The 'pyramids' of Tartar kings on old maps
Editorial contextStrahlenberg describes the burial mounds of southern Siberia: some are earth heaps as high as houses, lying so thick that they look like a ridge of hills; others are ringed with rough or squared stones, and some are built entirely of stone. He explains that the 'pyramids' drawn on old European maps of Great Tartary, labelled 'Pyramidal Sepulchres of the Tartarian Kings', must mean these tombs, which are not really pyramids.
Some are only raised up of Earth, as high as Houses, … that, at a Distance, they appear like a Ridge of Hills. … In some Places these Tombs are entirely built of Stone. Hence we find in the ancient Maps of Tartary the Greater, a Number of Pyramids, with these Words, in Latin; viz. The Pyramidal Sepulchres of the Tartarian Kings,
About ancient peoples of the Siberian steppe (Strahlenberg's 'Scythians')
Stone statues and ruined cities he never saw
Editorial contextIn a footnote Strahlenberg records that Russian regiments going up the Irtysh in 1720 found antiquities and 'Temples of Idols', and that Tobolsk Tatars and Russians told him of many stone figures of men and beasts and the ruins of several cities in the little-visited steppe between the Tobol and Ishim. He links them to obelisks said to have been set up by Tamerlane and to the seat of Oghuz Khan, and regrets he could never go to see them.
…and I have also been told, by the Tobolskian Tartars and Russians, that, from this River, farther towards the West, South, and South-west from the City of Tobolsky, between the Sources of the Rivers Toboll and Ischim, whither very few People frequented, there were to be found great Numbers of Images, cut in Stone, of Men and Beasts; and that the Ruins of several Cities were discernible in those Desarts.
About Tobolsk Tatars and Russians (informants)
Keep in mind
Pure hearsay: he says himself he never had the chance to visit. The Tamerlane and Oghuz Khan links come from his reading.
Printed scrolls from Kalmyk temples
Editorial contextStrahlenberg corrects another author: the idols and manuscripts sent to Europe did not come from Samarkand or the Caspian but from pagan temples and tombs in the Kalmyk lands along the upper Irtysh. The writings are in Tangut (Tibetan), Mongol and Kalmyk script, printed rather than written, in gold or silver letters on varnished cotton or silk paper. In a footnote he says he saw a wooden printing block for Kalmyk letters in the governor's house at Tobolsk in 1723.
…were brought from the Desarts of the Kalmucks, on each Side of the River Irtisch, upwards, out of the Pagan Temples and Tombs; And as to the Manuscripts, … they consist of Tanguthian, Mungalian and Kalmuckian Characters, not upon Parchment, but upon a thick Paper, made of Cotton or Silk, done over with black and blew Varnish; Upon which the Characters or Letters are not wrote, but printed,
About Kalmyks (Oirats)
Mare's-milk brandy thrown on the fire
Editorial contextStrahlenberg confirms, from questioning Yakuts himself, Isbrand Ides's report that at a set time of year they sprinkle a brandy distilled from mare's milk into a great fire, towards the east, as an offering to heaven. On the same page he says Yakuts wore their hair long, unlike their neighbours, and until recently buried a faithful servant alive with a dead master, a custom the Russians had forbidden.
…That, at a certain Time of the Year, they make a great Fire, into which they sprinkle a Sort of Brandy distill'd from Mare's Milk, towards the East, and thereby make an Offering to Heaven. I took an Opportunity of enquiring into the Truth of this Relation, of several of the Jakutians themselves, who all confirmed it.
About Yakuts, a Turkic people he counts among the Tartars
Jumping through fire after childbirth
Editorial contextA Mongol or Kalmyk mother, Strahlenberg says, is purified after childbirth by jumping three times through a fire before the lama and her relatives. He adds that they wear or keep a small three-headed idol, made of clay or metal, brought from Tibet and the Dalai Lama. He collects these customs to show a sacred number three.
It is a Custom, to this Day, with the Mungals and Kalmucks, that when a Woman bears a Child, and is afterwards re-admitted into the Community of the People, she must, in the Presence of their Lama, or Priest, and her nearest Relations, jump Three Times thro' a Fire; Which they call the Purification.
About Mongols and Kalmyks
Keep in mind
He does not say he saw this himself.
The Kalmyk story of Shakyamuni
Editorial contextIn a footnote Strahlenberg records the Kalmyk account of 'Xacamuni', that is the Buddha Shakyamuni: once a prince in India, taken up to heaven alive for his holiness, whose celibate sons explain why lamas may not marry, and one of whom brought the religion to Tibet. It is a garbled but recognisable outline of Buddhist teaching as told to a Swedish captive.
They say that 4000 Years ago, he was only a Soveraign Prince, in India; But on Account of his unparallel'd Sanctity, God had taken him up to Heaven alive; But the Place whither he was translated, none of them pretend to know.
About Kalmyks (Buddhists)
The Mongols do not call themselves Tartars
Editorial contextStrahlenberg insists that the Mongols and Kalmyks, whom Europeans call Tartars, do not use the name and dislike it. In his view the name belonged to the 'original Tartars' near China and was stretched to cover the Mongols because they allied with them long ago. He adds that the Chinese used 'Tata' much as the Romans used 'barbarian'.
But to return to the Mungal Nations: We must know, that these are the People whom the Chinese, with Respect to their Situation, call West Tartars, and others West Mungals: But they do not reckon themselves Tartars, neither would they, by any Means, be thought so by others.
About Mongols and Kalmyks (Oirats)
Keep in mind
His explanation of how the name spread rests on his own reading of Abulghazi and Chinese sources, and on guesswork about Oghuz Khan.
Blame Marco Polo and the friars
Editorial contextStrahlenberg blames Marco Polo and the thirteenth-century friars (Carpini, Rubruck) for spreading the 'Chinese conceit' that every steppe people is a Tartar. It is an early and explicit statement that 'Tartary' was an outsiders' label, not a nation's own name.
And because Marcus Paulus Venetus, when he was in China, was not rightly inform'd of the State of Things, he, as well as the Monks sent into Tartary, viz. Plan, Carpin, Rubriquis, &c. have themselves taken up, and misled us Europeans, with the Chinese Conceit, that all those People, whether Kalmucks or Mungals, must go under the Denomination of Tartars:
About Mongols and Kalmyks
No river called Tatar
Editorial contextMedieval writers such as Vincent of Beauvais said the Tartars took their name from a river Tata or Tatar. Strahlenberg asked the Tungus peoples in Siberia and reports that they had never heard of such a river. He himself thought the Tungus and the Manchus were the 'original Tartars' from whom the name spread to others.
But then his Conjecture as to the Derivation of the Name Tartar, is erroneous, when he supposes they have taken it from a River call'd Tata, which, according to him, runs thro' their Country; … For after all possible Enquiry made among these Nations, I have been able to procure no Intelligence of any such Thing; Their Answer being constantly; that they know of no River call'd either Tata or Tatar.
About Tungus and Manchus ('Eastern Tartars')
Keep in mind
His claim that the Tungus and Manchus were the first Tartars is his own theory.
Turkic peoples who are called Tartars
Editorial contextStrahlenberg lists the Turkic-speaking peoples who 'are call'd Tartars': the Budjak, Crimean, Kuban, Kazan and Kasimov Tatars, the Nogais, the Astrakhan and Bashkir Tatars, the Tatars of Tyumen, Tobolsk and Tomsk, the Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kazakhs and others. On the same page he adds that, according to learned Bukharans, they took the name from the original Tartars without being descended from them.
Secondly, we find, in Europe, the Budziack, and Crimm-Kubann … Casan- and Cassinowan Tartars, and, in little Nagai, Nagaian Tartars: And in Asia and Great Nagai, the Astracan, Ovinian and Baskirian Tartars. … All these are Mahometans: … However, they, like the former, have, as it were, one Dialect with the Turks. All the Nations mention'd in this Paragraph are call'd Tartars.
About Turkic-speaking 'Tartars' (Crimean, Kazan, Nogai, Siberian, Uzbek and others)
Gog and Magog in Tartar speech
Editorial contextStrahlenberg says the Tobolsk Tartars told him they call peoples on this side of the mountains 'Ma-Tschudi' and those beyond 'Ja-gougi and Ma-gougi', and he concludes that these words are the same as the biblical Gog and Magog. Elsewhere he suggests that Gog was the Tartars' legendary ancestor Oghuz Khan. It is a learned attempt to find the Bible's northern nations among the Tartars.
The same Tartars have also told me, that they use, in the like Manner, the Name Ma-Tschudi, … And when they, at the same Time, would denote the Heathen roving Scythian Nations, who inhabited the other Side of that Mountain, they call them Gaed-Tschudi, Ma-schudi or Ja-gougi and Ma-gougi; And these Words then signify the very same as Gog and Magog,
About Tartars of Tobolsk (his informants)
Keep in mind
The informants' words are filtered through his own etymologies, which are speculative.
Prester John is the Dalai Lama
Editorial contextDividing 'Tartary' into six parts for his map, Strahlenberg makes the sixth Tibet and Tangut, 'where Dalai Lama, or Prester John, has his Residence'. The legendary Christian priest-king of the East has here become the Dalai Lama, head of the Buddhism of the Mongols and Kalmyks.
For the sixth Part, I have taken the Kingdoms of Thibet and Tanguth, where Dalai Lama, or Prester John, has his Residence, the Civil Government of which is entrusted to two Viceroys or Chans; but the Soldiers are a Sort of Kalmucks, call'd Coschuith, or Coschioth.
About Tibetans; Mongols and Kalmyks
Governors licensed the looting of tombs
Editorial contextBefore the tsars took an interest, Strahlenberg says, the governors of Tara, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and other towns let townsmen go out in caravans to rob the steppe graves in return for a tenth of the gold and silver. The looters smashed the finds and shared the pieces out by weight. He owned only a broken fragment of a bell-metal mirror to show for it.
…the Governours of the Cities of Tara, Tomskoi, Crasnoyahr, … used to give Leave to the Inhabitants, to go in voluntary Caravans, to these Tombs, in Order to ransack them, on Condition that … the Governour should have an Allowance, generally the Tenths. These Caravans, … used, … to knock to Pieces these choice Antiquities, and give to each Person his Share, by Weight.
About ancient steppe peoples
Mammoth from 'Behemoth'
Editorial contextStrahlenberg argues that the word 'mammoth' comes from the Behemoth of the Book of Job, brought into Tartary by Arabs who found the bones of huge beasts and called them 'Mehemot'. He says the Tartars call the animal 'Khir', and cites an exiled Russian priest who said the old Siberian form was 'Memoth'. He admits he could not find out what kind of animal the bones came from.
And these Arabs coming into Tartary, and finding there the Relicks of some monstrous great Beasts, not certain of what Kind they might be, they called these Teeth Mehemot, which afterwards became a Proper Name, among the Tartars; and, by the Russians, is corruptly pronounced Mammoth.
About Tartars and Ostyaks; Arabs (his theory)
Keep in mind
His Behemoth etymology is speculation and is not accepted today.