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0093	Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1

conquered Chi-pin. 'The race of the Sök scattered far and formed a series of states. North-
west of Su-lê, all tribes included in the states of Hsiu-hsün and Chüan-tu are descended from
the old Sök¹.' Neither Dr. Franke's translation of the passage, nor the context of the whole
notice on Chi-pin, from which the above is extracted, would seem directly to imply that Su-lê
itself was founded by the Sök or Sz', though it is probable that the latter's power previous to
their ejection by the Great Yüeh-chih (circa 150 B. C.) extended over the Kāshgar region.

In consequence of the internal troubles which during the reign of the usurper Wang-Mang Kāshgar
(9–23 A. D.) preceded the downfall of the Former Han Dynasty, Chinese control over Eastern under Later
Turkestān ceased for more than half a century. When under Míng Ti, the second Emperor Hans.
of the Later Han Dynasty (58–75 A. D.), Chinese power once more began to assert itself in
the 'Western Regions', Su-lê was found to have passed, along with a dozen other small states,
including So-chü (Yarkand), under the domination of the king of Yü-t'ien or Khotan. In 70 A. D.
Pan Ch'ao, the famous Chinese general, vanquished the Khotan ruler; and by 76 A. D. the whole
of the Tārim Basin, with the exception of the territories corresponding to the modern Kara-shahr
and Kuchā, acknowledged Chinese sovereignty⁸.

The records of the Later Han Dynasty, which relate to the tributary kingdoms of the West, Pan Ch'ao's
and which, according to Dr. Franke's statement, contain a detailed account of the history of conquests.
Su-lê during that period (25–220 A. D.)⁹, have not yet been rendered accessible in full and
reliable translations. We are hence unable to ascertain whether the route of the justly famous
Pan Ch'ao in 95 A. D. lay through Kāshgar, as in the case of Kao Hsien-chih's equally memorable
exploit (747 A. D.) which we had occasion to discuss in a previous chapter¹⁰.

Pan Ch'ao's victorious campaign marks the greatest extension which Chinese power ever
attained westwards. More lasting than its political results was the influence which it exercised
on the development of direct trade intercourse between China and the Roman Orient, and on
the spread of more definite knowledge about each other in the two great empires of the far
East and the West. On the side of the West we must reckon it particularly fortunate that
the opportunity then offered for recording information from enterprising traders who penetrated
into China, or at least into its outlying dominions in the Tārim Basin, was utilized by a geographer
of true genius and exceptional width of vision, Marinus of Tyre. This record has been preserved
for us by Ptolemy, mainly in his chapter on Serikê, as he calls the regions stretching from Scythia
beyond Mount Imaus to the unknown easternmost ocean. After having been for generations
the subject of much fruitless speculation, the account gathered by Marinus of the land of the
silk-bringing Seres, and of the trade-route leading to it from the west, was elucidated with
critical acumen by Baron Richthofen¹¹. This analysis by the hand of a master renders it
possible for us to touch here briefly upon a remarkable itinerary underlying that account, and
to indicate its bearing upon Kāshgar.

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

引用情報

OCR読み取り結果

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ