East Iran in Antiquity: Silk Road and Central Asia outside the Paradigm of Eurasian Trade

Comments · 55

• PA

  @paulacarazo6259 · 9 years ago

  This is amazing! It is so EXTREMELY hard to find documentaries and easy-to-digest information about this area and time periods. Learning about Central Asian ancient history has been a recent obsessive hobby, so thank you :)

  43

• OL

  @oldbyz · 5 years ago

  Dr. Rezakhani is brilliant

  7

• ME

  @MelissaBrownapt215 · 8 years ago

  I didn't know the geeky guy behind him was the speaker...losing patches of that beautiful hair, still smiling and eating his heart out. Love the absence of vanity, just being brilliant and WORLDLY.

  6

• MB

  @MBEG89 · 2 years ago

  Im from samarkand originally and have recently gotten into the history of the region, this video has been very helpful for that, thank you.

• GO

  @gordygordy1003 · 1 year ago

  Many thanks. Very informative.

• RE

  @reviewsfromasocialjusticel8558 · 3 years ago

  Very interesting, thank you.

• PH

  @philpaine3068 · 5 years ago

  In the 1980's, I began reading whatever I could find about ancient Central Asia.  There was precious little to be found in the libraries I frequented, but what immediately struck me was the estimated sizes of cities like Bokhara, Merv, Samarkand and Kashgar during the Middle Ages.  My reaction was exactly the same as Mr. Rezakhani's:  "Hey, wait a second! These cities are bigger than the European cities of the same time periods! Why do all the historians talk about them as if they were little dots on an empty plain, as if they were the equivalent of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan or North Platte, Nebraska when they were obviously the equivalent of Chicago or Toronto?"  At the time of the early Timurids, Samarkand had twice the population of London, and was nearly as large as Paris, then the biggest metropolis in Europe.  No doubt the Chinese writers, from whom we get most of our information, thought they were small places compared to Hangzhou, then the largest city in the world.... but nobody can logically consider Central Asia to have been a non-urban wilderness at the time.  The image of the "nomad" ---- never more than a specialized minority in the region ---- so much overwhelmed the European historians that it clearly distorted their judgment.  I went on to keep that altered perspective in any reading that I did after that, so that I today find almost every point Rezakhani makes to be just plain common sense.  I love the way he used his cross-America road trip to enlighten the audience!

  10

• LU

  @luismiguel174 · 5 years ago

  And scythian Warriors

  2

• MA

  @maryb6074 · 3 years ago

  Gold came from Sistan or Zabolestan as there are nowadays.

  2

• TU

  @tubesher · 5 years ago (edited)

  At <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRCAPETfAbA&amp;t=3390">56:30</a> it’s interesting that the question comes up about where the gold is coming from, and the discussion leads to one of the western historians in the audience pushing a theory that it’s not from India but from Rome (west to east). Remember that’s just a hunch that says “I’d have though it comes from Rome…” not based on any fact. But it’s mentioned when the lecturer shares his theory founded on his own research and logical assumption. But wealth coming from India seems to be something unpalatable to this Princeton history audience suggesting a slight tinge of western superiority complex perhaps colouring their professional objectivity. <br><br>Then when the host finally ends that discussion saying the Kushans seem to not issue gold coin until after they’ve come across the Hindukush (I.e into India) that more or less rests the point. But he’s having to say “that’s his assumption” simply to assuage his audience. Such hostility to Indian contributions to economic and cultural wealth in history (or perhaps the more likely incentive to push the narrative of western historical dominance over all others) is professionally deplorable, and I hope Princeton historians grow out of it. Maybe the next generation will.

  4

• NU

  @Numischannel · 4 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRCAPETfAbA&amp;t=382">06:22</a>: Baghdad did not even exist in the 2nd century BC, it was founded about 900 years later!

  3

• SA

  @sahhaf1234 · 2 years ago

  what I wonder is the agriculture of khorasan.. when one looks at the maps, the region seems to be arid. how do they generate the agricultural surplus that went in to feed the cities? yes, I know the qanats etc but a more detailed analysis with maps would be nice.