The Origins

Ethnic and Cultural Similarities to the Nomads of Gor

The Alars, the Kassars, Kataii, Paravaci, Tuchuks, Aretai, Arani, Luraz, Raviri, Ti, Tashid, Zevar, Kavars, Bakahs, Char, Kashani, Ta'Kara, Tajuks… Diverse yet very similar nomadic tribes found on Gor; where did these people originate on Earth – or did they? Mongols, Avars, Turks? Patagonian and Pampean tribes of South America? …

Not much racially was spoken of these tribes. It was mentioned, however, that the Kataii is the only tribe of the Wagon People whose race is negroid. Speaking with someone not long ago, it was discussed on where this tribe might relate to Earth tribes. I found it! Interestingly, the name on Earth is much like the Gorean Kataii. The Qara Khitai is the western division of the Khitai, a Mongol people who inhabited eastern Central Asia for over a millenia. Qara translates to "Black"; the Qara Khitai a negroid Mongol tribe. Refer to the Qara Khitai further down on this page.

"The second rider had halted there. He was dressed much as the first man, except that no chain depended from his helmet, but his wind scarf was wrapped about his face. His shield was lacquered yellow, and his bow was yellow. Over his shoulder he, too, carried one of the slender lances. He was a black. Kataii, I said to myself." — Nomads of Gor, page 14.

There is much debate as to what ethnic Earth culture the Kassars, the Paravaci, the Alars, and the Tuchuks are similar to. Many say that [the Tuchuks] are Mongols based upon the following quote:

"Now the rider in front of me lifted the colored chains from his helmet, that I might see his face. It was a white face, but heavy, greased; the epicanthic fold of his eyes bespoke a mixed origin" — Nomads of Gor, page 15.

Epicanthic folds are simply, folds around the eyes. Many cultures can "lay claim" to epicanthic folds; the obvious ones, such as the Native Americans, the Oriental, the Mongolians, the Eskimo, the Peruvians and other South American tribes, all of which are also, nomadics even on Earth, but there is also the not so obvious ones: Italians, Spaniards, Turks, Greeks, et al. If one looks closely at the quote above, it says, "his eyes bespoke a mixed origin." Therefore, at least to me, this says that the Tuchuks normally do not have epicanthic folds, but because Kamchak himself is of a mixed heritage, that is why he has such folds. We learn later in Nomads of Gor, that, in fact, Kamchak is half-Turian. Perhaps they are the truly the peoples with the epicanthic folds?

"Why is it," I asked Harold, "that he spared Turia?"
      "His mother was Turian," said Harold.
      I stopped.
      "Did you not know?" asked Harold.
      I shook my head. "No," I said. "I did not know."
      Kamchak was now well in advance of us. Harold looked at me. "Yes," he said, "she had been a Turian girl taken as slave by Kutaituchik but he cared for her and freed her. She remained with him in the wagons until her death the Ubar of the Tuchuks." — Nomads of Gor, page 339.

And later, upon the description of Harold, we learn that although rare, some Tuchuks are actually fair of skin. Perhaps the Tuchuks at one time were actually Alar and then later was divided? Interesting, I think, to speculate such.

"Among the Tuchuks, though dismounted, I saw the young man Harold, he whom Hereena of the First Wagon had so sorely insulted at the time of the wagering with Conrad and Albrecht. I did not, however, see the girl. The young man seemed to me a strong, fine fellow, though of course unscarred. He had, as I mentioned, blond hair and blue eyes, not unknown among the Tuchuks, but unusual. — Nomads of Gor, page 113.

I happened upon another quote during my research of the books and found this rather interesting tidbit.

"I understand little of this," said the young khan of the Tajuks. He carried a leather, black, lacquered buckler on his left arm, a slim, black, tem-wood lance in his right hand. At his side hung a scimitar, He wore a turban, and a burnoose, with the hood thrown back over his shoulders. His eyes, sharp and black, bore the epicanthic fold. At his saddle hung a conical steel helmet, oddly fashioned with a rim of fur encircling it, bespeaking a tradition in armory whose origin did not seem likely to be the Tahari. — Tribesmen of Gor, page 306.

Many miles and long hours I put on my journeys in the land of research, digging and digging through books and other resources, and have compiled a brief summary of many of the South American, Eurasian and Teutonic nomadic peoples in history. After reading through it all, can you still say for certain — yep, definitely and absolutely, the Mongols? Or, like many, feel that the tribes of the plains of Turia, are in truth a blend of many Earth nomadics, especially that of the Mongols (the yurts on wagons), the Turks (horse archers) and South American (bola and rhea hunting) nomads. You might even find a bit of history on a particular nomadic tribe that might surprise you. Enjoy. :)

The South American Nomads

The South American nomads were divided into five (5) distinct types based on their form of survival; three of which would likely not be part of the culture brought to Gor. The first, that of the shellfish gatherers, found in the south, occupied the whole Chilean archipelago southward to Cape Horn, a rugged terrain of islands and fjords with heavy rainfall. The second, that of the forest hunters and gatherers, found north of the Chaco, where the country merges gradually into the tropical forest zone, particularly in the western section of Bolivia. The third group, that of the aquatic nomads, were found in the marshes of the upper Paraguay River in Brazil, living most of their lives in canoes, fishing and hunting cayman and other aquatic animals. They built temporary shelters on small islands that stood slightly above flood level, much like that of the marsh tribes of the Arabs, portrayed as rencers on Gor.

The hunters and gatherers of the steppes and plains and the hunters, gatherers, and fishermen of the Gran Chaco will be the main focus of nomadic tribes which likely were brought to Gor.

• The Hunters and Gatherers of the Steppes and Plains
The large area of the steppes and plains extends from Tierra del Fuego, in the south, through Patagonia, to the Pampas of central and northern Argentina and western Uruguay. The Ona occupied the islands of Tierra del Fuego. The brush-covered, semi-arid Patagonian plateau was the home of the Tehuelche, while the Puelche and Querandí inhabited the flat grassy Pampas. The Charrúa lived in the grasslands north of the Río de la Plata. The prehistoric inhabitants of this region practiced no agriculture and had no domesticated animals, with the possible exception of the dog. Throughout the region the tribal groups depended on hunting guanaco, rhea (the South American ostrich), and smaller animals and on gathering some roots and herbs. The population was one of the sparsest in South America. Because transportation of ceramic pottery was cumbersome, the Patagonian and Pampean hunters used containers made of skins.

• The Hunters, Gatherers, and Fishermen of the Gran Chaco
The Gran Chaco extends northward from the grasslands of the Pampas to Paraguay and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. It is an arid region covered with drought-resisting vegetation. The area is drained by the Paraguay River and its western tributaries, such as the Pilcomayo, Bermejo, and Salado rivers, that originate in the Andean foothills. During the summer months the Chaco experiences the highest temperatures in South America.

General Information on the South American Nomads

Bows and arrows were used by all the nomads. Among the Patagonian and Pampean hunters, however, there is archaeological evidence to suggest that the bow and arrow was preceded by the bola. Before the introduction of the horse, guanaco and rhea were hunted by stalking, the hunter throwing the bolas around the neck or legs of the game. Bolas were made by attaching stone weights to two or three short cords that, in turn, were fastened to a longer lasso. With the coming of the horse after the Spanish conquest, the bolas became very important, for from horseback they could be easily swung to ensnare guanaco, rhea, wild cattle, and other large game. Among the Patagonians, Pampeans, and inhabitants of parts of the Chaco, it became the principal hunting device. Spears and the atlatl, or spear thrower, were used to some extent.

Among the forest nomads, such as the Sirionó and Nambikwara, the principal weapon for hunting and fishing was the longbow, which was six feet in length. The barbed arrows were from five to eight feet long.

After acquiring the horse from the Spanish, the Caduveo and other Guaycuruan-speaking peoples gave up what little horticulture they practiced and became predatory nomads raiding Spanish settlements, taking cattle, and capturing slaves from more sedentary tribes. Other Chaco tribes, such as the Abipón, Mocoví, Toba, and Lengua, also became horsemen and raiders. These tribes continued to move their camps in search of pasture for their herds of horses and cattle. Incipient class differences based on war honors and wealth appeared.

Marriage among most nomadic tribes was consensual, similar to common-law marriage. It was easily entered into and easily dissolved, although there were strong forces supporting its continuance, especially whenever women played an important role as food gatherers.

Before the age of puberty, boys and girls learned by imitating older children and adults. Among the shellfish gatherers, children by the age of four began to gather shellfish and spear sea urchins close to shore, returning to camp to roast them and eat them. From an early age children thus took care of their food needs as far as shellfish were concerned. Boys and girls were separated after the age of seven. The boys played with bows and arrows. The girls learned to swim and dive. Males did not learn to swim or dive, since diving for shellfish was considered women's work. Corporal punishment was rare, but children were lectured by elders on manners and morals.

Socialization was formalized especially in the initiation rite, which marked the passage from youth to adulthood for both sexes. There was usually no fixed date, the time depending upon the number of neophytes and the opportunity to amass a supply of food for the feast. In the Chaco there was considerable variation in the details of the initiation rites, but the underlying purpose of education and socialization was the same as among the shellfish gatherers and the Patagonian and Pampean guanaco hunters. Boys went through several rites, and when blood was drawn from their genitals they were considered mature warriors. On the Bermejo and Pilcomayo rivers, girls' puberty rites were attended with singing and dancing designed to protect the girls from evil spirits. A girl was kept in isolation and observed a special diet. After the rites pubescent girls were allowed sexual liberty and often took the initiative in love affairs.

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine nomads retained their effective use of infantry, but turned to cavalry groups earlier than the western Roman Empire.

• The Byzantine Cataphract

The Cataphract, or armored horse archer, were a cavalry-based nomadic group; the men wore shirts of mail or scale armor, iron helms, and carried a small, round iron-bound shield of wood which could be strapped to the forearm, or slung from the waist. Those men of the front rank wore frontlets and poitrels of iron on their foreheads.

"Although they continued to make effective use of both shock and missile infantry, the Byzantines turned to cavalry earlier and more completely than did the western Roman Empire. After an extended period of dependence on Teutonic and Hunnish mercenary cavalry, the reforms of the emperors Maurice and Heraclius in the 6th and 7th centuries developed an effective provincial militia based on the institution of pronoia, the award of nonhereditary grants of land capable of supporting an armored horse archer called a cataphract. Pronoia, which formed the core of the Byzantine army's strength during the period of its greatest efficiency in the 8th through 10th centuries, entailed the adoption of the Hunnish composite recurved bow by native troopers.
      "The Byzantine cataphract was armed with bow, lance, sword, and dagger; he wore a shirt of mail or scale armour and an iron helm and carried a small, round, ironbound shield of wood that could be strapped to the forearm or slung from the waist. The foreheads and breasts of officers' horses and those of men in the front rank were protected with frontlets and poitrels of iron. The militia cataphracts were backed by units of similarly armed regulars and mercenary regiments of Teutonic heavy shock cavalry of the imperial guard. Mercenary horse archers from the steppe continued to be used as light cavalry." — Encyclopaedia Britannica ©2004-2006.

The Eurasians

The steppes of central Eurasia have been the source of countless nations and tribes, from the last retreat of the glaciers some 50,000 years ago to fairly modern times. Siberia, the largest block of land on the planet that is not a continent of itself, does not lend itself well to an archive such as this, since most of the many peoples who inhabit it were and remain pre-technical semi-nomads, with little in the way of formal rulers. It may be of interest to recall that the three best-known words in English of Siberian extraction are "horde" (urdu), "mammoth" (mamunt – the animal, and by extension the adjective), and "shaman".

• The Amazons (Sauromatae)

The Amazons have been an enduring Hellenic legend for better than 2800 years. They were said to be a tribe of woman warriors inhabiting the steppe region around the Sea of Azov (other variants spoke of the upper Danube, or the Caucasus). Founded from of a culture noted for the extreme lengths to which it repressed its women, treating them as little more than domesticated animals, the tale of the Amazonoi is fairly clearly an elaborate version of the "upside-down" story; a tall tale relating a circumstance in which every normal mode of society is turned on it's head. According to the myth they met a Scythian tribe, the Gargarii, once a year to mate and kept only female children, selling or giving the boys to neighboring tribes, or in some cases mutilating them and retaining them as slaves. The Amazons were supposedly ruled by two queens, one for internal matters and one for war. Various complex tales grew up around the idea, eventually having them invade Asia Minor, found the city of Ephesus, retreat back into the north, and at other times interact with every Hellenic warrior-hero from Herakles through Theseus to Alexander. Despite the rather exaggerated versions, there may just be some truth in the story. Recent archeological evidence in the region has supported the idea of at least some steppe-dwelling females achieving status as warriors. Also, the Central Asian Massagetae, ruled at an early date by the warrior-queen Tomyris lends some credence to the idea. Herodotus tells us that the Scythians knew of the Amazons, refering to them as Oiorpata ("man slayers"), and while he is as often called the "Father of Lies" as much as he is called the "Father of History", he apparently lived among the Scythians for a time, and may very well have collected first-hand data about what that people believed concerning their part of the world.

• The Avars

One of a people of undetermined origin and language, who, playing an important role in eastern Europe (6th-9th century), built an empire in the area between the Adriatic and the Baltic Sea and between the Elbe and Dnieper rivers (6th-8th century). Inhabiting an area in the Caucasus region in 558, they intervened in Germanic tribal wars, allied with the Lombards to overthrow the Gepidae (allies of Byzantium), and between 550 and 575 established themselves in the Hungarian plain between the Danube and Tisza rivers. This area became the centre of their empire, which reached its peak at the end of the 6th century.
      The Avars engaged in wars against Byzantium, almost occupying Constantinople in 626, and against the Merovingians; they also were partly responsible for the southward migration of the Serbs and the Croats. In the second half of the 7th century, internal discord resulted in the expulsion of about 9,000 dissidents from the Avar empire. The state, further weakened by a revolt precipitated by the creation of the Bulgarian state in the Balkans (680), survived until 805 when it submitted to Charlemagne. — Encyclopaedia Britannica © 2004-2006.

A Central Asian people living near the frontier of Iran, since they brought with them several Irani loan words that have crept into general European usage (cf. "Ban" as a Balkan title for military governor). There is still an ethno-linguistic group called Avar within the Caucasus who may be related to them. They penetrated the Balkans in the wake of the Huns and established a Dark Ages empire within the western and central Balkans. Always challanged by Franks to the West as well as their own Slavonic subjects, their state lost cohesion in the latter 8th century, and was largely absorbed by Charlemagne at the beginning of the 9th. Only a very few names of Avar Khans were recorded, such as: Sarosios (early 6th cent.), Bayan (c. 565-602), Tudun (c. 795-803), and Zodan (c. 803-805).
      The Avars were a Mongolian peoples, known to the Chinese as the Juan-Juan. In the Fourth Century they were one of many Mongol and Turkic groupings to trouble the northern borders of the Chinese Empire. At this time there was political chaos in China, the north of which fragmented into numerous local states. The restlessness and upheaval, on both sides of the Great Wall, mirrored what was happening in Europe at the same time.
      It was also at this time that the Huns, another of the peoples who had troubled China's northern borders, began to migrate westwards, driving back the Goths and other Germanic peoples and thus setting off the chain-reaction that led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But their movements affected events in Eastern Asia as much as in Western Europe. The migration of the Huns paved the way for the Kök Türük (the Blue or Celestial Turks) to succeed them. It was the Celestial Turks who first drove the Juan-Juan (together with many of their fellow Turks) westwards.
      The Juan-Juan migrated through northern Iran to the Russian steppes. Here, they mingled with other Turkic and Hunnic peoples, primarily the Uighurs, finally emerging into Eastern Europe in the middle of the Sixth Century. This new confederacy, now known as the Avars, were to threaten Constantinople and much of western Europe for over three centuries.
      Little is known about the Avars in the period of their greatest power. Their base was situated somewhere near present-day Belgrade. By the end of the Sixth Century, their empire stretched from the River Volga to the Baltic Sea and archaeological evidence suggests that they remained a powerful presence until well into the Eighth Century. They succeeded in driving out both the Gepids (567) and the Lombards from the Danube Basin. They also drove the Western Slavs into the areas they have occupied ever since. During this early period they were ruled by the khagan (khan), Baian.
      When a new Emperor, Justin II, was crowned in Constantinople, the Avars requested the payment of tribute, which had been promised them by his uncle and predecessor, the great Justinian. Typically, Justin refused. In 568, in pursuit of this tribute, the Avars invaded Dalmatia and indulged in a frenzy of destruction. Justin, sent a large force under his 'Count of the Excubitors', Tiberius. The resulting war lasted for three years, after which the Byzantines were forced to seek a truce. The ensuing treaty cost Justin 80,000 pieces of silver — far greater than the original sum promised.
      In 581, by use of trickery, they captured Sirmium, on the River Sava, which they used as a base from which to mop up a number of poorly-defended Byzantine fortresses along the Danube. Their demands for tribute grew ever greater. After rejecting such exotic gifts as an elephant and a golden bed, the khagan forced the Emperor Maurice to agree to a tribute of no less than 100,000 silver pieces. Such was the drain on Imperial resources that when, in 599, the Avars captured 12,000 Byzantine prisoners, Maurice had to refuse to pay their ransom and every one of them was put to death.
      Maurice's successor, Phocas, preoccupied with wars against the Persians, was forced to agree a truce with the Avars at the expense of inevitably huge tribute. With the Byzantine army in the east, however — treaties notwithstanding — the Avars continued to expand into the Balkan Peninsula.
      After narrowly failing to capture the Emperor Heraclius by more underhand trickery, the Avars reached Constantinople itself. Faced with the huge fortifications of the Theodosian Walls, however, they contented themselves with destroying a few churches and departed.
      In 626, conspiring with the Persians, and leading a barbarian host of 80,000 Avars, Huns, Gepids and Bulgars, the khagan laid more formal siege to the city from the European side of the Bosphorus, while the Persians did likewise from the Asiatic side. True to form, the Avars made one last offer to spare the city – in return for a ransom — but the Emperor rejected it magnificently. Like so many sieges of Constantinople, the attack came to nothing. The Persian fleet was defeated and by the following morning, the khagan's cosmopolitan army had struck camp and left.
      After the death of their khagan, the Avars began to decline in the face of Slavic and Bulgar expansion. Charlemagne inflicted crushing defeats on them, destroying their massive military fortifications, the "Avar Ring", in 791. Their power was ended once and for all by the resurgent Bulgars, under their great king, Krum, early in the Ninth Century.

• The Bulgars

The Bulgarian people began as relics of the Huns. When Attila's empire fragmented at his death in the year 453, the easternmost wing of the Huns migrated back into the steppes of the Ukraine to establish themselves beside the upper Volga. When the Gök Turks lost their hold over the Pontic steppes in the mid 600's, many Turkic and non-Turkic nomad peoples asserted their independence, the most important among them the Sabir, Khazars and Bulgars. Under Khan Kubrat, who united the Kutrigurs and Utrigurs, the two main Bulgar hordes, the Bulgars founded an empire centered on the Azov region but stretching as far east as the Volga and as far west as the Carpathians. Other Bulgar hordes were: the Horde of Bayan, who were absorbed by the Khazars (c. 655); the Horde of Kotrag, who founded Volgan Bulgaria; the Horde of Asparukh, who founded Thracian Bulgaria; Horde of Kuber, who were subject to the Avars until 805 then merged with Horde of Asparukh; and the Horde of Altsek, who migrated to Italy and became subject to the Byzantines, and later absorbed by the Lombards during the 700's.

• The Buqei Horde

The last nomad nation in Central Asia, located in Western Khazakhstan, between the Volga and Ural Rivers; it consisted of roughly 5,000 families of Kazakhs of the Younger Kazakh Zhuz (clans of Adai, Jappas, Baibakty, Tana, Bersh, Cherkesh, Maskar, Isyk, Isen-temir, Alacha, Kyzyl-kurt, Taz, Tama, Kerderi, Tabyn and Kite). Always under Russian hegemony, it was first a Sultanate, becoming a Khanate in 1812.

• The Chionites (Red Huns)

Chionites comes from the Middle Persian word xiyon, 'Hun'. These peoples were a Hunnic tribe that began encroaching upon the frontiers of Iran and the Kushan territory, circa 320 A.D. Distinct from the Hephtalites, the Chionites were also called 'Red' Huns. Sometime after 340 A.D., the enigmatic leader Kidara pushed the Kushans out of northern Pakistan and gave his name to this short-lived dynasty. At the end of the 4th century, a new wave of Hunnic tribes (Alchoni) invaded Bactria, pushing the Kidarites into Gandhara. The Kidarites in northern India continued to mint debased gold and copper coins until the end of the 5th century. Dates and attributions below are questionable. Kidarite principalities may also have existed at Kota Kula, in Kashmir and Taxila; the names of the monarchs in those areas are unknown.

• The Cimmerians

A pre-Iranian group which held the steppes of the Ukraine and southern Russia for quite a long while. They are best known today for their large and treasure-heavy burial mounds, called Kurgans. They, or rather their name, have also found a place in modern fantasy literature. For example, Robert E. Howard adopted the name as the home tribe of his fictional hero, Conan the Barbarian. In the 8th century BCE, they came under increasing pressure from the Scythians, and in response migrated around the Black Sea to lay waste to large portions of Thrace and Anatolia. They were eventually disrupted by Lydia, but pockets of their language and culture persisted until the 5th century BCE.

• The Cumans

In Turkic, called Kipchaks, by the Russians called Polovetses, the Cumans were a vast tribal confederation that at times stretched from the Aral Sea, across the Volgan and Ukrainian steppes, to as far west as Hungary. Normally they were organized by septs and tribes, with little in the way of overall cohesion. A warlike people, they fought incessantly against Russian Princes, but just as often involved themselves with various Russians against others. Destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century, western refugees migrated into Hungary and assimilated with that culture. Their lasting influence is diffuse and subtle, but far-reaching: Khazakhs, Uzbeks, and the Crimean Tatars are largely descended from Eastern Cumans. Qutb ad-Din Aibeg, founder of the Delhi sultanate, was a Cuman; redeemed from slavery by Afghan shakh Mahmud Ghuri, he became his governor in Delhi and proclaimed independence after the death of his patron. Egyptian Mamluks were also Cuman to a large degree, engaged in the Sultan's Guard, later to rebel and seize Egypt. The Kipchak (Cumans) who had broken off from the Kimak and invaded the Pontic steppes divided into many tribes and principalities, as often fighting among themselves as with Russian or Pecheneg enemies. Among their more successful overlords were: Blush-Khan; Sharu-Khan; Sokal-Khan Asep-Khan; Tugor-Khan; Bonyak-Khan the Mangy; Otrok-Khan; Aepak-Khan; Kobyak-Khan; Sotan-Khan; Begluk-Khan; Kozel; Konchak-Khan; Kotyan-Khan; and Bortz Khan. Kipchak-speaking populations today include the Crimean and Volga Tatars, the Nogai, the Karakalpaks, the Uzbeks, and the Kazakhs.

• The Kimak

An account of the Cumans must commence with the Kimak. The Kimak were an important, if obscure, tribal confederacy during the Dark Ages. They inhabited the steppe region roughly corresponding to the area of Russia north of Kazakhstan, and were involved in the fur trade with tribes and nations to the south. To escape the cold the Kimak built underground villages, consisting of networks of trenches covered by layers of greased hides. They are famous for their cultic centers, which featured large wooden idols surrounded by stone monoliths. Towards the end of the 900s, large numbers of Kimak Turks descended on the Pontic region around the Black Sea, establishing, as the Cumans (Kipchak), a confederacy stretching from the Danube basin almost to China, and destroyed only by Genghis Khan. The Kimak who remained in their ancestral homeland passed under the control of various factions: the Kirghiz (early 900's-1100's); the Qara-Khitai (1100's-1208); the Mongols from 1208 (at this point the Kimak disappear as a seperate people).

• The Kipchak
See: Cumans

• The Hephtalites

A people of Central Asia, who migrated into the Oxus watershed, and from thence south and southeastward, into what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and portions of northern India. Ethnically, they elude precise classification; probably a blend of various tribes to one extent or another, they nevertheless retain a link to the complex group of peoples known in China as the Hsiung-Nu, and in the west as Huns; to the Chinese they were the Hua, and to their Hindu opponents they were the Hunas. From about 440 to 490 a large but ephemeral Empire was established, stretching from Samarkand and Merv to Qandahar and Kabul. They then expanded eastward and established links to China, and descended upon India, wreaking great carnage.

• The Hsiung-nu

The Hsiung-nu were a people of vaguely Turkic stock, nomadic pastoralists living north of China. They often raided China of the Han dynasty, providing a major security threat for centuries. Their presence induced, in fact, the Chinese to begin construction of the Great Wall. The Northern Hsiung-Nu removed to modern Khazakhstan, where the Huyang endured until the middle of the 2nd century CE; driven out of their lands by Xian-Bi, they migrated further west, across the Ukraine and into Europe, which they bedeviled under the name of the Huns. Another branch of the Northern Group established the kingdom of Yuehban, located between the Aral Sea and Lake Balkash, which survived until the 6th century CE before succumbing to Turkic invasions. Also, a group of peoples called Hephtalites appeared in Iran and Northern India during the 5th and 6th centuries who seem to be the same stock. Meanwhile, the Southern Hsiung-Nu accepted a nominal Chinese suzereinty, and continued in place, by times enlisting in the Chinese military, and at other times depredating eastern Asia. There is little information about rulers of the Hsiung-nu after 181. But Hsiung-Nu are still mentioned for some centuries during "The Three Kingdoms era" (220-316) and later, Hsiung-Nu commanders were responsible for setting up several short-lived kingdoms in China during the troublous 4th century.

• The Huns

A member of a nomadic pastoralist people who invaded southeastern Europe c. AD 370 and during the next seven decades built up an enormous empire there and in central Europe. Appearing from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga and the Don rivers, and then quickly overthrew the empire of the Ostrogoths between the Don and the Dniester. About 376 they defeated the Visigoths living in what is now approximately Romania and thus arrived at the Danubian frontier of the Roman Empire.
      The earliest systematic description of the Huns is that given by the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, writing c. 395. They were apparently primitive pastoralists who knew nothing of agriculture. They had no settled homes and no kings; each group was led by primates, as Ammianus called them. Whether or not they had a single overall leader in the 4th century is still a matter of dispute.
      As warriors the Huns inspired almost unparalleled fear throughout Europe. They were amazingly accurate mounted archers, and their complete command of horsemanship, their ferocious charges and unpredictable retreats, and the speed of their strategical movements brought them overwhelming victories.
      For half a century after the overthrow of the Visigoths, the Huns extended their power over many of the Germanic peoples of central Europe and fought for the Romans. By 432 the leadership of the various groups of Huns had been centralized under a single king, Rua, or Rugila. When Rua died in 434 he was succeeded by his two nephews, Bleda and Attila. The joint rulers negotiated a peace treaty at Margus (Pozarevac) with the Eastern Roman Empire, by which the Romans agreed to double the subsidies they had been paying the Huns. The Romans apparently did not pay the sums stipulated in the treaty, and in 441 Attila launched a heavy assault on the Roman Danubian frontier, advancing almost to Constantinople.
      About 445 Attila murdered his brother Bleda and in 447, for unknown reasons, made his second great attack on the Eastern Roman Empire. He devastated the Balkans and drove south into Greece as far as Thermopylae. Since Ammianus' time the Huns had acquired huge sums of gold as a result of their treaties with the Romans as well as by way of plunder and by selling their prisoners back to the Romans. This influx of wealth altered the character of their society. The military leadership became hereditary in Attila's family, and Attila himself had autocratic powers in peace and war alike. He administered his huge empire by means of “picked men" (logades), whose main function was the government of and the collection of food and tribute from the subject peoples who had been assigned to them by Attila.
      In 451 Attila invaded Gaul but was defeated by Roman and Visigothic forces at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, or, according to some authorities, of Maurica. This was Attila's first and only defeat. In 452 the Huns invaded Italy and sacked several cities, but famine and pestilence compelled them to leave. In 453 Attila died; his many sons divided up his empire and at once began quarreling among themselves. They then began a series of costly struggles with their subjects, who had revolted, and were finally routed in 455 by a combination of Gepidae, Ostrogoths, Heruli, and others in a great battle on the unidentified river Nedao in Pannonia. The Eastern Roman government thereupon closed the frontier to the Huns, who ceased to play any significant part in history, gradually disintegrating as a social and political unit.
      The Hephthalites, who invaded Iran and India in the 5th and 6th centuries, and the Hsiung-nu, known earlier to the Chinese, are sometimes called Huns, but their relationship to the invaders of Europe is uncertain. — Encyclopaedia Britannica © 2004-2006.

The western Huns controlled at their greatest extent the Balkans, much of central Europe, and the western Russian steppes of the Ukraine and Belarus. Facts in history show that the Huns were seldom if ever completely unified. The Huns reached the summit of their power under Attila, controlling almost all of the Balkans, Austria, northern Italy, Slovakia, and much of the Ukraine. Upon his death (of natural causes) early in 453, the Huns fragmented into competing factions, each headed by one of his numerous sons. Upon the defeat of the last of these (Dengizich) in Thrace, in 469, the Western Huns lost all tribal cohesion, and survivors were absorbed into the Ostrogoth or Bulgar (Eastern Hun) nations.
      The event which, more than any other, presaged the fall of the Roman Empire was the arrival of a group of the Huns in Eastern Europe, forcing many Germanic peoples to migrate southwards and westwards and setting off a chain reaction which could only end with the inundation of the Empire itself. Those are the cold, historical facts. To the people of the time, however, these newcomers were to set new standards for savagery and terror. They became known, even to their barbarian enemies, as the 'Scourge of God'. To the Romans, they seemed the embodiment of Anti-Christ, and to herald the coming of the Apocalypse.
      A tribe known as the Xiongnu existed in western China at the time of the Han Dynasty (the last two centuries BC). They divided into two groups, the smaller of which migrated southwards. The majority, however, went north-west in search of new homes. They found their way into the valley of the Volga and, in the second half of the Fourth Century, attacked the Alans (a people related to the Sarmatians, who lived between the Volga and the Don).
      After routing the Alans, they then went on to conquer the Ostrogoths and drive the Visigoths westwards. Early in the Fifth Century, they seem to have been reinforced by fresh hordes, and had become so powerful that, by the time of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, the Romans felt obliged to pay them a substantial tribute. Still, the Hunnic Empire could not pose a serious threat to the Empire; its economy was too primitive, its internal divisions too great, and Hunnic skills in strategy and siege-craft too lacking to defeat a sophisticated, organised opponent. By about 420 AD, however, a Hunnic Confederacy had been established, enriched by plunder and tribute, by the hiring out of mercenaries to the Romans, and by the extortion of what can only be called protection money. Their Empire stretched from the Baltic to the Caspian when, in 445, one of their two joint-rulers murdered his colleague and seized control of the Confederacy. The murdered man was named Bleda and his murderer was his own younger brother, Attila.
      Attila reinforced his position by, it is said, digging up a rusty old sword and proclaiming it to be the Sword of Mars. The Empire he inherited was built on and sustained by booty; without a continual flow of plunder and tribute it could not survive. So it was that the God of War's chosen one launched an immediate invasion of Eastern Europe. This was in 447 AD, a time when the Empire was already suffering a series of natural catastrophes — earthquakes, pestilence and famine — and it is little wonder that the by now Christian Romans saw the Huns as the very Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
      The victories of this period may have more to do with Roman demoralisation than any inherent military superiority of the invaders. The Huns fought as horse archers, though their forces were much bolstered by the heavy cavalry of their Germanic subjects. In fact, the composition of the opposing armies would have been remarkably similar, with large numbers of Germans and even Huns to be found on both sides. The Roman Army of the time was little more than an assembly of allied or mercenary tribes, with barely an Italian amongst them.
      During the next three years, Attila's men lived off the booty and tribute of the Eastern Empire before turning, in 450 AD, to the West. The Western Empire at this time was nominally ruled by the Emperor Valentinian III but was effectively controlled by the warlord, Aëtius. It was Aëtius who assembled a confederacy with which to confront the Hunnic threat. This was composed of Franks, Visigoths and his own Romano-Germanic army. The two forces met in 451 at the great battle of the Catalaunian Fields, near Châlons-sur-Marne. It was a brutal battle of little tactical subtlety, barbarian against barbarian, and by the end of the day Aëtius had the upper hand. He could have finished Attila once and for all but he did not. Knowing that, with the Huns destroyed, his Visigothic allies would overrun the whole of Gaul, he let the Huns escape. It was a judgment which the citizens of Italy would bitterly rue.
      For Attila now led his horde across the mountains to Milan (Mediolanum), the Roman capital. He spread devastation across the whole of northern Italy and came to the walls of Rome itself. There is a story that Pope Leo persuaded Attila to spare the city and that the great king, in terror of the Cross, retreated. This, however, is Christian propaganda. The truth is that Attila had heard of a threat from the Eastern Empire and turned back to deal with it. He planned to destroy Constantinople, and ensure that the Romans would remain in thrall to him forever. But in 453, lying in a drunken stupor, Attila suffered a nose bleed. The blood trickled down the back of his throat and choked him to death. For a man who had boasted that 'where my horse has trodden, no grass grows' it was a curiously anti-climactic death. The Empire he had created did not survive him. With Attila dead, the Huns ceased to be a mortal threat to the Roman Empire — though the West never recovered and soon passed into the hands of the barbarians. Yet such was the mark left on men's minds that every subsequent wave of Asiatic invaders in the centuries to come were known to westerners are 'Huns' (even the Magyars, several centuries later, so that the realm they founded is known to this day as Hungary).
      The remnants of Attila's Huns regrouped in south-eastern Europe, ruling over the Slavs of that region. These peoples were to found a new Empire which troubled the Byzantines for hundreds of years, and were known as the Bulgars.

• The Juan-Juan

A Central Asian Horde inhabiting what is now Mongolia and parts of Xinjiang. Their ethnic affinities are obscure; they have been identified by various authorities as connected to Mongols, Turks, Huns, or even Avars. Knowledge about them is fragmentary.

• The Khazars

The Khazars were a Turkic-speaking nation of semi-nomadic steppe dwellers living to the northwest of the Caspian Sea, near the portage between the Volga and Don Rivers. Proselytized by both Christian and Muslim missionaries, they took the remarkable step of converting to Judaism as a way of side-stepping potential domination by either the Byzantine Empire or the Caliphate. Thereafter, they contained Muslim expansion beyond the Caucasus for several hundred years. Their kingdom disintegrated in the 10th century, and they were dispersed as a people after the 13th. century. The Khazar Khagans were the supreme chiefs of the people, holding a position of much influence and spiritual authority, but not much actual day-to-day command. Khazar Beks were warlords, military commanders who exercised considerable day-to-day authority, and were sometimes regarded by outsiders as the supreme lords of the Khazar Nation.

• The Magadan And Kamchatka

The extreme eastern end of Siberia, consisting of the Pacific coast and its juncture with the Arctic Sea around the Chukchi Peninsula. The Kamchatka Peninsula is the large leaf-shaped ridge of land springing off Chukchi to the southwest. Before European contact, the sole inhabitants of this region were scattered bands of Chukchi Inuits alongside Evenk pastoralists and Tungus nomads, with occasional Yakut or Manchu forays. It may be of interest to note that this is the region traversed by pre-Asiatic nomads on their way across the Bering Straits landbridge during the last Ice-Age; the first settlers of the Western Hemisphere.

• The Magyars

The original Hungarians, a tribal confederacy of seven related clans. The Magyars are by-and-large a Finno-Ugrian people, related to a degree to Finns, Karelians, and Estonians on the one hand, and Turkic peoples on the other. The original confederation was augmented by three dissident Khazar clans, collectively called the Kabars, and the seven plus three formed the "On Oghur" ("Ten Arrows") Confederation; some think that "On Oghur" is the source behind the modern term "Hungary."

• The Massagetai (Massa Getae)

A nomadic people inhabiting the Central Asian steppes east of the Caspian. It is not exactly clear just who these people were; they resembled Scythians to a degree, although Herodotus takes pains to differentiate between the two, and some scholars have connected the name Massa Getai with the later Goths — but this etymology is not widely accepted. The Persians made several attempts to conquer the Massagetai with little success; indeed, it was the Massagetai who killed the first and arguably greatest of the Persian kings, Cyrus the Great. According to Herodotus, the Massagetai were sun-worshippers who practiced ritual patricide and cannibalism.

• The Mongols

The 13th-century Mongol armies of Genghis Khan and his immediate successors depended on large herds of grass-fed Mongolian ponies, as many as six or eight to a warrior. The ponies were relatively small but agile and hardy, well-adapted to the harsh climate of the steppes. The Mongol warrior's principal weapon was the composite recurved bow, of which he might carry as many as three. Characteristically, each man carried a short bow for use from the saddle and a long bow for use on foot. The former, firing light arrows, was for skirmishing and long-range harassing fire; the latter had the advantage in killing power at medium ranges. The saddle bow was probably capable of sending a light arrow more than 500 yards; the heart of the long bow's engagement envelope would have been about 100-350 yards, close to that of the contemporary English longbow. Each warrior carried several extra quivers of arrows on campaign. He also carried a sabre or scimitar, a lasso, and perhaps a lance. Personal armour included a helmet and breastplate of iron or lacquered leather, though some troops wore shirts of scale or mail.
      Mongol armies were proficient at military engineering and made extensive use of Chinese technology, including catapults and incendiary devices. These latter probably included predecessors of gunpowder, of which the Mongols were the likely vehicle of introduction into western Europe. — Encyclopaedia Britannica © 2004-2006.

Mongolia, that prairie country sitting athwart the Gobi desert in central Asia. It should be noted that before the 13th century there was no all-encompassing term for these people; "Mongol" was merely one of the tribes of these folk.
      Perhaps the best-known of the Central Asian nomads, they are certainly among the best documented. The Mongols arose as a complex group of closely related tribes dwelling in the steppes and semi-arid regions south of the Yakut taiga, adjacent to the Gobi Desert. Ethnographically, their origins are obscure; the best scholarship tends to the view that they are a composite of remnants of the Hsiung-Nu (Huns) combined with pre-Turks — there are certainly some strains of early Manchu and Tungus as well. They emerge into history from the 12th century onward, and in the 13th century they established what is perhaps the largest single Empire the world has yet seen (both the Mongol Empire at it's greatest extent, c. 1245, and the British Empire together with the Commonwealth at it's greatest extent c. 1920, covered about 14, 000, 000 sq. miles (33,400,000 sq. km.) — about 25 % of the world's land surface — and interestingly enough, there is very little overlap between the two).
      Following are the tribal divisions of the Mongol Empire:

      The Golden Horde was the Western division of the Mongol Empire, subject to the Great Khans at Karakorum, and ruling most of Russia. Some famous early Mongols of the Golden Horde include: Temujin Genghis Khan (1206-1227); Batu (1227-1255); Sartaq the Christian (1255-1257); Ulagchi the Child (1257); Berke the Moslem (1257-1266); Mangu (1266-1280); Tode Mangu (1280-1287); Tole Buqa (1287-1290); Toqtagha (1290-1312); Ozbeg (1312-1340); Tini Beg (1340); Jani Beg I (1340-1356); Berdi Beg (1356-1359): Qulpa (1359-1360); Nauruz Beg (1360); Hizr (1360-1361); Temur Hoja (1361-1362); Abdullah (1362 d. 1370); Amurat (1362-1367); Aziz Hoja (1367-1369); Kuchuk Mehmed (1436-1459); Mahmud (1459-1466); Ahmad (1466-1481); and Sayyid Ahmad II (1481-1502).

      The Jadirat were a Mongol tribal confederacy subordinate to the Keraits; two main figures in the history of this tribe were Jajiradai (early 1100's) and Jamuqa (1190's-1205). Jamuqa was a blood-brother of Temujin Genghis Khan. He fell out with Temujin and began a rebellion, for which he was executed. The Jadirat were thereafter absorbed by the Mongols.

      The Keraits were a Mongol people living in central Asia, Nestorian Christians from 1008. Granted the title of Wang (King) by the Chinese Emperor in 1183.

      Khalka is an urdu which emerged into prominence in central Mongolia during the 16th and 17th centuries. It is the Khalka dialect that forms the basis behind the modern Mongolian language.

      The Merkits were an Asian tribe inhabiting southeastern Siberia during the Middle Ages, regarded by their neighbours as being particularly ferocious. Their ethnicity is somewhat obscure; the balance of the evidence suggests that they were Mongolic (related to Mongols, Naimans, Keraits, and Khitan), but it has also been postulated that they are more closely related to Paleo-Asians such as the Chukchi, or Tungusic (Manchu and Evenk). Temujin Genghis Khan had Merkit ties: his mother was the wife of Chiledu, abducted from him by Genghis' father, sparking a long-running feud.

      The Nogai are related to the famous Nogai Horde of the 13th and 14th centuries, though they contain large admixtures of Cuman blood. Until the first half of the 17th century a number of Nogai tribes were nomadic on the steppes between the Danube and the Caspian. Originally Mongol, the Nogai language is now a Turkic dialect of the Cuman group. The invasion of the Kalmucks forced several of the Nogai tribes to leave the steppes and withdraw to the foothills of the North Caucasus. In the Moscow chronicles from the 16th and 17th centuries there are several references to them, including the two Nogai Hordes, the Great and the Small. The former roamed beyond the River Volga, the latter somewhat to the west. Both had numerous military encounters with the Russians. In the 17th century some of the Nogai chiefs entered into an alliance with Moscow and fought at times together with the Russians against the Kabardians, the Kalmucks and peoples of Dagestan. Since the early 19th century the majority of the Nogai have settled in North Caucasia.
      The Great Nogai Horde was a Mongol vassal realm consisting of the part of the Golden Horde which existed west of the Carpathians (the Dest-i-Kypchak, i.e. the Cumanian Steppe). The Great Nogai Horde was not technically an independent entity, though Nogai Khan was considered the real power behind the Golden Horde following the death of Batu and he ruled his own lands more or less separately from 1279 on. During the 1300's and 1400's the Nogai Horde lost cohesion and became wanderers in the Pontic steppe region. They were looked down upon by their neighbors; indeed, the word Nogai means "dog" in Tatar, and it was used disparagingly by other Mongol and Turkic peoples. They had a reputation as vagabonds and drifters, and tended to accept renegades and exiles from other clans. One writer described them as the "Gypsies of the Steppe".

      The Qaidu were a Mongol tribe, closely related to Temujin's Tayichuts, periodically the pre-eminant tribe among the Mongols.

      The Qara Khitai is the western division of the Khitai, a Mongol people who inhabited eastern Central Asia for over a millenia. The Qara (Black) Khitai established a ramshackle empire in the 12th century which merged with the Golden Horde in the 13th century. The names of some of the rulers I have notes on look the way they do because the only source for them are Chinese annals. The Khitai court gave religious equality to all, and was a refuge for Jews, Manichaeans, Nestorians, and others. Their Moslem subjects called the Khitai "idolators", which probably meant Buddhist; The Khitai aristocracy were Nestorian Christians, however, as can be seen by their names. The name of Khitai is memorialized in the mediaeval European label for the far east: Cathay.

      The Sechen is an urdu in eastern Mongolia. a branch of the Khalka.

      The Tatar is the Mongol tribe whose name is the most familiar. These Turko-Mongolic nomads of western Mongolia had their name adopted by most Europeans as the overall term used to describe the Golden Horde, and it, or close variants (Tartar, etc.) has become the adjective of choice for anything savage and seemingly unconquerable. There is still a Tatar ethnic group living in the Crimea; composed of remnants of the Golden Horde, it undoubtable holds some Tatar blood within it, but is by-in-large a mixture of various Mongol types with Cuman, Cossack, Turkic, and perhaps Alan and Khazar.

• The Oghuz (Ghuzz)

The Oghuz, also called Ghuzz or Ouzz, were a confederation of 24 Turkic tribes inhabiting the region between the Caspian and the Aral Sea (northern and western Khwarazm). They were successors to the Gök Turks, from whom most of the tribes were descended (some may have been Uighur originally). Though frequently subject to the Khazars or other steppe peoples, they are nontheless of critical importance to world history as being the forbears of the Seljuq Turks. Their ruler, when they were united under one individual, held the title Yabghu (prince); his foremost warlord and military leader was called the Kudarkin. Cuman incursions caused the Oghuz remaining in Khwarazm to fragment. Some, like the Torks and Berendei, took up residence in Russia (the "Black Hats" who served Russian princes as mercenaries were formed from these tribes.) Others remained behind and formed the nation that would eventually be called Turkoman, periodically emerging as the White Sheep Turks and Black Sheep Turks to seize parts of Iran and Mesopotamia. The Oghuz language is spoken today in variants including Modern Turkish, Azeri, and Turkoman.

• The Pechenegs

A semi-nomadic people of Turkic stock, emerging out of Central Asia from the 7th century CE. Their Kagans were apparently Manichaean refugees from Transoxiana, and may have had a connection to the Oghuz. In control of much of the land between the Don and the lower Danube by the 10th century, they forced the Magyars before them into central Europe and were harried incessantly by the Khazars behind them. Slowly driven southward by the Russians, they repeatedly raided Thrace, and were in almost continual conflict with the Byzantines (who referred to them as "Patzinaks"). Their power was broken once and for all in 1092, by a combined Byzantine-Cuman army, but they did not completely disappear before about 1200. They are fairly poorly documented. Kurya is notorious for having a drinking goblet made of Knyaz Svyatoslav of Kiev's skull, following his demise in battle, 972. This use for enemy skulls seems to have been something of a tradition on the steppes; Herodotus mentions the same custom among the Scythians in the same region, 1500 years before Kurya.

• The Sarmatians

A people originally of Iranian stock who migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains between the 6th and 4th century BCE and eventually settled in most of southern European Russia and the eastern Balkans. Like the Scythians to whom they were closely related, the Sarmatians were highly developed in horsemanship and warfare. Their administrative capability and political astuteness contributed to their gaining widespread influence. By the 5th century BCE the Sarmatians held control of the land between the Urals and the Don River. In the 4th century they crossed the Don and conquered the Scythians, replacing them as rulers of almost all of southern Russia by the 2nd century. Sarmatia perished when hordes of Huns migrated after AD 370 into southern Russia. Those surviving became assimilated or escaped to the West to fight the Huns and the last of the Goths. By the 6th century their descendants had disappeared from the historical record. The Sarmatians never formed a single unified polity; rather they were divided into numerous tribes, the most important of which were:

      Alans (Alanoi)
        The Alans, from whom the modern Ossetians claim descent, were a branch of the Sarmatians descended from a mélange of peoples, including Eastern tribes such as the Massagetae. The name Alan is thought to be derived from the same route as "Iran" and "Aryan" (indeed, the Ossetian self-designation is "Iron") Some Alan tribes went west during the 300's CE and joined the Visigoths and Vandals in Spain and North Africa. The majority remained in the Caucasus region, around the Darial Pass. Their capital was Maghas (destroyed by the Golden Horde in 1339) and at various times they controlled the port city of Phasis, now in Georgia. Their kings had the title of Kundaj. The Alan kingdom lasted, through various periods of vassalage, until the 1400's, when it was destroyed by Timur Lenk (Tamerlane). Thereafter the Ossetians broke up into tribes and factions which were usually under Russian, Kabardian, Circassian or Georgian domination. At various times they were allies and enemies of the Romans and were eventually absorbed into the Visigoths, Vandals, and other Germanic peoples (Sangipan, for example, fought alongside Ætius and Theodoric against Attila the Hun, at the Battle of Chalons). Note that most of the Alans who migrated west ended up acknowleging the Vandal kings as their rulers by the late 400's. Gaiseric took the title "King of the Vandals and Alans" and subsequent kings kept that title until they were defeated by Byzantium.

      Aorsi
        The easternmost of the Sarmatian nations, inhabiting the region around the lower Volga River and as far east as the Aral Sea. There may have been two Aorsi nations, one in the north and one in the south. The Chinese knew the Aorsi as "Yen-Ts'ai".

      "Free Sarmatians"
        A coalition of minor tribes who raided across the Danube into Roman territory during the mid-300's CE.

      Iazyges
        One of the westernmost tribal groupings, inhabting Moldavia and eventually pushing their way into Thrace, northern Dacia, and Pannonia. The Iazyges were the nation with which the Romans had the most contact. Zanticus was defeated by Marcus Aurelius in 174 CE; as part of the settlement 8000 Sarmatian horsemen went over to the Romans as hostages. They were settled as federate troups as far away as Britain and Gaul, where they introduced heavy cavalry and the use of coordinated lancer charges. They may have become the inspiration for the legends of King Arthur's knights.

      Roxolanoi
        A tribe probably deriving their name from the pre-Iranian Raokhshna, or "shining." The name may also derive from a term meaning, essentially, "The Western Alans." They were among the most powerful of the Sarmatian tribes, inhabiting much of the region north of the Black Sea. The ruling dynasty of the Bosporan Kingdom from the end of the 1st century BCE on was Sarmatian in origin, and probably belonged to the Roxolanoi originally.

      Sauromatae
        The Sauromatae were the dominant tribal group during the early period of Sarmatian history (c.600-300 BCE). They were supposed to have been descended from a mingling of Amazon women and Scythian men. The only recorded event involving them occurred in 507 BCE, when they joined the Scythians in repelling a Persian invasion.

      Siraces (Sirakoi)
        A tribal group which migrated to the Black Sea region from what is now Kazakhistan, settling in the Kuban region along the east coast of the Sea of Azov. The Siraces were a relatively small nation, able to muster approximately 20,000 horsemen in the mid first century BCE.

      Two other minor Sarmatian tribes were the Iaxamate and the Basileans.

• The Scythians

A wide-ranging group of horse nomads who emerged out of central Asia to displace the Cimmerians in the Ukraine during the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. They were among the first people to completely master the art of horsemanship, and their ferocity and mobility became legendary because of it. Superb mounted archers, they also maintained a brilliant and artistically gifted culture whose artifacts can be appreciated in museums around the world. Information about them is fragmentary; much of it derives from the Greek historian Herodotos, who is said to have visited them.

• The Tannu Tuva

A small region in southern Siberia, adjacent to the Mongolian frontier at the headwaters of the Yenisei. The people are of Turkic stock, related to a degree to the Yakut.

• The Torghuts (The Volga Kalmucks)

The western branch of the Kalmuck people Dzungarian Kalmucks, Xinjiang), they migrated into the Volga Basin in the early 17th century, there serving for the most part as mercenaries in Czarist armies. In doing so however, their religion (Lamaist Buddhism) and tribal traditions came under increasing oppression, and at length (in 1771) 300,000 of them made an epic journey back to Xinjiang, pursued by Cossacks and harried by intervening Muslim Khanates all the way. The surviving 15,000 settled in their old homeland once more, and swiftly faded from view. A small remnant remained by the Volga, and survive today as a minor ethnic group with it's own autonomous Republic within the Russian Federation (1936-1944, suppressed for anti-Soviet sedition, re-instated 1958).

A Note on the Turks

The infiltration of Turkish tribes into the Eurasian military ecosphere was distinguished from earlier steppe nomad invasions in that the raiders were absorbed culturally through Islamization. The long-term results of this wave of nomadic horse archers were profound, leading to the extinction of the Byzantine Empire.
      Turkish horse archers, of whom the Seljuqs were representative, were lightly armoured and mounted but extremely mobile. Their armour generally consisted of an iron helmet and, perhaps, a shirt of mail or scale armour (called brigandine). They carried small, light, one-handed shields, usually of wicker fitted with an iron boss. Their principal offensive arms were lance, sabre, and bow. The Turkish bow developed in response to the demands of mounted combat against lightly armoured adversaries on the open steppe; as a consequence, it seems to have had greater range but less penetrative and knockdown power at medium and short ranges than its Byzantine equivalents. Turkish horses, though hardy and agile, were not as large or powerful as Byzantine chargers. Therefore, Turkish horse archers could not stand up to a charge of Byzantine cataphracts, but their greater mobility generally enabled them to stay out of reach and fire arrows from a distance, wearing their adversaries down and killing their horses.
      The Seljuq (also spelled Seljuk) were the ruling military family of the Oguz (Ghuzz) Turkmen tribes that invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century and eventually founded an empire that included Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and most of Iran. Their advance marked the beginning of Turkish power in the Middle East.
      During the 10th-century migrations of the Turkish peoples from Central Asia and southeast Russia, one group of nomadic tribes led by a chief named Seljuq settled in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) River and later converted to the Sunnite form of Islam. They played a part in the frontier defense forces of the Samanids and later of Mahmud of Ghanza. Seljuq's two grandsons, Chaghri (Chagri) Beg and Toghrïl (Tugril) Beg, enlisted Persian support to win realms of their own, Chaghri controlling the greater part of Khorasan and Toghrïl, at his death in 1063, heading an empire that included western Iran and Mesopotamia.
      Under the sultans Alp-Arslan and Malik-Shah, the Seljuq empire was extended to include all of Iran and Mesopotamia and Syria, including Palestine. In 1071 Alp-Arslan defeated an immense Byzantine army at Manzikert and captured the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV Diogenes. The way was open for Turkmen tribesmen to settle in Asia Minor.
      Because of Toghrïl Beg's victory over the Buyids in Baghdad in 1055, the Seljuqs came to be seen as the restorers of Muslim unity under the Sunnite caliphate. While Alp-Arslan and Malik-Shah expanded the empire to the frontier of Egypt, the Seljuq vizier Niz am al-Mulk oversaw the empire's organization during both their reigns. The Seljuq empire, political as well as religious in character, left a strong legacy to Islam. During the Seljuq period a network of madrasahs (Islamic colleges) was founded, capable of giving uniform training to the state's administrators and religious scholars. Among the many mosques built by the sultans was the Great Mosque of Esfahan (the Masjed-e Jame‘). Persian cultural autonomy flourished in the Seljuq empire. Because the Turkish Seljuqs had no Islamic tradition or strong literary heritage of their own, they adopted the cultural language of their Persian instructors in Islam. Literary Persian thus spread to the whole of Iran, and the Arabic language disappeared in that country except in works of religious scholarship.
      The Seljuq empire was unable to prevent the rise of the Islamic terrorist sect known as the Assassins and its murder of vizier Niz am al-Mulk in 1092. More importantly, the empire was undermined by the Seljuqs' practice of dividing provinces among a deceased ruler's sons, thus creating numerous independent and unstable principalities. Internecine struggles for power followed. The last of the Iranian Seljuqs died on the battlefield in 1194, and by 1200 Seljuq power was at an end everywhere except in Anatolia.
      Alp-Arslan's victory at Manzikert in 1071 had opened the Byzantine frontier to Oguz tribesmen, and they soon established themselves as mercenaries in the Byzantines' local struggles. Their employment by rival Byzantine generals vying for the throne of Constantinople (now Istanbul) gained them increasing influence, and gradually they assumed control of Anatolia as allies of the Byzantine emperor. They were driven to the interior of Anatolia by crusaders in 1097; hemmed in between the Byzantine Greeks on the west and by the crusader states in Syria on the east, the Seljuq Turks organized their Anatolian domain as the sultanate of Rum. Though its population included Christians, Armenians, Greeks, Syrians, and Iranian Muslims, Rum was considered to be “Turkey" by its contemporaries. Commerce, agriculture, and art thrived in the kingdom, where a tolerance of races and religions contributed to order and stability.
      A war against the Khwarezm-Shah dynasty of Iran instigated in 1230 by the Rum sultan ‘Ala' ad-Din Kay-Qubadh (Kaikobad) I led ultimately to the disintegration of Rum and of Seljuq power. The loss of the Khorezmian buffer state meant that when the invading Mongols reached Turkey's eastern frontiers, the Seljuqs could not fend them off. At the Battle of Köse Dagh in 1243, Seljuq autonomy was lost forever. For a time the Seljuq sultanate continued as a Mongol province, although some Turkmen emirs maintained small principalities of their own in distant mountainous districts. The Seljuq dynasty died out at last early in the 13th century. — Encyclopaedia Britannica © 2004-2006.

• The Yakut

An immense (roughly the size of India) region in Eastern Siberia situated between the Chukchi Peninsula to the east and the Yenisei River Basin to the west; itself watered by the Lena. Composed largely of taiga in the south, and subarctic tundra to the north, Yakut has the distinction of having the most rigorous climate in the inhabited world (average temperatures range from +65 F. in July to -45 F. in January, but temperatures of -89 have been recorded). The indigenous people, the Yakut, are a Turkic folk, with a considerable admixture of aboriginal Tungus. There are some elements of Tatar as well. When initially contacted by Europeans in the early 17th century, they were composed of over 80 local clan or tribal units, all clustered near the Lena. The present population has expanded to all portions of the region, and includes a large number of ethnic Russians.

The Teutonics

The Teutons were the early Germanic tribes who wandered Europe in late Classical times and the early Dark Ages. The Teutons are not so much a particular tribe or nation as they are the cultural hearth out of which all the various Germanic peoples emerged, either directly or at some remove. It is the name given to a group of local peoples who inhabited for ages portions of what is known now as Scandinavia — specifically, central and southern Norway, central and southern Sweden, Denmark, and districts in Germany immediately adjacent to Denmark and the Baltic. There are no names associated with this group; not only is this a very ancient group, but in all likelihood it was composed of many local clans and tribes.
      The Teutons (Deutches) as a people seem to have emerged from out of the area surrounding the Skagerrak — the estuary of the Baltic into the North Atlantic; i.e Denmark, southern Norway, and southwestern Sweden. Identifiably Teutonic characteristics begin to emerge after roughly 2000 BCE, and a stable culture in the region is established which endures for better than 2200 years. Their own earliest mythologies speak of two antagonistic groups, the Æsir and the Vanir — the former a group obsessed with the cult of the warrior and the martial virtues, the latter seeming to be focussed on land-use and fertility cults. The Æsir seem to have predominated eventually, but at considerable cost — the legends suggest, in fact, that they were brought to their knees and had to negotiate a compromise with the Vanir. These legends also speak at length regarding conflicts with peoples collectively called "Frost-Giants", who are said to dwell across the sea, in the East. In the context of modern archeology, this would be a fairly clear reference to ancient Balts of the Battle-Axe Culture, and their neighbours the Finns, who once occupied most of northwestern Russia.
      From about 100 BCE to after 250 CE, groups of Teutons began migrating southward into central and southern Europe. Coming in contact with literate civilizations, names of tribes and names of specific rulers begin to emerge, and form the bulk of this file. Those folk remaining in the north begin coalescing into identifiable tribal nations after about 350 CE.

• The Alemanni

The Alemanni were a late classical-era people who succeeded in occupying southwestern Germany, Alsace, and northern Switzerland during the 3rd century. They were a confederation of various tribes, the chieftaincy of which provided only minimal authority for their region, largely in terms of military leadership. Their name survives today as the base for most Romance language appelations of the German people (Allemagne, Alemannia, etc.).

• The Bavarii

A large and powerful tribe, the Bavarii emerged late in Teutonic tribal times, in what more currently is the Czech Republic (Bohemia). They replaced, or perhaps are simply an offspring of, the previous inhabitants — the Rugians. They swiftly expanded their influence southward, and occupied Austria and the area which still bears their name, Bavaria.

• The Burgundians

The Burgundians were a fairly minor tribe, however, they have had a significant impact on Europe. They have formed the name or foundation of a rather bewildering variety of Dark Age and medieval nations and states. Culturally, the late phase of their Rhineland Kingdom provides the source for the Germanic epic of the Nibelungenlied (The Siegfried Saga). Quite possibly, their most enduring contribution is a written code of laws compiled during the reign of Gundobad which provides a priceless view of Dark Age Teutonic society.

• The Chauci

The Chauci was a numerous tribe which inhabited the extreme northwestern shore of Germany during Roman times (roughly the stretch of coast between Frisia in the west to the Elbe estuary in the east). By the end of the 3rd century CE, they had merged with the Saxons; whether this conjunction was amicable or forced is not clear; indirect evidence supporting each viewpoint is present.

• The Cherusci

A nation inhabiting the Rhine valley and the forests of western Germany (near modern Hanover) during the 1st century BCE and 1st century CE. They were first allies of, and then enemies of, Rome. They are most famous for the Battle of Teutoburger Wald, when a Cherusci army under Herman annihilated three legions under the command Publius Quinctilius Varus. The Cherusci leaders were called "Drighten" (or "Warlord"). By the time Tacitus wrote the Germania in 98 CE, he described the Cherusci as thus:

"[The] Cherusci have been left free from attack to enjoy a prolonged peace, too secure and enervating — a pleasant but perilous indulgence among powerful aggressors, where there can be no true peace. When force decides everything, forebearance and righteousness are qualities attributed only to the strong; and so the Cherusci, once known as 'good, honest people', now hear themselves called lazy fools…."

• The Franks

The Frankish people were confederation of local Teutonic peoples dwelling in the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. During the 5th century, they began migrating westward across the Low Countries and into northern France. In Normandy they displaced the last remaining Roman legion and settled the land.

• The Frisians

The Frisians were — and still are — dwellers along the North Sea coast, in northern Netherlands and far northwestern Germany.

• The Gepids

An early group which settled originally on the coast of what is now Poland, and was never in very close contact with the Roman south.

• The Goths

The Goths were among the first Teutonic people to differentiate themselves from the original homeland and establish themselves as a separate nation. They began their journeys from central Sweden in the early 1st century BCE; various locations there still recall in name their ancient inhabitants. They traveled slowly south and southeastward, across the Baltic and into what is now Belarus and the Ukraine. Here they differentiated into the two divisions that they would always be known by thereafter — the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and the Visigoths (Western Goths). Interestingly enough, the Goths themselves retained a legend to the effect that they began their migrations at the behest of a group of foreign nobles who, arriving in Goth territory from "the far south", managed to secure leadership of the tribe and convince them to undertake extended conquest of lands to their south, back toward the homeland of these foreigners. It has occasionally been speculated, without much in the way of hard evidence, that there actually was a group of exiles who form the basis of this tale.

• The Tauric Ostrogoths

This was a small fragment of the Ostrogothic people dwelling in the Crimean Peninsula who established a kingdom there. They retained a great deal of local autonomy, both religiously (through the episcopate of Doros) and politically (a series of Gothic princes ruled from the fortress of Mangkup well into the 1500's).

• The Hermanduri

One of the earliest (and quite obscure) tribes to emerge, they settled in central Germany during the early 1st century, but had disappeared by around 200 CE. As the Alemanni Confederation appeared in close to the same area the Hermanduri lived in, it is reasonable to suppose that the Hermanduri, along with the Semnones, formed much of the new Confederation. They were in their time perhaps the best-known Germans among the Romans. Tacitus mentions that they were the only tribe to carry on extensive trade with the Empire, and that individual Hermanduri were the only Germans allowed in Roman cities without armed escorts.

• The Heruli

The Heruli was a tribe that apparently originated in southern Scandinavia. They are reported to have been driven out of Jutland (or thereabouts) sometime in the early 3rd century. Thereafter, they wandered generally eastward, becoming over time more closely associated with the Ostrogoths. They managed to sack Byzantium in 267, but their eastern contingent was virtually annihilated at Nis two years later. Serving first under the Goths, and later clients of the Huns, they re-emerged in the second half of the 5th century, to form a confederation of tribes in Italy and Austria. This kingdom was destroyed by the Ostrogoths under Theodoric, and thereafter Herulian fortunes waned. They disappear from historical record by c. 550 CE.

• The Ingvaeones
   The Irminones
   The Istvaeones

These three groups were early were early Germanic pre-tribes, or cultural groups if you will. The Ingvaeones dwelt in Jutland, Holstein, and Frisia; the Irminones dwelt in eastern Germany, roughly between the Elbe and Oder Rivers; and the Istvaeones dwelt around the Rhine and Weser river systems. The time period is rather obscure, perhaps from 500 or 1000 BCE. Their disappearances from the world occured at different intervals as the differentiation of localized Teutonic tribes were formed in the various regions (the Frisians, Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, c. 50 BCE, with respect to the Ingvaeones; the Lombards, Marcomanni, and Quadi, c. 10 CE, with respect to the Irminones; and the Hermanduri and Franks, c. 250 CE, with respect to the Istvaeones).

• The Lombards

The Lombards were a very large and powerful tribe which emerged in the Oder basin. Drifting south, they became enmeshed within the Huns, but continued their migration south afterwards until, by the middle of the 6th century, they were poised on the edge of Italy. They entered Italy in 568, and rapidly established themselves in a number of autonomous Duchies throughout the peninsula; a larger Lombard kingdom was also established in northern and central Italy, which endured until the Carolingian conquest of the late 8th century. Their name refers to their most noticeable identifying characteristic: the "Longbeards."

• The Marcomanni

The Marcomanni were one of the earlier tribes to emerge out of the general Teutonic North, in roughly the end of the 1st century BCE/beginning of the 1st century CE. Documentation on this group is rather poor.

• The Quadi

The Quadi were a small Germanic tribe about which little definitive information is known. They emerged as an element in the earlier migrations southward that took place near the beginning of the 1st century CE., alongside the more numerous Marcomanni, who they were probably closely related to. They were settled in what is now Moravia and western Slovakia from roughly 40 CE onward. Their frontiers for the next 350 years or more were the Marcomanni to the west, pre-Slavic tribes to the north, Sarmatian Iazgyians and (later) Asding Vandals to the east, and the Roman Empire to the south.

• The Rugians

The Rugians were an eastern tribe who began moving south into the Silesian uplands in avoidance of burgeoning Balt expansion. They eventually settled on the edge of the Steppes, but were absorbed by the advancing Huns. Re-emerging from the retreating Huns some 50 or 60 years later, they found themselves in a position to settle Bohemia, recently vacated by the Marcomanni.

• The Saxons

The Saxons, were an important tribe dwelling in northwestern Germany and forming a rather decrepit state during the Dark Ages. They were first mentioned by the classical geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century, and it is likely that they coalesced out of the early tribal group located in that region. They expanded their influence to cover the entire region and, with the withdrawal of the legions in the 5th century, began raids down the North Sea coast, but especially on the island of Britain. In the late 5th, 6th, and early 7th centuries, large numbers of Saxons crossed the seas and established a variety of kingdoms in Britain, alongside Scandinavian raiders intent on the same business (Angli and Jutes). Those Saxons who remained on the continent fell into protracted and ultimately devastating conflict with the Franks, who eventually annexed the entire region.

• The Sciri
Also: Schiri, Skiri

A small tribe about which not much is known; they were evidently clients or associates of the Heruli, and perhaps the Ostrogoths.

• The Semnones

The Semnones were a rather obscure tribe. They appear to have been a subgroup of the Suevi, and dwelt in the bulk of what once was East Germany at roughly the time of Arminius (c. 10 CE). They remained in about that location for the remainder of their identifiable existence. They disappear about 200 CE, being replaced in that region quite soon after by the Alemanni Confederation, thus it is reasonable to assume that many Alemanni had been Semnones, therefore.

• The Suevi

The Suevi were a complex group of closely related tribes existing from at least the 1st century CE, the group that the list refers to began it's career fleeing for it's life from advancing Huns, during the rapid population shift that occured when the Huns suddenly enveloped the Ostrogothic Empire and continued marching into central and western Europe. Once in relative safety in Gaul, the Suevi continued to migrate in close proximity to the Vandals, and eventually settled in Galicia province of Spain, where they organized a fairly stable state.

• The Thuringii

A late occuring tribe which appeared in the highlands of central Germany, a region which still bears their name to this day, Thuringia. They evidentally filled a void left when the previous inhabitants   the Alemanni Confederation   migrated south. It is unclear whether they were "stay-at-home" Alemanni, or simply a lesser tribe that was in the right place at the right time.

• The Vandals

One of the best-known of the Germanic tribes, in the use of their name to epitomize the Barbarian, if nothing else. This East German folk emerged out of the northern Carpathians in the 3rd century, and quickly split into two separate but closely related peoples, the Asdings and Silings. The Asdings eventually established a fairly stable kingdom in the western Mediterranean, but both peoples disappeared in the Dark Ages. Their name lives on though, and not merely as an adjective. The name of Siling is recalled in their original homeland of Silesia, and the occupation of western Spain by both elements established the territorial name of Vandalusia, remembered in slightly abbreviated form (Andalusia, Arabic al-Andalus) even today.

• The Warni

A people evidently dwelling in northeastern Germany, presumably they were clients of the Saxons, the dominant Germanic people of the region.

Sources

The following sources include, but are not restricted to, the following:

• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Brent, Peter. The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan: His Triumph and his Legacy. Book Club Associates, London. 1976.
• Howorth, Henry H. History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: Part I: The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks. New York: Burt Frankin, 1965 (reprint of London edition, 1876).
• Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen (ed. Max Knight): The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1973) ISBN 0-520-01596-7
• E. A. Thompson: A History of Attila and the Huns (London, Oxford University Press, 1948)

 

 

Special Note

Because of the differences in publishing the books, depending upon whether published in the U.S. or Europe, depending upon whether a first publishing or a Masquerade Books release, page numbers will often vary. All of my quotes are from original, first-printing U.S. publications (see The Books page for a listing of publishers and dates) with the exception of the following books:

• Tarnsman of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
• Outlaw of Gor (11th Printing, Balantine)
• Priest-Kings of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
• Assassin of Gor (10th Printing, Balantine)
• Raiders of Gor (15th Printing, Balantine)
• Captive of Gor (3rd Printing, Balantine)

Disclaimer

These pages are not written for any specific home, but rather as informational pages for those not able to get ahold of the books and read them yourself. Opinions and commentaries are strictly my own personal views, therefore, if you don't like what you are reading — then don't. The information in these pages is realistic to what is found within the books. Many sites have added information, assuming the existences of certain products and practices, such as willowbark and agrimony for healing, and travel to earth and back for the collection of goods. I've explored the books, the flora, the fauna, and the beasts, and have compiled from those mentioned, the probabilities of certain practices, and what vegetation mentioned in the books is suitable for healing purposes, as well as given practicalities to other sorts of roleplaying assumptions.

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