Interchange of cultures along the Silk Road

Trade routes of the Silk Road brought different people with different languages, costumes, and religions together. We can find the evidence for this mixing of cultures in the works of art that have been discovered in the major sites along the Silk Road. Since our readings for this week were about Sogdians, I will focus on the works of art that were found in Sogdian towns. Of special interest to me are the mural paintings that decorated the inner walls of private houses in these sites.
Sugdians played an important role as intermediaries in trades between the Eastern and Western ends of the Silk Road. Sogdian’s familiarity with the arts and crafts of different cultures had manifested itself in their artwork. As mentioned by Marshak and Negmatov, Sogdian art reflects “motifs of foreign origin” (250). In other words, Sogdian art reflects the influence of Chinese and Iranian cultures among many others. The mural paintings that decorated the Sogdian private houses are very similar to those found in the middle parts of modern Iran. Some of these houses has been well preserved and are open to tourists. I am posting a link to one of these residences. It is called Tabatabaei House. This private house is decorated with wall paintings very similar to those found in Sogdian houses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabatabaei_House

I will focus on the influence of Iranian culture on Sughds and vice versa. It appears that there was a cultural and artistic interchange between these two cultures. In the hills around the city of Samarkand there is a site called Afrasiab site. According to Shahnameh (“Book of Kings”), which is a great epic story written by great Iranian poet Ferdowsi, Afrasiab was one of the mythical kings of Turan. He is the son of one of the mythical kings of Iran, Fereydun. According to Shahnameh, he is considered an agent of Ahriman (“Evil”) which is the opposite of Ahura Mazda (The God of Zoroastrians). There are also paintings of “the feast of Mani” Mani, the founder of Maneicheism, is thought to be of Persian descent. Just to clarify, when I am using the term “Persian”, I am referring to the Persian Empire which also included modern Iran. Also, it was mentioned that some evidence of the “Epic of Rustam” was found in Sogdian sites. Rustam is a mythological Iranian hero. I am now posting a link for those of you interested in learning more about Afrasiab.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrasiab

Following last week’s discussion, I also want to add few sentences in order to answer what history means to me. I think history is a construction of “real” events in a narrative form. I think production or revision of historical accounts has a purpose. According to psychological principles our goals, emotions, and motivations affect not only how we encode information in the fist place, but also how we remember these material in the future. Since history is produced in a narrative form, there is no doubt in my mind that it should also be affected by these biases. Modern anthropologists who study historical artifacts and historical accounts of early historian strive to attend to goals and purposes that motivated the production, revision, or interpretation of these texts. All I am trying to say is that there is no doubt that these texts, artifacts, and so on are a great source of information but scholars need to also take them with the grain of salt. I think similarities and associations that exist between many texts can help scholars in their objective endeavor.

Heavenly horse!

Hello everyone and happy thanksgiving.

After doing my readings for this week I got curious to know how the heavenly horses that caused wars between the Chinese and their neighbors looked like. I found some artworks of Ferghana horse that I would like to share with you:

http://www.persiancarpetguide.com/sw-asia/Rugs/Horse_Covers.htm
http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photography/Fereghan

I also found a short article about the introduction of heavenly horse to China that I think is interesting. Here is the link:
http://www.akhalteke.org/web/KaraKum.nsf/PermaLinks/TNKH-7E9K24

I found it interesting how passion for new and exotic things led the Chinese to establish relationships with their non-Chinese neighbors. Marriage alliances and tributary relationships were developed to facilitate these foreign affairs. These policies made it possible for trading to occur along the Silk Road. The other thing about our reading that cut my attention was how the Chinese emperor justified his cruelty and greed for heavenly horses by attaching spiritual significance to them. It reminded me of some of today’s world leaders who justify their brutality in the name of religion.