Probable Greek soldier, blue-green eyed, possibly with royal headband.

The Centaur, with floral decorations.

The Sampul tapestry is a woolen wall-hanging that was found in Sampul, in the Tarim Basin inside a 3rd-2nd century BCE mass grave. Probable Greek soldier, woollen wall hanging, 3rd-2nd century BCE, Sampul, Urumqi Xinjiang Museum. ... Probable Greek soldier, woollen wall hanging, 3rd-2nd century BCE, Sampul, Urumqi Xinjiang Museum. ... Guido Reni, Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 In Greek mythology, the centaurs (Greek: Κένταυροι) are a race part human and part horse, with a horses body and a human head and torso. ... Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. ...

The tapestry represents a soldier, probably Greek, and a Centaur. It is probably Greek work from Central Asia (Greco-Bactria), using more than 24 threads of different colors in a technique typical of the West. The presence of the Centaur as a motif, a typical element of Greek mythology, floral motifs, and the realistic rendering further reinforce the identification of the soldier as a Greek. The tapestry was, curiously, fashioned into a pair of trousers, indicating that it may have been used as a decorative trophy. This article is about tapestry the textile. ... Guido Reni, Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 In Greek mythology, the centaurs (Greek: Κένταυροι) are a race part human and part horse, with a horses body and a human head and torso. ... Approximate extent of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom circa 220 BCE. The Greco-Bactrians were a dynasty of Greek kings who controlled Bactria and Sogdiana, an area comprising todays northern Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, the easternmost area of the Hellenistic world, from 250 to 125 BCE. Their expansion... Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ...

The existence of this tapestry tends to suggest that contacts occured from around the 3rd century BCE between the Hellenistic civilizations of Central Asia and the Tarim Basin, at the edge of the Chinese world. Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. ...

The tapestry is visible in the Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi, China. Ürümqi (Uyghur: ئۈرۈمچى; Uyghur Latin script: Ürümqi; Chinese: 烏魯木齊; Pinyin: Wūlǔmùqí; population about 1. ...

See also

• Greco-Bactrian kingdom
• Silk Road

Approximate extent of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom circa 220 BCE. The Greco-Bactrians were a dynasty of Greek kings who controlled Bactria and Sogdiana, an area comprising todays northern Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, the easternmost area of the Hellenistic world, from 250 to 125 BCE. Their expansion... Jump to: navigation, search The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sī chóu zhī lù, Persian راه ابریشم Râh-e Abrisham) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Changan (todays Xian), China, with Antioch, Syria, as...

References

• The Silk Road, Frances Wood, ISBN 0520243404
• China's buried kingdoms, Time Life, ISBN 1844470504