01-09-2016, 05:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-09-2016, 05:36 PM by Michael Kerr.)
Hi Alan, yes there are many different views on the origins of the Wusun. Turkish, Tocharian or Indo-Iranian. Torday does mention that Wusun could come from Turkish as it literally means “Grandson of the Wolf” but it could also be taken from the Sogdian word for tent wδ’n or literally “people of the tents” pronounced wiðān to the Chinese.
The Wusun seemed to be the enemies of the Kangju federation so the Chinese could have got their information from the mostly urban dwelling Sogdians who would probably dismissively call them that term I guess. Torday also thinks that the Alans were part of the Kangju Federation,or even the leading clan. At around the same time that the Alans had supposedly absorbed the Aorsi as they seem to have disappeared from the record around 49BC the Chinese sources mention that Kangju absorbed the Yancai who many think was the Chinese term for Aorsi or "spreaders of hay" at approximately the same time. Either way it seems that Kangju started going into severe decline in the 1st century AD and broken up into the various oasis city towns either due to civil wars, overpopulation, invasion or even the effects of climate change on its complex but delicate irrigation systems putting pressure on the intricate tribal relationships between the population groups. Maybe the nomadic elements of the confederation moved west to escape constant wars or droughts or maybe both.
The Wusun seemed to be the enemies of the Kangju federation so the Chinese could have got their information from the mostly urban dwelling Sogdians who would probably dismissively call them that term I guess. Torday also thinks that the Alans were part of the Kangju Federation,or even the leading clan. At around the same time that the Alans had supposedly absorbed the Aorsi as they seem to have disappeared from the record around 49BC the Chinese sources mention that Kangju absorbed the Yancai who many think was the Chinese term for Aorsi or "spreaders of hay" at approximately the same time. Either way it seems that Kangju started going into severe decline in the 1st century AD and broken up into the various oasis city towns either due to civil wars, overpopulation, invasion or even the effects of climate change on its complex but delicate irrigation systems putting pressure on the intricate tribal relationships between the population groups. Maybe the nomadic elements of the confederation moved west to escape constant wars or droughts or maybe both.
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
