Far East Kingdoms

Indo-Iranians / Indo-Aryans (East Indo-Europeans)

Indo-Europeans - Indo-Iranian Tribes (Intro) Anatolian Tribes Balkans Tribes Baltic Tribes Celtic Tribes Germanic Tribes Italic Tribes Indo-Iranian/Aryan Tribes Slavic Tribes Tocharians (Intro)

Indo-Iranians and Indo-Aryans were the eastern descendants of the Indo-European collective of peoples. The terms 'Indo-Iranian' and 'Indo-Aryan' refer essentially to the same people, although with a division which was related to language dialect and geographical placement. The older term of 'Aryan' which was originally used to describe these peoples has rather distasteful connotations due to its use by the Nazis.

The groups which formed these two divisions appear to have originated to the north and east of the Caspian steppe. This was prior to the Yamnaya horizon event which saw the widespread outwards migration of Indo-Europeans (IEs). While the steppe dwellers generally headed west, towards the heartland of Europe, the ancestors of the Indo-Iranians and Indo-Aryans not only replaced them on the steppe (see feature link), they also spread eastwards.

There they displaced some earlier tribal forager populations with their horse-riding, cattle-herding sophistication. From there they spread out between southern Siberia and Central Asia, setting up two related cultures to the north of the Aral Sea and the Syr Daria (River Jaxartes/Tanais) which were eastward expressions of the Yamnaya.

The original spur for this sudden expansion lay in the Near East, somewhere between south-eastern Anatolia (today's Turkey) and northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), where cattle herding was invented when wild aurochs were tamed. This new economy quickly proved its worth and soon spread in all directions in which cattle could graze, along with the people who invented it.

Some of them crossed the Caucasian Mountains (the western end on the Black Sea coast would be a favourite location for such a tricky crossing), and spread out amongst the steppe-dwelling proto-Indo-Europeans to the north of the mountains. This cattle herding technology was eventually augmented there by the use of the horse, vital for herding on the vast, open plains of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The newcomers adopted the local language, and this appears to have formed the basis for centum-speaking Indo-Europeans (involving western language groups which includes the West Indo-European designation).

In the forests to the north of this steppeland, relatively untouched groups of forager IEs slowly adapted to the new technology without being subsumed by the newcomers, probably via contact with their steppe-dwelling cousins; these were the satem variety of IE speakers (the later eastern language groups).

They were the ancestors of Indo-Iranians, Indo-Aryans, Slavs, and Balts, and they also provided part of the ancestry of Germanics (which explains why Germanics were notably different from their Celtic neighbours - see below). Once the horse was introduced, the great steppe nomad expansion soon occurred - known as the Yamnaya horizon - with IEs entering Central Europe, Anatolia, the Near East, and Central Asia. Eventually, India, the Iranian highlands, and eastern Asia would follow (see feature link).

(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information from the Encyclopaedia of Indo-European Culture, J P Mallory & D Q Adams (Eds, 1997), from The Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983), from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony, from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from the BBC Radio 3 programme with Bettany Hughes, Tracking the Aryans, 2011, from The Turks in World History, Carter Vaughn Findley (Oxford University Press 2005), from Ethnogenesis in the tribal zone: The Shaping of the Turks, Peter Benjamin Golden (2005), and from External Links: Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe (Nature), and Peering at the Tocharians through Language, and Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Zarathustra (Encyclopaedia Britannica).)

c.3000 BC

A date of around 3000 BC is generally used as the probable point at which Indo-Europeans begin to separate into definite proto languages which are not intelligible to each other. A western group will evolve into or subsume Celtic, Italic, Venetic, Illyrian, Ligurian, Vindelician/Liburnian and Raetic branches.

An eastern branch - or perhaps a branch which populates the eastern steppe because it has greatly emptied of people - remains in this region for another millennium or so. Apparently the people of this group refer to themselves as Arya or something similar.

By around 3000 BC the Indo-Europeans had begun their mass migration away from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, with the bulk of them heading westwards towards the heartland of Europe (click or tap on map to view full sized)

They form the Indo-Aryan ancestors of a good deal of India's modern population (except for the southernmost parts - see 2200 BC, below). Also formed slightly later from this eastern grouping are the ancestors of the Kurds, Persians, Mannaeans, Medians, and related peoples, possibly also including the Sakas. All of these groups are classed as Indo-Iranians.

c.2300 BC

The Andronovo horizon succeeds the Yamnaya horizon which itself has seen the massive outward migration of Indo-European tribes, mostly westwards. The Andronovo appears to be an eastwards expression of Yamnaya migration.

While it is usual to link this culture to the Indo-Iranian migrations as a possible birthplace of proto-Indo-Iranian, that process may already have been triggered during the preceding Poltavka culture, this being an expression of the Yamnaya.

Indo-Aryan dialects begin to emerge farther to the south, with possible influence from a major indigenous culture there. Remaining western Indo-European populations on the steppe which include West-Indo-European types soon become dominated by new Indo-Iranian masters (see feature link).

Saka Tikrakhauda (otherwise known as 'Scythians' but, in this case, more precisely identified as Sakas) depicted on a frieze at Persepolis in Achaemenid Persia, which would have been the greatest military power in the region at this time

c.2200 - 2000 BC

An indigenous Bronze Age culture emerges in Central Asia between modern Turkmenistan and down towards the Oxus (otherwise known as the Amu Darya), the somewhat nebulous region which is known as Transoxiana.

It is known as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, or Oxus Civilisation (centred on the later provinces of Bactria and Margiana). Indo-European tribes on the eastern steppe soon integrate themselves into it.

In fact, these Indo-Europeans seem to have remained in the old homeland to the north of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea longer than other Indo-European groups, at least partially generating the Sintashta culture and Andronovo horizon on the eastern steppe.

It may also be this Oxus culture, or a neighbouring Indo-European group which feeds off its progressive nature, which forms the 'spiral cities' of the Kazakhstan steppe. Items which have so far been recovered from recent exploration in this region include make-up equipment, a chariot, and numerous pieces of pottery.

The artefacts are daubed in swastikas (symbols of the sun and of eternal life). Evidence of ritual horse burials are also found, which ties in with ancient Indo-Aryan texts which describe the animals being sliced up and buried with their masters.

This king's tomb in the Indo-European settlement in the Karakum (modern Turkmenistan) contains a valuable horse to accompany him into the afterlife

Given the fact that they appear in the historical record around the same time, the Andronovo people and other Indo-Europeans who integrate into the Oxus may be related to the Anatolian branch of Indo-European languages which had begun to divide from the other branches around 3500 BC (see above).

Alternatively, and more likely, they are related to the comparatively late migration of Indo-Iranians and Indo-Aryans who later form the Alani, Mannaeans, Medians, Mitanni, Persians, Scythians, and Indians, and possibly also the non-migrating Sakas. The Mitanni may be a slightly earlier-migrating group of Indo-Aryans.

2100 - 1700 BC

The Sintashta culture is also linked to Indo-Iranian migrations. This succeeds the Yamnaya horizon and the Abashevo culture, appearing to be an eastwards expression of Yamnaya migrations.

Climate change from around 2000 BC onwards greatly affects the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, denuding it of water as the rains decline. The people are forced to migrate away, abandoning many of their cities.

Indo-Iranian groups now become dominant here, over the next millennium or so. Some of their descendants enter today's Iran to found states such as those of the Mannaeans, the Median empire, and early Persia.

The River Oxus - also known over the course of many centuries as the Amu Darya - was used as a demarcation border throughout history - it was also a hub of activity in prehistoric times, providing a home to the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, or Oxus Civilisation

Some go even farther, even earlier, to form the Mitanni empire or head westwards across the Pontic steppe to dominate remaining groups there (see feature link). Others cross the rivers of modern Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush mountains and enter India between 1700-1500 BC. They eventually form their own kingdoms there such as Magadha, plus Kalinga, and the Kaurava state.

c.1900 - 600 BC

The Cemetery H Bronze Age culture is linked to the late Harappan Indus Valley culture and the Indo-Aryan migrations. It is one of a series of cultures which can be linked to the Indo-Aryans (Cemetery H, Swat, Copper Hoard, and Painted Greyware), each of which progresses in succession farther south-eastwards along the Ganges plain, showing a migration pattern which does indeed seem to link up with what is known about the Indo-Aryan arrival in India.

However, Cemetery H can also be claimed as a late expression of Harappan Indus Valley culture. Possibly its a combination of both, with refugees from the Indus collapse joining the Indo-Aryan migration.

The ruins of Harappa were rediscovered in the 1920s, almost four thousand years after India's first true civilisation disappeared amid a general collapse of ancient civilisations that was due to climate change

The Black & Redware culture (BRW, of about 1200-900 BC) is often also linked to the Indo-Aryan migrations and to late Harappan pottery, although in this case it is more likely a late expression of the overall Indus Valley culture.

c.1339 BC

Devastatingly defeated by the Hittites in a shock reversal of fortunes, by now the Indo-Iranian or Indo-Aryan Mitanni warrior class has been fully absorbed into the Hurrian populace, leaving little trace of its existence, including its language.

c.1000 BC

The Parsua begin to enter Iran, probably by crossing the Iranian plateau to the north of the great central deserts (through Hyrcania) but also by working round to the south of them. Already separated during their journey, Parsua groups head in two main directions.

In time the northern groups find themselves in the Zagros Mountains alongside their cousins, the Mannaeans and Medians. They are attested there during the ninth and eighth centuries BC but disappear afterwards. The southern groups, perhaps more numerous, trickle in through Drangiana and Carmania, towards southern Iran where they begin to settle.

The Oxus Treasure contains this Persian model of a Median war chariot, although it is only pulled by two horses rather than the customary four

Located in the Fārs region of Iran, these Parsua come under the overlordship of their once-powerful western neighbour, the kingdom of Elam. In the later stages of Parsua settlement, Assyria and Media also claim some control over the region.

As Elam's influence weakens, the Parsua begin to assert their own authority in the region, although they remain subjugated by more powerful neighbours for quite some time.

c.843 BC

The Parsua receive their first mention in history. The Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III, records their existence on the Black Obelisk, which covers his campaign of about this year. Their position is not precisely fixed but 'Pasua' seems to lay in what is now Iranian Kurdistan (immediately east of Kurdistan in northern Iraq), far to the north of Persis and the heart of Parsuan/Persian settlement.

They also occupy territory which stretches back into the east, seemingly along the Great Khorasan Road which follows the southern edge of the Elburz Mountains on the south coast of the Caspian Sea (largely within the later province of Hyrcania).

Following the climate-change-induced collapse of indigenous civilisations and cultures in Iran and Central Asia between about 2200-1700 BC, Indo-Iranian groups gradually migrated southwards to form two regions - Tūr (yellow) and Ariana (white), with westward migrants forming the early Parsua kingdom (lime green), and Indo-Aryans entering India (green) (click or tap on map to view full sized)

It may be the case that there are two (or perhaps even three) distinctive groups of 'Parsua' at this time, primarily in the Zagros Mountains to the east and south-east of the Assyrians. This is apart from a larger body which is settling the land immediately to the east of Elam (and is focussed around the city of Persis).

Those groups in the Zagros seem to drop out of the historical record towards the end of the eighth century BC (after 714 BC), perhaps pushed south by the greater numbers of the Medes or perhaps absorbed by them.

836/835 BC

The Medes are mentioned for the first time in historical records when Shalmaneser III of Assyria receives tribute from the 'Amadai' after fighting wars against the tribes of the Zagros Mountains. Living in the central Zagros along the Khorasan road, the Medes are usually mentioned in conjunction with the Scythians, another steppe group which appears to be the dominant force in the region.

The Zagros Mountain range provided the Medes with their home, but it was also the Assyrian gateway into Iran, one which was used in later attacks on the Indo-European Persians and Medes

9th century BC?

Later myth ascribes a dynasty of Persian rulers to this period, as described in the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), a poetic opus which is written about AD 1000 but which accesses older works and perhaps elements of an oral tradition.

The Kayanian dynasty of kings are also the heroes of the Avesta, which forms the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. This faith itself had been founded along the banks of the River Oxus, which had probably also formed part of the migratory route used by the Indo-Iranian Persians as they entered Iran.

The earliest of these rulers is Fereydun, king of a 'word empire' which is apparently centred on the land of Tūr. This can be equated to territory in the heartland of Indo-Iranian southern Central Asia and South Asia, focused mainly on the later provinces of Bactria and Margiana, along with the Kopet Dag region, the Atrek valley, and the eastern Alborz Mountains.

Fereydun becomes the father of Tūr, Salm, and Iraj. A descendant of the first of these (possibly a seven-times grandson) is Afrasaib, who still rules the kingdom of Turan during the lifetime of the Persian Kai Kavoos of the seventh century BC.

The landscape around the walls of the ancient city of Bactra, capital of Bactria (shown here - now known as Balkh in northern Afghanistan, close to the border along the Amu Darya), was and still is very diverse, offering both challenges and rewards to any settlers there, including the newly arrived Greeks

c.700 - 200 BC

The Northern Black Polished Ware culture succeeds the Painted Greyware. This is another culture which is often linked to Indo-Aryan migration which has resulted in Indo-Aryan control of areas of northern and central India for up to eight hundred years.

Additionally, various later groups or tribes in India can be ascribed an Indo-Aryan origin, including the Jats, who may be descendants of the Sakas in the latter's guise as the Indo-Scythians.

7th century BC

Sijavus is a legendary Persian prince and the son-in-law of the mythical Afrasiab, the hero and king of Turan. Turan is the ancient Iranian name for Central Asia, 'land of Tūr', which is inhabited by Iranian peoples.

Due to the treachery of his stepmother, Sudabeh, Sijavus exiles himself to Turan. There, he marries Farangis, the daughter of Afrasiab, but the king later orders Sijavus to be killed. His death is avenged by his son, who inherits the early Persian throne.

c.628 - c.551 BC

Zarathustra (also shown as Zarathushtra, the Greek Zoroaster) is traditionally thought to be born around 628 BC, possibly in Rhages in Iran. As the founder of Zoroastrianism he proves to be a major figure in the history of world religion.

Haryana has lain within Jat territory since at least the fifth century AD, part of a territory which was likely held by the first Indo-Aryans to enter India

He apparently encourages monotheism (in his concept of one god, whom he refers to as Ahura Mazdā, or the 'Wise Lord', with 'ahura' equalling 'Asura' in Vedic/Hindu theology), his purported dualism (evident in the stark distinction he draws between the forces of good and evil), and the possible influence of his teachings on subsequently-emerging Near Eastern religions (such as Judaism). He is supported in his efforts by King Vishtāspa of the land of Aryana Vaejah.

c.546 - 540 BC

By this stage various Indo-Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups have entered history as kingdom-founders. In this period the defeat of the Medes opens the floodgates for Cyrus 'the Great' with a wave of conquests, beginning in the west from 549 BC but focussing towards the east of the Persians from about 546 BC.

Eastern Iran falls during a drawn-out campaign between then and about 540 BC, during which the further eastern regions of Arachosia, Aria, Bactria, Carmania, Chorasmia, Drangiana, Gandhara, Gedrosia, Hyrcania, Margiana, Parthia, Saka (at least part of the broad tribal lands of the Indo-Iranian/Aryan Sakas), Sogdiana (with Ferghana), and Thatagush are all added to the empire, although records for these campaigns are characteristically sparse.

Cyrus the Great freed the Indo-Iranian Parsua people from Median domination to establish a nation which is recognisable to this day, and an empire which provided the basis for the vast territories which were later ruled by Alexander the Great

Many, if not most of the peoples of these conquered regions appear to exhibit an Indo-Iranian or Indo-Aryan heritage. Various Persian royal inscriptions list the provinces or depict local representatives, with those of Haraiva wearing Scythian-style dress which includes a tunic over trousers which are tucked into high boots.

The twisted turban in the head provides the final touch, and perhaps all the proof that is needed that these are an Indo-Iranian people with close links to the Indo-Europeans of the Pontic-Caspian steppe.

AD 500

Around the Altai Mountains, to which the earliest migration of Tocharians had headed (see link, right), the Türük people (Göktürks) are vassals of the Rouran khaganate. One theory about their origins suggests that they are Turkified Indo-Europeans, making them Tocharians or Indo-Iranians who have intermarried with proto-Turkic groups.

Other local groups such as the Wusun exhibit similar connections, albeit at an earlier stage of the process of development. The region is something of a melting pot of early groups.

The Altai Mountains link together the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and Xinjiang, providing the source for the rivers Irtysh and Ob and also, it would seem, the source region for the early Turkic tribes

It is believed that the Türük name is for an eponymous dynastic ancestor, of the Ashina tribe (which can also be shown as Asen, Asena, Ashinas (in Islamic texts), or Açina). In The Turks in World History, Carter Vaughn Findley points out that the Ashina name probably originates from one of the Indo-Iranian languages of Central Asia.

Findley's observation is seconded by Peter Benjamin Golden and also by the Hungarian researcher, András Róna-Tas, who finds it highly plausible 'that we are dealing with a royal family and clan [which is] of Iranian origin, almost certainly Saka'.

If that origin provides anything more than simple cultural influences then this would mean that the Ashina core tribe of early Turks is almost certainly of Indo-European origin.

Many other early Turkic groups (if not most and later ones too, including the Azeris) also exhibit traces of shared Mongoloid and Indo-Iranian heritage (see index link, right). The Indo-Europeans and their various branches had been the first horse-borne nomads.

In 2012 archaeologists were able to examine the previously-untouched tomb of a Göktürk khagan, which contained amongst many other delights these mounted figurines

The Turks, Huns, Magyars, Mongols, Xionites, and later nomads who followed the same way of life have all, ultimately, learned from the Indo-Europeans - specifically in most cases the Indo-Iranians - and have held them in high esteem whilst doing so.