Book Series Berliner Turfantexte, vol. 41

Studies on the Sogdian Epistolary Tradition

Adam Benkato (ed)

  • Pages: vi + 141 p.
  • Size:210 x 297 mm
  • Illustrations:43 b/w, 13 col.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2018


Out of Print
  • € 65,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-57876-7
  • Paperback
  • Out of Print


Edition of Sogdian epistolary fragments discovered in Turfan as well as a wide-ranging comparative analysis of Sogdian epistolary formulae.

Review(s)

« The book gives an excellent insight and systematic overview to the rather heterogeneous examples of extant letters in Sogdian languages. » (Antje Wendtland, dans Abstracta Iranica, 40-41, 2019)

 

BIO

Adam Benkato is a Humboldt Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin and was previously a researcher at the Turfanforschung, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

 

Summary

An important part of the Sogdian corpora which have come down to us are epistolary texts: both the earliest substantial Sogdian documents (the 'Ancient Letters') and the only substantial textual corpus found in Sogdiana itself (the Mugh documents). The Turfan collections of (especially) Berlin, Kyoto, and St. Petersburg, also preserve a number of letter fragments. Altogether, these texts attest different phases of a Sogdian epistographical tradition stretching over some seven centuries. The edition and analysis of both well-preserved and fragmentary texts can contribute to efforts to reconstruct parts of those traditions—and eventually connect them with those of Central Asia and Iran more broadly. The first part of this work is an effort to present a comprehensive edition of the Sogdian epistolary fragments in the Turfan collections of Berlin, Kyoto, and St. Petersburg. In the second part a comparative study of Sogdian epistolography is undertaken, based on the editions made in the first part, together with previously published work on other Sogdian epistolary corpora, including studies of layout, external addresses, and stamps. Additionally, an appendix by Simone-Christiane Raschmann contributes to the larger study of epistolary culture in Turfan with the edition and study of three Old Turkic fragments (two letters and one order) which shed light on the use of stamps.