28 chapter one
Sogdians did not cause great concern among the nomads and was
accepted by them.^48
Th e Turks and Uighurs also accepted the foreign Sogdian titles, sym-
bols, and habits^49 and the more important thing—the Sogdian writing,
which served as a base for the creation of the Turkic runes in the
seventh century. Th e earliest inscriptions of the Turks (the one from
Bugut for example, ca. 582 A.D.) were written in Sogdian,^50 which in
the early mediaeval period turned into a lingua franca^51 of the peoples
of Central Asia and removed another barrier to communication and
acquaintance with the Other.^52
Th e Sogdians learned Turkic and the Turks, in their turn, learnt
Sogdian dialects. For that reason the Sogdians were not regarded as
the hostile Other, but as teachers. By their writing they facilitated not
only a better understanding between nomads and sedentarists, but also
a decrease in the level of cultural heterogeneity in the khaganates of
Turks and Uighurs. Th is was especially necessary during the fi rst stage
of the establishment of the Turkic state organization during the sec-
ond half of the sixth century. It is worth noting here the comments of
a notable Chinese military commander from this period who claimed
that without the Sogdians, the Turks were doomed because they are
known for their very simple nature and lack of experience in state
(^48) For the mutual infl uences and benefi t see, Raspopova 1970, 86–91; Khazanov
1994b, 256–257; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 92: “Th e early medieval city’s and
agricultural culture of the Western Turkic khaganate was made through the partici-
pation of the Sogdians who, from a long time, started to establish their trade-and-
agricultural colonies along the Great Silk route—in Semirechie, Dzhungaria, East
Turkistan, North China”.
(^49) von Gabain 1983, 622–623. Lobacheva 1979, 24–25, admits that in the beginning
of the eighth century there existed in Sogdiana a blurring of the ethnic traditions
amongst the towns’ population and this was visible especially in the dress. Th ere were
apparently forms of synthesis that were made possible on the basis of the Sogdian
and Turkic costumes’ bringing together and this brought to “leveling of the ethnic
peculiarities in clothing”. Also see, Kyzlasov 2004, 4, n. 8, who stresses the fact that the
Turkic coins in the period the late seventh-eighth century had Sogdian inscriptions. 50
On the other side of the stelae there was also a brief inscription in Sanskrit given
with ‘brahmi’ script but this inscription suff ered by erosion and is now almost totally
destroyed—see Kliashtornyi and Livshits 1971b, 121–146; Kljashtornyj and Livshic
1972, 69–102; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 150–151. 51
Frye and Litvinsky 1996, 467. Kyzlasov 2004, 6, concludes that the Turkic-speak-
ing tribes in Central Asia and Southern Siberia had been using for more than 500
years (end of sixth—beginning of thirteenth century) both Sogdian and Turkic scripts.
Also see, Róna-Tas 1987, 7–14. 52
von Gabain 1983, 621. For the enormous impact of the Sogdian traders and their
urban culture see, De La Vaissière 2002, passim.