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Silk Road Influencers
"Our world is shaped by influencers: people whose behavior and attitudes set the trends for what to wear, what to eat, what to like, what to buy. Such influencers do not rely on political power or authority. Rather, they use their social networks, access to specialist knowledge or goods, and cultural 'cool' to shape the ways we behave. In our interconnected world, such influencers can have great reach, across continents and cultures. It is tempting to think that such influencers are a new phenomenon, facilitated by new technologies of communication. In fact, though, today’s influencers are not the first to reach across networks in this way. Almost 2,000 years ago there was a group of influencers who, while relatively few in number and limited in political power, helped to change the world around them. We call these people the Sogdians. Their site of influence: the Silk Road." Link.
Start here: "Who Were the Sogdians, and Why Do They Matter?" Smithsonian Article by Judith A. Lerner and Thomas Wide
Table of Contents:
Trade, Exchange, Travel, Business
Trade, Exchange, Travel, Business
"'You could describe the Sogdians as the first internationalists or globalists,' says Lerner.
"Sogdian diplomats, translators, artists, craftspeople, and entertainers traveled in the caravans that ventured along the Silk Road and settled in merchant colonies along the route in Central Asia and China. Sogdian was the lingua franca of the Silk Road, and, for a time, a vogue for all things Sogdian swept Tang Dynasty China." Link.
Chinese silk in Sogdia
Tang dynasty emissaries at the court of the Ikhshid of Sogdia Varkhuman in Samarkand, carrying silk and a string of silkworm cocoons, circa 655 CE, Afrasiab murals, Samarkand. Link.
NEW PRIMARY SOURCES: The Sogdian Ancient Letters
Translated Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
We have few written primary sources from the Sogdians, so these translated letters are quite valuable. There are four:
Letter #1 -- good for NAMES
Letter #2 -- Sogdians in China, dangers of trade, details of business, lots of names
Letter #3 -- How a formal appeal / request woudl be phrased, family information, lifestyle details / struggles, info about god
Letter #5 -- salutations, more on Sogdian life in China, money
Panels from the Funerary Bed of An Qie. Xi’an, 579 CE. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an, in "The Sogdians Abroad: Life and Death in China" by Julie Bellemare and Judith A. Lerner. Link.
The Nine Sogdian Surnames. "The surnames of known Sogdians living in China are often linked to specific Sogdian cities where they or their ancestors originated..." Link.
A minted silver coin of Khunak, king of Bukhara, early 8th century, showing the crowned king on the obverse, and a Zoroastrian fire altar on the reverse.
AR Drachm (30mm, 3.08 g, 9h). Bukharkhuda type. Samarqand mint. Crowned bust right / Fire altar with ribbon and crowned bust right in flames, flanked by two attendants. Naymark fig. 20; Zeimal fig. 1, 7. VF, toned. Link.
Xuanzang, the OG Backpacker
(Check out that gear!)
This is a painting of Chinese monk Xuanzang 玄奘, also called Tang Seng 唐僧, on his quest to India to obtain Buddhist sutras. Born in 602 CE in Luoyang 落陽市, Henan Province 河南省, China, he died in 664 CE in Chang’an 長安市, now Xi’an 西安市, in Shaanxi Province 陝西省.
Why's he here on the Sogdian page?
Because he's one of our best sources about travel through this region! "Managing to avoid robbers and other hazards, he reached Sogdiana, where he spent time in Samarkand . While in Samarkand, he went in search of Buddhist temples, only to find them abandoned. Xuanzang describes how, on investigating one of the monasteries, his disciples were attacked by a group of Sogdians who believed in Zoroastrianism. Xuanzang eventually gained an audience with the king of Samarkand, who saw that the locals were punished for their assault. Having won the king’s favor, the pilgrim was allowed to hold an assembly at which he ordained a number of new [Buddhist] monks."
For a map of Xuanzang's travels, and the rest of this article, showing what kind of travel was possible in this era, click here.
PRIMARY SOURCE: Xuanxang's description of crossing the Taklamakan Desert to reach the city of Samarkand (646 CE)
"I entered a great desert in which there is absolutely no water or grass. The roads are lost in the vast waste, and its limits are unfathomable. Only by looking at the huge mountains and following the scattered skeletons can one know the direction and find the path.
"After traveling for over five hundred li, I reached the country of Samarkand (known as Kangguo in Chinese). The country of Samarkand is sixteen or seventeen hundred li in circuit, long from east to west and narrow from south to north. The capital city is more than twenty li in circuit and is a completely invulnerable stronghold with a large population.
"Precious goods of different quarters are mostly centralized in this country. The soil is rich and fertile and all kinds of crops are cultivated. The trees of the forests are luxuriant and have profuse flowers and fruit.
"This country yields many good horses and its skillful craftsmen are the best among various countries.
"The climate is mild and temperate but the people are irascible by nature. The various states of the Hu tribe regard this country as their center, and people far and near follow the example of this country in social manners and behavior. The king is a valorous man and the neighboring countries obey his orders.
"He has a strong military force consisting of a large body of Cakar warriors; the Cakar people are courageous by nature, fearless of death, and without rival in martial skill."
Source: Xuanzang, in his book Da Tang Xiyu Ji ("Great Tang Records on the Western Regions") compiled in 646 CE.
Seal and Its Impression – Double- portrait stamp-seal and impression, with Sogdian inscription of owner’s name. Ancient Sogdiana, 4th–6th century CE, Carnelian; H. 3.3 × W. 2.6 cm, The British Museum, London, 1870.1210.3. Link.
Used for both personal and administrative purposes, seals helped to authenticate, identify, and secure documents, packages, and other property. Seal ownership protected not only property but the individual who owned it, for it could serve as an amulet, offering defense through the image or text engraved on the seal. It was also a mark of prestige.
Poetry, Beauty, Art, Learning, Music
Poetry, Beauty, Art, Learning, Music
Start with this excellent archive of images from the Smithsonian Freer / Sackler Galleries.
Head of a tomb figure of a Sogdian or Central Asian traveler
Tang dynasty, ca. 700–ca. 750
Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 4 3/4 in
This male head is made of light-gray clay and is missing the rest of his body. Fired in a low-temperature kiln, it is unglazed and covered entirely with a white clay coating called “slip.” The facial features are sculpted and enhanced through paint. Traces of pink, red, and black pigment are still visible on the face.
The head seems to represent a Caucasian or Iranian man. He wears a tall Persian style cone-shaped hat. The craftsman of this head obviously enjoyed the freedom of caricaturing the figure’s foreign appearance. He has bulging eyes with large staring pupils and a prominent nose with big nostrils. It almost seems like he is making a grimace.
In cosmopolitan cities like Chang’an and Luoyang, non-Chinese visitors came from all over the eastern hemisphere. One could pass by traders, missionaries, and visitors of many different races on the streets. This male head may be based on such a traveler from the west, most likely a Sogdian (an Iranian people who resided in present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and were known for their trade along the Silk Road during the 4th-8th centuries). Link.
The Iranian from Tashkent appears young.
He dances to the music holding the wine goblet, as rapid as a bird.
He wears a cloth cap of foreign make, empty and pointed at the top,
His Iranian robe of fine felt has tight sleeves.
—Liu Yanshi (d. 812)
Sogdian Dancer
Tang dynasty (618–907 CE)
Bronze with gilt bronze base; H. 13.7 cm
Found in vicinity of Shandan , Gansu Province, China; acquired between 1945 and 1980
Shandan Municipal Museum, on loan to Gansu Provincial Museum, Lanzhou
This unrefined yet lively sculpture captures the defining motion of the famous dance known as the “Sogdian Whirl,” with the dancer’s right leg extending as he twirls. He dances on a lotus-bud base, which is not original but a replacement for the small, round carpet on which many Sogdian dances were performed.
Iranian whirling girl, Iranian whirling girl…
At the sound of the string and drums, she raises her arms,
Like swirling snowflakes tossed about, she turns in her twirling dance.
Whirling to the left, turning to the right, she never feels exhausted,
A thousand rounds, ten thousand circuits—it never seems to end…
Compared to her, the wheels of a racing chariot revolve slowly and a whirlwind is sluggish.
Iranian whirling girl,
You came from Sogdiana…
"So runs a Chinese poem by the famed Tang-dynasty poet Bo Juyi 白居易 (772–846 CE), describing a Sogdian dancer at the imperial court. The Sogdian Whirl (huxuan wu 胡旋舞), as the dance was known, would become a phenomenon in China..."
Two links: The Poem + more info
or The Dance + more info.
Sogdian Huteng dancer, Xiuding temple pagoda, Anyang, Hunan, China, Tang dynasty, 7th century.
Link.
Religion, Belief, Traveling Teachers
Religion, Belief, Traveling Teachers
"The Sogdians were as open, varied, and eclectic in their religious practices as in their arts. This essay explores the role of Sogdians as believers, translators, and transmitters of religious ideas both in Sogdiana and farther afield."
For more, please check out this excellent article: "Believers, Proselytizers & Translators: Religion among the Sogdians" by Judith A. Lerner.
Left: Buddha figure in seated meditation. Penjikent Murals, National Museum Dushanbe. Link.
An 8th-century Tang dynasty Chinese clay figurine of a Sogdian man wearing a distinctive cap and face veil; probably a Zoroastrian priest engaging in a ritual at a fire temple, since face veils were used to avoid contaminating the holy fire with breath or saliva; Museum of Oriental Art, Turin, Italy. Link.
"Battle between a Deity and Beasts of Prey." Palace at Varakhsha, Uzbekistan (Sogdiana), late 600s to early 700s CE, Wall painting; H 163 × W 902 cm. Link to more information.
Extension: A complex text on Sogdian religion called "Deciphering the Shi Jun Sarcophagus Using Sogdian Religious Beliefs, Tales, and Hymns” by Bing Huang in Religions, 2021. Link.
Medicine, Science, Philosophy, Research
Medicine, Science, Philosophy, Research
Correct part of the world, but this a bit too early!
After the Sogdians had been assimilated and the Abbasids had conquered this part of the world, some of the world's greatest thinkers came from this part of Central Asia:
Physician and doctor ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) was born in 980 in a village near Bukhara. Having memorized the entire Quran by the age of 10, he learned Indian mathematics, studied philosophy, and then turned to medicine at 16. He not only learned medical theory, but discovered new methods of treatment, and qualified as a physician at age 18. He published works on logic, linguistics, poetry, physics, psychology, medicine, chemistry, mathematics, music, astronomy, and other areas.
Al-Bîrunî was born in 973 in Khwarezm, and is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era. He studied physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. He spoke Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac.
Omar Khayyam was born in Nishapur in 1048 but grew up and was educated in Samarkand and then lived in Bukhara. He was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He is the author of one of the most important treatises on algebra written before modern times, and wrote about a thousand four-line poems called rubaiyat.
Al-Khwārizmī was born around 783 in Khwarezm. A mathematician, astronomer and geographer during the Abbasid Caliphate, he became a scholar in the House of Wisdom and laid the groundwork for algebra and trig.
al-Farghani was born around 805 in Ferghana, became a famous astronomer, calculating the diameter of the Earth.
Check out the Abbasid Caliphate pages for more detail.
Court Life, Intrigue, Governance, Hierarchy
Court Life, Intrigue, Governance, Hierarchy
“Hall of the Ambassadors.” Wall paintings of the ancient city of Afrasiab (near modern-day Samarkand in Uzbekistan) , mid 600s CE. "The scenes are arranged on the four interior walls of the reception hall of an aristocratic residence. The western wall depicts a long procession of people of different origins, including a large number of Turks escorting delegations from China, the small Central Asian states of Chaghaniyan and Chach, and even from Tibet and the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo..." Link for more.
Funeral procession led by King Varkhuman, in honour of his predecessor Shishpir.
The Afrasiab murals, also called the Paintings of the Ambassadors, is a rare example of Sogdian art. It was discovered in 1965 when the local authorities decided to construct a road in the middle of Afrāsiāb mound, the old site of pre-Mongol Samarkand. It is now preserved in a special museum on the Afrāsiāb mound. The paintings date back to the middle of the 7th century CE. They were probably painted between 648 and 651 CE, while the Western Turkic Khaganate was in decline and the Tang Dynasty was increasing its territory in Central Asia. Paintings on four walls of the room of a private house depict three or four lands neighboring Central Asia: On the northern wall, China (a Chinese festival, with the Empress on a boat); on the Southern Wall, Samarkand (i.e.; the Iranian world: a religious funerary procession in honor of the ancestors during the Nowruz festival); on the eastern wall India (as the land of astrologers and of pygmies, though this painting is largely destroyed). Link.
The northern wall of the Afrasiab murals in the Hall of Ambassadors "is probably a representation of the Chinese New Year Festival... On a pond crowded with aquatic creatures, musicians and singers sit in a boat with a prow shaped like a bird’s head. A lady, larger than her attendants, is feeding the fish...
"Mode (2006) supports the interpretation that this scene is a reference to the negotiation of a marriage alliance. The local Sogdian king is trying to marry a Chinese princess, and the larger lady in the boat is on her way to Samarqand... But this two-part scene also recalls Chinese poems... [in which case,] the lady could be the empress Wu Zetian." Link.
Military, Warfare, Weapons
Military, Warfare, Weapons
Sogdian archers were famous for their skill... [and] drew upon a long tradition of fierce archery in Central Asia." Link.
Left: Sogdian or Post-Sasanian silver dish showing a mounted archer hunting, using a bow made with stiffened tips.
8th Century AD
What did Sogdian soldiers wear? Link
The primary armour of the late antique / early medieval Sogdian warrior was maille (aka chainmail), a flexible mesh armour comprising of interlocked rings.
Siege of a Sogdian city. Link.
A wall of the throne room in Panjikent’s palace shows a siege prior to the storming of a city. Against a vivid, lapis-blue background, five men pull downward on the ropes of a machine...
Tiny engravings on a belt buckle. Link.
Excavated from a nomadic grave not far from Samarkand, a belt buckle is decorated with an extraordinary battle scene. The right half shows a hunting scene, while smaller sections show warriors, Bactrian camels fighting, and a vulture...
Daily Life, Clothing, Food, Jewelry
Daily Life, Clothing, Food, Jewelry
What would cities and buildings have looked like?
The City of Panjikent and Sogdian Town-Planning
"In the mountains of southwestern Tajikistan... the ruins of the town of Panjikent provide a window into the vibrant visual culture of Sogdian urban life..." Link.
Sogdian Fashion + Textiles
"Sogdian wall paintings showcase a world of fashion bursting with strong silhouettes and bold designs. Whether the wearers are men or women, nobles or servants, vividly patterned fabrics compose Sogdians’ garments..." Link.
"Textile weaving... was a craft in which Sogdian artisans excelled. Although Sogdiana was renowned for cotton textiles, its artisans may have woven polychrome silk weavings as well..." Link.
Banqueting in Sogdiana. Link.
"The Western Regions possess a grape wine which is not spoiled by the accumulation of years. A popular tradition among them states that it is drinkable up to ten years, but if you drink it then, you will be drunk for the fullness of a month, and only then be relieved of it."
—from the Taiping Yulan 太平御覽 (Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era), 977–983
"And from this wine I immediately delivered three small containers of wine for that evening’s banquet."
—from the Sogdian Mt. Mugh Documents, early 8th century
What did the people of the Tarim Basin eat?
Nomadic herders depended on sheep for meat and milk, while farmers in settlements relied on crops like wheat.
Sheep and wheat were first domesticated in the Near East over 11,000 years ago. Several thousand years later, they were brought to Eastern Central Asia, where they became key components for food in the Tarim Basin.
Finding reliable food sources in the desert was key to survival. Nomadic herders relied on their flocks of sheep to provide milk, which could be preserved and carried as yogurt and cheese. Sheep could also provide a source of meat. The settled people of the Tarim Basin harvested wheat to make the different kinds of dough foods, as seen here. The food items on display appear as though they were made yesterday. In reality, all of the food here is at least 1,000 years old, with some pieces nearly 1,500 years old. The same desert conditions that kept these foods intact also preserved the human remains and textiles.
What languages did they speak?
To date, records of 28 different languages have been discovered in the Tarim Basin.
The Tarim Basin was a multicultural area, even before the height of the Silk Road. So it is likely that residents would have known and used several languages.
The Iranian language called Sogdian was probably used as a common language by different cultures trading on the Silk Road. While dozens of languages were found in the Tarim Basin, the most common were Khotanese (koh-tah-NEES), Tocharian (toh-KAIR-ee-an), Sogdian, and Chinese.
Many of the languages were also known in other regions of the world, but Tocharian was unique to the area, indicating that it was perhaps a native language. While questions remain over the identities of the inhabitants of this region, the written records they left behind provide clues to the many languages that were used and possibly spoken there.
One reason scholars were able to decode the extinct Tocharian language was that it was written in Brahmi script, an alphabet that originated in India.
What did their clothing look like?
The earliest inhabitants of the region had naturally colored formless woolen wraps. Later inhabitants created fitted clothing in different colors, styles, and patterns.
Some of the most breathtaking material excavated in the Xinjiang (shin-JEE-ahng) Province of China is the array of textiles, from wool felt to intricately woven silk brocades. Because organic materials can quickly deteriorate, the survival of so many ancient, yet well-preserved textiles is extraordinary.
The sheep, which provided the people of the Tarim Basin with food, also supplied wool for weaving and felting clothing as well as for shelter materials. From simple felted pieces, to more intricate woven fabrics, wool was imperative for surviving the cold winters in Eastern Central Asia. Many silks and brocades were also found there. They show the advances in dyeing, weaving, and cloth-making, as well as evidence of trade along the Silk Road.
The manufacture of silk was originally a secret known only to the Chinese; however, with the travel and trade of the aptly named Silk Road, the techniques used for creating this delicate fabric spread as well.
Chrysanthemum Shaped Dessert, 5th-3rd century BCE, Excavated from Tomb No. 73, Zaghunluq, Chärchän Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum Collection.
Sogdian Language Bill of Sale for Female Slave, AD 639, Excavated from Tomb No.135, Astana, Turfan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum Collection
Pullover skirted dress, ca. 5th-3rd century BCE. Excavated from Tomb No. 55 of Cemetery No. 1, Zaghunluq, Charchan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.
Broad / General Historical Sources
Broad / General Historical Sources
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