Yuezhi

The Great Yuezhi was a nomadic horde. They moved about following their cattle, and had the same customs as those of the Xiongnu. As their soldiers numbered more than hundred thousand, they were strong and despised the Xiongnu. In the past, they lived in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian.

— Book of Han, 61

The area between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang lies in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, but no archaeological remains of the Yuezhi have yet been found in this area.^[16] Some scholars have argued that "Dunhuang" should be Dunhong, a mountain in the Tian Shan, and that Qilian should be interpreted as a name for the Tian Shan. They have thus placed the original homeland of the Yuezhi 1,000 km further northwest in the grasslands to the north of the Tian Shan (in the northern part of modern Xinjiang).^[16][28] Other authors suggest that the area identified by Sima Qian was merely the core area of an empire encompassing the western part of the Mongolian plain, the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the Tarim Basin and possibly much of central Asia, including the Altai Mountains, the site of the Pazyryk burials of the Ukok Plateau.^[29]

By the late 3rd century the Xiongnu monarch Touman even sent his eldest son Modu as a hostage to the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi often attacked their neighbour the Wusun to acquire slaves and pasture lands. Wusun originally lived together with the Yuezhi in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian Mountain. The Yuezhi attacked the Wusuns, killed their monarch Nandoumi and took his territory. The son of Nandoumi, Kunmo fled to the Xiongnu and was brought up by the Xiongnu monarch.

Gradually the Xiongnu grew stronger, and war broke out with the Yuezhi. There were at least four wars according to the Chinese accounts. The first war broke out during the reign of the Xiongnu monarch Touman (who died in 209 BC) who suddenly attacked the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi wanted to kill Modu, the son of the Xiongnu king Touman kept as a hostage to them, but Modu stole a good horse from them and managed to escape to his country. He subsequently killed his father and became ruler of the Xiongnu.^[32] It appears that the Xiongnu did not defeat the Yuezhi in this first war. The second war took place in the 7th year of the Modu era (203 BC). In this war, a large area of the territory originally belonging to the Yuezhi was seized by the Xiongnu and the hegemony of the Yuezhi started to shake. The third war probably was in 176 BC (or shortly before), and the Yuezhi were badly defeated.

Shortly before 176 BC, led by one of Modu's tribal chiefs, the Xiongnu invaded Yuezhi territory in the

Nevertheless, in about 173 BC, the Wusun were apparently defeated by the Yuezhi, who killed a Wusun king (kunmi Chinese: 昆彌 or kunmo Chinese: 昆莫) known as Nandoumi (Chinese: 難兜靡).^[33][38]

Exodus of the Great Yuezhi

Central Asia in the 1st century BC, and transitory location of the "Great Yuezhi".

After their defeat by the Xiongnu, the Yuezhi split into two groups. The Lesser or Little Yuezhi (Xiao Yuezhi) moved to the "southern mountains", believed to be the Qilian Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, to live with the Qiang.^[39]

The so-called Greater or Great Yuezhi (Dà Yuèzhī, 大月氏) began migrating north-west in about 165 BC,

The Yuezhi were visited in

the Great Yuezhi live 2,000 or 3,000 li [832–1,247 kilometers] west of

Jaxartes/Syr Darya]. They are a nation of nomads, moving from place to place with their herds, and their customs are like those of the Xiongnu. They have some 100,000 or 200,000 archer warriors.

— Shiji, 123^[8]

In a sweeping analysis of the physical types and cultures of Central Asia, Zhang Qian reports:

Although the states from Dayuan west to Anxi (Parthia), speak rather different languages, their customs are generally similar and their languages mutually intelligible. The men have deep-set eyes and profuse beards and whiskers. They are skilful at commerce and will haggle over a fraction of a cent. Women are held in great respect, and the men make decisions on the advice of their women.

— Shiji, 123[44]

Zhang Qian also described the remnants of the

Oxus River (Chinese Gui) as a number of autonomous city-states under Yuezhi suzerainty:^[45]

Daxia is located over 2,000 li southwest of Dayuan, south of the Gui river. Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. Their customs are like those of Ta-Yuan. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. The people are poor in the use of arms and afraid of battle, but they are clever at commerce. After the Great Yuezhi moved west and attacked the lands, the entire country came under their sway. The population of the country is large, numbering some 1,000,000 or more persons. The capital is called the city of Lanshi and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold.

— Shiji, 123[46]

Later Chinese accounts

The next mention of the Yuezhi in Chinese sources is found in chapter 96A of the Book of Han (completed in AD 111), relating to the early 1st century BC. At this time, the Yuezhi are described as occupying the whole of Bactria, organized into five major tribes or xīhóu (Ch:翖侯, "Allied Prince").^[47] These tribes were known to the Chinese as:

• Xiūmì (休密) in Western
  Zibak
  ;
• Guìshuāng (貴霜) in
  Oxus
  ;
• Shuāngmí (雙靡) in the region of
  Shughnan or Chitral.^[48]
• Xīdùn (肸頓) in the region of Balkh, and;
• Dūmì (都密) in the region of Termez.^[49]

Yuezhi Prince from Khalchayan, 1st century BCE. He displays artificial cranial deformation.^[50][51] At his feet, a lamellar armour with neck-guard, a trophy from the Saka Scythians.^[52] Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, nb 40.

The

Buddhist

faith during the 1st century BC (Baldev Kumar 1973).

Chapter 88 of the Book of the Later Han relies on a report of Ban Yong, based on the campaigns of his father Ban Chao in the late 1st century AD. It reports that one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the Guishuang, had managed to take control of the tribal confederation:^[53]

More than a hundred years later, the xihou of Guishuang, named Qiujiu Que (Ch: 丘就卻, Kujula Kadphises) attacked and exterminated the four other xihou. He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang (Kushan). He invaded Anxi (

Gandhāra

). Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yan Gaozhen (Ch:閻高珍) (

Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.

— Book of the Later Han, trans. John Hill^[54][55]

A later Chinese annotation in Zhang Shoujie's

Shiji (quoting Wan Zhen 萬震 in Nánzhōuzhì 南州志 ["Strange Things from the Southern Region"], a now-lost 3rd-century text from the Wu kingdom), describes the Kushans as living in the same general area north of India, in cities of Greco-Roman style, and with sophisticated handicraft. The quotes are dubious, as Wan Zhen probably never visited the Yuezhi kingdom through the Silk Road, though he might have gathered his information from the trading ports in the coastal south.^[56]

Chinese sources continued to use the name Yuezhi and seldom used the Kushan (or Guishuang) as a generic term:

The Great Yuezhi are located about seven thousand li [2,910 km] north of India. Their land is at a high altitude; the climate is dry; the region is remote. The king of the state calls himself "son of heaven". There are so many riding horses in that country that the number often reaches several hundred thousand. City layouts and palaces are quite similar to those of Daqin [the Roman Empire]. The skin of the people there is reddish white. People are skilful at horse archery. Local products, rarities, treasures, clothing, and upholstery are very good, and even India cannot compare with it.

— Wan Zhen (3rd century AD)^[57]

Kushana

Yuezhis in Bactria, on Noin-Ula carpets

Noin-Ula.^[61]

The Central Asian people who called themselves Kushana, were among the conquerors of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom during the 2nd century BC,[62] and are widely believed to have originated as a dynastic clan or tribe of the Yuezhi.^[63][64] The area of Bactria they settled came to be known as Tokharistan. Because some inhabitants of Bactria became known as Tukhāra (Sanskrit) or Tókharoi (Τοχάριοι; Greek), these names later became associated with the Yuezhi.

The Kushana spoke

Eastern Iranian language.^[65]

Bactria

In the 3rd century BC, Bactria had been conquered by the Greeks under

Seleucids

.

The resulting

Sogdiani.

— Strabo, ^[68]

Early Yuezhis coinage

Arseiles. Late 1st century BCE

Yuezhi ruler Sapadbizes

. Late 1st century BCE

Writing in the 1st century BC, the Roman historian

Pompeius Trogus attributed the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian state to the Sacaraucae and the Asiani "kings of the Tochari".^[67] Both Pompeius and the Roman historian Justin (2nd century AD) record that the Parthian king Artabanus II was mortally wounded in a war against the Tochari in 124 BC.^[69] Several relationships between these tribes and those named in Chinese sources have been proposed, but remain contentious.^[67]

After they settled in Bactria, the Yuezhi became

Greco-Bactrian kings, with the text in Greek.^[70]

Noin-Ula carpets

According to Sergey Yatsenko, the carpets with vivid embroidered scenes discovered in

Noin-Ula were made by the Yuezhi in Bactria, and were obtained by the Xiongnu through commercial exchange or tributary payment, as the Yuezhi may have remained tributaries of the Xiongnu for a long time following their defeat. Embroidered carpets were among the highest-prized luxury items for the Xiongnu. The figures depicted in the carpets are believed to reflect the clothing and customs of the Yuezhi while they were in Bactria in the 1st century BCE-1st century CE.^[71]

Tillya Tepe

The graves of Tillya Tepe, complete with numerous artifacts, dated to the period between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, probably belonged to the Yuezhis/ early Kushans after the fall of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and before the rise of the Kushan Empire.^[72] They correspond to a time when the Yuezhis had not yet encountered Buddhism.^[72]

In the Hindu Kush

The area of the

Greco-Bactria

for almost two centuries.

As they had done in Bactria with their copying of

yabgu (a minor royal title, similar to prince), namely Sapadbizes^{[original research?]} and/or Agesiles

, who both lived in or about 20 BC.

Kushan Empire

Main article: Kushan Empire

Greco-Bactrian style
Obv: Bust of Heraios, with Greek royal headband.
Rev: Horse-mounted King, crowned with a wreath by the Greek goddess of victory Nike

. Greek legend: TVPANNOVOTOΣ HΛOV – ΣΛNΛB – KOÞÞANOY "The Tyrant Heraios, Sanav (meaning unknown), of the Kushans"

After that point, they extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries.^[73][64][74] Despite their change of name, most Chinese authors continued to refer to the Kushanas as the Yuezhi.

The Kushanas expanded to the east during the 1st century AD. The first Kushan emperor,

King Hermaeus on his coins.^{[citation needed}

]

The Kushanas integrated

Mahayana Buddhism, and their interactions with Greek civilization helped the Gandharan culture and Greco-Buddhism

flourish.

During the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin, putting them at the center of the lucrative Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. The Kushanas collaborated militarily with the Chinese against their mutual enemies. This included a campaign with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 CE, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. In around AD 85,^{[citation needed]} the Kushanas also assisted the Chinese in an attack on Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.

Following the military support provided to the Han, the Kushan emperor requested a marriage alliance with a

Han He

(89–106).

In about 120 AD, Kushan troops installed Chenpan—a prince who had been sent as a hostage to them and had become a favorite of the Kushan Emperor—on the throne of

Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Greco-Buddhist art, which developed into Serindian art

.

Avalokitesvara

, and a Kushan Buddhist monk.

Following this territorial expansion, the Kushanas introduced

Dharmaraksa (c. 233 – c. 311), both of whom were influential translators of the Mahayana sutras into Chinese. They went to China and established translation bureaus, thereby being at the center of the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.^{[citation needed}

]

In the Records of the Three Kingdoms (chap. 3), it was recorded that in 229 AD, "The king of the Da Yuezhi [Kushanas], Bodiao 波調 (Vasudeva I), sent his envoy to present tribute, and His Majesty (Emperor Cao Rui) granted him the title of King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with the Wei (Ch: 親魏大月氏王, Qīn Wèi Dà Yuèzhī Wáng)."

Soon afterwards, the military power of the Kushanas began to decline. The rival Sasanian Empire of Persia extended its dominion into Bactria during the reign of Ardashir I around 230 CE. The Sasanians also occupied neighboring Sogdia by 260 AD and made it into a satrapy.^[77]

During the course of the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Kushan Empire was divided and conquered by the Sasanians, the

Hephthalite tribes from the north,^[78] and the Gupta and Yaudheya

empires from India.

Later references to the Lesser Yuezhi

Xiao Yuezhi refers to the less militarized Yuezhi who settled in northern China (following the migration of the Greater Yuezhi).^[79] The term is used of peoples in locations as diverse as Tibet, Qinghai, Shanxi and the Tarim Basin.

Some of the Lesser Yuezhi settled among the

Liangzhou Rebellion (184–221 CE).^[81]

Elements of the Lesser Yuezhi are said to have been part of the

Ran Wei–Later Zhao war

.

In

blacksmiths - may have been descended from the Lesser Yuezhi who resettled in Qiang in 162 BC.^[83]

A Chinese monk named Gao Juhui, who traveled to the Tarim Basin in the 10th century, described the Zhongyun (仲雲; Wade–Giles Tchong-yun) as descendants of the Lesser Yuezhi.[84] This was the city state of

Hami

.)

Whatever their fate may have been, the Xiao Yuezhi ceased to be identifiable by that name and appear to have been subsumed by other ethnicities, including

Uyghurs and Han

.

Proposed links to other groups

Sampul tapestry

Xinjiang Region Museum.^[85][86]

The relationship between the Yuezhi and other Central Asian peoples is unclear. Based on claimed similarities of names, different scholars have linked them to several groups, but none of these identifications is widely accepted.[87]

Mallory and Mair suggest that the Yuezhi and Wusun were among the nomadic peoples, at least some of whom spoke Iranian languages, who moved into northern Xinjiang from the Central Asian steppe in the 2nd millennium BC.^[88]

Scholars such as

Edwin Pulleyblank, Josef Markwart, and László Torday, suggest that the name Iatioi—a Central Asian people mentioned by Ptolemy in Geography (AD 150)—may also be an attempt to render Yuezhi.^[89]

There has been only limited scholarly support for a theory developed by

Tukri, who were native to the Zagros Mountains (modern Iran and Iraq), during the mid-3rd millennium BC. In addition to phonological similarities between these names and *ŋʷjat-kje and Tukhāra, Henning pointed out that the Guti could have migrated from the Zagros to Gansu,^[90] by the time that the Yuezhi entered the historical record in China, during the 1st millennium BC. However, the only material evidence presented by Henning, namely similar ceramic ware, is generally considered to be far from conclusive.^[57]

Proposed links with the

Jat, Massagetae,^[92][93][94] and other groups have also gathered little support.^[87]

Yuezhi-Tocharian hypothesis

When manuscripts dating from the 6th to 8th centuries AD written in two hitherto unknown Indo-European languages were discovered in the northern Tarim Basin, the early 20th-century linguist

Greeks, the Turks or the Arabs upon their successive settlements in Bactria).^[99][100] However, while Tocharian contains some loanwords from Bactrian, there are no traces of Tocharian in Bactrian.^[65]

Another possible

H. W. Bailey, who claimed that they were referred to, in 9th and 10th century Khotan Saka Iranian texts, as the Gara. According to Bailey, the Tu Gara ("Great Gara") were the Great Yuezhi.^[27] This is consistent with the Ancient Greek Τόχαροι Tokharoi (Latinised Tochari) in reference to the faction of the Kushans that conquered Bactria, as well as the Tibetan language name Gar (or mGar), for the members of the Lesser Yuezhi who settled in the Tibetan Empire

.

Hakan Aydemir, assistant professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University, reconstructs the ethnonym *Arki ~ *Yarki which underlay Chinese transcriptions 月氏 (Old Chinese *ŋwat-tēɦ ~[ŋ]ʷat-tēɦ) and 月支 (Later Han Chinese *ŋyat-tśe) as well as various other foreign transcriptions and Tocharian A ethnonym Ārśi.^[101] Aydemir suggests that *Arki ~ *Yarki is etymologically Indo-European.^[102]

Nomadic artifacts in Gansu and Ningxia (5th-4th century BC)

See also: Ordos culture

Numerous nomadic artifacts are attributed to the areas of southern

Scythian influences.^[103] Some of these artifacts were sinicized by the neighbouring Qin state in China, probably also for nomadic consumption.^[103] Nomadic figures with long noses riding on a camel also appear regularly in southern Ningxia from the 4th century BC.^[103] Particularly, the Shajing culture (700–100 BCE) of Gansu has been proposed as a candidate for the origin of the Yuezhi.^[104]

• 
  Nomadic figure, typically with a long nose, on a Bactrian camel. Southern Ningxia, 4th century BC.^[105][103]
• 
  Harness ornament in the shape of a coiled wolf, characteristic of nomadic artifacts of southern Ningxia and southeastern Gansu, 5th-4th century BC.^[106][103]
• 
  Belt plaque in the shape of a standing wolf, characteristic of nomadic artifacts of southern Ningxia and southeastern Gansu, and related to the Scythian styles of Pazyryk. 4th century BC.^[107][103]
• 
  Bronze horse ornament (Shajing culture 700-100 BCE)

Shirenzigou culture

Barkol County

.

Main article: Shirenzigou culture

Looking at the archaeological and genetic evidence, another area of origin on the northeastern border of the Tarim Basin has also been proposed: the Yuegongtai-Xiheigou (岳公台-西黑沟) archaeological sites, corresponding to the Shirenzigou culture and Barkol culture in the Barkol County of Xinjiang. This would have positionned the Yuezhi between the Subeshi culture to their west, the Yanbulaq culture to their east, the aftermaths of the Chemurchek culture to the north, and a wide desertical area to south about a thousand kilometers away from the Central Plains of China.^[108]

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References

1. ^
   ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9. In Noin-Ula (Noyon Uul), Mongolia, the remarkable elite Xiongnu tombs have revealed textiles that are linked to the pictorial tradition of the Yuezhi: the decorative faces closely resemble the Khalchayan
   portraits, while the local ornaments have integrated elements of Graeco-Roman design. These artifacts were most probably manufactured in Bactria
2. ^ Francfort, Henri-Paul (1 January 2020). "Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ)". Journal des Savants: 26–27, Fig.8 "Portrait royal diadémé Yuezhi" ("Diademed royal portrait of a Yuezhi").
3. ^
   JSTOR 26358181
   . p.3: "These tapestries were apparently manufactured in Bactria or in Gandhara at the time of the Saka-Yuezhi rule, when these countries were connected with the Parthian empire and the "Hellenized East." They represent groups of men, warriors of high status, and kings and/ or princes, performing rituals of drinking, fighting or taking part in a religious ceremony, a procession leading to an altar with a fire burning on it, and two men engaged in a ritual."
4. ^ ^{a b} Nehru, Lolita (14 December 2020). "KHALCHAYAN". Encyclopaedia Iranica Online. Brill. About "Khalchayan", "site of a settlement and palace of the nomad Yuezhi": "Representations of figures with faces closely akin to those of the ruling clan at Khalchayan (PLATE I) have been found in recent times on woollen fragments recovered from a nomad burial site near Lake Baikal in Siberia, Noin Ula, supplementing an earlier discovery at the same site), the pieces dating from the time of Yuezhi/Kushan control of Bactria. Similar faces appeared on woollen fragments found recently in a nomad burial in south-eastern Xinjiang (Sampula), of about the same date, manufactured probably in Bactria, as were probably also the examples from Noin Ula."
5. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10.
6. ^ ^{a b} Polosmak, Natalia V. (2012). "History Embroidered in Wool". SCIENCE First Hand. 31 (N1).
7. ^ ^{a b} Polosmak, Natalia V. (2010). "We Drank Soma, We Became Immortal…". SCIENCE First Hand. 26 (N2).
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Watson 1993, p. 234.
9. ISBN 90-04-05884-2
   , pp. 119–120.
10. ^ ^{a b} Hansen 2012, p. 72.
11. ^ Bopearachchi 2007, p. 45.
12. ISBN 90-04-10236-1
    .
13. ISBN 978-0670093625
    .
14. ^ Narain 1990, pp. 152–155 "[W]e must identify them [Tocharians] with the Yueh-chih of the Chinese sources... [C]onsensus of scholarly opinion identifies the Yueh-chih with the Tokharians... [T]he Indo-European ethnic origin of the Yuehchih = Tokharians is generally accepted... Yueh-chih = Tokharian people... Yueh-chih = Tokharians..."
15. ^ Roux 1997, p. 90 "They are, by almost unanimous opinion, Indo-Europeans, probably the most oriental of those who occupied the steppes."
16. ^ ^{a b c d} Mallory & Mair 2000, pp. 283–284.
17. ^ Based on Benjamin (2007), except where otherwise stated.
18. ISBN 978-3-944312-26-2
    .
19. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Thierry 2005.
20. ISBN 2-87772-337-2
    , p. 59
21. ISBN 7-224-05725-8
    . pp. 115–127
22. ^ Liu 2001a, p. 265.
23. ^ Benjamin 2007, p. 32.
24. ^ Liu 2010, pp. 3–4.
25. ^ Liu 2001a, p. 273.
26. ISBN 978-90-04-05884-2
    . pp. 23–24.
27. ^ ^{a b c} H. W. Bailey, Indo-Scythian Studies: Being Khotanese Texts (vol. 7). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 6–7, 16, 101, 116, 121, 133.
28. ^ ^{a b} Liu 2001a, pp. 267–268.
29. ^ Enoki, Koshelenko & Haidary 1994, pp. 169–172.
30. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10.
31. ^ ^{a b} Francfort, Henri-Paul (1 January 2020). "Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ)". Journal des Savants: 26–27, Fig.8.
32. ^ Mallory & Mair 2000, p. 94.
33. ^ ^{a b c} Benjamin, Craig (October 2003). "The Yuezhi Migration and Sogdia". Transoxiana Webfestschrift. 1 (Ēran ud Anērān). Transoxiana. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
34. ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 380–383.
35. ^ Zuev, Yu. A. (2002). Early Türks: Essays on History and Ideology. Almaty. p. 15. ...Maodun proudly informed emperor Han: . . . Due to the favor of the Sky, the commanders and soldiers were in sound condition, and the horses were strong, which allowed me to destroy Uechji, who were exterminated or surrendered.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
36. ^ Book of Han, vol. 61
37. ISBN 978-0-941694-63-6
    . Among the Greater Yuezhi it appears that a lady was appointed to be the ruling queen on at least one occasion. "Zhang Qian zhuan" 張騫傳 (Biography of Zhang Qian) in the History of the Han records that after the king of the Greater Yuezhi was killed by the Xiongnu, his wife was appointed to be the queen.
38. ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 6–7.
39. ^ Enoki, Koshelenko & Haidary 1994, p. 170.
40. ^ Chavannes (1907) "Les pays d'occident d'après le Heou Han chou". T'oung pao, ser.2:8, p. 189, n. 1
41. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9
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42. ^ Silk Road, North China, C. Michael Hogan, The Megalithic Portal, A. Burnham, ed.
43. ^ Watson 1993, pp. 233–236.
44. ^ Watson 1993, p. 245.
45. ^ Enoki, Koshelenko & Haidary 1994, p. 175.
46. ^ Watson 1993, p. 235.
47. ^ Narain 1990, p. 158.
48. ISBN 978-81-7211-028-4
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49. ^ Hill (2004), pp. 29, 318–350
50. ^ KHALCHAYAN – Encyclopaedia Iranica. p. Figure 1.
51. JSTOR 20111029
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52. ISBN 978-8412527858
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53. ^ Narain 1990, p. 159.
54. ^ Hill 2009, pp. 28–29.
55. ^ 後百餘歲，貴霜翕候丘就卻攻滅四翕候，自立為王，國號貴霜王。侵安息，取高附地。又滅濮達、罽賓，悉有其國。丘就卻年八十餘死，子閻膏珍代為王。復滅天竺，置將一人監領之。月氏自此之後，最為富盛，諸國稱之皆曰貴霜王。漢本其故號，言大月氏云。Hanshu, 96
56. ISBN 7-5348-1266-6
57. ^ ^{a b} Notes to Section 13, The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill.
58. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10.
59. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9
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60. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10.
61. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10.
62. ISBN 978-0-231-13924-3
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63. ISBN 978-0-313-33798-7
    . The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BC, and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.
64. ^ ^{a b} Liu 2001b, p. 156.
65. ^ ^{a b c} Krause, Todd B.; Slocum, Jonathan. "Tocharian Online: Series Introduction". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
66. ^ Bernard 1994, p. 100.
67. ^ ^{a b c} Enoki, Koshelenko & Haidary 1994, p. 174.
68. ^ Strabo, 11-8-1.
69. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9
    . This would seem to prove that the Yueh-chih of Chinese history – if they correspond, as supposed, to the Tokharoi of Greek history – were from that time established in Bactria, a country of which they later made a 'Tokharistan'.
70. ^ Narain 1990, p. 161.
71. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10.
72. ^
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73. ISBN 978-0-313-33798-7
    . The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BC and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.
74. ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 84–85.
75. ^ Hill 2009, pp. 14, 43.
76. ^ Rong, Xinjiang (2004). "Land route or sea route? Commentary on the study of the paths of transmission and areas in which Buddhism was disseminated during the Han period" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. 144. Translated by Zhou, Xiuqin: 26–27.
77. ISBN 0-520-03765-0
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78. ^ "Afghanistan: Central Asian and Sassanian Rule, ca. 150 B.C.-700 A.D." United States: Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
79. ISBN 978-1-4738-8779-4
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80. ^ Sophia-Karin Psarras, Han Material Culture, New York, Cambridge University Press, pp. 31, 297.
81. ^ Haloun, Gustav (1949). "The Liang-chou rebellion 184–221 A.D." (PDF). Asia Major. New Series. 1 (1): 119–132.
82. ISBN 978-1-134-15033-5
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83. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2
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84. ^ Ouyang Xiu & Xin Wudai Shi, 1974,New Annals of the Five Dynasties, Beijing, Zhonghua Publishing House, p. 918 – cited by: Eurasian History, 2008–09, The Yuezhi and Dunhuang （月氏与敦煌） (18 March 2017).
85. ^ Yatsenko, Sergey A. (2012). "Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia" (PDF). The Silk Road. 10: 45–46.
86. ^ Francfort, Henri-Paul (1 January 2020). "Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ)". Journal des Savants: 26–27, Fig.9.
87. ^ ^{a b} Mallory & Mair 2000, pp. 98–99, 281–283.
88. ^ Mallory & Mair 2000, p. 318.
89. ^ Jhutti, Sundeep S. (2003). "The Getes" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. 127: 15–17.
90. ^ Henning, W.B. (1978) "The first Indo-Europeans in history"
91. ^ Balfour, Edward (1885). The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures. Bernard Quaritch. p. 556. According to Dr. Bhau Daji, these Yue-Chi appear to have been the Abhira.
92. ^ Jhutti 2003, p. 22.
93. ISBN 978-1-107-06722-6
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94. ^ Enoki, Koshelenko & Haidary 1994, p. 171.
95. ^ ^{a b} Manko Namba Walter (October 1998). "Tokharian Buddhism in Kucha: Buddhism of Indo-European Centum Speakers in Chinese Turkestan before the 10th Century C.E" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers (85).
96. ^ ^{a b} "Introduction to Tocharian". lrc.la.utexas.edu.
97. ISBN 978-0-940490-71-0
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98. ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 590.
99. ^ Narain 1990, p. 153.
100. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 5, footnote 16, as well as pp. 380–383 in appendix B, but also see Hitch 2010, p. 655: "He equates the Tokharians with the Yuezhi, and the Wusun with the Asvins, as if these are established facts, and refers to his arguments in appendix B. But these identifications remain controversial, rather than established, for most scholars."
101. ^ Aydemir 2019, p. 273.
102. ^ Aydemir 2019, p. 263 "based on various toponymic evidence, *Arki and *Yarki seem to be the oldest reconstructable forms. However, it is for the time being not quite clear which one is the primary form. In order to know this, we first need to know the etymology of the name. Without doing so, it would be difficult to determine the primary form. This, however, must be left to the specialists in Indo-European linguistics."
103. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Bunker, Emma C. (2002). Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 24–25.
104. ^ Komissarov, S.A (2017). "Shajing Culture (Gansu, China): Main Sites and Problems of Chronology". Paeas.ru. The Shajing culture of the Early Iron Age. The sites of this culture have been discovered in the central part of Gansu Province (China). Seven big burial grounds and almost the same amount of fortified settlements (with walls made of compacted loess) have been excavated. Painted pottery, associated with the local tradition of Neolithic-Early Bronze Age, has been found at the early sites, but the Scythian-like artifacts constitute the core of this culture. This makes it possible to clarify the chronological limits of the culture as 900-400 BC, but probably with the later specific dates. Different suggestions have been made concerning the ethnic origins of the "Shajing people," who may have some connections with the Tocharian-speaking Yuezhi, the proto-Tibetean Qiang and Rong, or even with the Iranian Wusuns. The Shajing culture might have emerged from the interaction of all these (or close) ethnic and cultural components.
105. ^ Bunker, Emma C. (2002). Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 120–121, item 92.
106. ^ Bunker, Emma C. (2002). Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 45, item 7.
107. ^ Bunker, Emma C. (2002). Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 122, item 94.
108. ^ Lan-Hai Wei, Ryan; Li, Hui (2013). "The separate origins of the Tocharians and the Yuezhi: Results from recent advances in archaeology and genetics". International Conference on Tocharian Manuscripts and Silk Road CultureAt: University of Vienna, Vienna. 26–28 June 2013.

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• Bopearachchi, Osmund (2007). "Some Observations on the Chronology of the Early Kushans". In Gyselen, Rika (ed.). Des Indo-Grecs aux Sassanides: données pour l'histoire et la géographie historique. Vol. XVII. Bures-sur-Yvette: Group pour l'Etude de la Civilisation du Moyen-Orient.
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• Dorn'eich, Chris M. (2008). Chinese sources on the History of the Niusi-Wusi-Asi(oi)-Rishi(ka)-Arsi-Arshi-Ruzhi and their Kueishuang-Kushan Dynasty. Shiji 110/Hanshu 94A: The Xiongnu: Synopsis of Chinese original Text and several Western Translations with Extant Annotations. Berlin. To read or download go to: [1]
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External links

• "Section 13 – The Kingdom of the Da Yuezhi", The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill
  • Notes to Section 13 – Linguistic analysis of the connection between Yuezhi and Kushan
• Eliot, Charles Norton Edgcumbe (1911). "Yue-Chi" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). pp. 944–945.
• Mongolia: Xiongnu and Yuezhi – Overview of Xiongnu history and their wars with the Yuezhi
• "The Yuezhi Migration and Sogdia", by Craig Benjamin.
• "After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam" – nomad migration in Central Asia, by Kasim Abdullaev
• "India and China: beyond and the within", Lokesh Chandra
• Guanzi – online text from National Sun Yat-sen University
• "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age", Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15.