The Issyk inscription is a yet undeciphered text, possibly in the Kushan script, [1] found in 1969 on a silver bowl in Issyk kurgan in Kazakhstan, dated at approximately the 4th century BC. The context of the burial gifts indicates that it may belong to Saka tribes.
The Issyk inscription is not yet certainly deciphered, and is probably in a Scythian dialect, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that language. János Harmatta, using the Kharoṣṭhī script, identified the language as a Khotanese Saka dialect spoken by the Kushans, tentatively translating: [2]
| Line | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | za(ṃ)-ri ko-la(ṃ) mi(ṃ)-vaṃ vaṃ-va pa-zaṃ pa-na de-ka mi(ṃ)-ri-to | The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal, |
| 2 | ña-ka mi pa-zaṃ vaṃ-va va-za(ṃ)-na vaṃ. | then added cooked fresh butter on |
Zaur Hasanov (2015) identifies the script as an ancient Turkic language, related or identical to the Orkhon-Yenisei script, and translates it as: [3]
| Line | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *Dört *bul Küz Sïnglïyï ïr | (Of the) Four Corners (cardinal directions) (the) tribes Syngly sing (acclaim) |
| 2 | Uş yüz yïğ anta ïçïr | Three hundred mourners oath drink (give an oath) |
It contains a poetic expression of respect for the dead, which is considered significant as the Turks followed Tengrism, in which there is a cult of the ancestors.
A subsequent analysis in 2019 by Ball et al. disagrees with the arguments by Hasanov et al. 2015. [4]
Orçun Ünal (2019) argues that if the Issyk inscription is not an Iranian (Khotanese Saka) language, it may be a Proto-Mongolic language with strong contact to neighbouring Iranian languages, associating them with the 'Argippaei'. Ünal cautions that this does not mean that the "Issyk people" spoke a Mongolic language, but that the artifacts may have been of "foreigen" origin and given to the Saka as form of tribute. [5]
A 2023 analysis by Bonmann et al. identifies the Issyk language with a new sub-branch of the Eastern Iranian languages, particularly a language "situated in between Bactrian-, Sogdian-, Saka- and Old Steppe Iranian". They also argue "since it is not an ‘unknown script’ anymore, we suggest to call the writing system ‘(Issyk-)Kushan script’ from now on". [1]
The Saka were a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who historically inhabited the northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin.
The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eastern Iran and Northern India, at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath, near Varanasi, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great.
The Indo-Scythians were a group of nomadic people of Iranic Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the northwestern Indian subcontinent: the present-day South Asian regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. The migrations persisted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE.
The Scythian languages are a group of Eastern Iranic languages of the classical and late antique period, spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their descendants. The dominant ethnic groups among the Scythian-speakers were nomadic pastoralists of Central Asia and the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Fragments of their speech known from inscriptions and words quoted in ancient authors as well as analysis of their names indicate that it was an Indo-European language, more specifically from the Iranic group of Indo-Iranic languages.
Azes I was an Indo-Scythian ruler who ruled around c. 48/47 BCE – 25 BCE with a dynastic empire based in the Punjab and Indus Valley, completed the domination of the Scythians in the northwestern Indian subcontinent.
Zeionises was an Indo-Scythian satrap.
Azilises was an Indo-Scythian king who ruled in the area of Gandhara circa 57-35 BCE.
The Mathura lion capital is an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital from Mathura in Northern India, dated to the first decade of the 1st century CE. It was consecrated under the rule of Rajuvula, one of the Northern Satraps of the region of Mathura.
Kharahostes or Kharaosta was an Indo-Scythian ruler in the northern Indian subcontinent around 10 BCE – 10 CE. He is known from his coins, often in the name of Azes II, and possibly from an inscription on the Mathura lion capital, although another satrap Kharaostes has been discovered in Mathura.
Arta was the elder brother of the well known Gandhara ruler Maues or Moga.
The Dahae, also known as the Daae, Dahas or Dahaeans were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia.
Saka, or Sakan, was a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang, China. It is a Middle Iranian language. The two kingdoms differed in dialect, their speech known as Khotanese and Tumshuqese.
Linear Elamite was a writing system used in Elam during the Bronze Age between c. 2300 and 1850 BCE, and known mainly from a few extant monumental inscriptions. It was used contemporaneously with Elamite cuneiform and records the Elamite language. The French archaeologist François Desset and his colleagues have argued that it is the oldest known purely phonographic writing system, although others, such as the linguist Michael Mäder, have argued that it is partly logographic.
Kangju was the Chinese name of a kingdom in Central Asia during the first half of the first millennium CE. The name Kangju is now generally regarded as a variant or mutated form of the name Sogdiana. According to contemporaneous Chinese sources, Kangju was the second most powerful state in Transoxiana, after the Yuezhi. Its people, known in Chinese as the Kāng (康), were evidently of Indo-European origins, spoke an Eastern Iranian language, and had a semi-nomadic way of life. The Sogdians may have been the same people as those of Kangju and closely related the Sakas, or other Iranian groups such as the Asii.
The Issyk kurgan, in south-eastern Kazakhstan, less than 20 km east from the Talgar alluvial fan, near Issyk, is a burial mound discovered in 1969. It has a height of six meters and a circumference of sixty meters. It is dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC. A notable item is a silver cup bearing an inscription. The finds are on display in Astana. It is associated with the Saka peoples.
Surkh Kotal (Persian: چشمه شیر Chashma-i Shir; also called Sar-i Chashma, is an ancient archaeological site located in the southern part of the region of Bactria, about 18 kilometres north of the city of Puli Khumri, the capital of Baghlan Province of Afghanistan. It is the location of monumental constructions made during the rule of the Kushans. Huge temples, statues of Kushan rulers and the Surkh Kotal inscription, which revealed part of the chronology of early Kushan emperors were all found there. The Rabatak inscription which gives remarkable clues on the genealogy of the Kushan dynasty was also found in the Robatak village just outside the site.
Chashtana was a ruler of the Saka Western Satraps in northwestern India during 78-130 CE, when he was the satrap of Ujjain.
Liaka Kusulaka was an Indo-Scythian satrap of the area of Chukhsa in northwestern India during the 1st century BCE.
Kharapallana was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap who ruled around c. 130 CE.
The unknown Kushan script is a partially deciphered writing system and abugida, written from right to left, used to record a Middle Iranian language related to Bactrian. It was used in parts of Central Asia between 600-200 BCE and 700 CE, including the Kushan Empire, associated with the nomads of the Eurasian Steppe in ancient Bactria. It was discovered by archaeologists in the 1950s. Textual remnants consist of cave wall carvings and painted ceramics. Most of what was written was probably recorded on palm leaves or birch bark which had decomposed. It was used by the Kushan administration along with Greek and Kharosthi scripts. The script contained less than 30 signs, and likely around 25. It is possibly an Imperial Aramaic-derived script, modified with diacritics.
