Intro 310 Asian Humanities Tues. August 30 Nomads and Warriors.

Intro

310 Asian Humanities310 Asian Humanities

Tues. August 30 Tues. August 30 Nomads and WarriorsNomads and Warriors

Kushans who were

Kushan EmpireKushan EmpireWho were the Kushans? Time period?

What was their point of origin? Expansion?

What were their characteristics?

What is their importance to thestudy of early Asian history and trade?

Kushans answers

Kushan EmpireKushan EmpireWho were the Kushans?

Time period?1st - 3nd cen.

What was their point of origin? Expansion?Northern Steppes of China -- driven Further West.

What were their characteristics? -- nomads, warriors, expansionistic.Eventually unified under one ruler.

Accommodated a variety of different religions Acquisitive of luxury goods and ideas: gold coins, religions, Greek alphabet/ script. Employed their own language (Bactrian)

Kushans supplies

Kushan OriginsKushan OriginsWho were the Kushans?

Origins: Yuezhi - nomadic tribes in Northern Steppes

Supplied the Chinese with horses

Xinjiang province

Chariot and horses,Qin dynasty, 200 BC

Kushans supplies2

Kushan OriginsKushan Origins

Supplied the Chinese with horses … and jade

Xinjiang province

Jade burial suit, Han dynasty, 200 BCE-200 CE

Silk roap map1

Map #1Map #1

By 1st c. BCE, driven West by competing nomads

Silk roap map2

Map #2Map #2

Kushans2

Kushan artKushan artImportance? -- As a cross-roads culture

Birth of Buddha

Development of The Gandahara sculptural style

Kushans2

Kushan artKushan artImportance: -- As a cross-roads culture

Maya’s dream - from the current Asia Society exhibit (on blog)

Kushan coins

Kushan coinageKushan coinageImportance? -- a culture that adopted and adapted other cultural

forms; silk route champion.

-- accommodated and embraced multiple religions, ideas. Possibly aiding

spread of Buddhism to

China

Image of Kanishka

Shiva, obverse side

Greek Helios, obverse

Kushans who were

Kushan EmpireKushan Empire

Significance:

Kushans give us an example of:

* interaction between nomadic andsedentary groups.

* the transition from nomadicto sedentary lifestyle.

* Cultural exchanges of the1st – 2nd century in the silk road region.

The Bactrian Hoard: Material Remains as Cultural Heritage

Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19X1s9AOSWY&playnext=1&list=PLDA04D47BC85C8108

The (unfolding) Story of the Bactrian Hoard

Late 1978 - Russian archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi discovers the collection.

1979 - Soviets invade and occupy Afghanistan.

1989 - Soviets withdraw, defeated by US trained mujahidin forces, who subsequently battle for control of the country.

1996 - Taliban comes into power, begin stringent Islamic rule, destroying non-Islamic artwork, including the Bamiyan Buddhas (2001).

2001 - Attempts to find the hoard and blow open the palace vaults fail as theTaliban retreats and Americans move in.

2006 - President Karzai announces the hoard’s recovery. An international team present as the safes are opened.

2008 - Afghanistan initiates an extensive overseas showing of the 2011 collection -- France, Italy, Amsterdam USA, UK, Germany -- though

Afghanistan itself cannot display it.

Destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas

1997, Bamiyan Buddha 2001, post-destruction 2009, reconstruction attempts

Bactrian Hoard Recovery

Breaking into the safes, April 200420,600 gold items were part of the hoard,Including 2,000 coins from the Kushan

empire

Bactrian Hoard collection

Aphrodite brooch with Greek, India, and Asian influences

Bactrian Hoard collection

Gold pendant inlaid with jewels

A folding, portable crown from Tillya Tepe

The Bactrian Hoard collection

Bactrian Hoard collection

Bactrian Hoard -- Kushan coins

Kanishka, Iranian god of fire Athso

Nana, Iranian healing goddess

Controversy in Exhibition: Secrets of the Silk Road (on the blog)

• From China, mounted at Penn Museum early 2011.

• Focused on burial site and mummies found in Western China.

• Located in Tarim Basin, skirting the Taklamakan desert (Xinjiang, Western China).

• Controversy: DNA indicates Caucasoid features. Garments also suggested origins from outside the region.

• Would it fuel arguments of minority separatist groups, notably China’s Uighur peoples?

Coming up: Ancient Maritime Connection

Th/Sept. 1: view an on-line exhibit noted on the blog; what do you learn? How do you rate it?

***Reading response/blog entry #1. due: 10 a.m. Sept. 1 ***

Log onto the blog and 1) introduce yourself; 2) comment on an aspect that you find most compelling from the readings from the first 2 weeks (2-3 paragraphs).

End

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19X1s9AOSWY&playnext=1&list=PLDA04D47BC85C8108