Wood begins the chapter with Sir Aurel Stein's discovery of the preserved mummies found at the desert sites in Loulan and Cherchen. Wood provides Stein's observation of the mummies, which informs the reader that the mummies were well conserved, along with a number of their belongings, which indicated who they may have been. The most famous of the mummies found at the site was the "Cherchen Man" (see photo below), which depicts a man, who as Stein also observed, looked Caucasian with a high-bridged nose, fair complexion and red hair. Among him were other mummies, one in particular was a three-month old infant, and another man. What was striking about all the mummies found at the site was that they all seemed to have similar characteristics: fair complexion, fair or red coloured hair, prominently high-bridged noses, tall, round and deep eye sockets, and their clothing was made of wool, animal fur, with colours of bright red, blue, and yellow. All these characteristics indicate some sort of European descent.
The "Cherchen Man"
The question remained: Who were these people? It turns out they were most likely from somewhere east of the Caspian Sea, over the Tian Shan mountains, no big deal right? WRONG! This was a huge deal, who were these people? How come there's no record of them being buried there? What's worse, there were no written texts left behind to indicate what language they spoke. It all turned out alright in the end because they figured out that they were actually Tocharians. No big deal, just your average everyday Tocharian mummified family! How did they find this out? Simple... they took some documents that were found in that area, which dated all the back to the third century AD, and the language that was found in those documents was Tocharian which was said to be very similar to Latin. All in all, these people were called Tocharians, spoke an Indo-European language, and are ancestors of those who lived during the same time as the Han dynasty.
Wood finishes this section of the discovery of the mummies in a very bright manor by informing the reader that the mummy site is now in an area that is closed off since the Chinese openly test their atomic bombs in the same area. So if you ever thought of visiting the mummy site... its not happening, at least anytime soon.
Never the less, you've got to admit, that's pretty amazing.
Wood continues the chapter by communicating that the Tocharians inhabiting the Loulan area obviously eventually died out, either by migrating to another area or for perhaps other reasons, nonetheless, Loulan was actually right in the middle of the Silk Road. After the Tocharians died out, it was found that the Sogdians then took over and dominated the outpost. The Sogdians were merchants and lead most of the trades that went about during on the Silk Road. They came from a protected (walled) city called Marakanda, which is the modern day Samarkand. The Sogdians were well known people, the Greeks thought that they were strong and fierce warriors, and eventually Alexander the Great took over their fortified city of Marakanda during his progression to the east in 329 BC. Wood communicated the strength of the Sogdians by telling the reader that they fought against Alexander's campaign very much, but were eventually slaughtered, or enslaved
The Sogdian military power never grew back and so they turned into tradesmen and became known all about Central Asia. Even their language which was close to Aramaic became the language of trade throughout the Silk Road.
The Sogdians were responsible for many things, they brought about the use of trade on the Silk Road. They introduced many different goods and products to Asia, such as Persian silverware, horses, amber from the Baltic, coral from the Mediterranean and brass, among many other things. The Sogdians were also responsible for the traditions of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism.
The reason as to how we know the many contributions of the Sogdians to the Silk Road is because an important document was found by Stein near the Great Wall. They were called the "Ancient Letters" or "Sogdian Letters". This enhanced our knowledge of the Sogdians and their trade activities. In the letters there is information about musk, gold, pepper, wheat and other goods transported along the Silk Road by the Sogdians. There were also weight calculations, and an indication of a Zoroastrian Temple in Dunhuang.
The Sogdians were highly responsible for the emergence of the Zoroastrian tradition. There are many indications and evidence that proves that there were temples in places like Lanzhou where magic shows would be held for audiences.
Of course as in other traditions there was a Zoroastrian prophet, named Zoroaster. The dates of the prophet are not clear, there are speculations that he may have been around in the thirteenth century and other speculations that he existed during the sixth century. It difficult to really tell with such a huge gap like that. Also some think that he may have come from Azarbaijan and others think Mongolia... Again.. big gap.
The tradition represented a combination of modern Iranian beliefs about the sun as the physical manifestation of Ahura Mazda, and a rejection in other sacrificial beliefs about bulls, and drinking rituals. Zoroastrianism can be seen as one of the first traditions to believe in monotheism (the belief in one God). They believed that Ahura Mazda is the one and only God that should be worshipped, however the tradition has an opposition of an evil deity, more or less making it a dualistic religion.
Zoroaster. You can see the sun behind him, which was of great importance to the Zoroastrians, and the Persian columns he is standing in between indicating its significance to Persia, as well as the famous Farvahar symbol above his head which represents purity, a common symbol found in ancient Persian history, as well as Zoroastrianism.
Another major religion that flourished among the Sogdians on the Silk Road was the tradition of Manicheism. Manicheism began with the prophet Mani who belonged to a royal house in Pathia (Persia). As Wood puts it, "His beliefs were a blend of Iranian and Semitic traditions with additions from Buddhism and Christianity, and they were to survive in medieval Europe..." (Wood, 2002, pp. 70) Manicheism was also a more or less dualistic tradition. It put good against evil, and found that wisdom and knowledge in cryptic interpretations is one way of salvation. A spirit was the same as light, matter was the same with darkness, and good was particles of light that was trapped in darkness (or matter) and was trying to emancipate itself out of it. Mani thought that he was a successor to other prophets such as Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus. He was crucified in 276, by the order of king Hormizd I of Persia.
Mani, and his followers, dressed in white robes and head pieces, which was the common traditional apparel for Manicheists
Again, Wood did a great job presenting the facts and ideas and as one of the first glimpses into the traditions that flourished out of the Silk Road. I think this was my favorite reading thus far and I look forward to reading more.
- Thank for reading!!
Arista =)
