Saka

Saka, Śaka, Shaka or Saca (Persian: old Sakā, mod. ‫;ﺳﺎﮐﺎ‬

Sanskrit: शक, Śaka; Ancient Greek: Σάκαι, Sákai; Latin: Sacae;
Chinese: 塞, old *Sək, mod. Sāi) were a group of nomadic Iranian
peoples who historically inhabited the northern and eastern
Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin.[1][2]

Though closely related, the Sakas are to be distinguished from

the Scythians of the Pontic Steppe and the Massagetae of the
Aral Sea region,[2][3] although they form part of the wider
concepts of "Scytho-Siberian" or "Scythic" culture. Like the
Scythians, the Sakas were derived from the earlier Andronovo Scythia and Parthia in about 170 BC (before the
and Karasuk cultures. Their language formed part of the Scythian Yuezhi invaded Bactria).
languages. Prominent archaeological remains of the Sakas
include the Pazyryk burials, the Issyk kurgan, artifacts of the
Ordos culture and possibly Tillya Tepe. It has been suggested that the ruling elite of the Xiongnu was of Saka origin.[4]

In the 2nd century BC, many Sakas were driven by the Yuezhi from the steppe into Sogdia and Bactria and then to the northwest
of the Indian subcontinent, where they were known as the Indo-Scythians. Other Sakas invaded the Parthian Empire, eventually
settling in Sistan, while others may have migrated to the Dian Kingdom in Yunnan, China. In the Tarim Basin and Taklamakan
Desert region of Northwest China, they settled in Khotan, Yarkand, Kashgar and other places, which were at various times
vassals to greater powers, such as Han China and Tang China.[5]

Contents
Usage of name
History
Origins
Early history
Migrations
Indo-Scythians
Kingdoms in the Tarim Basin
Kingdom of Khotan
Shule Kingdom

Language
Culture
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links
Usage of name
Modern debate about the identity of the "Saka" is partly from ambiguous usage
of the word by ancient, non-Saka authorities. According to Herodotus, the
Persians gave the name "Saka" to all Scythians.[6] However, Pliny the Elder
(Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23–79) claims that the Persians gave the name
Sakai only to the Scythian tribes "nearest to them".[7] The Scythians to the far
north of Assyria were also called the Saka suni (Saka or Scythian sons) by the
Persians. The Neo-Assyrian Empire of the time of Esarhaddon record
campaigning against a people they called in the Akkadian the Ashkuza or
Ishhuza.[8] However, modern scholarly consensus is that the Eastern Iranian
Gold artifacts of the Saka in Bactria,
language ancestral to the Pamir languages in North India and the medieval Saka
at the site of Tillya Tepe, northern
language of Xinjiang, was one of the Scythian languages.[9]
Afghanistan.

Another people, the Gimirrai,[8] who were known to the ancient Greeks as the
Cimmerians, were closely associated with the Sakas. In Biblical Hebrew, the
Ashkuz (Ashkenaz) are considered to be a direct offshoot from the Gimirri (Gomer).[10]

The Saka were regarded by the Babylonians as synonymous with the Gimirrai; both
names are used on the trilingual Behistun Inscription, carved in 515 BC on the order of
Darius the Great.[12] (These people were reported to be mainly interested in settling in the
kingdom of Urartu, later part of Armenia, and Shacusen in Uti Province derives its name
from them.[13]) The Behistun Inscription initially only gave one entry for Saka, they were
however further differentiated later into three groups:[14][15][16]

the Sakā tigraxaudā – "Saka with pointy hats/caps",

the Sakā haumavargā – interpreted as "haoma-drinking saka" but there are
other suggestions,[14][17][18]
the Sakā paradraya – "Saka beyond the sea", a name added after Darius'
campaign into Western Scythia north of the Danube.[14]
An additional term is found in two inscriptions elsewhere:[19]

the Sakā para Sugdam – "Saka beyond Sugda (Sogdia)", a term was used by
Darius for the people who formed the limits of his empire at the opposite end
to Kush (the Ethiopians), therefore should be located at the eastern edge of
his empire.[14][20]
The Sakā paradraya refers to the western Scythians (European Scythians) or Sarmatians.
Both the Sakā tigraxaudā and Sakā haumavargā are thought to be located in Central Asia
east of the Caspian Sea.[14]

Sakā haumavargā is considered to be the same as Amyrgians, the Saka tribe in closest
proximity to Bactria and Sogdia. It has been suggested that the Sakā haumavargā may be A cataphract-style parade
armour of a Saka royal, also
the Sakā para Sugdam, therefore Sakā haumavargā is argued by some to be located
known as "The Golden
further east than the Sakā tigraxaudā, perhaps at the Pamir Mountains or Xinjiang,
Warrior", from the Issyk
although Syr Darya is considered to be their more likely location given that the name says kurgan, a historical burial
"beyond Sogdia" rather than Bactria.[14] site near ex-capital city of
Almaty, Kazakhstan. Circa
In the modern era, the archaeologist Hugo Winckler (1863–1913) was the first to associate 400-200 BC.[11]
the Sakas with the Scyths. John Manuel Cook, in The Cambridge History of Iran, states:
"The Persians gave the single name Sakā both to the nomads whom they encountered
between the Hungry Steppe (Mirzacho'l) and the Caspian, and equally to those north of the Danube and Black Sea against whom
Darius later campaigned; and the Greeks and Assyrians called all those who were known to them by the name Skuthai (Iškuzai).
Sakā and Skuthai evidently constituted a generic name for the nomads on the northern frontiers."[14] Persian sources often treat
them as a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas), but Greek and Latin texts suggest that the Scythians were composed of
many sub-groups.[21][22] Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranian peoples who inhabited the northern and
eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin.[1][23][2]

History

Origins
The Sakas a group of Iranian peoples who spoke a language belonging to the
Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. René Grousset wrote that they
formed a particular branch of the "Scytho-Sarmatian family" originating from
nomadic Iranian peoples of the northwestern steppe in Eurasia.[24] Like the
Artifacts found the tombs 2 and 4 of Scythians of the Pontic Steppe, with whom they were related, the Saka were
Tillya Tepe and reconstitution of their
racially Europoid and traced their origin to the Andronovo culture and the
use on the man and woman found in
Karasuk culture.[25][26] The Pazyryk burials of the Pazyryk culture in the Ukok
these tombs
Plateau in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC are thought to be of Saka
chieftains.[27][28][29] These burials show striking similarities with the earlier
Tarim mummies at Gumugou.[28] The Issyk kurgan of south-eastern Kazakhstan,[29] and the Ordos culture of the Ordos Plateau
as also been connected with the Saka.[30] It has been suggested that the ruling elite of the Xiongnu was of Saka origin.[4]

Early history
They are known to the ancient Greeks as Scythians and are attested in historical and archaeological records dating to around the
8th century BC.[32] In the Achaemenid-era Old Persian inscriptions found at Persepolis, dated to the reign of Darius I (r. 522-486
BC), the Saka are said to have lived just beyond the borders of Sogdia.[33] Likewise an inscription dated to the reign of Xerxes I
(r. 486-465 BC) has them coupled with the Dahae people of Central Asia.[33] The contemporary Greek historian Herodotus noted
that the Achaemenid Empire called all of Scythians as "Saka".[33]

Greek historians wrote of the wars between the Saka and the Medes, as well as their wars against Cyrus the Great of the Persian
Achaemenid Empire where Saka women were said to fight alongside their men.[23] According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great
confronted the Massagetae, a people related to the Saka,[34] while campaigning to the east of the Caspian Sea and was killed in
the battle in 530 BC.[35] Darius I also waged wars against the eastern Sakas, who fought him with three armies led by three kings
according to Polyaenus.[36] In 520–519 BC, Darius I defeated the Sakā tigraxaudā tribe and captured their king Skunkha
(depicted as wearing a pointed hat in Behistun).[1] The territories of Saka were absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire as part of
Chorasmia that included much of the Amu Darya (Oxus) and the Syr Darya (Jaxartes),[37] and the Saka then supplied the
Achaemenid army with large number of mounted bowmen.[16] They were also mentioned as among those who resisted Alexander
the Great's incursions into Central Asia.[23]

The Saka were known as the Sak or Sai (Chinese: 塞) in ancient Chinese records.[38][39][40] These records indicate that they
originally inhabited the Ili and Chu River valleys of modern Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In the Book of Han, the area was called
the "land of the Sak", i.e. the Saka.[41] The exact date of the Sakas' arrival in the valleys of the Ili and Chu in Central Asia is
unclear, perhaps it was just before the reign of Darius I.[41] Around 30 Saka tombs in the form of kurgans (burial mounds) have
also been found in the Tian Shan area dated to between 550–250 BC. Indications of Saka presence have also been found in the
Tarim Basin region, possibly as early as the 7th century BC.[32] At least by the late 2nd century BC, the Sakas had founded states
in the Tarim Barin.[5]
Migrations
The Saka were pushed out of the Illi and Chu River
valleys by the Yuezhi[42][43][44]. An account of the
movement of these people is given in Sima Qian's
Records of the Grand Historian. The Yuehzhi, who
originally lived between Tängri Tagh (Tian Shan) and
Dunhuang of Gansu, China,[45] were assaulted and
forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the
forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu, who
conquered the area in 177-176
BCE.[46][47][48][49][50][51] In turn the Yuehzhi were
responsible for attacking and pushing the Sai (i.e. Saka)
west into Sogdiana, where, between 140 and 130 BCE,
the latter crossed the Syr Darya into Bactria. The Saka
also moved southwards toward the Pamirs and northern
India, where they settled in Kashmir, and eastward, to
settle in some of the oasis-states of Tarim Basin sites,
like Yanqi ( 焉 耆 , Karasahr) and Qiuci ( 龜 茲 ,
Kucha).[52][53] The Yuehzhi, themselves under attacks For the Achaemenids, there were three types of Scythians:
from another nomadic tribe, the Wusun, in 133-132 the Sakā tayai paradraya ("beyond the sea", presumably
BCE, moved, again, from the Illi and Chu valleys, and between the Greeks and the Thracians on the Western side
occupied the country of Daxia, ( 大 夏 , of the Black Sea), the Sakā tigraxaudā (“with pointed
caps”), the Sakā haumavargā ("Hauma drinkers", furthest
"Bactria").[41][54]
East). Soldiers of the Achaemenid army, Xerxes I tomb
The ancient Greco-Roman geographer Strabo noted that detail, circa 480 BCE.[31]

the four tribes that took down the Bactrians in the

Greek and Roman account – the Asioi, Pasianoi,
Tokharoi and Sakaraulai – came from land north of the Syr Darya where the Ili and Chu valleys are located.[24][41] Identification
of these four tribes varies, but Sakaraulai may indicate an ancient Saka tribe, the Tokharoi is possibly the Yuezhi, and while the
Asioi had been proposed to be groups such as the Wusun or Alans.[24][55]

Grousset wrote of the migration of the Saka: "the Saka, under pressure from the Yueh-chih [Yuezhi], overran Sogdiana and then
Bactria, there taking the place of the Greeks." Then, "Thrust back in the south by the Yueh-chih," the Saka occupied "the Saka
country, Sakastana, whence the modern Persian Seistan."[24] Some of the Saka fleeing the Yuezhi attacked the Parthian Empire,
where they defeated and killed the kings Phraates II and Artabanus.[42] These Sakas were eventually settled by Mithridates II in
what become known as Sakastan.[42] According to Harold Walter Bailey, the territory of Drangiana (now in Afghanistan and
Pakistan) became known as "Land of the Sakas", and was called Sakastāna in the Persian language of contemporary Iran, in
Armenian as Sakastan, with similar equivalents in Pahlavi, Greek, Sogdian, Syriac, Arabic, and the Middle Persian tongue used
in Turfan, Xinjiang, China.[33] This is attested in a contemporary Kharosthi inscription found on the Mathura lion capital
belonging to the Saka kingdom of the Indo-Scythians (200 BC - 400 AD) in North India,[33] roughly the same time the Chinese
record that the Saka had invaded and settled the country of Jibin 罽賓 (i.e. Kashmir, of modern-day India and Pakistan).[56]

Iaroslav Lebedynsky and Victor H. Mair speculate that some Sakas may also have migrated to the area of Yunnan in southern
China following their expulsion by the Yuezhi. Excavations of the prehistoric art of the Dian Kingdom of Yunnan have revealed
hunting scenes of Caucasoid horsemen in Central Asian clothing.[57] The scenes depicted on these drums sometimes represent
these horsemen practicing hunting. Animal scenes of felines attacking oxen are also at times reminiscent of Scythian art both in
theme and in composition.[58]
 Migrations of the 2nd and 1st century BC have left traces in
Sogdia and Bactria, but they cannot firmly be attributed to the
Saka, similarly with the sites of Sirkap and Taxila in ancient
India. The rich graves at Tillya Tepe in Afghanistan are seen
as part of a population affected by the Saka.[59]

The Shakya clan of India, to which Gautama Buddha, called

Śākyamuni "Sage of the Shakyas", belonged, were also likely
Sakas as Michael Witzel[60] and Christopher I. Beckwith.[61]
have demonstrated.

Indo-Scythians
The region in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan where the
Saka moved to become known as "land of the Saka" or
Sakastan.[33] The Sakas also captured Gandhara and Taxila,
and migrated to North India.[62] The most famous Indo-
Captured Saka king
Scythian king was Maues.[63] An Indo-Scythians kingdom Skunkha, from Mount
was established in Mathura (200 BC - 400 AD).[33][64] Weer Behistun, Iran,
The Sakas Rajendra Rishi, an Indian linguist, identified linguistic Achaemenid stone relief

𓐠𓎼𓋴𓎡𓈙/sꜣgs affinities between Indian and Central Asian languages, which from the reign of Darius I
( (r. 522-486 BCE)
further lends credence to the possibility of historical Sakan
as subjects of the
Achaemenid Empire influence in North India.[62][65] According to historian
on the statue of Michael Mitchiner, the Abhira tribe were a Saka people cited in the Gunda inscription of the
Darius I, circa 500 Western Satrap Rudrasimha I dated to 181 CE.[66]
BCE.

Kingdoms in the Tarim Basin

Kingdom of Khotan
The Kingdom of Khotan was a Saka city state in on the southern edge of the
Tarim Basin. As a consequence of the Han–Xiongnu War spanning from 133
BCE to 89 CE, the Tarim Basin (now Xinjiang, Northwest China), including
Khotan and Kashgar, fell under Han Chinese influence, beginning with the reign
of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141-87 BC).[67][68] The region once again came under
Chinese suzerainty with the campaigns of conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang
(r. 626-649).[69] From the late eighth to ninth centuries, the region changed Coin of Gurgamoya, king of Khotan.
hands between the rival Tang and Tibetan Empires.[70][71] However, by the early Khotan, first century.
11th century the region fell to the Muslim Turkic peoples of the Kara-Khanid Obv: Kharosthi legend, "Of the great
king of kings, king of Khotan,
Khanate, which led to both the Turkification of the region as well as its
Gurgamoya.
conversion from Buddhism to Islam.
Rev: Chinese legend: "Twenty-four
grain copper coin". British Museum
Archaeological evidence and documents from Khotan and other sites in the
Tarim Basin provided information on the language spoken by the Saka.[33][72]
The official language of Khotan was initially Gandhari Prakrit written in Kharosthi, and coins from Khotan dated to the 1st
century bear dual inscriptions in Chinese and Gandhari Prakrit, indicating links of Khotan to both India and China.[73] Surviving
documents however suggest that an Iranian language was used by the people of the kingdom for a long time Third-century AD
documents in Prakrit from nearby Shanshan record the title for the king of Khotan as hinajha (i.e. "generalissimo"), a
distinctively Iranian-based word equivalent to the Sanskrit title senapati, yet nearly
identical to the Khotanese Saka hīnāysa attested in later Khotanese documents.[73]
This, along with the fact that the king's recorded regnal periods were given as the
Khotanese kṣuṇa, "implies an established connection between the Iranian
inhabitants and the royal power," according to the Professor of Iranian Studies
Ronald E. Emmerick.[73] He contended that Khotanese-Saka-language royal
rescripts of Khotan dated to the 10th century "makes it likely that the ruler of Khotan
was a speaker of Iranian."[73] Furthermore, he argued that the early form of the
name of Khotan, hvatana, is connected semantically with the name Saka.[73]

Later Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to Buddhist

literature, have been found in Khotan and Tumshuq (northeast of Kashgar).[74]
Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language dating mostly to the 10th
century have been found in the Dunhuang manuscripts.[75] A document from Khotan written
in Khotanese Saka, part of the
Although the ancient Chinese had called Khotan Yutian (于闐), another more native
Eastern Iranian branch of the
Iranian name occasionally used was Jusadanna ( 瞿 薩 旦 那 ), derived from Indo- Indo-European languages, listing
Iranian Gostan and Gostana, the names of the town and region around it, the animals of the Chinese zodiac
respectively.[76] in the cycle of predictions for
people born in that year; ink on
paper, early 9th century
Shule Kingdom
Much like the neighboring people of the Kingdom of Khotan, people of Kashgar, the
capital of Shule, spoke Saka, one of the Eastern Iranian languages.[77] According to the Book of Han, the Saka split and formed
several states in the region. These Saka states may include two states to the northwest of Kashgar, and Tumshuq to its northeast,
and Tushkurgan south in the Pamirs.[78] Kashgar also conquered other states such as Yarkand and Kucha during the Han dynasty,
but in its later history, Kashgar was controlled by various empires, including Tang China,[79][80][81] before it became part of the
Turkic Kara-Khanid Khanate in the 10th century. In the 11th century, according to Mahmud al-Kashgari, some non-Turkic
languages like the Kanchaki and Sogdian were still used in some areas in the vicinity of Kashgar,[82] and Kanchaki is thought to
belong to the Saka language group.[78] It is believed that the Tarim Basin was linguistically Turkified before the 11th century
ended.[83]

Language
Attestations of the Saka language show that it
Issyk inscription
was an Eastern Iranian language. The linguistic
heartland of Saka was the Kingdom of Khotan,
which had two varieties, corresponding to the
major settlements at Khotan (now Hotan) and
Tumshuq (now Tumxuk).[84][85] Both the
Tumshuqese and Khotanese varieties of Saka
contain many borrowings from the Middle
Indo-Aryan Prakrit, but also share features with
Issyk dish with inscription. Drawing of the Issyk
modern Wakhi and Pashto.[86]
inscription.
The Issyk inscription, a short fragment on a
silver cup found in the Issyk kurgan (modern
Kazakhstan) is believed to be an early example of Saka, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that
language. The inscription is in a variant of Kharosthi. Harmatta identifies the dialect as Khotanese Saka, tentatively translating its
as: "The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal, then added cooked fresh butter on".[87]

A growing body of both linguistic and physical anthropological evidence suggest the Wakhi are descendants of
Saka[88][89][90][91][92][93]. According to the Indo-Europeanist Martin Kümmel, Wakhi may be classified as a Western Saka
dialect, the other attested Saka dialects such as Khotanese and Tumshuqese being Eastern Saka dialects.[94] The Saka heartland
was gradually conquered during the Turkic expansion, beginning in the 6th century, and the area was gradually Turkified
linguistically under the Uyghurs.

Culture
Similar to other eastern Iranian peoples represented on the reliefs of the Apadāna at Persepolis, Sakas are depicted as wearing
long trousers, which cover the uppers of their boots. Over their shoulders they trail a type of long mantle, with one diagonal edge
in back. One particular tribe of Sakas (the Saka tigraxaudā) wore pointed caps. Herodotus in his description of the Persian army
mentions the Sakas as wearing trousers and tall pointed caps.[95]

Fraternal polyandry was a common custom among Saka. Brothers had one wife in common and the children were considered as
belonging to the oldest brother.[96]

See also
Saka language
Sakas in the Mahabharata
Shaka era
Sakzai
History of the central steppe

Notes

References

Citations
1. Beckwith 2009, p. 68 "Modern scholars have mostly used the name Saka to refer to Iranians of the Eastern
Steppe and Tarim Basin"
2. Dandamayev 1994, p. 37 "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern
and eastern Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan to distinguish them from the related Massagetae of the Aral
region and the Scythians of the Pontic steppes. These tribes spoke Iranian languages, and their chief occupation
was nomadic pastoralism."
3. Kramrisch, Stella. "Central Asian Arts: Nomadic Cultures" (https://www.britannica.com/art/Central-Asian-arts/Visu
al-arts#ref314168). Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved September 1, 2018. "The Śaka tribe was
pasturing its herds in the Pamirs, central Tien Shan, and in the Amu Darya delta. Their gold belt buckles, jewelry,
and harness decorations display sheep, griffins, and other animal designs that are similar in style to those used
by the Scythians, a nomadic people living in the Kuban basin of the Caucasus region and the western section of
the Eurasian plain during the greater part of the 1st millennium bc."
4. Harmatta 1994, p. 488 "Their royal tribes and kings (shan-yii) bore Iranian names and all the Hsiung-nu words
noted by the Chinese can be explained from an Iranian language of Saka type. It is therefore clear that the
majority of Hsiung-nu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language."
5. Sinor 1990, p. 173-174
 6. Herodotus Book VII, 64
7. Naturalis Historia, VI, 19, 50
8. Westermann, Claus (1984). : A Continental Commentary. John J. Scullion (trans.). Minneapolis. p. 506.
ISBN 0800695003.
9. Kuz'mina, Elena E. (2007). The Origin of the Indo Iranians. Edited by J.P. Mallory. Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp 381-
382. ISBN 978-90-04-16054-5.
10. "The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath,[a] and Togarmah." See also the entry for Ashkenaz in Young,
Robert. Analytical Concordance to the Bible. McLean, Virginia: Mac Donald Publishing Company. ISBN 0-
917006-29-1.
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ogle.com/books?id=QR0xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT72). Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 9781351701587.
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13. Kurkjian, Vahan M. (1964). A History of Armenia. New York: Armenian General Benevolent Union of America.
p. 23.
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0521228046.
20. Briant, Pierre (29 July 2006). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=lxQ9W6F1oSYC&pg=PA178#v=onepage&q&f=false). Eisenbrauns. p. 178. ISBN 978-1575061207.
"This is Kingdom which I hold, from the Scythians [Saka] who are beyond Sogdiana, thence unto Ethiopia [Cush];
from Sind, thence unto Sardis."
21. Ireland, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and (2007-04-06). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society ... – Google
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nepage&q=AHIR&f=false). Retrieved 2010-12-30.
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25. Baumer 2012, p. 178-179
26. Di Cosmo 2004, p. 39 "The physical type of this group, distinctly Mongoloid, is also very different from the
Europoid "Saka" people of the Altai."
27. de Laet & Herrmann 1996, p. 443 "The rich kurgan burials in Pazyryk, Siberia probably were those of Saka
chieftains"
28. Kuzmina 2008, p. 94 "Analysis of the clothing, which has analogies in the complex of Saka clothes, particularly in
Pazyryk, led Wang Binghua (1987, 42) to the conclusion that they are related to the Saka Culture."
29. Kuzmina 2007, p. 103 "The dress of Iranian-speaking Saka and Scythians is easily reconstructed on the basis
of... numerous archaeological discoveries from the Ukraine to the Altai, particularly at Issyk in Kazakhstan... at
Pazyryk... and Ak-Alakha"
30. Lebedynsky 2007, p. 125
31. HAUMAVARGĀ – Encyclopaedia Iranica (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haumavarga).
32. J. P. mallory. "Bronze Age Languages of the Tarim Basin" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160909231531/http://w
ww.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/52-3/mallory.pdf) (PDF). Penn Museum. Archived
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s?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA516#v=onepage&q&f=false). p. 516. ISBN 9781438119137.
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36. A. Sh. Shahbazi,. "Amorges" (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/amorges). Encyclopaedia Iranica.
37. Cunliffe, Barry (24 September 2015). By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia (https://books.google.c
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38. Zhang Guang-da. History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume III: The crossroads of civilizations: AD 250 to
750 (https://books.google.com/books?id=FcKtIPVQ6REC&pg=PA283#v=onepage&q&f=false). UNESCO. p. 283.
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39. H. W. Bailey. Indo-Scythian Studies: Being Khotanese Texts (https://books.google.com/books?id=OOK-fBNwZ7k
C&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67#v=onepage&q&f=false). Cambridge University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0521118736.
40. Sakas: In Afghanistan (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sakas-in-afghanistan) at Encyclopædia Iranica"The
ethnonym Saka appears in ancient Iranian and Indian sources as the name of the large family of Iranian nomads
called Scythians by the Classical Western sources and Sai by the Chinese (Gk. Sacae; OPers. Sakā)."
41. Yu Taishan (June 2010), "The Earliest Tocharians in China" in Victor H. Mair (ed), Sino-Platonic Papers, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations,
p. 13.
42. Baumer 2012, p. 290
43. Benjamin, Craig (March 2003). "The Yuezhi Migration and Sogdia" (http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/benj
amin.html). Ērān ud Anērān Webfestschrift Marshak. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
44. "Chinese History – Sai 塞 The Saka People or Soghdians" (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/sakas.ht
ml). Chinaknowledge. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
45. Mallory, J. P. & Mair, Victor H. (2000). The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest
Peoples from the West (https://archive.org/details/tarimmummiesanci00mall). Thames & Hudson. London. p. 58.
ISBN 0-500-05101-1.
46. Torday, Laszlo. (1997). Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History. Durham: The Durham
Academic Press, pp 80-81, ISBN 978-1-900838-03-0.
47. Yü, Ying-shih. (1986). "Han Foreign Relations," in The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han
Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220, 377-462. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 377-388, 391, ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.
48. Chang, Chun-shu. (2007). The Rise of the Chinese Empire: Volume II; Frontier, Immigration, & Empire in Han
China, 130 B.C. – A.D. 157. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp 5-8 ISBN 978-0-472-11534-1.
49. Di Cosmo 2002, p. 174-189
50. Di Cosmo 2004, p. 196-198
51. Di Cosmo 2002, p. 241-242
52. Yu Taishan (June 2010), "The Earliest Tocharians in China" in Victor H. Mair (ed), Sino-Platonic Papers, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations,
pp. 13-14, 21-22.
53. Benjamin, Craig. "The Yuezhi Migration and Sogdia" (http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/benjamin.html).
54. Bernard, P. (1994). "The Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia". In Harmatta, János. History of Civilizations of Central
Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Paris: UNESCO.
pp. 96–126. ISBN 92-3-102846-4.
55. Baumer 2012, p. 296
56. Ulrich Theobald. (26 November 2011). "Chinese History - Sai 塞 The Saka People or Soghdians (http://www.chin
aknowledge.de/History/Altera/sakas.html)." ChinaKnowledge.de. Accessed 2 September 2016.
57. Lebedynsky 2006, p. 73.
58. Mallory & Mair 2008, pp. 329-330.
59. Lebedynsky 2006, p. 84.
60. Attwood, Jayarava (2012). "Possible Iranian Origins for the Śākyas and Aspects of Buddhism". Journal of the
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61. Beckwith, Christopher I. (2015). Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=RlCUBgAAQBAJ). Princeton University Press. p. 1–21. ISBN 978-1-4008-6632-8.
62. Sulimirski, Tadeusz (1970). The Sarmatians (https://books.google.com/books?id=gdjhuAAACAAJ). Volume 73 of
Ancient peoples and places. New York: Praeger. pp. 113–114. "The evidence of both the ancient authors and the
archaeological remains point to a massive migration of Sacian (Sakas)/Massagetan tribes from the Syr Daria
Delta (Central Asia) by the middle of the second century B.C. Some of the Syr Darian tribes; they also invaded
North India."
63. Bivar, A. D. H. "KUSHAN DYNASTY i. Dynastic History" (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-hi
story). Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
64. Beckwith 2009, p. 85 "The Saka, or Śaka, people then began their long migration that ended with their conquest
of northern India, where they are also known as the Indo-Scythians."
65. Rishi, Weer Rajendra (1982). India & Russia: linguistic & cultural affinity (https://books.google.com/books?id=Vns
_AAAAMAAJ&q=Getae#search_anchor). Roma. p. 95.
66. Mitchiner, Michael (1978). The ancient & classical world, 600 B.C.-A.D. 650 (https://books.google.com/books?id=
zuQLAQAAMAAJ). Hawkins Publications ; distributed by B. A. Seaby. p. 634. ISBN 978-0-904173-16-1.
67. Loewe, Michael. (1986). "The Former Han Dynasty," in The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and
Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220, 103–222. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp 197-198. ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.
68. Yü, Ying-shih. (1986). "Han Foreign Relations," in The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han
Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220, 377-462. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp 410-411. ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.
69. Xue, Zongzheng (薛宗正). (1992). History of the Turks (突厥史). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, p.
596-598. ISBN 978-7-5004-0432-3; OCLC 28622013
70. Beckwith, Christopher. (1987). The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp
36, 146. ISBN 0-691-05494-0.
71. Wechsler, Howard J.; Twitchett, Dennis C. (1979). Denis C. Twitchett; John K. Fairbank, eds. The Cambridge
History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906, Part I. Cambridge University Press. pp. 225–227.
ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9.
72. Windfuhr, Gernot (2013). Iranian Languages (https://books.google.com/books?id=QtpQZ1DD6tEC&pg=PA377).
Routledge. p. 377. ISBN 1-135-79704-8.
73. Emmerick, R. E. (14 April 1983). "Chapter 7: Iranian Settlement East of the Pamirs". In Ehsan Yarshater (ed.).
The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, Part 1 (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=Ko_RafMSGLkC&pg=PA265). Cambridge University Press; Reissue edition. pp. 265–266.
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74. Bailey, H.W. (1996). "Khotanese Saka Literature". In Ehsan Yarshater (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol
III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, Part 2 (https://books.google.com/books?id=y7IHmyKcPtYC&p
g=PA1231&lpg=PA1231#v=onepage&q&f=false) (reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1231–1235.
ISBN 9780521246934.
75. Hansen, Valerie (2005). "The Tribute Trade with Khotan in Light of Materials Found at the Dunhuang Library
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Institute. 19: 37–46.
76. Ulrich Theobald. (16 October 2011). "City-states Along the Silk Road (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Alte
ra/citystates.html#yutian)." ChinaKnowledge.de. Accessed 2 September 2016.
77. Xavier Tremblay, "The Spread of Buddhism in Serindia: Buddhism Among Iranians, Tocharians and Turks before
the 13th Century", in The Spread of Buddhism, eds Ann Heirman and Stephan Peter Bumbacker, Leiden:
Koninklijke Brill, 2007, p. 77.
78. Ahmad Hasan Dani; B. A. Litvinsky; Unesco (1 January 1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The
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ge&q&f=false). UNESCO. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
79. Yarkand (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yarkand) at Encyclopædia Iranica "The territory of Yārkand is for
the first time mentioned in the Hanshu (1st century BCE), under the name Shache (Old Chinese, approximately,
*s³a(j)-ka), which is probably related to the name of the Iranian Saka tribes."
80. Whitfield 2004, p. 47.
81. Wechsler, Howard J.; Twitchett, Dennis C. (1979). Denis C. Twitchett; John K. Fairbank, eds. The Cambridge
History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906, Part I. Cambridge University Press. pp. 225–228.
ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9.
82. Scott Cameron Levi; Ron Sela (2010). Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=SAX5ohFkcVgC&pg=PA72). Indiana University Press. pp. 72–. ISBN 0-253-35385-8.
83. Akiner (28 October 2013). Cultural Change & Continuity In (https://books.google.com/books?id=udjWAQAAQBAJ
&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false). Routledge. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-1-136-15034-0.
84. Sarah Iles Johnston, Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide, Harvard University Press, 2004. pg 197
85. Edward A Allworth,Central Asia: A Historical Overview,Duke University Press, 1994. pp 86.
86. Litvinsky, Boris Abramovich; Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya, M.I (1999). "Religions and religious movements". History
of civilizations of Central Asia. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 421–448. ISBN 8120815408.
87. Harmatta, János (20 August 1994). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and
Nomadic Civilizations (https://books.google.com/books?id=9U6RlVVjpakC&pg=PA421&lpg=PA421#v=onepage&
q&f=false). UNESCO. pp. 420–1. ISBN 978-9231028465.
88. Kuz'mina, E.E. (2007). The Origins of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL.
89. Peng, M.S.; Song, J.J.; Zhang, Y.P. (29 November 2017). "Mitochondrial genomes uncover the maternal history
of the Pamir populations". European Journal of Human Geneticsvolume. 26: 124–136.
90. Frye, R.N. (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. p. 192. "...these western Saka he distinguishes from eastern Saka
who moved south through the Kashgar-Tashkurgan-Gilgit-Swat route to the plains of the sub-continent of India.
This would account for the existence of the ancient Khotanese-Saka speakers, documents of whom have been
found in western Sinkiang, and the modern Wakhi language of Wakhan in Afghanistan, another modern branch
of descendants of Saka speakers parallel to the Ossetes in the west."
91. Bailey, H.W. (1982). The culture of the Sakas in ancient Iranian Khotan. Caravan Books. pp. 7–10. "It is
noteworthy that the Wakhi language of Wakhan has features, phonetics, and vocabulary the nearest of Iranian
dialects to Khotan Saka."
92. Windfuhr, G. (2013). Iranian Languages. Routeledge. p. 15. ISBN 1-135-79704-8.
93. Carpelan, C.; Parpola, A.; Koskikallio, P. (2001). "Early Contacts Between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic
and Archaeological Considerations : Papers Presented at an International Symposium Held at the Tvärminne
Research Station of the University of Helsinki, 8-10 January, 1999". Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. 242: 136.
"...descendants of these languages survive now only in the Ossete language of the Caucasus and the Wakhi
language of the Pamirs, the latter related to the Saka once spoken in Khotan."
94. Novak, L. (2014). "Question of (Re)classification of Eastern Iranian Languages". Linguistica Brunensia. 62 (1):
77–87.
95. Gropp, G. "CLOTHING v. In Pre-Islamic Eastern Iran" (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-v).
iranicaonline.org. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
96. Litvinsky, B.A.; Guang-da, Z.; Samghabadi, R.S. (1996). "The Hephthalite Empire". History of Civilizations of
Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. pp. 138–165. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.

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External links
Scythians/Sacae (http://www.livius.org/sao-sd/scythians/scythians.html) by Jona Lendering
Article by Kivisild et al. on genetic heritage of early Indian settlers (http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Kivisild200
3b.pdf)
Indian, Japanese and Chinese Emperors (http://boole.cs.iastate.edu/book/3-%CA%B7(%C0%FA%CA%B7)/3-%
CA%C0%BD%E7%C0%FA%CA%B7/www.friesian.com/sangoku.htm#saka,)

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