Yuezhi

The Yuezhi (Chinese月氏or rare月 支, Pinyin Yuezhi [ y̆ɛ51 d̥ʐ̥ɻ5 ]; Yueshi wrong sometimes, Rouzhi etc.; Chinese also Guishang, Guci are possibly classified as Scythian ) were an Indo-European or Indo-Germanic tribal group in the area we now Chinese province of Gansu to the Tarim Basin. There they lived in the 5th century BC It is a still further to be occupied thesis that they were identical with the Iranian tribe of Massagetae or otherwise were part of the Massagetae Confederacy. The linguist J. Derakhshani also brings them to the Guci or later Kuchi of Afghanistan in conjunction.

History

The Yuezhi were subjected to 176 BC by the Xiongnu under Mao Tun, rebelled, were again defeated by Mao doing son Ki-ok/Laosheng and moved westward from 160 BC.

Around 141-129 BC the Yuezhi occupied under an unknown prince Bactria, where they founded a new kingdom. The state was divided into five soon known by name clan lords and integrated be both diverse groups of nomads and sedentary. The junior partner of the Yuezhi were doing the Kangju in Sogdiana, as well as a certain part of the Scythian Sacae. War against the Parthians, with eg their king Artabanus I. in the campaign to Bactria in 123 BC, was killed, were added.

From about 90 BC, the clan of the Kushan Empire sat in Yuezhi (Ch Guishuang ) by which (around 30-80 ) in the early first century, took over under Kujula Kadphises the rule. Kujula Kadphises brought his power by many coinages to express the chronicle of the young Han Dynasty Hou Hanshu handed his success under the name Qiu Jiuque. The Kushan solved until the middle of the 1st century from a sequence Indo- Greek, Indo- Parthian rulers and sakischer in Gandhara. In the late 1st century they gave out gold coins, a sign of wealth and extensive trade.

The most important ruler of the Kushan Empire was Kanishka (c. 100-125; datings vary due to different calendars). He is said to have wrestled with the Han China the generals Ban Chao and his succession to the control of the Tarim Basin and was a great patron of Buddhism (fourth Buddhist council ).

Under the Sassanids Ardashir I took over 240 against the western part of the Kushan Empire; then a call for help China; the East remained independent. The final flowering of the Kushan empire ended in the early 4th century. After the disintegration of the empire their remnants were absorbed in the 4th and 5th centuries of the pursuing " Hun " groups of Chioniten and Hephthalites. The question is open as to whether or to what extent the king Kidara, founder of Kidariten Dynasty, the remains of the Yuezhi led. In more recent research is rather assumed that Kidara leader " Hun " invaders was.

More

In the literature, the Yuezhi are also referred to as a ( real ) Tocharians.

In ancient Chinese writings, the term Da Yuezhi - emerged in the context of living in Central Asia peoples Dayuan ( Ferghana Valley ) and Daxia ( Bactria ) on. Maybe you will find the word in today's Tajik again.