06-24-2016, 04:04 PM
Obviously the documentary makers are using a bit of poetic license in their depiction of a turban for the series but I would not dismiss turbans out of hand in regards to the Yuezhi. They did conquer the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms and the Macedonian men would have worn the kausia or Macedonian flat hat and would have worn this type of cap in the harsh cold winters of Central Asia.
This hat in turn could have been the origin of the pakol which is popular in Afghanistan and Pakistan although Herodotus talks about the Bactrians at the battle of Platea in 479 and their turbans, bows and spears so it is not out of the question that the Yuezhi adopted this woollen cap or turban. I realise that these caps look nothing like the turban depicted in the film.
I think there is also a Kushan coin in which Kanishka seems to be wearing a turban like cap. The coin on the left.
As to the full beards here are some armed Kushan males from a relief panel from the Grey Schist in Gandharan, Pakistan from 2nd-3rd centuries AD.
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"
