Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

An Analysis of the Success of Sogdian Commerce on the Silk Roads base on the Sogdian’s National Characteristics and Chinese Institutions from Perspective of Primary Sources (581-901)

Ligang LiuHistory department, King’s college London, London, WC2R 2LS, The UK*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Although the Sogdians are mentioned by primary sources of various languages and were dominant along the ancient Silk Road, the records about them are often scattered and neglected. This is unfair to a mercantile nation that dominated medieval trade on the silk roads for centuries, and the scattered accounts often only record the geography or culture of the Sogdian regime and leave out the details of its commercial activities/fundamental reasons why they could be so successful. Therefore, this paper aims to re-analyze the records about Sogdians in primary historical materials to explore their unique ethnicl characteristics, and from which to summarize the reasons why the Sogdians could dominate the silk for centuries. This essay argues that some particular Sogdian ethnical characteristics, such as special patrilineal system, commercial inclination, and Sogdian Zoroastrianism contributed to Sogdian’s success on the silk roads. In addition, this essay also believes that the influence of contemporary China has also become the driving force for the Sogdians' commercial success. Through the re-analysis of the primary sources about the Sogdian, this essay provides a new account to understand Sogdian ethnic group, instead of focusing on ethnic culture and geography of Sogdian’s state like the primary sources this essay starts a new interpretation based on those records to explore the reasons for Sogdian commercial success, thus fills the research gap in underdeveloped topic about Sogdian ethnic.

Keywords: Sogdian nation/ethnic; Tang dynasty; Silk roads; Zoroastrianism; Ancient family relations; Sogdian commercial activities; Han dynasty; Ancient trades
Published: May 17, 2023
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/4/20220557
Volume: CHR Vol.4
pp. 336-347
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