Sogdian script
Escritura sogdiana
- Date
- c. century IV (Cartas antiguas, c. 313) · confidence medium
- Place
- Samarkand, Sogdiana, Uzbekistan
- Credited to
- Sogdian merchants and scribes
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A cursive alphabet derived from Aramaic used to write Sogdian, the lingua franca of Silk Road merchants. The Ancient Letters, found in a Great Wall tower at Dunhuang, are its first great dated evidence.
The Ancient Letters (Aurel Stein, 1907) are dated to c. 313 AD; older Sogdian inscriptions exist but are scarce, so the exact origin of the script is uncertain.
What it led to
- the Old Uyghur script, from which Mongolian derives
- commercial, Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian documents in Sogdian
- the role of the Sogdians as intermediaries between China, India and Persia