Publications

Publication details [#59510]

Ashurov, Barakatullo. 2015. Sogdian Christian texts. Socio-cultural observations. Archiv Orientální 83 (1) : 53–70.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins

Annotation

Sogdian Christian texts are one of the largest extant Christian bodies of writing in an Iranian language, and were discovered in the early decades of the twentieth century by members of the German Turfan Expeditions. All Sogdian Christian texts known today were discovered at the ruin of Shüi-pang, near the modern-day town of Bulayïq, located 10 km north of Turfan, China, and a small number were found in the Dunhuang area. Considering the ascetically character of the texts it is believed that the site of the finds was probably that of a Christian monastery. This article is concerned with the question of the socio-cultural themes and contexts observed in these texts. Part 1 offers introductory review of the composition of the texts focusing on the issue of orthography as a symbol of identity. Part 2 discusses the theme of multi-ethnicity and multilinguality demonstrated in the texts. Part 3 offers discussion on the theme of continuity and preservation of the East Syriac Christian literature in Sogdian.