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166-601: The Nezak Huns ( Pahlavi : 𐭭𐭩𐭰𐭪𐭩 nycky ), also Nezak Shahs , was a significant principality in the south of the Hindu Kush region of South Asia from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the four Hunnic states in South Asia , their ethnicity remains disputed and speculative. The dynasty is primarily evidenced by coinage inscribing a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend. The Nezak Huns rose to power after

332-403: A campaign against Goguryeo , he took Li Zhi with him to Ding Prefecture (定州, roughly modern Baoding , Hebei) and then left Li Zhi there to be in charge of logistics, before heading to the front himself. He also left senior officials Gao Shilian , Liu Ji, Ma Zhou, Zhang Xingcheng , and Gao Jifu to assist Li Zhi. After the campaign ended in failure later that year, as Emperor Taizong was leading

498-492: A Christian Psalter fragment, which still retains all the letter distinctions that Inscriptional Pahlavi had except the one between t and ṭ ; and the Pahlavi found in papyri from the early 7th century CE, which displays even more letter coincidences than Book Pahlavi. The Manichaean script was an abjad introduced for the writing of Middle Persian by the prophet Mani (216–274 CE), who based it on his native variety of

664-467: A Hunnic polity and instead, ascribes an indigenous origin to the dynasty. There remains no consensus among scholars in the regard — while Klaus Vondrovec, a numismatist specializing in ancient Central Asia, finds Kuwayama's arguments to be unpersuasive and cites the usage of Turkish titles, Inaba argues that the Nezaks could have indeed been indigenous and had to accept Turkish titles since they started out as

830-537: A Tang vassal state , the Tuyuhun . Tuyuhun's Ledou Khan Murong Nuohebo , unable to withstand the Tibetan attack, took his people and fled into Tang territory to seek protection, thus ending Tuyuhun's existence as a state. Meanwhile, also in 663, Liu Rengui and Liu Renyuan, in conjunction with Munmu of Silla and the former Baekje crown prince Buyeo Yung , defeated Buyeo Pung and Japanese forces sent to assist him, at

996-534: A Tang diplomatic mission recorded that the crown prince had acceded to the throne of Jibin; scholars assume this prince to be Ghar-ilchi, who five years later would be recorded as the twelfth Nezak ruler in the thirteenth diplomatic mission. In 654, an army of around 6,000 Arabs led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura of the Rashidun caliphate attacked Zabul and laid seize to Rukhkhaj and Zamindawar , eventually conquering Bost and Zabulistan—while records do not mention

1162-583: A campaign of reprisal on her behalf. Empress Wu, on the other hand, persuaded Emperor Gaozong to work with the removal of the chancellors appointed by Emperor Taizong to consolidate the emperor's power. In 657, they accused Han Yuan and Lai Ji of plotting treason with Chu Suiliang, who was then serving as the commandant at Gui Prefecture (桂州, roughly modern Guilin , Guangxi). Emperor Gaozong demoted Han and Lai to be prefects of distant prefectures, and demoted Chu and Liu Shi to even more distant prefectures—in Chu's case, to

1328-529: A commandant at Tan Prefecture (roughly modern Changsha , Hunan), and then deposed both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, putting them under arrest and creating Consort Wu, as empress (皇后, huánghòu) and the most powerful woman in the empire (天下母, Tiānxià Mǔ) instead to replace Empress Wang. (Later that year, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were killed on orders by the new Empress Wu after Emperor Gaozong showed signs of considering their release.) Then, at Xu's suggestion, in spring 656, Emperor Gaozong demoted Li Zhong to be

1494-547: A currently more popular one reflecting the Sassanid-era pronunciation, as used by C. Saleman, W. B. Henning and, in a somewhat revised form, by D. N. MacKenzie (1986). The less obvious features of the usual transcription are: A common feature of Pahlavi as well as Manichaean spelling was that the Aramaic letters ṣ and ḥ were adapted to express the sounds /t͡ʃ/ and /h/ , respectively. In addition, both could use

1660-494: A daughter that died shortly after birth. Evidence implicated Empress Wang as the killer, although some historians believe Consort Wu killed her own daughter in order to frame Empress Wang, but no concrete evidence of this exists. In anger, Emperor Gaozong considered deposing Empress Wang and replacing her with Consort Wu, but wanted to make sure that the chancellors would support this, and so visited Zhangsun's house with Consort Wu, awarding him with much treasure, but when he brought up

1826-474: A different shape from a historical point of view, by under- or overlining them: e.g. the heterogram for andar 'in' is transliterated B YN , since it corresponds to Aramaic byn , but the sign that 'should' have been b actually looks like a g . Within Arameograms, scholars have traditionally used the standard Semitological designations of the Aramaic (and generally Semitic) letters, and these include

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1992-473: A few more decades; archaeological evidence obtained from the excavation of Begram points to a gradual decline. During Xuanzang's visit, Buddhism was the dominant religion. The region had over a hundred monasteries, especially around the capital; the ruler commissioned an 18-foot (5.5 m)-high image of the Buddha every year and held an assembly for dispensing alms. Nevertheless, Buddhism had declined south of

2158-522: A great deal of power in affairs of state until the end of his reign while exerting her influence on him. Empress Wu was partially in control of power from November 660 and then totally from January 665 to December 683; there was an equality of power between Gaozong and Wu, which caused them to be called "two saints" (二聖, Er Sheng , literally two emperors) both inside and outside. After Emperor Gaozong died in December 683, power fell completely and solely into

2324-535: A historian of Islam and numismatist specializing in South Asia, however, cautions the reference to twelve generations was probably not intended in the literal sense. The last mention of the dynasty is in 661 when the chronicles record the king of Jibin received a formal investiture from the Chinese court as Military Administrator and Commander-in-Chief of Xiuxian Area and eleven prefectures. Various compilations of

2490-942: A large number of diacritics and special signs expressing the different Semitic phonemes, which were not distinguished in Middle Persian. In order to reduce the need for these, a different system was introduced by D. N. MacKenzie , which dispenses with diacritics as much as possible, often replacing them with vowel letters: A for ʾ , O for ʿ , E for H , H for Ḥ , C for Ṣ , for example ORHYA for ʿRḤYʾ ( bay 'god, majesty, lord'). For ''ṭ'', which still occurs in heterograms in Inscriptional Pahlavi, Θ may be used. Within Iranian words, however, both systems use c for original Aramaic ṣ and h for original Aramaic ḥ , in accordance with their Iranian pronunciation (see below). The letter l , when modified with

2656-569: A less common view is that /x/ and /ɣ/ were uvular instead. Finally, it may be pointed out that most scholars consider the phoneme /w/ as being still a labial approximant, but a few regard it as a voiced labial fricative /v/ . The initial clusters of /s/ and a stop ( /sp-/ , /st-/ , /sk-/ ) had acquired a prosthetic vowel /i/ by the time of the Manichaean Middle Persian texts: istāyišn ( ՙst՚yšn ) 'praise' vs Pahlavi stāyišn ( ՙst՚dšn' ) 'praise'. Stress

2822-522: A months-long siege but was soon ousted; the city was reoccupied after another year-long siege. The Nezaks were mortally weakened though their ruler — who is not named in sources but might have been Ghar-ilchi — was spared upon converting to Islam . They were replaced by the Turk Shahis, probably first in Kabul and later throughout the territory. According to Hyecho , a Korean Buddhist monk, who visited

2988-400: A pearl screen behind him to hear the reports, and before the emperor can decide, he must ask the empress: therefore she got involved in everything pertaining to the empire and discussed and helped decide all "great and small" military and state affairs; her power is no different from that of the emperor. Since Empress Wu began to listen to politics in court, she established herself and Gaozong in

3154-484: A personal name and titular epithet across multiple Turkic tribes. The Nezak Huns ruled over the State of Jibin , mostly referred to as Kapisi — formerly Cao — by contemporaneous Buddhist pilgrims. Kapisi composed eleven vassal-principalities during Xuanzang's visit in c.  630 , including Lampā , Varṇu , Nagarahāra , and Gandhara ; Taxila had been only recently lost to Kashmir. The earliest mention of Kapisi

3320-597: A personal name, referring to Barha Tegin, father of then-King Tegin Shah }] of the Turkish King took a defeated cavalry [ alternatively "led an army and a tribe" or "led troops of his entire tribe"] and allied himself to the king of Kapisa. Later, when the Turkish force was strong, the prince assassinated the king of Kapisa [ possibly Ghar-ilchi ] and declared himself king. Thereafter, the territory from this country to

3486-599: A plea on Duman's behalf—that he had promised Duman life before Duman surrendered—and Emperor Gaozong stated that while under the law, Duman should die, he would honor Su's promise, and so he spared Duman. On the other end of the Tang atmosphere of influence, on the Korean Peninsula , Baekje had been attacking the Tang ally Silla . Once Su returned from the Esegel campaign, Emperor Gaozong commissioned him to head over

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3652-508: A relief force, and Liu Rengui and Liu Renyuan were able to fight off the Baekje resistance forces' attacks, but were themselves not strong enough to quell the rebellion, and so for some time the armies were in stalemate. Meanwhile, Su advanced on the Goguryeo capital Pyongyang and put it under siege, but was unable to capture it quickly. In spring 662, after the general Pang Xiaotai ( 龐孝泰 )

3818-472: A special horizontal stroke that shows that the pronunciation is /l/ and not /r/, is rendered in the MacKenzie system as ɫ . The traditional system continues to be used by many, especially European scholars. The MacKenzie system is the one used in this article. As for Pahlavi, c is used for the transliteration of original Aramaic ṣ and h for the transliteration of original ḥ . Original Aramaic h , on

3984-588: A statue of Uma-Mahesvara had been excavated. Further South, laid Mt. Aruna — Xuanzang, reproducing local lore, noted Aruna to have been envious of the riches of the God of one Mt. Zhunahira, in Zabul, esp. since he had once refused to cohabit with Zhuna. Kuwayama notes that the contemporaneous Annals of the Sui Dynasty — probably deriving from the now-lost accounts of a Sui ambassador c. 606 — noted one Mt. Congling as

4150-419: A surprise attack on Duman. When he arrived at Duman's headquarters, Duman was surprised, and after Su initially defeated Duman, Duman was forced to withdraw within the city. Su put the city under siege, and Duman surrendered. In spring 660, Su took Duman back to the eastern capital Luoyang , where Emperor Gaozong was at the time, to present Duman to him. Some officials requested that Duman be executed, but Su made

4316-553: A thousand of these in the Book Pahlavi variety. In addition, their spelling remained very conservative, expressing the pronunciation of the Arsacid period. The two most important subvarieties are: Other known Pahlavi varieties are the early Pahlavi found in inscriptions on coins issued in the province of Pars from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century CE; the relatively conservative Psalter Pahlavi (6th–8th centuries CE), used in

4482-518: A treasonous plot by Zhangsun. Emperor Gaozong, without meeting with Zhangsun, believed Xu, and put Zhangsun under house arrest in exile at Qian Prefecture (黔州, roughly modern southeastern Chongqing ). Xu further implicated Chu, Liu, Han, and Yu Zhining in the plot as well. Yu was removed from his post. Chu, who had died in 658, was posthumously stripped of all titles, and his sons Chu Yanfu ( 褚彥甫 ) and Chu Yanchong ( 褚彥沖 ) were executed. Orders were also issued to execute Liu and Han, although Han died before

4648-614: A triangle, feather and bush. Two Brahmi aksharas are occasionally present. Hoards containing Alchon overstrikes against Nezak flans by Toramana II have been discovered around Kabul. Further, a class of drachms and unprecedented coppers — termed the Alchon-Nezak crossover — have Nezak busts adorned in Alchon-styled crescent crowns alongside a contracted version of the Pahlavi legend and the Alchon tamgha ( [REDACTED] ) on

4814-761: A tributary state of the Hephthalites. Ziad and Matthias Pfisterer reject the existence of any means to speculate on the ethnic identity of the Nezaks—Khingila was a very common name in the history of Asia Minor, that was probably a title that commanded respect; and Hindu societies had a history of absorbing foreign warriors within the Kshatriya fold. Between 528 and 532, the Alchons had to withdraw from mainland India into Kashmir and Gandhara under Mihirakula . A few decades later, they migrated further westward — via

4980-406: Is a major difficulty for scholars. It has also been pointed out that the Pahlavi spelling does not express the 3rd century lenitions, so the letters p , t , k and c express /b/ , /d/ , /ɡ/ and /z/ after vowels, e.g. šp' for šab 'night' and hc for az 'from'. The rare phoneme /ɣ/ was also expressed by the same letter shape as k (however, this sound value is usually expressed in

5146-432: Is expressed in a synchronic alternation: at least at some stage in late Middle Persian (later than the 3rd century), the consonants /b/ , /d/ , /ɡ/ appear to have had, after vowels, the fricative allophones [ β ] , [ ð ] , [ɣ] . This is slightly more controversial for /ɡ/ , since there appears to have been a separate phoneme /ɣ/ as well. A parallel development seems to have affected /d͡ʒ/ in

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5312-473: Is far more common for the letter l to have that function, as in the example plhw' for farrox . In the relatively rare cases where l does express /l/ , it can be marked as ɫ . Xianqing Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683 ), personal name Li Zhi , was the third emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty , ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over

5478-408: Is from Jñānagupta , a Buddhist pilgrim; he stayed there in 554 CE while travelling to Tokharistan. Dharmagupta, a South-Indian Buddhist monk, would visit the polity in the early seventh century, but his biography by Yan Cong is not extant. Xuanzang , a Chinese Buddhist monk who visited Kapisi in about 630, provides the most detailed description of the Nezaks, even though he never mentions the name of

5644-399: Is nevertheless often the old pronunciation or a transitional one that is reflected in the Pahlavi spelling. 2. Voiceless stops and affricates, when occurring after vowels as well as other voiced sounds, became voiced: This process is thought not to have been taken place before Sassanid Pahlavi, and it generally is not reflected in Pahlavi spelling. A further stage in this lenition process

5810-725: Is spelt mtr' . In contrast, the Manichaean spellings are gʾh , ngʾh , šhr , myhr . Some other words with earlier /θ/ are spelt phonetically in Pahlavi, too: e.g. gēhān , spelt gyhʾn 'material world', and čihr , spelt cyhl 'face'. There are also some other cases where /h/ is spelt /t/ after p : ptkʾl for pahikār 'strife', and /t/ may also stand for /j/ in that position: ptwnd for paywand 'connection'. There are some other phoneme pairs besides /j/ and /d͡ʒ/ that are not distinguished: h (the original Aramaic ḥ ) may stand either for /h/ or for /x/ ( hm for ham 'also' as well as hl for xar 'donkey'), whereas

5976-408: Is supplemented on top with a water buffalo -head; this "buffalo-crown" became the defining characteristic of the Nezaks. A wing-shaped vegetal appendage, borrowed from Alchon coinage, is found just beneath the bust. The figure also wears a necklace with two flying ribbons of slightly varying shapes and an earring with two beads; some samples include a Brahmi akshara of uncertain significance beneath

6142-427: Is that Arsacid word-initial /j/ produced Sassanid /d͡ʒ/ (another change that is not reflected in the Pahlavi spelling). The sound probably passed through the phase /ʒ/ , which may have continued until very late Middle Persian, since Manichaean texts did not identify Indic /d͡ʒ/ with it and introduced a separate sign for the former instead of using the letter for their native sound. Nonetheless, word-initial /j/

6308-482: The Battle of Baekgang . Buyeo Pung fled to Goguryeo, ending the Baekje resistance movement. Emperor Gaozong recalled Liu Renyuan, leading Liu Rengui in charge of former Baekje territory, but in 664 sent Liu Renyuan back to Baekje and tried to recall Liu Rengui. Liu Rengui petitioned to remain to prepare for another attack on Goguryeo, and Emperor Gaozong agreed to let him remain. By 664, Empress Wu, who felt that her power

6474-694: The Khyber Pass — into Kabulistan and encountered the Nezaks, as evidenced by the Alchon-Nezak crossover mints. Whether the Alchons co-ruled with the Nezaks, submitted to them, or nominally subdued them remains speculative. Around the same time ( c.  560 ), the Sasanian Empire under Khosrow I had allied with the Western Turks to defeat the Hepthalites and took control of Bactria — they may also have usurped Zabulistan from

6640-515: The New Book of Tang : Whenever the emperor was ill, the affairs of the state were left to the empress to decide. The court and the country called them "Two Saints" ( 二聖 , Er Sheng ). Each time the emperor personally addressed court matters, a curtain hung in the hall ( 垂簾聽政 , Chuílián tīngzhèng ), and both the emperor and empress presided over the court together. It is up to empress's to decide who will be promoted and demoted, die and survive, and

6806-672: The Pahlavi Psalter (7th century); these were used until the beginning of the second millennium in many places in Central Asia , including Turpan and even localities in South India . All three differ minimally from one another and indeed the less ambiguous and archaizing scripts of the latter two have helped to elucidate some aspects of the Sasanian-era pronunciation of the former. The vowels of Middle Persian were

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6972-581: The Sasanian Empire 's defeat by the Hephthalites . Their founder Khingal may have been from a Hunnic group, allied to the Hephthalites, or an indigenous ruler who accepted tributary status. Little is known about the rulers who followed him; they received regular diplomatic missions from the Tang dynasty , and some coexisted with the Alchon Huns from about the mid-sixth century. The polity collapsed in

7138-658: The imperial variety of the Aramaic alphabet used in the chancelleries of the Achaemenid Empire . As is typical of abjads, they express primarily the consonants in a word form. What sets them apart from other abjads, however, is the use of Heterograms , and more specifically Aramaeograms , i.e. words written in Aramaic (sometimes, in later periods, with distortions) but pronounced in Middle Persian: e.g. LY (Aramaic 'to me') for man 'me, I'. There were about

7304-481: The w and n have the same graphic appearance. Furthermore, letters used as part of Aramaic heterograms and not intended to be interpreted phonetically are written in capitals: thus the heterogram for the word ān is rendered ZK , whereas its phonetic spelling is transliterated as ʾn' (the final vertical line reflects the so-called 'otiose' stroke, see below ). Finally, there is a convention of representing 'distorted/corrupt' letters, which 'should' have appeared in

7470-418: The "Kabul Shah" to have purged all Muslims out of Kabul — whether he refers to the city or the region is unclear—in 668, drawing Arab forces into a renewed offensive; if the "Kabul Shah" alludes to the last Nezak, the resulting conflict might have provided the ground for the rise of Turk Shahis. According to Kuwayama, the Nezaks probably survived as a local chieftaincy centred in or around the town of Kapisi for

7636-412: The 10th–11th centuries, Middle Persian texts were still intelligible to speakers of Early New Persian. However, there are definite differences that had taken place already by the 10th century: Texts in Middle Persian are found in remnants of Sasanian inscriptions and Egyptian papyri , coins and seals, fragments of Manichaean writings , and Zoroastrian literature , most of which was written down after

7802-620: The 3rd-century BCE, they inherited the use of written Greek (from the successors of Alexander the Great ) as the language of government. Under the cultural influence of the Greeks ( Hellenization ), some Middle Iranian languages, such as Bactrian , also had begun to be written in Greek script . But yet other Middle Iranian languages began to be written in a script derived from Aramaic . This occurred primarily because written Aramaic had previously been

7968-420: The Aramaic distinctions between ḥ and h and between k and q were not always maintained, with the first often replacing the second, and the one between t and ṭ was lost in all but Inscriptional Pahlavi: thus YKTLWN (pronounced о̄zadan ) for Aramaic yqṭlwn 'kill', and YHWWN (pronounced būdan ) for Aramaic yhwwn 'be', even though Aramaic h is elsewhere rendered E . In the rest of this article,

8134-488: The Aramaic script of Palmyrene origin. Mani used this script to write the known book Šābuhrāgān and it continued to be used by Manichaeans until the 9th century to write in Middle Persian, and in various other Iranian languages for even longer. Specifically the Middle Persian Manichaean texts are numerous and thought to reflect mostly the period from the 3rd to the 7th centuries CE. In contrast to

8300-447: The Arsacid sound values, but is known from the more phonetic Manichaean spelling of texts from Sassanid times. As a result of these changes, the voiceless stops and affricates /p/ , /t/ , /k/ , /t͡ʃ/ rarely occurred after vowels – mostly when geminated, which has protected them from the lenition (e.g. waččag , sp. wck' 'child'), and due to some other sound changes. Another difference between Arsacid and Sassanid-era pronunciation

8466-498: The Avesta also retain some old features, most other Zoroastrian Book Pahlavi texts (which form the overwhelming majority of the Middle Persian corpus as a whole) are linguistically more innovative. In view of the many ambiguities of the Pahlavi script, even its transliteration does not usually limit itself to rendering merely the letters as written; rather, letters are usually transliterated in accordance with their origin regardless of

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8632-575: The Buddhist monk Dochim ( 道琛 ) and the former Baekje general Gwisil Boksin rose to try to revive Baekje. They welcomed the Baekje prince Buyeo Pung back from Japan to serve as king, with Juryu (주류, 周留, now Seocheon County , South Chungcheong ) as their headquarters. They put the Tang general Liu Renyuan ( 劉仁願 ) under siege in Sabi. Emperor Gaozong sent the general Liu Rengui , who had previously been demoted to commoner rank for offending Li Yifu, with

8798-686: The Court" ( 二聖臨朝 , Er Sheng Lín cháo ). The first book: the Later Jin historian Liu Xu , in Old Book of Tang , commented: The Empress of Heaven was at the helm of the country for long years, her power is no different from that of the emperor. When emperor's could not listen to the court issues, all affairs were decided by the Empress of Heaven. Since the execution of the Shangguan Yi , whenever

8964-483: The Manichaean script and a maximally disambiguated transliterated form of Pahlavi do not provide exhaustive information about the phonemic structure of Middle Persian words, a system of transcription is also necessary. There are two traditions of transcription of Pahlavi Middle Persian texts: one closer to the spelling and reflecting the Arsacid-era pronunciation, as used by Ch. Bartholomae and H. S. Nyberg (1964) and

9130-568: The Nezak bull-head on some Alchon coins minted at Gandhara supports a link between the two groups too. However, Shōshin Kuwayama — primarily depending on Xuanzang's recording the rulers of Kapisi as Kshatriya, about two centuries later, the absence of Hunnic identifiers in Nezak coinage, and the lack of sources attesting to Hephthalite presence south of the Hindukush — rejects that the Nezaks were

9296-479: The Nezaks, as suggested by the creation of Sasanian coin mints in the area of Kandahar during the reign of Ohrmazd IV (578-590). However, the Alchon-Nezaks (?) appear to have recaptured Zabulistan by the end of the sixth century. These interactions left little long-lasting influence on the territorial extents of the Nezaks; when Xuanzang visited them in about 630, they were arguably in their prime. In 653,

9462-560: The Pahlavi scripts, it is a regular and unambiguous phonetic script that expresses clearly the pronunciation of 3rd century Middle Persian and distinguishes clearly between different letters and sounds, so it provides valuable evidence to modern linguists. Not only did it not display any of the Pahlavi coalescences mentioned above, it also had special letters that enabled it to distinguish [p] and [f] (although it didn't always do so), as well as [j] and [d͡ʒ] , unique designations for [β] , [ð] , and [ɣ] , and consistent distinctions between

9628-529: The Pahlavi spellings will be indicated due to their unpredictability, and the Aramaeograms will be given priority over the 'phonetic' alternatives for the same reason. If a word expressed by an Arameogram has a grammatical ending or, in many cases, a word-formation suffix, these are generally expressed by phonetic elements: LYLYA ʾn for šab ʾn 'nights'. However, verbs in Inscriptional Pahlavi are sometimes written as 'bare ideograms', whose interpretation

9794-639: The Parthians in particular (it may have originated in the Parthian chancellories ), and thus the writing system came to be called pahlavi "Parthian" too. Aside from Parthian, Aramaic-derived writing was adopted for at least four other Middle Iranian languages, one of which was Middle Persian. In the 3rd-century CE, the Parthian Arsacids were overthrown by the Sassanids , who were natives of

9960-515: The Persians, an Iranian people of Persia proper , which lies in the south-western highlands on the border with Babylonia . The Persians called their language Parsig , meaning "Persian". Another Middle Iranian language was Parthian , i.e. the language of the northwestern Iranian peoples of Parthia proper , which lies along the southern/south-eastern edge of the Caspian sea and is adjacent to

10126-528: The Prince of Jing to make Li Yuanjing emperor. Fang, knowing that Zhangsun had long been apprehensive of Li Ke, falsely implicated Li Ke in the plot as well, hoping to ingratiate Zhangsun sufficiently that he would be spared. nevertheless, in spring 653, at the suggestion of Zhangsun and Cui Dunli – despite Emperor Gaozong's initial inclination to spare Li Yuanjing and Li Ke—Emperor Gaozong ordered that Fang, Xue, and Chai be executed, and that Li Yuanjing, Li Ke, and

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10292-467: The Prince of Liang and created Empress Wu's oldest son Li Hong the Prince of Dai crown prince instead. In 655 as well, Emperor Gaozong commissioned the general Cheng Zhijie ( 程知節 ) to attack Ashina Helu, but while the campaign saw some victories over Western Turkic Khaganate's substituent tribes Geluolu ( 歌邏祿 ) and Chuyue ( 處月 ), it was hindered by Cheng's inability to restrain his assistant Wang Wendu ( 王文度 ) from pillaging and inappropriately halting

10458-424: The Prince of Shu, as well as Fang's brother Fang Yizhi ( 房遺直 ) and Xue's brother Xue Wanbei ( 薛萬備 ). By 654, both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao had lost favor with Emperor Gaozong, and the former romantic rivals joined forces against Consort Wu, but to no avail, and as a sign of his love to Consort Wu, in 654 he conferred posthumous honors on her father Wu Shihuo ( 武士彠 ). Later that year, Consort Wu gave birth to

10624-500: The Princesses Gaoyang and Baling (Chai's wife) be forced to commit suicide. Zhangsun took this opportunity to accuse several other officials friendly with Fang or hostile to him—the chancellor Yuwen Jie , Li Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia, and the general Zhishi Sili ( 執失思力 ) – of being friendly with Fang and had them exiled. He also deposed and exiled Li Ke's mother Consort Yang and Consort Yang's other son Li Yin ( 李愔 )

10790-539: The Sasanian era. The language of Zoroastrian literature (and of the Sasanian inscriptions) is sometimes referred to as Pahlavi – a name that originally referred to the Pahlavi scripts , which were also the preferred writing system for several other Middle Iranian languages. Pahlavi Middle Persian is the language of quite a large body of literature which details the traditions and prescriptions of Zoroastrianism , which

10956-468: The Shangguan Yi! Do you really want to abolish me when you talk about abolishing the empress in your ear? I'll go to court with you in the future to prevent such mistakes, and I will assist you in addressing government issues and analyzing suggestions from the officials and others." Therefore, after this step, every day that Emperor Gaozong presided over imperial meetings, Empress Wu would sit behind

11122-485: The Tang Court from 619 to 665; while neither of them, like Xuanzang, mentions the name of the ruling dynasty, historians assume a reference to the Nezaks. The most-comprehensive listing among them, dating from 658, is the record of the thirteenth mission, which declared Jibin as the " Xiuxian Area Command " and gave an account of a local dynasty of twelve rulers starting from Xinnie and ending with Hexiezi : In

11288-526: The Tang dynasty would continue to mention the erstwhile Kings of Jibin, emphasizing that they wore a bull-head crown. This invocation of the crown allows historians to link the Kingdom of Jibin with the Nezak Huns whose coinage features the same motif. The Nezaks started to mint their coins on the model of Sasanian coinage but incorporated Alchon iconography alongside their distinctive styles. The result

11454-499: The Tibetan Empire instead, and when Ashina Buzhen died later that year, Tang influence in the region was greatly reduced. During these years, Li Yifu had been, due to favors from Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, exceedingly powerful, and he grew particularly corrupt. In 663, after reports of Li Yifu's corruption were made to Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Gaozong had Liu Xiangdao and Li Ji investigate, finding Li Yifu guilty. Li Yifu

11620-453: The Turk Shahis. Historians have speculated about possible relations with the Nezak Huns. From Kashmir I travelled further northwest. After one month's journey across the mountains I arrived at the country of Gandhara . The king and military personnel are all Turks. The natives are Hu people; there are Brahmins . The country was formerly under the influence of the king of Kapisa . A-yeh [ alternatively read as "The father", than

11786-524: The Western Turkic Khaganate prince Ashina Helu , who had sought and received protection from Emperor Taizong, broke away from Tang and defeated the Western Turkic Khaganate's Yipishekui Khan , taking over the Western Turkic Khaganate himself and no longer subordinate under Tang. In fall 651, Ashina Helu attacked Tang's Ting Prefecture (庭州, roughly Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture , Xinjiang), and Emperor Gaozong responded by commissioning

11952-445: The Western Turkic Khaganate's subject kingdoms Shule ( 疏勒 ), Zhujupo ( 朱俱波 ), and Yebantuo ( 謁般陀 ) (all in modern Kashgar , Xinjiang). The joint forces commanded by Duman quickly defeated the Tang vassal Yutian (于田, in modern Hotan , Xinjiang). In winter 659, Emperor Gaozong sent Su Dingfang against Duman, and once he arrived in the vicinity of Duman's army, he selected 10,000 infantry soldiers and 3,000 cavalry soldiers and made

12118-429: The army back from the front, Li Zhi went to meet him at Linyu Pass (臨渝關, now Shanhai Pass ). Emperor Taizong suffered an injury during the campaign, and Li Zhi was said to have, as Emperor Taizong's conditions were getting worse, sucked the pus out of his wound, until Emperor Taizong recovered somewhat. In 646, with Emperor Taizong still recovering, he transferred some of the imperial authorities to Li Zhi. Li Zhi stayed at

12284-589: The army. After the campaign ended in early 657, both Cheng and Wang were deposed from their offices. In 657, Emperor Gaozong commissioned the general Su Dingfang , who had served under Cheng Zhijie in the earlier failed campaign, to command a campaign against Ashina Helu, assisted by Ren Yaxiang and Xiao Siye ( 蕭嗣業 ). They were joined by the Western Turkic Khaganate's leaders Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen , who had submitted to Tang during Emperor Taizong's reign. The campaign caught Ashina Helu by surprise, and Su defeated him in several battles, causing him to flee to

12450-506: The boundary between western and eastern Iranian languages. The Parthians called their language Parthawig , meaning "Parthian". Via regular sound changes Parthawig became Pahlawig , from which the word 'Pahlavi' eventually evolved. The -ig in parsig and parthawig was a regular Middle Iranian appurtenant suffix for "pertaining to". The New Persian equivalent of -ig is -i . When the Arsacids (who were Parthians) came to power in

12616-531: The capital — monasteries in Gandhara bore a deserted look — and religious pluralism was evident in the hundreds of temples for the "Devas" (Hindu deities) and many "heretical" (non-Buddhist) ascetics. Kuwayama interprets Xibiduofaluo-ci — a town mentioned by Xuanzang as lying to the south of the Capital — as the "town where the shrine for Svetasvatara was" and goes on to identify it with Tapa Skandar , from where

12782-485: The cluster *θr in particular), but it had been replaced by /h/ by the Sassanid period: The phoneme /ɣ/ (as opposed to the late allophone of /ɡ/ ) is rare and occurs almost only in learned borrowings from Avestan and Parthian , e.g. moγ (Pahlavi mgw or mwg 'Magian'), maγ (Pahlavi mγ ) 'hole, pit'. The sound /ʒ/ may also have functioned as a marginal phoneme in borrowings as well. The phoneme /l/

12948-411: The coinciding forms: thus, even though Book Pahlavi has the same letter shapes for original n , w and r , for original ʾ and ḥ and for original d , g and y , besides having some ligatures that coincide in shape with certain individual letters, these are all transliterated differently. For instance, the spelling of gōspand 'domestic animal' is transliterated gwspnd in spite of the fact that

13114-615: The conquest of Baekje , Goguryeo , and the Western Turkic Khaganate , but throughout the 670s, much of those gains were lost to the Tibetan Empire , Silla , Khitans , and Balhae . Further, territory previously conquered that belonged to both the Göktürks and the Western Turkic Khaganate were subjected to repeated rebellions. Li Zhi was born in 628. He was the ninth son of his father, Emperor Taizong , and

13280-471: The court alone and decide. As a result, she increasingly took control of great and small decisions made throughout Emperor Gaozong's reign. She and Emperor Gaozong were thereafter referred to as the "Two Saints." The extent of Empress Wu's authority from 665 until the end of Emperor Gaozong, all historians and historical yearbooks state: Hanging the curtain from behind and listening and speaking in government ( 垂簾聽政 , Chuílián tīngzhèng ); "Two Saints came to

13446-416: The defeat and eventual death of Sassanian Emperor Peroz I ( r.  459–484 ) by the Hephthalites. Their capital was at modern-day Bagram . The name of their founder was only recorded by the Chinese chronicles of the thirteenth diplomatic mission (658) as Xinnie — which has since been reconstructed as "Khingal" — who may have been identical with Khingila (430-495) of the Alchon Huns . The presence of

13612-577: The design of the Nezak-inspired bust remains largely conserved. Whether these coins were issued by the later Nezaks or the early Turk Shahis remains debated. The Nezaks are traditionally identified as the last of the four Hunnic states in South Asia , their predecessors being, in chronological order; the Kidarites , the Hephthalites , and the Alchons . They took control of Zabulistan after

13778-531: The early Middle Persian of the Arsacid period (until the 3rd century CE) and the Middle Persian of the Sassanid period (3rd – 7th century CE) is due to a process of consonant lenition after voiced sounds that took place during the transition between the two. Its effects were as follows: 1. Voiced stops, when occurring after vowels, became semivowels : This process may have taken place very early, but it

13944-431: The edict. However, during his years as crown prince, he was said to have favored his concubine Pure Consort Xiao , having two daughters (the later Princesses Yiyang and Xuan Cheng) and one son ( Li Sujie ) with her, much to the chagrin of his wife Crown Princess Wang, who was childless and jealous of Consort Xiao. Three other concubines of his bore his other sons Li Zhong , Li Xiao ( 李孝 ), and Li Shangjin ( 李上金 ). Around

14110-539: The emperor went to court, the Empress of Heaven hung a curtain behind the throne ( 垂簾聽政 , Chuílián tīngzhèng ), and there was matter of government, great or small, were settled by her, and they were called "Two Saints" ( 二聖 , Er Sheng ) inside and outside. The emperor wanted to issue an edict to make the Empress of Heaven would formally take over the throne of the empire, and Hao Chujun , persuaded him to stop this issue (appoint of regent). The second book: according to Song dynasty historians Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi , in

14276-418: The empire to his second wife Empress Wu (the future Wu Zetian ), and her decrees were carried out with greater force than the decrees of Emperor Gaozong's. Emperor Gaozong was the youngest son of Emperor Taizong and Empress Zhangsun ; his elder brothers were Li Chengqian and Li Tai . Emperor Gaozong's reign saw the primacy of Empress Wu, who became the effective power behind the Tang rule. Emperor Gaozong

14442-440: The empress. In the same year when the eunuch Wang Fusheng ( 王伏勝 ) reported to Emperor Gaozong that she had engaged the sorcerer Guo Xingzhen ( 郭行真 ) – an act that was strictly forbidden—Emperor Gaozong, in anger, summoned the chancellor Shangguan Yi to consult Shangguan. Shangguan suggested that he depose Empress Wu. He agreed, and had Shangguan draft an edict to that effect. However, Empress Wu had received information that that

14608-517: The execution order reached his location. Meanwhile, Zhangsun, once he reached his place of exile, was forced to commit suicide. It was said that after Han's and Lai's deaths, no official dared to criticize the emperor any further. Also in 659, a vassal of Western Turkic Khaganate (Pin. Tujue ), Duman ( 都曼 ), the commander of the Esegels (aka Izgil , Old Turkic : 𐰔𐰏𐰠 , Ch. Asijie , Sijie 思結) Tribe, rebelled against Tang occupation , along with

14774-576: The extremely distant Ai Prefecture (愛州, roughly modern Thanh Hóa Province , Vietnam ), and Chu's subsequent petition, sent from Ai Prefecture, pleading with Emperor Gaozong, fell on deaf ears. Empress Wu's reprisals did not end there. In 659, Zhangsun Wuji became the next target. At that time, two low level officials, Wei Jifang ( 韋季方 ) and Li Chao ( 李巢 ) had been accused of improper associations, and when Emperor Gaozong put Xu and Xin Maojiang of investigating, Xu falsely accused Wei and Li to be part of

14940-555: The fall of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century CE. The most important and distinct development in the structure of Iranian languages of this period is the transformation from the synthetic form of the Old Period ( Old Persian and Avestan ) to an analytic form: The modern-day descendants of Middle Persian are New Persian and Luri . The changes between late Middle and Early New Persian were very gradual, and in

15106-479: The following: It has been doubted whether the Middle Persian short mid vowels /e/ and /o/ were phonemic , since they do not appear to have a unique continuation in later forms of Persian and no minimal pairs have been found. The evidence for them is variation between spelling with and without the matres lectionis y and w , as well as etymological considerations. They are thought to have arisen from earlier /a/ in certain conditions, including, for /e/ ,

15272-511: The former crown prince Li Zhong, Empress Wu had Xu Jingzong falsely accuse Shangguan, Wang, and Li Zhong of conspiring against Emperor Gaozong's life. Around the new year 665, Shangguan and Wang were executed, and Li Zhong was forced to commit suicide. After the events ended, Empress Wu told Emperor Gaozong: "Your Majesty, you are a wise man who manages the country in an orderly manner, but you are soft-hearted. Who do you think we are? We are husband and wife! Does our issue have anything to do with

15438-508: The general Zheng Rentai ( 鄭仁泰 ) to attack the Tiele, but while Zheng was initially victorious, his officers became bogged down in pillaging and eventually suffered great losses after being caught in poor weather. Emperor Gaozong instead sent Qibi, who was ethnically Tiele, assisted by Jiang Ke , to Tiele to try to persuade them to surrender. Qibi was able to do so, and rebel leaders were arrested and turned over to Tang. Qibi executed them and ended

15604-409: The generals Liang Jianfang ( 梁建方 ) and Qibi Heli ( 契苾何力 ) to attack Ashina Helu. Liang and Qibi achieved some victories against Ashina Helu's general Zhuxie Guzhu ( 朱邪孤注 ), but then withdrew without engaging Ashina Helu. Meanwhile, as Empress Wang was sonless, her uncle, the chancellor Liu Shi , suggested to her that she ask Emperor Gaozong to create his oldest son Li Zhong, whose mother Consort Liu

15770-407: The government was organized well and the people were comforted, much like during the reign of Emperor Taizong, although in winter 650, Chu was accused of forcibly purchasing private land and paying below-market price, and was demoted to be a prefectural prefect. (Chu eventually returned to power in 653.) Also in 650, the general Gao Kan ( 高侃 ) – whose army had been launched by Emperor Taizong against

15936-529: The hands of Empress Wu , acting as Empress Dowager-regent, "presiding over court and issuing edicts" ( lin chao chengzhi 臨朝稱制); she subsequently became the only empress regnant in Chinese history . After his death, he was interred at the Qian Mausoleum along with Wu Zetian. During the first part of his reign, Tang territorial gains, which started with his father Emperor Taizong, continued, including

16102-521: The head of Li Zhi's household. At the advice of another key official, Liu Ji , who pointed out that the crown prince needed to have a group of well-learned scholars that he was close to, Emperor Taizong appointed Liu, as well as Cen Wenben , Chu Suiliang , and Ma Zhou , to serve as Li Zhi's friends and advisors. Late in 643, Emperor Taizong issued an edict to select beautiful women among good households to serve as Li Zhi's concubines . However, after Li Zhi declined such treatment, Emperor Taizong cancelled

16268-472: The imperial palace and attended to Emperor Taizong in his illness. That year, when Emperor Taizong was due to visit Ling Prefecture (靈州, roughly modern Yinchuan , Ningxia) to meet with a number of tribal chiefs who were formerly vassals of Xueyantuo —which had collapsed under Tang and Huige attacks earlier that year—he was set to take Li Zhi with him, but at Zhang's suggestion left Li Zhi in charge at Chang'an instead, to allow Li Zhi to become more familiar with

16434-422: The important affairs of state in his absence. After Emperor Taizong returned from Ling Prefecture, he retained for himself the authorities over imperial worship, state guests, military, the commissioning of officers of higher than the fifth rank, and executions, and transferred all other authorities to Li Zhi. In 647, a commoner named Duan Zhichong ( 段志沖 ) submitted a petition to Emperor Taizong, asking him to pass

16600-639: The important examination bureau of the government)] and trust him after I die. If he hesitates, execute him. He then demoted Li Shiji to the post of the commandant of Die Prefecture (疊州, roughly modern Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Gansu). Li Shiji, realizing what was happening, after receiving the order, departed without hesitation. As Emperor Taizong's illness was getting more serious, Li Zhi continuously attended to him and wept constantly, often going without food, which touched Emperor Taizong greatly. Emperor Taizong entrusted Li Zhi to Zhangsun and Chu Suiliang, and then died on 10 July 649. Initially, Li Zhi

16766-501: The kingdom Shi (石國, centering modern Tashkent , Uzbekistan ), which arrested him and delivered him to Su, thus largely ending the Western Turkic Khaganate as an organized state. (Emperor Gaozong would try to continue the Western Turkic Khaganate's existence as a vassal stage by dividing it in half and creating Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen as khans of the two halves.) Meanwhile, Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, aligned with Empress Wu, and became strong enough to fight for power, began to carry out

16932-467: The later forms are an (Manichaean ՚n ), and meh (Pahlavi ms and Manichaean myh ); indeed, some scholars have reconstructed them as monosyllabic any , mahy even for Middle Persian. Middle Persian has been written in a number of different scripts. The corpora in different scripts also exhibit other linguistic differences that are partly due to their different ages, dialects and scribal traditions. The Pahlavi scripts are abjads derived from

17098-672: The later phase. At least two rulers in Western Tokharistan used the appellation Nezak Tarkhan ; like Shah, Tarkhan too was a popular title among rulers in Central Asia. One of these Nezak Tarkhans played an essential role in leading a revolt against Qutayba ibn Muslim — a commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who consolidated Muslim rule in Transoxania — in around 709 to 710 and was even promised aid by

17264-496: The letter p to express /f/ , and ṣ to express z after a vowel. The widespread use of Aramaeograms in Pahlavi, often existing in parallel with 'phonetic' spellings, has already been mentioned: thus, the same word hašt 'eight' can be spelt hšt or TWMNYA . A curious feature of the system is that simple word stems sometimes have spellings derived from Aramaic inflected forms: the spellings of verb stems include Aramaic inflectional affixes such as -WN , -TWN or -N and Y- ;

17430-484: The matter of changing the empress. Li Ji claimed an illness and refused to attend. At the meeting, Chu vehemently opposed deposing Empress Wang, while Zhangsun and Yu showed their disapproval by silence. Meanwhile, other chancellors Han Yuan and Lai Ji also opposed the move, but when Emperor Gaozong asked Li Ji again, Li Ji's response was, "This is your family matter, Your Imperial Majesty. Why ask anyone else?" Emperor Gaozong therefore became resolved. He demoted Chu to be

17596-705: The mid-seventh century after experiencing increasingly frequent invasions from the Arab frontier; the last ruler was Ghar-ilchi. A vassal Barha Tegin usurped the throne and established the Turk Shahis . Half-a-century later, two rulers in Western Tokharistan, who used the appellation "Nezak Tarkhan", played significant roles in opposing a Governor of the Umayyad Caliphate; their links with the Nezak Huns remain speculative. In contemporary sources,

17762-423: The name parsik became Arabicized farsi . Not all Iranians were comfortable with these Arabic-influenced developments, in particular, members of the literate elite, which in Sassanid times consisted primarily of Zoroastrian priests. Those former elites vigorously rejected what they perceived as ' Un-Iranian ', and continued to use the "old" language (i.e. Middle Persian) and Aramaic-derived writing system. In time,

17928-463: The name of the writing system, pahlavi "Parthian", began to be applied to the "old" Middle Persian language as well, thus distinguishing it from the "new" language, farsi . Consequently, 'pahlavi' came to denote the particularly Zoroastrian, exclusively written, late form of Middle Persian. Since almost all surviving Middle Persian literature is in this particular late form of exclusively written Zoroastrian Middle Persian, in popular imagination

18094-536: The names and dynastic affiliations of the subdued rulers, it is plausible that the Nezaks suffered severe territorial losses. In 661, an unnamed ruler — possibly, Ghar-Ilchi — was confirmed as Governor of Jibin under the newly formed Chinese Anxi Protectorate, and would broker a peace treaty with the Arabs, who were reeling from the First Fitna and lost their gains. In 665, Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura occupied Kabul after

18260-644: The newly reconstituted Göktürk state under Chebi Khan Ashina Hubo prior to Emperor Taizong's death—captured Ashina Hubo and brought him back to Chang'an. Emperor Gaozong spared Ashina Hubo and made him a general, putting his people directly under Tang rule. Meanwhile, with two of the states of the Western Regions previously conquered by Tang and governed by Tang-installed kings, Kucha and Karasahr in disturbance, Emperor Taizong returned their previously captured kings, Bai Helibushibi ( 白訶黎布失畢 ) and Long Tuqizhi ( 龍突騎支 ) respectively, to their thrones. In 651,

18426-411: The north was all ruled by the Turkish king, who also resided in the country. Middle Persian "Middle Iranian" is the name given to the middle stage of development of the numerous Iranian languages and dialects . The middle stage of the Iranian languages begins around 450 BCE and ends around 650 CE. One of those Middle Iranian languages is Middle Persian, i.e. the middle stage of the language of

18592-519: The obverse. These crossovers evolved into a series in which a new legend ( Śri Sāhi ), either in Bactrian or Brahmi, replaces the Pahlavi legend. Finds from around the Sakra region — a sacred complex in ancient Gandhara — feature votive coins of these two kinds as well as derivatives where the structures on the reverse and the Alchon tamgha lose their meaning and degenerate into geometrical motifs but

18758-411: The opportunity to invite her old neighbors and relatives to a feast. Later that year, Emperor Gaozong began to suffer from an illness that carried the symptoms of painful headaches, persistent dizziness, occasional seizures and loss of vision, generally thought to be hypertension-related or stroke, and Emperor Gaozong began to have Empress Wu make rulings on petitions and suggestions made by officials. It

18924-437: The other hand, is sometimes rendered as ẖ . For original ṭ , the sign ṯ is used. The special Manichaean letters for /x/ , /f/ , [β] , /ɣ/ and [ð] are transcribed in accordance with their pronunciation as x , f , β , γ and δ . Unlike Pahlavi, the Manichaean script uses the letter Ayin also in Iranian words (see below) and it is transliterated in the usual Semitological way as ՙ . Since, like most abjads, even

19090-597: The pairs [x] – [h] and [r] – [l] . Since knowledge of Pahlavi decreased after the Muslim conquest of Iran , the Zoroastrians occasionally transcribed their religious texts into other, more accessible or unambiguous scripts. One approach was to use the Avestan alphabet , a practice known as Pazand ; another was to resort to the same Perso-Arabic script that was already being used for New Persian , and that

19256-430: The palace and demoted Liu Shi. Meanwhile, a faction of officials began to form around Consort Wu, including Li Yifu , Xu, Cui Yixuan ( 崔義玄 ), and Yuan Gongyu ( 袁公瑜 ). On an occasion in fall 655, Emperor Gaozong summoned the chancellors Zhangsun, Li Shiji (who by now was using the name Li Ji to observe naming taboo for Emperor Taizong's name Li Shimin), Yu Zhining , and Chu to the palace—which Chu deduced to be regarding

19422-455: The palace, she acted humbly and flattered Empress Wang, who trusted her greatly and recommended her to Emperor Gaozong. Soon, Emperor Gaozong became enamored with Consort Wu. Meanwhile, Emperor Gaozong's sister Princess Gaoyang and her husband Fang Yi'ai (房遺愛, Fang Xuanling's son), were implicated in 652 of conspiring with another brother-in-law Chai Lingwu ( 柴令武 ), the general Xue Wanche ( 薛萬徹 ) and Emperor Gaozong's uncle Li Yuanjing ( 李元景 )

19588-423: The plot and that he should be concerned for himself. When Emperor Taizong noticed Li Zhi worrying about this and was told by Li Zhi of Li Tai's intimidation, Emperor Taizong's mind became set. He exiled Li Tai, and on 30 April 643, he created Li Zhi the new crown prince. He made Zhangsun and two other senior chancellors, Fang Xuanling and Xiao Yu , senior advisors to Li Zhi, and made another chancellor, Li Shiji ,

19754-479: The presence of a following /n/ , sibilant or front vowel in the next syllable, and for /o/ , the presence of a following labial consonant or the vowel /u/ in the next syllable. Long /eː/ and /oː/ had appeared first in Middle Persian, since they had developed from the Old Persian diphthongs /ai/ and /aw/ . The consonant phonemes were the following: A major distinction between the pronunciation of

19920-526: The rebellion. Meanwhile, for reasons unknown, also in 662 Emperor Gaozong sent the general Su Haizheng ( 蘇海政 ) to attack Qiuzi and ordered Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen to assist him. Ashina Buzhen, who had a rivalry with Ashina Mishe, falsely informed Su that Ashina Mishe was set to rebel and would attack the Tang army, and Su responded by ambushing Ashina Mishe, killing him and his chief assistants. The Western Turkic Khaganate tribes, angry over Ashina Mishe's death, largely turned away from Tang and submitted to

20086-484: The region about 50 years after the events, the first Turk Shahi ruler of Kapisi — named Barha Tegin by Al-Biruni — was a usurper who served as a military commander (or vassal) in the service of the preceding king. Xuanzang, returning via Kapisa in 643, had noted Turks ruling over Vrijsthana/Fulishisatangna — a polity between Kapisi and Gandhara that was likely located in the region of modern-day Kabul — and Barha Tegin might have had belonged to them. Al-Baladhuri notes of

20252-523: The ribbons. Circumscribed on the right is a Pahlavi legend meaning "King of the Nezak", which leads to the dynastic nomenclature. An "ā" (𐭠) or a "š" (𐭮), perhaps corresponding to the mints of Ghazni and Kabul , follows. On the reverse, the Sasanian-type, consisting of the lit Zoroastrian fire-altar with two attendants carrying barsom bundles , was adopted, but unique "sun-wheels" were added above their heads. The flame shape widely varies between

20418-503: The ruling dynasty. Xuanzang met the king in Udabhandapura and then traveled with him to Ghazni and Kabul . The king is described as a fierce and intelligent warrior, belonging to the shali (刹利) / suli (窣利) race — Kshatriyas (?) — and commanding rude subjects. The Cefu Yuangui — an 11th-century Chinese encyclopedia — and Old Book of Tang — a 10th-century Chinese history — record thirteen missions from Jibin to

20584-410: The same position in front of the civil and military ministers of the Tang dynasty. In fact, if anyone with a request to make at Court obtains an audience or is allowed to speak, the emperor hears him indeed, but will give no definite answer of "Yes or No", referring him promptly to empress. frequently Emperor Gaozong was unable to go to the court because of a headache, and Empress Wu was "obliged" to go to

20750-442: The same position, possibly earlier; not only was it weakened to a fricative [ʒ] , but it was also depalatalised to [z] . In fact, old Persian [d͡ʒ] and [ʒ] in any position also produced [z] . Unlike the case with the spirantisation of stops, this change is uncontroversially recognised for Sassanid times. The lenition of voiceless stops and affricates remained largely unexpressed in Pahlavi spelling, which continues to reflect

20916-476: The same time, however, Emperor Taizong also became concerned that Li Zhi, who was considered kind but weak in character, would not be strong enough to be an emperor, and secretly discussed with Zhangsun Wuji the possibility of making another son by his concubine Consort Yang (daughter of Emperor Yang of Sui ), Li Ke the Prince of Wu, crown prince. Zhangsun repeatedly opposed the idea, and Emperor Taizong did not carry this out. In 645, when Emperor Taizong launched

21082-493: The sea to attack Baekje, in conjunction with Silla. Su quickly captured the Baekje capital Sabi , forcing Baekje's King Uija and his crown prince Buyeo Yung to surrender. Emperor Gaozong ordered that Baekje be annexed as Tang territory. Emperor Gaozong then followed up by commissioning Su, along with Qibi Heli, Liu Boying ( 劉伯英 ), and Cheng Mingzhen ( 程名振 ), to attack Goguryeo. In 660, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu toured Bian Prefecture (modern-day Taiyuan), and Empress Wu had

21248-473: The shrine of Śunā/Zhuna, the principal deity of the Cao region; thus, he reads Xuanzang's account as alluding to a recent conflict where the adherents of Surya (Aruna), the solar God, had wrested over the site from the worshippers of Zhuna. He identifies the site with Khair Khaneh , a religious complex; excavations show that the complex had two phases of construction and statues of Surya have been recovered only from

21414-558: The south-west and thus spoke Middle Persian as their native language. Under Sassanid hegemony, the Middle Persian language became a prestige dialect and thus also came to be used by non-Persian Iranians. In the 7th-century, the Sassanids were overthrown by the Arabs. Under Arab influence, Iranian languages began to be written in Arabic script (adapted to Iranian phonology ), while Middle Persian began to rapidly evolve into New Persian and

21580-411: The spellings of pronouns are often derived from Aramaic prepositional phrases ( tо̄ 'you' is LK , originally Aramaic lk 'to you', о̄y 'he' is OLE , originally Aramaic ʿlh 'onto him'); and inalienable nouns are often noun phrases with pronominal modifiers ( pidar 'father' is ABYtl , originally Aramaic ʾby 'my father', pāy 'foot' is LGLE , originally Aramaic rglh 'his foot'). Furthermore,

21746-522: The state of affairs in living Middle Persian only indirectly. The surviving manuscripts are usually 14th-century copies. Other, less abundantly attested varieties are Manichaean Middle Persian , used for a sizable amount of Manichaean religious writings, including many theological texts, homilies and hymns (3rd–9th, possibly 13th century), and the Middle Persian of the Church of the East , evidenced in

21912-526: The summer palace Cuiwei Palace (翠微宮, in the Qin Mountains ), Emperor Taizong was gravely ill, and he, while impressed with Li Shiji's abilities, was concerned that Li Shiji was too able and would not submit to Li Zhi. He stated to Li Zhi: Li Shiji is full of ability and wisdom, but you had done him no favors, and it may be difficult for him to be faithful to you. I am going to exile him now. If he leaves immediately, promote him to be Puye [(僕射, head of

22078-540: The term 'Pahlavi' became synonymous with Middle Persian itself. The ISO 639 language code for Middle Persian is pal , which reflects the post-Sasanian era use of the term Pahlavi to refer to the language and not only the script. In the classification of the Iranian languages, the Middle Period includes those languages which were common in Iran from the fall of the Achaemenid Empire in the fourth century BCE up to

22244-463: The third son of his mother, Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun . In 631, he was created the Prince of Jin. In 633, he was made commandant of Bing Prefecture (并州, roughly modern Taiyuan , Shanxi), but remained at the capital Chang'an rather than reporting to Bing Prefecture. When Empress Zhangsun died in 636, Emperor Taizong was particularly touched by the grief that Li Zhi displayed, and from that point on particularly favored him. Sometime while he

22410-500: The third year of the Xianqing reign [658 CE], when [Tang envoys] investigated the customs of this state [Jibin], people said: "From Xinnie, the founder of the royal house, up to the present [King] Hexiezi, the throne has been passed from father to son, [and by now] there have been twelve generations." In the same year, the city was established as Xiuxian Area Command. The names of the ten intermediary rulers remain unknown — Waleed Ziad,

22576-412: The throne to Li Zhi. Li Zhi, concerned that Emperor Taizong might be offended, was worried and grieving, and Zhangsun suggested that Duan be executed. Emperor Taizong did not take offense and did not punish Duan or Li Zhi. Meanwhile, Li Zhi began to build a Buddhist temple named Daci'en Temple ( 大慈恩寺 ) in commemoration of his mother Empress Zhangsun, and the temple was completed in 648. In 649, while at

22742-447: The topic that Empress Wang was sonless (as an excuse for deposing her), Zhangsun repeatedly found ways to divert the conversation, and subsequent visits by Consort Wu's mother Lady Yang and the official Xu Jingzong , who was allied with Consort Wu, to seek support from Zhangsun were also to no avail. In summer 655, Consort Wu accused Empress Wang and her mother Lady Liu of using witchcraft. In response, Emperor Gaozong barred Lady Liu from

22908-451: The transition of /θ/ to /h/ in some words (in front of /r/ this reflex is due to Parthian influence, since the Middle Persian reflex should have been /s/ ). In such words, the spelling may have s or, in front of r – t . For example, gāh 'place, time' is spelt gʾs (cf. Old Persian gāθu ) and nigāh '(a) look' is spelt nkʾs ; šahr 'country, town' is spelt štr' (cf. Avestan xsaθra ) and mihr 'Mithra, contract, friendship'

23074-635: The transliteration). Similarly, the letter d may stand for /j/ after a vowel, e.g. pʾd for pāy 'foot' – this is no longer apparent in Book Pahlavi due to the coincidence of the shapes of the original letters y , d and g , but is already clearly seen in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi. Indeed, it even appears to have been the general rule word-finally, regardless of the word's origins, although modern transliterations of words like xwadāy ( xwtʾd ) and mēnōy ( mynwd ) do not always reflect this analogical / pseudo-historical spelling. Final īy

23240-420: The unattested Saka * näjsuka- "fighter, warrior" from * näjs- "to fight". The Middle Chinese words Nasai ( 捺塞 ) and Nishu ( 泥孰 ) have also been proposed as probable transcriptions of Nezak, but these have phonetic dissimilarities. Nonetheless, from a review of Chinese chronicles, Minoru Inaba, a historian of medieval Central Asia at Kyoto University , concludes Nishu to have been both

23406-475: The use of original Aramaic h is restricted to heterograms (transliterated E in MacKenzie's system, e.g. LGLE for pāy 'foot'). Not only /p/ , but also the frequent sound /f/ is expressed by the letter p , e.g. plhw' for farrox 'fortunate'. While the original letter r is retained in some words as an expression of the sound /r/ , especially in older frequent words and Aramaeograms (e.g. štr' for šahr 'country, town', BRTE for duxt 'daughter'), it

23572-575: The word "Nezak" appears either as the Arabic nīzak or the Pahlavi nyčky . The former was used only to describe the Nezak Tarkhans — rulers in Western Tokharistan — while the latter was used in the coinage of the Nezak Huns. The etymology remains disputed; historian-cum-archaeologist Frantz Grenet sees a possible — yet not firmly established — connection with Middle Persian nēzag ("spear") while linguist János Harmatta traces back to

23738-610: The written language of government of the former Achaemenids , and the government scribes had carried that practice all over the empire. This practice had led to others adopting Imperial Aramaic as the language of communications, both between Iranians and non-Iranians. The transition from Imperial Aramaic to Middle Iranian took place very slowly, with a slow increase of more and more Iranian words so that Aramaic with Iranian elements gradually changed into Iranian with Aramaic elements. Under Arsacid hegemony , this Aramaic-derived writing system for Iranian languages came to be associated with

23904-435: Was aided in his rule by Empress Wu during the later years of his reign after a series of strokes left him incapacitated. Emperor Gaozong effectively after January 665 delegated all matters of state to his strong wife; after that Empress Wu acted as the power behind the emperor, "hanging the curtain and listening to politics" ( Chuílián tīngzhèng 垂簾聼政). Gaozong's personal illness, over-affection and trust of Wu led to her wielding

24070-468: Was completed in 663, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu moved to the newly remodeled palace (which was itself later renamed to Hanyuan Palace). (However, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao continued to appear in her dreams even after this, and therefore, late in Emperor Gaozong's reign, he and Empress Wu were often at the eastern capital Luoyang , not at Chang'an.) Also in 663, the Tibetan Empire attacked

24236-578: Was defeated by Goguryeo forces at Sasu River (蛇水, probably Botong River ) and was killed along with his 13 sons, Su ran into harsh snowstorms and withdrew. Around the same time, after the death of the Huige chief Yaoluoge Porun ( 藥羅葛婆閏 ), who had been obedient to Tang, Yaoluoge Porun's nephew Yaoluoge Bisudu ( 藥羅葛比粟毒 ) rose in rebellion with the Tongluo ( 同羅 ) and Pugu ( 僕固 ) tribes in conjunction with other Tiele Confederation tribes. Emperor Gaozong sent

24402-540: Was disallowed from attending Emperor Taizong's funeral, Emperor Gaozong permitted him to again have a staff and be allowed to use wagons, clothes, and foods of high quality. Emperor Gaozong created his wife Crown Princess Wang empress and made her father Wang Renyou ( 王仁祐 ) the Duke of Wei. It was said that early in Emperor Gaozong's reign, he greatly respected both his uncle Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang and followed their advice, and that therefore, during this part of his reign,

24568-473: Was exploring the memorials, he had Empress Wu by his side to decide if anything went wrong, and he became very dependent on her advice over time, and, as usual, because of his illness, he allowed Empress Wu to act in his name. Thereafter, her authority rivaled Emperor Gaozong's, after this point on, Empress Wu became the undisputed power behind the throne until the death of Emperor Gaozong. Meanwhile, just after Su Dingfang left Baekje territory to attack Goguryeo,

24734-483: Was happening, and she emerged to defend herself, when she reached the main palace, she saw the emperor holding a decree and asked seriously: "What is this?" And when Empress Wu found out, she cried, which prompted Emperor Gaozong to stop. Emperor Gaozong could not carry out the removal, and instead blamed Shangguan, and Emperor Gaozong said to Empress Wu: "I did not intend to do that at first! Shangguan Yi taught me this." As both Shangguan and Wang had previously served

24900-456: Was initially going to make Li Tai the new crown prince, but later began to believe that Li Tai's machinations were responsible for Li Chengqian's downfall. The powerful chancellor Zhangsun Wuji – Empress Zhangsun's brother—suggested that he make Li Zhi crown prince, a possibility that Li Tai was apprehensive about. Li Tai tried to intimidate Li Zhi, who had been friendly with Li Yuanchang, by pointing out to Li Zhi that Li Yuanchang had been part of

25066-648: Was of low birth and therefore considered nonthreatening, crown prince so that Li Zhong would be grateful of her in the future. Liu also persuaded Zhangsun to suggest the idea as well, and in fall 652, Emperor Gaozong created Li Zhong crown prince. By this point, however, Empress Wang was facing a major threat from another romantic rival. When Emperor Gaozong was crown prince, he had an affair with one of Emperor Taizong's concubines, Consort Wu . After Emperor Taizong's death, all of his concubines who did not bear sons, which included Wu, were housed at Ganye Temple ( 感業寺 ) to be Buddhist nuns . In either 650 or 651, Emperor Gaozong

25232-418: Was officially announced. On 15 July, Li Zhi took the throne (as Emperor Gaozong). During his 34-year reign, he was unable to exercise power alone and was under the control of several of his great ministers and his wife, Empress Wu. The order of the regents were: Emperor Gaozong's first move as emperor was to cancel a second campaign against Goguryeo that Emperor Taizong had planned for later 649. While Li Tai

25398-419: Was on the last syllable. That was due to the fact that any Old Persian post-stress syllables had been apocopated : It has been suggested that words such as anīy 'other' (Pahlavi spelling AHRN , AHRNy d , Manichaean ՚ny ) and mahīy 'bigger' (Manichaean mhy ) may have been exceptionally stressed on the first syllable, since the last one was apocopated already in the course of the Middle Persian period:

25564-457: Was referred to as Pārsī. Since these methods were used at a relatively late linguistic stage, these transcriptions often reflect a very late pronunciation close to New Persian. In general, Inscriptional Pahlavi texts have the most archaic linguistic features, Manichaean texts and the Psalter exhibit slightly later, but still relatively early language stages, and while the Pahlavi translations of

25730-425: Was regularly written y d . In the same way, (w)b may also correspond to a w in the pronunciation after a vowel. The fortition of initial /j/ to /d͡ʒ/ (or /ʒ/ ) is not reflected either, so y can express initial /d͡ʒ/ , e.g. yʾm for ǰām 'glass' (while it still expresses /j/ in the learned word y z dt' for yazd 'god'). Some even earlier sound changes are not consistently reflected either, such as

25896-471: Was removed from his post and exiled, and would never return to Chang'an. During the years, Empress Wu had repeatedly, in her dreams, seen Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, in the states they were after their terrible deaths, and she came to believe that their spirits were after her. For that reason, Emperor Gaozong started remodeling a secondary palace, Daming Palace ( 大明宮 ), into Penglai Palace ( 蓬萊宮 ), and when Penglai Palace's main hall, Hanyuan Hall ( 含元殿 ),

26062-555: Was retained/reintroduced in learned borrowings from Avestan . Furthermore, some forms of Middle Persian appear to have preserved ǰ (from Proto-Iranian /d͡ʒ/ or /t͡ʃ/ ) after n due to Parthian influence, instead of the usual weakening to z . This pronunciation is reflected in Book Pahlavi, but not in Manichaean texts: Judging from the spelling, the consonant /θ/ may have been pronounced before /r/ in certain borrowings from Parthian in Arsacid times (unlike native words, which had /h/ for earlier *θ in general and /s/ for

26228-435: Was said that Empress Wu had quick reactions and understood both literature and history, and therefore, she was making correct and error-free rulings. Emperor Gaozong's illness worsened over time, and lasted until his death. If he was well, he also would accept Empress Wu's help, asking her to read the documents to him, he consulted with her on important matters and write down the rulings he had issued. Even until midnight, when he

26394-601: Was so mournful that he could not carry out any actions other than holding onto the necks of Zhangsun and Chu. Zhangsun, while mourning himself, reminded Li Zhi that he was now in charge of the empire and must act accordingly. Zhangsun also ordered that Emperor Taizong's death not be announced for the time being, and then, the next day, accompanied Li Zhi back to Chang'an. Zhangsun issued several edicts in Emperor Taizong's name—including making Yu Zhining , Zhang, and Gao Jifu chancellors. Two days later, Emperor Taizong's death

26560-446: Was still relatively rare as well, especially so in Manichaean texts, mostly resulting from Proto-Iranian *rd, *rz and, more rarely, *r. It also occurred in the combination /hl/ , which was a reflex of Old Persian /rθ/ and /rs/ (cf. the words 'Pahlavi' and 'Parthian'). The sound /xw/ may be viewed as a phoneme or merely as a combination of /x/ and /w/ . Usually /x/ , /xw/ and /ɣ/ are considered to have been velar ;

26726-463: Was the Prince of Jin, at the recommendation of his grand aunt Princess Tong'an, he married the grandniece of Princess Tong'an's husband Wang Yu ( 王裕 ) as his wife and princess. Meanwhile, Li Zhi's two older brothers by Empress Zhangsun, Li Chengqian the Crown Prince and Li Tai the Prince of Wei, were locked in an intense rivalry, as Li Tai was favored by Emperor Taizong for his talent and

26892-502: Was the state religion of Sasanian Iran (224 to c. 650) before the Muslim conquest of Persia . The earliest texts in Zoroastrian Middle Persian were probably written down in late Sasanian times (6th–7th centuries), although they represent the codification of earlier oral tradition. However, most texts date from the ninth to the 11th century, when Middle Persian had long ceased to be a spoken language, so they reflect

27058-402: Was trying to displace Li Chengqian. Li Chengqian, in fear, entered into a conspiracy with the general Hou Junji , his uncle Li Yuanchang ( 李元昌 ) the Prince of Han, the imperial guard commander Li Anyan ( 李安儼 ), and his brothers-in-law Zhao Jie (趙節, who was also his cousin) and Du He ( 杜荷 ) to overthrow Emperor Taizong. The plot was discovered in 643, and Emperor Taizong deposed Li Chengqian. He

27224-495: Was unique, as Xuanzang noted. There were four types of drachms and obols in circulation. Coins exhibit progressive debasement as silver decrease in favour of alloys incorporating increasing quantities of copper. The obverse depicts a male bust occupying the centre; the facial profile varies. The figure always adorns a symmetrically winged crown — derived from Sasanian ruler Peroz I 's third phase of mints ( c.  474  – c.  484 ) under Hephthalite captivity — which

27390-409: Was visiting Ganye Temple to offer incense to Buddha when he saw Consort Wu. Both of them wept. When Empress Wang heard this, she, wanting to divert Emperor Gaozong's favor from Consort Xiao, secretly instructed Consort Wu to grow her hair back, while suggesting to Emperor Gaozong that he take her as a concubine. Consort Wu was intelligent and full of machinations, and therefore, when she first returned to

27556-473: Was well established, was extending her influence further in the political arena and increases her controlling behavior over Emperor Gaozong and arbitrarily makes many government decisions. According to Song dynasty historian Sima Guang in the Zizhi Tongjian : When emperor's attains his will, empress specialises in power and blessings, emperor desires to do something, and his actions are controlled by

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