Sarmatian horses

[Michael Kerr]

Hi, just on my earlier post on page 2 of this thread about confusion between Wusun horses and Ferghana horses and title "Heavenly Horses". Since then I purchased Sima Qian "Records of the Grand Historian" and Sima Qian answered my question . "When Wusun envoys from Ili Valley arrived with horses to exchange for Chinese bride, they were of an excellent breed. The Han Emperor called these Heavenly Horses. Later however he obtained "the Blood Sweating Horses" from Dayuan/Ferghana which were even hardier. He therefore changed the name of the Wusun horses to "Horses from the Western Extremity" and used the name "Heavenly Horses" for the horses of Dayuan/Ferghana. A bit of a diplomatic "Slap in the face" for the Wusun.

Regards
Michael Kerr