Asii
Encyclopedia
Asii, also written Asioi, were one of the nomadic tribes mentioned in Roman and Greek accounts as responsible for the downfall of the state of Bactria
circa 140 BCE. These tribes are usually identified as "Scythian" or "Saka
" peoples.
, Trogus and Justin
. Both Trogus' Historiae Philippicae (as preserved in Justin) and Strabo's Geography exist in a number of ancient manuscripts containing significant textual variations leading to widely varying translations and interpretations.
Marcus Junianus Justinus, a late 2nd or 3rd century Roman historian, wrote an epitome or condensation of Trogus' history. The last datable event recorded by Justin is the recovery of the Roman standards captured by the Parthians in 20 BCE, although Trogus’ original history may have dealt with events into the first decade of the 1st century CE.
This translates as:
In 1725 J. F. Vaillant proposed that the phrase usually given as ΑΣΙΟI KAI ΠΑΣΙΑΝΟI ([The] Asioi and Pasianoi) in Strabo 10.8.2 should be amended to ACΙΟΙ H ACΙΑΝΟ ([The] Asioi or Asianoi).
Vaillant had noticed that Trogus (Prologues XLI) mentions the "Scythian" people of the Asiani, who could be identified with the Asioi of Strabo.
This town - Bucephalus/Bukephalus - has been identified with modern Jalāpur.
It is generally accepted that Trogus' Asiani were probably identical to the Asii of Strabo, perhaps leaving an extra tribe, the 'Pasiani' of Strabo, to account for.
Some scholars believe that the Asii and the Pasiani were one and the same tribe, with 'Pasiani' a simple mistake for 'Asiani' and just a different form of the name for the Asii. Others believe the 'Pasiani' were a separate tribe, with the Greek letter Π a scribal error for Η, in which case the beginning of the passage would read: "[the] Asii also (known as) the Asiani"; while others believe that 'Pasiani' is a mistaken form of 'Gasiani' (with the Greek letter Π a scribal error for Γ).
of Herodotus. Taishan Yu proposes that Asii were "probably" the dominant tribe of the confederacy of four tribes "from the time that they had settled in the valleys of the Ili
and Chu
" who later invaded Sogdiana and Bactria. "This would account for their being called collectively "Issedones" by Herodotus." He also states that the "Issedon Scythia and the Issedon Serica took their names from the Issedones." Yu believes that the Issedones must have migrated to the Ili and Chu valleys, "at the latest towards the end of the 7th century B.C."
, the other being the Tochari
. However, he later expressed doubts as to this position..
– i.e. a western Central Asian population, rather than the Yuezhi-Tochari of eastern Bactria – from whom the modern Ossetians
derive their name.
With this identification of the Asii-Asiani, the Prologues seem instead to concern two later distinct periods already disconnected from the time of Eucratides. Moreover, from a geographical point of view, they describe events not related to the eastern, but to the western border of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, that is a region which was in close contact with Parthia. Therefore, the ethnonym of the Asii-Asiani should be transferred westwards, that is to a different historical context (the Kangju
area).
On the other hand, James Tod
thought the Greek term Asii/Asio was equivalent to Sanskrit Aswa/Asva and Asvaka and refers to 'horse' as well as the Scythic people connected with horse-culture. The Aswa or Asvaka people are generally believed to be a sub-section of the wider Kamboja
group, a widespread tribe of horsemen inhabiting both sides of the Hindukush mountains.
The Sabha Parava of the Indian epic
Mahabharata
, many sections of which are believed to relate to historical events from around the Christian era, refers to the Bahlikas, Daradas
, Kambojas
, Dasyus, Lohas, Parama Kambojas, Uttara (Northern) Rishikas
and Parama Rishikas. The latter four tribes are by implication placed north of the Hindukush in Central Asia.
In his Mahabhasya, Patanjali
refers to the Arshikas which are said to be same as the Rishikas. Kasika on Pāṇini (IV.2.132) also mentions the Arshikas and connects them with the Rishikas . The Sanskrit tribal name Rishika has Arshika as its adjective form, the Prakrit
form is Isi and Isika or Asi and Asika.
The equivalents of the four Scythian tribes mentioned by Strabo (Asii, Pasiani, Tochari and Sacarauli) have also been found in Indian literature.
The Greeks were acquainted both with the Sanskrit forms Risika/Arsika and their Prakrit forms Isi/Isika. The Greek Asii (Appolodorus) may then represent Prakrit Isi and the Plinian Arsi the Sanskrit Arsika.
Pliny the Elder (23–79) knew about the Arsi People who may or may not be same as Asii of Apollodorus. As classical Asii/Asioi stands for Prakrit Isi/Isika or Sanskrit Risika, Plinian Arsi may also be derived from Sanskrit Arsika.
In Indian literature the tribal names Rishika and Arshika are connected: "Risikesu jatah Arsikah, Mahisakesu jatah Mahisakah".
J.L. Brockington also identifies the Rishikas with the Asii or Asioi of the classical writers.
The name Pasiani has never been explained satisfactorily. J. Marquart thinks that it is the same as Asiani, Von Gutschmid thinks the Pasiani and the other three names mentioned by Strabo are an attempt to render Yue-chi in Greek. W.W. Tarn, Moti Chandra and some other scholars think that "as Asiani is the (Iranian) adjectival form of Asii, so Pasiani would be the similar adjectival form of, and would imply, a name *Pasii or *Pasi". Moti Chandra further suggests that "the Grecian form Pasii could well stand for Sanskrit name Parama-Risika".
B.M. Barua and I.N. Topa write: "Asii/Asiani correspond to Chang Kien's Yue-chi and Asiani and Pasiani are the Indo-Iranian forms of Indo-Aryan Asika-Risikas and the Parama Risikas".
In an inscription on the pedestal of a Bodhisatta image, a woman named Amoha is called Asi (Arsi). In the alms house inscriptions of Huvishaka the Sakareya and Prachini people are mentioned, with the Pasii or Pasiani as equivalent to Prachini and the Sakaraula to Sakareya.
Scholars have pointed out that 'Yuezhi' in Chinese translates literally as "Moon clan" or "Moon tribe". The Mahabharata refers to the Kamboja king Chandravarman
as descendant of "Candra" or "the moon". In one version of the Mahabharata, the king Chandravarma Kamboja is substituted with Chandravarma Risika which seems to endorse the view that the Kambojas and Rishikas were allied or cognate/or agnate people and one may have been a branch of the other. The epic verse Udyogaparava of the Mahabharata also intimately relates the Kambojas with the Rishikas. According to precise translation the Rishikas are in fact said to be the Kambojas. The Sabha Parava of the same epic also groups the Parama-Kambojas with the Lohas, Rishikas and the Parama-Rishikas as allied tribal groups. Kalhana
's Rajatarangini
, depicting historical events in Kashmir 730-740 AD, groups the Kambojas with the Tukharas and localizes them in the Oxus valley. In the Markandeya Purana
the Tukharas are mentioned with the Kambojas, Daradas, Barbaras and Chinas as "vahyato narah" (foreign races).
S. Lévi claims the Yuezhi existed in the Deccan between 25 and 130 BCE, which he supports by numerous literary sources such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Kasika, Mahabhasya of Patanjali, Brhat Samhita of Varahamihira, Markandeya Purana
, and Matsya Purana as well as the epigraphic evidence from the Nasik Cave Inscriptions of Queen Balasri which mentions the Rishikas (Asikas) as a component of Gautamiputra Satkaranai's empire. The Kambojas are also shown to have migrated and settled in south-west and southern India.
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
circa 140 BCE. These tribes are usually identified as "Scythian" or "Saka
Saka
The Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....
" peoples.
Historical sources
The texts relating to the Asii are very brief. The three main surviving classical sources are those of StraboStrabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, Trogus and Justin
Justin
Justin is a given name. It may refer to:People* Justin , a common given name* Justin , 3rd century Roman historian* Justin I , or Flavius Iustinius Augustus, an Eastern Roman Emperor who ruled from 518 to 527...
. Both Trogus' Historiae Philippicae (as preserved in Justin) and Strabo's Geography exist in a number of ancient manuscripts containing significant textual variations leading to widely varying translations and interpretations.
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus
Trogus (Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus; fl. 1st century BCE) wrote his Historiae Philppicae in Latin. Unfortunately, only his 'Prologues' have survived intact. He mentions three tribes involved in the conquest of Bactria: the Asiani, Sacaraucae and the Tochari, of whom the Sacaraucae were said to have been destroyed. The Asiani are reported as becoming, at some point, rulers over the Tochari, though this text is sometimes translated as the "Asian kings of the Tochari."Marcus Junianus Justinus, a late 2nd or 3rd century Roman historian, wrote an epitome or condensation of Trogus' history. The last datable event recorded by Justin is the recovery of the Roman standards captured by the Parthians in 20 BCE, although Trogus’ original history may have dealt with events into the first decade of the 1st century CE.
Strabo
Strabo (Στράβων; 64/63 BCE – 24 CE) wrote in Greek and completed his Geography in 23 CE, around the time of Trogus. He mentions four tribes: the Asioi (commonly accepted as the equivalent of the Latin Asii), the Pasianoi, the Tacharoi (or Tokharoi) and the Sakaraukai.This translates as:
In 1725 J. F. Vaillant proposed that the phrase usually given as ΑΣΙΟI KAI ΠΑΣΙΑΝΟI ([The] Asioi and Pasianoi) in Strabo 10.8.2 should be amended to ACΙΟΙ H ACΙΑΝΟ ([The] Asioi or Asianoi).
Vaillant had noticed that Trogus (Prologues XLI) mentions the "Scythian" people of the Asiani, who could be identified with the Asioi of Strabo.
Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder (23 CE–25 August 79 CE) wrote his famous Naturalis Historia with a brief mention of a people called the Asini:This town - Bucephalus/Bukephalus - has been identified with modern Jalāpur.
Theories on the identification of the Asii
Many theories have been proposed by historians and other scholars as to their origins, relationships, language, culture, etc., but so far no consensus has emerged.It is generally accepted that Trogus' Asiani were probably identical to the Asii of Strabo, perhaps leaving an extra tribe, the 'Pasiani' of Strabo, to account for.
Some scholars believe that the Asii and the Pasiani were one and the same tribe, with 'Pasiani' a simple mistake for 'Asiani' and just a different form of the name for the Asii. Others believe the 'Pasiani' were a separate tribe, with the Greek letter Π a scribal error for Η, in which case the beginning of the passage would read: "[the] Asii also (known as) the Asiani"; while others believe that 'Pasiani' is a mistaken form of 'Gasiani' (with the Greek letter Π a scribal error for Γ).
Issedones
The Asii/Asiani may simply be a transcription of the IssedonesIssedones
The Issedones were an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described in the lost Arimaspeia of Aristeas, by Herodotus in his History and by Ptolemy in his Geography...
of Herodotus. Taishan Yu proposes that Asii were "probably" the dominant tribe of the confederacy of four tribes "from the time that they had settled in the valleys of the Ili
Ili River
thumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which is in Kazakhstan...
and Chu
Chu River
"Chui River" redirects here. For the South American Chuí or Chuy River, on the Brazil-Uruguay border and Brazil's southernmost point, see Chuí River. For the Nam Sam River or Chu River, on the Lao-Vietnam border, see Nam Sam River....
" who later invaded Sogdiana and Bactria. "This would account for their being called collectively "Issedones" by Herodotus." He also states that the "Issedon Scythia and the Issedon Serica took their names from the Issedones." Yu believes that the Issedones must have migrated to the Ili and Chu valleys, "at the latest towards the end of the 7th century B.C."
Yuezhi and Wusun
W. W. Tarn first thought that the Asii were probably one part of the YuezhiYuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
, the other being the Tochari
Tocharians
The Tocharians were the Tocharian-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, making them the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages in antiquity. They were known as, or at least closely related to, the Yuezhi of Chinese sources...
. However, he later expressed doubts as to this position..
Kushans
Alans
The Asii/Asiani have also been identified with the AlansAlans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
– i.e. a western Central Asian population, rather than the Yuezhi-Tochari of eastern Bactria – from whom the modern Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
derive their name.
With this identification of the Asii-Asiani, the Prologues seem instead to concern two later distinct periods already disconnected from the time of Eucratides. Moreover, from a geographical point of view, they describe events not related to the eastern, but to the western border of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, that is a region which was in close contact with Parthia. Therefore, the ethnonym of the Asii-Asiani should be transferred westwards, that is to a different historical context (the Kangju
Kangju
Kangju was the name of an ancient people and kingdom in Central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin which became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi....
area).
Asiaghs and Rishikas/Arshikas
The Asii have also been identified with the Sanskrit Asiagh. According to Kautilya they were "The people who depended on Asii (sword) for their living".On the other hand, James Tod
James Tod
Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod was an English officer of the British East India Company and an Oriental scholar.Tod was born in London and educated in Scotland, later joining the East India Company as a military officer. He travelled to India in 1799 as a cadet in the Bengal Army where he rose...
thought the Greek term Asii/Asio was equivalent to Sanskrit Aswa/Asva and Asvaka and refers to 'horse' as well as the Scythic people connected with horse-culture. The Aswa or Asvaka people are generally believed to be a sub-section of the wider Kamboja
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
group, a widespread tribe of horsemen inhabiting both sides of the Hindukush mountains.
The Sabha Parava of the Indian epic
Indian epic poetry
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya . The Ramayana and Mahabharata, originally composed in Sanskrit and translated thereafter into many other Indian languages, are some of the oldest surviving epic poems on earth and form part of...
Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, many sections of which are believed to relate to historical events from around the Christian era, refers to the Bahlikas, Daradas
Daradas
Daradas were a people who lived north and north-east to the Kashmir valley. This kingdom is identified to be the Gilgit region in Kashmir along the river Sindhu or Indus. They are often spoken along with the Kambojas...
, Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Dasyus, Lohas, Parama Kambojas, Uttara (Northern) Rishikas
Rishikas
Rshikas were an ancient tribe living in the northern division of ancient India. They find references in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Brhat Samhita, Markendeya Purana etc. Ashtadhyayi of Pāṇini does not mention the Rishikas, but Mahabhasya of Patanjali does make reference to this people. Mahabharata...
and Parama Rishikas. The latter four tribes are by implication placed north of the Hindukush in Central Asia.
In his Mahabhasya, Patanjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
refers to the Arshikas which are said to be same as the Rishikas. Kasika on Pāṇini (IV.2.132) also mentions the Arshikas and connects them with the Rishikas . The Sanskrit tribal name Rishika has Arshika as its adjective form, the Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
form is Isi and Isika or Asi and Asika.
The equivalents of the four Scythian tribes mentioned by Strabo (Asii, Pasiani, Tochari and Sacarauli) have also been found in Indian literature.
The Greeks were acquainted both with the Sanskrit forms Risika/Arsika and their Prakrit forms Isi/Isika. The Greek Asii (Appolodorus) may then represent Prakrit Isi and the Plinian Arsi the Sanskrit Arsika.
Pliny the Elder (23–79) knew about the Arsi People who may or may not be same as Asii of Apollodorus. As classical Asii/Asioi stands for Prakrit Isi/Isika or Sanskrit Risika, Plinian Arsi may also be derived from Sanskrit Arsika.
In Indian literature the tribal names Rishika and Arshika are connected: "Risikesu jatah Arsikah, Mahisakesu jatah Mahisakah".
J.L. Brockington also identifies the Rishikas with the Asii or Asioi of the classical writers.
The name Pasiani has never been explained satisfactorily. J. Marquart thinks that it is the same as Asiani, Von Gutschmid thinks the Pasiani and the other three names mentioned by Strabo are an attempt to render Yue-chi in Greek. W.W. Tarn, Moti Chandra and some other scholars think that "as Asiani is the (Iranian) adjectival form of Asii, so Pasiani would be the similar adjectival form of, and would imply, a name *Pasii or *Pasi". Moti Chandra further suggests that "the Grecian form Pasii could well stand for Sanskrit name Parama-Risika".
B.M. Barua and I.N. Topa write: "Asii/Asiani correspond to Chang Kien's Yue-chi and Asiani and Pasiani are the Indo-Iranian forms of Indo-Aryan Asika-Risikas and the Parama Risikas".
In an inscription on the pedestal of a Bodhisatta image, a woman named Amoha is called Asi (Arsi). In the alms house inscriptions of Huvishaka the Sakareya and Prachini people are mentioned, with the Pasii or Pasiani as equivalent to Prachini and the Sakaraula to Sakareya.
Scholars have pointed out that 'Yuezhi' in Chinese translates literally as "Moon clan" or "Moon tribe". The Mahabharata refers to the Kamboja king Chandravarman
Chandravarma Kamboja
Chandravarma Kamboja is the first Kamboja king mentioned by name in the Mahābhārata .He appears to have been an ancient very powerful and renowned ruler of the Kambojas...
as descendant of "Candra" or "the moon". In one version of the Mahabharata, the king Chandravarma Kamboja is substituted with Chandravarma Risika which seems to endorse the view that the Kambojas and Rishikas were allied or cognate/or agnate people and one may have been a branch of the other. The epic verse Udyogaparava of the Mahabharata also intimately relates the Kambojas with the Rishikas. According to precise translation the Rishikas are in fact said to be the Kambojas. The Sabha Parava of the same epic also groups the Parama-Kambojas with the Lohas, Rishikas and the Parama-Rishikas as allied tribal groups. Kalhana
Kalhana
Kalhana , a Kashmiri, was the author of Rajatarangini , an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own writing, a major scholar of which is Mark Aurel Stein...
's Rajatarangini
Rajatarangini
The Rājatarangiṇī is a metrical chronicle of North west of the Indian subcontinent particularly the kings of Kashmir from earliest time written in Sanskrit by Kalhaṇa. The Rājatarangiṇī often has been erroneously referred to as the River of the Kings. In reality what Kalhana means by Rājatarangiṇī...
, depicting historical events in Kashmir 730-740 AD, groups the Kambojas with the Tukharas and localizes them in the Oxus valley. In the Markandeya Purana
Markandeya Purana
The Markandeya Purana is one of the major eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts. It is written in the style of a dialogue between the ancient sage Markandeya and Jaimini, a disciple of Vyasa.-Contents:...
the Tukharas are mentioned with the Kambojas, Daradas, Barbaras and Chinas as "vahyato narah" (foreign races).
S. Lévi claims the Yuezhi existed in the Deccan between 25 and 130 BCE, which he supports by numerous literary sources such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Kasika, Mahabhasya of Patanjali, Brhat Samhita of Varahamihira, Markandeya Purana
Markandeya Purana
The Markandeya Purana is one of the major eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts. It is written in the style of a dialogue between the ancient sage Markandeya and Jaimini, a disciple of Vyasa.-Contents:...
, and Matsya Purana as well as the epigraphic evidence from the Nasik Cave Inscriptions of Queen Balasri which mentions the Rishikas (Asikas) as a component of Gautamiputra Satkaranai's empire. The Kambojas are also shown to have migrated and settled in south-west and southern India.
See also
- Tusharas
- KomedesKomedesKomedes is an ethnonym recorded by Ptolemy. Ptolemy notes that the Komedes inhabited "the entire mountainous land of the Sakas", placing them in eastern Scythia .-Kumud-dvipa:...
- KambojasKambojasThe Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
- RishikasRishikasRshikas were an ancient tribe living in the northern division of ancient India. They find references in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Brhat Samhita, Markendeya Purana etc. Ashtadhyayi of Pāṇini does not mention the Rishikas, but Mahabhasya of Patanjali does make reference to this people. Mahabharata...
- Parama Kambojas
- TochariansTochariansThe Tocharians were the Tocharian-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, making them the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages in antiquity. They were known as, or at least closely related to, the Yuezhi of Chinese sources...
- Invasion of India by Scythian Tribes