A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity

by Douglas Boin

  The extent to which the brahmans regulated ritual and controlled the interpretation of the Vedas, throughout the first millennium BCE, played an important role in the emergence of Buddhism. The word Buddha itself is an epithet applied to a person. Coming from the Sanskrit, budh, meaning “to awaken,” Buddha is a general descriptor applied to individuals who are thought to have broken free of a thirst for material things. Like those who are raised in the Hindu religious traditions, followers of the Buddha also search for the “universal law and order,” or dharma, that guides the world; but they do not believe in a pantheon of gods.

  For Buddhists, the first person known to have achieved an awakened, or enlightened, state was Siddha̵rtha Gautama. Born in the region of modern Nepal, sometime in the fifth century BCE (c.485–405 BCE), Siddha̵rtha Gautama turned away from his wealthy upbringing to become an itinerant teacher and celebrated monastic leader. Later, other individuals were able to achieve Siddha̵rtha’s level of awakening and carried on the name of “Buddha.”

  Followers of the Buddha’s teachings, to which the term dharma can also be applied, lived throughout the ancient Indian subcontinent. In the third century BCE, one famous ruler embraced the Buddha’s teachings and inscribed them on stone. King Ashoka (r. c.272–231 BCE), whose rule was contemporaneous with the eastward spread of Hellenistic power, set up a series of edicts which announced his support for Buddhist teachings. To date, thirty‐three inscriptions have been discovered on stone pillars, rocks, and caves throughout Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India, some in the capital, Delhi. Most are written in Prakrit, the language which appears on the stones in the Sri Lankan shipwreck discussed earlier. One edict expresses King Ashoka’s sincere desire “that all unbelievers may everywhere dwell unmolested throughout his kingdom), as they also wish for moral restraint and purity of disposition” (“Rock Inscription of Ashoka,” edict 7 in the Collection of Indian Inscriptions [Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum] 1, edited by A. Cunningham and E. Hultzsch, 1925, p. 121]). Another is bilingual, written in Aramaic and ancient Greek. Found in Kandahar, Afghanistan, it refers to Ashoka’s Buddhist beliefs as eusebeia (“piety”).

  These teachings about “piety,” dharma, would spread far beyond King Ashoka’s borders. By the late second century CE, they had spread westward and were known to a bishop in Alexandria. Clement was aware that some people in India followed “the precepts [teachings] of Buddha, whom, on account of his extraordinary sanctity, they have raised to divine honors” (Various Observations [Stromata] 1.15, trans. by W. Wilson in the ANF series [1885]). The Buddha’s teachings had also spread to China. By the early seventh century CE, one Chinese monk, Xuanzang, would embark on a journey to India to try to learn more about the Buddha’s teachings. He, too, would visit Bamiyan and, like Cosmas, would leave behind an important description of his arrival in India from the north and east. We will look at his world in the next section.

  The community of monks who lived in the Bamiyan caves, in the sixth century CE, were witnesses to all the ancient and vibrant tradition of South and Central Asia.

  13.5 Sixth‐ and Seventh‐Century China and Central Asia

  The writer who set out to learn more about Buddhism in India, Xuanzang, was born at a crucial time in Chinese history (c.596–664 CE). From accounts edited by one of his students, we know that Xuanzang (pronounced shwan‐tsahng) witnessed the end of one imperial dynasty and the beginning of another, the Tang. The Tang dynasty governed China from 618–907 CE from their capital at Chang’an.

  Today, Chang’an is a city of almost 10 million people, called Xi’an (pronounced shian), and is famous for its archaeological collection of terracotta warriors, which date to the third century BCE. These life‐size statues were part of the mausoleum of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. (The name of this ruling family, pronounced chin, is thought to be the origin of the later European word, “China.”) Xuanzang studied Buddhism in the capital before setting out for India. The road he took offers several fascinating glimpses of the social and cultural world of Central Asia in Late Antiquity.

  For those wanting to head west from Chinese territory, the preferred itinerary led paradoxically through northern China – the Himalaya Mountains posed too formidable a barrier to the south – along a network of routes which have come to be called the Silk Road. This “road” was actually a series of oasis towns in the mountains and deserts of Central Asia. The scattered location of these cities, from China to Iran, meant that travelers had wide latitude to plot their destinations and plan their layovers. The city of Turfan was one of the important connector cities. Xuanzang stopped here on his way to Bamiyan (Working With Sources 13.1: Graves in Turfan, Xinjiang, on the Northern Silk Roads; Figure 13.4).

  Figure 13.4 Although its precise findspot is unknown and specific details of its acquisition history, in 1951, are not as well documented as cultural heritage advocates currently propose, this female rider likely comes from the desert city of Turfan. Made from fired clay, the figure was likely deposited in a grave at the Astana cemetery, from which other similar artifacts have come. It dates to the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). The Tang period was a pivotal age for Chinese expansion into Central Asia, and fashion was at the forefront of this change. Elaborately decorated silk veils became a popular look among women when they were seen in public; this woman rider may, in fact, be missing her silk veil, which would have originally hung from her wide‐brimmed hat. The city of Turfan (in Xinjiang, Uighur Autonomous Region) is situated in the Taklamakan Desert and lies along the northern routes taken by traders to and from China. Because of the extreme heat, many graves were discovered with otherwise perishable materials, like silk and recycled paper. Among the latter were pawn receipts, giving the price of goods in the Tang dynasty, even preserving the origins of the traders passing along these desert roads. Measurements: c.14.25 in. high (36.2 cm) x 11.50 in. long (29.2 cm). Open‐Access collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

  Working With Sources 13.1 Graves in Turfan, Xinjiang, on the Northern Silk Roads

  Turfan meets the complex profile of many Silk Road towns in Late Antiquity. Geographically, it is located in the sweltering Taklamakan Desert of northern Asia. Politically, it is part of an autonomous region of China known as Xinjiang and is home to a large Muslim population of Turkish ethnicity known as the Uighurs, who trace their history back to this region.

  Residents of Turfan in the sixth century CE were also ethnically diverse. Archaeologists who have excavated graves in the city have detected a mix of burial customs here, suggesting that settlers from Imperial China lived in Turfan alongside a local population, known as the Jushi. The largest influx of Chinese residents likely came in the third century CE since the earliest document bearing Chinese characters found in Turfan dates it 273 CE. Three hundred years later, the Chinese population was swelling. By 640 CE, the city was declared an official prefecture of the Tang empire (r. 618–904).

  Turfan’s graves also reveal something else. Because of the city’s arid climate, tomb after tomb was filled with fragile pieces of handiwork that would otherwise not have survived in a different location. A headdress of silk flowers was one stunning artifact. Paper is another material that has been found in abundance. Residents of Turfan had used recycled paper to make touching last gifts of clothing – hats, belts, and shoes – for their deceased loved ones, a common cultural practice at the time.

  As researchers looked more closely at many of these paper remains, however, they made another discovery: many of the tomb clothes bore traces of writing. By the time scholars had done taking the clothes apart and transcribing what had been written on them, they had assembled approximately two thousand individual documents. They were receipts. Flour, grains, vegetables like onions and scallions, pots for cooking, spices, and animals were all on sale in Turfan, as the tallies on the scraps showed. “These documents offer unparalleled insight into the life of ordinary people living in a Silk Road community between 273, the date of the earliest Chine
se document, and 769, the date of the last” (V. Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012], p. 94).

  Also of interest: many of the merchants’ names were neither local nor Chinese; they were Sogdians, an Iranian people whose kingdom was based in the Central Asian city of Samarkand (in modern Uzbekistan).

  Turfan’s graves tell yet one more story about life on the northern Silk Road. Overwhelmingly, the currency found throughout the city’s tombs is Sasanian silver. By contrast, coins found in cities to the east of Turfan – closer to the Tang capital at Chang’an (modern Xi’an) – are largely bronze Chinese issues. The fact that Sasanian silver was a popular, perhaps even preferred coin in Turfan suggests the city benefited from long‐distance trade, even more so than in the Chinese capital. Roman coinage, the sign of direct economic interaction with people from the Mediterranean, is present but sparse. Sasanian Persia may have been the lynchpin in these trans‐continental exchanges.

  The nature of trade along the Silk Roads

  One caveat is important to keep in mind about the nature of trade along and between this constellation of cities. Despite the many fables that have been passed down about a vibrant, long‐distance economic system uniting east and west along the “Silk Road,” archaeological evidence suggests the contrary. When evidence for the Chinese military is found at these oasis cities, there are signs of a healthy, long‐distance trade. When evidence for the Chinese military is absent – that is, when imperial funds were not being invested into the local cities – trade was more restricted and local.

  Burial evidence from Turfan attests that Sasanian currency was widely prized in the oasis towns of the mountains and deserts of northern China (Figure 13.5). The overwhelming number of the coins which have been found in these cities suggests that Persian merchants, not daring frontier traders from Justinian’s “New Rome,” may have been responsible for pumping a significant amount of money into the system. Bold European adventurers who dared to cross entire continents would come later.

  Figure 13.5 a,b This Sasanian silver coin, showing King Hormizd IV (r. 579–590 CE), was found in a burial at the Astana cemetery in Turfan. Although the Chinese army and Chinese government invested heavily in their frontier trading posts like Turfan, these cities were also important stopping points for foreign traders, many of whom came from Sogdiana in Central Asia or from farther afield. As a result of the diversity of people running these routes, Chinese money was hardly the only currency used in transactions. The high prevalence of Sasanian coins in “Silk Road” tombs, for example, like the one seen here from Turfan, suggests that Persia played a crucial role in this economic ecosystem. Coins from the Roman Empire, by contrast, are rare, even during the sixth and seventh centuries CE. Many of the Roman ones that have been found are counterfeit. British Museum inventory number IA,XII.a.3.

  Photo credit © The Trustees of the British Museum.

  Coins as evidence for shared customs in Rome and Sasanian Persia

  These coins also reveal a telling connection between two empires, Rome and Persia, that were increasingly at war with each other throughout the sixth century. Justinian governed proudly as a Christian leader. The emperor’s laws also defined life in his Christian empire, reminding citizens that it was protected by the Christian God. In Persia, a similar ideology reigned, even if the divinities were different. King Khusrow II (r. 590–628 CE) publicly appealed for Zoroaster’s protection by depicting an altar on new Sasanian currency. The altar, ablaze to honor the god, is attended by two priests. King Khusrow II himself is wearing the winged crown of victory. Together, both sides of the coin promote the divine underpinnings of Khusrow’s sixth‐ and early seventh‐century rule.

  Summary

  As we have seen throughout this far‐reaching chapter, men like Cosmas and Xuanzang not only ventured far from their homes, in Alexandria and Chang’an, during the sixth century CE. They also left behind, in ancient Greek and Mandarin, important written accounts of their journeys. The two men’s destinations may have been roughly the same – a Christian hoping to see Sri Lanka; a Buddhist hoping to learn more in India – but each of their routes posed a unique set of challenges.

  For the people of the Mediterranean who were inspired about contact with Central and South Asia, travel options were limited because of the need to travel by sea; the Sasanian Empire blocked easy access to the overland routes between Constantinople and China. For residents of Tang China, like Xuanzang, government officials in the newly acquired territory of Turfan controlled the flow of people in and out of the empire. In between these two men and their capitals the Sasanian state was a pivotal geopolitical player. The illusion of an isolated, self‐contained “Mediterranean” is hard to sustain during this time.

  Study Questions

  Who was Siddha̵rtha Gautama?

  Describe some of the benefits and limitations of relying upon Cosmas “Who Sailed to India” as a source for understanding the sixth century CE.

  In what cities or regions of the Mediterranean can we find traces of apocalyptic thinking in the sixth century?

  What happened to the economy of the Silk Road cities and regions when the Chinese Empire withdrew its army and its investment? What does this scenario tell you about the nature of trade in sixth‐century Central Asia? How does it parallel the economic relationship between Rome and North Africa in the fifth century CE?

  Suggested Readings

  Deborah Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

  Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

  Scott Johnson, Literary Territories: Cartographical Thinking in Late Antiquity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).

  James Palmer, The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).

  14

  A Choice of Directions

  War arrived with the coming of the seventh century CE. Two Arab families – the Jafnids and the Nasrids – would each watch as their respective allies, Rome and Persia, clashed over access to trade routes between the far east and the Mediterranean. This conflict, although perhaps only tangentially related to the daily life of the Jafnid and Nasrid families on the Arabian peninsula, would, nevertheless, come to affect Late Antique history in a crucial way.

  The use of client kings, by Rome and Persia, to stabilize their tense frontier suggests that the situation between these two empires, although delicately managed, was primed for more open hostility. The situation escalated in the early seventh century CE. That’s when the Roman Empire, still trying to rebound from Justinian’s efforts to reconquer the old western Mediterranean provinces, suffered a surprising, devastating loss closer to home. Sasanian armies would take historic provinces in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Then, more problems arose. The administration in Constantinople would watch as, over the course of two years, from 612–614 CE, the city of Jerusalem fell into Sasanian hands.

  For many Romans in Constantinople, the loss of these lands was a rude, aggressive disruption of the empire’s peace. Since the foundation of Constantinople, in the early fourth century, grain shipments from Egypt had been sent directly to the Bosporus. Egypt, long the bread‐basket of distant Italy, had served Constantine’s city. So it did for three centuries when the Sasanian attack raised the terrifying prospect that the empire would now lose direct, taxed control over its food supply.

  The loss of territories along the south and eastern shores of the Mediterranean made many Christians throughout the empire deeply anxious. Another source of apprehension grew from their beliefs about Jerusalem.

  14.1 Jerusalem in the Sixth and Early Seventh Centuries CE

  Jerusalem in the sixth century CE was a cosmopolitan city with all of the amenities a resident of the Roman Empire could have expected. It had changed quite significantly from the time of Emperor Hadrian, however. Sixth‐century residents and visitors witnessed the construction of a new, more mon
umentalized urban core. One spectacular street, the city’s main north–south axis – called in Latin the Cardo Maximus – benefited from this period of new investment.

  The Cardo Maximus had been an important feature of Jerusalem since Hadrian’s time. Its spacious berth, connecting the northern gates of the city to the central heart of Hadrian’s Jerusalem, the Temple of Aphrodite, allowed wide, comfortable room for both foot and cart traffic. It had remained a major thoroughfare through Constantine’s day, when the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was constructed in the city center at the site where Jesus was alleged to have been buried. Three centuries later, the Cardo was extended further into the city’s southern neighborhoods. This newly paved and framed thoroughfare dramatically guided residents and pilgrims to and from the doorstep of one of Emperor Justinian’s most important buildings: the Nea Church. Remains of this wide, colonnaded street, dated to the sixth century CE, are still visible in modern Jerusalem.

  Urban investment in this road attests to the ways in which even the places of daily pedestrian traffic throughout Jerusalem – not just the city’s major monuments – gripped Christian imagination throughout the sixth century. Tourism was thriving.

  Around 570 CE, an anonymous pilgrim from Piacenza, Italy, came from far beyond the eastern Mediterranean shore to walk the streets of what he or she thought of as Jesus’ city. This pilgrim from Piacenza left behind a travel journal, written in Latin, with pictures of the sites that had motivated him or her to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The description of the rituals which took place at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are particularly fascinating because they show the popular allure of an important relic: a fragment of the cross on which Jesus had been executed (Exploring Culture 14.1: Jerusalem and the Lure of the “Holy Cross”).