Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part iv | migrations of cultures
A Chinese embassy crossing the Syr Darya.
was in the 6th–5th centuries BC, when, according to historical sources, Khorezmians
lived in Egypt on the island of Elephantine, and in the Hellenistic era, when Central
Asia, Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean were connected to each other by
strong cultural and political ties.
A visual representation of the third type of vessel used on the Amu Darya in
ancient times can be seen on the wall paintings in the palace of the Sogdian Ikhshid,
Varkhuman (end of the 7th century AD), at Afrasiab. The northern wall of the palace
shows a scene of a group of women crossing a river in a large boat, possibly as part of a
Chinese embassy. Judging by the number of people in it, it is a rather capacious boat,
as it is capable of carrying ten women, who are led by a princess.
This is also clear from the broad shovel-shaped oar at the stern used to steer the
boat, and from the construction of the boat itself. It has a rounded bottom and relatively
high sides, made of three wide panels of wood. The prow of the boat is crowned with
the head of a griffin, and the stern is slightly bowed and has a ring on it for mooring.
At the front of another boat are two horses and a man swimming beside them.
Horses were used to control the movement of a vessel to prevent it from being swept
away too far from its destination by the current. The method of steering a river craft
using an oar and horses was widely practised for crossing the Amu Darya right up to
the beginning of the 20th century, in particular in conjunction with a certain type
of rowing boat known as a kime, and this was remarked on by many travellers to
Turkestan in the second half of the 19th century.
The design of the kime or kema, the system of steering by using a stern oar and
horses, its size, and the number of passengers it could carry, all make it very similar to
the vessel depicted in the painting from Afrasiab.
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