Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors

362 Pages·2015·14.36 MB·English

by  Reuven Amitai

Nomads as Agents of
Cultural Change
The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors
edited by
reuven amitai
michal biran
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N A C C
OMADS AS GENTS OF ULTURAL HANGE
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Perspectives on the Global Past
Jerry H. Bentley and Anand A. Yang
SERIES EDITORS
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Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: Th e Mongols and Th eir Eurasian Predecessors
Edited by Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran
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Nomads as Agents
of Cultural Change
The Mongols and Their
Eurasian Predecessors
Edited by Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
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© 2015 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 1 7 16 15 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Nomads as agents of cultural change : the Mongols and their Eurasian pred e ces sors /
edited by Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran.
pages cm — (Perspectives on the global past)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0 -8 248- 3978- 9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Mongols—H istory.
2. Nomads— Eurasia—History. 3. Eurasia— History. I. Amitai, Reuven,
editor of compilation. II. Biran, Michal, editor of compilation. III. Series:
Perspectives on the global past.
DS19. N653 2015
305.9'06918095—dc23
2014012570
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-f ree
paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Council on Library Resources.
Composition by Westchester Publishing Services.
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc.
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Notes on Dates and Transliterations ix
1 Introduction: Nomadic Culture
Michal Biran 1
2 Steppe Land Interactions and Th eir Eff ects on Chinese Cultures
during the Second and Early First Millennia BCE
Gideon Shelach-Lavi 10
3 Th e Scythians and Th eir Neighbors
Anatoly M. Khazanov 32
4 From Steppe Roads to Silk Roads: Inner Asian Nomads
and Early Interregional Exchange
William Honeychurch 50
5 Th e Use of Sociopo litic al Terminology for Nomads:
An Excursion into the Term Buluo in Tang China
İsenbike Togan 88
6 Population Movements in Mongol Eurasia
Th omas T. Allsen 119
7 Th e Mongols and Nomadic Identity: Th e Case
of the Kitans in China
Michal Biran 152
8 Persian Notables and the Families Who Underpinned
the Ilkhanate
George Lane 182
9 Th e Mongol Empire and Its Impact on the Arts of China
Morris Rossabi 214
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10 Th e Impact of the Mongols on the History of Syria:
Politics, Society, and Culture
Reuven Amitai 228
11 Th e Tatar Factor in the Formation of Muscovy’s
Pol itic al Culture
István Vásáry 252
12 Mongol Historiography since 1985: Th e Rise
of Cultural History
David Morgan 271
Bibliography 283
Contributors 331
Index 335
vi Contents
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Acknowledgments
Th e present volume has benefi ted enormously from the support of the In-
stitute of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which
hosted the 2006 conference on Eurasian nomads that underpins this vol-
ume and provided a variety of technical and fi nancial assistance to us in its
preparation. We are also grateful to the Israel Science Foundation for help-
ing to fund the conference and for providing us with signifi cant support for
our work over the past few years, including the writing of our chapters and
other tasks involved in editing the volume.
Our colleague Professor Gideon Shelach- Lavi has been a key collabo-
rator throughout and helped us with the editing of certain chapters, for which
we are very grateful. It is a pleasant task to express our appreciation and thanks
to Dr. Leigh Chipman and Mr. Avi Aronsky, who assisted with language
editing, and to our students Or Amir, Ishayah Landa, and Yang Qiao, who
helped with technical matters, not least in preparing the bibliography. We are
grateful to all of our contributors for their goodwill, forbearance, and coop-
eration throughout the preparation of this volume.
vii
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Notes on Dates and Transliterations
1. Dates are generally given according to the Gregorian calendar. Hijrī and
Chinese dates are given only when they have a special relevance in a par-
ticu lar article. When both hijrī and Gregorian dates are given, the hijrī
comes fi rst, followed by a slash and the Gregorian date. In Persian books,
occasionally the shamsī year is given: if so, this is marked before the Gre-
gorian date, and followed by the abbreviation S. and a slash.
2. Chinese names and terms have been transliterated according to the Pin-
yin system.
3. Arabic words, titles, and names have been transliterated according to the
system used in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Words
and names of Persian origin have usually been transliterated as if they
were Arabic (e.g., Juwaynī, not Juvaynī; nāmah, not nāme). Common
words and place-names, such as sultan, mamluk, Bukhara, Baghdad, are
written without diacritical points. Well-k nown place-names are given in
their accepted En glish forms (e.g., Jerusalem, Damascus).
4. Russ ian has been transliterated according to the system of the Library of
Congress.
5. Names and terms of Mongolian origin have been transliterated according
to Antoine Mostaert’s scheme as modifi ed by F. W. Cleaves, except for
these deviations: č is rendered as ch; š as sh; γ as gh; and ǰ as j.
ix
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