Ancient peoples of Central Asia. The most ancient peoples of Central Asia - the historical ancestors of the Uzbek people

From the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Central Asian nomads are beginning to play an increasingly important role in the life of Europe and Asia. Geographical conditions greatly hampered the development of the tribes inhabiting these areas. From the Danube to the Yellow River stretches a belt of steppes, turning into water-poor spaces of Inner Asia and barren deserts. In such natural conditions and with the level of development of productive forces that characterizes this era, outside the relatively small territory of oases, a nomadic way of life was the only possible one. Driving their numerous herds across vast areas, nomadic herders adapted to the natural conditions that surrounded them.

Particularly valuable for the nomads was the horse, which served them for movement across the vast steppe spaces, and also provided milk and meat. The cattle were kept exclusively for grazing. That is why the nomads were forced to make constant movements - annual transitions from winter to summer pastures and back. The death of livestock, the formation of deeper snow cover or crust in winter were natural disasters for the nomads; they threatened them with the loss of herds, hunger, and often led to armed clashes with their neighbors.

The ancient nomads of Central Asia were not homogeneous in terms of linguistic affiliation. They spoke Indo-European, Finno-Ugric, Turkic, Mongolian, Tungus-Manchu and Tibeto-Tangut languages. Most of these nomadic tribes of Asia in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e., when information about them first appears in written sources, it was at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system. On the one hand, they still retained their clan organization, on the other, slavery appeared, property stratification began among the free, and tribal nobility emerged. In conditions of nomadic life, tribal ownership of land is formed, primarily for winter and summer pastures.

The nomadic tribes of Central Asia were in constant struggle among themselves. Weaker tribes were forced out of better pastures by stronger and more warlike ones. Often nomads invaded territories with a settled population and subjugated them to their power. During the invasions, large tribal associations arose, sometimes turning into huge “powers” ​​of nomads.

Huns

The first large tribal association in Central Asia took shape at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. among the Huns. Soon after its emergence, it begins to influence neighboring countries - China and Central Asia.

Basic information about the life and socio-political system of the Huns is provided by Chinese sources. Of the archaeological sites, family burial grounds containing burials of both nobles and ordinary warriors are of particular importance for characterizing the life of the Huns. Such burial grounds are known from excavations in Mongolia (Noin-Ula) and Transbaikalia (Ilmovaya Pad, etc.). In recent years, excavations of settlements of the Hunnic period in Transbaikalia have begun (Ivolginskoe settlement, etc.).

The territory occupied by the Huns had a sharply continental climate. The hot summer, during which almost all the vegetation burned out, was accompanied by sandstorms, and the frosty winter - by snowstorms. In these vast areas, the Huns were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding. They primarily bred horses, large and small cattle, as well as camels, donkeys and hinnies. Livestock was the main object of barter with the Chinese. Hunting also played a certain role in the Huns' economy. In the north, in the taiga, there lived hunting tribes dependent on the Huns; furs - one of the main products of their hunting - were sent as gifts to the Chinese emperors.

Along with this, in the country of the Huns, although to a very limited extent, there was agriculture associated with the sedentarization of part of the population in Northern Mongolia and Southern Siberia. According to Chinese sources, supported by archaeological data, the only crop that was known to the Huns was millet. It was probably sown by tuna fish near winter camps, and the workers in the fields were probably mostly prisoners of war. In addition, in the country of the Huns there was an agricultural population - immigrants from China; this population was subordinate to the Hunnic leaders and probably supplied them with agricultural products. Nevertheless, in general, agriculture was extremely poorly developed, and hunger strikes constantly occurred; Chinese chroniclers repeatedly report that China supplied the Huns with agricultural products.

Crafts developed well in the country of the Huns. Various household items were made from livestock products - wool, leather, bones, horns. There was also pottery production and metallurgy; In Transbaikalia, iron slags are found in Hunnic settlements. The Huns conducted a fairly lively barter trade with neighboring agricultural peoples, but often obtained what they lacked through robbery or collecting tribute from the vanquished.

The social system of the Huns can be defined as primitive communal at the stage of its decomposition. In the life of the Huns, tribal ties were of great importance, as evidenced by the presence of exogamy. In its structure, the “power of the Huns” was a union of 24 tribes, divided into two parts - eastern and western. Each tribe had its own territory, over which it roamed, making certain movements throughout the year. At the head of the tribes were leaders who gathered three times a year for advice and sacrifices; they exercised the supreme court, decided matters of war and peace, and approved a new common leader after the death of the old one. The head of the entire union, judging by the Chinese reproduction of this word, was called “Zenu”; only later the corresponding Chinese characters began to be pronounced “Shanyu”, as the Hunnic leaders are usually called in historical literature.

In the conditions of constant wars and raids, the process of property stratification was actively underway in the society of the Huns. Among the Hunnic burials, richer and poorer family cemeteries clearly stand out. The burials in Noin-Ula are especially rich; they were located near the headquarters of the Hunnic leaders and, perhaps, belonged to the very clan from which the Zen "u (Shanyu) of the Hunnic union came. In these tombs, large quantities of gold and silver, Chinese silk fabrics and lacquerware were found. Traces of property were observed inequality within family cemeteries (Ilmovaya Pad).

The most important factor in the decomposition of the primitive communal system was slavery. During wars and raids, mass enslavement of prisoners occurred. During the Huns' raids on China, prisoners were taken away each time, sometimes up to 40 thousand people. The tribal nobility, capturing the lion's share of prisoners, gained the opportunity to appropriate their surplus labor and thus continuously grew richer, thereby standing out from among their fellow tribesmen. Along with external sources of slavery, there were also internal ones: families of criminals were forced into slavery. Under the prevailing conditions, the Huns could not use a large number of slaves in their nomadic economy. Therefore, some of the slaves were planted on the ground; a dependent agricultural population gradually formed from them.

The emergence of the “Hun Power”

War played a huge role in the life of the Huns. The art of equestrian combat reached great heights among them. Cavalry detachments of the Huns flew howling at the enemy, usually from all four sides, showered him with clouds of arrows, and when they came close to the enemy, they used spears and swords. Rearmament at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd centuries played a significant role in the military successes of the Huns. BC e. The Hun army turned into heavy cavalry, whose riders wore armor. The military organization of the Huns also contributed to their victories. On the one hand, the presence of clan and tribal ties gave it an extraordinary strength, on the other hand, the Huns already had a division of the army into tens, hundreds and thousands.

The history of the “rise of the house of the Huns,” according to Chinese sources, is depicted in the following terms. In 206 BC. e. Mode, the son of the Hun leader Tuman, who had previously been a hostage of the Yuezhi tribe, killed his father and seized power over the Huns. Within a few years, he subjugated neighboring nomadic tribes and then moved against China. The Chinese army sent against the Huns was defeated. Mode forced the Chinese emperor to pay an annual tribute.

But even after this, the Huns’ raids on China did not stop. The tribes bordering China went over to the side of the Huns. China had to systematically

to pay off the Huns, but this did not always help. The Huns' raids on China were accompanied by terrible devastation.

As a result of the conquests, a huge territory came under the rule of the Hunnic Zen, stretching from Transbaikalia to Tibet and from East Turkestan (Xinjiang) to the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Its borders were uncertain, since individual regions and tribes either fell away from the Huns or were again conquered by them The core of the Hunnic tribal union consisted of Mongolian tribes, but along with this it included nomadic tribes of other origins: in the west - Turkic and even, probably, Iranian, in the north - Tungus-Manchu.In the south of modern Siberia in the taiga zone, the Huns, As already indicated, a number of primitive agricultural and hunting tribes were subjugated. In the west, the nomadic Yuezhi and Wusun tribes were at one time under the rule of the Huns. The settled population of Xinjiang paid tribute to the Huns.

The Hunnic tribal union formed with incredible speed and covered vast areas, but internally it was very fragile. In the 20s of the II century. During the reign of Wu-da, the Chinese went on the offensive against the Huns, inflicted a series of defeats on them and captured Ordos (the area in the bend of the Yellow River). The Chinese create large mounted armies and penetrate far into the territory of the Huns.

The Chinese government used more than just weapons in the fight against the Huns. It organized uprisings of individual Hun leaders, staged court coups at the Shanyu headquarters, and even created a pro-Chinese group among the Hun nobility. China's advance to the northwest and west was accompanied by the consolidation of the territory conquered from the nomads by a chain of military settlements. The Huns were severely defeated in 119. As a result of the Chinese offensive, the settled population of Xinjiang emerged from subordination to the Huns and partially recognized the power of China. At the beginning of the 1st century. The Chinese finally managed to persuade them to break with the Huns and Wusun.

Usuni

The original place of settlement of the Wusun was part of the present Gansu province, where they lived interspersed with the Yuezhi. During one of the clashes with the Yuezhi, the Wusuns were defeated, and the bulk of the tribe retreated to the northwest.

In the 1st century BC e. The Wusun nomads were located between lakes Balkhash and Issyk-Kul, capturing both the grassy plains of Semirechye and the mountain pastures of the Tien Shan. In the country of the Wusun there was also a fairly significant settled agricultural population, consisting of slaves planted on the land. Crafts - weaving, leatherworking, blacksmithing, jewelry - were quite high among the Wusuns. Along with local artisans, there were also immigrants from China. Crafts, however, were not separated from agriculture. On the borders of their territory, the Wusuns exchanged with neighboring countries, and therefore objects from China and Iran are often found in the Wusun mounds.

Having moved to Semirechye, the Usuns mixed with the local population. Therefore, in the culture of the Wusuns, along with the elements they brought from their homeland, there were also those that went back to the ancient inhabitants of Semirechye and the valley of the Talas River (west of Semirechye) - the Sakas. This continuity is especially noticeable in the field of material culture.

In the process of resettlement of the Usun tribes to Semirechye, a union of tribes was formed, the head of which was called gunmo. Family ties continued to be of great importance. Despite the well-known remnants of matriarchy and the relatively free position of women, the patriarchal family dominated among the Wusuns.

The decay of the primitive communal system has gone quite far among the Wusuns. Like the Huns, the Wusuns resorted to the massive capture of slaves during wars. Slaves fell mainly into the hands of the tribal nobility, who, exploiting their labor, did everything; stood out more from the general mass of free people. Among the ordinary free population, the Wusuns had both nomads and farmers, while the nobility led an exclusively nomadic lifestyle. The most important form of wealth was livestock. Rich people had from 4 thousand to 5 thousand horses. Particularly striking material about property differentiation among the Wusuns is provided by the contents of the Wusun burial mounds. Some of them, the most numerous, are the burials of ordinary free people, others are the burials of the nobility. The latter are located almost exclusively near wintering areas. The burial goods of mounds of this type include gold items, Greco-Bactrian plaques, and Chinese lacquer items.

Simultaneously with the development of elements of class society, the power of the leader of the tribal union was strengthened. It is known that the ruler in the 1st century. BC e. Gunmo Tsilimi ordered that no one dare graze cattle in his pastures. This is how the Wusuns began to develop royal ownership of the land.

The Usun tribal union was a major political force. At the turn of the 2nd and 1st centuries. The Chinese estimated the number of Wusun at 630 thousand people, and the number of their troops at 188,800 people.

In 115, the Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian, who had previously visited the West, entered the Wusun country near Issyk-Kul and sent out scouts from there who reached Parthia and brought him numerous information about Western countries. The Usuns by this time had freed themselves from the rule of the Huns due to the weakening of the latter after the loss of East Turkestan. At the end of the 2nd century. There was an exchange of embassies between China and the Wusuns: the Chinese tried to persuade the Wusuns to join the fight against the Huns, but they did not dare to do so and continued to maintain an alliance with the Huns. The Usun ruler married a Chinese princess, but declared her his junior wife, while the eldest continued to be the daughter of the Hun Zen. Only in the 80s of the 1st century did the Wusuns leave the Hun union.

The break with the Huns first led to dire consequences for the Wusuns: in 75, the Huns inflicted a serious defeat on them, seized part of their land and drove away many prisoners. However, under Gunmo Unguymi (died in the late 60s of the 1st century BC), the Usun tribal union, in turn, launched an offensive against the Huns. As a result, the Wusuns extended their power to part of the territory of East Turkestan; depending on them, in particular, the Yarkand oasis turned out to be. In the middle of the 1st century. BC e. The Wusun tribal union, however, collapsed.

Collapse of the “Hun Power”

“Power of the Huns” after the loss of East Turkestan (Xinjiang) at the end of the 2nd century. began to decline. With their conquering successes, the Chinese undermined its economic basis, since the well-being of the Huns largely rested on the exploitation of rich agricultural oases, which they had now lost.

The pro-Chinese group that has emerged among the Hun aristocracy advocates an alliance with China and increased exploitation of the local agricultural population. In this regard, an attempt was made to build a city in the land of the Huns. Such a policy, however, caused discontent on the part of ordinary free people, since there was a threat for them to become dependent, along with the agricultural population, on their tribal aristocracy. Therefore, those of the aristocratic groups that insisted on continuing the raids on China enjoyed support in wide circles of the Hun free population. On the contrary, the pro-Chinese party reflected the interests of the slave-owning nobility and was not popular.

The consequence of this struggle was continuous court coups in the Hun headquarters, as each party sought to introduce its candidate to Zen. In an atmosphere of internal struggle and the Chinese offensive, uprisings of tribes dependent on the Huns began. In 68 BC. e. northern tribes were deposited. The loss of livestock that occurred at the same time, causing famine, reduced, according to Chinese news (possibly exaggerated), in two years (68-67) the number of the Huns by ten times. The beginning of the collapse of the “Hunnic power” led in the middle of the 1st century. BC e. to the split of the Huns, as a result of which two Hunnic tribal unions arose. The Huns, who lived in close proximity to China, recognized themselves as dependent on it. The bulk of the Huns moved to Central Kazakhstan north of the Syr Darya, thus coming into contact with the Kangyu tribes. Later, the Huns also appeared in the area of ​​the Aral and Caspian Seas and pushed the Alans who lived here to the west. This was the first impetus that subsequently set in motion huge masses of people, the beginning of that great process that significantly changed the ethnic and political face of both Central and Western Asia, and Europe - the beginning of the so-called great migration of peoples.

Voetochny urkestan

To the west of China, mainly in the Tarima River basin, the city-states of Eastern Turkestan were located. The time of their emergence is difficult to determine. In the 3rd century. BC e. they were under the rule of the Huns in the 2nd century. BC e. the penetration of the Chinese began, and from these holes the city-states of Eastern Turkestan either fell under the rule of China, then again became independent or temporarily found themselves dependent on the nomads. But the conquests, apparently, did not have a noticeable impact on the internal life of the population of the East Turkestan oases; His dependence was usually expressed in the payment of tribute.

The people of East Turkestan farmed small areas of alluvial soil along the Tarim and further north to the foothills of the Tien Shan in Dzungaria. By its ethnicity, it was associated with the ancient population of Central Asia, primarily Semirechye, i.e. with the Sakas. In the field of culture, numerous threads also connected the inhabitants of East Turkestan with the Sakas. The so-called Saka documents from Khotan, written in the Indian Karoshti script, allow us to conclude that the population of the western part of East Turkestan spoke an Indo-European language of the East Iranian group. Further to the northeast, in the region of Kuchi, Kashgar and Turfan, another language was in use, belonging to the Western group of Indo-European languages.

The city-states of Eastern Turkestan were important due to their mediating role between East and West: it was here, along the southern edge of the Tien Shan and the northern edge of Kunlun and Altyntag, along the foothills, where it was easier to find water, that ancient trade routes connected the Mediterranean, Parthia and Central Asia with China.

Fergata

From the end of the 2nd century. BC e. Chinese military campaigns begin in Central Asia, primarily in Fergana. There is no definite information about the position of Fzrgana during the existence of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. According to Chinese sources, in the second half of the 2nd century. Fergana was independent, its population spoke almost the same language as the population of Tokharistan, and therefore belonged to the Iranian language group.

Most of the population of Fergana lived sedentary and engaged in agriculture, but along with this there were also nomads. In Fergana, barley, rice, alfalfa, and grapes were grown; The Chinese were amazed at the high development of winemaking. Along with agriculture, cattle breeding was also developed. The local breed of horses, which were used in heavily armed cavalry, was especially famous.

The social system of Fergana resembled that of neighboring regions and was characterized, as far as one can judge, by the dominance of early slave-owning relations. The lack of its own minted coin indicates some backwardness of the country. The Chinese numbered about 70 cities in Fergana, but this number apparently included not only cities, but also fortified settlements of rural residents. Archaeological research on the territory of Fergana has revealed two types of settlements: communal settlements and single estates. There were also complexes of estates surrounded by a common wall.

In the second half of the 2nd century. Both peaceful relations and military clashes between Fergana and China begin. Around 128 BC e. Davan (as the Chinese called Fergana) was visited by the Chinese ambassador and traveler Zhang Qian. In 104, the Chinese invaded Fergana, but the campaign was unsuccessful for them. The Chinese unsuccessfully besieged fortified settlements and returned, having lost almost their entire army. In 102, a second campaign was organized. The Chinese besieged the city of Ershi, but this time they could not take it. True, they managed to conclude a beneficial agreement for themselves and install their supporter as ruler, and the residents of Ershi gave them several dozen “heavenly” horses and 3 thousand other horses as a ransom for lifting the siege.

Although the Chinese did not manage to gain a foothold in Fergana, as a result of these campaigns they established strong trade ties with the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean (“Great Silk Road”) and Central Asia. Chinese sources also contain information about the state of Kangyu, “located to the northwest of the Wusuns.”

Khorezm

Some researchers identify the Kangyu state with Khorezm. This point of view arose because Chinese sources until the early Middle Ages did not know Khorezm, known from ancient Persian and ancient sources. It is possible that “Kangyuy” of the Chinese chronicles is the name of the tribes that roamed northeast of Khorezm.

From the end of the 4th to the 2nd centuries. BC e. in Khorezm, fortified house arrays appear to replace old rural settlements. This is due to the beginning of the predominance of agriculture over cattle breeding and the expansion of the irrigation system. Along with such settlements, “cities” also appear, which are clusters of house arrays protected by a common wall. Such are, for example, the settlements of Dzhanbas-kala and Bazar-kala. Crafts are significantly developing, trade is growing, and economic ties between Khorezm and other countries are strengthening.

During this period, significant changes occurred in the military organization and tactics of the Khorezmians. The predominant branch of the army in Khorezm was cavalry. Until the end of the 4th century. BC e. it consisted of heavily armed horsemen, partly spearmen,

partly archers. This army, which successfully repelled the raids of the irregular cavalry of the nomads, turned out to be insufficiently effective when the Macedonian army appeared on the borders of Khorezm, the close formation of which - the Macedonian phalanx - could not be overcome even by the heavily armed cavalry of the Massagetae. In this regard, the two types of cataphracts (heavily armed horsemen) that previously existed separately in Khorezm merge: they become cavalry, armed simultaneously for both long-range and close combat. The tactics of this cavalry were to first disrupt the close formation of the enemy infantry with a hail of arrows, and then complete its defeat with hand-to-hand combat.

After the Macedonian conquest of Central Asia, Khorezm remained the only independent state here. The liberation movements that took place in the Central Asian satrapies of the Seleucid kingdom sought support in it. Thus, during the period of the fall of Parthia, the Arsacids oriented towards Khorezm. Even in the first half of the 2nd century. BC e. Khorezm's attack on Hellenistic Bactria begins. Around 170 BC e. Khorezm conquers Sogdiana, and a little later - Chach, which was not part of Bactria, otherwise Shash (Tashkent oasis).

In the second half of the 2nd century. The Khorezm state bordered on Parthia and Tokharistan in the south, Fergana in the southeast, and the nomadic Usuns in the east. In the north and west lived various nomadic tribes, partially dependent on Khorezm.

After the fall of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, the Khorezmian kings tended to consider themselves the heirs of the Hellenistic kings of Bactria. So, they begin to mint coins based on the model of the coins of Eucratides and with his name. The earliest Khorezmian coins are considered to be two silver coins of a nameless Khorezmian king from the end of the 1st century. BC e. The coins are equipped with the title Eucratis and a characteristic tamga, confirming their Khorezm origin.

Little is known about the social structure of Khorezm during this period (2nd century BC - 1st century AD). The nomadic tribes dependent on Khorezm were at the stage of disintegration of the primitive communal system. There were some remnants of matriarchy in their life. The contents of the mounds indicate the presence of wealth inequality in their environment. The significant development of ceramic production suggests that some of these tribes led a semi-sedentary lifestyle. The settled population of Khorezm was apparently characterized by early slave-owning relations.

The most widespread type of religion in Khorezm during this period was the early forms of Zoroastrianism. In the cities there was a so-called “house of fire”, which was the center of the Zoroastrian cult. Intertwined with Zoroastrianism were also the archaic cults of the goddess of fertility and waters Ardvisura-Anahita, closer to the peasantry, and her companion, the dying and resurrecting god of vegetation Siyavush. Among the nomadic population, the cults of the sky and celestial bodies, as well as the cult of ancestors, characteristic of almost all Central Asian nomads, were widespread.

Relations between Central Asian states and China

China's relations with the peoples and states of Central Asia are in many ways reminiscent of the relations of the Roman Empire with its neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe and Western Asia 100-200 years later. In terms of the degree of development of slave relations, China surpassed most of the agricultural regions of Central Asia, not to mention the nomads. The ruling circles of China sought to protect the borders of the empire from the raids of nomads. In addition, they were interested in capturing slaves, trading with Western countries and, to achieve all this, maintaining their influence in Central Asia. China conquered East Turkestan and more or less firmly subjugated the southern Huns to its influence, but it did not have the strength to do more. Therefore, China focused mainly on maintaining its influence through diplomacy.

With the help of gifts, bribery and other means, the Chinese ruling circles tried to win over the nobility of the nomadic tribes, staged palace coups, tried to influence the course of affairs through their ambassadors, with the help of hostages, etc. But China’s weak point in the fight against the nomads was extreme severity of social contradictions within the empire. The nomadic alliances, inferior to the Chinese in the technical equipment of the army, contrasted them with a cohesive military organization, which relied largely on the still strong tribal alliances. Still, the Chinese offensive was relatively successful at first, the lands closest to China were included in the empire, and even the more distant states of Central Asia at times recognized themselves, although for the most part only nominally, as dependent on China. Chinese influence undoubtedly contributed to the development of slave relations and the growth of civilization in the areas with which China came into contact.

Summary

The conquests of Alexander the Great, during which the Persian power, deprived of a strong foundation, collapsed, were the beginning of a wide colonization flow of Macedonians and Greeks to the East.

The “world monarchy,” which in an amazingly short time absorbed many countries and peoples into its borders, just as quickly disintegrated, giving way to new, Hellenistic states. The borders of the latter, in turn, were very unstable, changing depending on the military successes and defeats of the Hellenistic kings and dynasts. Endless wars and predatory weather, palace coups and military rebellions fill the entire three-century history of the Hellenistic states.

Behind the external side of these events were hidden complex, contradictory processes of socio-economic development and class struggle. The Hellenistic states of Western Asia and Egypt arose on the ground prepared by the centuries-old history of the peoples who lived here. Here, two paths of development of a slave-owning society crossed, associated with the difference in economic and political forms: the exploitation of the dependent population (laoi) and ancient slavery, supreme ownership of land and developing private property, the eastern monarchy and the Hellenic polis. On this basis, there is a gradual merging of the Greco-Macedonian and local slave owners and landowners, forming a single, “Hellenized” ruling class, despite the heterogeneity of its composition and origin.

One of the most important historical results of the creation of Hellenistic states was the expansion of the sphere of slave-owning relations of a developed type, and thereby the slave-owning economy designed for the market. Trade ties are strengthening and becoming more extensive. Sea and caravan routes stretch from the Mediterranean basin all the way to India and China. Trade and craft centers are moving to the East. On the periphery of the Hellenistic world (in Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Arabia) a number of new slave states emerged, which over time began to play an increasingly important role in the economic and political life of Western Asia and the Mediterranean.

New features marked the development of ideology and culture. Hellenistic culture is characterized by the further accumulation of knowledge, the rise of a number of branches of science and technology, new achievements of materialistic thought, associated primarily with the name of Epicurus, on the one hand, and the growing features of the general decline of the ancient worldview, the growth of religious and mystical sentiments, idealism in philosophy and individualism in art - on the other.

Following the short-term prosperity, a period of deep decline of the Hellenistic states began. All social contradictions are intensifying, the antagonism between slave owners and slaves, between the Hellenized nobility and the broad masses of the exploited population, between conquerors and parades of conquered countries. Weakened by mutual struggle and the growth of internal contradictions, the Hellenistic states can no longer keep peoples in subjection, are unable to carry out widespread expansion, provide the ruling classes with a trade monopoly and sustainable dominance over other countries.

All this ultimately made the Hellenistic states relatively easy prey for Rome, which, after defeating its main enemy - Carthage - became the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean, and then rushed to the East.

Within the Roman Empire, especially as a result of continuous wars of conquest, slavery reached its maximum development. Latifundia with hundreds and thousands of slaves are a widespread phenomenon both in Italy itself and in many Roman provinces. The exploitation of the slave reaches extreme intensity, and the cruelty of his treatment knows no bounds.

The enormous growth of slavery led in Rome, even on a larger scale than in Greece, to the ruin and pauperization of the broad masses of free producers who filled the ranks of the lumpen proletariat. The Roman Republic, based on the peasantry and with all its institutions adapted to the needs of a relatively small agrarian community, which was Rome at the beginning of its historical development, entered a period of inevitable and protracted political crisis.

The class struggle at this time acquired unprecedented scope and strength. From passive forms of struggle, slaves move on to open mass uprisings, in which free people also participate. Slave uprisings in Sicily and Italy shook the Roman state for half a century. They found a response both on the outskirts of the state (in Pergamon) and beyond. The slave movements were intertwined with the struggle between the aristocracy and the plebs, between Rome and the peoples subject to it. Uprisings of the tribes of Spain and Gaul more than once threatened Rome with the loss of the territories it had conquered.

To maintain their dominance, Roman slave owners were forced to look for new forms of suppression of the exploited masses and control of the huge power that had grown as a result of conquests. This new form was the Augustan Empire that replaced the republic.

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© 1995 I. V. Pyankov

The distant past of Central Asia - from the moment it begins to be illuminated by written history - is associated primarily with Iranian-speaking peoples. The Turkic ethnic element, which now predominates in Central Asia, also has a long history, but the early stages of its ethnogenesis, as is generally accepted, took place outside Central Asia. The Altai tribes first clearly appear in Central Asia in the form of the Huns, although it is possible that they appeared in earlier times. It is indisputable that the population of ancient Central Asia was mainly Iranian-speaking. The people who have absorbed all the earlier Iranian-speaking layers are the Tajiks. Therefore, the process of formation of the Tajik people can be identified to a certain extent with the general course of the ethnic history of ancient Central Asia.
Let's try to trace the main milestones of this process. Let's go the retrospective route, i.e. from late to early, in the reverse direction of time, as if descending along the steps of history deeper and deeper into the thickness of time. Language will serve as our guiding thread. Of course, language is not the only and, perhaps, not even the most important of the features characterizing an ethnic community, but it is most convenient for the historian due to the vagueness and uncertainty of most other features.
In modern scientific classifications, the Tajik language belongs to the southwestern group of Iranian languages. The oldest monuments in the language of this group were created by the Persians during the Achaemenid times back in the 6th - 4th centuries. BC e. Already in the language of these monuments, some characteristic “southwestern” features can be traced, which are also characteristic of later languages ​​of the same group, including Tajik. Therefore, the history of the Tajik language can begin with such famous monuments as the Behistun inscription.
But the indigenous habitat of the ancient Persians was the southwest of the Iranian Plateau, where the country of Parsa (in Greek - Persis, later - Fars) was located. Only much later, during the Sassanid period, in the 3rd - 7th centuries, the Persian language began to penetrate to the north and east, initially into the cities. This was facilitated by the political expansion of the Sassanids, trade relations, and the spread of religions - orthodox Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. It is believed that in the V - VI centuries. Persian replaced local dialects in the urban centers of Western Khorasan; Apparently, at the same time, Persian was spreading in the cities of Eastern Khorasan, especially in Balkh, i.e. in the center of the territory where the Tajik ethnic group was formed. Similar processes took place in the south, in Seistan, where ties with the Sassanids were even closer.
The Persian language began to spread especially intensively in the east after the Arab conquest and the establishment of Islam, in the 7th - 8th centuries. This circumstance is noted by all researchers. However, there remains much uncertainty about how the language spread. Some scientists, including B. G. Gafurov, attach great importance in this process to the Persian-speaking subjects of the Arabs, the so-called mavali. In any case, in the 8th century. Persian was spoken in Balkh, and this circumstance made it possible for Tabari to give the first sample of speech in Farsi of that time, usually cited in all essays on the history of the Tajik language. Other authors of the same time and subsequent centuries even speak of a special “language of Balkh,” apparently implying the local dialect of Farsi (Dari). At the same time and later, the Persian language spread in Transoxiana. Subsequently, on this basis, it was formed in the 9th - 10th centuries. a common language for all Tajiks.
Of course, it would be a great simplification to simply say that the Tajik language (Farsi) came from Fars: after all, Farsi on the territory of Khorasan was intensively enriched with borrowings from the local, more ancient languages ​​it was replacing. There, in Khorasan, literary Farsi (Dari) began to take shape. But the fact remains that in ancient times, in the territory where the Tajik people were later formed, the Persian language was not the language of the local population, and that the origins of the history of this language originate outside the specified territory. Does this mean that the Tajiks themselves came from somewhere else? Of course not! Language is only one of the elements of an ethnos, and in the search for ancestors, one cannot, of course, be guided only by linguistic characteristics. Where, in what ancient people should we look for the immediate ancestors of the Tajiks on the territory of their formation?
In the main part of the territory of the formation of the Tajik people in the period immediately preceding their own Tajik history, and partly coinciding with its beginning, Iranian languages ​​are known, related to Tajik, but representing a different line of development, so that Farsi could not have arisen from them, nor they themselves could not have come from Persian. These are Iranian languages ​​of the eastern group. One of these eastern Iranian languages ​​is the language of the ancient people of Sogdians, once widespread in Sogd, that is, in the valley of Zeravshan and Kashkadarya. Over the centuries, it was gradually replaced by Tajik and to this day has survived only in Yagnob. Another East Iranian language was spoken south of Sogdian. Its distinctive feature is that its monuments are made in a script of Greek origin. In some of its features it is particularly reminiscent of modern Munjan and Afghan (pashto). Its main territory was Tokharistan, i.e. the area of ​​the upper reaches of the Amu Darya and its tributaries, south and north of the river; it is known that this language was spoken in Chaganian. True, individual inscriptions in the same language are also found outside of Tokharistan, for example in the Ghazni region, in the Kandahar region, etc. Monuments of this language date back to the 2nd - 9th centuries.
It has been established that Chinese and Arabic-speaking authors of the first centuries of Islam called this language Tocharian. Historically, this name is quite justified, since the earliest monuments of this language appear precisely under the first kings of the Tocharians (the people whom the Chinese called the Yuezhi) from the Kushana dynasty - Vima Kadphises and Kanishka (1st - 2nd centuries). The use of this name in science, however, is complicated by the fact that it has already been assigned to a completely different language that once existed in Eastern Turkestan. Later, from the 4th century, contemporaries applied the same name to the language of the Hephthalites, who for the most part were monolingual with the Tocharians.
Subsequently, this language was preserved longest in geographically isolated areas. Thus, in Khuttal, where the Hephthalites retained their identity for a long time and where the Tocharian language was in use (not to be confused with the “Tocharian” language of East Turkestan!), most likely, it was this language and Greek writing that were used to create books even “at the beginning of Islam” . One of the dialects of Tocharian was preserved for a long time in Badakhshan (I mean the region of Upper Kokcha and its tributaries), in one of the valleys of which), in Munjan, it has survived to this day.
Another dialect lived for a long time in Waziristan, in the upper reaches of Kurram and Gumal, where the first news about the Afghans comes from. Apparently, it is no coincidence that one of the latest inscriptions in Tocharian writing (9th century) was discovered in the Tochi valley in Waziristan: it is no older than the earliest mentions of the Afghans - mentions relating to approximately the same places. This circumstance confirms the assumption of the special role of the Hephthalites in the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns.
If we take into account everything that is known about the Central Asian Tocharians and their language, then we can come to the conclusion that they are unlikely to be suitable for the role of the main ancestors of the Tajik people. Of course, we are talking about the Tocharians and Hephthalites themselves - nomads who founded huge empires, which included the agricultural population of the oases, which over time also came to be called Tocharians and Hephthalites. The nomadic Scythian tribes of the Tochars and the Hunnic tribes of the Hephthalites, who came from the steppe expanses of Central Asia, in the places of their subsequent settlement in Central Asia and Eastern Iran, either formed the military and ruling elite of the indigenous agricultural population, or continued to live - where natural conditions allowed - as before nomadic life. Only they could bring with them the East Iranian (i.e. Scythian) language of the Tocharian inscriptions. Later, nomadic Turkic tribes who came to these places and played a decisive role in the spread of Turkic languages ​​found themselves in the same conditions. In the Tochars and Hephthalites, obviously, one should see the direct ancestors of the Pashtuns and related ethnic formations.
The Tochars were neither the only nor the first East Iranian newcomers to the territory of the formation of the Tajik people. Long before the arrival of the Tocharians, various tribes of the nomadic Saka people lived around the agricultural oases and in the eastern, mountainous part of Central Asia. The Central Asian Sakas did not leave behind written monuments, but judging by the surviving names and ancient names of the places in which they once lived, this people was one of the Eastern Iranians. The descendants of the Saks, like the Sogdians, gradually, over the centuries, switched to the Tajik language and only in the Pamirs - in Shugnan and Rushan, Vakhan, Sarykol and a number of other places - they retained their ancient speech. Even in the last century, the same ancient, eastern Iranian dialect was spoken in Vanj, and even earlier - in Darvaz.
Part of the Saka tribes, under pressure from the Tochars (Yuezhi), left in the 2nd - 1st centuries. BC. from the steppes and mountains of Central Asia to North-West India and from there began to populate the southern part of the territory of interest to us, which became known as Sakastan, and later Seistan. And their language, judging by its meager remains, possessed the same features that united the language of the Tocharian inscriptions with Pashto and Munjan.
The soil in which to look for the roots of Tajik ethnogenesis was different, not Scythian. This was undoubtedly the ethnic environment of the ancient population of agricultural oases. This environment was characterized by quite pronounced ethnic unity throughout almost the entire 1st millennium BC. e., at least until the massive invasions of the Tocharians, Saks and other nomadic Scythian tribes in the last centuries of this millennium. This unity is reflected in the common names that were given in the sources of that time to the countries of ancient agricultural culture on the future Tajik territory: “Ariana” (and it is emphasized that this name unites the countries included in it precisely because of their tribal unity), “the countries of the Aryans,” "the abode of the Aryans", "the countries created by Ahuramazda." Information about these countries can be found in ancient (Greek and Latin) sources, and in the Avesta - the sacred book of the Zoroastrians, which is why scientists conventionally call their population the Avestan Aryans. The same unity is reflected in the commonality of material culture on the corresponding territory in complexes like Yaz (all three of its stages, genetically interconnected), united by researchers into a number of archaeological cultures, the more ancient of which are called the culture (or cultures) of late painted ceramics, and later - the culture of jar, or cylindrical, ceramics.
The people of Ariana had a number of specific features of spiritual culture that united them into something whole and distinguished them from their neighbors. He had his own version of the pan-Indo-Iranian ethnogenetic legend, which is very important, since the people’s ideas about their origin are an essential element of ethnic self-awareness. It had its own cults of deities and its own religious rituals, which, at least at first, distinguished it from its neighbors. Very specific are such features of its culture that have great ethno-distinctive significance, such as funeral and marriage customs. He differed from his neighbors in his anthropological appearance. Its economic complex and social structure were unique. In a word, the population of Ariana had all the characteristics necessary to consider it a separate people.
The people of Ariana created powerful states in ancient times. This was first the kingdom of the ancient Kayai Usadan and Khusrawa, centered in the lower reaches of the Khilmand River and in the area of ​​Lake Hamun (IX - VIII centuries BC), and then the kingdom of the Kavi Vishtaspa and his successors, centered in the oasis of Balkh (VII - VI centuries BC). Here you need to look for both the homeland and the place of recognition of the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster). In the search for the homeland of Zoroastrianism over the past decades, many different hypotheses have been put forward, sometimes completely fantastic. But the most correct thing, it seems to me, would be simply, without further ado, to follow the most ancient and reliable tradition, according to which the recognition of the prophet took place at the court of Kavi Vishtaspa in Balkh in the 7th century. BC e., especially since there are no obstacles to accepting the data of this tradition. As for the other tradition, which transfers all events related to the life of the prophet to Aturpatakan (Iranian Azerbaijan), its artificiality and late origin, associated with the Zoroastrian temple centers of Aturpatakan of the late Sassanian period, are obvious. It is interesting that the places of Zarathushtra’s wanderings mentioned in some sources approximately coincide with the territory of Ariana.
Ariana was a collection of a number of countries, each of which was a large agricultural oasis. The composition of the lists of these countries generally coincides in various sources. These countries are as follows (first we give their ancient Greek names, under which they are usually mentioned in scientific works, then the ancient Iranian ones): Baktriana / Bakhtri (the Balkh region, in a broad sense - the territory that was later called Tokharistan); Sogdiana/Sughd (Zerafshan valley, sometimes also Kashkadarya, sometimes even more extensive territory); Margiana/Margush (Merv region); Areya/Haraiva (Herat region and Gerirud-Tejen basin); Drangiana/Zranka, or Haitumant (Zerenja region in the lower reaches of Helmand near Lake Hamun): Arachosia/Kharakhati (Kandahar region, the regions of Ghazni and Busta also gravitated towards it); Paropamis/Parauparisaina (Zagindu Kush region, Kabul region).
A special place within this vast territory was occupied by the country of Aryana-Vaija on the Vakhvi-Datya River, which was considered the most ancient habitat of the Aryans and the activities of Zarathushtra. If you accurately follow the instructions of the sources, then this country should be placed in the basin of the upper reaches of the Amu Darya, approximately in the same places that were later called Bactria in the broad sense, and even later - Tokharistan. However, there is often a statement that Aryana-Vaija is nothing more than Khorezm. This identification is based on conjecture, but is still repeated from work to work. It can also be noted that the population of the territories located south of the Hindu Kush, especially some of the inhabitants of Arachosia, differed in a number of ethnic characteristics from the population of the areas north of the ridge.
This territory did not remain unchanged. When conditions were favorable, the ancient farmers of Ariana colonized neighboring areas suitable for agriculture. It seems likely that this is how the Chust culture spread to Fergana. If we can judge the circumstances of the spread of this culture only from archaeological data, then the emergence of an archaic culture in Khorezm as a result of agricultural colonization can be concluded from both archaeological and literary sources, including the historical legends of the Khorezmians themselves. Colonization also proceeded in a southern direction, as evidenced by archaeological finds in Pirak (Balochistan); it seems that by the second half of the Achaemenid period it had reached the coast of the Arabian Sea, as evidenced by the appearance there of the Orites people - possibly colonists from Arachosia. A powerful colonization flow also went eastward, to the neighboring Indian region of Gandhara, including its trans-Indian part. Both archaeological and written sources speak about this, and echoes of the corresponding events can be found in the epic tradition - both Iranian and Indian.
The question of colonization by the Avestan Aryans brings us to the problem of the magicians. A lot has been written about the origin of magicians. In the sources they usually appear as priests of the Zoroastrian religion among the Persians and Medes. But in the earliest sources one can also see the attitude towards them as a special ethnic community. It was in the latter capacity that they were characterized by marriage and funeral customs, thanks to which they stood out sharply from the surrounding Western Iranian population. And these same customs (which, of course, were not simply invented by Zoroaster) are characteristic of the Avestan Aryans. Perhaps the Western Iranians originally called the colonists from Ariana, who initially settled in the Median region of Raga (Rey) and nearby mountainous areas, “magi”? It was precisely because of their ethnic closeness to the Avestan Aryans that they accepted the teachings of Zoroaster earlier than others in Western Iran.
A special problem is the problem of the language of the Avestan Aryans. It would seem that the question is clear: their language, primarily the language of the Bactrians, among whom, as already indicated, according to ancient tradition, the original core of the Avesta was created, should be the Avestan language. Indeed, in European science back in the last century, the terms “ancient Bactrian” and “Avestan” when applied to the language were synonymous. Under the influence of a hypercritical attitude towards the ancient tradition about the homeland of Zoroastrianism, the name “ancient Bactrian” was abandoned over time, and with the approval of the Khorezmian hypothesis mentioned above, the Avestan language began to be considered only the language of ancient Khorezm, Merv or Herat, although there were no grounds for such a localization, except for the Khorezmian itself there was no hypothesis. Added to this was the definition of the language of the Kushan inscriptions as Bactrian, proposed by V.B. Henning and then accepted under his influence by almost all Iranian scholars. Meanwhile, there is no evidence of the existence of this language in Bactria before the arrival of the Tocharians there, not to mention the low probability that the East Iranian, i.e., Scythian in origin, language used by the Kushans in their monumental inscriptions was the language of the local, conquered them the population.
It seems much more likely that the language of the Avesta belonged to the dialects widespread throughout Ariana. They occupied an intermediate position between the Western and Eastern Iranian languages, although in general they were apparently closer to the former. The sources contain direct indications dating back to the pre-Kushan era of the almost complete monolingualism of all of Ariana, including Bactria and Sogd, as well as parts of Media and Persia. Archeology testifies to the cultural unity of all Ariana, in which it is also difficult to admit that the languages ​​of its peoples developed in different directions. One must think that only after the Scythian invasion of the last centuries BC. in certain, and primarily peripheral, regions of Ariana - Sogd, Khorezm and Drangian (Sakastan) - Eastern Iranian dialects gradually established themselves, apparently retaining some “Avestan” features as a substrate.
It is generally believed that the Avestan language left no direct descendants. But in the territory where the Avestan Aryans once lived, the relict languages ​​of Ormuri and Parachi have been preserved to this day, occupying the same uncertain position between the Western and Eastern Iranian languages ​​as Avestan. Several assumptions have been made about their origin, of which the most tempting seems to be the following: these two languages ​​are the remnants of a vast linguistic community, the indigenous representatives of which were called Cambodians by Indian sources of the pre-Kushan era. Geographically, this region coincided precisely with the southern, Trans-Gindu Kush, part of the lands of the Avestan Aryans. True, there are no special connections between the Ormuri and Parachi languages ​​and Avestan, but one must take into account the enormous time interval between the recorded time of existence of these languages, as well as the very likely possibility that in addition to the Avestan dialects known to us, there were others, for example Drangian and Arachosian; the development of the latter could be the mentioned relict languages ​​of Transgindukushya.
It is in the Avestan Aryans, it seems, that one should see, with all the reservations, the closest ancestors of the Tajik people. An active analysis would, of course, reveal a lot of other threads, in addition to territorial coincidence, connecting these two ethnic groups. Let us note only one circumstance related to the field of ethnic self-awareness: the historical epic, captured in the great poem of Ferdowsi, existed in its most ancient forms already among the Avestan Aryans, among whom it originated.
Throughout their existence, the peoples of Ariana came into close contact with other peoples. These contacts intensified when the peoples of Ariana were involved in world political systems - first in the Achaemenid power, then in the power of Alexander the Great, the Seleucid state and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Western Iranians - the Persians and Medes, and eastern - Scythian peoples, as well as Indians and Greeks, appeared on the territory of Ariana. In turn, representatives of the Ariana peoples, as warriors of the Persian, Macedonian and Hellenistic armies, military colonists, etc., visited and even settled in Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and India.
The ties between the peoples of Ariana and the Eastern Greeks were especially close, ending in a kind of symbiosis of their ethnic groups, at least partially. Strange as it may seem at first glance, the influence of Hellenic culture on the local one and the interpenetration of these cultures here turned out to be deeper and stronger than in Western Iran, which is closer to Greece. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that Ariana not only became part of the Hellenistic world, but also on its territory, in Bactria, was the center of one of the most powerful Hellenistic states - the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.
The first Greek settlements - albeit insignificant - appeared in Bactria and Sogd back in the Achaemenid era (VI - IV centuries BC): the ancient Persian kings used to resettle their subjects who had done something wrong or, conversely, sought their protection, from one end of their empire to the other. The massive influx of the Greek and European population in general into Ariana began with the campaigns of Alexander (in Ariana - from 330 to 327 BC). The warriors who came with him remained in local centers as garrisons, populating the cities and military settlements that were founded. New cities, acquiring the status of a classical Greek polis, continued to be founded under the Seleucids (late IV-III centuries BC) and in the Greco-Bactrian kingdom (III-II centuries BC). The following figures can give some idea of ​​the size of the newly arrived population. Alexander, heading to India; left 13 thousand soldiers in Bactria alone, and the Greek colonists of the “upper satrapies” who rebelled after the death of Alexander, i.e. mainly Arians, were able to field 23 thousand soldiers. The Greeks continued to arrive here from the metropolis later, and these were not only mercenary warriors.
Naturally, all this could not but affect the state of material culture. New cities were founded in accordance with the principles of Greek urban planning, many old ones were rebuilt, fortification acquired new features, craft technology changed and developed, even such mass production as pottery acquired clearly Greek features, irrigation technology developed, etc. Synthesis of Greek and local art led to the formation of a new style - Greco-Bactrian. The Greek language has become widespread: - the Bactrian accompanies his gift to the local deity of the Amu Darya with a dedication in Greek, and the deity itself is depicted by him in accordance with Greek ideas; Indian king Ashoka (III century BC), addressing a decree to the population of Arachosia, writes it in Greek. The Greek language was preserved in the everyday life of even the local, non-Greek population even after the fall of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom: for example, one local resident of an ancient village in the Yavana valley (1st century BC) inscribed a vessel belonging to him in Greek.
How did the process of Hellenization proceed in the territory of Ariana, what was the position of the local population in relation to Hellenic culture? The success of the process as a whole is evidenced by its very scale, but there are different opinions on the question of whether Hellenization also met with negative attitudes in the local environment. It seems that it is still impossible to deny the possibility of such a relationship. In this regard, I would like to draw attention to the following. On the one hand, ancient sources report that “thanks to Alexander, Bactra and the Caucasus (i.e., the Hindu Kush region - I.P.) worship the Hellenic gods,” and the children of the Persians and other eastern peoples know the Greek theater well, “singing tragedies Euripides and Sophocles,” and that either Alexander himself or his Bactrian satrap (Greek) prohibited the customs accepted among the Bactrians associated with the transition of old people to another world. On the other hand, the Zoroastrian tradition, including the local one, Sakastani, retained traces of an extremely hostile attitude towards Alexander as a destroyer of ancient religious shrines and covenants. Here we see, apparently, echoes of some kind of active antagonism between Hellenism and adherents of local traditional culture, antagonism that flared up in other places of the Hellenistic world and is well attested by sources, primarily for Palestine during the time of the Maccabees. Very curious are the coincidences of details in events that took place in places remote from each other at the same time (II century BC): in the ancient Bactrian city, the ruins of which were explored by French archaeologists, local residents, Bactrians, are diligently breaking up the Greek the statue of Zeus erected in a non-Greek temple, the gymnasium and theater are empty, in the square the Bactrians demonstratively perform the very rituals that Alexander once prohibited; at the same time, in Palestine the cult of Zeus in the Temple of Jerusalem is being eliminated, and the attitude towards activities in the palaestra and theater determines a person’s cultural orientation in general.
The attitude towards Hellenic culture, as Western Asian examples show, was closely related to social status: the upper classes of local society willingly and easily joined the Hellenic way of life, while the lower classes stubbornly remained faithful to ancient traditions. There is reason to believe that the same situation has developed in the Ariana countries.
What was the attitude of the Scythian conquerors who invaded the territory of Ariana in the last centuries BC to Hellenic culture? The assumption that the Scythians, as ethnic Iranians, felt solidarity towards the indigenous, Bactrian population as opposed to the Greeks, seems unlikely in principle. Rather, on the contrary, the nomadic nobility quite quickly merged with the Hellenic and Hellenized population, i.e. with the elite of local society. This is evidenced by the fact that the Scythian leaders in Bactria from the very beginning actively perceived and used the achievements of ancient culture, and by the fact that later even in funeral rituals there was a merging of steppe traditions with Greek ones. In this regard, we can also consider the fact that the Kushan kings used the Greek alphabet to compose texts in their language.
The significance of the Hellenic ethnic component is evidenced by persistent, ancient and widespread legends in Central Asia, especially in its eastern, mountainous part, about the Greeks as the distant ancestors of one or another population group.
So, the Avestan people, the Ariana tribes, are the first, closest to us in time, stage in the prehistory of the Tajik people. The ancient Iranian Avestan language, for all its archaic nature, is still a separate Iranian language. Descending one step further into the depths of time, we are faced with the Proto-Iranian language, which served as the common ancestor for all later Iranian languages, as well as with other Indo-Iranian languages, equally or even more ancient. We will agree to call the speakers of all these languages ​​the most ancient Aryans, since all the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples really called themselves Aryans.
Direct historical evidence about the ancient Aryans coming from their contemporaries has not reached us. But by the method of linguistic reconstruction, which allows us to some extent restore the Proto-Iranian and Proto-Indo-Iranian languages, in particular their vocabulary, as well as through a careful study of the common cultural fund of different Indo-Iranian peoples in the field of both spiritual and material culture, it is possible to learn a lot about these Aryas. It is impossible to give a general picture of the life of the ancient Aryans here, but the basic facts are as follows: they lived much further north than their descendants in Iran and India, and were in contact with the ancestors of the Armenians, Greeks, Slavs, Balts and Finno-Ugric peoples; knew copper and bronze; engaged in cattle breeding (especially horse breeding) and agriculture, and the first always prevailed; led a fairly active lifestyle, in some cases, perhaps even nomadic; had quite complex cosmological and cosmogonic ideas, as well as several variants of ethnogenetic legends and mythological-geographical schemes.
The most ancient Aryans lived in a vast strip of Eurasian steppes from the Black Sea region to Kazakhstan and, perhaps, even further east, that is, in places where much later, already in historical times, the Iranian-speaking Scythian-Sarmatian peoples lived. From here they settled in successive waves to the south; It seems a good assumption that the most ancient Aryans moved in at least two waves, of which the later one partially overlapped the earlier one. It is believed that the collapse of the pan-Aryan unity dates back to approximately the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, the collapse of the pan-Iranian unity - approximately to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, and the eastern Iranian - to the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e.
A general illustration of the process of settlement of the ancient Aryans to the south can be the legend of Yima (Yama), who was revered as an ancestor by all the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples. It tells how this glorious hero three times, at certain intervals, expanded the earth in a southern direction, towards midday, when it overflowed with “flocks and cattle, people, dogs, birds and red blazing lights.”
What was the connection between the Avestan Aryans of interest to us and their direct ancestors, the ancient or proto-Iranian Aryans? In late Zoroastrian literature, a certain mythological-geographical scheme repeatedly appears, which undoubtedly goes back to the ancient Avestan texts: the central karshvar of Khvanirata (according to the most successful interpretation, “[the country of] good chariots”), where the Aryas live, is bounded on both sides by mighty rivers along named Raha and Vakhvi-Datya, flowing from the world mountain Khara surrounding the earth into the middle sea Voru Karta, and between them 18 other rivers flow through the Karshvar. This diagram is nothing more than a variant of the well-known Scythian mythological and geographical ideas about the panorama of the Northern Black Sea region. Taken together, they apparently reflect the all-Iranian mythological-geographical model of the country where they live. This idea of ​​the country of Khvanirata captures a different scheme than the idea of ​​the country of Aryana-Vaija, where the Vakhvi-Datya river is located, as it were, in the center of the universe. This scheme is most likely more ancient: while Aryana-Vaija is the ancestral home of only the Avestan Aryans, Khvanirata in this case is the ancestral home of all-Iranian people. If so, then this latter was located in the steppe expanses between the Volga (Rakha) and the Amu Darya (Vakhvi-Datya). The absence of mountains at the source of the Volga should not be confusing: the world Mount Khara is a purely mythical image, serving as the outskirts of the “circle of the earth” in mythological geography.
Archaeological data are quite consistent with this picture. These data relate primarily to Western variants of the Andronovo cultural community. The earliest of them, represented by the bright and original Peter the Great culture (XVII - XVI centuries BC), is limited mainly to the steppes of Western Kazakhstan and the Southern Urals. The next one, represented by the Alakul culture (XV - XIII centuries BC), growing out of Peter the Great, is widespread in Central Asia: its monuments are found in the Tashkent region, in the Zeravshan valley, in Fergana, etc.; absorbing along the way elements of the neighboring Srubnaya culture, this option created mixed types, for example, the Tazabagyab culture (XV - XI centuries BC) in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya. One must think that in the monuments of all these cultures and in their spread to the south, the history of the proto-Iranian Aryans of Khvanirata, the country of chariots, is captured: it is no coincidence that chariots accompanied the bearers of the Petrine and early Alakul cultures even to the next world, constituting the most characteristic accessory of their funeral structures.
Undoubtedly, these Aryans made a major contribution to the formation of the Avestan Aryan ethnos. But it is still difficult to trace this process archaeologically. It is only known that the monuments of the final phase (XII - IX centuries BC) of the mentioned cultures of the steppe Aryans are found directly on the territory of the agricultural oases of Central Asia and Iran, where they belong to the period of transition from old agricultural cultures to new ones, in in particular to the Yazov complexes of the Avestan Aryans. At the same time, most archaeologists agree that the steppe component initially took part in the formation of these last monuments, which testify to a certain archaization and barbarization of society.
In the steppes themselves, the Andronovo tribes by the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. were displaced by the carriers of the Karasuk culture, who came, in all likelihood, from the depths of Central Asia. As a result of the merger of Andronovo and Karasuk elements, new cultures arose in the steppes of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, such as the Begazy-Dandybaevskaya. In terms of ethnic history, these events could be interpreted as the imposition of some kind of Central Asian, non-Indo-Iranian and generally non-Indo-European superstrate on a proto-Iranian basis. This process was accompanied at the end of the 2nd and first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. the spread far to the west of some Far Eastern cultural elements and the Mongoloid racial type. But in the end, the local Iranian element prevailed. Taking into account the criteria of place and time, one could see here, it seems to me, the process of the formation of an East Iranian, Scythian in a broad sense, ethnic community. Some of the first representatives of this community known to history were the Turs, glorified in the Iranian epic, constant opponents of the Avestan Aryans. Note that the names of their leaders are not always interpretable from Iranian languages. Later, the same community was represented by the above-mentioned Sakas, Tochars and other tribes, already undoubtedly Iranian-speaking.
The most ancient Aryans of the Iranian group were in close interaction with the Aryans of the Indian group. It has long been recognized that the widespread legends in Indian mythology about the struggle of the devas with their older brothers, the asuras, reflect the relationship between the ancestors of Indians and the ancestors of Iranians. In the division of the asuras themselves into two groups - Daityas and Danavas, descendants of the river goddesses Diti and Danu - a historical basis is also easily visible. Each ancient Iranian people had its own ethnogenetic legend, in which it was represented as a descendant of the hero-progenitor and the spirit (always appearing in a female form) of the main river in the country of residence of this people. In the mentioned case, the spirits of the Vakhvi rivers are apparently meant, i.e. “Good” - Da[y]tya (Amu Darya), and Danava (Tanais - among the Greeks, Syr Darya - in this context). And by Daityas and Danavas we mean, presumably, the first Iranian tribes that settled in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. I will also note that in the contemporary Rig Veda for these tribes, asuras are mentioned as very real and specific enemies.
It is interesting that the descendants of a certain hero Bhrigu, often mentioned in Indian mythology, associated with the asuras, also appear in the Rig Veda as a real tribe. It is known from other sources that the Phrygians were called brigs in ancient times, even before their migration from Europe to Asia Minor (at the end of the 2nd millennium BC). And linguistic data indicate close contacts of the ancient Aryans with the ancestors of the Phrygian-Thracian tribes, in whom there is reason to see the bearers of the timber-frame culture of the steppes of the Volga region and the Northern Black Sea region. The “Srubniki” actively participated, together with the Western “Andronovtsy”, i.e. the ancient Iranian Aryans, in the settlement of Central Asia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. From here some brig tribes could have reached the Indian Aryans. There, the descendants of Bhrigu became the founders of several revered families of brahmins, experts in ancient rites. Thus, the amazing fact of specific proto-Armenian-Indo-Aryan connections in the field of sacred, priestly poetry becomes clear. Scientists rightly believe that these connections could only be made through the steppe belt in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Thus, the totality of all sources suggests the participation of another element in the ethnic history of Central Asia.
Where did the Vedic Aryas themselves, the creators of the Rig Veda, live? It is generally accepted that their main territory was the Punjab, in the east - the Jamna valley, in the west - the valleys of the right tributaries of the Indus, namely Kabul, Kurram and Ghumal. But the problem is the localization of the country of Brahmavarta with its rivers Sarasvati and Drishadvati - the ancient habitat of the main Vedic tribes, such as the Bharata and Puru. Usually they try to place it east of the Indus, but such localization encounters a number of difficulties. At the same time, it has long been noted that “Sarasvati” has a direct correspondence in the Iranian “Harahvati”, i.e. in the name of the country of Arachosia and its river (Argendab). The name of another river - "Drishadvati" - has a correspondence in the onomastics of these same places. And the mention in the Rig Veda of various events from the history of the Vedic tribes is full of names that are easily associated with various places in the south. parts of the future Ariana; for example, the river "Saraidu" and the Iranian "Haraiva", i.e. the name of the country of Areya and its river (Gerirud). All this leads to the conclusion that, at least in the territory of later Drangiana and Arachosia and even later Seistan in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Vedic Aryans lived.
In archaeological terms, the early Indian Aryans fit well with the culture of gray painted pottery, widespread in the Eastern Punjab and the Upper Ganges basin in the 11th - 6th centuries. BC. Its bearers are the heirs of the ancient Vedic Aryans of the Rig Veda. These latter should most likely be associated with the culture of the Gandhara burial grounds, monuments of which were discovered along the right tributaries of the Indus and in Western Punjab and date back to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. As for the Vedic Aryans of Brahmavarta, they can be associated with the culture of the Mundigak layer, in the Kandahar region, dating back to approximately the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. It differed sharply from the culture of the previous layers and was replaced by another, clearly included in the circle of Yazov cultures, that is, the cultures of the Avestan Aryans.
Obviously, the Vedic Aryas were early driven out of Drangiana and Arachosia, although the latter retained a significant Indian element later. If we consider the Dardic group of Indo-Aryan peoples to be a remnant of the Vedic Aryans, then it turns out that at present the direct descendants of these Aryans live not to the west of the Kabul River basin, where the Dardic peoples - the Pashais and Tirahs - are settled in small islands.
There are no direct indications in the sources about the steppe origins of the Vedic Aryans. Perhaps a hint of the presence of their ancestors in the steppes are the legends about the campaign of the devas in very ancient times to the distant river Rasa (corresponding to the Raha of Iranian texts), located outside the world of the devas and asuras. It is possible that the Rasa River refers to the Volga. The archaeological connection of the Vedic Aryans with the steppe cultures of Central Asia seems to be outlined, but it is very uncertain. Meanwhile, in the steppe belt, archaeologists have long identified a culture which, judging by its individual features, and especially by the nature of the funeral rite, may well lay claim to the role of the culture of the ancient Indian Aryans. This is the eastern version of the Andronovo cultural community, or more precisely, the Fedorovskaya culture. If its connection with the Vedic Aryans has not been established, then some observations can be made regarding its relationship to the second wave of Indian Aryans.
The question of the second wave of invasion of the Indo-Aryan peoples into India, which has been discussed many times, comes down to the following: approximately at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. e. From the Pamir mountain region through Gilgit and Chitral, a new wave of Indian Aryans poured into Central India, which partially overlapped with the more ancient Vedic tribes of the Indian Aryans, and partially pushed them back to the mountains. New tribes are sometimes called epic Aryans, since they play the main roles in the ancient Indian epic. The first among them was the Kuru tribe. According to archaeological data, it is known that in the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. e. monuments of the Fedorov culture are moving further and further to the south: in Semirechye and the Tien Shan valley, in the area of ​​​​the right tributaries of the Amu Darya, in the Pamirs. The influence of this culture is also noticeable on the monuments of local landowners. The question arises whether this process is not an archaeological expression of events associated with the advance of the second wave of Indian Aryans to the south?
But besides the Iranian and two Indian invasions of the ancient Aryans, there is reason to assume another Indo-Iranian wave to the south, which preceded all the others and brought, as already mentioned, an ethnic layer that served as a substrate for subsequent invasions. This layer is revealed thanks to the surviving, very early elements in the culture of the ancient Iranian peoples - not Iranian in origin, but Indo-Iranian - and thanks to the appearance in Western Asia of traces of some Indo-Iranian language brought by non-Indo-Iranian people - the Kassites (from the 18th century BC. ) and Hurrians (XVI - XIII centuries BC), - a language that is also clearly not Iranian, but not certainly Indo-Aryan. Obviously, some group of the most ancient Aryans at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. e., having separated from the pan-Indo-Iranian unity, began to move south, to those places where they were subsequently replaced by the Iranian and Indian Aryans, brought by subsequent waves, i.e. to Central Asia, Iran and, perhaps, to India, coming into contact with the Kassites and Hurrians in the west of the Iranian Plateau.
Can such a reconstruction be confirmed in archaeological material? In the Caspian and Black Sea steppes at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. lived tribes of the Catacomb culture, which, according to a number of characteristics, could be Indo-Iranian. Judging by the fact that by the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. monuments similar to the catacombs began to spread far to the south, the tribes that created them settled in the same direction: this is how the Zamanbabin culture appeared in the Zeravshan valley and, apparently, even further south, in Afghanistan.
By the second quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. e. the catacomb culture in the steppes disappears (they were partially replaced here by the Andronovo monuments, which were mentioned above), but at the same time, great changes are taking place in the culture of the agricultural oases of Central Asia: the former highly developed proto-urban civilization disappears, and is replaced by other, more archaic ones at first, the cultures of the Namazga VI circle, which covered new territories (for example, the Sapally and Dashly culture in the Amu Darya basin). They combine the traditions of more ancient landowning cultures with innovations introduced, apparently, from the steppes, such as, first of all, funeral rites. Other tribes - descendants of the catacombs - continued to lead the old steppe, shepherd way of life in Central Asia. They, obviously, left monuments of Vakhsh culture.
The descendants of the Indo-Iranians of this first, most ancient, wave left their mark on the further history of Central Asia and neighboring territories. On the one hand, important elements connect the culture of Dashli with the Nuristan infidels of modern times. On the other hand, signs of a very specific funeral rite, characteristic of the same infidels and attested among their ancestors back in the time of Alexander the Great, are found in the monuments of the Bishkent culture, which is close to the Vakhsh culture and has features of a continuous connection with the more ancient, Zamanbabin culture. It is quite possible that the last remnant of the most ancient Aryans of the first wave are the Kafirs, who have preserved many ancient features in their culture and language, which linguists, recognizing its Indo-Iranian character, cannot, however, attribute to either the Iranian or Indian branches . The former kafirs of Nuristan, now living only on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, occupied much larger territories back in the Middle Ages: it is believed, for example, that tribes related to them made up the population of Gur in pre-Mongol times.
So, we descended to the times of the very first of the most ancient Aryans who settled in Central Asia. Is it possible to look even deeper into the depths of time? Yes, a careful, scientifically based combination of linguistic data with archaeological and ethnographic data makes it possible to do this. But, descending into the depths of history one more step, we will see a different, pre-Indo-European world with its own features of social system and spiritual culture.
In science it is now generally accepted that in the agricultural zone of Central Asia, the predecessors of the Indo-Iranians were peoples of Dravidian origin. One of the first farmers of the Middle Eastern region, they lived in separate communities, centered around a more or less large village, which was also their cult center - a place of veneration of the ancestor of the community, the Mother Goddess. Judging by the fact that the Dravidian languages ​​show a distant relationship with Elamite, which was spoken in ancient times by the autochthonous population of Southwestern Iran, the Dravidian tribes moved to Central Asia from the west, from Iran. The oldest period in the history of these tribes - the common proto-Dravidian - dates back to the 5th - 4th millennium BC. e. All these conditions are well satisfied by the Anau culture of Southern Turkmenistan, the bearers of which, obviously, were the eastern outpost of the most ancient proto-Dravidian tribes.
Around the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. e. the proto-Dravidian tribes are divided into western and eastern (Indian), which suggests their widespread settlement to the east. Indeed, as archaeologists have established, it was at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. monuments of the Geoksyur variant of the Anau culture (Namazga III era) from the Tejen valley extend over vast areas from the Zeravshan valley (Sarazm culture) to Seistan and Baluchistan, and this fact can only be explained by the settlement of the tribes that created such monuments; it is possible that at the same time these tribes reached India through Balochistan. The next major milestone in the history of the proto-Dravidian tribes - their division into two groups already within India around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC - is apparently associated with the beginning of the formation of the Harappan culture, which flourished in the Indus Valley at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, and the collapse of the main of these groups at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. and the first stages of the formation of the modern Dravidian peoples of the Deccan - with the death of the Harappan civilization and the formation of the Chalcolithic cultures of Central India.
Thus, the Dravidian affiliation of the bearers of the agricultural cultures of Central Asia, Seistan and Baluchistan of the 3rd - early 2nd millennium BC. e. is very probable, since the processes attested by linguistic data, on the one hand, and archaeological data, on the other, coincide in place, time and content, and for the Harappan civilization - indisputably. However, it must be taken into account that the peoples who created these cultures bore little resemblance to the modern Dravidians of India and were not their direct ancestors. Therefore, it is preferable to call them Proto-Dravidian. In general, a change of ethnicity does not mean a complete change of population. As the bone remains of people of that time show, the physical type of the population of Central Asia did not change with the change of ethnicity: both before and after that, people of the Mediterranean version of the European race lived here. This means that the Aryan newcomers were few in number and physically they quickly disappeared among the local population. And not only the physical type did not change: ancient traditions in agriculture, pottery, etc. continued, since the Aryan steppe inhabitants could not bring something of their own, special, to these types of activities. But in the field of language, social structure, ideology and ritual, that is, in what defines an ethnic group, the arrival of the Aryans brought fundamental changes.
In the pre-Aryan period of their history, individual proto-Dravidian peoples formed powerful associations, the nature of which is still difficult to judge. This is the country of Aratta, often mentioned in Sumerian legends that took shape around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e., but telling about the events of the beginning of this millennium. They glorified the exploits of the ancient king of the Sumerian city of Uruk, during which various goods were delivered from Aratta to Sumer. There is no agreement among scientists regarding the localization of this country, but the most convincing proposal seems to be that the center of Aratta is an ancient village, from which the huge settlement of Shahri-Sokhte in Seistan remains. If this is so, then, taking into account archaeological materials, it must be admitted that the inhabitants of Aratta, being, apparently, descendants of the Geoksyurs, influenced the northern settlements, including Sarazm, in the beginning and middle of the 3rd millennium BC . e., organizing trading posts for the extraction and delivery of those minerals, which then ended up, in particular, in Sumer.
Another ancient association, the name of which, unfortunately, has not reached us, was concentrated around the centers that left the settlements of Namazga-Depe and Altyp-Depe in Southern Turkmenistan. Its population, direct descendants of the Geoksyurs and their neighbors in the foothills of Kopet-Dag, reached the peak of its development at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. (during the era of Namazga V), forming their own proto-urban civilization, the further development of which, however, suddenly ended.
At the same time, in the east of Central Asia, in the Amu Darya basin, colonies flourished (one of them was located on the site of the Shortugai settlement), founded by people from another powerful association, represented by the already fully formed, highly developed Indus civilization (Harappan culture). Sumerian texts, reporting about the country of Meluhha, brought information about it to us. But this civilization with all its colonies ceases to exist at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e.
The Dravidian population continued to live in Central Asia and the Iranian Plateau even after the arrival of the Aryans. But it was either assimilated by the Indo-Iranians or pushed into the mountains. Even in the Middle Ages, in the mountainous areas, mainly in the south of the Iranian plateau, separate islands of the Dravidian-speaking population remained. To date, all that remains of the Iranian Dravidians is the small Brahui nation in Balochistan, which is gradually assimilated by the Baluchis.
But the Proto-Dravidian peoples were not the only pre-Aryan population of Central Asia. Along with them, there were two more large ethnic groups.
In the western, flat part of Central Asia, then much more humid than now, fishermen and hunters of the Kelypeminar culture (IV - III millennium BC) lived along the shores of lakes and in river deltas. They formed a kind of extreme southern wedge of a vast world of the same fishermen and hunters who lived in the vastness of Western Kazakhstan, the Urals and Trans-Urals. It was they who had the opportunity to enter into direct contacts with the world of ancient farmers of Central Asia, with the creators of the Anau culture.
All this leads to the idea that in such conditions the very ancient linguistic connections of the Finno-Ugric peoples with the Dravidians, long ago noticed by linguists, could have been realized. From here, of course, it does not follow that the Kelteminars were the direct ancestors of the Finno-Ugric peoples - rather, they were only one of the groups of proto-Uralic tribes that turned out to be an intermediary between the group of proto-Uralians that actually gave rise to the Finno-Ugric peoples and lived, most likely, somewhere in Western Siberia, and the proto-Dravidians-Anausians. It is known that Ugric tribes also lived in historical antiquity in the forest-steppes of the Urals and Western Siberia. This explains the amazing connection between peoples who are now vast distances from each other, occupying the extreme north and extreme south of the Asian continent.
Tribes of the very archaic Hissar culture lived in the eastern, mountainous part of Central Asia. Its origins go back thousands of years, and in the last stages of its existence (III - II millennium BC) it directly merges with the agricultural cultures of Sarazm, Sapalli and the steppe cultures of the Late Bronze Age, perhaps partially coexisting with them. At the same time, the Hissars were only part of a whole world of hill tribes in the vast Hindu Kush-Pamir region, including Kashmir in the south; at certain stages of their history, these tribes could also occupy the plains adjacent to the mountains.
The mountain tribes of this region, in all likelihood, represented a separate, ancient Hindu Kush-Pamir ethnic community. It was based on the common life of these tribes - the life of mountain goat hunters, perhaps with the beginnings of cattle breeding. But as they transitioned, under the influence of their neighbors, to productive forms of economy, the area of ​​this community also shrank, and its gradual “Aryanization” took place. This process can be traced using archaeological and, to some extent, written sources: for example, there is reason to believe that even in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Some tribes of the Hindu Kush-Pamir region, under the external appearance of their culture, retained a direct connection with this ancient community. To date, its direct heirs have remained only in the very heart of the region - in the narrow mountain valleys of Hunza and Yassin, in the person of the small Burish people, whose language occupies a completely isolated position among the languages ​​of the world. On the other hand, many mysterious phenomena of very ancient origin in the field of culture and language of different peoples of the Hindu Kush-Pamir region may be substrate traces of the same ethnic community. And not only in this region, some features, in particular in the sphere of rituals, characteristic of the Sapalli-Dashly cultures and, especially, the Yazov cultures, could have the same substrate origin.
So, in the deepest antiquity, from the time when the contours of some ethnic communities already begin to emerge, three ethnic massifs can be distinguished on the territory of the formation of the Tajik people: Hindu Kush - mountain hunters, Proto-Ural - lowland fishermen and hunters, Proto-Dravidian - ancient farmers, step by step mastering the oases. At the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Aryans, warlike cattle breeders who spoke the language of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European family of languages, first penetrated the steppes of Central Asia from the north. Soon, at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, they penetrated into the oases, which led to a noticeable change in the general appearance of the culture of farmers. It is possible that at this time their “Aryanization” occurs for the first time. The same can be said about the ancient Hindu Kushians and Proto-Uralians. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. a new wave of Aryan cattle breeders poured into the steppes of Central Asia, this time actually Iranians in language. By the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. they take possession of the oases, and in the agricultural regions of Central Asia and Eastern Iran, the ethnic community of the Avestan Aryans is formed - in a number of ways, their ancestor is closest to the Tajiks.
In the south and east, the ancient Iranian Aryans actively interacted with the Indian Aryans - first Vedic, then epic, whose history also dates back to the steppes of Central Asia. The settlement of the oases of Central Asia and Eastern Iran by Greek colonists after the campaigns of Alexander the Great (IV century BC) had important consequences. Under their influence, the entire appearance of the culture of the inhabitants of Ariana, the descendants of the Avestan Aryans, was significantly transformed, although the latter did not disappear as an ethnos. In the steppes, at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC, a new community was taking shape - the East Iranian one. The Scythian ones belonging to it tribes, first the Turs, then the Sakas, etc. also entered into active interaction with the Avestan Aryans, becoming their main antagonists throughout the 1st millennium BC By the end of this millennium, the Scythian tribes, among whom the Tocharians played the main role, and later - Hephthalites, finally took possession of the oases, and as a result, a significant part of their population switched to Eastern Iranian languages. But the direct descendants of the Avestan Aryans continued to survive. The final moment in prehistory and at the same time the beginning of the Tajik people’s own history can be considered the spread of the Farsi language in Central Asia and Eastern Iran from the middle I millennium AD and especially intensively in the 7th - 10th centuries.

This article represents the first attempt to paint a holistic picture of the ethnic history of ancient Central Asia and, of course, does not pretend to be either exhaustive or final. We are only at the beginning of the study of many important and interesting problems. The joint efforts of historians, archaeologists, linguists, ethnographers and anthropologists will help resolve them in the future.

Magazine "VOSTOK-ORIENS", Moscow, "Science", 1995, N 6., p. 27.
The Russian Academy of Sciences.
Institute of Oriental Studies.
Africa Institute, 1995

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Traces of human activity on the territory of Western Asia date back to the most ancient archaeological era - the Early Paleolithic. In Syria and Palestine, tools of the Shellian and Angelic types were found; settlements of the Acheulean time were discovered in the caves of Et-Tabun, on Mount Carmel and Umm Qatafa, to the south-east. from Jerusalem.

The next period, the Mousterian era, includes finds in Iraq and Palestine of the bone remains of Neanderthal man. Thus, on Mount Carmel, in the caves of Et-Tabun and Es-Skhul, the remains of twelve skeletons were discovered. Paleolithic tools have also been discovered in Asia Minor and Upper Mesopotamia.

Excavations of the El Wad Cave (Mount Carmel) in one of the layers yielded remains of flint objects and animal bones that were dated to the late Mesolithic. This is the so-called Natufian culture of hunters and fishermen, in whose economy the beginnings of primitive agriculture are already observed.

Neolithic monuments are even more widespread in Western Asia. In addition to Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine, they are found in Asia Minor and Iran. Here we should mention an agricultural settlement near Persepolis (Iran), the settlements of Tell Hassun and Tell Halaf (Syria), etc., which are characterized by the presence in their inventory of beautiful painted dishes in combination with stone tools.

During the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, Western Asian agricultural cultures found their further development. Painted ceramics still occupy a large place in their inventory; a number of objects are made of flint, but many tools are made of metal (copper or bronze) 2.

Very favorable conditions for the development of sedentary life, agriculture and cattle breeding in ancient times developed in Southern Mesopotamia. The oldest settlements appeared here at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. e., in the late Neolithic and Eneolithic eras. The population, which was still at the stage of primitive communal relations, was engaged in hunting and fishing, but gradually moved on to agriculture and cattle breeding. The first domestic animals were domesticated - sheep, goats, and pigs. The population built their villages on islands among swamps, on artificial earthen embankments; By draining the swamps, it created the most ancient system of artificial irrigation. Along with the widespread stone tools, the first copper tools appeared.

Archaic monuments of Southern Mesopotamia dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e., according to the location of the most typical finds, it is customary to divide into three periods that followed one after another: the cultures of El Obeid, Uruka and Jemdet Nasr. During these three periods, the economic and cultural development of the society of Lower Mesopotamia went far ahead. The settlement of the Mesopotamian lowland ended, agriculture achieved significant progress - barley and wheat were mastered, the ox and donkey were tamed, crafts developed, exchanges began with neighboring regions, wheeled and river transport appeared.

The growth of productive forces, division of labor, and accumulation of wealth created the preconditions for the disintegration of the primitive communal system and the emergence of a class slave-owning society. By the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The first slave-holding states arose in Mesopotamia and adjacent areas. Later, due to the same socio-economic processes, class slave-owning societies developed in other regions of Western Asia - Asia Minor, Syria, southern Arabia.

The ancient population of Western Asia was very diverse culturally and linguistically. In the conditions of the eastern slaveholding society, when the tribal associations of the settled population were already largely destroyed, and state borders were highly unstable, ethnic communities were, as a rule, unstable and the boundaries of the distribution of cultural and linguistic characteristics often did not coincide. Linguistic communities were determined primarily by previous tribal settlement, changing as a result of cultural interaction, conquest, forced relocations, etc. As for the less developed tribes of the periphery, who still lived under the conditions of a primitive communal system, for them the main ethnic unit was a tribe or association tribes, characterized by commonality of government, territory and dialect, as well as an endogamous structure and the consciousness of real or imagined consanguinity. Close or related tribes were united by similar features of culture and language.

Solving the problems of ethnogenesis of the modern peoples of Western Asia, based on the ethnic composition of the ancient world, is a very difficult matter. It requires the involvement and integrated use of a variety of materials - anthropological, archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic. When considering the ethnic composition of ancient Western Asia, the linguistic feature is taken as a basis, as it is more clearly distinguishable.

Languageclassification

The linguistic classification of the ancient peoples of Western Asia is complicated by insufficient familiarity with their languages. While some ancient peoples left a large number of written monuments accessible to scientific study, only isolated fragments remained from the languages ​​of other peoples. All that remains of many peoples are their names, often not even self-names, but names given to them by other peoples. All this causes controversy and often makes it impossible to attribute one or another people to a certain linguistic group.

We can speak with sufficient certainty about two large linguistic groups of the ancient world, each of which unites a number of peoples, often very distant from each other both territorially and chronologically - Indo-European and Semitic. However, after distinguishing these two large groups, a significant number of peoples remain, very different not only culturally, but also linguistically and partly anthropologically. The languages ​​of some of these peoples show a known connection with the languages ​​of two or three other peoples, but the existence of this connection is not always convincingly proven and is often denied by one or another researcher. Most of these peoples are the oldest aborigines of various regions of Western Asia.

Long before the beginning of our era, they left the historical arena and lost their language, which was preserved only in written monuments and in borrowings that penetrated into other languages. There were attempts to unite all these peoples into one large group: N. Ya. Marr and his followers mistakenly tried to unite them under the name Japhetic; some other scientists proposed using the purely conventional term “Azianites” for most of these peoples 1 . It is with this group that we will begin our consideration of the ethnic composition of ancient Western Asia.

The most ancient peoples of Western Asia

The formation of the first states in southern Mesopotamia is associated with a people known as the Sumerians, or Sumerians. The same people apparently created the cultures of El Obeid, Uruk and Jemdet Nasr. Sumerian culture was in close interaction with the culture of the Akkadians, a Semitic people in language, established in the middle part of Mesopotamia. The ethnic term “Sumer” is of Akkadian origin; the Sumerians themselves did not have a common self-name. The first Sumerian written monuments date back to the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. They are found in the territory from modern Mosul to the Bahrain Islands. The oldest texts show that Sumerian names were used throughout southern Mesopotamia. By the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. in the northern regions, and by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. and in the southern regions of Mesopotamia, Sumerian names gave way to Semitic ones. By this time, the Sumerian language had disappeared from everyday life, surviving only in worship and science 2 .

The place of the Sumerian language in the linguistic classification has not been established; no significant similarities with any known language have been found.

The portrait sculpture of Southern Mesopotamia that has come down to us suggests the existence of two anthropological types in ancient times. One of them is represented by round-faced brachycephals with wavy hair, large facial features, a straight nose with almost no bridge and a small chin; the second is brachycephalic of the assyroid or armenoid type with a large aquiline or curved nose and lush curly hair on the head and face. The second type is usually identified with the Semitic-speaking peoples; in the first, researchers tend to see the Sumerians.

In the eastern part of the Mesopotamian lowland and further to the east, in the mountains of the western part of the Iranian Plateau, there lived various peoples who, according to some researchers, were related to each other linguistically. The Elamites lived on the territory of modern Khuzistan. The excavations carried out here yielded a wealth of archaeological material; the oldest finds date back to the 4th millennium BC. e. The oldest Elamite pictographic monuments date back to the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. e. From the middle of the 3rd millennium, the Elamites adopted the Akkadian writing system, adapting it to their language. But the Elamite language existed for a long time: some medieval sources say that in Khuzistan, a language incomprehensible to the Persians and Arabs was preserved until the 10th century. n. e.

Next to the Elamites in the Zagros Mountains, on the territory of modern Luristan, lived the Kassites, who in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. played a significant role in the political, and partly also in the cultural history of Mesopotamia. The Kassites are credited with introducing horse breeding into Babylonia, and the finds of Luristan bronze dating back to the second half of the 2nd millennium are also associated with them. A number of features connect the Kassite language with Elamite; at the same time, some of its lexical elements may be Indo-European in nature.

In the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. in the river valley The Diala created an independent state, the Lulubei. Later, they founded a number of principalities south of the lake. Rezaie.

Some researchers consider the Elamites, Kassites and Lulubes to be linguistically related and combine them into one Caspian group of languages. This also includes some peoples (Caspians, Gels, Tapurs), known since the 5th century. ancient authors on the coast of the Caspian Sea. It is possible that the peoples who inhabited the territory of Southern Azerbaijan and western Iran in ancient times - the Kutians, Parsuas, Manneis - also belonged to the same group. Some of these peoples played a more or less significant political role at different times. By the end of the 3rd millennium, the Kutii (Gutei) temporarily took possession of Mesopotamia; the Kassites did the same in the 18th century. BC e.; Mannaeans in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. created their own state south of Urmia (it partially included the state of the Lulubei), opposed to Urartu and Assyria, and at the beginning of the 6th century. BC e." merged with Media.

It is difficult to say anything definite about the physical appearance of all these peoples. Apparently, there were several anthropological types here - tall Caucasian dolichocephalians; with a straight nose, representatives of the brachycephalic Armenoid type, as well as Negroids - a short type with thick lips and nose, similar to the type of the Dravidian peoples of southern India.

To the northwest of the Caspian group of peoples, in the territory of the Armenian-Kurdish Highlands, the eastern part of Asia Minor, Northern Mesopotamia and a large part of Syria, lived various peoples, sometimes united under the name “Alarodian”. The latest researchers 1 believe that the languages ​​of these peoples can be classified as languages ​​of the Caucasian group, however, constituting a special branch within it.

North of Lower Mesopotamia in the III-II millennia BC. e. Hurrian, or Subarean, dialects were widespread (the Subir region among the Sumerians, Subartum among the Akkadians). The speakers of these closely related dialects apparently called themselves Hurri. The oldest texts in the Hurrian language date back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e.; at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. the Hurrian texts disappeared. Some researchers consider the Hurrians to be the original population of Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia and even the Zagros Mountains, others recognize them only as the original population of Northern Mesopotamia and, possibly, Armenia, and their appearance in Syria and east of the Tigris is explained by later migrations. The Neolithic culture of these areas, dating back at least to the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. e., in its general level higher than the culture of Southern Mesopotamia. Only gradually, from the 3rd millennium, did the cultural and political dominance of the more southern regions begin. In the XVI-XIV centuries. In northern Mesopotamia and northern Syria, the powerful Hurrian power of Mitanni began to take shape. After its fall and the settlement of these regions by Aramaic tribes, separate Hurrian principalities remained until the 7th century. BC e. in the mountains of the Armenian Taurus and in the valley of the upper Euphrates. Judging by the images that have reached us, the entire population of northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia belonged to the Armenoid anthropological type.

Starting from the middle of the millennium BC. e. Hittite and Assyrian texts mention small tribal formations, or “kingdoms,” in the Armenian-Kurdish Highlands. In the 9th century. BC e. here arose the rapidly growing state of Urartu with its center near the lake. Wang; from the same time, inscriptions of the Urartian kings appeared. The state of Urartu existed until the 6th century. BC e. The people of Urartu were close in language to the Hurrians. However, it seems unlikely that the territory covered by the state of Urartu was inhabited exclusively by speakers of the Urartian or Hurrian language; Apparently, there were also tribes here who spoke languages ​​much closer to modern Transcaucasian ones - Georgian and Armenian. According to surviving images, the Urartians, like the Hurrians, belonged to the Armenoid type.

Northeastern part of Asia Minor in the 3rd millennium BC. e. was inhabited by a people called the Hutts. The Hutts and the Hutt language disappeared by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The newest researchers 1 classify the Hutt language as belonging to the Hurrian-Urartian group and consider it related to the Caucasian languages. The Hattic language appears to have had a great influence on the later languages ​​of the population of Asia Minor, in particular Hittite.

It is not possible to establish with certainty the ancient ethnic composition of the western part of Asia Minor. Both Greek and eastern sources provide only fragmentary, often contradictory information about the names of the peoples who inhabited it. Consideration of these data in our brief essay could only confuse the already complex picture of the ethnogenesis of the peoples of Western Asia.

Asia is the largest part of the world and, together with Europe, forms the continent of Eurasia. It is conventionally separated from Europe by the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains. Asia is washed to the north by the Arctic Ocean and separated from North America by the Bering Strait. It is washed by the Pacific Ocean in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south. And in the southwest, the borders pass along the seas of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is separated from Africa by the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Due to such a vast territory, Asia is characterized by diversity in nature and climate.

And as a result, the peoples of Asian countries are also diverse, speaking different languages, having their own, sometimes very rare, national ethnic roots, professing different religions. Their formation began a very long time ago. It was in Asia that the world's oldest civilizations arose. On its territory to this day there are rare tribes in which only a few hundred people live.

Half of humanity

The peoples of Asia are the most numerous. Most of them are Chinese, Bengalis, Hindustani and Japanese. That's almost three billion people - half the world's population.

The first settlements, and then the first states, arose in the basins of the Yellow, Tigris, Euphrates, and Indus rivers. Irrigated lands and a favorable climate for life contributed to an increase in population. The peoples of Asia began to settle and populate other territories favorable for life. During the era of the Great Migration, people migrated to the north, south, east, and also to the west - to Europe. The most populated regions today remain South, East and West Asia.

Homeland of religions

Many religions exist on Earth, but Asia is the homeland of the three most famous in the world. These are Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. Christianity emerged in Southwest Asia in the first millennium AD. As it developed, it split into several directions. The most significant are Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. Muslims are adherents of Islam, which originated in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century AD and is now very strong in and in the southwest. The ancient religion of Buddhism originated in South Asia in the sixth century BC, and is currently widespread among the peoples of East and Southeast Asia.

In Asia there are religions that are followed only by the people of certain countries. These are Japanese Shintoism, Indian and Bangladeshi Hinduism, Chinese Confucianism.

Regions of Asia

In general, throughout Asia there are five broad regions: North, South, Central, East and West. The peoples of Asia also received their general names from the names of the territories. There are two dominant tribes. Mongolian lives in northern and eastern Asia, and Central Asian lives in western and southern Asia. The southeast is mostly inhabited by Malays and Dravidians. These tribes are in second place in number. Linguistically, the peoples of Asia are represented by Hyperboreans and High Asians. Hyperboreans are the inhabitants of the Far North: Koryaks, Chukchi, Chuvash, Yukaghirs, residents of the Kuril Islands, Kotts and Ostyaks living on the Yenisei. For the most part, they are all still pagans or accept Russian Orthodoxy.

Mongolian language group

The High Asian language group is divided, in turn, into subgroups of polysyllabic and monosyllabic languages. In the first subgroup are the Urals and Altaians. Altaians are Mongols, Tungus and Turks. The Mongols are divided into Buryats and Kalmyks in the western part and the Mongols proper in the eastern part.

The development of the language, literature and culture of the Mongols and Kalmyks occurred under the influence of Buddhists from India. Among the Tungus, Chinese influence was and remains very strong. The peoples of the Turkic linguistic subgroup fall into four more. The first is with its center in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, which got its name - “Yakuts” - from the name of the city.

Eastern Turks

The second is the Eastern Turks, the peoples of Central Asia, speaking the ancient Zhgatai and Yugur languages. The territory of modern Central Asia is inhabited by Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Tajiks and Uzbeks. Modern research shows that here, as in China, the formation of world civilization took place. And at the same time, a century ago these peoples lived in feudal-patriarchal states. And medieval customs and traditions, reverence for elders, isolation in one’s own national groups, and wariness of strangers are still strong here. Traditional clothing, housing, and the entire way of life have been preserved. The hot climate and arid climatic conditions contributed to the development of endurance among the peoples of these countries, adaptability to extreme situations and, at the same time, restraint in emotions and feelings, and reduced socio-political activity. The peoples of Central Asia have very strong tribal and - especially - religious ties. Islam was harshly enforced in Central Asian countries. Its rooting was facilitated by the simplicity of its doctrine and the simplicity of its rituals. Despite the relatively large psychological similarities, the peoples of Central Asia are largely original. Thus, the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, like the Mongols, from ancient times were engaged in breeding sheep and horses, led a nomadic lifestyle, and lived for a long time away from people. Hence their restraint in communication and love for animals. Since ancient times, the Uzbek people have been engaged in trade and agriculture. Therefore, they are a sociable, enterprising people with a caring attitude towards the land and its riches.

Arab-Persian subgroup

The Ural Tatars, residents of Kazan and Astrakhan, and their fellow tribesmen in the North Caucasus constitute the third Turkic subgroup, and the Turks and Ottomans constitute the fourth, southwestern branch of the Turkic tribe. The peoples of the fourth linguistic subgroup developed under Arab and Persian influence. These are the descendants of the Kangls who lived off the coast and founded the Seljuk empire. The empire collapsed under the pressure of the Mongols, and the peoples were forced to move to Armenia, then the Ottoman Turkish Empire was founded under Ottoman. Since the ancient Ottomans led either a completely sedentary or nomadic lifestyle, now they are a mixture of different racial types, which show kinship with other Turkic peoples. The Persian and Transcaucasian Turks of Seljuk origin are very mixed because their numbers were reduced by continuous wars, and they were forced to mix with the Slavs, Greeks, Arabs, Kurds and Ethiopians. Despite all the ethnic heterogeneity, the peoples of the southwestern Turkic branch are united by a strong Muslim religion and culture, which also SUFFERED Byzantine and Arab influence. The Turks and Ottomans are respectable people, serious, not fussy, not talkative, not intrusive. The villagers are hardworking and resilient, and very hospitable. City dwellers love idleness, the pleasures of life and at the same time are fanatically religious.

Monosyllabic language group

The second largest subgroup of the Mongolian language group is the numerous Tibetan, ancient Himalayan Burma, Siam, as well as the primitive peoples of South Asia that remain to this day. They form a monosyllabic language group.

The development of the peoples in Tibet, Burma and Siam took place under the influence of the ancient culture of India and Buddhism. But the few peoples of East Asia have experienced and are experiencing the strongest influence of China.

People of the Celestial Empire

The Chinese are the oldest people in the world. Ethnogenesis lasted several thousand years. There are three teachings in religion - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The cult of ancestors is still alive among many peoples, permeating all beliefs in China.

Hereditary villagers - Achans, who grow different varieties of rice, live in the provinces of Yunnan, Jingpo, and Dachang. The Hsieh swords of the Achan people are very popular in China. Farmers of the Bai ethnicity live on the Yunnan-Guizhui Plateau. People of this nationality have a rich history and ancient culture. On the banks of the Huankhe River, people of the smallest people in China, the Baoan, engage in agriculture and cattle breeding. The Bui people number more than two million and live in the region where Huangguoshu Falls is located. Tea and cotton are grown by farmers of the Bulan ethnicity. Daurs live on the banks of the Nenjang River. For twenty centuries, bamboo plantations in Yunnan and Lingchang provinces have been cultivating denggi. And the Dong settlements are surrounded by fir forests in the Jenyuan, Jinping and Tianzhong regions.

Samurai

The Japanese people and their emergence are viewed from three perspectives. The first is the Japanese in a racial sense as an ethnic group and nationality. It is generally accepted that modern Japanese are descendants of their ancestors - the ancient peoples of Southeast Asia. Beginning in the third century BC, as a result of the mixing of the Mongoloids of China, Korea and Manchuria, a racial type arose as the foundation of the ethnic Japanese. And under the very term “political Japanese” in the nineteenth century several ethnic groups of the Japanese archipelago were united. And as a nation, the Japanese appeared with the emergence of Japan as a state.

The graphic system of the Japanese language consists of hiragana and another four thousand Chinese characters. The language belongs to the Tungus-Altaic group and is considered isolated. Modern Japanese culture is noo opera, kabuki theaters and puppet bunkaru, Japanese poetry and painting, origami, ikebana, tea ceremony, Japanese cuisine, samurai, martial arts.