Dahae

The Dahae, also known as the Daae, Dahas or Dahaeans (Latin: Dahae; Ancient Greek: Δάοι, Δάαι, Δαι, Δάσαι Dáoi, Dáai, Dai, Dasai; Sanskrit: Dasa; Chinese Dayi 大益)^[1][2] were a people of ancient Central Asia. A confederation of three tribes – the Parni, Xanthii and Pissuri – the Dahae lived in an area now comprising much of modern Turkmenistan. The area has consequently been known as Dahestan, Dahistan and Dihistan.

Relatively little is known about their way of life. For example, according to the Iranologist A. D. H. Bivar, the capital of "the ancient Dahae (if indeed they possessed one) is quite unknown."^[3]

The Dahae dissolved, apparently, some time before the beginning of the 1st millennium. Some constituents emigrated to Persia, South Asia, or other parts of Central Asia and the Dahae lands were occupied by Turkmen. However, the historian Sir Percy Sykes reported an oral tradition in Turkmenistan, which suggested that elements of the Dahae had become the Daz, a sub-tribal group within the Yomut tribe of the Turkmen. "I was informed that the Daz ... cherish a legend, according to which they are descended from kings, and among the Yamut [sic] Turkoman they are regarded as the noblest section. [...] It is ... possible that these names are derived from the Dahae, but it would be a mistake to press the point too far."^[4]

Origins

They may be connected to the Dasa mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts like the Rigveda as enemies of the Ārya. The proper noun Dasa appears to share the same root as the Sanskrit dasyu, meaning "hostile people" or "demons", as well as the Avestan dax́iiu and Old Persian dahyu or dahạyu, meaning "province" or "mass of people". Because of these pejorative references, the Dāhī tribe mentioned in Avestan sources (Yašt 13.144) as adhering to Zoroastrianism, are not generally identified with the Dahae.^[5] Conversely the Khotanese word daha- meaning "man" or "male" was linked to the Dahae by the Indologist Sten Konow (1912). This appears to be cognate with nouns in other Eastern Iranian languages, such as a Persian word for "servant", dāh and the Sogdian dʾyh or dʾy, meaning "slave woman".^[5]

Some scholars also maintain that there were etymological links between the Dahae and Dacians (Dacii), a people of ancient Eastern Europe.^[6] Both were nomadic Indo-European peoples who shared variant names such as Daoi. The historian David Gordon White has, moreover, stated that the "Dacians ... appear to be related to the Dahae".^[6] White also reiterated a point made by previous scholars – that the names of both peoples resemble the Proto-Indo-European root: *dhau meaning "strangle" and/or a euphemism for "wolf". (Similarly, the Massagetae, the northern neighbors of the Dahae, have been linked to the Getae, a people related to the Dacians.)

The country neighbouring the Dahae to the south, Verkāna – often known by its Greek name, Hyrcania (Ὑρκανία) – has sometimes been conflated with Dahistan. Like Dahae and Dacia, Verkâna appears to have a root in an Indo-European word for "wolf", the Proto-Iranian: *vrka.^[7] The name of Sadrakarta (later Zadracarta), the capital of Verkâna, apparently has the same etymological roots, and may be synonymous with one of two modern cities in Iran: Sari or Gorgan. (The modern name Gorgan is also derived ultimately from the Proto-Iranian *vrka for "wolf" and is cognate with the New Persian gorgān (i.e. v > g).^[8]

History

Berossus's biography of Cyrus the Great (c. 589–530 BCE) claims that he was killed by Dahae archers near the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) river (modern Uzbekistan/Kazakhstan).^[9] Later sources, such as Alexander the Great and Strabo also claimed that some of the Dahae were located near the Jaxartes. The Encyclopedia Iranica considers that the Dahae "were said to have lived in ... wastes northeast of Bactria and east of Sogdiana. At least some of the Dahae must thus be placed along the eastern fringes of the Karakum desert, near ancient Margiana..."^[5] This suggests that elements of the Dahae were near neighbours of a now-obscure Bronze Age civilisation known to archaeologists as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC).

It is possible that the Dahae were confused in secondary accounts with a contemporaneous, possibly related people from Balkh (Bactria), who were known in ancient China as Daxia 大夏 (also Ta-Hsia, or Ta-Hia). Whereas the Dahae were known in Chinese sources as Dayi 大益.^[1] Later historical accounts place the Dahae entirely on the south-eastern shores of the Caspian Sea.

The first reliable mention of the Dahae is considered to be the Daeva inscription by Xerxes the Great of Persia (reigned 486–465 BCE). In a list in Old Persian of the peoples and provinces of the Achaemenid Empire, the Daeva identifies the Dāha as neighboring the Saka.

It is unclear whether the Dahae are also the *Dāha or *Dåŋha (only attested in the feminine Dahi) mentioned by the Avestani Yasht (13.144), which may date from the 5th century BCE. Moreover, any etymological relationship would not be proof that both names refer to exactly the same people.^[10]

Dahae and Saka tribes are known to have fought at the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE), in which the armies of the Achaemenid Empire were defeated by Alexander the Great. After the Achaemenid regime collapsed the following year, Alexander recruited Dahae – famed as mounted archers – for the Greek invasion of India.

Some "Saka" coins from the Seleucid era (312–63 BCE) are sometimes attributed to the Dahae. By the 3rd century BCE, the Parni Dahae had risen to prominence under a chief named Ashk (c. 250 – c. 211 BCE; Persian: ارشک Arshak; Greek Ἀρσάκης; Latin Arsaces). The Parni invaded Parthia, which had just previously declared independence from the Seleucids, deposed the reigning monarch, and Ashk crowned himself king (Arsaces I in classical sources). His successors are often referred to as the Arsacids; they would eventually assert military control over the entire Iranian plateau. By then, the Parni would be indistinguishable from the Parthians, and would also be called by that name.

During the 1st Century BCE, the Dahae were reported to have sent envoys to China. According to the Chinese historian Yu Taishan, a contemporary Chinese account (the Shijii) mentions separate envoys from Huanqian 驩潛 (Khwarezm), Dayi 大益 (the Dahae) and Suxie 蘇薤 (Soghdia), among others.^[1]

In the 1st century BCE, Strabo (Geographika 11.8.1) also refers to the Dahae as a "Scythian" people, who were located in the vicinity of present-day Turkmenistan. However, while the terms Scythians and Saka are usually regarded as synonymous, that is not always the case with Strabo.

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References

Bibliography

Provinces of the Achaemenid Empire (Behistun / Persepolis / Naqsh-e Rustam / Susa / Daiva inscriptions)
Arabia Arachosia Aria Amyrgoi Armenia Assyria Babylonia Bactria Cappadocia Caucasian Albania Caria Cilicia Colchis Chorasmia Carmania Dahae Drangiana 1st Egypt / 2nd Egypt Eber-Nari Elam Gandhara Gedrosia Hyrcania Ionia Hindush Libya Maka Media Lesser Media Massagetae Parthia Persia Phoenicia Phrygia Hellespontine Phrygia Greater Phrygia Saka Samaritan Province Lydia Sattagydia Thrace Sogdia Yehud
See also Districts of the Achaemenid Empire (according to Herodotus)

Provinces of the Sasanian Empire
Abarshahr Albania Arbayistan Armenia Asoristan Adurbadagan Balasagan Dihistan Egypt* Eran-Khwarrah-Yazdegerd* Garamig Garamig ud Nodardashiragan Gorgan Harev Iberia India Khuzestan Kirman Kushanshahr Khwarazm Lazica Machelonia Meshan Marv Mazun Media Makuran Nodardashiragan Paradan Padishkhwargar Pars Sakastan Sogdia Spahan Turgistan
* indicates short living provinces