Khalchayan (also ''Khaltchaïan'') is an archaeological site, thought to be a small palace or a reception hall, located near the modern town of Denov in Surxondaryo Region of southern

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. It is located in the valley of the Surkhan Darya, a northern tributary of the

Oxus The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

(modern

Amu Darya The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

Terracotta statues

The site is usually attributed to the early Kushans, or their ancestors the

Yuezhi The Yuezhi were an ancient people first described in China, Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defea ...

Tocharians The Tocharians or Tokharians ( ; ) were speakers of the Tocharian languages, a group of Indo-European languages known from around 7,600 documents from the 6th and 7th centuries, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinj ...

. It was excavated by Galina Pugachenkova between 1959 and 1963. The interior walls are decorated with clay sculptures and paintings dated to the mid-1st century BCE, but they are thought to represent events as early as the 2nd century BCE. Various panels depict scenes of Kushan life: battles, feasts, portraits of rulers. Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are thought to depict the Kushans fighting against a

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

tribe. The Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-wiskers in more or less grotesque attitudes."The knights in chain-mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe (probably the Sakaraules). Apart from the chain-mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi, the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side-whiskers (...) We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side-whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules (...) Indeed these expressive figures with side-whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions."

Portrait of a Parthian king

The bust of a Parthian king was discovered among the sculptures at Khalchayan, and the time period and resemblance from numismatics suggest that this may represent Vardanes I as he sought refuge, and possibly an alliance, in

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

at the Yuezhi court.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

related that Vardanes "took refuge among the Bactrians", after his failure at the siege of

Seleucia Seleucia (; ), also known as or or Seleucia ad Tigrim, was a major Mesopotamian city, located on the west bank of the Tigris River within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. It was founded around 305 BC by Seleucus I Nicator as th ...

circa 35 CE. These events might give a ''

terminus post quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' of around 45-47 CE for the Khalchayan portrait of the Parthian king, a period when the contemporary Kushan ruler may have been

Kujula Kadphises Kujula Kadphises (Kushan language: Κοζουλου Καδφιζου, also Κοζολα Καδαφες; Kharosthi: 𐨐𐨂𐨗𐨂𐨫 𐨐𐨯, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ', '; ; r. 30–80 CE, or 40–90 CE accor ...

. File:Kalchayan Prince warrior (full).jpg, Yuezhi Prince from Khalchayan. At his feet, the trophy of a

cataphract A cataphract was a form of armoured heavy cavalry that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armoured horseman, with both the rider and ...

armour with neck-guard. 1st century BCE. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, nb 40. File:Kalchayan_Prince_profile.jpg, The Prince displays

artificial cranial deformation Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by apply ...

. File:Khalchayan statuette, 1st century BCE (detail).jpg, Another terracotta statue from Khalchayan, 1st century BCE-1st century CE. Termez Archaeological Museum. File:Scythian soldier, Kalchayan (side).jpg, Saka soldier, Kalchayan File:Kalchayan, King on a throne.jpg, Kalchayan, King on a throne File:Kalchayan portrait.jpg, Kalchayan portrait. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan File:Khalchayan Parthian king.jpg, Portrait of a Parthian king, possibly Vardanes I. File:Khalchayan cherub.jpg, Khalchayan cherub.

Influences

According to Benjamin Rowland, the art of Kalchayan of the end of the 2nd century BCE is ultimately derived from

Hellenistic art Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period generally taken to begin with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the Roman Greece, conquest of the Greek world by the Romans, a process well underway by 146 BC, when the G ...

, and possibly from the art of the cities of

Ai-Khanoum Ai-Khanoum (, meaning 'Lady Moon'; ) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was likely founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and served as a mili ...

and Nysa, but it also has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara and may even have been at the origin of its development. Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself. For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

s, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

. The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking. According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans. According to Chinese researcher Duan Qingbo, the style and construction techniques of the Khalchayan statues closely resembles those of the earlier Terracotta Army, which may suggest some form of artistic influence.

References

Sources

*"Les Saces", Iaroslav Lebedynsky

External links

"A Comparison of Images of Kushans from Coins and Sculpture"
with images from Pugachenkova (1970) ''The Sculpture of Khalchayan''.
"Khalchayan"
''

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