The people of the first nomadic empire left no written records, but from 200 BC they dominated the heart of Asia for four centuries, and changed the world in the process. Their rise cemented Chinese identity and inspired the first Great Wall, while their descendants helped destroy the Roman Empire under the leadership of Attila the Hun. Gathering new archaeological evidence, the author of Saladin traces this civilization's epic story and shows how this nomadic cultures of the steppes gave birth to an empire with the wealth and power to threaten the order of the ancient world.