Ban Chao repels a Kushan army
In 90 the Kushan viceroy Xie crossed the Pamirs with 70,000 men against Ban Chao, who had refused the Kushan king a Han princess. Ban Chao held the walled oases and cut off the invaders’ supplies, and the Kushans withdrew and began to send tribute.
- Date
- 90year known
- Place
- Kashgar (Shule), western Tarim Basinapproximate locationtoday: Kashgar, Xinjiang, China · Central and Northern Asia
- Participants
- Ban Chao, Kushan Empire, Han dynasty
- Threads
- The Steppe and Central Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Kushan invasion of the Tarim Basin; Viceroy Xie; Кушанский поход 90 года; Наместник Се
The Kushans — the Great Yuezhi of the Chinese sources — had helped the Han against Jushi (Turfan), and in 84 their king persuaded Kangju to stop backing a rebel in Kashgar; they sent gifts to the Han court, and their king asked for a Han princess in marriage. Ban Chao turned the envoy back, and in 90 the viceroy Xie led an army across the Congling (the Pamirs). According to Ban Chao’s biography in the Book of the Later Han, the Chinese, far outnumbered, gathered in the harvest and shut themselves in the fortified towns. Unable to take them or to find plunder, Xie sent riders with gold, silver and jewels to Kucha to obtain food, but Ban Chao ambushed and killed them; Xie then asked to be allowed to withdraw, and afterwards the Kushans sent tribute every year.
The episode is known only from the Chinese account, which praises Ban Chao; it does not name the Kushan king or say where the fighting took place. Some works place it near Kashgar, others near Khotan, so the marker is approximate.
Connections
Part of
- Ban Chao’s campaigns in the Tarim Basin73–102 · Central and Northern Asia
Same participants
- Kushans conquer Gandhara and Taxilabetween 50 and 70 · South Asiavia Kushan Empire
- Battle of Ikh Bayan and the Yanran inscription89 · Central and Northern Asiavia Han dynasty
- Gan Ying’s mission to Da Qin (Rome)97 · Central and Northern Asiavia Ban Chao
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Eastern Europe
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200
Balkans and Anatolia
- Domitian’s Dacian Warbetween 85 and 86 – 89
Middle East and Egypt
- Hero of Alexandria’s aeolipilebetween 50 and 100
South Asia
- Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikameduc. 30 BC – c. 250
- Gandharan art: the first images of the Buddhabetween 30 BC and AD 100
East Asia
- The Book of Han is writtenc. 54 – 111
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Founding of Funan: Kaundinya and Queen Liuyebetween 1 and 100
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Sa Huỳnh culturec. 1000 BC – c. 200
North America
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Latin America
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
- Monte Albán II: the Zapotec state expandsc. 100 BC – c. 200
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Ban Chao
- Wikipedia (English): Kushan Empire
- Wikipedia (Russian): Бань Чао
- Wikipedia (Russian): Кушанское царство
- Chavannes É. Trois généraux chinois de la dynastie des Han orientaux: Pan Tch’ao (32–102 p. C.), son fils Pan Yong, Leang K’in (112 p. C.). Chapitre LXXVII du Heou Han chou // T’oung Pao. — 1906. — Vol. 7. — P. 210–269.
- Zürcher E. The Yüeh-chih and Kaniṣka in the Chinese Sources // Papers on the Date of Kaniṣka / Ed. A. L. Basham. — Leiden: Brill, 1968. — P. 346–390.