THE DIAN CULTURE IN YUNNAN AND ITS GREEK ECHOES
D. N. Konidaris | konidaris@ieee.org |
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10100.62088
Abstract
General Introduction
Figure 1. The Dian and the southwestern peoples in the early Han period. Red denotes nomadic groups, yellow semi-nomadic groups, and purple sedentary, permanently settled groups [1].
The kingdom of Dian was a small state
centred on the plateau around the lake of the same name in north-central
Yunnan, China. It was established by a non-Chinese indigenous and nomadic
people and lasted from the late Spring and Autumn period (or possibly earlier)
until the Eastern Han period. The Dian specialised in metalworking [7_45]. The
bronze produced in the kingdom was an alloy of copper and tin, unlike the more
primitive arsenical-bronze type. Its inhabitants employed advanced techniques
such as casting, forging, repoussé relief decoration, and amalgam gilding.
Their decorative repertoire included geometric designs (triangles and
concentric circles), meanders, spirals, and other motifs. The kingdom had
permanent settlements, and its people practised agriculture and animal
husbandry; they were also accomplished horsemen. The popularity of hunting
scenes [7_46] and so-called animal-style decoration on Dian artefacts has led
researchers to propose contact with the nomadic peoples of the steppes [7_47].
A more far-reaching hypothesis, advanced by Lebedynsky and Mair, is that some
Saka may have migrated to Yunnan after being defeated and displaced by the
Yuezhi [7_48]. Zhang Zengqi has similarly suggested that the naturalistic
bronze artefacts produced by Dian, including complex groups of animals
confronting one another, resulted from Saka migration into southwestern China
before the first century BCE [7_49].
Figure 3. Decorative plaque depicting a bullfight [7].
According to the Shiji, in 122 BCE envoys
of the Han, seeking an overland route to Bactria, attempted to cross Dian
territory. The Dian attacked them and ultimately turned them back; they
subsequently tried to find such a route themselves [7_50]. Certain features of
the kingdom raise questions about possible contacts and interactions with other
peoples [7_51]. Evidence points to practices regarded as violent, including
decapitating enemies, head-hunting [7_52], and human sacrifice [7_53]—practices
that may evoke the Eurasian steppe. At the same time, other features invite
comparison with complex societies: communal feasting [7_54], dance and music
[7_55], and bullfighting [7_56]. Musical life included the use of bronze drums
or gongs, which often appear accompanying activities depicted in Dian art.
Their popularity extended across numerous sites, from the Dong Son cultural
sphere to many parts of Asia. One favoured decoration on the bronze drums
depicts boats and rowers [7_57]. The prows and sterns of these boats are often
decorated with birds [7_58], a practice also found in the Aegean and at sites
associated with the Indus civilisation [7_59].
Figure 4. Possible depiction of human sacrifice [8].
Warriors, Greek-Style Equipment, and Bull Imagery
Commenting on the bronze buckle shown in
Figure 2, Christopoulos writes [11]:
The two warriors depicted on a similar
bronze belt buckle suggest that the Dian kingdom was ruled by settlers probably
connected with Greco-Saka colonists. The military aristocracy adopted the
fashion of cataphract cavalry [13], comparable to that of Hellenistic Central
Asia from around 250 BCE. In addition to their heavy armour, the warriors’
helmets are noteworthy: they appear to be Boeotian rather than Qin (Western),
Han, or Phrygian. The depiction of the chthonic serpent is influenced by
Hellenistic art. The warriors hold the heads of their enemies in their left
hands, a practice comparable to that of the Qin dynasty and the Xiongnu. The
bearded warrior at the back appears to hold a type of ge weapon—part dagger,
part axe—or a sickle, symbolising the harvest. The scene represents a
bull-slayer, as in Hellenistic Greek mysteries. Later Roman Mithraic mysteries,
particularly in Rome from the second to fourth centuries CE, are represented by
numerous sculptures of Mithras slaying the bull. Drawing on earlier Greek
models, these works borrowed similar symbolic elements while adding Mithras in
the form of the Sun [15].
Figure 6. Dalverzin-tepe: fragment of a
mural showing the head of a warrior wearing a Greek-inspired helmet [16].
Christopoulos also notes perceived
similarities with the Minoan Geranos dance [17]:
Some bronze sculptures found in the
Lijiashan (李家山) tombs in Yunnan, associated
with the Dian people (滇) and dating
to the Qin period, show a striking resemblance to the ancient Minoan ritual
dance known as the Geranos. A chthonic serpent or dragon resembling Python
winds around a sacrificial bull and human figures, while an upright pillar
supports a bull, a symbol of harvest and fertility. This is attributed to the
period of the Greco-Saka and Indo-Greek peoples, whose centres were not far
from Yunnan.
Although Plutarch mentions the dance by name (Plut. Thes. 21) and associates it with Theseus on his return from Crete, when it was performed upon his arrival at Delos [19], scholars have also connected it with Minoan Crete (Encyclopedia.com, s.v. “Dance in Prehistoric Greece”) [21].
Figure 7. Stefania Goulioti in Aristophanes’ Birds, directed by
N. Karathanos [23].
D. Steiner also identifies and emphasises
Homer’s implicit familiarity with the so-called Geranos dance. The scholia
describe it as the dance performed by a circle of young men and women on the
penultimate band of the Shield of Achilles (Iliad 18.590–606). According to
ancient commentators, this geranos was first devised—or, in the commentator’s
word, “woven”—by Theseus, together with a chorus of seven girls and seven
youths whom he had rescued from the Labyrinth [24–25]. Steiner further observes
that, in Plutarch (Thes. 21), the dance imitates the turns and exits of the
Labyrinth, with dancers moving rhythmically through variations and spiralling
patterns.
It is also worth noting that the many turquoise and jade objects found in Dian tombs may have originated in the Hetian (Khotan) region [27], which had access to Hellenistic-style textiles by at least the first century BCE [29]. This offers another possible channel of contact with Hellenistic culture. Regarding the spread of Greek military technology in the region, Knauer argues that the use of greaves beyond the Greek world included their adoption by the Dian [7_44].
Figure 8. Dian greaves
[30].
The Dian Kingdom and the Hellenised World of Central Asia
Summarising findings from Chen Chien-wen’s
study, Christopoulos states [32] that Chen demonstrates deep connections
between the military equipment, decorative artistic motifs, and material
culture of the Dian aristocracy and the Hellenised world of Central Asia. Like
most historians, however, Chen does not posit a direct connection with the
Greco-Saka kingdom of Lidao-Diodotus. Instead, he argues that these links
developed not through a direct Greek presence but through the movement and
trade of goods, styles, and practices along commercial and cultural networks,
integrating Dian into a wider Eurasian system of exchange.
The author of the present paper argues, by
contrast, that sculptures and belt depictions of heavily armoured warriors of
Caucasian appearance indicate the presence of Greco-Saka settlers in the region
(Figure 16). Chen Jianwen’s principal conclusions are summarised below.
Silver Vessels with Lobed Decoration
Particular importance has been attached to
the discovery in China of silver vessels decorated with lotus petals,
teardrops, or lobes. These have been considered foreign to the traditions of
the regions where they were found. The examples excavated to date are as
follows:
(a) The earliest vessels of this category
date to the Warring States period. They were excavated at Xixin (Qingzhou,
Shandong) and came from the royal mausoleum of the state of Qi [7_118].
(b) A related object came from the kingdom
of Nanyue [7_119] and belonged to its local king, Zhao Mo, contemporary with
the Western Han period [7_120]. Among the associated objects were gold relief
bosses referring to the Hellenised East [7_121].
(c) A vessel with a lid and inscriptions,
together with additional bosses on the lid and base, came from the mausoleum of
Liu Fei, the first king of the state of Jiangdu [7_122].
(d) A silver casket dating to the early or
middle Han period was excavated in a funerary context at Chaohu, a city beside
the lake of the same name in Anhui. It resembles the object from the Nanyue
king’s tomb [7_123].
(e) Two bronze caskets were excavated from
the tomb of the Dian king on Mount Shizhai (Jinning). They have approximately
the same shape and decoration as the Nanyue find [7_124].
These silver vessels have been compared with similar Achaemenid examples [7_125]. Related “Orientalising” forms had circulated in Greece from the sixth century BCE [7_126]. Chinese archaeology has also noted a close resemblance between the objects [7_127].
Figure 9. Silver vessel with lobed decoration, Western Han period [7_120].
Figure 10. Achaemenid gold vessel, sixth/fifth century BCE [7_125].
Figure 11. Bronze
armour from Lijiashan tomb M13:4, engraved with boars, tigers, peacocks, and
other wild animals (Murowchick 2001, fig. 10).
Appendix: Chen Chien-wen (2022)
The source PDF contains a substantial
appendix already written in English, including a translated extract from Chen
Chien-wen’s 2022 study, discussion of Inner Eurasian and Scythian-Saka elements
in Dian culture, possible routes of cultural transmission, and a concluding
discussion. The English-language passages are not duplicated here. The Greek
passages embedded in the appendix, figure captions, notes, and bibliography
require a further complete translation pass; this document therefore translates
the principal Greek-language body of the paper rather than claiming to be a
fully translated edition of every page and note.
THE DIAN CULTURE IN YUNNAN AND ITS GREEK ECHOES
October 2026, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14508.01926
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