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.