Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/196

 186

which, although not composed until the third century A. D., reflects the prominence with which his name was regarded in the history of the time.

The Indo-Parthian princes were gradually driven southward by the advancing Yueh-chi, who had expelled the last of them from the Panjab before the end of the first century A. D. — that is, at the time of this work.

The Yueh-chi, whose westward migration started all this trouble, had settled in Bactria north of the Oxus River about 70 B. C. The scattered tribes were gradually brought together under a central power, and their wandering habits were changed for agricul- ture and industry; so that when the Yueh-chi nation was unified under Kadphises I, who began to rule in 45 A. D., it represented a different people from the savages who had overwhelmed the Greek Kingdom of Bactria. Kadphises reigned over Bokhara and Afghani- stan for 40 years, and was .succeeded by his son Kadphises II, who extended his conquests into India.

The Chinese emperors had never abandoned their assertion of sovereignty over the Yueh-chi. An embassy was sent from China to the Oxus River in the years 125-115 B. C. to try to persuade the Yueh-chi to return to China, but the mission was unsuccessful, and subsequent revolutions kept Chinese interest at home between 100 B. C. and 70 A. D.

A Tartar army under the Chinese General Pan Chao reasserted Chinese supremacy over all of Central Asia, extending its conquests as far as the Caspian Sea. Thus, with the submission of Khotan and Kashgar to Chinese armies in 73 A. D., the route south of the Cen- tral Asian desert was thrown open to commerce from end to end. With the reduction of Kuche and Kharachar in 94 A. D., the route north of the desert was also thrown open, and for the first time regular commerce between East and West was made possible.

It should be borne in mind that this route was still policed by savage tribes only nominally subject to the Chinese Empire, and while communication was opened up immediately, trade was not carried on in large volume until the time of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, 100 years later.

Kadphises II, ruler of the Yueh-chi, who had in the meantime extended his conquest into India but not yet as far as the Indus delta, sent an army of 70,000 cavalry against the Chinese General Pan Chao, and was totally defeated near Kashgar; and was obliged for some years to send tribute to China.