Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia From the Bronze Age to the Present (10 page)

³³
See Rolle (1989: 119–121) on an excavated Scythian city in which large-scale iron smelting and forging, weapon manufacturing, and general metalsmithing in iron, gold, and other metals took place. The iron was obtained from the same deposits used by the well-known modern iron and steel works in the area of Krivoi Rog.

³⁴
On
Bumïn,
the form of the name *Tumïn found in the Old Turkic inscriptions, see endnote
17
.

³⁵
On the problem of the Chinese name of the Avars, see endnote 18.

³⁶
CS
50: 908.

³⁷
CS
50: 909.

³⁸
The remnant of the Avars who appeared exactly at this time on the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire were given refuge there, and despite the warm relations that soon developed between the Turks and the Byzantine Greeks when the Turks reached Constantinople, the refugees were not handed over. They eventually established a new kaghanate in Pannonia (the area of modern Hungary), which lasted until it was destroyed by the armies of Charlemagne’s Franks between 791 and 802 (Szádeczky-Kardoss 1990: 217–219).

³⁹
see endnote 83 on this title.

⁴⁰
The Lucian passage is from Fowler and Fowler (1905). Rolle (1989: 61–63) includes an excavated portrayal of two Scythians drinking the draft of blood brotherhood. Their practice accords closely with accounts of the early Germanic peoples.

⁴¹
In Mongol
nökör,
plural
nököd.
For the Russian equivalent see note 44 in this chapter.

⁴²
However, the full comitatus had structure and rank, and practice varied from place to place. In Central Asia, especially, the number of men interred with their lord could be very large.

⁴³
As amply shown by archaeological finds (Rolle 1989: 64 et seq.).

⁴⁴
By contrast, the units of the regular army were organized according to “nations” and clans. This point is made most clearly by Vladimirtsov in his discussion of the Mongol system, in which he uses the Russian term
‘comitatus warriors’, members of a
‘comitatus’; these terms are translated into French as
les antrustions
and
la truste,
respectively (Vladimirtsov 1948: 110 et seq.; 2002: 382 et seq.). On the Indo-European “wolves,” see
EIEC
631–636 and the illuminating analyses of Bruce Lincoln (1991: 131–137). On the four “wolves” of Chinggis, see Vladimirtsov (1948: 115–116; 2002: 386–387). Vladimirtsov’s treatment forms part of his analysis of what he calls Mongol feudalism; despite some irrelevant theoretical background, the comparison with European medieval feudalism is not only apt but historically relevant, as argued in the present work. The Mongol comitatus is discussed by Allsen (1997: 52–55, 79, 103–104).

⁴⁵
From book I, hymn 165 (Müller 1891: 180–181). I have made minor changes of punctuation and capitalization.

⁴⁶
Although many refer to the social subunits that made up larger states and empires as tribes, there has been growing awareness in recent years that the traditional idea of a tribe is not applicable to premodern Central Eurasia. The Chinese term for these subunits,
bù,
literally means ‘part, subdivision’, as does the Old Tibetan term, sde. See Lindner (1982: 701). These terms are close in usage to that of Latin
natio,
plural
nationes
(which has been used recently by a number of Central Eurasianists). I have found no good equivalent term in English. In most cases where a term of some kind is unavoidable, I have used
people,
in others
nation.

⁴⁷
The Achaemenids had an elite royal bodyguard of 10,000 Median and Persian warriors called the “corps of immortals,” who wore “garments adorned with cloth of gold” (Allsen 1997: 79). The same institution existed at the time of the Sasanids, though generally under a different name (Zakeri 1995: 77); see below.

⁴⁸
In 328
BC
, the King of Khwarizmia, Pharasmanes, visited Alexander the Great in Bactria with “his retinue of 1,500 cavalrymen” (Bosworth 1997: 1061). These men were certainly his comitatus. There are many medieval Khwarizmian examples as well, indicating the system was practiced there for at least a millennium.

⁴⁹
On the question of the existence of a Sasanid comitatus, see endnote
19
.

⁵⁰
The Greek sources refer to the members of Attila’s comitatus as λoγάε§ (logades) ‘picked men’, who are also sometimes called
‘close associates’ (Thompson 1996: 108, 179). It was the job of the λoγάε§ to “guard Attila’s person, and each of them accompanied his master in arms for a specified part of the day, a fact which gave them ready access to his person and conversation. Although they regarded this task as
δovλεíα
‘slavery’, they were capable of the greatest loyalty in carrying it out…. We know further that a sort of hierarchy existed among them, which was indicated by the seats allotted to them when they sat down to feast with their master: Onegesius sat at Attila’s right hand and Berichus at his left…. The λoγάε§ owed their allegiance to Attila alone, but they gave it to him solely because he could provide … gifts on a larger scale than anyone else” (Thompson 1996: 181–182, 192). Despite Thompson’s anti-Hun bias, and his apparent unawareness of the existence of the comitatus among them—he nowhere mentions it, at least not in connection with his much-discussed λoγάε§—the Hun comitatus in his description is remarkable for its closeness to the pattern known from medieval sources.

⁵¹
According to Procopius; see below.

⁵²
See
chapter 4
.

⁵³
Golden (2001; 2002: 141; 2002–2003; 2004; 2006).

⁵⁴
Christian (1998: 342, 358, 363–364, 390).

⁵⁵
On the Khitan and Kereit comitatus, see endnote
20
.

⁵⁶
The
ke
š
ig,
usually translated as ‘Royal Guard’, ‘personal bodyguard’, or the like, q.v. below.

⁵⁷
For example, the Romans, as noted above.

⁵⁸
On the Byzantine and Chinese cases, see endnote
22
.

⁵⁹
On the comitatus in general, see Beckwith (1984a). On the transmission of the Sogdian and Turkic comitatus to the Arabs, see further de la Vaissière (2005a, 2007).

⁶⁰
Frye (2005: 70–71), who gives the name in its Arabic form “Rusiya” in his translation here.

⁶¹
For numerous examples of lords bestowing wealth, especially silk, gold, and other luxurious goods, upon their comitatus members, see Allsen (1997). According to al-Tabarî, in 738 the Türgiš ruler every month bestowed on each of his 15,000 men “one piece of silk, which was at that time worth twenty-five dirhams” (Allsen 1997: 55), thus totaling 4.5 million dirhams a year.

⁶²
Tacitus (Mattingly 1970: 113) says, “Their meals, for which plentiful if homely fare is provided, count in lieu of pay.” He also comments on the constant demands made by comitatus members on their lord for valuable gifts.

⁶³
Quoted in Dunlop (1954: 112). On the remarks of observers, see endnote
21
.

⁶⁴
Beowulf,
lines 2886–2891 (Dobbie 1953: 89), translation of Sullivan and Murphy (2004: 81, their lines 2539–2543).

⁶⁵
Allsen (1997: 53).

⁶⁶
Mattingly (1970: 112–113); cf. Hutton (1970: 151–152).

⁶⁷
Latham (1958: 135). Allsen (1997) cites copious material that fully corroborates Marco Polo’s account. Di Cosmo (1999b: 18) notes that “the
kesik,
instituted in 1203–1204, initially comprised only 80 day guards and 70 night guards.” The consistent specification of a subdivision of the guard corps into day guards and night guards (among other subdivisions) from the Hittites on is interesting and worth further investigation.

⁶⁸
In Old English the comitatus is called the
weored
(among other spellings) or, more frequently,
gedryht,
on which see endnote
24
.

⁶⁹
See Lindow (1976) for a detailed examination of the terminology and some analysis of the structure of the comitatus in Scandinavia.

⁷⁰
See note 29 in
chapter 6
for discussion of famous medieval examples of the “golden dome” or “golden domed-tent (yurt)” of various rulers.

⁷¹
For discussion of the Mongol terms, see endnote
23
.

⁷²
I have modified Allsen’s text, which has
“ba’atud,”
the Mongol plural of
ba’atur
‘hero’, and
“nököd,”
the Mongol plural of
nöker
or
nökör
‘friends’.

⁷³
Allsen (1994: 343–344).

⁷⁴
It might be profitable for a Hittite specialist to reexamine the text known as the “Hittite Instruction for the Royal Bodyguard” (Güterbock and van den Hout 1991) with this in mind.

⁷⁵
He calls them “the Ephthalite Huns, who are called White Huns.” However, they seem not to have been Huns; their ethnolinguistic connections are unknown. The Persian name of their city, which he spells Γ0ργώ Gorgô, is Gorgân, meaning ‘Wolves’. See the comments above on comitatus members being called wolves.

⁷⁶
Procopius I, iii (Dewing 1914, I: 12–15).

⁷⁷
HTS
216a: 6063;
CTS
196a: 5220;
TFYK
961: 15r–15v; cf. Pelliot (1961: 3, 81–82). See further, Beckwith (1984a: 34).

⁷⁸
On the etymology of the Slavic and Germanic word or words for the comitatus and its members, see endnote 24.

⁷⁹
See de Rachewiltz (2004) on the
Secret History;
see Lindow (1976) on the Germanic and Slavic comitatus.