Sogtoberfest Spotlight: An Lushan

Famous Sogdian names that stand out from the pack are surprisingly few despite the great number of Sogdians active along the Silk Routes. But among the few prominent Sogdian names that have come down to us through history emerges the figure of An Lushan, likely the most famous Sogdian in Silk Road history.

An Lushan was of mixed Turkco-Sogdian descent (although he may have been adopted, therefore his true origin is unknown). "According to the somewhat mythologized account of his birth that is found in his biography in the T'ang histories, he was the son of a Turkish shamaness and a Sogdian father"(1). His surname An was one of several surnames used by Sogdian families in China, "deriving ultimately from the Chinese name for Parthia, An-hsi (Anxi)...[and] at this period referred specifically to [Sogdians from] Bokhara (Bukhara)"(2).

At the time of the rise of An Lushan's family, the T'ang were engaged militarily on the western frontiers of their empire. The T'ang forces in these regions were made up of and commanded by local, non-Chinese soldiers (3). A testament to the warrior nature of his family, An Lushan's father and cousin rose to prominent ranks in such frontier armies in their own right (4). An Lushan became a favorite at court with Emperor Xuanzong and his consort, Yang Guifei. Even though he enjoyed favorite status with the emperor and the imperial consort, he became embroiled in court intrigues and quarrels, particular with the minister Yang Kou-chung(5). Hansen states that An Lushan was to be made chief minister by the emperor, but An Lushan's enemies fought against such an appointment for the frontier general. "The emperor compromised by appointing [An Lushan] Commissioner of the Imperial Stables, a position that allowed An to purchase many new horses for his army. This was a dangerous position to give to someone whom others suspected of plotting a revolt"(6). Below is Hansen's summary of An Lushan's rebellion:

The situation at court worsened, and in 755, when the emperor summoned An Lushan to attend the wedding of one of his sons, General An refused. The emperor sent an envoy, but the general refused him even the most basic courtesy of standing in his presence. Four months later the general rebelled. The advantage lay with his powerful army, and his forces took the eastern capital of Luoyang with ease. A few months later, after a particularly disastrous defeat, the emperor, accompanied by a few troops and Precious Consort Yang, fled Changan for Sichuan. Blaming Precious Consort Yang for their predicament, the troops mutinied and refused to go on unless the emperor killed his beloved concubine. Giving in to the mutineer's wishes, the emperor ordered his chief eunuch to strangle her...Internal schisms surfaced following the rebels' early succes in 755, and after the assassination of their commander An Lushan in early 757, the rebel forces split into two factions, one led by An Lushan's son, the other by a rival general. The new emperor Suzong (reigned 756-762) was able to regain Changan only with the help of Uighur mercenaries. After a long stalemate, the rebellion finally ended in 763, following the suicide of the rebels' leading general. Still dependent on hired Uighur troops from Central Asia, and unable to defeat the rebels decisively, the court was forced to give them a blanket pardon...The uncertain peace was short lived. At the end of 763, Tibetan troops entered Changan for two weeks of pillaging and then withdrew, only to attack the capital every autumn for the next twenty years(7).

 This is Vaissiere's summary of the rebellion:

 An Lushan revolted in December 755 and took the capital in July 756. He was assassinated by his son, An Qingxu, who succeeded him in January 757. From Gansu the imperial armies recaptured the capital of Chang'an with the aid of the Uighurs in November, and Luoyang in December. Luoyang was taken a second time in October 759 by Shi Shiming, one of An Lushan's generals, who proclaimed himself emperor after having killed An Qingxu. The rebellion was definitively quelled only in January 763. The seven years of revolt ruined Tang China. The dynasty never succeeded in reimposting a centralized state. The provincial governors seized their autonomy. The most distant provinces, in particular the Tarim basin and Turkestan, were completely lost: their armies were recalled to fight against the rebellion, and the Tibetans to the south and the Uighurs to the north divided the old imperial possessions between them.(8).

Map of all the action during the An Lushan Rebellion. Note An Lushan's powerbase in the northeast, where Sogdian communities were present. Source: Valerie Hansen's The Open Emire.

Hansen goes on to discuss the legacy of the rebellion in terms of the fall of the Tang dynasty. She discusses the way in which the centralized government was undermined by regional authorities, and how the power vacuum at the center ceded power to the provincial governors (9). She also points out that the central government lacked the records to collect taxes. "[The central authorities] were forced to rely on locally powerful families to collect taxes for them. They were permanently weakened as a result"(10). Thus, An Lushan's legacy in China was a Tang dynasty, limping along to its ultimate demise at the hands of other, stronger, regional powers. There would be no one, powerful central Chinese authority in China until the establishment of the Sung dynasty in 960 CE (11).

Vaissiere discusses in great detail in Sogdian Traders what Beckwith summarizes nicely in his text Empires of the Silk Road, that An Lushan was building his power in alliance with Sogdian warriors and merchants. Vaissiere and Beckwith both point to the evidence that An Lushan was in contact with Sogdian merchants throughout northern China, and drew from their connections to fund and supply his rebellion(12).

An Lushan's meteoric rise to power and his gambit to overthrow the Tang left its mark on China and its resident peoples. His bid for power left the Tang in such disarray that no one central dynasty would emergey for some 200 years after the end of the rebellion. His connections to the Sogdian trade network, his Sogdian descent, and his Sogdian family name would, of course, create associations that would prove to have dire consequences for the Sogdians in China, as we discussed in our previous article.  

Sources

1) Pulleyblank, E.G. "An Lu-shan", Encyclopedia Iranica, I/9, pp. 1000; available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/an-lu-shan-frontier-general (accessed online October 21, 2015).

2) Ibid.

3)Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History. Illustrated edition. New York: Oxford, 2012, pg. 107

4) Pulleyblank, E.G. "An Lu-shan", Encyclopedia Iranica, I/9, pp. 1000; available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/an-lu-shan-frontier-general (accessed online October 21, 2015).

5) Ibid.

6) Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2000, pg. 223.

7) Ibid, pg. 224, 227-228.

8) de la Vaissiere, Etienne. Sogdian Traders: A History. Leiden: Brill, 2005, pg. 216.

9) Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2000, pg. 244.

10) Ibid, pg. 245.

11) Pulleyblank, E.G. "An Lu-shan", Encyclopedia Iranica, I/9, pp. 1000; available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/an-lu-shan-frontier-general (accessed online October 21, 2015).

12) de la Vaissiere, Etienne. Sogdian Traders: A History. Leiden: Brill, 2005, pg. 217-218. and Christopher I. Beckwith. Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, pg. 146.

Map

Unknown. The An Lushan Rebellion [map]. 1" = 300 miles. In: Valerie Hansen.
The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2000, pg. 223.

Sogdian Trade: The Nitty-Gritty

Taking on the daunting task of trying to summarize a phenomenon that expanded three centuries and stretched across a large portion of the world is quite a lot for a hapless blogger such as myself. Etienne de la Vaissiere's wonderful article entitled "Sogdian Trade", found on the Encyclopedia Iranica online edition website, does a far better job of summarizing and explaining the nuances of Sogdian trade history than I ever could. However, I have decided to take Vassiere's excellent article and turn it into a timeline, further streamlining this material for ease of access to the neophyte Sogdian enthusiasts out there. I might also sprinkle in other information here and there as I deem necessary or interesting.

Origins:

6th century BCE - Achaemenids mention the Sogdians paying tribute in the form of Lapis Lazuli. The only Lapis mine is located in Badakhshan in Sogdiana (1).

100 BCE - First concrete mention of Sogdian merchants in the Shiji (Shih Chi "Han Histories")(2).

29 BCE and 11 BCE - "Ambassadors from Kangju, a nomad state centered on the middle reaches of the Syr [Darya] [that included in its borders] Sogdiana, presented themselves at the Chinese court pronouncing the word "commerce"(3).

1st-3rd centuries CE - "Buddhist sources show that Sogdian merchants, who were not on the main roads situated farther to the south (Ptolemy, tr. Ronca, pp. 31-36, misplaces Samarkand) emigrated as far as India, benefiting from this prosperity [of the Kushan Empire] (biography of the monk Kang seng hui [Seng-Houei], born in the early 3rd century, tr. Chavannes, 1909, pp. 199-200; Grenet, 1996)"(4).

3rd Century - Sogdian commercial network expands into China (5).

313 - Sogdian Ancient Letters - a cache of documents dated to 313 and written in the Gansu region of China. These documents relate the commercial activities of the Sogdian communities active in Northern China at the time (6).

439 - Sogdians become the main foreign trading force in Gansu (7).

4th-5th centuries CE - Sogdian traders supplant Bactrian traders as the dominant caravan runners in the Indus Valley passes. This is based on the 600 Sogdian inscriptions found in this area vs the ten Bactrian inscriptions present that date to this time period (8).

5th century - Sogdians travel from Gansu and Turfan to do small-scale trade with steppe nomadic peoples. Sogdians later begin acting as intermediaries between steppe powers and the Chinese. From these Sogdian and Turkic connections, the Turks received their administrative language and system via the Sogdians (9). 

5th-7th centuries CE - "The Sogdians were the principal long-distance [overland] caravan merchants in Central Asia". A constant flow of Sogdian merchants, craftsmen, and their families settled in Northern China (10).

Mid-6th century CE - Sogdian trade communities, organized and lead by powerful sabao, or caravan chiefs, become a recognized legal entity integrated into the Mandarin system. Sogdians are very familiar to the Chinese and are consistently noted for their prominent facial features, including their distinct beards, eyes, and noses (11).

550 (6th century) - "In Alexandria in 550, the Nestorian Cosmas Indicopleustes pointed out that it was by caravan routes, rather than by sea, that Persia received most of its silk (Cosmas Indicopleustes, II, pp. 45-46)"(12). With Sogdians acting as the primary caravan runners, this trade would likely have taken place under their guidance.

568-575 Menander Protector's history "reports an actual case...of how the Sogdians used their diplomatic influence with the Turks to open up new markets. After failing with the Sasanians, the Sogdian merchants persuaded the kaqan [Khagan, leader of a nomadic confederation, would later shorten to 'Khan'] to get in touch with Byzantium in order to export the thousands of silk rolls which China paid as tribute to the Turks (Menander, tr. Blockley, pp. 115-15)(13).

630s - "...with the campaigns against the Western Turks, the Tang administration poured funds into the Western Regions to support its military efforts. To finance their campaigns, the Tang state collected bolts of cloth in central China and then shipped them to Wuwei and Qinzhou (modern Qin'an), also in Gansu Province, and from there to places farther west, closer to the frontier" (14).

7th Century - "When a trading entrepot under Khazar protection in the Crimea, it bore the name Sogdaia. During this period almost half of the Sasanian and Central Asian silver dishes found near the Urals had gone through Sogdian or Khwarezmian hands, and in the 8th century, three-quarters had done so."(de la Vaissiere, 2000. pp. 368-369)(15)

640-755 - The T'ang government begins sending 10% of its annual receipts to the frontier regions to pay its garrisons. Imports of western manufactured luxury goods increase at this time. The Sogdians profit from this military presence and the injection of goods and currency into the frontier economy (16).

8th Century - Sogdians are the primary horse breeders and dealers in the Ordos region. "Their hold was such that the northern Ordos was called the 'Six Sogdian prefectures,' both in Chinese and in Turkish. The T'ang also employed Sogdians as merchants to accompany them on their military campaigns"(17).

"Immediately after the 640 conquest, the T'ang forces in Turfan probably numbered several thousand. Although we speak of T'ang armies, may of the soldiers were not Chinese but local. The losses of territory in the northwest, including Kucha, to the Tibetans from 670-692 resulted in ever-increasing military expenditures in the eighth century. Du You (735-812), the author of the first comprehensive institutional encyclopedia, put the costs of defending the frontier at two million strings of coins in 713, ten million strings in 741, and fourteen to fifteen million strings in 755. Tang officials combined strings of coin, piculs of grain, and bolts of cloth to create an aggregate accounting unit whose value eludes anyone who has tried to make sense of the internally contradictory figures that survive." (18).

755 - The An Lushan Rebellion - A pivotal point for Sogdians in China. Beckwith postulates that members of the Sogdian merchant network used their influence and access to goods and resources to supply An Lushan in his bid to overthrow the T'ang (19). Vaissiere states that the rebellion "profoundly changed the imperial economy and put an end to the symbiosis under which Sogdian trade had existed for a century"(20). Valerie Hansen explains the climate of the rebellion and post-rebellion period further:

The first great rebellion that shattered the steady peace of the first century and a half of Tang rule occurred in 755, when An Lushan (or An Rokhshan) led a military uprising against the Tang emperor Xuanzong. After conquering Luoyang, An Lushan and the rebels took Chang'an in 755, forcing the emperor to flee the capital with his beautiful consort Yang Guifei. En route to Sichuan, the imperial guard threatened mutiny unless the emperor killed Yang Guifei, and the emperor gave the order to strangle her. He then relinquished the throne in favor of his son....Even though An Lushan was assassinated in 757 and his second-in-command was also assassinated in 761, the rebels maintained a strong presence until the Tang emperor asked the help of the Uighur kaghan, whose troops defeated the rebel army in 763. The Uighurs were allowed to sack the Tang capital as a reward for their services, and they devastated the city.
     When the Tang forces finally regain control of the empire, they took measures against the Sogdians, whom they blamed for the rebellion...Once account of the rebellion recounts that the general Gao Juren, himself ethnically Korean, who wrested control of Beijing from the rebels "ordered that those who killed hu [Iranians, most likely Sogdians] would be richly rewarded. As a result, the jiehu [a sub-set of the hu that An Lushan belonged to, possibly those living in north China] were completely exterminated. Small children were tossed in the air and caught on lances. Those who had big noses like the Sogdians and those who were killed by mistake for this reason were extremely numerous.
     The targeting of Sogdians marked a new and ugly chapter in the history of the Silk Road...no earlier ruler had ever targeted a minority group within the larger Chinese population in this way (21).

Hansen goes on to note that other prominent Sogdian expat communities were not targeted in quite this way in other parts of China. And, in spite of this attack, many Sogdians chose to remain in China rather than take their chances returning to their now-Islamified homeland (22).

Mid-8th to late 9th century - Vaissiere laments that there is little information on this period of time, but that the Sogdian setbacks experienced in China, and the restive period following the Tang victory, must have caused a break in their prominent trade (23).

Beginning of the 9th century - Sogdians find new patrons under the protection of the powerful Uighur Khaghanate, "which until 840 extended all over northern Central Asian and obtained from the weakened Tang enormous deliveries of silk in exchange for horses" (24).

750-840 - Sogdian data from this period about eastern Asia which is used later by Muslim Geographers of the 10th century as sources of reliable descriptions of region (25).

Early 10th Century - Some Sogdian merchants are still mentioned as traveling to China, but after the 10th century, they disappear from the records (26).


Sources:

1) de la Vaissiere, Etienne, “Sogdian Trade,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2004, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade (accessed 19 October 2015).

2) Ibid.

3) Ibid.

4) Ibid.

5) Ibid.

6) Ibid.

7) Ibid.

8) Ibid.

9) Ibid.

10) Ibid.

11) Ibid.

12) Ibid.

13) Ibid.

14) Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History.  Illustrated edition. New York: Oxford, 2012, pg. 107

15) de la Vaissiere, Etienne, “Sogdian Trade,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2004, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade (accessed 19 October 2015).

16) Ibid.

17) Ibid.

18)  Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History.  Illustrated edition. New York: Oxford, 2012, pg. 107.

19) Christopher I. Beckwith. Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, pg. 146.

20) de la Vaissiere, Etienne, “Sogdian Trade,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2004, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade (accessed 19 October 2015).

21) Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History.  Illustrated edition. New York: Oxford, 2012, pg.157-158

22) Ibid, pg 158.

23) de la Vaissiere, Etienne, “Sogdian Trade,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2004, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade (accessed 19 October 2015).

24) Ibid.

25) Ibid.

26) Ibid.

 

Transoxiana and Sogdiana: The Thrilling Conclusion, Pt. 2

In my last post, I discussed a lot of maps, and I wondered if the place names "Transoxiana" and "Sogdiana" were completely interchangeable. By that, I mean do these two terms refer to the same area. And based upon my research, I have drawn the following conclusion:

Kind of, sort of, maybe.

Here is the map from Empires of the Silk Road again. This map is probably the most helpful map because it lists Transoxiana and Sogdiana together. This map goes the extra mile in demonstrating that Transoxiana is, in fact, a much larger area than Sogdiana. It is the ideal map for this kind of investigation, and I wish other maps would take the hint.

But there is more evidence beyond maps to support my theory that Sogdiana is part of the larger Transoxiana area. There is no shortage of literature describing the borders of Sogdiana. This is a description of Sogdiana's varying borders by Etienne de la Vassiere:

[Sogdiana is an] Iranian-speaking region in Central Asia [stretching] from the rivers Amu Darya in the south to the Syr Dara in the north, with its heart in the valleys of the Zarafsan and the Kaska Darya...Sogdian colonial expansion in the north during the Early Middle Ages led to a Chinese pilgrim in the mid-seventh century to define Sogdiana as the entire region stretching from Lake Issyk Kul in eastern Kyrgyzstan to the Amy Darya (Xuanzang, tr. p. 26). After the ninth century, the name Sogd/al-Sogd was restricted to the rural area between Samarkand and Bukhara (Ebn Hawqal, p. 492; on Sogdian geography, see Barthold).(1)

 And here is a description of the borders of Transoxiana from The Cambridge History of Iran. 

Turan, or Transoxiana, was there vaguely defined as the area between the Oxus River and Khotan "on the frontiers of China"...Today Transoxiana would be the roughly rectangular area between the Amu Darya (Oxus) and the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) rivers, which flow into the Aral Sea from the Pamir and Tien Shan mountain ranges respectively.(2)

And, for my final pieces of evidence, I present two quotes from the Hudud al-Alam ('The Regions of the World') describing Transoxiana and its location.

East of this country are the borders of  Tibet; south of it, Korasan and its Marches; west of it, the Ghuz and the borders of the Khallukh; north of it, also the borders of the Khallukh. This is a vast, propserours, and very pleasant country. It is the gate of Turkistan and a resort of merchants.(3)

The second quote from the Hudud al-Alam goes further to describe the region of "Sughd" (this is the same as the aforementioned "Sogd"/"al-Sogd") located in Transoxiana.

Sughd, a region. There is no place among the eastern regions more flourishing than this. It has running waters, many trees, and a good climate. The people are hospitable and sociable. It abounds in amenities, is prosperous, and mild, pious people are numerous there.(4)

The way my investigation is shaping up, it appears that Sogdiana is, in fact, part of the larger area of Transoxiana. However, if any of my dear readers are like me, they will likely be wondering where the confusion came from. I believe I may have an answer for that, as well.

Transoxiana, according to Albert E. Dien, is comprised of three regions: Khorezm, Ferghana, and Sogdiana (5). So, if we refer to this map from Etienne de la Vassiere's Sogdian Traders: A History, we can get a better idea of just what Transoxiana encompasses.

This map displays the areas of Khorezm, Sogdiana, and Ferghana very nicely and prominently. We can also see Bactria, Sogdiana's immediate southern neighbor. What is important to note about these areas, as Dien points out, is that these are all areas with predominantly Iranian-speaking populations.(6) An important characteristic of Sogdiana is that Sogdians were the dominant language group there. And, while Sogdian kings with imperial intentions grew the borders of Sogdiana to encompass Lake Issyk Kul (just north of the Tarim Basin and Tianshan mountains on the above map) all the way to the Amu Darya (7), this does not change the following facts: The Sogdian heartland is in the Sogdian plains, and the larger area of Transoxiana includes Sogdiana as just a part of a larger whole. Border expansion and contraction, along with such closely related languages among related Iranian groups, may have contributed greatly to the jumbling of these terms.

Sogdiana is just a part of the lovely Iranian-language tapestry that is Transoxiana.

In his article on Transoxiana, Vassiere discusses the use and definition of this place name:

Ma wara al-nahr (lit. "What lies beyond the river") [is] the classical designation for Transoxiania or Transoxiana. It was defined by the early Arabic historians and geographers as the lands under Muslim control lying to the north of the middle and upper Oxus or Amu Darya, in contrast to Iran proper and its eastern province of Khorasan, sometimes called Ma dun al-nahr (lit. "what lies this side of the river")...The norther frontiers of Ma wara al-nahr are ill-defined and tended to correspond to the limits of Arab military expansion, but by early Abbasid times (ca. 800 CE) they might be taken to comprise the regions between the Oxus and Jaxartes or Syr Darya, that is, Sogdia, the upper Oxus provinces of Caganiyan, Kottal, and Wakan, Osrusana to the south of the middle Syr Darya; Cac [Chach] or Sas beyond the middle Syr Darya, and Fargana and the vally of the upper Syr Darya.(8)

Sogdiana's borders have variously grown and retracted, just as the definition of Transoxiana has. However, it is clear that Transoxiana has been used to refer to far more land area than Sogdiana, and, depending on the time period being discussed, likely should be properly designated and distinguished in future research to avoid confusion.

It is my hope that this research of the geography of Sogdiana, Transoxiana, and Central Eurasia has provided some insight to the issue of discussing places that have had nebulous, changing borders and inconsistent sources on those borders. I hope my dear readers can get a sense of how difficult it can be to research these areas, even on a question that should be as straightforward and simple as names for regions on a map.

Sources

1) de la Vassiere, Etienne. "Sogdiana iii. - History and Archaeology," Encyclopedia Iranica online edition, 2011. available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology accessed October 7, 2015

2) Guity, Azarpay, "The Development of Arts in Transoxiana," Cambridge History of Iran: Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanian Periods. ed. Ehsan Yarshater. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 1130.

3)Unknown, Hudud al-Alam 'The Regions of the World': A Persian Geography 37 A.H - 982 A.D. trans.Vladimir Minorsky. ed. C. E. Bosworth. (London: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2015), 119

4) Ibid.

5) Dien, Albert E. "The Glories of Sogdiana", The Silk Road Foundation. accessed 10/9/2015. http://www.silk-road.com/artl/sogdian.shtml

6) Ibid.

7) de la Vassiere, Etienne. "Sogdiana iii. - History and Archaeology," Encyclopedia Iranica online edition, 2011. available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology accessed October 7, 2015

8) Bosworth, C. Edmund. "Ma Wara al-Nahr", Encyclopedia Iranica online edition, 2011. available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mawara-al-nahr accessed 10/7/2015

Maps 

MAP 1
Unknown. Premodern Central Eurasia [map]. no scale. In: Christopher I. Beckwith. Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, inside cover.


MAP 2 and MAP 3
Unknown. Central Asia General Map [map]. 3" = 1000 km. In: Etienne de la Vassiere. Sogdian Traders: A History. Leiden: Brill, 2005, 14.

Transoxiana and Sogdiana: A Discussion of Interchangeable Terms pt. 1

While researching Sogdians and their origins, one is likely to come across two names to identify the Sogdian homeland: Sogdiana and Transoxiana. These terms seem to be used interchangeably to refer to the place of origin of the Sogdian people. It was my theory, from my research, that Transoxiana referred to a larger area than just that of Sogdiana. This entry will discuss my investigation and research into this topic.

When tackling a topic dealing with Geography, the go-to item anyone would want to look for are maps. Now, I'm not an expert on maps. And, while I am fairly adept at Political Geography, I am not a Geographer and I do not possess an extensive knowledge of map terminology. But, what I am here to tell you is that finding good, authoritative maps of Transoxiana and Sogdiana is not easy. In the Age of the Internet, anyone can create maps for Wikipedia, and the researcher investigating a topic like this will often find maps of unknown origin, with no citation for the original creator of the map or even an idea of what the creator used to inform their creation of the map. One hopes it is scholarly, but that cannot be ascertained with any certainty unless the artist creating it cites the sources of their information.

There is also the problem of the types of maps produced. Some will be historic maps displaying the topography of the region and giving the historic city and regional names. Others will show modern political borders with no names and a colored in area where the historic region was located. Here are some examples below: 

MAP 1

The map of Sogdiana found on Wikipedia's Sogdiana page. It yields few clues about the modern countries the region of Sogdiana straddled, and gives no topography to indicate the rivers that were so important as the natural boundaries of Sogdiana. Source: Wikimedia Commons

MAP 2

This map can be found on Wikipedia's Transoxiana page. Despite being on the Transoxiana page, the map does nothing to indicate where Transoxiana might be located, nor does it even display the name of Transoxiana. Granted, this map does show the general, historic area of Transoxiana, but without any kind of naming or names of other places of classical period in question, one is at a loss to derive any information from the map except the route of the Amu Darya, the major towns along the Amu Darya, and the modern country names of that region. The file name, as given on Wikimedia Commons, indicates this is a map of the Amu Darya basin and makes no mention of Transoxiana. 

MAP 3

And this map seems to indicate that Sogdiana is part of a larger Transoxiana area, but there are no borders of modern countries to overlap for border comparisons. This map also comes from a site with no reputable sources, nor does it seem to be associated with any sort of well-known academic community or higher education institution. Therefore, while it is probably one of the most helpful maps I have found on the topic, I cannot confirm its authoritative nature without an original source.

But, wait! There's more! I chose three scholarly texts for my research of the topic, and the maps included in the texts only add to the confusion:

MAP 4

This is one map from Valerie Hansen's Silk Road: A New History and it is slightly confusing. It places the label for Sogdiana on the other side of the Amu Darya (Oxus), with a line indicating where Sogdiana is (just north of Balkh on this map). I don't like this and I haven't really seen a map drawn like this before. Usually mapmakers can fit Sogdiana into its proper spot, but it looks like the space where the name Sogdiana would usually fit is occupied by the Kizil Kum desert, Samarkand, and the trade route lines. It's a busy map, but it is also somewhat frustrating to look at with Sogdian research in mind.

This map, also from Valerie Hansen's Silk Road: A New History, places Sogdiana back in its proper area, between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya (Oxus and Jaxartes). I actually like this map because it shows classical names for ancient areas while also showing modern country names and political borders. However, if this map had gone the extra mile and just thrown a Transoxiana in there, that would have been great. There is no mention in the index of the Transoxiana place name, so I am going to go out on a limb and just assume Dr. Hansen uses the term Sogdiana as a catch all.

MAP 6

This map from Richard Foltz's Spirituality in the Land of the Noble shows historic borders of the various empires around Iran in the 6th century CE. This map uses neither the name "Sogdiana" or "Transoxiana", but uses the word "Sogdians" around their historical homeland. This is actually very interesting, because using the term "Sogdiana" implies that there is some kind of organized, central authority ruling over some sort of a Sogdian Empire or Sogdian Kingdom, which is just not the case. Sogdian authority was very decentralized, and while regional rulers may have paid homage to a few, far more powerful individuals who ruled larger areas, generally there is no one Sogdian Empire to speak of.

MAP 6

Christopher Beckwith's map from his text Empires of the Silk Road is perhaps the most interesting, since it, like the other found on the internet above, uses the names Transoxiana and Sogdiana. This map seems to identify Sogdiana as part of the larger area of Transoxiana. The map also claims to show pre-modern Central Eurasia. With its authoritative source, this map lends credibility to the other map found online that displayed both Transoxiana and Sogdiana.

So, as we can see from the examples above, trying to determine just what Transoxiana and Sogdiana are in relation to each other based on available maps is murky at best. But what can be done to solve problem of when to use "Transoxiana" and "Sogdiana", and how can we know if the two are completely interchangeable?? I will discuss that in my next post, where I will share my thoughts and conclusions on this topic. 
Continued in Part 2

Sources

Map 1 
Source: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sogdiana-300BCE.png. Found on Wikipedia Entry: Sogdiana

Map 2
Source: Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transoxiana 
Found on Wikipedia Entry: Transoxiana

Map 3
Source: Paradise on Earth: Encyclopedia of Countries and Cities- Transoxiana http://allworldtowns.com/cities/transoxiana.html 

Map 4

Thiede, Alice. The Main Routes Across Eurasia [map]. 1" = 1000 miles. In: Valerie Hansen.  The Silk Road: A New History. Illustrated edition. New York: Oxford, 2012, inside cover.

Map 5 

Thiede, Alice. The Main Routes of the Taklamakan [map]. 1" = 300 miles. In: Valerie Hansen. The Silk Road: A New History. Illustrated edition. New York: Oxford, 2012, back inside cover.

Map 6

Unknown. Iran and its neighbors in the 6th century CE [map]. 1/2" = 250 miles. In: Richard C. Foltz. Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions. Oxford: OneWorld, 2008, xviii.

Map 7

Unknown. Premodern Central Eurasia [map]. no scale. In: Christopher I. Beckwith. Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, inside cover.

Welcome to Sogtoberfest!

Camels bearing Sogdian Traders, Tang Dynasty. Source: Ancient Art: Art of Central Asia

Greetings to all on this, the first day of Sogtoberfest! If you have been following my Facebook page, you may have seen the build-up to this event. However, if you are a newcomer, I will briefly lay out my introduction to the Sogtoberfest celebration.

1.) What is Sogtoberfest about?
Sogtoberfest was an idea I had awhile back to raise awareness of the Sogdian people and, more specifically, Sogdian commerce and influence on the Silk Routes. Outside of scholarly circles, many people have little to no idea what a Sogdian is, let alone what they did or the way they left their mark on world history. It is with this in mind that I have sought to bring light to Sogdian accomplishments through my blog to my dear readers.

2.) Who were the Sogdians?
To be brief, the Sogdians were a group of Iranian-speaking peoples that settled in the area between the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers (Amu Darya and Syr Darya). The Sogdians are attested in Achaemenid sources around the 6th century BCE (1). However, the area that the Sogdians inhabited showed signs of pre-Sogdian settlement as early as the 4th-3rd millennium BCE, at the site of Sarazam. The second site of early settlement was in the 15th century at Kok Tepe (2). The latter settlement at Kok Tepe endured "throughout the Iron Age, until the arrival from the north of the Iranian-speaking populations that were to become the Sogdian group" (3). Kok Tepe declined with the establishment of nearby Samarkand by the Sogdians (4). While no exact date can be ascribed to the arrival of the Sogdians, the Sogdians are named in the Younger Avesta as inhabiting an area called Gava, which correlates to Sogdiana (5). Etienne de la Vassiere notes that the Sogdian people have been attested in primary sources from the 6th c. BCE all the way down to the 10th c. CE, which is a whopping fifteen centuries of continuous existence as a distinct group (6).

Map of the location of Sogdiana. Note the presence of the Amu Darya on the left and the Syr Darya (not labeled) on the right. Source: Coins of Central Asia

3) What did the Sogdians do that was so important?
That is what we'll be discussing in-depth all month long! But in short, the Sogdian merchants were the primary caravan runners of the Silk Routes from the 5th - 8th centuries BCE (7). But beyond this, they served as intermediaries between cultures, which lead to the Sogdians providing the means by which Buddhism, Manichaeism, Christianity moved along the Silk Routes. Their influence on writing is still felt today as the Sogdian script, by way of Uighur transmission, endures as the written form of the modern Mongolian script. Though their surviving written records are few, their art and their influence on art of the time was profound. However, the subject of Sogdian art is vast and will require its own entry for further investigation.

An example of Mongol script. Source: Wikimedia Commons

I hope this has been an adequate introduction to Sogtoberfest and I hope everyone enjoys what I have in store for the blog. I wish you all a happy Sogtoberfest, and I am looking forward to this celebration.



Sources

1) De la Vassiere, Etienne. Sogdian Traders: A History. Trans. by James Ward. Vol. 10. Brill, 2005. pg. 2.

2) De la Vassiere, Etienne. "Sogdiana iii. History and Archaeology," Encyclopedia Iranica, online edition 2011. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology

3) Ibid.

4) Ibid.

5) Ibid.

6) De la Vassiere, Etienne. Sogdian Traders: A History. Trans. by James Ward. Vol. 10. Brill, 2005. pg. 2

7) De la Vassiere, Etienne. "Sogdian Trade," Encyclopedia Iranica, online edition 2004. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade

Picture sources from Wikimedia Commons and from Taiyo Ltd: Ancient Art Gallery.

It's coming...
image created by Drew Seitzinger

Marco Polo Episode 3 and 4 Review, Part 2

Episode 4 [Spoilers Ahead]

This episode seems to deal more with bringing the historical background of the world of the Yuan Dynasty and the Mongol Empire to the foreground through the actions of the characters.

First, we begin with the major focus of the episode: The parley between the Yuan and Song Dynasty representatives. This scene, which features Prince Jingim and Finance Minister Ahmed demanding tribute from the Song Dynasty as terms of peace, has a historical precedent in the histories of previous relations between Chinese Dynasties and Nomadic tribal powers to the north. The Han Dynasty histories are filled with complaints about the amount of tribute demanded by and paid to the Xiongnu Confederation, which usually took the form of bolts of silk and other Chinese goods, but also included requests for marriage to Chinese Imperial Princesses. For all their complaining, the Han usually complied with these requests, for trading with the nomadic peoples usually resulted in the horses that the Chinese military hungrily desired for campaigns. It was a love/hate relationship that was a necessary evil, where raiding and battle were all a part of negotiation and business between the two powers. This process repeated itself through various successive regimes, notably in interactions of the Uighur Khaganate and the Tang Dynasty, but it played a role in most all interactions between nomadic and sedentary peoples. These sorts of symbiotic relationships were essential to the economies of both nomads and agriculture-based societies, and indeed, the payment of tribute from the Chinese Dynasties to the nomadic empires resulted in the Silk Road's very formation.

Another aspect of this episode is return of Marco Polo's father and uncle, who are [Spoilers] caught trying to smuggle silkworms out of the empire. This is where it gets complex, folks, so bear with me here. "Knowledge about silk production was very valuable and, despite the efforts of the Chinese emperor to keep it a closely guarded secret, it did eventually spread beyond China, first to India and Japan, then to the Persian Empire and finally to the west in the 6th century AD. This was described by the historian Procopius, writing in the 6th century"(1):

    About the same time [ca. 550] there came from India certain monks; and when they had satisfied Justinian Augustus that the Romans no longer should buy silk from the Persians, they promised the emperor in an interview that they would provide the materials for making silk so that never should the Romans seek business of this kind from their enemy the Persians, or from any other people whatsoever. They said that they were formerly in Serinda, which they call the region frequented by the people of the Indies, and there they learned perfectly the art of making silk. Moreover, to the emperor who plied them with many questions as to whether he might have the secret, the monks replied that certain worms were manufacturers of silk, nature itself forcing them to keep always at work; the worms could certainly not be brought here alive, but they could be grown easily and without difficulty; the eggs of single hatchings are innumerable; as soon as they are laid men cover them with dung and keep them warm for as long as it is necessary so that they produce insects. When they had announced these tidings, led on by liberal promises of the emperor to prove the fact, they returned to India. When they had brought the eggs to Byzantium, the method having been learned, as I have said, they changed them by metamorphosis into worms which feed on the leaves of mulberry. Thus began the art of making silk from that time on in the Roman Empire. (2)

There is also the famous legend of the Princess who smuggled silkworms and mulberry seeds in her headdress out of China to the kingdom of Khotan. Xuanzang, the Buddhist Monk, wrote his report of this legend:

To the south-east of the royal city...is a convent called Lu-shi, which was founded by a queen of a former ruler of the country. In old time this country knew nothing about mulberry trees or silkworms. Hearing that the eastern country had them, they sent an embassy to seek for them. At this time the prince of the eastern kingdom kept the secret and would not give the possession of it to any. He kept guard over his territory and would not permit either the seeds of the mulberry or the silkworms' eggs to be carried off. The King of Kustana sent off to seek a marriage union with a princess of the eastern kingdom (China), in token of his allegiance and submission. The king being well-affected to the neighboring states acceded to his wish. Then the king of Kustana dispatched a messenger to escort the royal princess and gave the following direction..."Our counry has neither silk or silken stuffs. You had better bring with you some mulberry seeds and silkworms, then you can make robes for yourself". The Princess...secretly procured the seed of the mulberry and silkworms' eggs and concealed them in her head-dress. Having arrived at the barrier, the guard searched everywhere, buthe did not dare to remove the Princess' head-dress. Arriving then in the kingdom of Kustana, they stopped on the site afterwards occupied by the Lu-shi [monastery]; thence they conducted her in great pomp to the royal palace. Here then they left the silkworms and the mulberry seeds.(3) 

This tale ends with silk production flourishing in Khotan, though Khotan also made it illegal to smuggle silkworms, so precious were they to the local economy.

A depicition of the Silkworm Smuggling Princess in the British Museum.

Trying to smuggle anything without paying the various fees and taxes levied by each ruler along the Silk Routes was a serious offense. Revenues from trade were very important sources of income. Wars were fought, empires built and destroyed, and people slain for the power to control and exact tolls from these lucrative passes, and anyone caught trying to evade these payments were punished severely. This is evinced by the fate of Marco Polo's father and uncle landing themselves in the Khan's prison. It is a nice nod by the show to Procopius' history that the Polo brothers attempt to smuggle silkworms via walking stick. This is another one of those little details that pleases me so much about this show.

This staff totally isn't filled to the brim with silkworms happily munching on Mulberry leaves.

The third and final matter in this episode is the horrific and insane foot-binding scene at the end of the show. Chancellor Jia Sidao spares no details in explaining to his niece the process of breaking and wrapping the toes and foot in such a way as to force it into a misshapen, but (for some reason) aesthetically desirable form. As I was watching the show, I was confused, because I thought foot-binding was a practice that found popularity later on in China. However, I was wrong. According to this BBC News article "Foot-binding is believed to have begun during, or just before, the Song Dynasty in China around the 10th Century, and became widespread within a couple of hundred years"(4). Thus, the show is correct in planting this practice right in the middle of our story, for not only was the practice desired among the wealthy denizens of the Song Empire, its popularity rose and spread on the Song's watch.

Episodes 3 and 4 did a lot to develop character and expand the depth and definition of the world of Marco Polo and the Yuan Dynasty. These episodes have set the stage for some serious plot movement, which I have no doubt will be riveting and exciting stuff. Even though there were some nitpicky issues, these episodes have such strength in performances and content that I cannot help but be pleased with what I have seen overall, and I expect great things in the next few episodes.


1. UNESCO. "About the Silk Road". unesco.org. https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/about-silk road.

2. Procopius. Quoted in UNESCO. "About the Silk Road". unesco.org. https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/about-silk road. 

3. Xuanzang. Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, Volume II. trans. Samuel Beal. (Keagan Paul: London) 1906, pg. 318-319.

4. Coomes, Phil. "Chinese Foot Binding". BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-28208695