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v t e

The Dahae (Template:Lang-fa; Sanskrit: Dasa; Latin: Dahae; Template:Lang-el ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), Δάαι, Δᾶαι ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), Δάσαι ( Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help))), Dahas or Dahaeans were a confederation of three tribes in the region to the immediate east of the Caspian Sea. The area and places nearby have consequently been known as Dahestan, Dahistan and Dihistan. According to Bivar, the capital of "the ancient Dahae (if indeed they possessed one) is quite unknown." By the time of the first historical records, the Dahae spoke an Eastern Iranian language.

History

A link has sometimes been suggested between the Dahae and Dacians (Dacii) of ancient Eastern Europe. Both peoples shared the variant name Daoi. The anthropologist David Gordon White has suggested that both names share the Proto-Indo-European root *dhau meaning "strangler" (and "wolf" in the case of the Dacians). White also stated that the "Dacians ... appear to be related to the Dahae."

The first dateable mention of the Dahae appears in the Daeva inscription by Xerxes the Great (who reigned in 486–465 BCE). In this list of the peoples and provinces of the Achaemenid Empire, the Dahae are identified in Old Persian as Dāha and are immediately followed by their neighbors, the Saka. In the 1st century BCE, Strabo (Geographika 11.8.1) also refers to the Dahae explicitly as a "Scythian" people, located in the approximate vicinity of present-day Turkmenistan. While the name Scythians has often been regarded as synonymous with the Saka, that was not necessarily the case with Strabo.

It is unclear whether the Dahae are also the *Dāha or *Dåŋha (only attested in the feminine Dahi) mentioned by the Avestani Yasht (13.144). Moreover, any etymological relationship would not be proof that both names refer to exactly the same people.

The Dahae, together with the Saka tribes, are known to have fought in the Achaemenid armies at the Battle of Gaugamela. Following the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, they joined Alexander the Great in the Greek invasion of India. Saka coins from the Seleucid era are sometimes specifically attributed to the Dahae.

In the third century, a branch of Dahae called the Parni would rise to prominence under their chief Arsaces. They invaded Parthia, which had just previously declared independence from the Seleucids, deposed the reigning monarch, and Arsaces crowned himself king. His successors, who all named themselves Arsaces and are thus referred to as the Arsacids, would eventually assert military control over the entire Iranian plateau. By then, they would be indistinguishable from the Parthians, and would also be called by that name.

References

1. Francisco Rodríguez Adrados (1994). basileutos - daimōn, Vol 4, p. 859: "Δᾶαι"
2. Bivar 1993, p. 27.
3. ^ David Gordon White, 1991, Myths of the Dog-Man, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. 27, 239.
4. de Blois 1993, p. 581.

Bibliography

• Bivar, A.D.H. (1993), "The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids", in Fischer, W.B.; Gershevitch, Ilya (eds.), Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3.1, London: Cambridge UP, pp. 21–99
• de Blois, François (1993), "Dahae I: Etymology", Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 6, Costa Mesa: Mazda, p. 581

v t e Provinces of the Achaemenid Empire (Behistun / Persepolis / Naqsh-e Rustam / Susa / Daeva inscriptions)
Akaufaka (Quhistan?) Amyrgoi Arabia Arachosia Aria Armenia Assyria Babylonia Bactria Cappadocia Caria Carmania Chorasmia Cilicia Colchis Dahae Drangiana 1st Egypt / 2nd Egypt Eber-Nari (Levant) Elam Kush (Nubia) Gandāra (Gandhara) Gedrosia Hyrcania Ionia Hindush Libya Lydia Maka Margiana Media Massagetae Parthia Persis Phoenicia Phrygia Hellespontine Phrygia Greater Phrygia Saka Samaritan Province Sattagydia Skudra (Thrace) Sogdia Yehud
See also Taxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire (according to Herodotus)

v t e Provinces of the Sasanian Empire
Abarshahr Adurbadagan Albania Arbayistan Armenia Asoristan Balasagan Beth Garmai Dihistan Egypt* Eran-Khwarrah-Yazdegerd* Garamig ud Nodardashiragan Garmekan Gurgan Harev Hind Iberia Kadagistan* Khuzistan Kirman Kushanshahr Khwarazm Lazica* Machelonia Makuran Marw Mazun Media Meshan Nodardashiragan Paradan Padishkhwargar Pars Parthia Sakastan Sogdia Spahan Suristan Turan Yemen
* indicates short living provinces

• Ancient Iranian peoples
• Scythians
• History of Turkmenistan