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Dahae

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Dahae
Old Persian: 𐎭𐏃𐎠, romanized: Dahā
Ancient Greek: Δάοι, romanized: Daoi
Regions with significant populations
Central Asia (present-day Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan)
Languages
Eastern Iranian
Religion
Possibly Zoroastrianism
Related ethnic groups
Parni, Xanthii, Pissuri, Saka, Massagetae, Sarmatians

The Dahae (Old Persian: 𐎭𐏃𐎠, romanized: Dahā; Ancient Greek: Δάοι, romanized: Daoi, also Daai, Dai, Dasai; Latin: Dahae; Chinese: 大益, romanized: Dàyì; Persian: داهان, romanized: Dāhān)[1] were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia from at least the Achaemenid period until the early Parthian era.[1][2] The Dahae were a confederation of three principal tribes; the Parni (also called Aparni), the Xanthii, and the Pissuri, with the Parni being the most prominent and historically consequential branch.[3] Their territory encompassed much of what is now western and northwestern Turkmenistan, southwestern Kazakhstan, and western Uzbekistan, particularly the Ustyurt Plateau and the arid steppes of the Karakum Desert southeast of the Caspian Sea.[1][2] The Dahae first appear in historical records in the Daeva inscription (XPh) of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (486–465/4 BCE) where they are listed among the thirty dahyāva (lands and peoples) of the empire, alongside clearly Scythian groups such as the Sakā haumavargā and Sakā tigraxaudā.[1][4] The Greek historian Herodotus also mentioned the Dāoi as one of the nomadic tribes of the Persians together with the Mardians, Dropicans, and Sagartians.[1][5] These attestations place the Dahae within the broader Iranian nomadic world of the Eurasian steppe, though their precise ethnic and linguistic affinities remain debated among scholars.[1]

The historical significance of the Dahae lies above all in their role as the ancestral stock of the Arsacid dynasty the founders of the Parthian Empire.[3][6] Around 240 BCE the Parni led by Arsaces I invaded the Parthia, defeated its governor Andragoras and established a dynasty that would eventually rule over much of the Iranian plateau and Mesopotamia for nearly five centuries.[3][6] This migration from the Central Asian steppes into the Hellenistic world represents one of the most consequential nomadic irruptions in ancient Iranian history.[3] Archaeological and linguistic evidence further indicates that the Dahae, together with the closely related Sarmatians, left lasting imprints on the cultural and architectural traditions of both Turan and Old Rus.[7] Although the Dahae are conventionally dated from the Achaemenid period to the rise of the Arsacids, their chronological and geographical boundaries are not sharply defined. The identification of the Dahae with the Dāha- or Dåŋha- people mentioned in the Avestan Yašts as one of the five Zoroastrian peoples alongside the Airiia-, Tūiriiia-, Sairima-, and Sāinu- has been proposed but remains uncertain; the Encyclopaedia Iranica notes that if the Dahae were indeed a Scythian tribe it would be difficult to identify them with a group clearly excluded from the Airiia- (Aryans) in the Avesta.[1] Similarly, some scholars have identified the Dahae with the Massagetae or Sakā tigraxaudā while others treat them as a distinct Eastern Iranian group.[7][1] These unresolved questions of identification underscore the fragmentary nature of the source record and the interpretive challenges that continue to shape the historiography of the Dahae.[1]

Etymology

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The name of the Dahae is attested in several ancient languages. In Old Persian the ethnonym appears as Daha- (𐎭𐏃𐎠);[1] in Ancient Greek sources the people are called Δάοι (Dáoi), Δάαι (Dáai), Δαι (Dai), and Δάσαι (Dasai);[1] Latin authors used Dahae; Middle Persian attests Dāhān; and in Chinese records they appear as 大益 (pinyin: Dàyì).[1][8] The modern Persian form داهان (Dāhān) and the toponym Dihistan a province on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea that retained this designation throughout the Islamic Middle Ages preserve the ethnic name.[3] The etymology of Daha- was first proposed by Sten Konow in 1912 who connected the Old Persian ethnonym with Saka Khotanese daha- meaning man, male.[1] This derivation is rendered plausible by the widespread cross cultural practice of nations designating themselves with words meaning man in their respective languages.[1][9] The corresponding long grade form *dāhā- is represented by New Persian däh servant, Buddhist Sogdian d'yh, and Christian Sogdian d'y slave woman.[1] The same root is also apparent in Avestan daxiu- and Old Persian dahyu- (dahayu-) meaning province (i.e., (mass of) people) a term cognate with Sanskrit dasyu- (hostile) people, demons.[1] The name may also be connected with the Rigvedic Dāsa- (attested in adjectival form dása-) depicted in the Rigveda as enemies of the Ārya-.[1] The Indo Iranian scholar Asko Parpola has argued that the original Dāsa is related to the Old Persian Daha, which also means man, but refers specifically to a regional ethnic minority of Persia in contrast to Arya.[10] The Avestan adjective feminine dāhi also appears as an ethnic name in Yašt 13.144 where Dāhī- occurs alongside the Airiia-, Tūiriiia-, Sairima-, and Sāinu- as one of the five peoples said to have followed the Zoroastrian religion.[1] The fact that Old Persian Daha- and Avestan *Daha- (or *Dåŋha-) seem to be related etymologically is not necessarily proof that the two names referred to the same ethnic group. As Encyclopaedia Iranica notes if the Daha- were indeed a Scythian tribe it would be difficult to identify them with a group that is clearly excluded from the Airiia- (Aryans) in the Avesta.[1] Similarly the identification of the Dahae with the Dāha- or Dåŋha- people of the Yašts as one of the five Zoroastrian peoples remains uncertain.[1][11] The Iranologist János Harmatta has instead identified the Dahae with the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā based on Graeco Roman authors mention of the Sakā tigraxaudā as living between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers where Arrian also located the Massagetae and the Dahae.[12]

Herodotus (1.125) referred to the Dāoi as one of the nomadic tribes of the Persians together with the Mardians, Dropicans, and Sagartians.[1][5] The name also occurs in the so called Daeva inscription of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (486–465/4 BCE), where the Dahā are included in a list of thirty dahyāva (lands, provinces) that formed part of the Achaemenid Empire.[1][13] Near the end of the list the Dahā are mentioned together with two clearly Scythian groups, the Sakā haumavargā and the Sakā tigraxaudā, among various lands and peoples along the periphery of the empire.[1] It is possible that delegates from the Dahā are depicted among the subject peoples in the reliefs of the Central Building and the Throne Hall at Persepolis.[1]

Identification

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The Dahae may have been the Dāha- (𐬛𐬁𐬵𐬀) or Dåŋha- (𐬛𐬂𐬢𐬵𐬀) people mentioned in the Frawardin Yasht as one of the five peoples following the Zoroastrian religion, along with the Aⁱriia- (𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀), Tūⁱriia- (𐬙𐬏𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀), Saⁱrima- (𐬯𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬨𐬀), and Sāinu- (𐬯𐬁𐬌𐬥𐬎), although this identification is uncertain.[14]

The Iranologist János Harmatta has identified the Dahā with the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā based on ancient Graeco-Roman authors' mention of the Sakā tigraxaudā as living between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, where Arrian also located the Massagetae and the Dahae.[15] The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that the Dahā were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae.[16]

The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.[17]

The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht, who has also identified the Massagetae with the Sakā tigraxaudā,[18] however considers the Dahā as being a separate group from the Saka to which the Massagetae/Sakā tigraxaudā belonged.[19]

Location

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The Dahae initially lived in the north-eastern part of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, in the arid steppes of the Karakum Desert near Margiana, alongside the Saka groups and the Sogdians and Chorasmians,[14] and immediately to the north of Hyrcania.[20]

During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of the Parni, had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the lands to the north of Hyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east till the regions to the north of Areia.[14]

History

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A splinter Dahā might possibly have migrated at an early date across the Iranian plateau and joined the Persian people who lived in its southwestern part, with the Greek historian Herodotus later referring to the Daoi as one of the nomadic Persian tribes, along with the Mardians, Dropicans, and Sagartians, although this identification is uncertain.[14]

The Dahā were in control of the traffic between Chorasmia in the north and Parthia and Hyrcania in the south.[14]

According to the Babylonian historian Berossus, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus, died fighting against the Dahae.[21] According to the Iranologist Muhammad Dandamayev, Berossus identified the Dahae rather than the Massagetae as Cyrus's killers because they had replaced the Massagetae as the most famous nomadic tribe of Central Asia long before Berossus's time,[22][21] although some scholars identified the Dahae as being identical with the Massagetae or as one of their sub-groups.[15][16][17]

The oldest certain recorded mention of the Dahā is in the Daiva Inscription of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I along with the Sakā Haumavargā and the Sakā tigraxaudā.[14]

The Dahā fought within the left wing of the Achaemenid army along with the Bactrians and the Saka against Alexander the Great at Gaugamela in 331 BCE.[14]

The Dahae may have invaded Margiana and Areia around 300 BCE, and during this invasion they destroyed the towns of Alexandreia and Heracleia located in these respective two countries.[14]

During late 4th and early 3rd centuries BCE, the Dahae, and especially their constituent tribe of the Parni, had settled along the southern and southwestern fringes of the Karakum desert, and by the mid-3rd century BCE they had moved west and had settled along the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the lands to the north of Hyrcania. Two other Dahae tribes, the Xanthioi and the Pissouroi, lived further east, in the regions to the north of Areia.[14]

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Parni moved into Hyrcania, where they lived along the Ochus river. Their leader, Arsaces, would found the Parthian Empire.[14]

During the 2nd century BCE, both the Dahae (大益 Dayi) who still lived in the steppes and the Parthian Empire (安息 Anxi), as well as the Chorasmians (驩潛 Huanqian), and Sogdians (蘇薤 Suxie) sent embassies to the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty which was ruling China.[23]

Legacy

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The lands to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahae had settled in the 3rd century BCE became known as Dehestān (دَهستان) and Dahistān (داهستان) after them.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 De Blois, François; Vogelsang, Willem (1993). "DAHAE". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. VI. pp. 581–582. Retrieved 2026-09-21.
  2. 1 2 Balakhvantsev, Archil S. (2016). "CENTRAL ASIAN DAHAE IN 4TH–2ND CENTURIES BC (ON THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA)". Russian Archaeology (in Russian and English) (1): 11–24. ISSN 0869-6063.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Bivar, A. D. H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–99. ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9.
  4. ↑ Stoneman, Richard (2015). Xerxes: A Persian Life. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18007-7.
  5. 1 2 Herodotus (1998). The Histories. Translated by Waterfield, Robin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Book 1, Chapter 125. ISBN 978-0-19-953566-8.
  6. 1 2 Dąbrowa, Edward (2012). "The Arsacid Empire". In Daryaee, Touraj (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 164–186. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199732159.013.0007. ISBN 978-0-19-973215-9.
  7. 1 2 Harmatta, János (2005). "The Expeditions of Sir Aurel Stein in Central Asia". Acta Antiqua. 45 (2–3): 119–124. ISSN 0044-5975.
  8. ↑ Yu, Taishan (2004). A Study of the History of the Relationship Between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions (in Chinese). Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. p. 19.
  9. ↑ Bailey, H. W. (1958). "Iranian arya- and daha-". Transactions of the Philological Society. 57 (1): 71–115. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1958.tb01291.x.
  10. ↑ Parpola, Asko (2015). The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-022692-3.
  11. ↑ "Dahae". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-09-21.
  12. ↑ Harmatta, János (1994). "History of the Iranian Tribes". In Dani, A. H.; Masson, V. M. (eds.). 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. 151–168. ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5.
  13. ↑ Kent, Roland G. (1953). Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon (2nd ed.). New Haven: American Oriental Society. p. 151.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 de Blois & Vogelsang 1993.
  15. 1 2 Harmatta, János (1999). "Alexander the Great in Central Asia". Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 39 (1–4): 129–136. doi:10.1556/aant.39.1999.1-4.11. S2CID 162246561. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  16. 1 2 Abetekov & Yusupov 1994.
  17. 1 2 Zadneprovskiy, Y. A. (1994). "The Nomads of Northern Central Asia After the Invansion of Alexander". In Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János; Puri, Baij Nath; Etemadi, G. F.; Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris, France: UNESCO. pp. 448–463. ISBN 978-9-231-02846-5. The middle of the third century b.c. saw the rise to power of a group of tribes consisting of the Parni (Aparni) and the Dahae, descendants of the Massagetae of the Aral Sea region.
  18. ↑ Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2000). "Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations". Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka. pp. 101–104. ISBN 978-8-371-88337-8.
  19. ↑ Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2021). Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.): At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History. Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, United States: Brill. p. 22. ISBN 978-9-004-46076-8. Apparently the Dahai represented an entity not identical with the other better known groups of the Sakai, i.e. the Sakai (Sakā) Tigrakhaudā (Massagetai, roaming in Turkmenistan), and Sakai (Sakā) Haumavargā (in Transoxania and beyond the Syr Daryā).
  20. ↑ Francfort, Henri-Paul (1988). "Central Asia and Eastern Iran". In Boardman, John; Hammond, N. G. L.; Lewis, D. M.; Ostwald, M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 4. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-521-22804-6. The Dahas of Xerxes' 'Daiva' inscription (XPh) are perhaps to be situated to the north of Hyrcania where the Dahas mentioned by more recent writers are later to be found
  21. 1 2 Dandamaev, M. A. (1989). A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. Leiden, Netherlands; New York City, United States: Brill. p. 67. ISBN 978-9-004-09172-6.
  22. ↑ Dandamayev 1994.
  23. ↑ Yu 2004, p. 19. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFYu2004 (help)

Sources

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