Sogdian Archaeology

Several late sixth-century stone items of tomb furniture unearthed over the past decade in north China have reconfirmed the role of the Silk Road in facilitating exchange between China and regions to its west. Scholars have identified motifs in the decoration of these tomb elements and linked them to Chinese or Zoroastrian traditions, searched for discernible narratives, or investigated the deceased’s ties to Central Asia and service as leaders of their communities. While the individuals buried in these tombs or their ancestors likely hailed from Sogdiana, other features of the objects defy clear interpretation according to artistic paradigms in either north China or Central Asia. Viewed as an entire complex, the tombs also demonstrate a range of affinities with the traditions of both regions and challenge our assumptions about culture and the coherency of traditions in the context of exchange.

This essay takes a broad view of these stone objects and examines the occupants, tomb contexts, and the diverse representations on the tomb furniture as a collective group. Drawing together biographic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence, together with relevant iconography from examples in museum collections, I reconsider the methods by which these pieces have been examined and demonstrate the varied relationships their occupants had to Central Asia and the local communities they inhabited. I reorient the focus away from distinct markers of one culture or another toward the larger picture that characterizes the complex identities of individuals in late sixth-century north China. I posit a thematic rationale for iconographic choices that transcend affiliation with one region or another and argue that while specific elements may demonstrate affinities with extant traditions, taken as a whole the general diversity of artistic elements and burial practices suggests that these individuals occupied a space between paradigmatic “cultures.”

Proceedings of a conference on the Afrasiab painting (Samarkand, mid 7th c.). Various different interpretation of this square room entirely painted with political and religious topics are proposed, as well as technical analysis of the painting itself.

It should be in any library receiving the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, but it is very difficult to find it as a stand-alone book.

This article aims to discuss the question of the inculturation of Syriac Christianity in Central Asia, based on archaeological examples including architectural evidence from a particular ethnocultural area: Sogdiana. It questions to what extent the Eastern Syriac Church has become rooted in local culture, thus enabling Christian communities to express their faith in both material and artistic ways. This article is divided into two sections which present a comprehensive study of the medieval sources relevant to the spread and establishment of Christianity in the Central Asian landmass by considering and analyzing existing tangible evidence. In doing so, it provides assessment of comparable evidence, which demonstrates both the “extended” and an “immediate” context in which Eastern Syriac Christianity was accepted, adapted and transformed into a localised expression of Christian faith.

In the centuries after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, rhyta — spouted drinking vessels through which liquid flowed and which often terminated in the head or forepart of an animal — spread across the Near East into Central Asia, eventually reaching China. This spread was no doubt facilitated by a number of factors. First, the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire, especially influential to the Parthians and Sasanians, included the association of rhyta with kingship. It is likely, too, that the memory of the Achaemenids inspired their successors to connect rhyta with Iranian identity and religion. Second, the far-reaching commercial links of the Silk Road encouraged the movement of objects and people over great distances, creating many opportunities for cross-cultural interaction and exchange. Third, rhyta were distinctive and unusual, and therefore exotic, making them valuable as diplomatic gifts, trade goods, even ritual objects. The combination of their distinctive appearance and function as a drinking implement was clearly appealing to a variety of peoples along the Silk Road.

The article presents two special finds uncovered at the site of Sanjar-Shah during the 2016 archeological season—a bronze pin with a unique finial of two Janus-like faces, and a fragment of a Chinese mirror. The bronze pin has no parallels among Sogdian objects but is strikingly similar to a group of so-called "mace-heads" that originate in Sasanian Iran.We suggest that the design of the Sanjar-Shah pin is inspired by these objects, all of them being modelled on real maces attested in Sogdian paintings. The surviving fragment of the mirror allows us to establish that it belongs to a well-known type of mirror from the Tang period, the Zhenzifeishuang mirror. This is the first time that a mirror of this type has been found outside of China.

Samarqand, the Center of the World: where Alexander the Great and Tamerlane 'met'
ΑΝΑΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ ΑΝΕΝΕΡΓΟ ΜΠΛΟΓΚ “ΟΙ ΡΩΜΙΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗΣ”
Το κείμενο του κ. Νίκου Μπαϋρακτάρη είχε αρχικά δημοσιευθεί την 16η Ιουνίου 2019.

Στο κείμενό του αυτό ο κ. Μπαϋρακτάρης αποδίδει περιληπτικά αλλά περιεκτικά την κοσμοϊστορική σημασία της Σαμαρκάνδης (Αφρασιάμπ), μιας πόλης γύρω από την οποία η Παγκόσμια Ιστορία περιστράφηκε για δύο χιλιετίες (500 πτεμ – 1500 τεμ) με πολύ πιο πολύπλευρο, αποφασιστικό και καταλυτικό τρόπο από όσο γύρω από οποιαδήποτε άλλη πόλη ή πρωτεύουσα του κόσμου. Παρουσιάζοντας αυτή την οπτική, ο κ. Μπαϋρακτάρης μεταφέρει στοιχεία από διάλεξη, την οποία έδωσα τον Ιανουάριο του 2016 στην Νουρσουλτάν (τότε Αστάνα) στην οποία ο ίδιος παρευρισκόταν μαζί με άλλους Γερμανούς, Ρωμιούς, Ρώσσους, Σομαλούς, Καζάκους, και Κινέζους φίλους.

First republished on 15th September 2021 here:
https://profmegalommatistextsingreek.wordpress.com/2021/09/15/σαμαρκάνδη-το-κέντρο-του-κόσμου-εκεί-π/

Sogdian numismatic corpus presents a rich inventory of coins with diverse iconography. In particular, there are two groups featuring an iconographic element that several scholars recognized to represent a Christian symbol – a cross. In this talk, I will focus on two themes. First, I will discuss the evolution and transmission of the symbol of the cross on coinage. This will be centered on comparative analysis of a ‘journey of symbol’ from Rome-Byzantium to Sogdiana through Sassanian numismatic context. Second, I will discuss the adaptation of the different model of the interpretation of numismatic symbols based on Joe Cribb’s ‘money metaphor’ model.

Download link: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/buNZ4eCHESk9Hdx5nPhe/full
Or send me a message to get the pdf.

The Avesta and the Rig Veda, our earliest sources for the Indo-Iranian religious tradition, contain ideas and elements with both aniconic and iconic potential. The cultic iconography in Western and Eastern Iran developed in a remarkably different manner. While the Achaemenian and Sasanian cults were aniconic, Eastern Iranian people, like the Kushans and the Sogdians, not only made use of portrayals of their gods in human form, but also venerated their man-made representations in temples. This article suggests that the reason for this sharp distinction in the nature of the cult between Western and Eastern Iran is the impact of acculturated Greek religious practices, which was much stronger in the East than in the West.

Since C. Landresse first pointed out the existence of the title sabao 薩寶 in 1836, the discussion over this unique position for foreigners in the bureaucracy of the Tang Dynasty has stirred the minds of sinologists as well as iranists to this day. In the last two decades, archaeological excavations revealed new tombs of sabao and brought to light epitaphs and other tomb furnishings which reanimated the debate over this position located at the intersection between politics and religion.

This paper gives an overview of the source material and outlines the state of the discussion. The central goal is to analyse the lives of the members of the Sogdian elite who took office as sabao. For this aim, philological and archaeological data are taken into account – with focus on biographies found on epitaphs and biographies found in other historical sources.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENC,„The Silk Road”,  CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE IN SOFIA, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 2-5, 2011
摘要：与丝绸之路其他部分相比，粟特一段近来并没有广泛地吸引研究人员和公众的兴趣，尤其是扎拉夫山山谷及其附属地区亚戈诺布与马查。这种忽略甚为可惜，因为公元前十世纪中期粟特沿着丝绸之路的贸易网络，对整个丝绸之路来说极为重要，特别是五世纪和八世纪间粟特语基本上是该地区的“佛兰卡语”。
本研究将介绍最新的有关丝绸之路粟特一段的考古和建筑发现，其主要地点为扎拉夫山山谷、亚戈诺布和马查。本介绍包括作者近五年在上述地区，通过考古学调查以及人类学实地研究所积累的已出版及尚未出版的资料。

Aside from references in literary sources, evidence for Sogdian Christianity exsts by virtue of material (coins, architecture, censers, pendant crosses) and textual (manuscripts) remnants. However, this article exclusively examines numismatic evidence and aims to enquire what can be said about the history of Christianity in mediaeval Sogdiana between the 5 and the 9 centuries. The article will focus on Sogdian coins displaying Christian iconography, especially the cross. The Christian semantic of the cross in Sogdian coins is analysed on the basis of a comparative art historical examination with other regions where the cross was used as a conventional symbol for Christianity. Rather than concentrating on its monetary value, the prime interest will be on the historical, socio-cultural and religious contexts of Sogdian coinage and its representative role in relation to Christianity.