Empire of Horses

by John Man

  With their helmsman gone, the Huns, torn apart by rival successors, sank with very little trace. By 470 they were gone, vanishing back into the eastern steppes. Rome itself was also vanishing. In 476 the last Roman emperor, Romulus, was replaced by a barbarian, Odoacer. By a strange coincidence, the fathers of both men had been officials at Attila’s court. His ghost haunted the end of the empire he had sought to conquer.

  Other traces lingered, like dust left over from the great Xiongnu explosion. Attila remained ‘God’s scourge’ in Christian legend, which also credited God for destroying him. As Etzel, he entered German folklore. His name lives on in the Norfolk village of Attleborough. In France, schoolchildren learn to quote him, spuriously: ‘Là où mon cheval passera, l’herbe ne repoussera pas.’ (‘Wherever my horse passes, the grass will not regrow.’) A thousand years after his death, Vikings put ‘Atli’ in their lays, and sang of him in Iceland, Greenland and their short-lived colony in Newfoundland. There have been bad plays, Verdi’s opera, films, a couple of forgettable TV series. He remains a standard cliché attached to any leader accused of mindless devastation.

  1 E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (see Bibliography).

  2 Ermanaric’s name probably derives from Hermann-Rex, King Hermann, the Gothic having adopted the Latin word and turned it into reiks, which, when retransliterated, became ric. It was a common ending for the names of Gothic aristocrats.

  3 Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns (see Bibliography).

  4 It almost happened to Basque in post-war France, where the government insisted that Basque made children stupid and banned its use in schools. In the 1950s and 1960s, many Basques grew up not speaking the language of their parents and grandparents. There has been a revival since.

  5 Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire (see Bibliography).

  6 Charles Mierow (trans. and ed.). The Gothic History of Jordanes (see Bibliography).

  7 In Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Book 5 (see Bibliography).

  Epilogue

  A LASTING LEGACY

  THE XIONGNU VANISHED, DIFFUSED ACROSS ASIA, EVIDENCE for their existence buried and gathered in Chinese histories. Travelling across their imperial lands now, you would not know they had ruled an empire almost twice the size of Rome’s, from Lake Baikal to the Great Wall, from Manchuria to the heart of Eurasia. But take a closer look, and they emerge from the past like a forest revealed by rising mist. What would China be without the Great Wall, built to keep out the Xiongnu and now a symbol of the nation? Without the Xiongnu, there would no panorama of the Wall to greet you at passport control in Beijing International, and China would be short of a few million tourists. Open an atlas or check an online map of China: the far north-west – Xinjiang, or the Western Regions as it once was – is part of China only because of Emperor Wu’s determination to seize it from the Xiongnu. And what would the nation be without the certainty that their culture is the essence of refinement, a bastion against the forces of barbarism?

  Then look at Mongolia itself. True, it was once part of China, sort of; or rather part of the Mongol empire which had made China part of Mongolia. In China, that still rankles: China under barbarian rule! For a century (1279–1368), the world turned upside down! Then it righted itself, and Mongolia really did become part of China for 500 years. Finally, in the early twentieth century, Mongolia regained its independence. For Chinese, this is against the natural order of things. Mongolians say the opposite. They boast of two ancestral empires that made China tremble. The later one was the creation of Genghis Khan, of course, the father of the nation. But he looked back 1,000 years, to a tradition of empire started by the Xiongnu.

  To the Chinese, the appearance of Halley’s Comet in 240 BC was an omen of change, and possibly catastrophe. The rise of the Xiongnu brought both, with the death of uncounted ten thousands and the reshaping of Asian history – reasons enough for these people and their empire to get the attention they deserve.

  Illustrations Insert

  The main tower of Tong Wan Cheng looms over a wall, which links a line of so-called ‘horse-face’ bulwarks.

  Until a few years ago, these caves were homes for families who made their living keeping pigs and farming the abandoned inner city.

  THE ONLY XIONGNU CITY (SO FAR)

  Tong Wan Cheng (Ruling Ten Thousand Cities), in southern Ordos, was the capital of the Southern Xiongnu state of Da Xia for a few years in the early fifth century. If there were other Xiongnu cities, they await discovery. Built of pale rammed earth, it is also known as White City. Caves in its walls acted as houses for many families, including the current guide, Ma Junwang.

  Mr Ma describes the layout of one of the entrance gateways.

  Holes in one of the towers were left when scaffolding used in the original construction was removed.

  This little glass bowl, just 6 cm high, was made in Rome in C.AD 50. Erdenebaatar found it in Gol Mod 2, in a side grave of Tomb No. 1. How it got there is a mystery.

  On a jade disc 18 cm across, two catlike animals hold a circle, their bodies intricately curlicued. Other animals circle 112 knobs.

  On a plate of embossed gold, a hard-to-see bers amidst flowers becomes clear as a drawing.

  These 17.5 cm breastplates each have a pair of bers entwined withflowers. The top creature is part-unicorn. Inlays are of turquoise and chalcedony.

  Turquoise buttons, set in gold clasps, with a strip of patterned gold.

  These two figures are part of a group embroidered on a carpet excavated from Noyon Uul in 2006. They are perhaps Indian. The carpet, preserved by permafrost, has been restored by Russian scientists.

  The corkscrew-like handle of a bronze dagger is capped by a pair of snow leopards.

  TREASURES UNBURIED

  The thousands of finds in Xiongnu tombs include textiles, pots, jewellery, bronze mirrors, buttons and golden bas-reliefs with complex designs. In their range and sophistication, these objects show that the Xiongnu had a taste for high-quality art from both China and the west. Textiles were probably locally made, though there is no way to tell whether the weavers were local or foreign. Certainly, the Xiongnu knew how to cast bronze and gold. Several golden medallions and breastplates have a mythological creature with a snarling animal’s head, perhaps a snow leopard, and a dragon’s body: the bers, as it is known in Mongolian, can move from place to place instantaneously. It is also the queen in Mongolian chess.

  Wherever the carpets came from, the artists used embroidery to create intricate patterns – suggesting flowers or birds.

  Portraits, in this case of a man with a moustache who could be Indian, or Turkish, or even Xiongnu.

  Bronze cauldrons were probably used for communal feasts. Some scholars point to Xiongnu cauldrons as evidence that the Xiongnu were the ancestors of Attila’s Huns.

  To get to sites, set in wooded hills in central Mongolia, you need good 4 x 4s

  Low stone walls restored after excavation, show that the tent-dwelling Xiongnu could have built a city.

  GOL MOD: GRAVES FOR NOMAD RULERS

  Of the 10,000 or so Xiongnu graves north of the Gobi, several hundred are so-called ‘terrace’ or ‘élite tombs. Of these, twenty have been excavated, all constructed between about 50 BC and AD 50. The most impressive of recent discoveries are the two cemeteries known as Gol Mod 1 and 2, shown here. Revealed by French and Mongolian teams, the tombs are like upside-down pyramids, almost 20 metres deep. Their contents, reduced by tomb-robbers, reveal a rich, artistic society that did well out of its connections with China. Since the only sources are Chinese, many mysteries remain.

  Erdenebaatar, discoverer and senior archaeologist of Gol Mod 2.

  A volunteer army of diggers parades around Gol Mod 2’s Tomb No. 1.

  Cutaway of a royal ‘terrace tomb’.

  After excavation, the tombs were refilled.

  For nomads like the Xiongnu, the horse was an obvious emblem of wealth and identity to attach to one’s belt.


  Those of higher status favoured the image of a Siberian tiger with its prey – a sheep or gazelle – held in its jaws.

  This golden plaque has a complex design of a tiger with a wild boar slung over its back.

  THE ORDOS BRONZES

  Despite their name, the Ordos Bronzes have been found across all of Inner Asia and many are of other metals. The most common items – and some of the first discovered – are belt buckles and horse accoutrements of bronze. They may represent family or clan emblems. Later finds are of gold, notably the coronet (below), found in 1972. It may be a royal symbol.

  Horse and chariot decorations included these triangular wheel plaques.

  The golden coronet, the prime object in the Ordos Bronze Museum, is topped by an eagle with a turquoise head.

  THE GREAT NORTH ROAD

  In 210 BC, the great Qin general Meng Tian was told to claim Ordos for the newly unified Qin empire. To do this, he needed to drive the Xiongnu out of Ordos across the Yellow River and build a road of some 800 kilometres across their territory so that Qin troops could secure the new frontier. The ‘Straight Road’ would carry not only troops but also chariots, for the delivery of gifts and officials as China struggled to balance war and peace with its northern neighbours. Today there is little evidence of its existence, but it is remembered at a site near Ordos City, where a modern version of the road is due to open for tourists.

  The new tourist site suggests the original road was a dual carriage-way, allowing chariots to pass.

  A nearby archaeological site shows no signs of the road itself, but is marked by a statue of the First Emperor in his chariot.

  A stone bearing the sign ‘Qin Straight Road’.

  Chinese chariots appear in paintings, like the fresco, western Mongolia. Drawn by up to four horses, chariots were often sent as gifts to nomadic leaders and buried with them.

  Chinese chariots appear in paintings, and rock drawings, like this one from Khovd, western Mongolia. Drawn by up to four horses, chariots were often sent as gifts to nomadic leaders and buried with them.

  WEAPONS: THE EVIDENCE – AND THE LACK OF IT

  The Xiongnu owed their success to their supreme skills as mounted archers: no close-quarter fighting, no swords. They liked daggers, though, probably more for status than combat. What were the bows like? Hard to say, because bows rot, leaving only the bone extensions, or ‘ears’. Some Xiongnu wore armour, again probably for status, for it would not have withstood Chinese crossbow bolts.

  This fine helmet was probably a trade item from China or Greece.

  A little practical use in a society devoted to bows and arrows, with their dozens of different forms, iron.

  Lamellar armour was made in bronze or leather.

  Lamellar armour was made in bronze or leather.

  Though the wooden parts of bows rot away, the bone bits often survive – the bone ‘ears’ (left and right) that extended the bow, and the bone plates (top) that strengthened the bell.

  Bronze daggers with ornate handles were more a form of personal decoration than weapons.

  THE ‘PRINCESS’ WHO LINKED CULTURES

  One of the most famous women in Chinese history is Zhaojun, who was given in marriage to the Xiongnu king (chanyu) in 51 BC. She became the best known of many girls married off to many different nomadic rulers, the idea being that they would ‘civilize’ the barbarians both by introducing Chinese ways of life and by producing children who would, by definition, be part of a Chinese ruling dynasty. The practice was much appreciated by the Xiongnu, but it didn’t work. Perhaps for that reason, Zhaojun became a Chinese heroine, one of the four ‘Great Beauties’. She is remembered in this park in the south of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

  A statue shows Zhaojun about to leave for the grasslands with her husband, Huhanye.

  In the background is her tomb-mound, almost certainly not genuine. She is portrayed as a traditional Chinese beauty. Mythological animals guard the way to the mound.

  A view from the top shows the park’s size, and hints at the respect in which she is held.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  The following are the works I consulted for this book. There are many others. Barfield’s The Perilous Frontier, Di Cosmo’s Ancient China and its Enemies and Xiongnu Archaeology (see Brosseder, below) all have excellent bibliographies. Xiongnu Archaeology is a wonderful guide to current archaeological research. Di Cosmo’s ‘Selected Bibliography on Xiongnu Archaeology and Related Subjects’, which surveys the field up to 2008, is available online.

  Alexeyev, Andrei Yu., et al.: Scythians, Warriors of Ancient Siberia, Trustees of the British Museum/Thames & Hudson, London, 2017.

  Ammianus Marcellinus: The Later Roman Empire, trans. and ed. Walter Hamilton, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1986 (and later editions).

  André, Guilhem et al.: ‘L’un des plus anciens papiers du monde exhumé récemment en Mongolie’, Arts Asiatiques, Vol. 65, 2010.

  Ban Gu: The History of the Former Han Dynasty, Waverly Press, Baltimore, 1938–1955.

  Barfield, Thomas J.: The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757, Blackwell, Cambridge (Mass.) and Oxford, 1989.

  Barfield, Thomas J.: ‘The Hsiung-nu Imperial Confederacy: Organization and Foreign Policy’, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1, November 1981.

  Baumer, Christoph: The History of Central Asia, Vol. II: The Age of the Silk Roads, I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2014.

  Bemmann, Jan, et al. (eds): Current Archaeological Research in Mongolia, Bonn Contributions to Asian Archaeology, Vol. 4, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn, 2009.

  Benjamin, Craig G. R.: The Yuezhi: Origin, Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria, Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium, 2007.

  Brosseder, Ursula, and Bryan K. Miller (eds): Xiongnu Archaeology: Multidisciplinary Perspectives of the First Steppe Empire in Inner Asia, Bonn Contributions to Asian Archaeology, Vol. 5, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn, 2011.

  Buchwald, Tony: Sima Qian’s Self-Conception in Claims of Legitimacy, GRIN Verlag, Norderstedt, 2012.

  Chimiddorj, Yeruul-Erdene, and Ikue Otani: ‘The Chinese Inscription on the Lacquerware Unearthed from Tomb 20, Gol Mod Site 1, Mongolia’, The Silk Road, Vol. 13, 2015.

  Chin, Tamara T.: ‘Defamiliarizing the Foreigner: Sima Qian’s Ethnography and Han-Xiongnu Marriage’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 70, No. 2, December 2010.

  Cosmo, Nicola Di: Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2002.

  Cosmo, Nicola Di: ‘Ancient Inner Asian Nomads: Their Economic Basis and Its Significance in Chinese History’, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 53, No. 4, November 1994.

  Cosmo, Nicola Di: ‘Han Frontiers: Toward an Integrated View’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 129, No. 2, April-June 2009.

  Crespigny, Rafe de: Northern Frontier: The Policies and Strategy of the Later Han Empire, Australian National University Faculty of Asian Studies Monographs, New Series, No. 4, Canberra, 1984. An edited version: The Division and Destruction of the Xiongnu Confederacy in the First and Second Centuries AD, available as an Internet edn, 2004.

  Davis-Kimball, Jeannine, and C. Scott Littleton, ‘Warrior Women of the Eurasia Steppes’, Archaeology, Vol. 50, No. 1, 1997.

  Desroches, Jean-Paul, et al., Mongolie: Le Premier Empire des Steppes, Actes Sud, Mission archéologique française, Paris, 2003.

  Dubs, Homer H.: ‘History and Historians Under the Han’ (review of Burton Watson’s Ssu-ma Ch’ien: Grand Historian of China), The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2, February 1961.

  Durrant, Stephen W.: ‘Self as the Intersection of Traditions: The Autobiographical Writings of Ssu-ma Ch’ien’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 106, No. 1, January–March 1986.

  Erdenebaatar, Diimajav: /The Cultural Heritage of Xiongnu Empire, Munkhiin Useg Publishing House, Ulaanbaatar, 2016.

  Ereg
zen, Gelegdorj (ed.): /Treasures of the Xiongnu (exhibition catalogue), National Museum of Mongolia, 2011.

  Gibbon, Edward, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, many edns.

  Giscard, Pierre-Henri, and Tsagaan Turbat (eds): France-Mongolie: Découvertes Archéologiques – Vingt Ans de Partenariat (exhibition catalogue), Institute of History and Archaeology, Ulaanbaatar, 2015.