A Kernel of Truth

Image: A nomad is getting his herd in shape
Courtesy: http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/mongolia-tour/detail 

In this chapter, I would like to share my thoughts about steppe nomads.

This topic is very important for the development of my book which shows how the geographic imagination of Latin Europeans about the Far East altered. If up to the 13th century the furthest destination was India, it would later embrace China. What was in the middle? The fascinating world of the pastoralist nomads which was the antipode of Western Europe.

The nomads are currently receiving a better treatment in historical research. They are no longer considered the dead end of social and economic development but rather a specific mode of production conditioned by survival strategies of existence under the harsh climate and the tough competition.

Their mobility would give the steppe dwellers a fair chance to stay independent from the state authorities of the sedentary societies that would require taxes and conscription. The same lifestyle enabled the pastoralists to play a role in long-distance trade as the middle-men who can act as the guides or the guards or the travel companions of the merchant caravans.

Such environment demanded from the nomads to be arranged in kinship groups and seek the alliance of the warlords. Their endurance to severe conditions made them adroit raiders and troopers. The steppe aristocrats would exploit these qualities in time of crisis, amplifying the power that could allow them to form tribal confederations and even empires.

I have collected the new material and am trying to mix it with what I wrote before. This chapter will contrast with the previous one where I picked up the ancient and medieval perception of the nomads.

Beware of Barbarians

      Image: A Kazakh nomad “almost glued” to his mount

      Courtesy: https://metaphorimages.photoshelter.com/image/I0000lAn3o2uAWVA

My new chapter of Unit IV focuses on the treatment of nomadic pastoralists by the European literatti. I show that the pastoralist style was alien to well-educated authors and was shown as barbarian. Alexander the Great was applied as the guarding spirit of the oecumene- the civilization of the settled peoples. To match this role, he was commissioned to build the gate or the wall which was to shield the people of the sown from ugly and sinful steppe dwellers.

Here's the extract:

      

The sober report of Arrian Flavius, a Hellenistic historian and Roman general, about Alexander’s failed attempt to overhaul King Darius at the breach in the mountain wall could not suit the sophisticated taste of adventure lovers. As a response to the challenge, an entangled legend would spring up. In this tale, the Greek superstar obtained the mystical power and romantic nature. Acting as a Pan-Hellenic hegemon, he unleashed his troops in an attempt to conquer the habitable world. However, on reaching the ultimate borders of the humankind, he stumbled on weird and uncouth folks who were a far cry from anyone he had encountered before.

     The "wild nations" that Alexander of the legend dreaded so much were the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppes. Their lifestyle and manner of war diverged from those of the Greeks and seemed to undergo little changes throughout the ages. At the same time, the nomadic and sedentary worlds could not do without each other. The grassland "paradise" was speckled with barely seen paths leading to desert oases and seaside ports where the steppe products were exchanged for urban goods, ideas, and services.

When an ancient Greek would think about the nomads, the first thing that would come across his mind was Hippemolgi (Greek: “mare-milk drinkers”]. Homer immortalized this nickname in an unforgettable line where he contrasts their aristocratic manners with the koumiss consumption: “the lordly Hippemolgi who drink the milk of mares.” (2)

In the eyes of the settled onlookers, the restlessness of the pastoralists stems from the vagaries of the nomadic economy in which the well-being of the cattle drivers relies on the prosperity of their flocks. Strabo links the miserable life of the German “barbarians” with their aversion to agricultural labor: “they migrate with ease, because of the meagerness of their livelihood and because they do not till the soil or even store up food, but live in small huts that are merely temporary structures; … they live for the most part off their flocks… they load their household belongings on their wagons and … turn whithersoever they think best.” (3)

Julius Caesar subscribes to this view, elaborating on the Germans’ dairy and meat diet: “For agriculture, they have no zeal, and the greater part of their food consists of milk, cheese, and flesh.” (4)

The same bias against the pastoralists was adopted by medieval European authors. Gerald of Wales, the twelfth-century English cleric and historian, finds the contemporary Irish people unsophisticated because of their commitment to the animal husbandry. They are “a rude people, subsisting on the produce of their cattle only, and living themselves like beasts-a people that have not departed from the primitive habits of pastoral life.” Such folks, he refines, are prone to strict conservatism and will oppose any innovations, leading “the same life their fathers did in the woods and open pastures, neither willing to abandon their old habits or learn anything new. “(5) 

Alexander at the Caspian Gates

My new chapter points out to the Greek twist of the legend which relates to Alexander putting up a wall or a gate at a mountain pass.
I cite Arrian, one of our primary historical sources on Alexander, who mentions no such thing. I show that this yarn had already come into existence at the time of  Josephus Flavius, who makes it part of his narrative. I quote Pliny the Elder who testifies of a great confusion among his contemporaries concerning the location of the Caspian Gates.
I'd like to give you a taste of my writing:

"It was a long and breaking down chase. The bleeding but still alive Persian emperor took to flight into his eastern satrapies in the last-ditch effort to muster a new army against his victorious contender. The royal escape route passed through the Caspian Gates, a winding ground-level breach in a mountain wall. The pursuer, who would spare neither horses nor riders, was breathing down his neck in a desperate attempt to intercept the fleeting antagonist.

                At the close approach to the intended defile, Alexander learned to his bitter distress that his foe had managed to slip away through the jaws of a mousetrap. Recognizing a failure of his impulsive plan, the chaser had to suspend the hot pursuit, granting his weary troops a long-deserved repose. (1) The conqueror had neither time nor intention to erect neither a wall nor a gate as he had to catch up with his glory.

Pliny the Elder emphasizes the strategic significance of this venue, which served as the benchmark for the distance estimations in the course of the Greek military campaign across Asia: “In the itineraries of Alexander the Great, these gates were made the central or turning point in his expeditions.” (2)

The Roman scholar refers to the Iranian Caspian Gates, a narrow gorge cut in a chain of the Elburz Mountains, connecting Media with Parthia. He places this defile in the vicinity of Rhagae, an ancient city, which is currently absorbed by Tehran metropolis.

However, the writer defies the common error to attribute the same place-name to the mountain passage in the Caucasus. He cites a local defense network consisting of the gates with iron-covered beams and a rock fort “erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes.” (3) This barrier designed to repel barbarian raids has nothing to do with the historic Alexander who had never waged wars in this region.

By the time of Josephus Flavius, who flourished at the latter part of the first century CE, the legend of the Caucasian Caspian Gates had gained such a wide circulation that the Jewish historian did not hesitate to include it in his chronicle. The narrator relates that a nomadic tribe from the north bent on conducting a plundering raid in north-western Iran asked permission of a local king “who controlled the pass which Alexander the Great had blocked with iron gates.” (4)

                Classical men-of-letters believed that Alexander the Macedon had reached the rim of the civilized land; he had not dismounted until found himself at the gateway to India. He turned tail only after his exhausted servicemen had questioned his strategy in achieving the ultimate goal. In his farewell speech to the troops, he urges them (to no avail) to spread themselves thin and continue the conquest, confiding his dream of a world-wide polity: "… to this empire there will be no boundaries but what God Himself had made for the whole world." (5)

Plutarch gave the brave commander credit for spreading the Greek ideal of human society over entire Asia, overcoming "its uncivilized and brutish mode of life." (6) 

I'm currently studying other sources that describe the nomadic tribes of the Pontic steppes who became Alexander's antagonists in the legend. I will also include authentic information about these peculiar people who would astonish our classical commentators. 

I have recently begun to check the archaeological news on a regular basis. I read reports about extraordinary finds all over the world. These extracts may not add much to my story but they give me a sense of global history which justifies the concept of my book and inspires me to continue my work. 

In the Shadow of the Iron Gate

Dear readers,

Happy New Year!

I'm hopeful that the next year will bring you many happy moments that will overshadow all the sad ones.

My reading audience is growing; over 1500 people have visited this blog, which delves into my second project.

I have launched another blog on the Tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/mikebisblog
where I will tell a broader history of my writing, starting with my first book, Dawn and Sunset.

You may visit my personal page on the Scriggler https://scriggler.com/Profile/michael_baizerman
where I have uploaded 23 articles that cover my four projects.

As far as my second book, The Enchanting Encounter with the East, I have started working on Unit IV, In the Shadow of the Iron Gate. I would like to explore the image of Alexander's Gate as it took shape in the Latin West.

The draft copy of the unit comprises nine chapters; however, I will probably curtail one or two extracts for the sake of the consistency of reading. I will start by introducing the main characters of my story, Gog and Magog, as they appear in the Bible, mainly Ezekiel and the Revelation. I have already revised this chapter but won't upload it here because it extends to one page only and I rule out publishing the entire chapters in this blog; only lengthy extracts.

Then, I will review the birth of the legend of Alexander's Gate which came into circulation by the end of the first century CE across the Greko-Roman world. The location of the barrier against barbarians had shifted from the Elburz mountain range of northern Iran to the Caucasus. Later, I will show the first fusion of the yarn: Alexander locks the civilized world from the invasion of Gog-Magog. In the end, I will expose the second fusion: Gog-Magog blends with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Sounds exciting? Wish me good luck in the coming year; maybe the end of my book?

The Swan Song of the Mongol Thrust

Image:  The Ilkhan Hulegu and his chief wife Doquz Hatun

modeled as modern Constantine and Helen  in a thirteenth-century Syriac Bible

This is the beginning of the third and the last chapter of Unit III, Unveiling the Alien. With the three parts of my book finished, I have covered from one third to half of the entire project.

Units IV and V will focus on medieval western legends relating to the East. In Unit IV, I will try to crack the code of Alexander's Gate and reveal both its historical development and historical background. 

"Eljigidei, the new commander of the Mongol forces stationed in Persia, was harboring an ambitious scheme to invade Iraq. However, he realized that his master plan could be derailed by the joint forces of the Caliph of Baghdad and the Sultan of Egypt, the preeminent rulers in the Muslim East. To defuse this perilous scenario, the trusted general requested the support of King Louis who engaged in the preparation for a new crusade. 

In his letter, that caught the addressee at Nicosia, Cyprus in 1248, the writer resorted to the Christian rhetoric to lull his counterpart to a proposed agreement. He emphasized that both the Franks and the Mongols confronted the same enemy, “those who hold the cross in contempt”, and should attune their military designs. The commander endorsed the Frankish advance on Egypt, wishing the crusaders an ultimate victory in the land of pharaohs and pyramids. (1)   

Eljigidei anticipated that the French monarch would raise the ticklish issue of the Great Khan’s conversion to the Latin Christendom as a precondition for cooperation. The sender reminded his correspondent that the Mongol emperor had decreed the freedom of conscience which entailed all Christians: “in the law of God there is no difference between Latins and Greeks, and Armenians and Nestorians and Jacobites, and all those who worship the cross. All of them are one to us.” (2)

The writer provided King Louis with a new insight on the position of the adepts of the apostolic faith in the Mongol Empire. The followers of the cross were guaranteed freedom from any form of forced labor and tax immunity (“All Christians be liberated from servitude and from tribute”) in addition to economic safety (“nobody lay hands on their property”) and the unrestricted public cult (“the churches that were destroyed be rebuilt.” (3)

The embassy that submitted this game-changer comprised the members of the Church of the East, who answered the palatable names of Mark and David. The envoys were never at a loss to add spicy details, like the solemn promise to assist the Franks in regaining their lost holdings in the Holy Land and releasing “Jerusalem out of the hand of the Saracens.” (4) Even the Mongol project of capturing Baghdad was presented as retaliation to the recent Muslim hostilities against the worshippers of the cross. The Nestorians also claimed that the Great Khan’s benevolence to the Christians owed to the influence of his mother, the daughter of the mysterious Eastern king, Prester John.

                The mysterious envoys were well-behaved: they accompanied King Louis to Mass on Christmas and displayed flawless table manners while dining with His Majesty, “where they showed that they knew how to behave like Christians.” (5) 

The Swan Song of the Mongol Conquests

The last great campaign of the unified Mongol Empire was spearheaded against the Muslim East. This onslaught brought forth the Ilkhanate, one of the four Tartar split polities, whose sway spread between the Indus and the Euphrates. The nomadic rulers of this new realm aspired to conquer the lands of Syria and Egypt governed by the novel Islamic power: the Mamluk Sultanate.

Since the balance of forces was close to a draw, the geopolitical confrontation between the rivals became locked in a stalemate. Following the classic paradigm, which they exerted from time to time in their turbulent history, the Mongols were seeking an ally to tempt him to open a second front against their foes. They thought they had found a partner among the crusader states of the Levant which struggled for their survival on the Holy Land. They also hoped to forge an alliance with the leading powers of the Latin West, promising to transfer Jerusalem under the Christian control.

My new chapter will focus on these futile attempts. That will be the last extract of Unit III. I have already completed the collection of materials and need to hatch a plan. The novel chapter will substitute two extracts in the draft. I won't do it to curtail page numbers of the book which will hopefully comprise about 90 K words. These extracts written five or six years ago, when I just launched my research, seem awfully outdated. Now I know better!

A few words about my research. When I use this word, I do not mean scientific research but a personal study of the subject. My aim is not to find an unexplored area but to write a fascinating story. My plots are always based on reality, as I see it, and sometimes I ask logical questions if I meet with awkward explanations. I like to follow new trends but only if they look promising.

When I finish this chapter, I am going to move to the realm of medieval legends, exploring the meaning of Alexander Wall designed to thwart the efforts of the enclosed nations to contaminate the "civilized" world.

The Swinging Bridge across the Abyss

Image: The Chinese envoys at the ger of Chinggis Khan

Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Djengiz_Kh%C3%A2n_et_les_envoy%C3%A9s_chinois.jpeg 

The fear of a new Mongol onslaught stirred the search for a novel route to make a contact with a dangerous enemy.

Pope Innocent IV undertook a range of diplomatic overtures with the Great Khan. His clerical envoys managed to cross a bridge across the abyss separating the Latin Christendom and the steppe barbarians. The response that they had brought was very uncomforting. The Tartar emperor demanded unconditional submission, citing the divine mandate which raised him above all the other political authorities across the globe.

This is the topic of my new chapter on the relations between the Latin West and the bizarre East. I offer you to read an extract:

"The only European power which dared to take on the Mongol bully was the Apostolic See. Devoid of a mighty army to oppose the enemy, the newly-elected pontiff possessed the reliable weapon of mass destruction: a quill and vellum. 

In his heart, Pope Innocent IV treated the Tartars as the foes of the entire Christendom, referring to them as impious people and marauders, whose past atrocities foreshadowed a forthcoming assault against the faithful to the cross. As a far-sighted leader, he apprehended the imminence of the Mongol renewed incursion.

Unlike the pope, secular leaders were stricken with panic. The contemporary correspondence exposes West European dignitaries seized by the lack of hope. An English clerical chronicler acknowledges with a sigh that the steppe warriors “struck great fear and terror into all Christendom.” (1) Frederick, one the most powerful military commanders and statesmen of the time, buys rumors about the invincibility and numerical superiority of the Tartar host: “they… hope to destroy the rest of the human race and are endeavoring to rule and lord it alone, trusting to their immense power and unlimited numbers.” (2)

Juvayni explains that the Mongols deserved their international “bad press” through the repeated pattern of ultimate destruction of conquered territories and total annihilation of the settled population: “with one stroke a world which billowed with fertility was laid desolate… The regions thereof became a desert… the greater part of the living dead, and their skins and bones crumbling dust.” (3)  

The ecumenical council convened at Lyons in 1245 blasted the Mongols for defying the Gospel’s craving since their ultimate goal seemed to subjugate or even destroy the Latin West. Since the second nomadic invasion looked imminent, the rulers of the frontier states had to take urgent preventive measures, such as placing outposts on roads, constructing fortified places, and early announcing of the enemy’s advance. Pope Innocent promised to compensate the lords for all expenses, establishing a special fund to which every European power would contribute. (4)  

Even sixteen years later, the Tartar menace appeared real as the papal bulla, Clamat in auribus, issued by Pope Alexander IV shared the same anticipation of a broad Mongol onslaught: “they may yet attempt a hostile entrance into Europe with a mighty orgy of the massacre.” The pontiff suggests convoking a general council of ecclesiastic and lay authorities to consider a crusade against a new outburst of invaders and cautions against clinching a deal with the aggressors since “they observe no pact or pledge of faith, which in fact the infidels cannot make.” (5)

Pope Innocent’s main concern was to win the time by sending embassies to the leading Mongol commanders to check their stance and lure them into tiresome negotiations. Due to great urgency, the Apostolic See had dispatched his envoys even before the onset of the First Council of Lyons, where the Tartar menace figured out as one of the main topics on the agenda. The most celebrated of these delegations was headed by an Italian Franciscan John (Giovanni) of Plano Carpini, the first European envoy who won an audience with the Great Khan.