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The Asii, Osii, Ossii, Asoi, Asioi, Asini or Aseni were an ancient
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
people of
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Known only from Classical Greek and Roman sources, they were one of the peoples held to be responsible for the downfall of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. In Greek Mythology they were the children of Iapetus and
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
. Modern scholars have attempted to identify the Asii with other peoples known from European and Chinese sources including the:
Yuezhi The Yuezhi (;) were an ancient people first described in 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 defeat ...
,
Tocharians The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
,
Issedones The Issedones (Ἰσσηδόνες) were an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described in the lost ''Arimaspeia'' of Aristeas, by Herodotus in his ''History'' (IV.16-25) and by Ptolemy in ...
/
Wusun The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <
Old Chinese
(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi-
and/or
Alans The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...
.


Historical sources

The classical European sources relating to the Asii are brief. They sometimes survive only as quotations in other ancient sources, with textual variations that have led to widely varying translations and interpretations. During the 4th and 3rd Centuries BCE,
Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; grc, Μεγασθένης, c. 350 BCE– c. 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but ha ...
, who lived in
Arachosia Arachosia () is the Hellenized name of an ancient satrapy situated in the eastern parts of the Achaemenid empire. It was centred around the valley of the Arghandab River in modern-day southern Afghanistan, and extended as far east as the ...
and was an ambassador to the
Mauryan The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...
court in
Pataliputra Pataliputra ( IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...
, refers in his work ''Indika'' to three tribes with similar and possibly related names, in separate parts of South Asia: * the ''Aseni'' had three cities and their capital was the Bucephala (where
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
had buried his horse by the same name), the site of which is a matter of controversy; * the ''Osii'' were near neighbours of the Taxillae in the Indus Valley, and; * the ''Asoi'' lived on plains known as ''Amanda'' (probably Gandhara), alongside tribes such as the Peucolaitae (Pushkalavati) and Geretae (Panjkorans). These references by Megasthenes have survived only as citations in other texts. In the 1st century BCE,
Trogus Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus also anglicized as was a Gallo-Roman historian from the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Narbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of the emperor Augustus. He was nearly contemporary with Livy. Life Pompeius Trogus's grandfathe ...
names – in the ''Historiae Philppicae'' (of which only the "Prologues" have survived intact) – three tribes involved in the conquest of Bactria: the Asiani, Sacaraucae and Tochari (i.e. the Tukhara of Bactria rather than the so-called
Tocharians The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
of the Tarim Basin). The Tochari are reported to have, at some point, become subject to the ruling elite of the Asiani. According to Trogus, the Sacaraucae had since been destroyed. (In about 200 CE, the Roman historian,
Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
(Marcus Junianus Justinus), wrote an ''epitome'' or condensation of Trogus's history. The last datable event recorded by Justin is the recovery of the Roman standards captured by the Parthians in 20 BCE, although Trogus' original history may have dealt with events into the first decade of the 1st century CE.) Strabo completed his ''Geography'' in 23 CE. He mentions four tribes: the Asioi, Pasianoi, Sakaraulai, and Tokharoi.
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
, in about 77–79 CE, makes a brief mention of a people called the ''Asini'' in his ''Naturalis Historia''. According to P. H. L. Eggermont:
Pliny mentions ... the Asini, who are reigning in the city of Bucephela. From these three data, 1) the Tacoraei are neighbours of the Besadae/Sosaeadae; 2) the Asini are the neighbours of the Sosaeadae ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_ ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata_[and">Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata_[and3)_The_Asiani__are_kings_of_the_Thocari,__it_follows_that_the_Asini_of_Pliny's_text_are_identical_with_the_Asiani,_who_are_the_kings_of_the_Tocharians._This_implies_that—at_least_in_the_time_of_Pliny—the_ ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata_[and">Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata_[and3)_The_Asiani__are_kings_of_the_Thocari,__it_follows_that_the_Asini_of_Pliny's_text_are_identical_with_the_Asiani,_who_are_the_kings_of_the_Tocharians._This_implies_that—at_least_in_the_time_of_Pliny—the_Kushan_Empire">Kushāṇas_were_kings_of_the_region_between_
ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata_[and">Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata.html"_;"title="Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata">Kirata.html"_;"title="ossibly_the_Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata_[and3)_The_Asiani__are_kings_of_the_Thocari,__it_follows_that_the_Asini_of_Pliny's_text_are_identical_with_the_Asiani,_who_are_the_kings_of_the_Tocharians._This_implies_that—at_least_in_the_time_of_Pliny—the_Kushan_Empire">Kushāṇas_were_kings_of_the_region_between_Jhelum">Jhelam_and_Indus_and_that_Bucephala_was_one_of_their_cities._It_seems_that_Pliny_availed_himself_of_a_recent_description_of_this_territory_and_that_Ptolemy_knew_these_data_too.


_Possible_links_to_other_peoples

Many_theories_have_been_proposed_by_historians_and_other_scholars_as_to_their_origins,_relationships,_language,_culture,_etc.,_but_so_far_no_consensus_has_emerged. It_is_generally_accepted_that_the_Asiani_mentioned_by_Trogus_were_probably_identical_to_the_Asii_of_Strabo. There_is_no_agreement_over_whether_another_tribe_mentioned_by_Strabo,_the_"Pasiani"_were_likewise_related._Scholars_such_as_W._W._Tarn,_Moti_Chandra_believe_that_"as_Asiani_is_the_(Iranian)_adjectival_form_of_Asii,_so_Pasiani_would_be_the_similar_adjectival_form_of,_and_would_imply,_a_name_such_as_''*Pasii''_or_''*Pasi''"._This_may_suggest_that_Strabo_was_referring_to_a_group_of_Persian_people.html" "title="Jhelum.html" ;"title="Kushan_Empire.html" ;"title="Kirata_[and.html" ;"title="Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata.html" ;"title="Kirata.html" ;"title="ossibly the Kirata">ossibly the Kirata">Kirata.html" ;"title="ossibly the Kirata">ossibly the Kirata [and">Kirata">ossibly_the_Kirata.html" ;"title="Kirata.html" ;"title="ossibly the Kirata">ossibly the Kirata">Kirata.html" ;"title="ossibly the Kirata">ossibly the Kirata [and3) The Asiani are kings of the Thocari, it follows that the Asini of Pliny's text are identical with the Asiani, who are the kings of the Tocharians. This implies that—at least in the time of Pliny—the Kushan Empire">Kushāṇas were kings of the region between Jhelum">Jhelam and Indus and that Bucephala was one of their cities. It seems that Pliny availed himself of a recent description of this territory and that Ptolemy knew these data too.


Possible links to other peoples

Many theories have been proposed by historians and other scholars as to their origins, relationships, language, culture, etc., but so far no consensus has emerged. It is generally accepted that the Asiani mentioned by Trogus were probably identical to the Asii of Strabo. There is no agreement over whether another tribe mentioned by Strabo, the "Pasiani" were likewise related. Scholars such as W. W. Tarn, Moti Chandra believe that "as Asiani is the (Iranian) adjectival form of Asii, so Pasiani would be the similar adjectival form of, and would imply, a name such as ''*Pasii'' or ''*Pasi''". This may suggest that Strabo was referring to a group of Persian people">Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...
(Old Persian ''Pārsa'') or Parsis who had settled in Central Asia. However, scholars such as J. Marquart believe that they were synonymous with the Asiani. In other words, the Asii and the Pasiani were one and the same, and "Pasiani" was a misspelling of Asiani, or a variant of the same name. Others suggest that the name is a misspelling of ''Gasiani'', a name which is believed by Chinese scholars to be connected to the Kushan Empire (endonym: ''Kushano''; Chinese: ''Guishuang'' 貴霜).


Yuezhi & Tocharians

Other scholars have proposed, more controversially, that the Asii,
Yuezhi The Yuezhi (;) were an ancient people first described in 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 defeat ...
and/or
Tocharians The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
were closely related. Alfred von Gutschmid believed that Asii, Pasiani and other names mentioned by Strabo are an attempt to render ''Yuezhi'' in Greek. W. W. Tarn first thought that the Asii were probably one part of the Yuezhi, the other being the Tocharians. However, he later expressed doubts as to this position. By the middle of the 1st Millennium CE, speakers of the so-called
Tocharian A The Tocharian (sometimes ''Tokharian'') languages ( or ), also known as ''Arśi-Kuči'', Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians. The l ...
language in the Tarim Basin, apparently referred to themselves as ''Ārśi'' (pronounced "arshi"; apparently meaning "shining" or "brilliant").


Issedones/Wusun

Asii or Asiani may simply be a corruption of the name of the
Issedones The Issedones (Ἰσσηδόνες) were an ancient people of Central Asia at the end of the trade route leading north-east from Scythia, described in the lost ''Arimaspeia'' of Aristeas, by Herodotus in his ''History'' (IV.16-25) and by Ptolemy in ...
– an Iranian people mentioned by Herodotus – who are frequently identified with the
Wusun The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <
Old Chinese
(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi-
mentioned in contemporaneous Chinese sources. Taishan Yu proposes that Asii were "probably" the dominant tribe of a confederacy of four Issedonean tribes "from the time that they had settled in the valleys of the Ili and Chu" who later invaded Sogdiana and Bactria. "This would account for their being called collectively "Issedones" by Herodotus." He also states that the "Issedon Scythia and the Issedon Serica took their names from the Issedones." Yu believes that the Issedones must have migrated to the Ili and Chu valleys, "at the latest towards the end of the 7th century B.C."J. P. Mallory and Victor H.Mair. (2000) ''The Tarim Mummies'', p. 92. Thames & Hudson Ltd., New York and London. .


The Alans

A rival theory instead identifies the Asii/Asiani/Asioi with the
Alans The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...
, an Iranian tribe who migrated from the Eurasian Steppe into Europe during the early Middle Ages. There is circumstantial evidence for such a link in: * the name of the
Aorsi The Aorsi, known in Greek sources as the Aorsoi (Ἄορσοι), were an ancient Iranian people of the Sarmatian group, who played a major role in the events of the Pontic Steppe from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. They are often rega ...
, who migrated from
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
during the late 5th century BCE, to areas north and west of the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
, and;Richard Brzezinski & M. Mielczarek, 2002, ''The Sarmatians, 600 BC - AD 450'', Oxford, Osprey Military, pp. 7–8, 92. * a state known to 2nd and 1st century BCE Chinese scholars as ''Yancai'' and ''Alanliao'',Y. A. Zadneprovskiy, 1994, "The Nomads of Northern Central Asia After The Invasion of Alexander", in János Harmatta, ''History of Civilizations of Central Asia: the Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B. C. to A. D. 250'', Paris, UNESCO, pp. 457–472. which was located north of the Aral Sea. The Alans were first documented by European scholars during the 1st century CE, on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.
Onomastic Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An '' orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, ...
evidence for the identification of the Asii and Alans is provided by later medieval European scholars and travellers. In the 13th century,
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, variously rendered in English as ''John of Pian de Carpine'', ''John of Plano Carpini'' or ''Joannes de Plano'' (c. 11851 August 1252), was a medieval Italian diplomat, archbishop and explorer and one of the firs ...
(''Johannes de Plano Carpini'') referred to ''Alani sive Assi'' ("Alans or Assi") and William of Rubrouck used the name ''Alani sive Aas'' ("Alans or Aas"). In the 15th century, Josephus Barbarus reported that the Alans referred to themselves by the name ''As''. The name of the Ossetians, who are descended from the Alans, also has its root in the alternate ethnonym '' Osi''. However, names similar to Alan (e.g. '' Aryan'' and ''
Iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
'') were clearly used by distantly-related Iranian tribes in very different historical contexts and the identification of the Alans with the Asii requires them to have migrated more than 2,800 kilometres (1,750 miles) in the space of several decades. According to archaeologist Claude Rapin, it is unlikely that the Asii of Bactria migrated further west than Kangju/ Sogdia. Rapin, Claude (2007). "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia." In: ''After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. Proceedings of the British Academy – 133'', Eds. Joe Cribb & Georgina Herrmann, pp. 59–60. .


See also

*
Indo-Scythians Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th centu ...
*
Rishikas The Rishikas (also ''Rshika'' and ''Ṛṣika'') was an ancient Kingdom of Central Asia and South Asia, who are mentioned in Hindu and Sanskrit literary texts, including the ''Mahabharata'', the ''Ramayana'', the '' Brhat-Samhita'', the '' Markend ...
*
Tusharas The kingdom of Tushara according to Ancient Indian literature, such as the epic ''Mahabharata'' was a land located beyond north-west India. In the ''Mahabharata'', its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as ''mlechchas'' ("barbarians" ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em Nomadic groups in Eurasia Greco-Bactrian Kingdom Indo-European peoples