Princeton University Press
The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age from Persia to China
Key Metrics
- Christopher I Beckwith
- Princeton University Press
- Paperback
- 9780691240558
- -
- -
- History > Ancient - General
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
A rich, discovery-filled history that tells how a forgotten empire transformed the ancient world
In the late 8th and early 7th centuries BCE, Scythian warriors conquered and unified most of the vast Eurasian continent, creating an innovative empire that would give birth to the age of philosophy and the Classical age across the ancient world--in the West, the Near East, India, and China. Mobile horse herders who lived with their cats in wheeled felt tents, the Scythians made stunning contributions to world civilization--from capital cities and strikingly elegant dress to political organization and the world-changing ideas of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Laotzu--Scythians all. In The Scythian Empire, Christopher I. Beckwith presents a major new history of a fascinating but often forgotten empire that changed the course of history.
At its height, the Scythian Empire stretched west from Mongolia and ancient northeast China to northwest Iran and the Danube River, and in Central Asia reached as far south as the Arabian Sea. The Scythians also ruled Media and Chao, crucial frontier states of ancient Iran and China. By ruling over and marrying the local peoples, the Scythians created new cultures that were creole Scythian in their speech, dress, weaponry, and feudal socio-political structure. As they spread their language, ideas, and culture across the ancient world, the Scythians laid the foundations for the very first Persian, Indian, and Chinese empires.
Filled with fresh discoveries, The Scythian Empire presents a remarkable new vision of a little-known but incredibly important empire and its peoples.
Author Bio
Professor Beckwith has taught at Indiana University for 41 years, in which time he has developed 48 distinct courses. He is one of the most prolific and versatile researchers in the field of Central Eurasian studies.
Beckwith is renowned for revolutionary scholarship that reshapes understanding of how, why and when the Central Eurasian steppe peoples from Eastern Europe to East Asia influenced the development of knowledge, religious beliefs and societies, not only within their homeland but in the neighboring peripheral cultures of Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia as well.
His research focuses on the history of ancient and medieval Central Asia and the cultures of those peripheral peoples, as well as the linguistics of Aramaic, Chinese, Japanese, Koguryo, Old Tibetan, Tokharian, Old Turkic, Uzbek, and other languages.
He has been named a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fulbright-Hays Fellow, and a Japan Foundation fellow and has had numerous visiting appointments around the United States and the world. He has authored 10 books and 49 articles.
Source: Indiana University Bloomington
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