KevinD
Légat
Inscrit le: 23 Aoû 2021
Messages: 670
Localisation: Texas
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 Posté le: Dim Juin 22, 2025 5:03 pm Sujet du message: #28 Medes |
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A fascinating discussion about the Medes, or their non-existence, and how the Achaemenids were perhaps mistakenly thought to be related to or descended from the Medes rather than the Elamites.
https://youtu.be/A95MwdxQHlk?si=qzefZb8-lihizvbG |
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babyshark
Légionaire
Inscrit le: 19 Jan 2015
Messages: 139
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| Posté le: Lun Juin 23, 2025 3:21 pm Sujet du message: |
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If you are interested in this topic, permit me to suggest Christopher I. Beckwith, The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age From Persia to China. He makes the case that the Medes were Scythians and that the Persians were more in the way of an internal revolt. Also, that the Scythians are responsible for pretty much everything that happened anywhere near the central Eurasian grasslands, from Greece to China. (I exaggerate, but not by much.)
Beckwith is a linguist (at Indiana University, IIRC) and makes his case largely by way of linguistic analysis, which quickly gets way over my head. But, to the extent that I can follow what he is saying, it appears persuasive. It is also amusing to read him casually slagging off some other scholar's idea of how a word transitioned from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese, and similar. The gentleman's erudition is towering.
Marc |
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Zoltan
Légat
Inscrit le: 18 Jan 2015
Messages: 505
Localisation: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posté le: Ven Juin 27, 2025 9:49 am Sujet du message: |
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Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Persians (2022) maintains:
The Medes and Persians were distinct Eurasian peoples, who both migrated from central Asia into what we today very broadly call Iran.
The Median Khan Cyaxares successfully repelled Scythian invasions of Median territory.Â
Cyrus of the Teispid Persian tribe married into the Archaemenid Persian tribe, creating the dynasty. |
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Zoltan
Légat
Inscrit le: 18 Jan 2015
Messages: 505
Localisation: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posté le: Ven Juin 27, 2025 10:01 am Sujet du message: |
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| babyshark a écrit: | If you are interested in this topic, permit me to suggest Christopher I. Beckwith, The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age From Persia to China. He makes the case that the Medes were Scythians and that the Persians were more in the way of an internal revolt. Also, that the Scythians are responsible for pretty much everything that happened anywhere near the central Eurasian grasslands, from Greece to China. (I exaggerate, but not by much.)
Beckwith is a linguist (at Indiana University, IIRC) and makes his case largely by way of linguistic analysis, which quickly gets way over my head. But, to the extent that I can follow what he is saying, it appears persuasive. It is also amusing to read him casually slagging off some other scholar's idea of how a word transitioned from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese, and similar. The gentleman's erudition is towering.
Marc |
I had such high hopes when I bought Beckwith. Unfortunately his, ahem, erudition turned me right off and the book became almost unreadable for me. |
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babyshark
Légionaire
Inscrit le: 19 Jan 2015
Messages: 139
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| Posté le: Ven Juin 27, 2025 3:11 pm Sujet du message: |
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| Zoltan a écrit: |
I had such high hopes when I bought Beckwith. Unfortunately his, ahem, erudition turned me right off and the book became almost unreadable for me. |
Even his lightest prose has a specific gravity somewhat greater than lead, it is true. I think that at least one of the chapters had an actual event horizon.
Still, it is fascinating, if you can muddle through.
Marc |
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