The Sogdian Whirlwind: Trade and Culture on the Silk Road

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The Sogdian Whirlwind: Trade and Culture on the Silk Road

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive deeper into the Sogdian world, focusing on the Sogdian letters—a cache of 5th-century correspondence discovered in a ruined watchtower near Dunhuang. These letters reveal the personal lives, trading networks, and family dramas of Sogdian merchants stranded in China after a devastating invasion of their homeland by the Hephthalites. We follow the story of Nanai-vandak, a desperate merchant trying to reach his mother in Samarkand, and explore the Sogdians' role as cultural middlemen who spread Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Nestorian Christianity along the Silk Road. The episode also examines the Sogdian script, derived from Aramaic, which became the basis for the Uyghur and later Mongolian alphabets. Through the lens of the letters, we see how Sogdian merchants maintained a vast diaspora from Merv to Chang'an, despite the collapse of their own political power in Transoxiana. A unique window into the everyday life of the Silk Road's most influential trading network. #Sogdian #SogdianLetters #SilkRoad #Dunhuang #NanaiVandak #Hephthalites #Transoxiana #Samarkand #Manichaeism #NestorianChristianity #SogdianScript #AncientLetters #History #FexingoHistory #CentralAsia #China #Iran #Merchants Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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