Year 104 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Fimbria and the First Year of Taichu. The denomination 104 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 103 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Orestes and the Second Year of Taichu. The denomination 103 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 102 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marius and Catulus and the Third Year of Taichu. The denomination 102 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
This article concerns the period 109 BC – 100 BC.
The Wusun were an ancient semi-nomadic steppe people mentioned in Chinese records from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD.
Filariasis is a parasitic disease caused by an infection with roundworms of the Filarioidea type. These are spread by blood-feeding insects such as black flies and mosquitoes. They belong to the group of diseases called helminthiases.
Emperor Wu of Han, born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later — and remains the record for ethnic Han emperors. His reign resulted in a vast expansion of geopolitical influence for the Chinese civilization, and the development of a strong centralized state via governmental policies, economical reorganization and promotion of a hybrid Legalist–Confucian doctrine. In the field of historical social and cultural studies, Emperor Wu is known for his religious innovations and patronage of the poetic and musical arts, including development of the Imperial Music Bureau into a prestigious entity. It was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly and indirectly.
Zhang Qian was a Chinese diplomat, explorer, and politician who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Western Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable information about Central Asia, including the Greco-Bactrian remains of the Macedonian Empire as well as the Parthian Empire, to the Han dynasty imperial court, then ruled by Emperor Wu of Han.
Dayuan is the Chinese exonym for a country that existed in Ferghana valley in Central Asia, described in the Chinese historical works of Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han. It is mentioned in the accounts of the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia. The country of Dayuan is generally accepted as relating to the Ferghana Valley, controlled by the Hellenistic polis Alexandria Eschate, which can probably be understood as "Greco-Fergana city-state" in English language.
Onchocerca volvulus is a filarial (arthropod-borne) nematode (roundworm) that causes onchocerciasis, and is the second-leading cause of blindness due to infection worldwide after trachoma. It is one of the 20 neglected tropical diseases listed by the World Health Organization, with elimination from certain countries expected by 2025.
In medicine, nodules are small firm lumps, usually greater than 1 cm in diameter. If filled with fluid they are referred to as cysts. Smaller raised soft tissue bumps may be termed papules.
The Han–Xiongnu War, also known as the Sino–Xiongnu War, was a series of military conflicts fought over two centuries between the Chinese Han Empire and the nomadic Xiongnu confederation, although extended conflicts can be traced back as early as 200 BC and ahead as late as 188 AD.
Ferghana horses were one of China's earliest major imports, originating in an area in Central Asia. These horses, as depicted in Tang dynasty tomb figures in earthenware, may "resemble the animals on the golden medal of Eucratides, King of Bactria ."
The Filarioidea are a superfamily of highly specialised parasitic nematodes. Species within this superfamily are known as filarial worms or filariae. Infections with parasitic filarial worms cause disease conditions generically known as filariasis. Drugs against these worms are known as filaricides.
Tianma was a winged flying horse in Chinese folklore. It was sometimes depicted with chimerical features such as dragon scales and was at times attributed the ability to sweat blood, possibly inspired by the parasite Parafilaria multipapillosa, which infected the highly sought-after Ferghana horse (大宛馬), sometimes conflated with Tianma. Tianma, the flying horse, is clearly connected to Pegasus from the Western Han dynasty artwork and in the Tang dynasty sources, as coming from Hellenized Central Asia.
The War of the Heavenly Horses or the Han–Dayuan War was a military conflict fought in 104 BC and 102 BC between the Chinese Han dynasty and the Saka-ruled (Scythian) Greco-Bactrian kingdom known to the Chinese as Dayuan, in the Ferghana Valley at the easternmost end of the Greek empire. The war was allegedly instigated by trade disputes compounded by the extended geopolitics surrounding the Han-Xiongnu War, resulting in two Han expeditions that eventuated in a Han victory, allowing Han China to expand its hegemony deep into Central Asia.
Horses are an important motif in Chinese mythology. There are many myths about horses or horse-like beings, including the pony. Chinese mythology refers to those myths found in the historical geographic area of China. This includes myths in Chinese and other languages, as transmitted by Han Chinese as well as other ethnic groups. There are various motifs of horses in Chinese mythology. In some cases the focus is on a horse or horses as the protagonist of the action, in other cases they appear in a supporting role, sometimes as the locomotive power propelling a chariot and its occupant(s). According to a cyclical Chinese calendar system, the time period of 31 January 2014 - 18 February 2015 falls under the category of the (yang) Wood Horse.
Li Guangli was a Chinese military general of the Western Han dynasty and a member of the Li family favoured by Emperor Wu of Han. His brother Li Yannian was also close to Emperor Wu. With the suicide of Emperor Wu's crown prince Liu Ju in 91 BC, his nephew Liu Bo was among the candidates for the title of crown prince.
Horse coins, alternatively dama qian (打馬錢), are a type of Chinese numismatic charm that originated in the Song dynasty and presumed to have been used as gambling tokens. Although many literary figures wrote about these coins their usage has always been failed to be mentioned by them. Most horse coins tend to be round coins, 3 centimeters in diameter with a circular or square hole in the middle of the coin. The horses featured on horse coins are depicted in various positions such as lying asleep on the ground, turning their head while neighing, or galloping forward with their tails rising high. it is currently unknown how horse coins were actually used though it is speculated that Chinese horse coins were actually used as game board pieces or gambling counters. Horse coins are most often manufactured from copper or bronze, but in a few documented cases they may also be made from animal horns or ivory. The horse coins produced during the Song dynasty are considered to be those of the best quality and craftsmanship and tend be made from better metal than the horse coins produced after. Some horse coins would feature the name of the famous horses they depicted. It is estimated that there are over three hundred variants of the horse coin. Some horse coins contained only an image of a horse while others also included an image of the rider and others had inscriptions which identify the horse or rider. During the beginning of the year of the horse in 2002 Chinese researchers Jian Ning and Wang Liyan of the National Museum of Chinese History wrote articles on horse coins in the China Cultural Relics Newspaper, noting that they found it a pity that the holes in the coins covered the saddles of the horses as this could have revealed more about ancient horse culture. Horse coins from the Song dynasty are the horse coins that are produced at the highest quality while horse coins from subsequent dynasties tend to be inferior compared to them.
The Han dynasty in Inner Asia was the expansion of the Han dynasty's realm and influence in Inner Asia with a series of Chinese military campaigns and expeditions since the reign of the Emperor Wu of Han. Wars were mainly fought against the nomadic Xiongnu confederation based in the Mongolian Plateau, but also against other states in the Western Regions like the Saka-ruled (Scythian) Greco-Bactrian Kingdom known to the Chinese as Dayuan. As a result, the Han dynasty at its height greatly expanded its power into Central Asia, controlling most of present-day Xinjiang and portions of modern Inner Mongolia with the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions and the vassalization of Southern Xiongnu.
