Khalchayan (also ''Khaltchaïan'') is an archaeological site, thought to be a small palace or a reception hall, located near the modern town of

Denov , other_name = , pushpin_map = Uzbekistan#West Asia#Tokharistan , pushpin_relief = yes , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Uzbekistan , coordinates = , su ...

Surxondaryo Region Surxondaryo Region ( uz, Surxondaryo viloyati, Сурхондарё вилояти, سرخان‌دریا ولایت, russian: Сурхандарьинская область, fa, سرخان‌دریا, UniPers: "sorxāndaryā"), old spelling Su ...

of southern

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

. It is located in the valley of the

Surkhan Darya The Surxondaryo or Surkhandarya ( uz, Surxondaryo, russian: Сурхандарья ''Surkhandarya'') is a primary right tributary of the Amu Darya in Uzbekistan. It is formed at the confluence of the rivers Karatag and Toʻpolondaryo near the cit ...

, a northern tributary of the

Oxus The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

(modern

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

Terracotta statues

The site is usually attributed to the early

Kushans The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...

, or their ancestors the

Yuezhi The Yuezhi (;) were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat ...

Tocharians The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...

. It was excavated by

Galina Pugachenkova Galina Anatolevna Pugachenkova (7 February 1915 – 18 February 2007) was a Soviet archaeologist and art historian, regarded as a founder of Uzbek archaeology and central to the progression of archaeology and art history under Soviet regimes. ...

between 1959 and 1963. The interior walls are decorated with clay sculptures and paintings dated to the mid-1st century BCE, but they are thought to represent events as early as the 2nd century BCE. Various panels depict scenes of Kushan life: battles, feasts, portraits of rulers. Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are thought to depict the Kushans fighting against a

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

tribe. The Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-wiskers in more or less grotesque attitudes."The knights in chain-mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe (probably the Sakaraules). Apart from the chain-mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi, the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side-whiskers (...) We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side-whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules (...) Indeed these expressive figures with side-whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions."

Portrait of a Parthian king

The bust of a Parthian king was discovered among the sculptures at Khalchayan, and the time period and resemblance from numismatics suggest that this may represent

Vardanes I Vardanes I was a king of the Parthian Empire from 40 to 46 AD. He was the heir apparent of his father Artabanus II (), but had to continually fight against his brother Gotarzes II, a rival claimant to the throne. Vardanes' short reign ended when ...

as he sought refuge, and possibly an alliance, in Bactria at the Yuezhi court.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

related that Vardanes "took refuge among the Bactrians", after his failure at the siege of Seleucia circa 35 CE. These events might give a ''

terminus post quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

'' of around 45-47 CE for the Khalchayan portrait of the Parthian king, a period when the contemporary Kushan ruler may have been

Kujula Kadphises Kujula Kadphises (Kushan language: Κοζουλου Καδφιζου, also Κοζολα Καδαφες; Kharosthi: 𐨐𐨂𐨗𐨂𐨫 𐨐𐨯, IAST: ', '; Ancient Chinese: 丘就卻, ''Qiujiuque''; reigned 30–80 CE, or 40-90 CE according to B ...

. File:Kalchayan Prince warrior (full).jpg, Yuezhi Prince from Khalchayan. At his feet, the trophy of a

cataphract A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalryman that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. The English word derives from the Greek ' (plural: '), literally meaning "armored" or ...

armour with neck-guard. 1st century BCE. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, nb 40. File:Kalchayan_Prince_profile.jpg, The Prince displays

artificial cranial deformation Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying ...

. File:Khalchayan statuette, 1st century BCE (detail).jpg, Another terracotta statue from Khalchayan, 1st century BCE-1st century CE. Termez Archaeological Museum. File:Scythian soldier, Kalchayan (side).jpg, Scythian soldier, Kalchayan File:Kalchayan, King on a throne.jpg, Kalchayan, King on a throne File:Kalchayan portrait.jpg, Kalchayan portrait. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan File:Khalchayan Parthian king.jpg, Portrait of a Parthian king, possibly

. File:Khalchayan cherub.jpg, Khalchayan cherub.

Influences

Medallion with Kushan king on a throne, Kalchayan, 1st century CE

According to Benjamin Rowland, the art of Kalchayan of the end of the 2nd century BCE is ultimately derived from

Hellenistic art Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period generally taken to begin with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the conquest of the Greek world by the Romans, a process well underway by 146 BCE, when the Greek mainlan ...

, and possibly from the art of the cities of

Ai-Khanoum Ai-Khanoum (, meaning ''Lady Moon''; uz, Oyxonim) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was probably founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and se ...

and

Nysa Nysa may refer to: Greek Mythology * Nysa (mythology) or Nyseion, the mountainous region or mount (various traditional locations), where nymphs raised the young god Dionysus * Nysiads, nymphs of Mount Nysa who cared for and taught the infant ...

, but it also has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara and may even have been at the origin of its development. Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself. For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

s, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler

Heraios Heraios ( Bactrian: Ηλου ''Ēlou'', sometimes Heraus, Heraos, Miaos) was apparently a king or clan chief of the Kushans (reign: c. 1 –30 CE), one of the five constituent tribes of the Yuezhi, in Bactria, in the early 1st century CE. Sev ...

is also striking. According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the

References

Sources

*"Les Saces", Iaroslav Lebedynsky

External links

"A Comparison of Images of Kushans from Coins and Sculpture"
with images from Pugachenkova (1970) ''The Sculpture of Khalchayan''.
"Khalchayan"
''

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