灵缇:丝绸之路上的猎犬及其文化交流意义

The Greyhound:The Hound on the Ancient Silk Road and Its Significance in Cultural Exchange

猎犬是古代狩猎活动中的重要工具,在人类狩猎史尤其是文化交流史中起到了极为重要的作用。首先,在汉文、希腊文、波斯文、察合台文、阿拉伯文传世文献以及相关的考古出土资料中曾出现过不同品种的猎犬。其中,灵缇作为丝绸之路上各地皇室贵族最喜爱的猎犬之一,从埃及到中国、从非洲到亚洲的东传过程反映了丝绸之路沿线各地之间的交流状况,为丝绸之路文化交流研究提供了重要案例。其次,目前所发现的画像石、壁画、金银器、绘画等资料展示了灵缇在中国古代皇室贵族狩猎活动中的重要作用。最后,以灵缇为代表的猎犬入贡中原不仅反映了古代中国的强盛与繁荣,也揭示了丝绸之路文化交流内容的丰富性与广泛性。

On the basis of those documents handed down from ancient times in Chinese,Chagatai,Persian,etc.and archaeological materials,this paper ma a preliminary analysis of the eastward spread of the greyhound,which was the dearest to the hearts of the Eurasian Royal Families.The hound is an important tool in ancient hunting activities.The issues of how to change the study of hounds from the field of natural history to cultural history and interpret their significance in cultural exchanges from the perspective of cultural history are worth discussing.The spread of the hound on the Silk Road and their appearance in the Central Plains for being offered as the tributes are only a tip of the iceberg in the cultural exchanges on the ancient Silk Road,but these few cases are an important basis for comprehensively understanding the cultural exchanges and communication of the ancient Silk Road,and also in the meantime,provide a new perspective for further studies on the hunting history of the Silk Road.In the Period of the Roman Empire,humans divided domestic dogs into categories like hunting,guarding,herding and pets.The image of the greyhound in the myth of″Atalanta,the Hunting Goddess″in ancient Greece and its portraits on the hunting portrait stones of the Han Dynasty in China both reflect its spread on the ancient Silk Road and its cultural significance.The materials of various murals,miniatures,hunting-themed gold,silver and jade articles,and printed silk fabrics on the ancient Silk Road provide important evidences for the study of the relationship between hounds and humans.Among all those various ancient literal materials on the Silk Road,the earlier and more abundant records of hounds are in Chinese and Greek ones.In Greek materials,records of hounds first appeared in the 5 th Century BC.Xenophon,a Greek scholar and student of Socrates,wrote the famous hunting guide,Cynegeticus,which recorded the horses and dogs as hunting partners.In addition,there are important records of hounds in important Chinese cultural classics,such as A Biography of King Mu,and other archaeological materials,such as rock paintings and portrait stones.Byzantine dogs,steed dogs(Persian dogs),mastiffs,etc.frequently appeared in those handed-down and archaeological materials of the regions along the Silk Road,among which the greyhound is the most widespread,attractive and favored by Royal nobles.The greyhound,also translated as″gray dog″,″gray whippet″and″Geli dog″,runs the fastest and it is one of the oldest dog breeds.The greyhound,as the most precious hunting tool,was introduced into China at early times and images of greyhounds have already been discovered on the portrait stones of the Han Dynasty.The Hunting Portrait of the Eastern Han Dynasty found in Shandong Province provides us with strong evidences.In addition to those portrait stones at early times,in China,image data of greyhounds were found in the tombs of An Jia,Yu Hong,Prince Yide and Wanquanxianzhu.The prosperity of the ancient trade way along the Silk Road provides space for the survival of greyhounds.They moved along with the human activities on the ancient trade way along the Silk Road,and played an extremely important role as a medium of cultural exchanges and communication.The author believes that it is closely related to the characteristics of the greyhound itself.The greyhound has a beautiful body shape,fast running speed and good endurance.Therefore,it was regarded as a symbol of wealth and social status,as well as one of the best gifts given to each other.According to the handed-down documents and unearthed data,the movement of the″hounds″,including the greyhounds,on the ancient Silk Road were mainly through tribute and commercial trade activities.From the perspective of cultural exchange between East and West,the significance of the hound culture history can be analyzed in a greyhound-centered way.Firstly,the emergence and function of hounds on the Silk Road is the epitome of the ancient hunting culture.Secondly,the eastward spread of the greyhound reflects the relationship between China and its surrounding regions and countries.Taking the greyhound as a medium,this kind of communication promotes cultural exchanges.Thirdly,the data related to hounds provide important clues for the study of their personalization and artistic images.