On Nov. 22nd, invited by Global Governanceseries ofCASA(CountryandAreaStudies), the renowned professorM. Compareti, an expert in the study of iconography of the Zoroastrian deities of Persia and central Asia in the pre-Islamic era, gave an excellent speech about 6thcentury AD to early 7thcentury AD Sino-Sogdian funerary art in China.The event took place in International Building in western campus, hosted by associate professor He Maoping and attended bynumerousfaculty members and students who focus on and areinterestedin central Asia culture and art.
According to Professor Compareti, the Sogdians were a people originally living in central Asia and practicingZoroastrianism. Although Zoroastrianism was originated from Persia, its practice took different local forms in today’s southern Iran,northernIran,Caucasusand other places.After some Sogdians migrated to Sui and Tang China fromnowadayssouthernUzbekistanandwesternTajikistan, one can imagine theirculturalattributeswould be influenced by Chinese culture to a certain extent. The researchers, however, didn’t know previously too much about how Sogdians lived their lives in China, especially their funeraryritualsand art due to a lack of archeological evidence.But in the past 20 to 25 years, through the hard works of Chinese archeologists and even some illegal excavations, aseriesSino-Sogdian funerary monumentswere discovered, which shed light on the lives of Sogdians living in China and how their culture was fused with Chinese and other nations’elements.
Then Professor Compareti introduced several Sogdian funerary monumentsdiscoveredor thought to beexcavatedin China.They all share some common features to the extent that they can’t be misidentified as tombs other than Sogdian, but also contain elementsunequivocallyChinese, Indian, Greek and so on. Take the stone house the Sogdians were buried in as an example. The Sogdians considered earth as one of thesacredelements, so the Sogdians living in their homeland in central Asia didn’t bury their dead in the earth to prevent the earth to be polluted, they instead exposed the body to the nature, leaving the flesh to be consumed by dogs (dog is a favored animal by Sogdians), much similar to the burialritualof Chinese Tibetans.But from whatarcheologistsfound in China, the Sogdians living in China were buried in an underground stone house crafted like a traditional Chinese house, a feature apparently influenced by the Chinese.But themotifscarved on the house aredefinitelySogdian. Another great example is the“God of Wind”image. It’sundoubtedlya Sogdian deity, but in some cases, it’spresentedas an Indian Shiva, and in some other cases, the horn the deity is blowing seems to be a Chinese one.Theguardianson the two sided of panel sometimes presented as Greek Atlas.The Persian god of war and love which originated fromMesopotamiaoften appeared in Sogdian tombs, but it take many forms throughout the different Sogdian funerary monuments discovered.It sometimes has four arms, sometimes two; sometimes it sits on lions, sometimes it stands.The Buddhist elements are also often found in Sogdian tombs.These features are clear proofs that the Sogdians were greatly influenced by different ethnic groups from Asia Minor all the way to China.
At the end of the speech, Professor Compareti concluded that 6thcentury AD Sino-Sogdian tombs found in northern China resulted inextremelyuseful information not only for establishing a new field of study, but also for including in this group otherunexcavatedobjects that were part of private and public collections in China and abroad. Epitaphs or bilingual epitaphs helped to identify the tomb occupant as foreigners of Sogdian descent. After the wonderful speech, Professor Comparetiansweredsome questions ranging from marriage habits between Sogdians and Chinese to differentethnicinfluences on Sogdian deities.
Professor Compareti’s main field of study is iconography of the Zoroastrian deities of Persia and central Asia in the pre-Islamic era. He has held teaching courses on art history and archeology of pre-Islamic Persia and Central Asia in the United States (University of California, Berkeley) and in the PRC (Renmin University of China, Shaanxi Normal University). Among his mostrelevantpublications, there are Samarkand the Center of the World, Proposals for Reading the Pictorial Cycle of Afrasyab, Costa Mesa CA, From Sasanian Persia to the Tarim Basin and Pre-Islamic Art and Culture Along the Silk Road. Professor Compareti is currently teaching at School of History, Capital Normal University.
Author：Zhao Yiou
Reviewer：He Maoping
