 | Empire of Horses provides a detailed history of the first horse nomads of the eastern Eurasian steppe. They were the Hunnu, or simply “Huns,” who harried China for centuries before their descendants would devastate the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. In the 220s BCE, China seized territory that had been the nomads' domain for centuries. The author suggests the political and military advances of the Hunnu and Chinese empire were driven by ongoing conflict over this area. “China’s unification created pressures that would soon spill over into the steppes, inspiring the nomads to match the power of the new China, and confront it. Unity and pressure on one side led to unity and counter-pressure on the other.” |
The nomads frequently raided the borderlands of ancient China, for the Hunnu emperor “had a problem common to many other empire-builders. He had a large army, followers hungry for wealth, and a court with rituals and ceremonies to be followed. All this was expensive. …expansion was a necessity. An empire needs to grow to find more growth.”
The military might of these Hunnu nomads was based on their recurve composite bows:
- “The power of this weapon was astonishing. At close range, say 50 to 100 meters, arrows from a 'heavy' bow have the penetration of many types of bullets. The right sort of arrow with the right sort of head can slam through a half-inch of wood. Through armor too. "
- “The range is equally astonishing, as the earliest inscription in Mongol reveals: "Yesunge hit a target at 335 alds.” This means Yesunge hit a target a half a kilometer away, approximately a seven-minute walk.
 | The author describes a pastoral culture rich with symbolic ornamentation: “Like the Skythians, they turned the skulls of slain enemies into wine-cups [and] sewed their scalps into clothes or tied them to the reins of their horses” Elite graves contained: patterned felt, lacquered wooden bowls, bronze pots, spoons of horn, bone hair-pins men used to braid their hair, knee-length underpants of wool and silk, bronze buckles, fur hats, jade decorations, golden jewelry, silver plates with yaks and deer in bas-relief, felt carpets and embroidered tapestries. |
The author also provides a fun description of high-status women in the empirical courts of ancient China:
“The mere suggestion that a king or emperor had failed to treat his mother with proper deference would be sufficient to cast a shadow of guilt over his whole regime. …Time and again we discover [court women] maneuvering behind the scenes to bring pressure upon their lovers and sons; in scene after scene we see concubines dissolving into persuasive tears before their lords, or testy old women carrying on like spoiled children until they get their way…[or] the figure of the determine matriarch contriving to dictate the lives of her offspring.”
“The mere suggestion that a king or emperor had failed to treat his mother with proper deference would be sufficient to cast a shadow of guilt over his whole regime. …Time and again we discover [court women] maneuvering behind the scenes to bring pressure upon their lovers and sons; in scene after scene we see concubines dissolving into persuasive tears before their lords, or testy old women carrying on like spoiled children until they get their way…[or] the figure of the determine matriarch contriving to dictate the lives of her offspring.”
The Chinese court often sent “princesses” to wed Hunnu emperors, hoping the women would “civilize” the barbaric nomads. Here’s a princess entering the Hunnu emperor’s tent for the first time:
“Inside she sees two circles of poles holding the great dome of felt, over a floor covered by felt carpets with intricate designs of semi-mythical animals…[Emperor] Huhanye, warned of her arrival hours before, sits on a gold-plated wooden throne, flanked by advisers. Back home Han courtiers imagine her to be in misery, far from it. She is at the heart of a rich empire, well supplied with Chinese products, and with Chinese companions chosen from the thousands of captive servants. She has wealth and authority she could never have dreamed of in Chang’an.”
“Inside she sees two circles of poles holding the great dome of felt, over a floor covered by felt carpets with intricate designs of semi-mythical animals…[Emperor] Huhanye, warned of her arrival hours before, sits on a gold-plated wooden throne, flanked by advisers. Back home Han courtiers imagine her to be in misery, far from it. She is at the heart of a rich empire, well supplied with Chinese products, and with Chinese companions chosen from the thousands of captive servants. She has wealth and authority she could never have dreamed of in Chang’an.”
Empire of Horses is a rich exploration of early steppe nomads and their relationship to ancient China.
More on nomadic horse archers: Surprising Gifts of Nomads and my reviews The Scythians and The Wheel, The Horse, and Language
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