Who were the Sogdians?

Their name may be unfamiliar but in their time the Sogdians were highly influential. Sogdians were Iranian-speaking people from Central Asia who were key to trade and transactions along the Silk Roads. From the fertile oases of their homeland Sogdiana in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, they ventured into lands in all directions. The rich visual and material culture of Sogdian towns, and their contribution to cultural exchanges across Eurasia, has until recently remained largely unknown and unrecognised.

Based on the fragmented and scattered evidence found far beyond the territories of Central Asia, we know the Sogdians were prolific travellers and traders whose goods, crafts and ideas were transported deep into East Asia and as far west as Europe. Sogdians were skilled in commerce, diplomacy, literacy, art and entertainment, and were involved in the spread of several religions, as well as establishing their own religious traditions. They also played a crucial part in moving silk along the Silk Roads.

Visitors to the British Museum's special exhibition Silk Roads (open until 23 February 2025) will encounter the Sogdians not only at several stops along the journey but also in their many different roles.

Sogdiana, or Sogd, was located in parts of present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Here, in the capital of Samarkand and its surrounding sites, Sogdian elites positioned themselves as integral to the political arena known to them and their neighbours.

Their political ambitions are captured in the paintings from the so-called 'Hall of the Ambassadors',  a reception hall found inside an aristocratic residence at the Afrasiab archaeological site in northern Samarkand. The six-metre-long section shown in the main image above depicts a ceremonial procession moving from the court of Varkhuman, a Sogdian ruler of Samarkand in the mid-AD 600s. It follows the ruler's consorts and courtiers riding horses, camels and an elephant towards his ancestral shrine.

The central scene of the hall gives the painting its name – it captures the arrival at Varkhuman's court of embassies from near and far, such as from Tang China, the Tibetan Plateau and the Korean peninsula. Another wall is dedicated to the political alliance with Tang China and shows the Tang dynasty emperor Gaozong (ruled AD 649–83) hunting and his consort, who later ruled as emperor, Wu Zetian (later ruled AD 690–705) travelling by boat.

The 'Hall of Ambassadors' paintings not only show the diplomatic connections and luxurious lifestyle of Sogdian elites, they also tell us about local religious practices. Among the participants in the procession, we see Zoroastrian priests, recognisable by their face coverings, which were worn to protect the worshipped sacred fire from being polluted by their breath. Such priests can also be found seated in front of a fire altar on the below ossuary – a clay container designed to house the bones of the dead.

The Sogdians were not only practitioners of Zoroastrian beliefs, they also worshipped their own local deities, particularly Nana, a goddess often represented on a lion throne and sometimes with four arms.

On the charred wooden carvings found at the citadel in Kafir-Kala near Samarkand, Nana is shown twice in the composition. She is being approached from both sides by devotees carrying portable fire altars, gifts and musical instruments. None of the figures' faces and hairstyles are identical, demonstrating that Sogdians were not just extraordinary painters but also masters of wood carving.

Away from the luxury of the royal court, Sogdians travelled far and wide along the routes that made up the Silk Roads, including deep into Northern China.

In creating figurative representations of Central Asians, Chinese artists paid great attention to the facial features and clothing that marked ethnic differences, as well as the movement and postures that signalled their professions and the hardships of long-distance travel. The ceramic figurine on the left likely represents a groom pulling a horse or camel. The male figure on the right bends his back under the heavy load of carried goods.

Nevertheless, for many Sogdian travellers, these journeys were lucrative expeditions that conveyed their reputation across Eurasia. They are mentioned at the court of the Byzantine Emperor Justin II (r. AD 565–78) by the AD 500s Greek author Menander Protector. Chinese imperial chronicles and documents found in China also contain a number of anecdotes of the Sogdians' profitable enterprises.

Textual records that survived in Dunhuang, Turfan, and the Sogdian fortification on Mount Mugh near the Sogdian town of Panjikent, record that horses, textiles, spices and other luxury goods were handled and transported by Sogdians across mountains and deserts. Bridging communities and politics required building alliances and negotiating mutually beneficial relationships.

Apart from succeeding in commerce, spreading elite customs, and excelling in artmaking, some Sogdians facilitated cultural exchange and knowledge transmission through their proficiency in literacy and language. Documents preserved in Northwest China reveal the role that Sogdian language and script, derived from Aramaic, played in the wider transmission of Buddhist, Christian, Zoroastrian and Manichaean texts.

Travelling eastwards from Central Asia to Dunhuang, we encounter the Sogdians as storytellers. A fragmented Sogdian document found in the so-called 'Library Cave' narrates the story of the epic protagonist Rustam and one of his heroic exploits in defeating the demons of the mountains.

This story is vividly illustrated in wall paintings inside a wealthy house in Panjikent, a rural Sogdian town, far from Dunhuang. The tales of Rustam's heroic deeds later entered the monumental literary work of the Persian author Abu'l Qasim Firdawsi (died 1025) on the history of Persian kings from creation up to the Arab invasion, which testifies to Sogdians also sharing cultural practices with their western neighbours.

In the Tang capital Chang'an (Xi'an) in China, the Sogdians were not only to be found trading in the markets and streets – some of their culture made its way into the heart of the imperial court and the lavish festivities of the aristocracy.

It's believed that Sogdians helped to popularise grape wine in China – and new beverages and drinking practices called for new drinking vessels. The two cups seen here, though different in material, size and manufacture, share the characteristic shape of fluted and lobed bodies with ring handles, topped with an ornamental thumb rest. Both cups were made by Chinese artisans, likely inspired by Sogdian import wares. 

This exquisite golden cup was found on the Belitung shipwreck off the coast of Indonesia. The ship was loaded with large numbers of ceramics and singular precious items, likely diplomatic gifts, intended for export out of China. Each of the cup's lobed segments is decorated with figures playing musical instruments or performing a dance. This introduces another facet of the Sogdians – they were famed as entertainers, particularly praised for performing the so-called 'Sogdian Whirl' dance, vividly illustrated on the green ceramic flask below. The spinning and twirling movements were enhanced by the long sleeves worn by the dancer.

Sogdians were not only intermediaries in the transmission of luxurious goods and customs along the Silk Roads, they are also known to have mastered various crafts, including silk weaving. Though many different goods were produced, transported and exchanged, the importance of silk for economies, diplomatic relations and the self-fashioning of elites in the period AD 500–1000 should not be underestimated.

Researchers are still debating whether the Sogdians can be single-handedly credited as the creators and makers of silks with a beaded roundel design but the overwhelming presence and variety of these types of silks in Sogdian wall paintings certainly testifies to their popularity.

Since the climatic conditions in Central Asia don't preserve organic materials, the very fragmentary archaeological evidence is not sufficient to clearly define the Sogdians' influence on silk. However, textual sources mention a Sogdian named Maniakh bypassing the authorities of Sassanian Iran while on a mission to the court of Justin II to establish the direct trade of silk with Byzantium.

Actual silks with animals in roundels have been found widely dispersed across Eurasia, far outside of Sogdiana. The fragments above featuring the pair of ibexes or stags were found in the so-called 'Library Cave' in Dunhuang in northwest China. An even smaller piece, shown above, was found in the Cathedral of Basel, Switzerland, where it was used to wrap holy relics of Christian saints which means that such fragments were given high value even if the place of their origin was unknown. 

Objects closely associated with the Sogdians crossed great distances and reached as far as Northwest Europe – as far as the British Museum's Silk Roads exhibition takes you. Travellers, traders, artisans, diplomats, religious scholars, linguists and entertainers: the Sogdians were an influential people who made a significant and lasting impact on the other cultures they engaged with as they transported objects, skills and ideas along the Silk Roads.

Supported by
The Huo Family Foundation

Additional supporters
James Bartos
The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts
Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation