their priest-kings entitled dzan, their God was Jesus Christ, the Saracens Mongol realms that had been sub-units of together with rumors of the troubles of the Mahomet, the Jews Moses, and the idola- the unitary empire, managed to maintain Muslims with non-Muslims on their eastern ters Sakyamuni Burkhan [the Buddha], a degree of economic cooperation despite frontiers—actually the conflict between who was the first to be represented as God sporadic, and sometimes prolonged, hostili- the Muslim Seljuks in Central Asia and the in the form of an idol. And I [Qubilai] do ties. The Polos had had to use back-ways to Buddhist Qarakitai—and the fact, albeit un- honour and reverence to all four, so that China to avoid trouble, but Pegolotti’s silk known in the West, of a considerable pres- I may be sure of doing it to him who is buyers could go straight through from Tana ence of Nestorian Christians in Inner and greatest in heaven and truest; and to him to Kanchow, Qinsay and Qanbaligh. But in East Asia. Prester John allegedly headed a I pray for aid.” But as the reports of Carpini 1335, the Mongol ruler of the Middle East, great Inner Asian Christian power that was and Rubruck, of Marco Polo and others, ac- Abű Sa‛îd, died without an heir, and his of- going to attack the Muslims from the East cumulated, the freaks and monsters were ficials and officers, unable to agree on a in support of the Crusaders in Palestine. relegated to the fringes, along with Prester successor, fought one another to stalemate Western visitors to the Mongols at first tried John, and Christian Mongols became a for- and collapse. The Middle Eastern branch of to identify Prester John among the recent, lorn hope. These imaginings were displaced the Road closed, and with that, European pre-unification tribal leadership of Mongolia; by a new, and true, knowledge of a huge access to its desert route. The other branch,

14 within range: Reprints for Teaching, 8 (Toronto: Toronto about 2,700 UP, 1998).. (Citations of Rubruck refer miles (the ac- to the translation in Dawson; P. Jackson tual distance and D. Morgan ed., The Mission of Friar is around William of Rubruck, P. Jackson trans; 13,000 miles.) (London: Hakluyt Society, 1990) has a Columbus was better translation and full annotation. a lucky man. Following a tireless ef- Studies fort to find Thomas T. Allsen, Mongol Imperialism financing for (Berkeley: University of California Press, his project, he 1987). succeeded in obtaining, over ______, Commodity and the objections Exchange in the Mongol Empire: A of a scholarly Cultural History of Islamic Textiles advisory com- Cambridge UP, 1997). via the Golden Horde (Tana to Urgench and mittee, funds on East), remained open until 1368 when for his intercontinental expedition from the John Carswell, Blue and White: Chinese the Yuan dynasty Mongols abandoned China Spanish royals. And fortunately for him, in the face of the Ming rebellion, opening Porcelain around the World (London: there was in fact another continent within British Museum Press, 2000). a long period of Ming-Mongol antagonism range. and conflict that prevented direct access to Elizabeth Kolbert, “The Lost Mariner,” The China across the steppe. Direct European Thus the Mongols, and their best salesman, contact with China thereafter became New Yorker (October 14 & 21, 2002), Marco Polo, turned out to be responsible, 206-11. impossible, and indirect trade between not only for revealing a Far Eastern world Europe and China declined to pre-Mongol new to Europe, but for instigating the levels. The Chinese, no longer conscripts David Morgan, The Mongols (Oxford: Basil discovery—by mistake!—of another New Blackwell, 1986). in the Mongol program of world-conquest, World. and fully content with their own vast re- James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, sources, lost interest in, as well as contact References When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and with Europe. But European awareness of Chinese Textiles (New York: Metropolitan China did not similarly decline. Memories Museum of Art, 1997). of the commerce carried on by Pegolotti’s The following works are used as refer- merchant associates, and especially Marco ences. Polo’s fascinating stories, maintained Illustration Credits knowledge of the Far East, and the desire Sources of renewed access to it. Mongol Empire map, China in Maps, H. Ala al-Din Juvaini, The History of the Fullard ed. (Chicago: Denoyer-Geppert, During the fifteenth century, European geo- World-Conqueror, J.A. Boyle trans. 1968). graphical speculation about ways to the Far (Cambridge MA: Harvard UP, 1958), two East that would avoid hostile Muslims and vols. Mongols (R) vs. Mamluks E.D. Phillips, The unreliable nomads, was stimulated by the Mongols (New York: Praeger, 1969). rediscovery and widespread publication of Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, La Pratica the second century Alexandrian geographer della Mercatura, Allan Evans ed. Palace Tent, Nigâr Anafarta ed., Ptolemy’s Geographical Survey, which en- (Cambridge MA: Mediaeval Academy of Hünernâme: Miniyatürleri ve Sanatçýlarý couragingly, but incorrectly, asserted that America, 1936); Pegolotti’s text on the (Istanbul: Doðan Kardeº, 1969). the Ocean extended, uninterrupted, from China trade is translated in R.S. Lopez the western shores of Europe to the coasts and I.W. Raymond, Medieval Trade in the Mongol Siege, David Talbot Rice, The of East Asia, and helpfully, if mistakenly, Mediterranean World (New York, 1955), Illustrations to the ‘World History’ of calculated that the Oceanic share of the 355-58. Rashîd al-Dîn (Edinburgh UP, 1976). world’s circumference (the world was, and long had been, generally known to be John of Plano Carpini, History of the Ox- and Camel-Carts, Eighteen Songs round) was about 180°—about 30% less Mongols, in Christopher Dawson ed., of a Nomad Flute: A Fourteenth-Century than the actual distance. Even this reduced Mission to Asia, Medieval Academy Handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum breadth of the ocean, however, was too Reprints for Teaching, 8 (Toronto: Toronto of Art (New York: Metropolitan Museum, much for any European ship to cover with- UP, 1998). 1974). out reprovisioning. Christopher Columbus overcame this problem. Columbus had read, Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, R. Royal Reception of Church Envoy, Culture and become enthralled by, Marco Polo’s sto- Latham trans. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, in Western Asia, 1256-1353 (New York: ries, to the point of determining that, by many reprints [n.b. pagination varies The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New whatever means necessary, he would plan among reprints; citations above refer to Haven: Yale UP, 2002). a feasable voyage to East Asia and carry it the 1980 reprint]). out. His means involved selective adoption of miscalculations by various geographers Rashīd al-Dīn, Compendium of Chronicles, that minimized the distance still more: a W.M. Thackston trans. (Cambridge MA: French astrologer gave the Ocean 135°; an Harvard, 1998-99), three vols. Arab astronomer posited a shorter degree; and Columbus trimmed the Arab’s figure by William of Rubruck, The Journey of expressing it not in nautical miles, but in William of Rubruck, in Christopher Dawson Roman, 20% shorter. This brought East Asia ed., Mission to Asia, Medieval Academy

15 pearing in 1876, later updated by Cordier and republished in 1903. Their combined AGE OF MONGOLIAN EMPIRE: effort is still the most usable translation of Marco Polo, and the notes are a gold mine A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY for scholars. As more sources became available, special- ized studies began appearing as well. These included Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall’s Paul D. Buell histories of the Mongols in Russia, and in Iran (1840 and 1841-1843)3, only fully su- perceded in recent decades. Less successful was a general history in English, by Henry H. Howorth (History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century, London: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1876-1927), since Howorth was unable to read his primary sources in the original languages. There is an enormous literature on the age of the topic, based as they were upon only In the 20th century, various national schools of Mongolian Empire, that period extend- a most limited sampling of primary source of Mongolian studies flourished. The most ing from approximately the late 13th cen- material, it is little read today. One early important of these, as might be expected, tury, as prequel, through much of the 14th examination of the rise of the Mongols that was the Russian school, which continued century, later in Russia, in which Mongols, is read today are the relevant chapters of strong throughout the late Czarist and their states, and successor states domi- Edward Gibbon’s monumental Decline and Soviet periods. Two of its most important nated the stage in much of the Old World. Fall of the Roman Empire (various editions). exponents were V. V. Barthold, whose Unfortunately it is very uneven in quality, Gibbon was the first to advance a social in- worked straddled the Czarist and Soviet much of it in less common languages, and terpretation of the rise of Cinggis-qan that periods, and B. Y. Vladimirtsov, who pro- marred by an excessive concern for philo- is still in vogue today. duced many works including a biography of logical detail. There is also a notable lack Cinggis-qan and an important examination of useful overviews, those available either Not long after Gibbon’s time, a more seri- of early Mongolian society from a Marxist being too popular, and inaccurate, or just ous study of the age of Mongolian Empire perspective, the first based upon the most plain silly, or so ponderous in detail as to began, in Russia, where the great Russian important Mongolian sources including the be virtually unreadable by a general audi- orientalist school began to study all things Secret History of the Mongols. Also impor- ence. Unfortunately, given the complexity Mongolian as a cooperative effort. It had tant within the Russian schools, not only of the field, with sources in so many lan- the advantage of a ready access to docu- for his own work, but for the many scholars guages, some of them still unpublished, ments in the original Mongolian as well as that he trained, was Nicholas Poppe. Among and the decline that Mongolian studies has in other Asian languages, including, as time his many works, his study of the Mongolian undergone in recent decades, in the United went on, Chinese. The influence of this documents in the aPhags-pa Script is still States in particular, this situation is unlikely school is still felt today, both within Russia, the standard work on the topic. More re- to change any time soon. and without, thanks to many émigré schol- cently working in Russia was the Buriyat ars such as the late Nicholas Poppe who Ts. Munkuyev, a leading interpreter of The bibliographical survey of the field that lived and taught in Seattle, Washington, for early Mongolian society and politics from a follows is not even remotely complete, nor many years. The present author was among Marxist perspective. could it be given the limited space available his students. for this article. My purpose in providing it Prominent within the German school were B. is rather to offer a useful guide to what is Outside Russia, the first truly compre- Spuler, who wrote highly detailed histories, available, including some items in less com- hensive history of the Mongols and their several times updated, on Mongol Russia mon languages, either because these items age appeared in 1824, that of French- and Iran (replacing those of Hammer- are extremely important, or because they Armenian Constantin d’Ohsson (Histoire Purgstall), and Erich Haenisch. Haenisch, are the only literature available in major des Mongols, 4 volumes, various editions, although not the first to reconstruct the areas of interest. Nonetheless, the main original published in Paris). It is still useful Mongolian text of the Secret History of the emphasis is on those works that are the today because of d’Ohsson’s masterful use Mongols from Chinese transcription (he most easily read and understood by the of the Persian sources. In the years after was proceeded by Paul Pelliot in France), non-specialist. d’Ohsson, a concerted effort was made, it still produced a valuable edition of the text is still continuing, to publish, translate and and a dictionary of the Mongolian words annotate these sources to make them avail- History of the Field occurring in it4, among many works. Also able to the non-specialists. Among the earli- important German scholars, both still liv- est efforts in this area was E. Quatremère’s ing at the time of writing, are Herbert Despite the obvious interest of the topic, edition and translation of a portion of the Franke, although more of a Sinologist than since the Mongols touched so many cul- text of Rashīd al-Dīn’s history (Histoire des Mongolist, and the Turkologist and linguist tures in creating their empire, and in many Mongols de la Perse, Paris, 1836). Shortly G. Doerfer. Doerfer’s voluminous dictionary ways brought Europe, in particular, out of thereafter, the Russians also began to of Mongolian and Turkish loan words found its shell, serious scholarly study of the his- publish translations of Chinese sources, in Modern Persian is a major resource for tory of the age of Mongolian Empire and of in most cases making them available for anyone working in the field since key con- its successor states only dates back a little the first time to a European audience. Of cepts are accompanied by detailed essays over 300 years. The early works included special note in this regard, were the trans- 2 that put each into a cultural and historical a first biography of Cinggis-qan , of which lations published by E. Bretschneider, in context. there are now a large number. It was writ- his still useful Medieval Researches, From ten by Petis de la Croix (Histoire du Grand Eastern Asiatic Sources, first published in Even more important than the German Genghizcan) and published in 1710 in Paris. 1888. Another major milestone was Henry school, in terms of total output, was the Like most works from this first age of study Yule’s annotated edition of Marco Polo, ap-

16 French school long dominated by Paul Mongolian government remain vital to this first excavations at the site of the imperial Pelliot (1878-1945). In addition to major day. Mongol capital of Qaraqorum, the Mongols articles and collections of notes (he never are the ones doing most of the digging wrote an actual book) published during his Although the age of the Mongolian Empire today, although Chinese archaeologists life time, his posthumous works, some of is less directly studied in China, except so are much involved too, in Inner Mongolia major importance for the field, continued to far as it impinged on China, and then rarely and adjacent areas, as well as at many appear for several decades after his death. in comparative terms, Chinese scholarship sites in China proper relating to the Mongol His masterpiece, incomplete, he never got in the field has continued to be important. era, and efforts by Russians continue. past the letter "C", is his massive Notes Most useful of Chinese publications in the Unfortunately, while excavation reports to Marco Polo, including full discussions of general area are numerous high-quality published by Chinese, Russian, and other such topics as "Cinggis-qan" and "cotton," editions of source material. Recently such scholars are relatively accessible and thus although much of it is philological, making publications included two separate editions, well known, those published by Mongolian the text, poorly organized in any case, dif- one with a dictionary of the text’s Arabic scholars in Mongolia are not. Few libraries ficult to get through. As noted, Pelliot was and Persian terminology, of the surviving located outside Mongolian-speaking areas also the first to reconstruct the Mongolian chapters of the Huihui yaofang 回回藥方, have any Mongolian books at all, not to text of the Secret History of the Mongols5. "Muslim Medicinal Recipes"6. This was once mention excavation reports, rarely collected part of a large encyclopedia of Islamic outside of Mongolian libraries. In the United Pelliot had many students, including Louis medicine prepared, apparently, for the States, only the Wilson Library of Western Hambis, who was actively involved in pro- Mongol rulers of China. The text is unique Washington University, in Bellingham, ducing the series of posthumous works of not only in including Arabic script entries for Washington, has large holdings of such Pelliot, as well as major translations of pri- Arabic and Persian terms otherwise given material, both from the Ulaanbaatar and mary sources on his own, and the German in Chinese transcription, but also as the Inner Mongolian side. Paul Ratchnevky, whose contributions to the only Chinese text to quote Galen and other field of Mongolian studies are many. They Western authorities. Among the many Mongolian scholars con- include a highly usable life of Cinggis- cerned with the early history of their coun- qan based primarily upon Mongolian and Also major contributions of Modern China to try, before and the during the Mongol age, Chinese sources (but not Persian, since the field is a new version (by Ke Shaomin柯 and immediately after, are N. Ishjamts, Kh. Ratchnevsky does not read Persian). Also 紹忞) of the Yuanshi 元史, called Xinyuanshi Perlee, Sh. Bira, the latter still very active, a student of Pelliot was the American, F. W. 新元史, "New Yuan History" (various edi- Sh. Natsagdorj, B. Sum’yabaatar, and Ch. Cleaves, who in turn had many important tions), and the unexampled Mengwuer Dalay. Particularly important is the work students himself. Over several decades, shiji 蒙兀兒史記, "Historical Record of the of Dalay whose study of Mongolia in the nearly all published in the Harvard Journal Mongols," of Tu Ji 屠寄 (various editions). Mongol age presents a thesis that strongly of Asiatic Studies, Cleaves produced a se- Tu Ji’s history is, without doubt, one of the counters that of John Dardess that the ries of profusely documented (even with finest works ever produced on the Mongols Mongols became Confucianized as Mongolia notes on notes) examinations of source of the imperial period (and somewhat af- became, in essence, a part of China. Also an material, above all inscriptions. Cleaves ter), but little known since it is written in important Mongolian scholar is D. Gongor. was also the author of a translation of the Chinese. Among Chinese specializing in the His two-volume Khalkh Tovchoon, "Short Secret History of the Mongols, although it field was Wang Guowei 王國維, whose life History of the Khalkha," offers the fullest is in a particularly obscure language and was also cut short before he could realize social history of the Mongols, including is difficult to read and lacks a promised his full potential. He produced annotated those of the period of empire, ever written, volume of notes. Continuing the Cleaves, editions of early Chinese sources that in any language. Also an achievement of and thus Pelliot tradition, although he is remain highly useful. Foremost among Mongolian scholarship is the only full trans- somewhat more interpretive, in the United younger scholars devoting themselves to lation of the Yuanshi 元史 into Mongolian by States was David Farquhar (who was also the study of the Mongol age is Hsiao Ch’i- Dandaa (pen name of Ch. Demcigdorj). a student of Poppe). His magnum opus is a ch’ing 蕭啟慶. In addition to many other detailed exegesis, produced posthumously, valuable works, Hsiao is the author of the In addition to the national schools, there are of the government of Mongol China as it ap- best available essay on late qanate China in also a great many scholars working in vari- pears in the Yuanshi, "Official History of the the Cambridge History of China. ous countries more or less independently, Yuan" (various editions), that is, of China’s only loosely associated with anything that Mongol dynasty. Finally, there is the native Mongolian might be considered a school. Among them, (people’s republic) school, perhaps the still living, but already having had a long Another extremely important national most important of all since the Mongols are career, is Igor de Rachewiltz. He was born school is that of the Japanese which has closest to their own traditions and its out- in Italy but is currently living in Australia. concentrated its efforts on the history of put has been voluminous, although much The contributions of Igor de Rachewiltz to the Mongols in East Asia in particular. Since Mongolian scholarship has gone forward so many areas of the field are too numer- the Japanese, before 1945, were in physi- isolated from what is being done elsewhere. ous to list here, but perhaps his greatest cal contact with the Mongols, and closely This has either been for political reasons, contribution of all will be his translation of allied with them (an advantage of the during the period of Soviet influence, or the Secret History of the Mongols, with full Russian school as well), and have always simply because of the physical isolation of apparatus, to appear in 2003, the product had maximum access to East Asian sources, Mongolia from the larger research libraries of decades of work. Igor de Rachewiltz has the work of this school has often been far and the limited foreign language skills of also worked extensively with Chinese bio- in advance of anything being produced in many Mongolian scholars (this is chang- graphical materials connected with major the Western world. Leading scholars of the ing rapidly). Mongolian contributions are figures of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. He and Japanese school include Yanai Wataru 箭 particularly important in the area of social his associates have not only produced a 內互, who more or less invented the field history, since they know their own culture large biographical dictionary relating to the in Japan, Haneda Torū 羽田亨, Iwamura best, in material culture, for the same rea- first period of Mongol control in China, but Shinobu 岩村忍, who produced valuable son, and in archaeology. Although the first also have published several reference works work on Mongolian social and economic his- to carry out fieldwork specifically devoted aimed at making Chinese literary sources tory, and Maeda Naonori 前田直典. Maeda’s to sites associated with the Mongol impe- more accessible to scholars. life was cut short but his ideas on imperial rial period were Russian archaeologists, including S. V. Kiselev, who carried out the

17 Another scholar making a strong individual any Mongolian at all and thus are unable Boyle, J. A. The Mongol World Empire, contribution was the great Turkish historian to gain a feeling for the insider’s view of 1206-1370. London: Variorum Ismail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı. Although he was events and people. A second reason for Reprints, 1977. primarily interested in the history of Turkey pessimism is the almost complete past and its origins, institutionally, the relevant failure to support the field as a legitimate Buell, Paul D. Historical Dictionary of the chapters of his Osmanılı Devleti Teşkilâtina area of scholarly inquiry, outside of a few, Mongolian World Empire, Lanham, Medhal ("Overview of the Organization of very rare institutions, some of those dying. Md., and Oxford: The Scarecrow the Ottoman Government") remains the This is particularly true in the United States. Press, Inc. (Historical Dictionaries of best institutional history of any of the Thus, even if the proper specialists emerge, Ancient Civilizations and Historical successor qanates, in this case, Mongol who will employ them? The example of the Eras, No. 8), 2003 Iran. Uzunçarşılı’s work is particularly present author who works entirely on his valuable in that it provides substantial in- own, enjoys no institutional support what- formation regarding the context in which ever, and, most important, has no students Franke, Herbert, and Denis Twitchett, Ilqanate institutions existed and developed. thus making no contribution to the future, editors. The Cambridge History of Unfortunately, Turkish, outside of Turkish is not that atypical. Can we really afford to China, Volume 6, Alien Regimes and studies, is not a commonly read language have an important field of scholarly inquiry Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge: and Uzunçarşılı’s work, including his many that is, for all practical purposes, "out of Cambridge University Press, 1994. other contributions, and those of Turkish the loop," especially today when the stra- scholars in general, remain largely unap- tegic importance of Central Asia grows by Gongor, D. Khalkh Tovchoon. Two vol- preciated. the day. umes. BNMAU Shinzhlekh Ukhaany Akademiyn Tüükhiyn Khüreelen. Most scholars in the United States also work Bibliographical listings Ulaanbaatar, 1970-1978. in isolation and are not really part of a na- tional school since the field of Mongolian studies is largely unrecognized there and The bibliographical listings provided below Grousset, René. The Empire of the most of those devoting all or part of their are highly selective and have been chosen Steppes, a History of Central Asia. scholarly energies to the Mongol age do either because the present author finds Translated by Naomi Walford. New so as part of other fields. On example is them particularly useful or because they Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Thomas Allsen. Allsen is one of those few provide virtually unique coverage. The Press, 1970. scholars knowing both Chinese and Persian listing is under the following somewhat well, although based in Iranian studies. arbitrary categories: Kessler, Adam T., editor. Empires be- Allsen has produced a number of important 1. General Works, Collections yond the Great Wall: The Heritage of institutional studies, including the standard 2. Reference Genghis Khan. Los Angeles: Natural work on the era of Möngke qan (1251- 3. Historiography History Museum of Los Angeles 1259), but has recently devoted himself 4. Translations of Primary Sources County, 1993. to the issue of cultural exchanges between the Islamic and Chinese worlds during 5. Cinggis-qan Lattimore, Owen. Inner Asian Frontiers of the Mongol Age. Another example is the 6. Mongolia to 1206 China. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962 present author, more a Mongolist but still 7. Mongolian Empire (1951). based in Chinese studies, but also knowing 8. Mongol China some Persian, a number of other important 9. Golden Horde source languages, including Western ones, ——. Studies in Frontier History: Collected and very strong on the Altaic side. Like 10. Ca’adai Ulus, Qaidu, and Papers 1929-1958. London: Oxford Allsen he has produced a number of insti- Turkistan University Press, 1962. tutionally-based studies and like Allsen he 11. Mongol Iran has now turned to the cultural history of the 12. Military Morgan, David. The Mongols. New York: Mongol age, focusing on the history of food 13. Food, Medicine Basil Blackwell, Inc., 1986. and comparative medical history. 14. Diplomatics, International Relations, Cultural Exchanges Today, with centuries of scholarship to draw Phillips, E. D. The Mongols. London: on, and nearly all of the important sources 15. Trade, Economic History Thames and Hudson (Ancient Peoples published and readily available, we would 16. Art, Architecture, and Textiles and Places, volume 64), 1986. anticipate the dawn of a golden age of 17. Religion Mongolian studies, the study of the age of 18. Archaeology Saunders, J. J. The History of the Mongol Mongolian Empire in particular, since inter- Conquests. London: Routledge & 19. Black Death est in that period in other fields is now at Kegan Paul, 1971. a high level. Alas, it is not likely to be so for two very good reasons. One is an acute Following most sections is a short com- Spuler, B. The Muslim World: A Historical shortage of true specialists in the field, mentary on works listed that the present Survey. Part II: The Mongol Period. that dying breed, very rare to begin with, author has found particularly useful. Works Leiden: Brill, 1960. comprised of those with the necessary lin- discussed in the introduction are usually not guistic and other skills to study the period discussed again. broadly with a maximum use of primary Tikhvinskiy, S. L. Tataro-mongoly v Azii sources in all the many languages that i Evrope: Sbornik statei. Moscow: have to be dealt with. Most scholars in the 1. General Works, Collections Nauka, 1970. field today, and some are very competent, are based in some other area to the exclu- Amitai-Preiss, Reuven, and David O. Waldron, Arthur. The Great Wall of China, sion of Mongolian studies and tend to view Morgan. The Mongol Empire and Its From History to Myth. Cambridge: the Mongol age through the rose-colored Legacy. Leiden: Brill, 1999. Cambridge University Press, 1990. glasses of their own particular regional hobby-horses. Most important, few know

18 Weiers, Michael, editor. Die Mongolen, Bretschneider, E. Medieval Researches, chinesische Gesandten-berichte über Beiträge zu ihrer Geschichte und From Eastern Asiatic Sources. Two die frühen Mongolen 1221 and 1237 Kultur. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche volumes. London: Routledge & Kegan (Asiatische Forschungen 56). Wies- Buchgesellschaft, 1986. Paul, Ltd., 1967 (1888). baden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980.

Yanai Wataru 箭內互. Mōkōshi kenkyū 蒙古 Budge, E. A. W., editor and translator. Hambis, Louis, translator. Le Chapitre 史研究. Tôkyô: Tôhô shoin, 1930. The Chronography of Gregory Abūl CVII du Yuan Che : Les Généalogies Faraq, the Son of Aaron, the Hebrew Impériales Mongoles dans There is a real shortage of useful general Physician, Commonly known as Bar l’Histoire Chinoise Officielle de la works on the Mongols. The best of the gen- Hebraeus, Being the First Part of his Dynastie Mongole. Avec des Notes eral surveys are those by J. J. Saunders, Political History of the World. Two Supplémentaires par Paul Pelliot. David Morgan, and Michael Weiers, in volumes. London: Oxford University Leiden: Brill (T’oung Pao suppl. 38), German. My new Dictionary is intended to Press, 1932. 1945. replace all three of these works. Also essen- tial for any attempt to gain an overview of Buell, Paul D., Eugene N. Anderson, ——, translator. Le Chapitre CVIII du Yuan the topic are the works of Owen Lattimore. and Charles Perry. A Soup for the Che, les Fiefs attribués aux Membres Franke and Twitchett, although concentrat- Qan: Chinese Dietary Medicine of de la Famille Impériale et aux ing on China, provide useful background the Mongol Era as Seen in Hu Szu- Ministres de la Cour Mongole d’après information not only on the Mongols, but hui's Yin-shan Cheng-yao. London: l’Historie Chinoise Officielle de la on their steppe predecessors including the Kegan Paul International (Sir Henry Dynastie Mongole. Volume 1. Leiden: influential Kitan. Wellcome Asian Series), 2000. Brill, 1954.

2. Reference Cleaves, F. W. “The Biography of Bayan of Jackson, Peter, and David Morgan, edi- the Bârin in the Yüan Shih.” Harvard tors. The Mission of Friar William of Doerfer, G. Türkische und mongolische Journal of Asiatic Studies, 19 (1956), Rubruck. London: Hakluyt Society Elemente im Neupersischen. Four 185-303. (Hakluyt Society, second series, vol- volumes. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner ume 173), 1990. Verlag, GMBH, 1963-1975. ——. The Secret History of the Mongols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Juvaini, ’Ala-ad-din ’Ata-Malik. The History Pelliot, Paul. Notes on Marco Polo. Three Press, 1982. of the World-Conqueror. Translated volumes. Paris: Imprimerie National, by J. A. Boyle. Two volumes. 1959-1973. Damdinsüren, Ts., Translator. Mongolyn Manchester: Manchester University Nuuts Tovchoo. Ulaanbaatar: Ulsyn Press, 1958. 3. Historiography Khevleliyn Gazar, 1975. Komroff, Manuel. Contemporaries of Dawson, Christopher, editor. Mission to Marco Polo. London: Jonathan Cape, Buell, Paul D. “Steppe Perspectives on the Asia: Narratives and Letters of the 1928. Medieval History of China: Modern Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia Mongol Scholarship on the Liao, Chin and China in the Thirteenth and Lech, Klaus, translator Das Mongolische and Yüan Periods.” Zentralasiatische Fourteenth Centuries. Translated by a Weltreich, Al-’Umari’s Darstellung Studien, XV (1981), 129-149. Nun of Stanbrook Abbey. New York: der mongolischen Reiche in seinem Harper Torchbooks, 1966. Werk Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al- Gumilev, L. N. “‘Taynaya’ i ‘Yavnaya’ amsar. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Istoriya Mongolov xii-xiii vv.” In S. L. Franke, H. Beiträge zur Kulturgeshichte (Asiatische Forschungen 22), 1968. Tikhvinskiy, editor, Tataro-Mongoly v Chinas unter der Mongolenherrschaft, Azii i Evrope. Moskva: Nauka, 1970, Das Shan-kü sin-hua des Yang Munkuyev, N. Ts. Kitayskiy Istochnik 455-474. Yü. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner o Pervykh Mongol’skikh Khanakh. (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Moscow: Nauka, 1965. Poucha, Pavel. Die Geheime Geschichte Morgenlandes, XXXII, 2), 1956. der Mongolen als Geschichtsquelle Pelliot, P., and L. Hambis. Histoire des und Literaturdenkmal. Prague: Gibb, H. A. R., translator. The Travels of Campagnes de Gengis Khan. Volume Českoslo-venská Akademie Vĕd Ibn Battūta, A.D. 1325-1354. Five 1. Leiden : Brill, 1951. (Archiv Orientální Supplementa, 4), volumes. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society 1956. (new series, 110, 117, 141, 178, Rachewiltz, Igor de. “The Hsi-yu lu 西 190), 1958-2000. 遊錄 by Yeh-lü Ch’u-ts’ai 耶律楚.” Poucha’s work on the Secret History of the Monumenta Serica, 21 (1962), 1-128. Mongols in German is highly recommended Haenisch, Erich, and Peter Olbricht. to anyone interested in the subject as is Zum Untergang zweier Reiche, Gumilev’s compelling look at competing ——. translator. The Secret History of the Berichte von Augenzeugen aus historiographic traditions in early Mongolian Mongols. A Mongolian Epic Chronicle den Jahren 1232-33 und 1368-70. sources. of the Thirteenth Century. Leiden: E. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner (Deutsche J. Brill, 2003. Morgenländische Gesellschaft, volume 4. Translations of Primary Sources XXXVIII, 4), 1969. Ratchnevsky, Paul. Un Code des Yuan. Volumes 1 and 4. Paris: Collège de Boyle, John A., translator. The Successors Haenisch, Erich, Yao Ts’ung-wu, Peter of Genghiz Khan; Translated from the France, Institut des Hautes Études Olbricht, and Elisabeth Pinks. Meng- Chinoises, 1985 (1937, 1985). Persian of Rashīd al-Dīn. New York: ta pei-lu und Hei-ta shih-lüeh: Columbia University Press, 1971.

19 ——. Un Code des Yuan. Volume 2. Paris: Chinese material is mostly fairly technical Mongol’s pre-imperial history is very poorly Presses Universitaires de France, but Waley’s The Travels of an Alchemist is covered. My own work is summarized and 1972. particularly readable, and the translation of expanded in my Dictionary. Vladimirtsov some early Chinese eyewitness accounts remains indespensible. Ratchnevsky, Paul, and Françoise Aubin. by Haenisch, Yao, Olbricht, Pinks is highly Un Code des Yuan. Volume 3. Paris: useful. Pelliot and Hambis provide a good 7. Mongolian Empire Presses Universitaires de France, translation of part of another early Chinese 1977. source, the Shengwu qinzheng lu 聖武親征錄 , "Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Allsen, Thomas A. T. “Prelude to the Sagely Militant," which may be based upon Western Campaigns: Mongol Military Sagaster, Klaus. Die weisse Geschichte. a now-lost Mongolian chronicle. Containing Operations in the Volga-Ural Region, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz mostly notices from the European side, 1217-1237.” Archivum Eurasiae Medii (Asiatische Forschungen, 41), 1976. Yule’s Cathay and the Way Thither is still Aevi, 3 (1983), 5-24. worth examining. For those interested in Schulte-Uffelage. Das Keng-shen wai-shi. cultural history, food and medicine in par- ____ “Guard and Government in the Eine Quelle zur späten Mongolenzeit. ticular, I recommend our A Soup for the Reign of Grand Qan Möngke, 1251- Berlin: Akademie-Verlag (Ostasi- Qan. This is supplemented by the recipes 1259.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic atische Forschungen, Sonderreihe translated by Teresa Wang and Eugene N. Studies, 46 (December, 1986), 495- Monographien no. 2), 1963. Anderson. 521.

Schurmann, Herbert Franz. translator. 5. Cinggis-Qan ——. Mongol Imperialism. Berkeley: Economic Structure of the Yüan University of California Press, 1987. Dynasty, Translation of Chapters 93 Ratchnevsky, Paul. Genghis Khan, His and 94 of the Yüan shih. Cambridge, Life and Legacy. Translated by ——. “Mongolian Princes and Their Mass.: Harvard University Press Thomas Nivison Haining. Oxford, and Merchant Partners.” Asia Major, 2 (Harvard-Yenching Institute Series, Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, 1991. (1989), 83-126. XVI), 1967. Vladimirtsov, B. I. Gengis-Khan. Ayalon, D. “The Great Yāsa of Chingiz Yule, Henry, translator, and Henri Cordier, Translated by Michel Carsow. Paris: Khān: A Re-examination.” Studia editor. Cathay and the Way Thither, Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient Islamica, 33 (1971), 97-140. Being a Collection of Medieval Notes Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1948. of China. New, Revised Edition. Four Volumes. London: Hakluyt Society Buell, Paul D. “Sino-Khitan Ratchnvesky’s Life still remains the best. A Administration in Mongol Bukhara.” (second series, volumes 33, 37-38, new biography utilizing the Persian sources 41), 1913-1916. Journal of Asian History XIII (1979): too is urgently needed. 2, 121-151. ——. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the 6. Mongolia to 1206 Venetian. Two volumes. Amsterdam: ——. “Kalmyk Tanggaci People: Thoughts Philo Press, 1975 (1903-1920). on the Mechanics and Impact of Buell, Paul D. "The Role of the Sino- Mongol Expansion.” Mongolian Mongolian Frontier Zone in the Studies VI (1980), 41-59. Waley, Arthur. translator. The Travels of Rise of Cinggis-qan." In Henry G. an Alchemist, The Journey of the Schwarz, editor, Studies on Mongolia, Taoist Ch’ang-ch’un from China to ——. “Early Mongol Expansion in Western Proceedings of the First North Siberia and Turkestan (1207-1219): the Hindukush at the Summons American Conference on Mongolian of Cinghiz Khan, Recorded by His A Reconstruction.” Central Asiatic Studies. Bellingham, Wash.: Center Journal, XXXVI (1992), 1-2, 1-32. Disciple, Li Chih-ch’ang. Taipei: for East Asian Studies, 1979, 63-76 Southern Materials Center, Inc., 1978 (1931). ——. “Sübötei-ba’atur.” In Igor de Cleaves, F. W. “The Historicity of the Rachewiltz, Chan Hok-lam, Hsiao Baljuna Covenant.” Harvard Journal of Ch’i-ch’ing and Peter W. Geier, Wang, Teresa, and Eugene N. Anderson. Asiatic Studies, 18 (1955), 357-421. “Ni Tsan and His ‘Cloud Forest Hall editors. In the Service of the Khan, Collection of Rules for Drinking and Eminent Personalities of the Early Munkuyev, N. Ts. “Zametki o Drevnikh Eating’.” Petits Propos Culinaire, 60 Mongol-Yuan Period (1200-1300). Mongolakh.“ In Tikhvinsky, S. L., (1998), 24-41. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1993, editor, Tataro-Mongoly v Azii i Evrope, 13-26. Moskva: Nauka, 1970, 352-382. There is now a wide range of translated sources available for those interested in ——. “Chinqai (1169-1252): Architect Ratchnevsky, Paul. “Zum Ausdruk t’ouhsia the age of Mongolian Empire. Essential are of Mongolian Empire.” In Edward H. in der Mongolen-zeit.” In Collectanea the late John Boyle’s translations of Persian Kaplan and Donald W. Whisenhunt, Mongolica: Festschrift für Rintchen sources, particularly his masterful transla- editors. Opuscula Altaica, Essays zum 60. Geburtstag. Wiesbaden: Otto tion of the history of Juvaini, and the forth- Presented in Honor of Henry Schwarz. Harrassowitz, 1966, 173-191. coming translation of the Secret History Bellingham, Wash.: Center for East of the Mongols by Igor de Rachewiltz. Asian Studies (Studies on East Asia, Also particularly recommended are the Vladimirtsov, B. Le Régime Social des 19), 1994, 168-186. new Gibb translation, now complete, of Mongols, le Féodalisme Nomade. The Travels of Ibn Baţţūţa, Lech’s partial Translated by M. Carsow. Paris: Cleaves, F. W. “Darugha and Gerege.” translation of Al-’Umari, and Peter Jackson Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 16 and David Morgan’s new rendering of the Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1948. (1953), 237-259. travels of William of Rubruck. The available

20 Henthorn, William. Korea: The Mongol Chan, Hok-lam. “Liu Ping-chung: a Haneda Tôru 羽田亨. “Môko ekiden kô 蒙 Invasions. Leiden: Brill, 1963. Buddhist-Taoist Statesman at the 古驛傳考.” Tôkyô: Tôyô kyôkai chôsa Court of Khubilai Khan.” T’oung-pao, gakujutsu hôkoku 東洋協會調查部學術 Olschki, Leonardo. Guillaume Boucher, 53 (1967), 98-146. 報告, 1, 1909. a French Artist at the Court of the Khans. New York: Greenwood, 1969. Ch’en, Paul Heng-chao. Chinese Legal Hsiao Ch'i-ch'ing 蕭啟慶. Hsi-yü-jen yü Tradition under the Mongols, the yüan-ch’u cheng-chih 西域人與元初政治 Rachewiltz, Igor de. Papal Envoys to Code of 1291 as Reconstructed. . T’aipei 台北: Kuo-li t’ai-wan ta-hsüeh the Great Khans. Stanford, Calif.: Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University wen-shih ts’ung-kan 國立台灣大學文史 Stanford University Press, 1971. Press, 1979. 叢刊, 1966.

Schurmann, H. F. “Mongolian Tributary Ch’en Yüan 陳垣. Western and Central ——. The Military Establishment of the Practices of the Thirteenth Century.” Asians in China under the Mongols Yuan Dynasty. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 14 (Monumenta Serica Monograph XV). Harvard University Press, 1978. (1956), 304-89. Translated from the Chinese by Ch’ien Hsing-hai 錢星海 and L. Carrington ——. “Mid-Yüan Politics.” In Herbert Goodrich. Los Angeles: Monumenta Franke and Denis Twitchett, editors, Smith, J. M. “Mongol and Nomadic Serica, 1966. Taxation.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic The Cambridge History of China, Studies, 30 (1970), 46-85. Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border Dalay, Ch. Yuan gürniy üyeiyn Mongol, States, 907-1368. Cambridge: Ulaanbaatar: Ulsyn Khevlelyn Gazar, Cambridge University Press, 1994, There is a rich literature, only sampled 1973. 490-560. here, on Mongolian Empire, much of it highly technical. Particularly important are the works of Thomas Allsen. His Mongol Dardess, John W. Conquerors and Iwamura Shinobu 岩村忍. Mongoru shakai Imperialism remains the best monograph on Confucians: Aspects of Political keizai shi no kenkyūモソゴル社會經濟史 the era of Möngke (r. 1251-1259) and one Change in Late Yüan China. New York の研究. Kyōto: Kyodai Jinbun Kagaku of the best monographs in the entire field. and London: Columbia University Kenkyūjo 巨大人文科學研究所, 1968. Unfortunately out-of-print, but highly read- Press, 1973. able, is Igor de Rachewiltz’s Papal Envoys Jay, Jennifer W. A Change in Dynasties. to the Great Khans. See also the relevant ——. “Changing Forms of Imperial Rule Bellingham, Wash.: Center for East biographies, including my own work, in Igor in Mongolia and Central Asia.” Asian Studies (Studies on East Asia, de Rachewiltz, Chan Hok-lam, Hsiao Ch’i- Monumenta Serica, XXX (1972- Volume 18), 1991. ch’ing and Peter W. Geier’s In the Service 1975), 117-165. of the Khan. My own “Chinqai (1169- Kuwabara Jitsuzō. “On P’u Shou-keng.” 1252): Architect of Mongolian Empire,” is ——. “Shun-ti and the End of Yüan Memoirs of the Research Department a corrected expansion of the biographical Rule in China.” In Herbert Franke of the Toyo Bunko, II (1928), 1-79, article found there with substantially more and Denis Twitchett, editors. The VII (1935), 1-104. context provided. The works of Smith are Cambridge History of China, Volume always recommended, whatever the topic 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, Langlois, John D., Jr., editor China un- since they are very well thought out and 907-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge extremely well documented. der Mongol Rule. Princeton, N. J.: University Press, 1994, 561-586. Princeton University Press, 1981. 8. Mongol China Farquhar, D. M. “Structure and Function Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. in the Yüan Imperial Government.” Allsen, Thomas A. “The Rise of the Chinese Art under the Mongols: In John D. Langlois, Jr., editor, China The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368). Mongolian Empire and Mongolian Rule under Mongol Rule. Princeton, N. J.: in North China.” In Herbert Franke Cleveland: Press of Case Western Princeton University Press, 1981, 25- Reserve University, 1968. and Denis Twitchett, editors, The 55. Cambridge History of China, Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, Lo, Jung-Pang. “The Controversy over 907-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge ——. The Government of China under Grain Conveyance during the Reign University Press, 1994, 321-413. Mongolian Rule, A Reference Guide of Khubilai Khan (+1260 to +1294).” (Münchener Ostasiatische Studien Far Eastern Quarterly, 13 (1953), 53). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 262-285. Buell, Paul D. “The Sung Resistance 1990. Movement, 1276-1279: The End of an Era.” Annals of the Chinese Historical ——. “The Emergence of China as a Sea Society of the Pacific Northwest, III Franke, Herbert. Geld und Wirtschaft in Power during the Late Sung and Early (1985-1986), 138-186 China unter der Mongolen-Herrscahft: Yuan Periods.” Far Eastern Quarterly, Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte 14 (1954-1955), 489-503. der Yüan-Zeit. Leipzig: Otto ——. “Saiyid Ajall.” In Igor de Rachewiltz, Harrassowitz, 1949. Chan Hok-lam, Hsiao Ch'i-ch'ing and Maeda Naonori 前田直典. Genchō shi no Peter W. Geier, editors, In the Service kenkyū 元朝史の研究. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Franke, Herbert H. “Tibetans in Yüan of the Khan, Eminent Personalities daigaku shuppankai 東京大學出板會, of the Early Mongol-Yuan Period China.” In John D. Langlois, Jr., editor, 1973. (1200-1300). Wiesbaden: Otto China under Mongol Rule. Princeton: Harrassowitz, 1993, 466-479 Princeton University Press, 1981, 296-328 Mangold, Gunther. Das Militärwesen in China unter der Mongolenherrschaft.

21 Inaugural-Dissertation, Bamberg: Aku ——. “The Reign of Khubilai Khan.” In ——. "The Princes of the Left Hand: An Fotodruck, 1971. Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett, Introduction to the History of the Ulus editors, The Cambridge History of of Orda in the Thirteenth and Early Martin. H. Desmond. The Rise of Chingis China, Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Fourteenth Centuries." Archivum Khan and His Conquest of North Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge: Eurasia Medii Aevi, 5 (1985-87), 5- China. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Cambridge University Press, 1994, 40. Press, 1950. 414-489. Fedorov-Davydov, G. A. Obshchestvennyi Meng Szu-ming 蒙思明. Yüan-tai she-hui Serruys, Henry. “Remnants of Mongol stroy Zolotoy Ordy. Moscow: chieh-chi chih-tu 元代社會階級制度. Customs during the Early Ming.” Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo Hong Kong: Lung-men shu-tien 龍門 Monumenta Serica, 16 (1957), 137- Universiteta, 1973. 書店, 1967. 190. Halperin, Charles J. Russia and the Mongol Mote, Frederick W. “Chinese Society un- ——. The Mongols in China during the Impact on Medieval Russian History: der Mongol Rule, 1215-1368.” In Hung-wu Period. Bruxelles (Mélanges Golden Horde. Bloomington, Indiana: Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett, Chinois et Bouddhiques, Vol. XI), University Press, 1985. editors, The Cambridge History of 1980. China, Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Spuler, B. Die goldene Horde: Die Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge: ——. The Mongols and Ming China: Mongolen in Russland, 1223-1502. Cambridge University Press, 1994, Customs and History. London: Second edition. Wiesbaden: Otto 616-664. Variorum Reprints, 1987. Harrassowitz, 1965.

Olbricht, Peter. Das Postwesen in China, Steinhardt, Nancy R. S. "The Plan of Yegorov, B. L. Istoricheskaya Geographiya unter der Mongolenherrscahft im 13. Khubilai Khan’s Imperial City." Artibus Zolotoy Ordy v XIII-XIV vv. Moskva: und 14. Jahrhundert. Wiesbaden: Asiae, 44 (1983), 137-158. Nauka, 1985. Otto Harrassowitz (Göttinger asiatische Forschungen, 1), 1954. Thiel, J. “Der Streit der Buddhisten There is no fully adequate survey of the und Taoisten zur Mongolen-zeit.” Golden Horde currently available. The best Rachewiltz, Igor de. “Yeh-lü Ch’u-ts’ai Monumenta Serica, 20 (1961), 1-81. remains Spuler, which is difficult to read. For (1189-1243): Buddhist Idealist and those reading Russian, Federov-Davydov is Confucian Statesman.” In A. F. Wright The literature on Mongol China is vast, highly recommended as is the new survey and D. Twitchett, editors. Confucian although not always readable. The best of historical geography by Yegorov. Personalities. Stanford, Calif.: overview can be found in the relevant Stanford University Press, 1962, 189- chapters of the Cambridge History of China 10. Ca’adai Ulus, Qaidu, and 216. by Allsen, Hsiao, Rossabi, Dardess, and Turkistan Mote, although the last two see Mongol ——. “Personnel and Personalities in North China as more of a Chinese entity than Allsen, Thomas T. “The Yüan Dynasty and China in the Early Mongol Period.” this writer. Still essential for the earliest the Uighurs of Turfan in the 13th. Journal of the Economic and Social period of Mongol rule in China is Igor de Century.” In Morris Rossabi, editor, History of the Orient, 9 (1966), 88- Rachewitlz’s “Personnel and Personalities China among Equals. Berkeley and 144. in North China in the Early Mongol Period” Los Angeles: University of California and the biographies in de Rachewiltz, Chan, Press, 1983, 243-280. ——. “Turks in China under the Mongols: Hsiao and Geier are equally essential for A Preliminary Investigation of Turco- the early Yuan period, although they too Aubin, J. “L’ethnogénèse des Qaraunas.” Mongol Relations in the 13th. and see Mongol China as too Chinese, and Turicica, 1 (1969), 65-94. 14th. Centuries.” In Morris Rossabi, Confucian. Also highly recommended for editor, China among Equals. Berkeley early Yuan is Morris Rossabi’s Khubilai and Los Angeles: University of Khan. For those that read Asian languages, Barthold, W. Turkestan down to the California Press, 1983, 281-310. Iwamura and Meng provide excellent social Mongol Invasion. Translated from the history. Jay provides a readable look at Russian by Mrs. T. Minorsky. Fourth the issue of Song loyalism, the supposed edition. London: Luzac and Company Rachewiltz, Igor de, Chan Hok-lam, Hsiao refusal of many members of the Song elite Ltd., 1977. Ch’i-ch’ing, and Peter W. Geier, to serve or even acknowledge the existence editors, In the Service of the Khan, of their Mongol conquerors. Although some- Eminent Personalities of the Early what after the period, the many works of Biran, Michal. Qaidu and the Rise of the Mongol-Yuan Period (1200-1300). Henry Serruys make for highly interesting Independent Mongol State in Central Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, reading. Martin, although containing many Asia. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, Wiesbaden, 1993. errors, and now out-of-date, can still be 1997. useful for a basic orientation regarding the Rossabi, Morris. “The Muslims in the Early first Mongol conquests. Kutlukov, M. “Mongol’skoye Gospodstovo Yüan Dynasty.” In John D. Langlois, v Vostochnom Turkestane.” In S. L. Jr., editor, China under Mongol Rule. 9. Golden Horde Tikhvinskiy, editor, Tataro-Mongoly v Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Azii i Evrope. Moskva: Nauka, 1970, 85-99. Press, 1981, 257-295. Allsen, Thomas A. “Mongol Census Taking in Rus’, 1245-1275.” Harvard ——. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. Ukrainian Studies, 5/1 (1981), 32-53. The standard work is now Biran and Berkeley: University of California thanks to her the field is now well covered. Press, 1988. Barthold’s Turkestan is still recommended

22 for the earlier period, not directly covered 13. Food, Medicine ——. “Court Cuisine in Fourteenth- by Biran. Century Imperial China: Some Culinary Aspects of Hu Sihui’s Yinshan Anderson. E. N. “Food and Health at the Zhengyao.” Food and Foodways I 11. Mongol Iran Mongol Court.” In Edward H. Kaplan (1986), 161-196. and Donald W. Whisenhunt, editors. Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. Mongols and Opuscula Altaica, Essays Presented in Mamluks : The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, Honor of Henry Schwarz. Bellingham, ——. “Ravioli cristallins et tagliatelle 1260-1281. Cambridge: Cambridge Wash.: Center for East Asian Studies rouges: les pâtes chinoises entre University Press (Cambridge Studies (Studies on East Asia, 19), 1994, 17- xiie et xive siècle.” Médiévales 16-17 in Islamic Civilization), 1995. 43 (1989), 29-50.

Boyle, J. A. “Dynastic and Political History Buell, Paul D. “The Yin-shan Cheng-yao, A Smith, John Masson, Jr. “Mongol of the Il-Khans.” In J. A. Boyle, Sino-Uighur Dietary: Synopsis: Prob- Campaign Rations: Milk, Marmots Editor. The Cambridge History of lems, Prospects.” In Paul Unschuld, and Blood?” In Pierre Oberling, editor, Iran, Volume 5: The Saljuq and Mon- editor, Approaches to Traditional Turks, Hungarians and Kipchaks, A gol Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge Chinese Medical Literature, Festschrift in Honor of Tibor Halasi- University Press, Cambridge, 1968, Proceedings of an International Kun. Washington, D.C.: Institute of 303-421. Symposium on Translation Turkish Studies, 1984, 223-228. Methodologies and Terminologies. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer ——, Editor. The Cambridge History of ——. “Dietary Decadence and Dynastic Academic Publishers, 1989, 109-127. Iran, Volume 5: The Saljuq and Mon- Decline in the Mongol Empire.” gol Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge Journal of Asian History, 34 (2000), University Press, 1968. ——. “Pleasing the Palate of the Qan: 1, 35-52. Changing Foodways of the Imperial Mongols.” Mongolian Studies, XIII Smith, J. M. “Mongol Manpower and Works by Sabban are highly recommended (1990), 57-81. Persian Population.” Journal of the for those interested in the history of food Economic and Social History of the as it relates to the Mongol era. She sees Orient, 18/3 (1975), 271-299. ——. “Mongolian Empire and Turkicization: the food of the time as more Chinese The Evidence of Food and Foodways.” than I myself do, for example, but see my In Reuven Amitai-Preiss, editor, examination of early Mongol foodways in ——. “’Ayn Jālūt: Mamlűk Success or The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy, “Pleasing the Palate of the Qan: Changing Mongol Failure?” Harvard Journal of Amsterdam: E.J. Brill, 1999, 200- Foodways of the Imperial Mongols.” The Asiatic Studies, 44/2 (1984), 307- 223. same material is reviewed in more de- 345. tail in A Soup for the Qan cited above, but see also my “Mongolian Empire and Franke, Herbert H. “Additional Notes Spuler, Berthold. Die Mongolen in Iran. Turkicization,” published after A Soup for on Non-Chinese Terms in the Yüan Third edition. Berlin: Akademie-Ver- the Qan and incorporating later research. Imperial Dietary Compendium Yin- lag, 1968. Smith’s “Mongol Campaign Rations: Milk, shan Cheng-yao.” Zentralasiatische Marmots and Blood?” represents first class Studien IV (1970), 7-16. Uzunçarşılı, Ismail Hakkı. Osmanılı Devleti detective work. Teşkilâtina Medhal, Ankara: Türk Lao Yan-shuan, “Notes on Non-Chinese tarhı Kurumu Basımevi, 1970. 14. Diplomatics, International Terms in the Yüan Imperial Dietary Relations, Cultural Exchanges Compendium Yin-shan Cheng-yao.” The relevant chapters of the Cambridge The Bulletin of the Institute of History History of Iran, particularly the chapter and Philology, Academia Sinica XXXIX Allsen, Thomas T. Culture and Conquest by J. A. Boyle, provide the best coverage, (October 1969), 399-416. in Mongol Eurasia. Cambridge: but the articles by J. M. Smith are ex- Cambridge University Press tremely important, particularly his “Mongol (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Perry, Charles: “A Mongolian Dish.” Petits Manpower and Persian Population,” which Civilization), 2001. Propos Culinaires 19 (March, 1985), argues that there really were hordes of 53-55 Mongols and not just a few, as is generally Cleaves, F. W. “An Early Mongol Version argued. On Uzunçarşılı see above. of the Alexander Romance.” Harvard Rall, Jutta. “Zur persischen Übersetzung Journal of Asiatic Studies, 22 (1959), eines Mo-chüeh, eines chinesischen 12. Military 1-99. medizinischen Textes.” Oriens Extremus 7 (1960), 2, 152-157. Nicolle, David. The Mongol Warlords, Franke, Herbert. “Sino-Western Contacts Genghis Khan, Khublai Khan, Hülegü, under the Mongol Empire.” Journal of ——. Die vier grossen Medizinschulen Tamerlane. Poole, Dorset: Firebird the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal der Mongolenzeit (Münchener Books, 1990. Asiatic Society, 6 (1966), 49-72. Ostasiatische Studien 7). Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1970. This is a popular book but is extremely well Golden, Peter B. The King’s Dictionary: done although the narrative does contain The Rasūlid Hexaglot, Fourteenth Sabban, Françoise. “Cuisine à la cour de errors. The illustrations are excellent. On Century Vocabularies in Arabic, l’empereur de Chine: les aspects Mongol China, see also Hsiao’s The Military Persian, Turkic, Greek, Armenian and culinaires du Yinshan Zhengyao de Establishment of the Yuan Dynasty above. Mongol. Leiden: Brill, 2000. Hu Sihui.” Medièvales 5 (Novembre, 1983), 32-56.

23 Kotwicz, Wladyslaw. “Les Mongols, pro- Carswell’s beautiful book is now a classic. 18. Archaeology moteurs de l’idée de paix universelle It is highly recommended. au début du XIIIe siècle.” Rocznik Kiselev, S. V., editor. Drevniye Orientalistyczny 16 (1950), 428-434. 17. Religion Mongol’skiye Goroda. Moscow: Nauka, 1965. Mostaert, A., and F. W. Cleaves. Les Banzarov, Dorji. The Black Faith, or Lettres de 1289 et 1305 des Ilkhans Shamanism among the Mongols. Maydar, D. Mongolyn Khot Tosgony Arγun et Öljeitü à Philippe le Bel. Translated by Jan Nattier and John Gurvan Zurag (Ert, Dundad Ye, XX Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University R. Krueger. Mongolian Studies, VII Zuuny Ekh). Ulaanbaatar: Shinzhlekh Press, 1962. (1981-1982), 53-92 (1846). Ukaany Akademiyn Khevlel, 1970.

Olschki, L. Marco Polo’s Asia. Berkeley and Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Monks of Kublai Perlee, Kh. Khyatan Nar, Tedniy Los Angeles: University of California Khan Emperor of China. London: The Mongolchuudtay Khobogdson n’. Press, 1960. Religious Tract Society, 1928. Ulaanbaatar: Ulsyn Khevlel (Studia Historica Institute Historia Comiteti Skelton, R. A., Thomas E. Marston, and Deweese, Devin. Islamization and Native Scientiarum Republica Populi Mongoli, George D. Painter. The Vinland Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tomus 1, Fasc. 1), 1959. Map and the Tartar Relations. New Tukles and Conversion to Islam Edition. New Haven and London: Yale in Historical and Epic Tradition. Pending a full publication of new Mongolian University Press, 1995. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania excavations, Kiselev, for those reading State University Press (Hermeneutics: Russian, remains essential. Vogelin, E., “The Mongol Orders of Studies I), 1994. Submission to European Powers, 19. Black Death 1245-1255.” Byzantion, 15 (1940-1), Egami, N. “Olon-Sume et le Découverte 378-413. de L’Eglise Catholique Romaine de Ell, Stephen R. “Immunity as a Factor in Jean de Montecorvina.” Journal the Epidemiology of Medieval Plague.” Asiatique, CCXL (1952), 155-167. The best work in this category is unques- Reviews of Infectious Diseases 6, 6 tionably that by Thomas Allsen, but see also (November-December 1984), 866- the relevant sections of a Soup for the Qan Pallisen, N. “Die alte Religion der 879. which looks at some of the same traditions Mongolen und der Kultus Tschingis from the perspective of food and medicine. Chans.” Numen, III (1956), 3, 178- ——. “Plague and Leprosy in the John Carswell below also provides an ex- 229. cellent survey although focusing on art, Middle Ages: A Paradoxical Cross- namely blue and white porcelain. Kotwicz Immunity?” International Journal and Franke remain classics and Skelton, ——. Die alte Religion des mongolischer of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Marston, and Painter offer a highly use- Volkes während der Herrschaft der Diseases 55, 2 (June 1987), 345-350. ful survey of early Western relations with Tschingisiden. Micro Bibliotheca Anthropos, 7, 1958. the Mongols. See also de Rachewiltz Papal Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death, Envoys to the Great Khans cited above. Natural and Human Disaster in Pelliot, Paul. Recherches sur les chrétiens Medieval Europe. New York: The Free 15. Trade, Economic History de l’Asie centrale et d’extrême-orient. Press, 1983. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1973. Allsen, Thomas T. Commodity and McEvedy, Colin. “The Bubonic Plague.” Exchange in the Mongol Empire, A Rossabi, Morris. Voyager from Xanadu: Scientific American 258, 2 (February, Cultural History of Islamic Textiles. Rabban Sauma and the First 1988), 118-123. Cambridge: Cambridge University Journey from China to the West. Tokyo, New York, London: Kodansha Press (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Scott, Susan, and Christopher J. Duncan. International, 1992. Civilization), 1997. Biology of Plagues: Evidence from Historical Populations. Cambridge: Phillips, J. R. S. The Medieval Expansion Roux, Jean-Paul. Faune et Flore Sacrées Cambrdige University Press, 2001. of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University dans les Sociétés Altaïques. Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient Press, 1988. There is a huge literature on the Black Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1966. Death and the works listed above are only Both Allsen and Phillips are highly recom- a very limited selection of it. Gottfried is a mended. Phillips is particularly readable. It ——. La religion des Turcs et des Mongols. useful introduction but see also new work is one of the few books related to the period Paris: Payot, 1984. by Scott and Duncan. in question that is broadly interpretive. Pallisen’s profusely documented disserta- Notes 16. Art, Architecture, Textiles tion (Mico Bibliotheca Anthropos) on native Mongolian religion in the era of Mongolian 1. This bibliographical essay is a much expanded and updated version of that Carswell, John. Blue and White: Chinese Empire is still most useful but it should appearing in my forthcoming Historical Porcelain around the World. London: now be read with the relevant sections of Dictionary of the Mongolian World Empire. British Museum Press, 2000. work by Roux in mind. Pelliot’s posthumous Recherches is dense but excellent. Touching on the same Christian culture of East Asia is 2. This is the correct, Mongolian spelling Ipsilroglu, M. S. Painting and Culture of Rossabi’s highly readable study of Rabban of his name. the Mongols. New York: Harry N. Sauma. Abrams, Inc., 1966.

24 3. Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von, maries and interpretations of the Kazakh Geschichte der Goldenen horde in press. He is a current author-contributor Kiptschak : das ist: der Mongolen for Jane’s Sentinel China and Northeast in Russland, etwa 1200-1500 : mit Asia, and Jane’s Sentinel Russia and the ausfϋhrlichen Nachweisen, einem bes- CIS, and recently served as an associated chreibenden Übersicht der vierhundert editor of the World Military Encyclopedia, Quellen, neun Beilagen, enthaltend edited By S. L. Sandler (ABC-CLIO, 2002) Dokumente und Auszüge, und einem Namen- und Sachregister, Amsterdam, APA Philo, 1979 (1840), and Hammer- Purgstall, Joseph von, Geschichte der Ilchane, das ist der Mongolen in Persia. Mit neun Beilagen und neun Stammtafeln, Darmstadt: C. W. Lesk, 1842-43.

4. Erich Haenisch, MangŸol un Niuca Tobca’an, Die geheime Geschichte der Mongolen, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1962, and Erich Haenisch, Wörterbuch zu MangŸol un Niuca Toba’an, (Yüan-Ch’ao Pi-shi) Die geheime Geschichte der Mongolen, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1962.

5. Paul Pelliot, Histoire secrète des Mongols. Restitution du texte mongol et traduction français des chaptires i à vi, Oeuvres posthumes I, Paris, 1949.

6. Kong, S.Y. 江潤祥, et al. Huihui yaofang 回回藥方. Hong Kong: Hong Kong zhong bianyi yinwu youxian gongsi 香港編譯印 務有限公司, 1996, and Song Xian 宋峴. Huihui yaofang kaoshi 回回藥方考釋. Two volumes. Beijing 北京: Zhonghua shuju 中 華書局 (Zhongwai jiaotong shiji congkan 中 外交通史籍叢刊), 1999.

About the Author

Paul D. Buell holds a PhD in History, an MA in Chinese, and a Certificate in C Programming, and is an independent scholar, translator, and editor living in Seattle, Washington, where he runs his own consulting and translation service. He also works concurrently for Independent Learning, Western Washington University, located in Bellingham, where is he also an adjunct professor of Western’s Center for East Asian Studies. He is the author of more than 80 books and articles, including the forthcoming Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire, to be published by Scarecrow Press in 2003. He special- izes in the institutional and cultural history of the Mongolian Empire, the comparative history of human and veterinary medicine, modern Central Asia, and lexicography. He has been a translator of Mongolian since 1968, of Modern Icelandic since 1976, and of Kazakh and Uzbek since 1981. During the years 1968-1970 he researched and wrote the National Intelligence Survey Social Characteristics Volume for Mongolia while an employee of the US Bureau of the Census in Washington, D.C. and be- tween 1981 and 1994 was a consultant for the Foreign Broadcast Information Service of the US Central Intelligence Agency and prepared bi-weekly sum-

25 the Indo-Iranian attribution of these cultures. LECTURE SUMMARY: “GENESIS 3. The coincidence of the Indo-Iranian toponymic map with the map showing the spread of the timber-grave and OF THE INDO-IRANIANS: Andronovo cultures. 4. The collation of data concerning the contacts between Indo-Iranian and ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND other languages, and those concern- ing the system of the outside links of the steppe cultures, particularly with LINGUISTIC ASPECTS” Mycenaean Greece and the inhabit- ants of the Eurasian forest belt.

A comparison of results obtained by vari- ous means gives sufficient scientific sup- port to the hypothesis of the Indo-Iranian Professor Elena Kuzmina attribution of the timber-grave - Andronovo tribes. The Institute for Cultural Research Moscow In determining the routes followed by the Indo-Iranians as they migrated away from their original homeland, precedence is The following summary is of lecture given evolve criteria of the ethnic attribution of taken by the data reflecting their spiritual by Professor Elena Kuzmina on November archaeological cultures. Four such criteria culture, and not by the characteristics of 11, 2002, at Stanford University are examined. their ware and similar characteristics. 1. The retrospective method. This concerns the establishment of sys- Of crucial importance in the study of the tematically traced typologicalseries Indo-Iranians’ history in the period be- between the culture of the Sakas and fore writing is a comparison of linguistic the Sauromatians (unquestionably and archaeological data. Common terms Iranian speaking peoples) and the an- pertaining to the productive economy and tecedent timber-grave and Andronovo metallurgy, horse-breeding, the cult of the cultures, which allows us to regard horse and wheel vehicles, which are found them as genetically linked and thus to in Indo-Iranian and other Indo-European surmise that the bearers of the two languages, indicate that during the latter cultures were Indo-Iranians. Aeneolithic the Indo-European community 2. The collation of the linguistically was still preserved on the territory em- reconstructed culture of the Indo- bracing areas of advanced horse-breeding Iranians and of actual archaeologi- and the cult of the horse. According to ar- cal cultures. The predominance of chaeological data, these areas comprise the cattle-breeding (mostly large horned South-Russian steppe, where the horse was cattle); the importance attached to domesticated in the 4th millennium BC and horse-breeding and the use of the the cult of the horse and horse sacrifices chariot; the cults of the horse and were practiced at the time. The terminus of the ancestors; the burial ritual; post quem of the disintegration of the Indo- and the social stratification of society, European community was the period of the with the charioteer soldiers mak- spread of wheel vehicles in the Old World: ing up a specific stratum—all these according to archaeological data, the 3rd features prevent us from relating the millennium B.C. The terminus ante quem Indo-Iranians to the cattle-breeding of the branching off of the Proto-Indo- cultures of the Near East and to the Aryans fell in the middle of the 2nd mil- inhabitants of present-day Turkmenia lennium BC: according to literary sources, and Iran in the 3rd millennium BC. the period concurrent with the appearance Yet this reconstructed culture tallies of Aryan horse-breeders in the Near East. fully with the culture of the Eurasian Notable proximity between the economic steppe population; moreover, the types, the social organization patterns and traditions of this type of economy in the religious-mythological systems of the the South Russian steppe date back Indo-Aryans, Iranians and Saka-Scythians, to the 4th millennium BC. Of vital reconstructed from linguistic sources, indi- importance is the appearance in this cates that, despite the different historical area in the 16th century BC of horse- destinies of these peoples, the problem drawn chariots and the separation of the origin of the Indo-Iranians can be of the stratum of charioteer soldiers. resolved only if due account is taken of the The absence in the area of the cult origin of each of these ethnic groups. of the pig, inherent in other Indo- European cultures, and the wide use When reconstructing the peoples’ ethnic of the two-humped camel (Camelus history in the period before writing, it is bactrianus) and its cult also favor important to ascertain the archaeological traces of various types of migration and to

26 Letters

Dear friends and colleagues: • I am proposing that the first major museum collections (among Kushan Emperor, Kujula Kadphises, them, British Museum, Musee du I am very pleased to announce that the was involved in the invasion Louvre, Museum fuer Indische much revised and expanded version of and destruction of Parthuaia or Kunst, Asian Art Museum of San my annotated translation of the “Western Parthyene (the site of the ancient Francisco...). A few web pages are Regions from the Hou Han shu” is now free- Parthian capital of Nisa) in 55 AD still being added to the “cultures” ly available to all on the “Silk Road Seattle” (see note to Section 13.13). and trade sections, but the exhibit website, managed by the University of is now substantially complete. Washington in Seattle. I do hope this revised edition will provide a • a Silk Road atlas, which includes reliable and useful tool for everyone inter- an new interactive map exercise to It is a translation of Chinese accounts of ested in this period of history. One of the help students learn basic geogra- the development of the Silk Routes between great joys, though, of publishing on the phy. China, Rome, India, Persia, and Central Asia Web is that it is relatively easy to correct • richly illustrated web pages on during the first two centuries AD. mistakes or add new information. This is cities and architecture. Most re- an on-going project so, if you have any- cently we have added a very nice To access it please go to http:// thing you would like to add or see changed depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/ page on Isfahan (written by Prof. in future revisions please do contact me Kim Sexton of the University of texts.html and then click on “Hou Han shu”. personally by email at [email protected] If you wish to download it or print it out, Arkansas), have posted pages on (please don’t write to the very busy staff at Samarkand and on Dunhuang. In please remember that it is composed of a the website). number of files. The main file contains the two of these (Isfahan and Shah-i Zinde in Samarkand), we have a introduction, index, and translated text. I hope to be able to publish within the next nice map feature for a quick over- There is a separate file for References or couple of months, and on the same site, view of the location of key monu- Bibliography and another forms an Index a draft annotated edition of the 3rd cen- ments. to the main Chinese characters. Finally, tury Chinese text, the Wei lue, which adds there are 29 separate files of Notes (one considerably more information to that con- • richly illustrated pages on the tradi- for each of the Sections of the Text). To tained in the Hou Han shu - especially more tional cultures of pastoral nomads, access each of these just click on any of details on some of the easternmost Roman the most recent addition being the coloured superscript numbers in each dependencies. Following this I hope to be on animals in nomadic culture. A of the sections of the text - this will take able to add the biographies of several of the translation of Kojojash, an impor- you to the appropriate file which can then Chinese generals who were responsible for tant Kyrgyz epic, will be coming be downloaded or printed. China’s contacts with the West during the soon. first few centuries AD. I will be again look- • historical texts, including accounts I posted a “draft” version in May and sought ing for readers’ help to correct and refine by important travellers. Notable comments from readers. The amount and these drafts. When completed they should recent additions include two of Prof. quality of the responses was far beyond form a widely-available, useful and sound Nicholas Sims-Williams’ translations expectations - thank you all so very much basis for further studies in the field. of the Ancient Sogdian Letters, for all your encouragement and help. Some and a revised version of John Hill’s have contributed a great deal of thought I trust you will enjoy this new edition and extensively annotated translation and time to this process and I am deeply I look forward to hearing from you if you of the Hou Han Shu chapters on indebted to you. I have credited all those have any comments or queries. the Western Regions. Our post- whose suggestions or comments I have ing of Hill’s translation as “work in used in this revision (I hope I haven’t John E. Hill progress” has already elicited very missed anyone). If you downloaded the Cooktown, Australia fruitful scholarly exchange and sug- previous version please wipe it and replace gestions which have now been in- it with this new one. corporated into the revisions. • annotated bibliographies and links. Finally, I should mention that I have also Dear friends and colleagues: done considerably more research myself Questions or offers of contributions may and am proposing a significant number of be sent to the project director, Prof. Daniel Although you have seen information on new identifications and historical details C. Waugh ([email protected]). this project a few months ago, I thought which will be of particular interest to spe- We hope to enlist collaborators from many an update would be in order: cialists in this new revised edition. institutions to build this already valuable resource. Please be aware that our means I would especially like to point out the fol- Silk Road Seattle (http://www.uwch.org/ for processing new material are somewhat lowing new information: silkroad), a project of the Walter Chapin limited—there probably will be something • I have proposed that the introduc- Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington (Seattle), is con- of a hiatus in additions to the site over the tion of sericulture to Khotan took next two to three months at least—but we place as early as the first half of tinuing to add internet-based resources re- lating to the history and cultures of Eurasia. will try to post new material expeditiously. the 1st century AD (see note to We can very easily add annotated links to Section 4.1) Support for this project has been also been provided by the Silkroad Foundation. The material posted to other sites, and would • I have proposed a number of new site features: like suggestions about those. identifications of places along the • An extensive “virtual” Art of the route of the Chinese envoy Gan Prof. Daniel C. Waugh Silk Road exhibition, with text, Ying in 97 AD (see note to Section University of Washington maps and high-quality images from 10.9) Seattle, WA, USA

27 Announcements

SilkRoad Foundation Online nection would be minimally adequate. The Exhibit: Afghanistan—A Course: The Silk Road language of communication for the course Timeless History is English. Enrollment is limited to 25.

Professor Waugh has taught a course on the Instructor: Professor Daniel C. Waugh, Silk Road for several years, been involved in Date & Place: On view through February University of Washington a variety of public education projects on the 9, 2003 The Museum of Fine Arts, Date: Sunday, March 23, 2003 - Silk Road, and travelled extensively along Houston (http://www.mfah.org) Saturday, June 14, 2003 parts of the region it encompasses. Tuition: $150 For more information on the course or Afghanistan: A Timeless History provides an other programs sponsored by the Silkroad excellent overview of ancient Afghanistan Foundation, please visit http://www.silkro art, from prehistory to Islamic periods in adfoundation.org or email: info@silkroadf the first millennium. The 110 works exhib- This online non-credit course introduces the oundation.org ited are revelations, dispelling the notion history of cultural and economic exchange that Afghanistan art is merely a melding across Eurasia for nearly 2000 years, begin- of cultural influences from other major ning around 200 BCE. The silk roads were civilizations. many, going east-west and north-south, and silk was only one of many items of ex- Exhibit: The Legacy of change. Important components of the his- tory of the Silk Road are the dissemination Genghis Khan—Courtly Art of religious beliefs and artistic interaction. and Culture in Western Asia, Performance: Tuvan female Among the topics to be covered are: 1256-1353 shaman Ai-Churek • Geography of Eurasia • Culture of the inner Asian nomads Dates: One of the most powerful shamans in Tuva, and their interaction with sedentary November 5, 2002-February 16, 2003 is scheduled to visit the Bay Area and stay centers Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York for a month in February. She will make few • Major urban centers such as (http://www.metmuseum.org) public appearances to perform traditional Dunhuang and Samarkand rituals and discuss her native spirituality • Products and Mechanisms of Trade April 13-July 27, 2003 LA County and the uses of indegenous healing rites. Museum of Art (http://www.lacma.org) • The spread of Buddhism, Islam, Workshops and seminars will also be and Christianity, and evidence of scheduled. More event details later... (http: their artistic legacies This exhibit will be the first systematic //www.purenaturemusic.com) investigation of the important artistic and The course will explore the reasons for the cultural achievements that occurred in the rise of the Silk Road trade as well as its de- Iranian world as a by-product of the Mongol cline. Some emphasis will be placed on the invasions of western and eastern Asia. evidence in eye-witness travel accounts.

The course is for those in the beginning stages of learning about the Silk Road, not for individuals who may already have The Silk Road Newsletter considerable expertise. Enrollment in the course constitutes a commitment to spend an estimated 5-6 hours a week over The Silk Road Newsletter is a publication of twelve weeks in doing various assignments. the Silkroad Foundation. Articles, short es- Although the course is not for credit, par- says, event news or reviews of new books ticipation can be meaningful only if those are welcomed. Please email info@silkroadf enrolled put significant effort into the en- oundation.org for more information. deavor. Successful online students make time to logon and work on course materi- The newsletter is available online http: als several times each week, even if it is //www.silkroadfoundation.org only for brief periods to check email and respond to postings. Assignments will in- Silkroad Foundation volve reading both in purchased books and P.O. Box 2275 in web-based materials, keeping a journal, Saratoga, CA 95070 participation in online discussion, and prob- Editor: Charles Cox ably one or two short essays. Participants will need to be comfortable with use of the internet and e-mail (including send- ing attachments) and have regular access to a (preferably) fast internet connection. Important portions of the online materials include image files; so a 56K modem con-

28