Object Proposal: Contextualizing Physical and Iconographical Crossroads Objects Ampulla of Saint Menas Omeka: no info 6th-7th centuries CE (similar examples at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Walters Art Gallery) Further information on Columbia’s “Treasures of Heaven” and individual museum pages Dish from Bol' she Anikovskoe with the Siege of Jericho and Joshua Conquests 9th-10th [...]
Themes: Religion People Language/Text In choosing my themes I ended up looking at the three themes under one umbrella theme and how they connect to and provide information about each other. I would consider my main theme to be religion. Most of our readings have shown that Sogdian religion has neither been singular or constant. [...]
Music Making As a musician, I was intrigued by the Zoroastrian concept of paradise meaning “House of the Song of Praise.” While some of the sources we have read so far have mentioned music or dance, we have read very little about Sogdian music making. In his article “Religious Diversity among Sogdian Merchants in Sixth-century [...]
I Sogdians Socially Yes, the Sogdians were merchants. However, we have learned that the Sogdians loved music, drinking, and dancing. I want to explore what their social traditions and rituals were. I doubt they drank purely because they liked to be drunk. What were their customs? Did they have specific rituals containing certain events at [...]
For my project, I would like to work within the people and religion themes. From what I have learned of the Sogdians thus far, it seems like you cannot separate the two from each other. Religion (or at least the structure of) leaks into their architecture, burial rites, and possibly everyday life. Within these larger [...]
I - Sogdian Women I am interested in studying the roles and status of Sogdian women. The material that we have looked at so far presents women in essentially two contexts: as wives, or as “dancing girls”, the latter bearing a connection to either an appearance or a reality of prostitution. Valerie Hansen notes that [...]
The People -Who are they? -Physical aspects (at home and abroad) -Self-image -Biographies/stories I am interested in humanizing the Sogdian’s history and I can do so through focusing on biographies and stories. This was inspired by the story of Xuanzang and how we know of his travels through his detailed writings to Huili (Hansen). In order to [...]
