A “Black Cult” in Early Medieval China: Iranian-Zoroastrian Influence in the Northern Dynasties
- 24 January 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland
- Vol. 27 (2), 201-224
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1356186316000584
Abstract
Through an analysis of Chinese theophoric names - a genre that emerged in the early medieval period largely under heavy Iranian-Sogdian influence - we suggest that there was a contemporary ‘black worship’ or ‘black cult’ in northern China that has since vanished. The followers of this ‘black cult’ ranged from common people living in ethnically mixed frontier communities to the ruling echelons of the Northern Dynasties. By tapping into the fragmentary pre-Islamic Iranian-Sogdian data, we link this ‘black cult’ to the now nearly forgotten ancient Iranic worship of the Avestan family of heroes centered around Sāma. This religio-cultural exchange prompts an examination of the deliberate policy by the ethnic rulers of the Northern Dynasties to attract Central Asian immigrants for political reasons, a precursor to the Semu, the Mongols’ ‘assistant conquerors’ in the Yuan dynasty.Keywords
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- Were “Ugly Slaves” in Medieval China Really Ugly?Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2016
- Bai Juyi and MannaCentral Asiatic Journal, 2015
- On the Origin of the Sogdian Surname Zhaowu ** and Related ProblemsJournal Asiatique, 2003
- Son of Heaven and Son of God: Interactions among Ancient Asiatic Cultures regarding Sacral Kingship and Theophoric NamesJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2002
- Colour names and their suffixes a study on the history of Mongolian word formationActa Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 2001
- Sistan and Its Local HistoriesIranian Studies, 2000
- The Khwarezmian Glossary—IIBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1971
- The Chinese Name for the TurksJournal of the American Oriental Society, 1965
- The Language of the T'o-Pa WeiHarvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 1936
- Iranian Views of Origins in Connection with Similar Babylonian beliefsJournal of the American Oriental Society, 1916