Yüeh-chi occupied the lands of the Sak and forced the Sak to move westward before them into Bactria.[1] The Sacae, by this time a large horde consisting partly of Sacaraucae and Massagetae and partly of other smaller groups gathered en route, were thus forced into Ta-hsia (Bactria).[2]
Determination of the time when this migration came into conflict with the Parthians depends upon the uncertain date of the Parthian expansion to the east. While the Parthian invasion of India under Mithradates I (171–138 b.c.) can hardly be styled a "legend,"[3] there is no good evidence as yet for such conquests beyond the statement of Orosius, a late writer of uncertain accuracy.[4] If by Hydaspes he
- ↑ For the Chinese sources see pp. 42 f., n. 57. The late Dr. Laufer of Field Museum, Chicago, was kind enough to offer suggestions as to the relative merits of the translations.
- ↑ Herzfeld, "Sakastan," AMI, IV (1932), 21–25, believes that Ferghana was the point from which the Sacae began their wanderings. His identification of Wu-sun as Ferghana is against the almost universal opinion of Sinologists, who believe Ferghana to be Ta-yüan.
- ↑ As does Tarn in CAH, IX, 579.
- ↑ Orosius v. 4. 16. Note that the drachms collected by G. P. Tate in Seistan (Rapson, "Note on Ancient Coins," JRAS, 1904, p. 677) begin with Mithradates II. The small number of coins, however, largely negates the value of the evidence. For a chronological table based on an acceptance of Orosius see V. A. Smith, "The Indo-Parthian Dynasties," ZDMG, LX (1906), 71 f.
V. A. Smith, "The Śakas in Northern India," ZDMG, LXI (1907), 403–21; Heinrich Lüders, "Die Śakas und die 'nordarische' Sprache," SPAW, 1913, pp. 406–27; Sten Konow, "On the Nationality of the Kuṣaṇas," ZDMG, LXVIII (1914), 85–100; PW, art. "Sakai" (1920).
