Michele Minardi, Ancient Chorasmia. A Polity between the Semi-nomadic and Sedentary Cultural Areas of Central Asia: Cultural Interactions and Local Developments from the Sixth Century BC to the first century AD (Acta Iranica 56), Louvain: “Peeters”, 2015—199 pp.

Benkato, Adam

doi:10.1163/1573384x-20180209

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“…These facts may have directly involved Chorasmia, being the label "Scythians" among western authors -which, however, in the passage quoted above specifically includes the Tocharii (cf. Strabo 11.9.2) -a very generic one (Minardi 2015a). The likely idea that Chorasmia, albeit absent from western sources, was involved in the history of Central Asia in one of its most eventful phases, has been already considered by Vaïnberg (1992;2004, 240 -with What appears to be more clear is that in the 1st century BC Chorasmia seems to prosper after a cultural shift marking the beginning of the Antique 3 period occurred around 50 BC (beginning of the event that precedes Akchakhan-kala Stage 3): traces of sieges were recorded during archaeological excavations at the sites of Akchakhan-kala and Koï-Krÿlgan-kala171 and very likely this is the period in which the Chorasmian Era started.172 This evidence does not have to be forcibly attributed to an external invasion of which there is no evidence.173 The sieges very likely witness internal power struggles that led to the construction of the dynastic centre of Akchakhan-kala and the accession to power of a new ruling dynasty that, as seen, does not show a close political connection with the Parthians.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8. 1 "belonging to the tribe of the Massagetae and the Sacae are also the Attasii and the Chorasmii, to whom Spitamenes fled from the country of the Bactriani and the Sogdiani", see discussion in Minardi 2015a, 38-43 with literature. 6 Grenet 20022015, 219;Francfort 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…134 For further details and sources, see Briant 1996, 427-429; see also Minardi 2015a, 28. 135 Livshits in Vaïnberg 2004 It still may appear only hypothetical to define Akchakhan-kala as a dynastic sanctuary, albeit this is probably the case: there are epigraphs mentioning kings and their heirs but actually we do not yet have any main pictorial documentation of them.…”

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The Oxus Route toward the South

Minardi¹

2018

Anc. Civiliz. Scythia Sib.

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In this contribution, in view of the striking evidence from the site of Akchakhan-kala which is casting a completely new light on the archaeology of the Chorasmian polity and the Central Asian region, I explore relations between Ancient Chorasmia and its neighbouring regions to the south, in particular Bactriana. I will try to argue that the oft-referred to favoured political relations of Chorasmia with the Arsacid empire, considering all the evidence now at our disposal, have been misjudged. The material culture of Ancient Chorasmia, throughout the history of the region, clearly shows the existence of a privileged, albeit not exclusive, exchange route toward the region to its south. Chorasmia has always been, since its birth in the 6th century BC, a bridge from the sedentary world toward the steppes and a polity with a distinctive culture that the scarcity of written sources has often deprived of historical individuality and speciously relegated to the periphery of modern western historiography, in the shadow of the better-known superregional powers that established control over Asia and Iran.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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