| Dahae Daae | |
|---|---|
| People | |
 | |
| Location | present-day west and northwest Turkmenistan, far southwest Kazakhstan and far west Uzbekistan (most of theUstyurt Plateau) |
| Branches | Parni,Xanthii andPissuri |
TheDahae, also known as theDaae,Dahas orDahaeans (Old Persian:𐎭𐏃𐎠,romanized: Dahā;Ancient Greek:Δαοι,romanized: Daoi;Δααι,Daai;Δαι,Dai;Δασαι,Dasai;Latin:Dahae;Chinese:大益;pinyin:Dàyì;[1]Persian:داهانDāhān) were anancient Eastern Iraniannomadictribalconfederation, who inhabited thesteppes ofCentral Asia.[2]
The Dahae may have been theDāha- (𐬛𐬁𐬵𐬀) orDåŋha- (𐬛𐬂𐬢𐬵𐬀) people mentioned in theFrawardin Yasht as one of the five peoples following theZoroastrian religion, along with theAⁱriia- (𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀),Tūⁱriia- (𐬙𐬏𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀),Saⁱrima- (𐬯𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬨𐬀), andSāinu- (𐬯𐬁𐬌𐬥𐬎), although this identification is uncertain.[3]
The IranologistJános Harmatta has identified the Dahā with theMassagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā based on ancient Graeco-Roman authors' mention of theSakā tigraxaudā as living between theAmu Darya andSyr Darya rivers, whereArrian also located the Massagetae and the Dahae.[4] The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that theDahā were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae.[5]
The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.[6]
The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht, who has also identified the Massagetae with theSakā tigraxaudā,[7] however considers theDahā as being a separate group from the Saka to which the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā belonged.[8]
The Dahae initially lived in the north-eastern part of thePersianAchaemenid Empire, in the arid steppes of theKarakum Desert nearMargiana, alongside theSaka groups and theSogdians andChorasmians,[3] and immediately to the north ofHyrcania.[9]
During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of theParni, had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of theCaspian Sea, in the lands to the north ofHyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east till the regions to the north of Areia.[3]
The name of the Dahae, attested in theOld Persian formDahā, is derived from aSaka language name meaning "man", based on the common practice among various peoples of calling themselves "man" in their own languages. This term is attested in the Khotanese formdaha.[3] The Dahae were a nomadic people, and no known sedentary settlement can be attributed to them.[10]
A splinterDahā might possibly have migrated at an early date across theIranian plateau and joined thePersian people who lived in its southwestern part, with the Greek historianHerodotus later referring to theDaoi as one of the nomadic Persian tribes, along with theMardians, Dropicans, andSagartians, although this identification is uncertain.[3]
TheDahā were in control of the traffic betweenChorasmia in the north andParthia andHyrcania in the south.[3]
According to the Babylonian historianBerossus, the founder of the PersianAchaemenid Empire,Cyrus, died fighting against the Dahae.[11] According to the IranologistMuhammad Dandamayev, Berossus identified the Dahae rather than the Massagetae as Cyrus's killers because they had replaced the Massagetae as the most famous nomadic tribe of Central Asia long before Berossus's time,[12][11] although some scholars identified the Dahae as being identical with the Massagetae or as one of their sub-groups.[4][5][6]
The oldest certain recorded mention of theDahā is in theDaiva Inscription of the Achaemenid kingXerxes I along with theSakā Haumavargā and theSakā tigraxaudā.[3]
TheDahā fought within the left wing of the Achaemenid army along with the Bactrians and the Saka againstAlexander the Great atGaugamela in 331 BCE.[3]
The Dahae may have invaded Margiana andAreia around 300 BCE, and during this invasion they destroyed the towns of Alexandreia and Heracleia located in these respective two countries.[3]
During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of theParni, had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of theCaspian Sea, in the lands to the north of Hyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east, in the regions to the north of Areia.[3]
During the middle of the 3rd century, the Parni moved intoHyrcania, where they lived along the Ochus river. Their leader,Arsaces, would found theParthian Empire.[3]
During the 2nd century BCE, both the Dahae (大益Dayi) who still lived in the steppes and the Parthian Empire (安息Anxi), as well as the Chorasmians (驩潛Huanqian), and Sogdians (蘇薤Suxie) sent embassies to theEmperor Wu of theHan dynasty which was rulingChina.[1]
The lands to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahae had settled in the 3rd century BCE became known asDehestān (دَهستان) andDahistān (داهستان) after them.[3]
Our knowledge of the making of the Parthian state and of its chronology is full of gaps. We know that it was started by the nomadic tribe of Parni (or Aparni), belonging to the Dahae group of Iranian peoples.
The middle of the third century b.c. saw the rise to power of a group of tribes consisting of the Parni (Aparni) and the Dahae, descendants of the Massagetae of the Aral Sea region.
Apparently the Dahai represented an entity not identical with the other better known groups of the Sakai, i.e. the Sakai (Sakā) Tigrakhaudā (Massagetai, roaming in Turkmenistan), and Sakai (Sakā) Haumavargā (in Transoxania and beyond the Syr Daryā).
The Dahas of Xerxes' 'Daiva' inscription (XPh) are perhaps to be situated to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahas mentioned by more recent writers are later to be found
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See alsoTaxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire(according toHerodotus) | ||
Provinces of theSasanian Empire | ||
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* indicates short living provinces | ||
