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Ashurov, Barakatullo (2013) Tarsākyā: an Analysis of Sogdian Christianity Based on Archaeological, Numismatic, Epigraphic and Textual Sources

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Ashurov, Barakatullo (2013) Tarsākyā: an Analysis of Sogdian Christianity Based on Archaeological, Numismatic, Epigraphic and Textual Sources Ashurov, Barakatullo (2013) Tarsākyā: an analysis of Sogdian Christianity based on archaeological, numismatic, epigraphic and textual sources. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18057 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Tarsākyā: an analysis of Sogdian Christianity based on Archaeological, Numismatic, Epigraphic and Textual Sources. Barakatullo Ashurov Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in the Study of Religions 2013 Department of the Study of Religions SOAS, University of London Declaration for PhD thesis I, Barakatullo Ashurov have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________ 2 ABSTRACT Despite nearly two centuries of fascination in the scholarly world with the history of Sogdian culture there are still many under-researched areas. In particular, the history of the dissemination and enculturation of Christianity among Sogdians is one such area, which despite material and textual witness has not been studied autonomously. Instead, it has been incorporated into a broader discourse of the geographical-historical spread and enculturation of Christianity into the Central Asian landmass. The existing studies on religions in Sogdiana have represented Sogdian society as a mosaic of religious communities with Zoroastrianism as a main religion which overshadowed the historical and socio-cultural significance of other religions such as Christianity among the Sogdians. This dissertation contends that Christianity among Sogdians, both in their native country and in the Diaspora, had a significant presence and that Sogdian Christians were instrumental in both enculturing Christianity as well as transmitting it to other ethnic groups. This argument emerges from contextual and comparative ‗case studies‘ of diverse material culture and textual evidence affiliated with Sogdians and Christianity. The evidence covered in this dissertation collectively constitutes a unique source supplying information about aspects of ‗Sogdian Christianity,‘ such as its material and textual manifestations and its interrelationship with both its immediate cultural milieu and wider Christian oikoumene. In what follows, this dissertation will try to explain, through the testimony of the material and literary evidence, that Christianity among the Sogdian people had a footing in the local context and was expressed in local material and textual culture. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................... 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................... 10 DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 13 ‗Sogdian Christianity‘- defining a concept .......................................................................... 13 From ‗Christianity in Central Asia‘ to ‗Sogdian Christianity‘: methodological consideration ........................................................................................................................ 14 ‗Ethno-linguistic‘ methodological approach: explanation ................................................... 17 ‗Christian‘ material culture of Sogdiana and its contexts .................................................... 21 Research structure ................................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER ONE: ETHNOGRAPHIC SURVEY OF SOGDIANA ........................................ 25 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 25 Sogdiana in ancient and medieval sources ....................................................................... 25 European scholarship: Rediscovering Sogdiana .............................................................. 28 Sogdiana: Economy, society and cultural aspects ........................................................... 30 Sogdians outside their homeland ..................................................................................... 38 The ‗merchant‘ and ‗cultural‘ empire of the Sogdians .................................................... 48 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER TWO: COINS CONVEY A MESSAGE: NUMISMATIC EVIDENCE FOR ‗SOGDIAN CHRISTIANITY‘ ................................................................................................ 61 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 61 Sogdian coins bearing Christian motifs (iconography) ................................................... 61 Classification.................................................................................................................... 84 a) Bukhara Sogd coins ............................................................................................... 88 b) Samarqand Sogd coins........................................................................................... 91 The Cross in the iconography of Sogdian coins and its function .................................... 93 The problem of the mint place and the mint owner ......................................................... 99 Sogdian coins and ‗Sogdian Christianity‘...................................................................... 100 Coins are history - Coins create history ......................................................................... 100 Coins convey a message ................................................................................................ 101 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 104 4 CHAPTER THREE: ‗SOGDIAN CHRISTIANITY‘: ARCHITECTURE AND MATERIAL CULTURE EVIDENCE ........................................................................................................ 106 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 106 Medieval attestations of ‗Christian architecture‘ in Sogdiana and the current archaeological situation ................................................................................................. 107 Archaeological situation ................................................................................................ 109 The Urgut church ........................................................................................................... 111 The Urgut church: architectural contexts ....................................................................... 121 The Urgut church in the context of Church of the East architecture ............................. 130 The Urgut church: monastic or parochial ...................................................................... 132 Urgut church: a symbol of patronage............................................................................. 138 Small material culture objects ........................................................................................ 139 a) Objects discovered during the excavation of the Urgut church ........................... 139 b) Objects acquired in Sogdiana .............................................................................. 142 Sogdian material culture and Sogdian Christianity ....................................................... 149 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 150 CHAPTER FOUR: MANIFESTATIONS OF ‗SOGDIAN CHRISTIANITY‘ IN ITS TEXTS ................................................................................................................................................ 152 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 152 Sogdian Christian texts: Survey ....................................................................................
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